Day 28-30 of Bodyrocking!!!

I did it!!!  I finished my challenge!!!

Okay some thoughts...

• 30 days is a really long time to do something everyday.  There were days, when it was very difficult to force myself to do anything, and I would say "omg I still have 'blank' days left, it feels like I have been doing this forever".

• my body is firmer and stronger

• I want to continue Bodyrocking 2-3 times a week

• I bought myself a dip station!!!

I recommend to anyone out there to try a 30 day challenge and here are some ideas of what I want to eventually try, maybe not next month, but next year for sure.

• spiritual challenge (read the Bible every day, pray every day, can make all of this as specific as you want)
• fast Wednesdays and Fridays
• read an article everyday (for me, in German)
• 30 day cleanse, no alcohol, coffee, sugar, dairy, gluten etc.
• watch TV everyday for 1 hour, this is specifically to learn German ;)
• 30 day movie marathon, of all the classics you mean to always watch but were never really in the mood.
• cook everything at home, no eating out for a month
• etc

I think I need to implement the TV watching and the article reading, because I know how much that would help me with my German.

On a completely random note, everyone should make these baked stuffed apples!!!  This is not an apple of my childhood, oh this so much better then that. 

Stuffed Baked Apple

I stuffed mine with a mixture of crunchy peanut butter, butter, maple syrup, cinnamon, rum and dried cherries!  It was absolutely divine, the best desert EVER!!  And so easy!  Try it, you will not be disappointed.

Perfect Day for Soup

Weather prognoses in Munich is RAIN and 11C/52F.  In my book this is NOT summer, this is fall or winter!!!!  I had to practice driving a manual shift in the rain and I must say I am getting better and better.  My father in law is my teacher and he is a very brave man :)  Hopefully by the time my parents come I can drive our car without someone telling me to shift or to press the clutch or give more gas ;)

These slugs are everywhere after the rain and if you have a garden they are your biggest enemy since
they eat everything!  

So this weather makes me want to eat some warm soup and cuddle in a blanket!  I am in charge of making dinner tonight and red lentil soup is on the menu :)

Main characters of the dish: red lentils and beef bones! 

Ingredients

1lb of beef bones

1lb of red lentils

2 shredded zucchinis

1 carrot

1 small onion

1 glove of garlic

4 small shredded potatoes

2 tbsp of minced parsley

4 bay leaves

salt, pepper and whatever spices you want to add

The most important thing to do is to boil the bones first and then discard the water.  Use new fresh water for the soup.  The first broth will have lots of fat, and other white foamy things that I like to discard to give my soup a more clean and healthier taste.  I slow cooked the lentils first in the 'new water', with the already cooked bones, until they completely dissolved and then added the rest of the chopped or shredded ingredients and cooked for another hour on low heat.  

TA-DA!!!

Everyone liked the soup, so tonight was a success.  Off to watch a movie with the hubster.
Hope everyone is enjoying better weather.

randomness

A lot is happening and oh so fast.  So I have some news to share with you guys.

First of all, Ludwig and I officiated our marriage with the German government, hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on with all the paperwork and bureaucracy.  We celebrated with the family and sparkling wine :)

Second of all, I signed up for language courses in Munich!!!  It was a bit spontaneous the way everything happened–I start this Monday, May 2nd.   All the courses start in the beginning of the month, go figure, and to wait until June is too long, plus it becomes significantly more expensive in the summer months.  I was very happy that I could get in on such a short notice and that the section I wanted was not full.  It will be Monday-Friday 8:30 am-12:45 pm, four week intensive course, OMG!  So I also need to buy a monthly train pass to go to Munich, so much so much to do, maybe I should also buy a new notebook and an outfit, I feel like a school girl all over again, exciting exciting.  I will bike to the train-station in the mornings when the weather is good, otherwise Ludwig will drive me.  

All of this happened yesterday and I was really overwhelmed running around saying, 'this is so exciting...I am so nervous', it was quite a challenge for Ludwig to calm me down, hahah.   

