Friday 28 February 2014

Fasching Ferien

Hello!
After a long week I now get a week off which is "Fasching Ferien". Fasching is a carnival where everyone dresses up and eats doughnuts - why I have no clue as I don't really take part in it (apart from the eating doughnuts part).
Tomorrow my Mum is flying over and we're going to Bayerischer Wald - Zwiesel for a week! Our plan was actually a skiing holiday but as the weather is like Spring I don't think we'll have much luck with any snow, not that I'm complaining, I love the sun! So plan B is to catch up with friends and family and generally eat as much as we can.
I won't be able to write any posts as I'm not taking my laptop and won't have any internet there (apart from my phone) so I will take lots of photos and post them on here when I'm back next week!
Adios!
Larissa

PS
I forgot to mention today we all got doughnuts in school because of Fasching, yay!!

Tuesday 25 February 2014

Pear and Quark Pastry Parcels

Yesterday I started the week off with my usual swimming and after school I went to the gym; in the past three weeks I've managed to go twice a week! It might not seem like that much but for me its a milestone, I also find the more you go the more you actually want to go back.
In the evening I made up a recipe as I had some "Blaetter Teig" - puff pastry in the fridge. It's pretty yummy so I thought I'd share the recipe:

I cut up a pear, added some sugar and cinnamon (and a bit of ginger), threw it in a pot and turned up the heat.
I cut up my pastry into squares and put a blob of Quark in the middle of each one - and covered it in cinnamon.

 When the pears were soft I added them to the pastry.

 I folded up the pastry into little parcels...


And sprinkled them with cinnamon again!
I put them in the oven for around 10 - 15 minutes, until they were lightly brown.
 This is how they came out!






Yum yum yum, easy recipe and the pear and quark is healthy! Yay!

UPDATE: I made this recipe again last night, but if you add a few blobs of apfelmus into the parcel before you cook it it turns into mini apfelstrudels! (I was also lazy and cut the whole section of cooking the pears beforehand - I put them in raw and into the oven and they still tasted good! Saves some time too).

Sunday 23 February 2014

Breakfast Plans and Westbad

Hello!
On Saturday me and Jorg planned on trying out a new cafe for breakfast. The website looked cute and the food wasn't too pricey, so around 9am we ventured out to go to "Cafe Kitchenette". When we got there we went in and found that it was literally tiny and packed! Someone told us to wait (although it's not like we could really move anyway) and after a few minutes we were told as we didn't reserve we couldn't stay. We left a little disappointed but at the same time relieved we didn't have to cram into the "box" and eat breakfast there.
Instead we found an old fashioned Bavarian Cafe round the corner and had breakfast there. The woman who served us was really nice, the food was good but nothing really spectacular!

 Jorg went for weiss bier with some sausages and bread (however I never got the chance to take a photo of the food as in one second it was gone!)



I had tea and some breadrolls with jam - nice and simple!

In the evening we went to Westbad. Basically a swimming pool but a bit more expensive as there's some added extras! You can stay until 11pm (which we did) and its around 11 euros for 4 hours. Inside theres a normal swimming pool for lengths, a baby pool, a kids pool that has a current in the water and a slide etc and the best one is a heated outside pool with salt water! Included in the price is also the use of a steam room - basically like a sauna but with steam that has aromatherapy oils. I sadly have no photos as I obviously didn't have my phone with me in the water, but it really was such a relaxing evening. We splashed around in the outside pool, did a few lengths inside, had a ride on the slide and then went into the steam room. We took a cold shower and then repeated the whole process!

Today my gym buddy couldn't make it to the gym so I took Jorg instead - who's now joined my gym! It was really good having him there as I didn't know how to use all the weight machines so he showed me. After we visited his Mum for coffee and cake. All in all I had a pretty active weekend! (Minus the coffee and cake...) I'm currently searching for good music to use for tap dancing - any suggestions?!

Saturday 15 February 2014

Saturday shopping

Today me and Jorg spent the day running around Munich (but quite happily, as it was 15 degrees today!). Our day started off with going to the travel agent to book our holiday; after we went to the hairdressers for Jorg and then went to Pasing Arcaden (after getting on the wrong train).
Already tired, we stopped off at Vapiano. This is an Italian restaurant but done in a kind of "fast food" way. You get a card, order your food at the counter, get given a little device so you can sit down again, and when the food is ready the device beeps to let you know. Everything you buy gets put on the card so at the end when you leave they just swipe your card and you pay. Quite cool, and the food is good!

