France, please let me love you..

I’ve been in France since more than one year now and i must admitt that i didn’t fell in love with it yet. My mom said that maybe when moving to paris and working with french people i will start to like france but unfortunately that hasn’t happened so far.

It is not that france is an ugly country or that all french people are bad people, it’s just that i don’t like it… well, maybe I could even love it if there were no french people in france but i guess than it wouldn’t be called france anymore..

Since i have another 5 months to go i figured that i don’t want to stay in this situation, i don’t want to come back home and having to tell people that i stayed one year and a half in a country i don’t like and in which 90% of ist inhabitants are simply not loveable (i tried really hard to find a nice word).

So instead of sinking into my state of dislike i want to try to find the nice sides of france. I tried to do that already with french people but since I wasn’t so successful with that, thi stime I will only focus on the country itself.

I plan to make a post about every nice place i come across in France in the hope that highlighting the good will turn the bad less obvious.

Im in France.. again...

Tuesday I arrived in Paris... I arrived at 10:00 and thought I could just go to my new appartment and take a rest from my journey... but allthough I should know better, I had forgotten that in france everything is so much more slowly than everywere else.. so when I looked at my two watches in the first quiet moment, it was already 14:00..
You must think that these 4 hours were filled with intensive quality time, but in france things tend to be different!
I had spend half of that time waiting for my makler and half of the time listening to her colleague who was explaining me how to clean my new found appartment..
But didn't we should always try to see the good side of things?
so I spend this wonderful hours with sun bathing, getting a tan and a free workshop on professional appartment cleaning! how great is that?!

After I unpacked my luggage and tried to stuff it in my spacious 9m² room which somhow includes also a kitchen, a shower and a toilett (i always wanted to be able to watch tv while sitting on the toilett.. but unfortunately i don't have a tv) I finally got my well earned rest...

The day after was my first working day...
I will be replacing a trainee... so im the trainee after the trainee..
She showed me what to do and what not and so on..
We will see how things will turn out there...

Now im just trying to get things done and i have the feeling i am constantly spending lots of money on things i need but dont want to spend on...
i get my internet installed (well, it will be done in two weeks i hope), I need to buy a metro ticket for about 60€ per month and I will invest almost 100€ in a ticket back to La Rochelle only because i really need to go there to pick my things up...
frustrating... thats the word that comes to my mind in those moments, moments i am having all the time even if im here only since three days!!!

Do i sound negative?
well thats not my intention, it just happens to be the truth...

anyways, I will leave my Mc Donalds seat now to make it free for the hungry people that come here to eat and not like me to use the internet only...

And inshallah I will be back feeling much more positive!

on a journey - an endless one?

Im back in Germany, back at my moms home but also at my home???
Maybe some people have no home and I am one of them..
Maybe it's not just some people but everybody when confronted with certain circumstances? One girl once said that for her home is the place where the people live she loves.. in that case I would be a true citizen of the world!

Being with my family makes me feel happy, loved, relaxed but not at home.
Or maybe at my grandmothers house I feel a bit at home, probably coz I used to live there.
I tend to feel at home in places I live, even for some months.. but isn't that totally normal?
I was at home in the appartment back in Dortmund, I was at home in my appartment in La Rochelle and I guess I will be at home again in my new appartment in Paris.

I used to feel somehow homeless and wished for a stable place that would be my home forever.. but I guess that is not supposed to happen simply because it is impossible to feel at home when there is no such thing. And maybe I shouldn't be sad about that but just waite to see what is prepared for me, where my journey will take me and where I will find my next home and for how long it will be my home..
And I am sure that one day I will have a home, a home that will be my home forever!




I had a lovely time in La Rochelle, mostly in the end though..
But I was at home and I was with people I loved and I am very sure that wherever life will take me I will find a place I feel at home and I will be with people I love!

more of Oma's recipies

Klöße mit Rinderbraten und Sauerkraut

Dumplings with roast beef and sauerkraut

This recipe is my grandmothers Sunday stable, when she was a child her mother and grandmother used to prepare this meal every Sunday and as she moved out she carried on with this tradition and now passed it on to me.

Since my grandmothers comes from Silesia, a region which used to be German and belongs now to Poland, this recipe does not represent German dumplings as they are different and also differ slightly from region to region.

the stock/broth:

“greens” (carrots, parsley, celery, leek)

a piece of garlic (or an onion) larded with some cloves

one star-anise (this is optional and an addition I made)

Bones preferably with some meat on it, like a piece of the leg or rips

at the end of the boiling-process I add some salt

put all these ingredients in cold water and put it on to boil for about one or more hours, the longer it boils the more intense the flavor will be.

You can add to the stock/broth whatever you feel belongs in it. I usually add whatever I have at the moment and leave out whatever I forgot to buy. Creativity is the key to success.

The meat

again, you can take whatever type of meat you prefer. My grandmother used to do that recipe with pork but since I became Muslim she changed the recipe.

When you have put the stock to boil, wash the meat and marinate it with mustard, salt and pepper. Optional you can lard it with some cloves.

Cover the meat with some foil and put it back into the refrigerator until the broth is finished.

