Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all.

It is very grey here in Germany and and not as snowy as it was last time I spent Christmas here. I have a great time - meeting people, reading, drinking tea and eating my way through the Christmas cookies at my grandmother's place..

Thank you so much for your lovely birthday wishes.

I hope you have a wonderful time...

Maria

29

I am just about to go to bed, tired after a beautiful day with so many people who thought of me, called, wrote me lines, sent a card .... friends who came over, chats over coffee, tea and cake, laughs. It's been a great day.

I made Nigel Slater's beetroot cake this morning and I wanted to take a picture but forgot and now it is all gone but it was so great, a perfect Winter cake....

It is great to be back home..

Fremantle Western Australia

I am here in Fremantle since last Tuesday. It is our Summer stop before we fly over to Germany on Tuesday. I was lucky and could work from here and enjoy the beautiful warm weather which everyone was missing in Sydney over the last couple of weeks. I went for a swim in my lunch break which was early in the morning here due to the 3 hours time difference to Sydney, had the most delicious fruitbreat I ever had as snacks and great great coffee at a friends place who just opened up a cafe in a bookstore called Grumpy Sailor .

On Friday night we went to a beautiful solo concert from Sean Pollard from the split seconds at the Fremantle Arts center. What a beautiful night it was. I hope I can share soon the link with you. Radio National recorded and broadcasted it live.

>> Two good sites which show a lot about great places in Perth and Fremantle

Have a great day,

Maria

Corners from the new place

You know when you move into a new place it is a bit like having a white piece of paper in front of you. You can arrange your space totally new add bits here and there, pin up different things to the wall and make it your home. I moved into a small room in a shared house last Sunday (only for a couple of months) and I am still in the process of making it my new home.

It is a nice room gets great light, which was very important to me and has trees in front of it. At the moment I am getting used to this new place, its noises and sounds, such as cracking floor boards or light reflections on the wall when its getting dark.

On Saturday morning I woke up and thought I could smell coffee from the little cafe across the road, I was hearing the sound of cups on tables and chats from the distance. It was a very nice sound ....

I am off to Perth tomorrow and will fly home to Germany on Sunday.

Can't wait.

Maria

A couple of things I liked and saw this week.

>> this video

>< this song makes me happy

<< a breathtaking beautifully video about Iceland

More Summer food

I am still having unpacked boxes all over my little room and thought I share some Summer food images with you.

#1 One of my favorite things in Summer is to have some bread with fresh cucumber, chive, and raddhishes

#2 The breakfast with Summer fruits

#3 Summer also means lots of fresh basil and this is one of the great meals we make, pasta, home-made pesto with boiled potatoes and squash

#4 This is a great recipe from the amazing 'Plenty' cookbook from Ottolenghi. Lentils w/ carrot, celery, coriander, baked eggplant and yoghurt - so good

Necklace

It's Sunday afternoon and I am almost done with the move, I wanted to say a quick hi in between all the cleaning and carrying boxes and show you the necklace I got from Trixi the other day. You might have seen them here and here and now she is also selling them in her own little store. Have a look.

Have a wonderful start into the week.

Maria