Spargel suppe

Had a sudden incredible urge to have some spargel (asparagus) soup today for dinner. A quick mental check and immediately dismmised any thoughts on possibly why I would have such an urge on a Monday evening. Knowing pretty well that I could not fulfill my desire at this time of the year I settled for some nice and spicy prawn theeyal instead.

But talking about asparagus the last harvest of this perennial plant is in June here in Germany.

This time it was nice to go and harvest the asparagus plants that was left to grow in the fields. It was sheer joy to hear the snap as I broke the stalks fresh off the plant.

It is indeed a delicacy and I think one reason being that it is only available for about 6 weeks in the year.

Liquid Metal Terminators

Working on the technology side of the house, I am always amazed by Apple and the amazing products that they bring to market. This is a company that I like to follow and each time they release a new product they manage to get the drool factor in me. The amount of innovation that this company churns out is simply unbelievable. Just heard that they got the rights to all the patents from a company called Liquidmetal Technologies. Well, what are they up to now? A new modern metal that they will use for their new devices? Liquidmetal anyway has deemed steel and titanium to have reached the point of diminishing returns.

My hubby's mind seems to be running wild, he says that Apple must be thinking of diversifying into new domains like making special space shuttles with new alloys from Liquidmetal which will enable us to travel to moon and back. Now I would not mind that ride one bit, especially if Apple would be creating that user experience.

Shocking!

Coming back home from work in the evening is the best time of the day. Lovely to be back in your nest with your dearest ones. Today there was the latest edition of the Time magazine also waiting for me. Usually this puts me into even better spirits as that normally means something to browse and read while having a quick evening tea. But the front page took me by shock today. You can read the abridged version of the article here. It may take 10 to 15 years before Afghan women can truly walk alongside men.

Little bunny kept asking me why the lady has an 'auwa' (wound) on her nose. I told her that some terrible people had done that to her. And she replied that the lady in the picture should actually be angry. Shock, anger, sadness was what I was feeling.

Of Sandkastens and birthday parties

T celebrated his birthday in complete style. After couple of weeks of really bad weather it was just perfect to have a nice garden party on a perfect July summer day.

T and his beautiful wife V made sure that everything was taken care of. The highlight for the little ones was the Sandkasten (sandpit), and that kept their little hands busy with their shovels and buckets.

Never thought that a pile of sand could provide for so many hours of pleasure. I loved the food and at the end of the evening I was really full.

V baked some yummy strawberry and peach cakes which was just delicious.

As I am posting this I cant help but think about how nice it would be to have another piece of that yummy peach cake!

Distant past, not really

It seemed like its been ages since our June vacation visiting family in the US. Especially with the sudden dip in the hot summer humid weather here in the last days, I was more than once reminded of the perfect weather we had during our vacation.

Most of the time the kids were in the backyard, even setting up camp in the garden and enjoying nice big pieces of fresh watermelon.

Little bunny had such a roll with her cousins. Today when she started singing the song from Big Time Rush which she had learnt from her cousin brother I knew that the vacation was definitely not something from the distant past for her. The song has some nice lyrics too, especially like the part which goes like:

Go and shake it up What you gotta loose, Go and make your luck with the life you choose

If you want it all, Lay it on the line.It's the only life you got,So you gotta live it big time

You can find the complete lyrics here.

Really Anokha!

Anokha means unique in Sanskrit. My friend K had rightly chosen Anokha as the name for the unique collection of jewellery that she designs. And I found the whole concept very unique. K comes from Bulgaria, lives in Germany and designs her beautiful jewellery here and finally the jewellery is hand crafted by artisans in the lovely city of Jaipur in India.

Her jewellery is indeed a marriage of Indian and Western influences brought together in the designs. Early this week K invited me over to one of the two yearly exhibitions of her collection. I had liked a lot of the individual pieces online and their lovely names and this was my chance to see them and feel them.

The exhibition took place in a quaint little wine and flower boutique in the small town of Nussloch. Kudos to my lovely friend K who manages to do all this as her hobby in addition to having a full time and a very demanding day job.

Some classy fast food

Loved the restaurant Vapiano. Italian food with a twist I would say. They call it a pasta and pizza bar. I really did not know that this was a chain that was located all over the globe. You are presented with a credit card like device against which everything what you choose to eat is charged. Everything is cooked right in front of your eyes and no waiters breathing down your neck coercing you into deciding something you really don't want to eat. Nice interiors and a very lively ambience.

I enjoyed a nice couscous salad with a fiery chili dip.

The huge choice of Italian pasta made it difficult to decide what you want to settle down for.

The chocolate cake was rightly called 'Death by chocolate' perfectly complimented by a nice shot of espresso.
Hubby and me are already looking forward to our next visit there.