Colors, hues, farben

My head is filled with beautiful colors these days.

A walk outside can be so refreshing and the sights just breathtaking.

I go for a walk thinking I am just going to soak in the sights, but my hands are suddenly itching for the camera and some of the results you see here.

Setting back the clocks

On Oct 25 Sunday the clocks were set back by an hour. So an additional hour to sleep in was definitely welcome. This also means winter is officially heralded in. It also means the baking season slowly starts and I started taking inventory of the ingredients I have.

Looking forward to lot of fun baking sessions with little bunny and friends.

Drunk Chicken

It was my friend J who told me this method of baking a whole chicken. Marinate and place chicken over a half filled beer bottle in the oven. Bake for a hour and half and you have the juiciest chicken you ever had. Hubby and me enjoyed our beer drunk chicken dinner today.

Celebrating Diversity.

On Wednesday 21 Oct we had a festival celebrating diversity at work. Diwali celebrations among the Indian community here was also a central theme of the festival. It was a feast to my senses to see all the different countries presenting their rich traditions, food, art, colors etc. all under one roof. I got to taste some really good Russian gingerbread.

The crisp bread from Sweden called Knaäckebröd topped with salmon eggs was yumm. Personally thought that the Indian cultural program was definitely the highlight of the evening. Starting with traditional Bhratanatyam pieces, classical tabla and then ending with a rocking Bollywood number.

The dancers from Iran moved gracefully to the Persian music and little bunny danced along. Even little rabbit cooed away in delight.

The Chinese community presented a Kungfu-fan dance which was a combination of martial arts and dance.

All in all a very enriching and fun experience indeed.

Hot Jalebis anybody?

This Diwali I got to make hubby's favorite sweet at home. Only after I tried it out did I realise that it is such an easy sweet to prepare on your own. Mix the batter, pour it into an icing syringe, squeeze into hot oil, fry until deep brown and finally dip into sugar syrup.

Hot yummy jalebis are ready to be consumed. Little bunny enjoyed the part where the batter was poured into the oil using the cake icing syringe.

This time she also enjoyed eating the end product along with her Papa.

Festival of Lights

Felt nice to see President Obama lighting the White House diya this Diwali. We followed suit and decked up our home with diyas and candles.

Little bunny was all excited and she was running up and down asking me when she could blow the candles out.

It was little rabbit's first Diwali but she was blissfully oblivious of that fact.

It was nice to dress up every nook and corner with lights, definitely made a warm and pretty sight.

With winter almost arriving at our doorstep I guess some of the lights will continue to be lit every evening from today.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy's birthday was on the 13 of this month. Called him up to wish him and he was in his usual sunny spirits. He told me that Mom had surprised him with a cake this time around. I was smiling to myself, Mom picking up tips from her children. I still remember on one of his visits here we had been to an airshow where you could also take a ride on a helicopter.

Dad casually asked me what I thought, and I said it was nothing for me. Dad immediately told me that it was not about me but it was he who was considering doing it :-)

He said he loved the whole experience.

Wine country Edenkoben

Looking at today's weather I am happy that on Oct 8 we almost had summer weather. My brother and family were here and we decided to drive out to Edenkoben a town on the German wine route.

Every home was decorated in autumn hues

The vineyards were ripe with fruit, different types of grapes all juicy and sweet. It was lovely to see the silhouette of the Haardt mountains across the landscape. Little bunny was fast asleep in the car when her cousins had a blast tasting the wonderful fruit.

Also got to see the vineyards across the mountain in all their splendour while going up the chairlift or 'sesselbahn'.

Walking through the chestnut grooves on this warm autumn day was marvellous. Had dinner at a nice restaurant which served traditional Pfalzer specialities.

Family time

Oct 6 - Oct 13 was such a fun time. My brother and family from the US was here with us and I did not realise the days just zoom past. I had not planned to stop blogging but the days seemed to be only reserved for fun and non-stop activity. It was so nice to see little bunny and her nephews bond and fight with each other. Sampling the local neuer wine, exploring vineyards in Edenkoben, enjoying the typical cuisines of the region, walking through the narrow cobbled streets of Prague and discovering new streets in Heidelberg was so much fun together. Family time is so precious and i am still savoring every minute of it.

Anticipation

is what I'am feeling as I write this post. I guess the feeling is very similar to how little bunny waits for me to pick her up in the evening from her kindergarten. I would give anything to see the delight in her eyes!

Right now I'am waiting for tomorrow. Will be getting to meet my two little nephews and their parents. Yes, my brother and his family will be here on a week's vacation and all of us are so excited. Little bunny keeps saying that she will share all her toys with her cousin brother. Lets see, if that is really going to happen. Hoping that the weather will be good as well. But anyway come rain or shine it is just going to be family time which means good times. Little rabbit is going to see them all for the first time, guess she will coo away in joy.

New Wine and Autumn

New Wine or 'Neuer Wein' in German completely belongs to this time of the year. Yes, in every wine producing town here this is the perfect time to enjoy a glass of this fresh wine which is still in it's very eary stages of fermentation. A glass of new wine together with a piece of onion cake called 'zwiebel kuchen' can make you very happy. The other day I was very surprised to see this sign in town.

As you can see beer was more expensive than wine. This can only happen at this time of the year :-)

Christening

Today (Oct 4) baby G son of our close friends T & V got christened. T told me that the ceremony would start at 10:00 in the morning. So Sunday morning started off on a rather busy note making sure that all the four of us were going to be on time. We made it to the church on the dot and we also got to enjoy a small play put together by children from the local town.

Beautiful decorations for autumn

Little bunny met some of her old friends from her daycare

After the ceremony we went to a nice little Italian restaurant called La Sorgente . The food was delicious, we were so full after lunch that we decided to skip our dinner. But, come dinner time we did not really stick to that plan.

Hubby had Lasagne al Forno

The grilled salmon with roasted vegetables was yumm

Wicker love

Completely in love with these wicker baskets. They are so practical, so strong and can hold almost anything you can possibly imagine.

They come in all sizes, shapes and many made of natural material. They blend so well into the background but at the same time can have a very classy elegant look. You can see that I am truly in love with them because they seem to be catching my eyes wherever i go.

A cake that you can bake with your date

Are you looking for a nice cake to bake together with your sweet date on Friday night? Before you drift away painting that picture in your mind, i am talking about a nice moist date cake. The insipiration for today's (1'st Oct) baking session was again little bunny. It was evening, she had just got back from kindergarten and she literally begged me to bake a cake along with her. I was glad that she took over the toughest job of this rather easy to make cake. She greased the bundt tin with lots of butter and she loved that she could get both her hands covered with butter.

I softened the dates by cooking it in milk, and then it was lot more easier to grind it and blend it with the eggs, flour, butter and sugar.

I baked it for an hour and it had this nice rich color when it was all done.

Little bunny loved the whole aspect that she could dust the cake with powdered sugar. I always wonder why when she has to eat the cake she is not as excited as she is when it is in the making. So I guess tomorrow all her friends in the kindergarten will get a piece of this wonderful date cake.