Soup!

I love soup. I come from a soup-loving family. I even have a friend who calls me Soupie. The best soup of all is homemade soup. My most favorite soup is the beef soup that my mom and grandma make. My mom claims hers doesn't taste as good as her mother's, but I think it's because food always tastes better when someone else makes it. They both taste phenomenal. We even held a family soup tutorial once.

But as much as I love to eat soup, I sometimes forget how easy it is to make soup. With the weather getting cooler, it's the perfect time to make a huge pot of soup.

(soup word count: 11)

The only kinds I have made on my own (so far) are chicken and potato. Last year I challenged myself to try pumpkin and tomato, but I failed to achieve my goal. However, this year, I have assisted in making both pumpkin and tomato and they are truly not as scary as I once though.

Here's a great tomato soup recipe. Very yummy and with no cream, which is key for me. Try to keep it healthy!

But, let's focus on the chicken soup for now. I needed to collect my ingredients and assumed I'd have to buy large quantities of everything I needed. Not so! I made a wonderful discovery. Suppengemüse.

Aka "Soup vegetables".

A prepackaged supply of necessary ingredients: three carrots, leek, celery, and parsley. Normally I just skip the parsley because it seems unnecessary, but boy did it add nice flavor. I was confused for a while because what I assumed had to be the celery didn't look like celery at all. After a bit of research, I discovered celery doesn't always come as a stalk! It can also be round. Below you can see the sliver. It's basically the size of a slice of cantaloupe. And the price was unbeatable.

This is celery.

Cooking away

After adding some onions, tomatoes, and bouillon cubes, two hours later I had soup for a week. I can't wait to make another batch!

My family was very skeptical on the round celery. Some even though I confused it with kohlrabi. Here's a photo comparison of both (celery on the left) as proof.

P.S. Sorry I haven't been able to blog much these last two weeks. You wouldn't believe how busy I've been. I'm trying to catch up because I've done some wonderful things that I'd love to share with you!

11.12.13 → 12.11.13

image source

It wasn't until the end of the day yesterday that I realized it was a "significant" day back at home. At first I thought, why are people doing "special" things today? Why is it "the most romantic day of the year"? Oh, because the date is in sequential order. Why didn't I notice this? Because in Germany the date was 12.11.13. With this thinking, I suppose the most romantic day of 2013 in Europe will be December 11th.

Dirndl: Lego version

Just browsing a toy magazine at work...

Fashion Hero

I have another update for you on German TV -- the latest show to grab my attention is Fashion Hero. With Claudia Schiffer as mentor, duh. I'm thinking there has to be another show like this out there somewhere, but it's new to me. It's a variation of Project Runway in that designers are competing against each other, but they aren't required to do their own sewing, though most do. What adds an interesting twist is that there are three buyers also competing for the designs to sell in their shops. In this case, Asos, Karstadt, and S. Oliver.

If a designer makes a bid you are safe from elimination and your designs are available (in real time) in store and onlinef for purchase. Although, basically, they are sold out asap. If a designer gets no bids, they have to compete in a fashion showdown. They have 30 minutes to turn something basic, like jeans or a black blazer, into something fabulous to keep them around. The number of designers that can be "saved" varies from round to round because the number of participants is always different.

It's interesting because you can sort of guess which styles the various buys will go for or not. Or, something might be really awesome for a red carpet event, but that's not going to sell to the average German shopper. So there is a fine line the designers have to walk to keep their own style integrity but also appear to mass-market.

At first, they tried to pen this as competing with Heidi Klum and Germany's Next Top Model, but really, there is no comparison. Although, I would recommend Fashion Hero borrows some models from GNTM because some of their models are a subpar. Plus, Claudia's role is much more diluted than Heidi's. There are also two other mentors, who I haven't a clue about, and they try to use their experience in the fashion industry to give advise while the designers are in creation mode -- try shortening the dress, try a different fabric, change the sleeves, etc.

For me, it's not a must-watch each Wednesday, but it is interesting when I catch it.

prosieben.de

The buyers -- image source

The mentors -- image source

Back to the Dahliengarten

I knew I wanted to return to the dahlia garden this year, but the days kept slipping away from me. Then, two weeks ago, my German and I chose it as our Saturday afternoon destination. Everything about this trip was different.

The first time, I went with a girlfriend...by car...at the end of August. Let's just say it was semi more complicated to get the park by public transportation and the flowers were a little ... verblühtet ... by the end of October. It was still special for me to visit again, even though I don't think any subsequent visit will ever top my first experience.

As a bonus, we walked by the soccer stadium on the way to the garden. As luck would have it, we got to watch the final minutes of the HSV team practice.

And, I kid you not, my German was ready to leave after 10 minutes. I snapped my photos and we were off for a bakery snack. It was still a weekend highlight.

Mark your calendars for the end of August - October 2014!
http://www.dahliengarten-hamburg.de/

I look weird (personal opinion).

My favorites from last year...not looking so hot.

Winter Tires

I don't know all of the dirty details, but in Germany there is a law that you have to have "winter tires" on your vehicles when there is snow, ice, slush, etc. - Winterreifenpflicht. It actually makes a lot of sense because it's safer for everyone. Of course, there is a fine if you are caught without them. All of my colleagues are making appointments to change their car tires and the TV and radio are full of reminders and ads to get the task done.

What does this have to do with me? Last night I dreamt that I had to go to a special office to register as a winter pedestrian. It would seem more crazy if it didn't sound so realistic for life in Germany.