January always feels like a liminal month to me. Not a clean cut, not a full beginning, more like a soft corridor between worlds. Even though the calendar insists we are already well into the new year, energetically we are still shedding the skin of the Year of the Snake while slowly sensing the hooves of the Horse approaching.
If I was to describe some of my favorite foods and dishes I would say whatever one can pile into a bowl and mix together to savor all the flavors. Not only of each individual ingredient, but also as each item intermingles with the other there are a range of flavor explosions! That is the real kick I get from a dish.
It could not have been a more perfect day for our day tour on the river Saale. Gorgeous blue skies with a warming sun promised to make the trip unforgettable. Packing the kids into the car I picked up my friend at the Weimar train station and we headed to Camburg, where we met with Mario Brömel who was going to guide us along the river in canoes for an hour-ride to the vineyards of Weingut Zahn. We set off on the Saale through unspoilt nature, enjoying the tranquility of the nature around us. This route is one of the most picturesque river routes in Thuringia where the landscape is dotted with castles, vineyards and hills, and paddlers can make stops at the various points on their journey.
If you are a fanatic for the perfectly manicured lawns then you are probably extremely wary about the ubiquitous common dandelions! Our early memories are probably those of threading the vibrant yellow flowers on a string to wear as necklaces or trumpeting on the stalks until the milky liquid stuck to the lips. The last thing we thought of back then was eating any part of the dandelion!
2015 is well underway with the last week of January already upon us! My schedule has picked up and the quiet few weeks around the Holidays have evaporated. They gave me plenty of time to contemplate about the year past and my goals and core desires for the new year. These thoughts brought me into January as I sorted my feelings and sifted through these goals my aim was to define what would shape and characterize the new year for me.
It looks it’s going to be another snow-less Christmas this year again. Last Christmas was mild, the temperatures hardly falling below 0 degrees Celsius. This year we had a spot of snow. It made my heart flutter a bit, but that fluttering disappeared soon enough when the next morning I had to slip and slide to get to my car, and scratch it free of the thick ice. I love all the Christmas spirit but I can often do without the cold and snow that comes with it.
“Grünes Thüringen” – will bring the wide and plentiful thick forests of Thuringia to mind. For me however Thuringia has a more colorful landscape with abundant bounties of vegetables that this fertile state provides. Cauliflower, kohlrabi, broccoli and a wide variety of cabbages are only some of the types of vegetables that are amply found around the capital of the state, Erfurt. Dig a little deeper and one will find that Thuringia also boasts of cultivating fine aromatic asparagus and after Bavaria it is the second largest herb growing region in Germany.
It’s been a while! I’ve been missing around here for the past several weeks – I know but my thoughts have been here. Summer has taken control of me and all my time. While we are enjoying the long warm days and evenings, I’ve been engulfed with several projects and photo jobs that have dominated most of my time. It’s been a very interesting time around here.