(the broth can never cook long enough, but after about one hour it should be ready to use)

Take the meat and sear it until it gets a brown golden color, pour a bit of broth into the pan etc. to stop the frying process. Put the meat with the pan in the preheated oven at about 200° (the temperature depends also on how much time you have, for example today I have two hours, so I think 150° are enough). Pour some broth over the meat from time to time and turn the meat. Let it stew for about 1 hour or more until the meat gets soft.

Take the meat out of the sauce and cover it with some aluminum foil while u finish the sauce by thickening it with some sauce binder/thickener.

The dumplings

As soon as you have put the meat in the oven, put on water to boil for the potatoes.

The potatoes should be mealy/floury, this is very important!!!

When the potatoes are ready, peel them and smash them with a ricer. Add a a hint of nutmeg and salt as much as you like, I prefer a lot :)

now keep adding flour and work it together until you reach the correct consistence, it should not be sticky or wet and not to try. This part is rather tricky since I have no fixed amount and the amount of flour needed depends also on the consistency of the potatoes.

Form the mass into little balls and place them in water that has just began to boil. As soon as the dumplings are in the water, turn down the heat and stir slightly to make sure the dumplings don't stick to the bottom of the jar.

Turn up the heat again but make sure that the water doesn't start to boil.

The dumplings are ready when the start swimming on the surface.

The sauerkraut

Prepare it according to the instructions on the packaging. If you feel it is to sour for your taste, boil it with a little bit of water, pour the water away and add some butter. Stir and serve.

You can replace the sauerkraut with any vegetables you want, like for example red cabbage or Brussels sprouts which are both very typical for German cuisine.

It tastes amazing if you cut the cold dumplings in slices and fry them in oil and butter and serve them with the warmed up sauce and whatever is left from the meal.

So that's why I always try to prepare some extra.

Omas Rezepte

Gemüseeintopf

Verschiedene Gemüse (Suppengrün) klein schneiden und mit etwas Öl, Wasser und Salz andünsten. Inzwischen Kartoffeln kleinschneiden. Nun alles Gemüse mit einem Glas Wasser und einem Glas Brühe fertig kochen und Petersilie hinzufügen.

Bohneneintopf

Lammfleisch mit Knoechen in heißem Wasser ansetzen und kochen bis das Fleisch weich ist. Fleisch entfernen und abkühlen lassen. Kartoffeln und später Bohnen in die Brühe geben und fertig kochen. Fleisch von Knochen entfernen und ebenfalls zum Eintopf hinzugeben.

Kompott

Obst kleinschneiden, mit Wasser bedecken, Zucker nach geschmack hinzugeben und kurz aufkochen.

Hefeklöse mit Pflaumenmuß soße

Mehl in eine große Schüssel geben, Trockenhefe hinzufügen. In Milch ein Stück Butter auflösen und zum Mehl geben. Gut kneten bis alles gut vermischt ist und der Teig die gewünschte Konsistenz hat. Teig zugedeckt und bei Wärme eine Stunde gehen lassen. Teig gleichmäßig ausrollen und mit einem Glas Klöße ausstechen. Die Klöße in Wasserdampf ca. 10 minuten ziehen lassen.
Für die Soße Wasser und Milch zu gleichen Teilen warm werden lassen. Mehl in kaltem Wasser anrühren und langsam in die kochende Milch gießen. Pflaumenmuß unterrühren und mit einem Stückchen Butter abschmecken.

Kirsch-Kaltschale

Sauerkirschen aus dem Glas mit saft aufkochen und ein halbes oder ganzes Päckchen Puddingpulver (Vanille) unterrühren. Eventuell Zucker und/oder Wasser hinzufügen.

Quarkkeulchen

Quark, Mehl, Ei, eine gekochte und geriebene Kartoffel, Backpulver und Salz gut verrühren. In viel Bratfett/Öl braten und mit Apfelmuß servieren.

Semmelbrösel (zu Blumenkohl)

Viel Butter ganz heiß werden lassen, Semmelbrösel hinzugeben und gut rühren. Eine Prise Salz hinzufügen.

Rinderrouladen

Rouladen mit Senf, Salz und Pfeffer bestreichen. Saure Gurke und Zwiebel in die Roulade einrollen, zustecken und scharf anbraten. Mit Brühe ablöschen und köcheln lassen bis Rouladen weich sind. (lieber zu lange als zu kurz schmoren)

We won!!!

Sometimes I seem to forget how nice it is to be german and how many nice germans are out there!!!
Today was one moment that brought me back home and evoqued patriotic feelings in me..
I tend to be isolated from everything happening around me because one of my major flaws is that i don't watch news..
so when i checked my mails today and saw that germany won the eurovision song contest i had to look for that girl, and here i found her.. Lena...



and i love her, her and her song..
and i love being german...

You are so over - La Rochelle

When ever something new starts, you know that it will be over sooner or later.
Thats exactly what happened to La Rochelle and my time here, its OVER.
Next week are my final exams and then im go-gone-gone...

How I feel about that?
all in all very happy actually, because I know that what will come after will be so much more fun, or at least I hope so.. And also because I can see an end to my studies and that makes me excited..

Though La Rochelle is a very lovely and romantic city and I definitively plan on coming back for a romantic weekend sometime ;)