Made in Germany 18 - Sunflowers and Wine

We lived in a small village about 10 kilometers away from Tübingen. I often biked to Tübingen along back roads, a very enjoyable ride. Sometimes the entire family biked to town just for some delicious Italian gelato and then back home again. A peaceful, low-key outing.

This is one of the views we had during those bike rides, of sunflowers, the church in the neighbor village and the hills covered with vineyards.

It spelled out one word:

Summer

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Delicious Summer Food

In the summer when it is really hot I seldom like to cook dinner. We all feel that fresh cool food is way more appropriate. It's the time for delicious salads!

The family favorite is Caprese - tomatoes, mozzarella, basil leaves, olive oil, aceto balsamico, salt and pepper, and a good ciabatta to go with it, accompanied by a refreshing rosé wine - ah, that's the life!

Caprese prepared by Kaefer

We also love to create Southwestern style salads with tomatoes, some greens, onions, cucumber, avocado, some spicy chicken, a dollop of sour cream and tortilla strips or garlic bread.

And sometimes the Geek shows his artistic side with some radishes...

What is your favorite food to eat for dinner on hot summer days?

Celebrating the Joy of Gardening

A couple of weeks ago, the local nursery where I usually shop for all my plants and gardening needs celebrated its 115th anniversary with a wonderful midsummer night. I love to go there because the moment you step into the nursery you are transferred into a different world - a world of color, scent and peacefulness. The staff is friendly and incredibly knowledgeable - there is no question they cannot answer. 90% of all the plants come from local growers and they offer a lot of organic stuff. Their vegetables so far have never disappointed me.

Being a regular customer, Kaefer and I attended their midsummer night, like so many other people. There were cookies and lemonade and some yummy fiesta food.

You could spin the wheel and win a plant (Kaefer did).

 You could look at beautiful roses and potted plants, and of course there were rows of veggies.

Water tickled from a fountain, and someone played the guitar nearby.

Toward the end of the evening we attended a demonstration how to plant hanging baskets for a shady spot and a big plant for a mainly sunny location - didn't they turn out beautifully?

Do you want to see my favorites? These guys - I just adore them!

The Owls are Long Gone...

... but there are always the photos, and they will stay with us.

My favorite one of the family of Great Horned Owls was Mama Owl. Sometimes I had the feeling that, the way she looked at us, she actually recognized us after a certain time (I mean, we were there almost every evening). Well, I know, she probably did not. But I can dream, can't I? Anyway, she was a great character and I was lucky to get some great shots of her.

Doesn't she look perky?

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Vision and Verb: Time to Slow Down

Today I'm over at Vision and Verb, thinking it's time to slow down. Please come on over!

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Made in Germany 17 - Farmers Markets

Farmers markets belong to German life. In Tübingen we had a farmers market in the market square right in front of the town hall every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In addition to that there was a downright wonderful gourmet market in one of the little church squares every Saturday morning.

The big market day was Friday. I loved to shop there. Kaefer was in her stroller, happily chewing on a soft pretzel while I pushed her to my favorite booths, buying fresh fruit and veggies, beautiful flowers. I never bought flowers in a flower shop, only at the market. There were big booths where you could get all sorts of fruit and veggies, and there were those where a farm woman would sell her produce, potatoes and some cabbage, apples and pumpkins.

No matter what the weather, the market would be there. Rain or shine, hail or snow. Only a few times did some of the sellers not reach the market because of some heavy snow. But usually you would tough it out, as a seller and a buyer.

Because - it's not only buying produce (and cheese, meat and bread as well for that matter). It's talking with the farmers, meeting up with friends, a color feast for the eyes, sitting in a little street cafe and watching market life - it is community. I felt something was not quite right when I missed the Friday market. The weekend just started on the wrong foot.

When I was a child, my mother took me to the farmers market every Wednesday and Friday. At that time, back in the 60's and early 70's, farmers markets had a little extra attraction that most of them are lacking today: the "Marktschreier", the sellers who would praise their goods loudly, yelling the prices and the great quality of their product. I felt like being at a circus, and I enjoyed it tremendously. Every seller tried to outdo the other ones with wittier slogans - it was hilarious. But it really wasn't such a fierce competition, sellers were friendly with each other. It was part of market life and they definitely enjoyed it.

I miss that kind of "circus".

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Reflections in Glass

Kat at The Kat Eye View of the World had a beautiful post of reflections in glass on her blog, and asked us to join in with our own photos..

In the Exploratorium, San Francisco

 

I love to take pictures of reflections, and when I looked through my archive I came up with a few of them that I would love to share here.

Vancouver, BC

I thought this reflection in one of the tall buildings in Vancouver, BC were just supercool.

Berlin, Germany

Inside the glass dome of the Reichstagsgebäude in Berlin

Same place in the evening; the reflected purple chairs are in the chamber of the Bundestag (parliament) which is on ground level.

I love to take pictures of reflections in traffic mirrors, especially when it is such a lovely old house like here in Herrenberg, Germany.

Strictly speaking, this is not a reflection in glass...

The Geek and I while we were still dating.