This is for those of you who know how to download music, I don’t. Who like to read, who like to cook, and experiment with new foods.
Everyone we meet teaches us something, and I really hope I can share something of myself with you too. Nanna Ev used to say we learn something new every day. I miss her.
Was it January or February this year that Emile told me that Mick Jagger was in The Rolling Stones? Sorry I didn’t know that. It’s only in the past 2 months that I have heard their music and been able to identify it as them. I have found a new love in music. I can safely say I like every genre, not so much the heavy metal screaming head banging angry gahhhh though. For those of you that can download music, or know how to use you tube, maybe someone can help Grandma? Here is some of the music I have been listening to recently, shared with me by people I have met (in no particular order).
§ Hilltop Hoods – in particular their Restrung album
§ All of it really – please listen to their song Walk On -The calling.
§ Clueso – German band- the lead singer is a wee bit cute
§ Adele – I know its crying in the bathroom after a breakup music- but I like it
§ Philipp Poisel – ich und du I like the lyrics.
§ Paul and Frick Kalkbrenner – Sky and sand
§ Tim Bendzko- die Welt retten – he is a bit cute too
§ Tiesto
§ Above and Beyond
§ Music played on the Titanic – not the soundtrack (Irish music)
§ The dirty dancing sound track – I saw the movie for the first time about 2 weeks ago.
§ American Slang
There is more, but that’s enough for now I think. Don’t want to overwhelm you. I would like to thank Meike, Trent, Ulrike and Nele for introducing me to most of this music.
Do you like a good book? Do you have a favourite?
I think everyone should read Human Rights Overboard. Maybe not all at once. If you are after a light read, this is not for you, but you should be aware of the immigration system in Australia. Read Gypsy Boy, (Amy, Sarah, this is the book I was talking about in Nice). I left that when I was in Bern, it is about a young boy growing up in England, moving around a lot, and questioning his place in the world, his family and his sexuality. I think it was written as an auto-biography. I always type “auto-biography” with a capital a. Why? That’s not a book, just a question. I just finished reading The Secret Scripture set in Ireland, which I didn’t know until I started reading it, Kim- you might like it, only due to its Irish heritage I mean. I have to say it was a struggle to read, until the last few chapters. What else have I read? Mum sent me a package about 2 months ago with some much needed and craved vegemite, and some books. Between her and grandma, I was sent 4 books, 3 of which are about mental health issues (kind of) and one about a girl growing up in Africa. Fitting, but as I was feeling incredibly isolated at the castle, not for any other reason than its remote location and after having moved so far in such a short period of time, books on mental health and the female condition were not what I wanted to read. But I am very thankful none the less. I have found 20 chickens for a saddle hard to get into, so I will be leaving that here for Eddi, his mum is a development worker in Africa, and he started reading it, but gave it back before he left. For anyone who has not read The Book Thief I cannot recommend another book more highly. The book exchange that I have found at most hostels has been a god send. If you like reading, and have read a book that you think someone else might like, lend it to them, and encourage them to pass it on to someone else, by the same token, if you are leant a book, and you didn’t enjoy it, or get around to reading it, give it back to the person who leant it to you. You can’t take anything with you when you die; sharing books with friends is a privilege. NEVER throw a book away; no matter how great or shit you thought it was. There are second hand bookshops everywhere, op shops and libraries that will gladly take them. I am afraid The Kindle is ruining the joy of reading, turning the page, being impatient and skipping to the end to read the last paragraph. I am now reading The Ginger Tree.
Do you like to cook? Try new foods? Experiment in the kitchen?
Living at the castle, cooking with German ingredients, which are on the whole the same as in Melbourne, but there are a few foods I hadn’t tried before. Also cooking for people with different tastes and inventing new dishes has been lots of fun.
I went up to Chiltern, in central Victoria about a year ago to visit Dad and Sue. When I was there dad made dinner; boiled potatoes with stewed apples, and some other things. When he told me about it I was kind of like umm yuk, but I’ll try it of course. It was great. Funnily enough I turned up at a hostel (The Black Sheep) in Cologne in Germany, it was a Thursday. The lady who checked me in asked me if I would like to have dinner with everyone that night. It was free, and the idea was we would cook a local dish together. What a great evening. There was probably about 7 or 8 of us I think, mostly travelling alone. We peeled onions, potatoes, apples, and made Himmel and Erde [sky and earth] a traditional dish apparently from that region. It was basically the same as when dad had made it. About 6 weeks later I arrived at my first work-away spot in a small town between Berlin and Hamburg. About a week in I was going to cook brussel sprouts with Meike, we sat at the table outside in the sunshine chopping the ends off, and preparing the sprouts. I was one to hate brussel sprouts, but cooked like this I actually like them. Basically what you do is boil some potatoes (peeled or not peeled – es ist egal), and place them in the bottom of an oven proof dish, then sprinkle a thin layer of grated cheese over the top, at the same time once the brussel sprouts are prepared- the outer leaf is removed and the base chopped off, wash them and chop the bigger ones in half, so they are all basically the same size. Now this is the important part, if you boil them for too long they will be sour and taste like shit, so boil them until they are just soft, in the meantime peel and chop some apples into cubes, do you know how to stew apples? The best thing is a medium heat; all the apples in the pot, with not too much water, Ulrike told me yesterday that apples are pretty much all air, that’s why my stomach rumbles after I eat one. So, now you have the boiled potatoes in the tray, with some cheese on top, then once the apples are soft and semi mashed, so you have some big bits and some runny bits, drain the sprouts, add a tiny bit of salt, and stir into the apples, so it’s all combined, but lumpy, of course. Now spread the apple-sprout mix over the potatoes, a bit more cheese on top, and bake until the cheese is melted and a little brown. YUM. For a carnivores delight- add some cooked chicken or bacon between the potatoes and apple sprouts. If you do make this, let me know, it’s so yummy- I think.
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