Month: June 2012

Categories
foooood

golden kiwis and yellow watermelons

when i entered the goal “taste 30 new fruits” on my list, I didn’t know it would be so hard for new fruits to come by… in retrospect, i think it was probably naïve of me to think that i’d have a huge variety available within reach – i mean europe isn’t exactly known for having a lot of native fruits…

so i’ve decided to change the goal to “taste 30 different fruits or vegetables”, which should be somewhat more feasible. i’ve been getting a lot of unknown vegetables on our ökokiste, and it’s been a pleasure to discover and try them out. now, they count too!

meanwhile, he’s a couple of fruits i’ve found, that i hadn’t tried before:

golden kiwis. they taste a lot like the normal kiwis, but i seem smoother than their green counterparts.

and yellow watermelons… well, if we were to do a blind taste test, i don’t think i would have been able to tell a yellow watermelon from a red one – they taste exactly the same to me!

Categories
foooood in portugal

beehive inspection

when i was in portugal earlier this month, my brother gave me a tour of the family’s new beehive (the previous one was hit by the varroa mite and couldn’t be salvaged). the tour was a little scary, but very informative! i’m afraid we spoke portuguese throughout the whole thing, but if you’ve ever wondered what the inside of a beehive looks like, here’s your chance to find out!

yes, i know, i make a lot of questions… and hyperventilate a little every now and then… we weren’t exactly planning on publishing the video with sound, but i think it’s a lot more interesting when you know what you’re looking at. :)

i’ve since learnt that ours is a lusitana hive, (a type of langstroth hive), with a brood box (brown bottom part, where the queen nests and bees are born) and honey super (top blue part, where the honey is stored). did you notice how hard it is for the frames to come out sometimes? that’s because of propolis, a resinous mixture that is collected by the bees and used for sealing gaps.

you can see how quiet and calm the bees are in the beginning – but that quickly changes when we get to the brood box, where the queen is.

i’m only now just learning about bees, but i find it fascinating (and a little scary, as you can probably see in the video). if all goes well, this christmas we should have a nice amount of honey to give away to the whole family :)

Categories
foooood in portugal

the francesinha

this post is about francesinhas, one of my favourite portuguese dishes. it’s a contraption of a dish, consisting of with layers of yummy things wrapped up in melted cheese. it’s typically portuguese gastronomy: meaty, heavy, no-frills and so caloric that it might induce heart-palpitations on unsuspecting foreigners… :)francesinha @ café torres

wikipedia calls it a sandwich, and the definition is true insomuch as it consists of two slices of bread with lots of fillings in between them… but if one needs cutlery in order to eat it, can it really be considered a sandwich? it feels… like an over-simplification.
francesinha @ café torres
the layout, from bottom up, goes as follows: slice of thick toasted bread, linguiça sausage, a thin steak, a few slices of ham or mortadella, and another slice of bread. sometimes there’s a fried egg on top of all of that. then, you cover everything in slices of cheese, let it melt for a bit, and pour a beer-based sauce over it. if you’re like me, you’ll want the fries that come with it swimming in the sauce.
francesinha @ café torres
the people of porto are fierce about their francesinhas, and each have their favourite. the most famous ones would be in bufete fase or café santiago. mine is actually in ermesinde, my hometown, a few kilometers from porto itself. if you’re ever around, go to café torres and give it a try. i promise it will be worth the trip!
francesinha @ café torres
hungry? :)

Categories
in germany

plattenbau

most places have some structural detail that identifies them or hints at their location. things like the materials used, the shape of the sidewalks, the tiling or even the color of the scaffolding nets… for me, one of berlin’s most distinctive features is the omnipresent plattenbau.

plattenbau is a style of pre-fabricated buildings made of concrete panels. they became a popular construction method in the 60s, when demand for housing in berlin was high as they were cheap and quick to build. they’re easy to spot and you can still find them a bit everywhere, from nikolaiviertel to marzahn. just keep your eyes up!

Categories
just life

29 things i did in my twenties

1. got out of my country for the first time!
2. lived in the netherlands, discovered vla, stroopwaffles, hagelslag, fries with mayo and an underground bunker that controls the gas of the nation
3. wrote my master thesis on a very geek subject (the adaptation of a nitrogen usage simulation case to a network optimization tool)
4. bathed my first laptop in coffee (but it was ok)
5. fell in love with a boy on the other side of the atlantic, discovered i wanted to explore the whole world with him
6. moved to the largest city in china
7. learnt mandarin, did the HSK
8. celebrated chinese new year
9. walked the great wall, rode the maglev, experienced ramadan, lived through a major earthquake
10. went to malacca and thought about the portuguese crossing the sea to dock there, on the other side of the world
11. moved to slovenia
12. fell in love with the mountains, the lakes, the food, the greenness, the traditions
13. climbed some high mountains, saw the sea organ
14. learnt how to swing dance, and how to sew with a machine
15. saw kings of convenience, bon iver, florence + the machine, and bjork live
16. tried fondue, frog legs, stinky tofu, snails, raclette, kanelbullar, fried cheese, ice-cream sandwich, burek, mooncakes, korean barbeque, cevapcici, krofi, gibanica, vadelma munkki…
17. decided we wanted something a bit more urban… moved to germany
18. went back to school to learn german
19. did a couple of awesome roadtrips
20. went to big places like paris, venice, copenhagen, istanbul, tallin, helsinki, hong kong, macau, suzhou, singapore and little places like skofja loka, redang, montemor-o-velho and s. leonardo da galafura
21. started shooting with film cameras, learnt how to develop film, discovered i really liked a camera named holga, collected a few more for good measure
22. got a spinal disc herniation, but managed to recover ok from it
23. went snowboarding, horse racing, snorkeling and geocaching
24. saw the family expand and then contract
25. did some gigs on a radio station, designed some websites, worked for a photography shop and a swedish brand of luxury accessories – now spend my days working on making postcrossing awesome
26. saw the postcrossing stamp come to life
27. decided that health was the best investment one can make, read a lot, gave up grains and dairy (about 85% of the time)
28. fell in love with bikes, stationery and snail mail in general
29. found out that it doesn’t matter where we are – real friends find a way to stick around despite the distance.

in the end, i think i’m doing quite ok. here’s to another 10 years of adventures! let the 30s begin! :)

(this list was inspired by stacey’s list)