 Another quirky thing about this restaurant is that on each table they have salt, pepper, oil, AND a basil and rosemary plant!
Pluck as much as you want and put it on your pizza/pasta/antipasti!

 We shared a bruschetta pizza; tomatoes, rucola and parmesan. It was so good!

After we hit the shops, I bought a cute little sound speaker from Philips for just 20 euros to plug into my phone/laptop/mp3 and it is surprisingly really loud!

It looks like a little honey cone. I've been wanting one for a while and now I've started teaching tap dancing I thought it would come in handy!






I also bought a few other little things: a little shopping bag, a new cup with a happy pig on it, and essentials (nail polish, shower gel etc etc).
After shopping for ages we got some coffee/hot chocolate and a doughnut and set off home! So tired now and have to rest before going to the gym tomorrow morning.
Have a good evening!

Italy here we come!

I haven't been able to post as I've been busy all week, but today was an exciting day as we've booked our holiday to Italy!




































Saturday 8 February 2014

Stuart der Schaf and other things

On Thursday evening Jorg got me a little present as I always complain I'm too cold at night...
This is Stuart der Schaf! (Stuart the Sheep), he's a hot water bottle and cuddly too! Never will I be cold at night again.

On Friday evening me and Jorg went round a friends (who lives just down the road from me) for a drink with a few other people. A nice relaxed evening and it's so nice to be able to just walk down the road and you're at home.
Today me and Jorg went into town; we bought nothing interesting (we were going to book our holiday but didn't realise the travel agent closed so early!) but I did buy a new pretty red kettle! We stopped off at Karstadt Oberpollinger to look at clothes and grab something to eat - they have such a good selection of freshly made food. This time we went with warm focaccia sandwiches, mine with mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, cress and balsamic vinegar. Jorg's with chicken, sweetcorn, carrots, cress and honey mustard. Massive portion and really was yummy.
At the moment the weather is around 8 to 10 degrees, blue skies and soo nice and warm it feels like Spring!! It's certainly put a spring in my step! Tomorrow I'm babysitting the whole day and then the weekend will already be over.
Have a good Saturday :)

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Popcorn Wednesday!

Today I didn't feel so well but I'm feeling a lot better now. A while ago I bought some popcorn kernels and today I finally tried them out! I have a microwave and have made popcorn in it before, but it's now stored at the top of my cupboard as I never really microwave anything. Self made popcorn takes the same amount of time as microwaveable popcorn; not to mention it's healthier (popcorn is high in fibre) and cheaper too!
All you have to do is:
-Put some oil in a pot,
-When heated cover the bottom of the pot with your popcorn kernels (not too many, it should be a thin layer),
-Put the lid on,
-Wait until the popping stops/slows down considerably
Done!
Season with what you want (do it when the popcorn is still hot so it sticks to the popcorn, you can also season before - when you put the kernels in the pot).
Today I went with sugar and cinnamon!

It tastes just as good as microwaveable popcorn without all the added extras of god knows what that they put in, and I only paid around 1 euro 50 for 500 grams. On the back it says to use 50 grams but as I don't have scales I just guessed. I think it was less than 50 grams and I got so much popcorn!! Whereas buying one portion of microwaveable popcorn is already 1 euro. Cheap, easy and healthy!

Monday 3 February 2014

Swim Swim Swimming!

Today in swimming we had to swim 20 laps (1km) in half an hour. I didn't manage to do it all but I did manage 10 laps (500m) and as I usually die after two laps I'm quite happy with that! It was good starting the week off with some hardcore swimming.
Other than that I went food shopping today and thought I would be adventurous and buy soya milk as it was in sale. Sadly I've discovered I don't like it, it smells so strong of soy beans it really puts me off! But I've only tried it drinking it straight, so I'll have to try it in coffee or a smoothie.
I've also been feeling like I need some more inspiration for (healthy) vegetarian food.. everyday is a pasta day at the moment! Any suggestions??
Tomorrow is school and then babysitting!
Gute nacht

Sunday 2 February 2014

The Midnight Bazaar

Last night I met up with a few friends and went to a Nacht Flohmarkt (a massive hall with drinks, food, music, and stalls where people sell their clothes). It was great!
Taking a break


















I got some high waisted shorts from mango (although maybe they're a bit too high waisted, I'll have to wait and see when Summer comes!) and a top that's topshop petite and fits perfectly! The only problem is that you can't try the stuff on there but it adds to the fun when you get home and try on everything you got. These "fleamarkets" take place in the evening at go on till midnight or maybe a bit longer, which is perfect if you want a lie in on the weekend!