38plus: hot summer weekend do’s
It’s been so hot the last days. This weekend broke this year’s heat record, uff. This heat slows everything down. That’s how I made myself confortable:
1. Eating ice-cold watermelon
2. Lying on my bed with nothing but a loose t-shirt on and travelling to Nigeria with this book by Yejide Kilanko: Der Weg der Töchter (Original title: Daughters who walk this path). For a change an African coming of age story. Morayo grows up in the megacity Agaban with her afin (albino) sister. Morayo has a happy childhood until she gets raped by her cousin. Aunty Morenike is the only only she can confide into. Aunty Morineke also carrys a dark secret.
3. Being too lazy to make my own smoothie. But this one from the supermarket with apple, banana, orange, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry and red current is a tasty substitute.
4. Finally I found some sun glasses by Moscot the other day that fit my small face. I enjoy so much that I no longer have to squint my eyes.
5. On Sunday I decided to stay in my tipi not to get roasted by the sun. I am not moving, just lying on my bed and still sweating. Well, it’s incredible 37 degrees inside as well. Looking forward to a summer thunder storm. Then I will do a rain dance and listen to this song by rapper WEEKEND.
Saturday Breakfast
Fresh from the market: Full grain bagel, lemon olives, marinated mozzarella cheese, French tomme de savoie cheese, smoked mackerel and my beloved Indian chai
Rainy sunday fruit flash
Lazy sunday on the couch watching the rain while eating warm apple rhubarb rasberry compot with a dough crust inspired by this recipe with lots of warm vanilla sauce…yum! I added some cinnamon to the recipe and cooked the rhubarb with the apple…
June: Gettin’ Ready
1. Walk In The Sky (feat. Bajka) – Bonobo
2. Run To The Sea – Dave Echo
3. Two Shoes – Cat Empire
4. Dirty Shanty Jeep – Qnoe
5. Busman’s Holiday- Allah-Las
6. The Man Who Sold The World -Nirvana
7. Anti Anti – Bonaparte
8. Restless – Kakkmaddafakka
9. Mopedbart – Hubbabubbaklubb
10. I Would – Oliver Koletzki
11. Out Of The Woods – Foals
12. Sweet Sun – Milky Chance
13. Barfuß Am Klavier – AnnenMayKantereit
Summertime and the living is easy…and so are the clothes
I nearly forgot how it feels like sittung on the balcony on a working day evening with hardly anything on and still feeling comfortably warm and having brightness until late – that makes my energy level go higher and higher – it’s summer time all of a sudden and all of my everyday clothes are too warm.
Here is my favourite outfit in those days…
1. I LOVE this colour and the big cutout at the back from American Apparel – for me a timeless classic in my cupboard
2. The white bunny did not come out of a hat but from a trip to Zurich a few years ago
3. Copper coloured glitter nail polish for a fluffy summer outfit for my nails from American Apparel
4. Sandals from one of my favourite labels Sessùn.
5. Pants inspired by the Palestinian scarf from Cecilie Copenhagen makes me think of my time in Lebanon
May: Travelling solo
1. Kunst Or Ars – Meanderthals
2. I’ve Got You – Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors
3. Rescue Me – Bell, Book And Candle
4. Go Solo (Niklas Ibach Remix) – Tom Rosenthal
5. Kuma – Canson
6. A Town Called Ivanhoe – Mountaineer
7. City Knows Your Name – Chris Coco
8. Li Beirut – Abir Nehme
9. The Last Goodbye – The Kills
10. Bad Girl – Devendra Banhart
11. Stay in The Dark – Lambert
12. Neptune - Maii and Zeid
It’s getting spiny
Only plants with character get their own song…
These spiny friends are not yet on my balcony.
Beirut
There is no time like the present
I just came back from my first business trip outside Europe and my first time in the Middle East. This trip opened my eyes in many ways. Although I am very much into international cultural relations due to my work I realised how many stereotypes I had in my mind that I luckily got rid of now. What I found in Beirut was a modern multicultural city where Muslims and Christians live together in mutual respect, where foreigners encounter great hospitality and honest interest in ones culture. I would say I fell in love with the people.