This is not really a news but we are going to Austria this weekend.  We got it as a Christmas present from Ludwig's sister to stay two nights at a hotel of our choice from the approved list.  So we booked the hotel before all the language school shenanigans, which means we return on Monday and go strait to the Goethe Institute (my language school).  Good thing, nothing really happens on the first day, I just need to check in before 5 pm.

On another random note, I have been looking for a yoga mat since I got here.  In US they are everywhere, and can be as cheep as $10.  I've been to several athletic stores here, with a wide selection of everything, but yoga mats.  I looked at buying it at amazon, but the shipping is basically the cost of the mat itself.  Finally after looking and looking I just bough the most expensive yoga mat I have EVER owned–€30, please don't judge me.  Apparently this yoga mat is magical with microfiber carpeting, non-slide bottom and a velcro-tie-thingy.  I MUST do yoga everyday now!

Fancy yoga mat!

We washed our car, that was exciting, OMG! jk, I was just watching Ludwig wash the car :)

Ludwig does not mess around!

I ate yogurt made with 10% fat, it was VERY good!

I made Caprese salad with cucumbers.  Fresh mozzarella is super cheep here and I want to eat this salad EVERY day.

 Tomorrow is the Royal Wedding and I am watching it live!

Munich

The next day after our Alpine adventure, we decided to venture out into Munich, especially that it would be the only day that things are open since everything would be shut down on Easter Sunday and Monday.  To think of it, I have never been to Munich when it was not a holiday.  The two previous times were Christmas and New Year holidays and now it is Easter.  Of course the city was PACKED, but it was a lot of fun anyways.  

First thing we did was to climb to the top of Old Peter.  St. Peter's Church is the oldest church in the inner city of Munich.  It was build even before Munich was founded in 1158.  Remember the all over body sourness from the hiking, well on top of that I had to climb, I don't know how many narrow, claustrophobic, filled with tourist, steps.  The view from the top was well worth it.  We did not stay there long at all because it was getting more and more packed every minute.  

Alter Peter/Old Peter tower and the views from the top.

At 11 am and noon the Rathaus-Glockenspiel chimes and reenacts two stories from the 16th century.  It is a huge tourist attraction and of course I got to see it.

Rathaus-Glockenspiel in the Marienplatz.

Then, of course it was time for a little local snack.  I had bratwurstsemmel, easy enough–a sausage on a bun.  Ludwig had a leberkässemmel.  Okay now I have to explain what it is exactly.  Leber means liver and käse means cheese, but there is no cheese or liver in it at all, go figure.  It is basically a meatloaf made completely out of sausage meat on a semmel/bun.  

We went to a real butcher at the Viktualienmarkt to get those warm snacks.

After walking around Ludwig decided to take me to a Dallmayr, a luxury delicatessen store dating back to 17th century.  They have everything–caviar, coffee, truffles, bread, cakes, meat, vegetables...EVERYTHING.  It is a fascinating place, especially for a person like me, who loves fancy things and fancy foods.  Of course we could barely walk through the store because once again it was packed.  But I could not leave without one purchase, a little desert.  It was of course divine and I shared it with Ludwig.

Dallmayr pastry.

Then we walked and walked and walked.  Thankfully, we wandered into more remote areas of Munich free of crowds and noise.  It is the most perfect spring over here, not too hot or cold, all you want to do is stay outside.

Munich

After walking for many hours we got very hungry and the next thing on the agenda was to go to Biergarten Chinesischer Turm/Beergarden at the Chinese Tower in the English garden.  

Potato salad, cabbage salad, roasted potatoes, bratwurst, pork knuckle and of course a mass beer.

English Garden (1.4 sq mi) in the center of Munich.  It is larger then the Central Park in NYC but smaller then Richmond Park in London.  

