Tag: 101 things

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in germany just life traveling

the new year’s get-together

organising a new year’s get-together for friends was on the new 101 list, and 2016 was the year it got done! new years are usually a bit of a dread for us… by the time the end of the year rolls around, we’re still recovering from the xmas family extravaganza, and craving peace and quiet. so this year, we poked a few friends spread around europe and decided to find a quiet place where we could all stay for a few days. we found a cozy airbnb in a tiny town in south germany which seemed perfect for our needs (somewhere central in europe, quiet, near cheap airports, dogs allowed)… so we put on our winter jackets, loaded the suitcases with board games, and off we went!

turns out, we lucked out big time! lienzingen is a charming little place, the kind that you imagine from brothers grimm’s fairy tales. it’s full of half-timbered houses hundreds of years old, carefully restored with love and german precision. we stayed in one of them, and boy, was it pretty!

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the weather was chilly but mostly dry, with soft rime on trees and even a bit of snow on the last days. together we chatted, cooked, played games, explored a unesco monastery, cuddled dogs, munched on warm laugenwecken, stoked the fireplace and discovered the local maultaschen.

it was the perfect start to the new year: low-key, unrushed and in great company. here’s hoping it’ll become a new tradition! :)

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just life

101 things in 1001 days — here we go again!

my previous list ran out of time a couple of months ago, and frankly, i was happy to see it go. moving from germany to portugal halfway through it changed some of our priorities, and i ended up letting go of the list and focusing my energy other things which were more pressing. the list ended up at 38% done, which was rather dismal…

no matter — we shall do better this time around! :) as usual, it took me a couple of months to work through each item on the new list… it does get harder and harder everytime. ideally, you want to be ambitious but realistic, daring but sure you can make it. it’s not easy, but it’s fun and i truly enjoy the process of making the list almost as much as ticking off the items, one by one.

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so anyway, the fourth edition of the list is ready. time to get some coffee and seize the day! :)

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in germany just life

airport night run: my first 10km race!

the blog has been in a bit of a lull… april was a whirlwind of adventures and trips – i’ll try to catch up :)

first things first: earlier in april i’ve finished my first 10k race ever, without stopping nor fainting – a mighty accomplishment for my chubby self! :D

i even got a medal to prove it:

berlin airport run medal - 2014

(that funny shape on the medal is the outline of the race track, part of which are the airport’s runways!)

running a 10k race had been on my latest 101 things in 1001 days list, but i never thought i’d do it so soon, since up until very recently the most i had ever run was around 5km. but the airport night run sprung up on us and i grabbed the opportunity of running on what will one day become berlin’s shiny new airport. i mean, how often do you get to run on a future airport’s landing strip? :)

well, we do have the privilege of living next to a former airport, so i had run on a runway before… but i’d kind of forgotten that the new ones are much longer, around 4km in total… it felt like it went on and on forever! i forgot to take my ipod with me, and so spent the whole time running a speech in my head in several languages, in order to keep busy. i seem to need a sort of distraction to run, and missed my beloved podcasts dearly.

but it was ok in the end – in fact, it was actually rather nice! the race started around twilight, and by the time we finished it was completely dark and all the airport lights were on, giving the track a bit of an otherworldly feeling. volunteers cheered us on enthusiastically in the dark, and gave people high-fives… it was magical! i just kept running and running and running until the finish line… it took me 1:10 to do the 10km, at a very relaxed 7:00/km.

so yay! it was good and i’m glad i did it… but now is time to finish this airport, ok berlin?

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just life

1, 2… start!

the new list is finally done, and as i wrote the last item, i breathed a huge sigh of relief. this is the third incarnation of the 101 things in 1001 days, and as years go by, it gets harder and harder to come up with items to fill it up, each one carefully twisted and turned before being written down… “do i really want to do this? or is just a wishful thought that will only bore me in the long run? will it be worth it?”

i do love a plan and a timeframe though – i don’t think there’s a better way to achieve anything. so here it is, the plan for the next 1001 days.

if you think you can help with one (or more) of these, do let me know! :)

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foooood

four cheeses we’ve tried and liked

here’s an update on my quest to try 20 different cheeses. i should say that i’m not a cheese connoisseur by any means, though i really like them. but since i’ve been more on a paleo phase of late (and discovered i’m relatively sensitive to lactose), i only do a small tasting now and then – while the boy gets to slather his crackers with generous portions of the stuff!

le brin: soft and smooth, with a very light taste. we quite liked it!

wensleydale with cranberries: hello, little bit of heaven! soft, crumbly, and melts-in-your-mouth kind of cheese. the sweetness of the cranberries adds a sort of playful touch to it, so nice :)

frischkäse with almonds and pineapple: i’m not such a big fan of the fresh cheeses, but the boy really likes them. the pineapple/almond combo adds both sweetness and crunchiness to it, which helps to atone for its lack of texture.


bavaria blue: very creamy and mild, but i guess not that different from other blue cheeses out there.