While there is much work still to be done to overcome the disputed past, the Lebanon is facing new challenges: More than 1.5 million refugees from Syria entered the country since 2013 adding to the 280 000 Palestinians that have already been living in camps for many years now. Furthermore IS on the doorstep… I admire the attitude of the people very much. Upon asking them about the fact that the former invaders are now entering the country as refugees I got the reply: “It’s not the people that invaded us it was the Syrian state”. To get along with the uncertain future of the country the locals developed their own strategy by deciding to live in the fleeting present as there is no time like the present.
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When strolling around town you are constantly listening to an orchestra of honking, the cars playing their unique symphony to get the organic driving flow to work without crashing. I really like the old Mercedes-taxis you can see around in all colours. To get around town do rather take a “Servicetaxi” (transporting several passengers at once) which is many times cheaper. When taking a taxi do not forget to bargain the price beforehand as there are no taximeters. A taxi to the airport costs 20 USD.
As I haven’t had time to stroll around town as I normally do on holidays I had to trust coincidence to stumble into a store I can recommend, but actually I made it!
Slept at:
35 rooms: spacious rooms, very clean, great hot shower and very comfy beds. The breakfast was also very good. They call themselves the trendiest Hotel in town. Well you can think about that what you want, but at least it’s the trendiest hotel fallen out of a catalogue.
My tip: Next time I want to stay at BEYT, a place created by three dreamers that set up a home as they would have loved to grow up in as kids. On the first floor of a traditional Lebanese building, the guesthouse is situated in Mar Mkhayel – Beirut’s Hipster area.
Shopping:
zawal (Armenia Street, Geara Building, Mar Mikhael, Tel.: +9611444110): Contemporary and traditional artisanal objects and up-cycled design items.
Plan BEY (next to zawal): Art gallery that also sells really good postcards with photos showing the Beirut of the past.
April: Into the wild
1. Walk On The Wild Side – Lou Reed
2. Nouvelle Vague – Waiting For The Man
3. Tal vez – She y Porta
4. Amniotico – Andrea Echeverri
5. Thrift shop feat. Wanz – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
6. Mosquito (Original Mix) - Romeofoxtrott
7. Pizeta – Klezmer (Acid Pauli Remix)
8. Dancing mood – Guns Of Navarone
9. How never – Beatamines & David Jach
10. Un Libro - Edgardo Donato Romeo Gavio
11. Dreaming Youth – Mano Le Tough
12. Été Pluvieux - Dirty Doering
13. Berlin – RY X
Turkish style stuffed green peppers with dill-mint-yoghurt dip
It’s a sunny saturday but the sun still doesn’t have the power to warm up the air properly. So what to eat?
I decided on something light and fresh but giving enough energy to warm my body from the inside: Stuffed green peppers turkish style with dill-mint-yoghurt-dip. It is the recipe of a former very good friend how I kept it in my mind.
Ingredients for 2:
Stuffed peppers
10 small green peppers (I always buy them at a Turkish shop)
200g mixed minced organic meat
100 g risotto rice
1 onion
2 table spoons of seasoning mix for dolmades (it’s a mixture of the following spices in case you cannot find it: Red capsicum, coriander, curcuma, cumin, pepper, salt, thyme, laurel, garlic, fenugreek, mustard flour)
Ground pepper
Salt
Tomato concentrate
Fry the chopped onion until golden and mix with the minced meat. When the meat is nearly done add the seasoning mix, pepper and salt. Then add rice, water and a bit of concentrated tomato. In the meanwhile wash the green peppers, remove the top and the seeds. Prepare a huge pot with only about five centimeters of water on the bottom. Put some peeled garlic cloves inside, tomato concentrate and some beef stock. When the rice is soft put the minced meat-rice stuffing in the peppers and stack them in the pot, add a lid and cook for 30 min until the peppers are soft.
Dill-Mint-Yoghurt-Dip:
300g natural yoghurt (3,5%)
1/2 cucumber
2 fresh garlic cloves
dill
mint
salt
ground pepper
Peel the cucumber and rasp. Finely chop dill, mint and garlic. Mix everything with the yoghurt. Add salt and pepper. Put the dip in the fridge so the aroma can get to work.
I serve fresh mint-tea with it. Enjoy!
Almost half done with the book already. Maybe I’ll even manage this weekend *g*. A bit sad but very well written and quite insightful! Thank you so much. I’d also like the pillow, but I guess it’s not available here in the US.