We spend a few hours in the park walking around, laying on the grass and people watching.  My feet were so swollen from all the walking that I was glad we could just lay down somewhere.

Our last stop was another beergarden, a bit outside the city centre called Hirschgarten.  There we got a pretzel with obatzda (camembert cheese, cream cheese, butter and paprika spread) with a side of radler (sprite and lagerbeer mixture–very refreshing).  Real beergardens are completely self-served and it is customary to be able to bring your own food and they only ask that you buy the beer there.  Usually, only one, maximum two kinds of beers are served.  At this beergarden they served only Augustiner lagerbeer and you could also mix it with sprite to make a radler.

Pretzel, obatzta and radler at Hirschgarten.

I really liked these beergardens, they are so relaxed and you can stay there forever, bring your own food, have large gatherings, and you are outside.  I think when we go there next time we will prepare our own foods and snacks and just buy the beer.

It was a great 12 hour day spend completely outside.  We took the train home biked from the train station to the house and by that time I was completely done, dead, barely moving, or having any ability to make complete sentences.

Next time I want experience Munich on a regular day without the holiday crowds and before it gets too hot in the summer.

German hobbies :)

As Ludwig says it, 'one of favorite German hobbies is recycling'.  Yes, Germans LOVE recycling, they love it so much they made a hobby out of it.  This morning I got a full experience of this hobby in all its glory and saw real Germans having a bit too much fun at the recycling site.

So here is the rundown.  In Germany you have to pay per trashcan-volume for your garbage, which by the way is only picked up once in two weeks.  So to pay less you recycle, which is free.  To even further minimize your garbage volume, most people compost their plant waste.

Ludwig is a recycling machine! 

There were SO many categories it was just overwhelming, we even had to ask for directions (action– shot bottom right corner).  

It seemed like there was a category for everything, even things that did not belong anywhere, ha.  It was quite overwhelming for me to take all of this in.

Our recycling trip is not over yet.  Next stop–'Tengelmann', a little grocery store that advertised a discount for Augustiner Lagerbier.  First thing first, you have to time your parking with a simple time meter inside of your car.  I just have no words for this one.  It is so proper it almost makes me want to do something to break this 'perfect' rule.

 Parking is no joke in Germany.

Now we are recycling the accumulated beer bottles.  You can put the whole case of twenty 0.5L bottles of beer into this machine, you also can feed it single bottles.  We got €3.34 for 23 bottles and the plastic beer case.  A case of beer like that, depending on the brand, can cost between €6-15.

Recycling beer bottle machine.

Then we went on a shopping spree for groceries and bunch of other random stuff.  The stores were packed because everyone is preparing for Easter.  Everything will be closed on Good Friday, Holy Sunday and Monday.  To reward myself for doing all the proper German things I decided I needed a decadent pastry.  It was ridiculous expensive, I think over €3, but it was so worth it.  I picked the one with a yellow dome and split it with Ludwig and his father for after-dinner-desert.

It was made of mango custard cream, with pistachio cookie bottom.  It was heavenly and had a taste and texture similar to ice-cream.  

Just looking at these pastries makes my mouth salivate.  Sometimes I go into these shops just to look, and then I feel satisfied with the sensory abundance and do not feel the need to eat those decadent treasures anymore.

Tomorrow it is my first hiking trip in the Alps.  I will try to document it as much as I can with the footage of me rolling around in the grass singing 'the hills are alive'.  You will not want to miss this :)

Food

One of the exciting things about moving somewhere new is all the new food you get to buy, taste and prepare.   I am sure there will be many posts just focusing on food.  It seems that people are pretty obsessed with nutella-like products here.  There are dosens of off-brand or other brand names that make similar or basically exactly the same product.

'Almond nutella'

 So for breakfast I decided to indulge in such a decandant toping for my oatmeal.

Banana-oatmel with ground flax, 'nutella' and pears
plus a little cappuccino

Today I am going on my third training run for my first 10K of the season; the plan is to run 4.5 miles.