Retired from a long working life as secretary/assistant in UN and EU institutions. Freelance stress counsellor and proofreader/copyeditor. Now living in Berlin.
1 medium red cabbage, trimmed and finely sliced (I had about 700 g cabbage after peeling, trimming and slicing).
250 ml cranberry juice
250 ml orange juice
2-4 tblsp goosefat or duckfat or vegetable oil
2 medium red onions, chopped
Balsamic vinegar
Raspberry vinegar
1 small glass cranberries
For the spice bag: A generous knob of ginger, sliced, 4 bay leaves, 6 juniper berries, 6 cloves, 10 black peppercorns, 1 cinnamon stick, broken into a couple of pieces, and 2 star anise.
A little bit of maizena, salt, pepper, sugar.
Day 1: Marinate the cabbage overnight in apple- and orange juice. Stir once or twice and pack the cabbage down tightly each time.
Day 2: Sauté the chopped onions in fat or oil.
Add cabbage with juices, stir, then stir in most of the cranberries and add the spice bag. Season with salt.
Simmer 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, seasoning along the way with cranberries and balsamic and raspberry vinegar. Some might want to add a little bit of fish sauce for an oriental flair.
Depending how sweet the vinegars and the cranberries are, some might want to add sugar as well.
Finish with the maizena, according to personal preference.
Refrigerate overnight.
Remove the spice bag and reheat to serve. Leftovers are great in and with many types of sandwiches.
Craving Thai flavours but out of Thai curry paste? Fret not. If you have most of the below ingredients, you can improvise.
400 g (I like to have leftovers for the day after) fish fillets – for example cod or heilbutt or both, in bite-sized pieces
2 tblsp oil
2 tblsp tomato paste
3 stalks lemon grass, trimmed and chopped
1 knob galangal, chopped
1 whole head of garlic, peeled, trimmed and chopped
5 medium red onions, peeled and quartered
7 small aubergines – the round ones approx 5 cm diam. (could also have been green beans or sugar snap peas), or a mixture of all three.
10 lime leaves
2 tblsp fish sauce
Chili, in whichever form is available. I used a dollop of this: https://www.hellemoller.eu/2020/10/13/chili-sauce-a-made-with-red-and-orange-chilis-from-the-freezer/
1 tin coconut milk
2 tblsp fish sauce
Sautée tomato paste, lemon grass, galangal and garlic in the oil.
Add red onions and aubergines. Stir and mix well.
Add chili, coconut milk and lime leaves
Bring to a simmer and cook till the aubergines are done, 10-15 minutes.
Season with fish sauce, black pepper, perhaps some lime or lemon juice, and half a tablsp sugar.
Add the fish, largest pieces first, and simmer till the fish is done – this does not take long at all.
300 g flour 200 g sugar (any kind – I used brown “Rohrsucker”) 2 tblsp of the best cocoa powder you can find 175 g whole almonds 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 heaped tsp ground cloves 1/2heaped tsp ground cinnamon Grated peel of 1 organic (or at least unwaxed) lemon, washed. 3 whole eggs
Add lemon peel and eggs and knead to a uniform dough. Add more flour if it is too sticky.
Shape the dough into two approx. 20 cm long rolls. Place on baking paper and flatten them slightly to achieve the classic biscotti shape.
Bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven. When the rolls are cool enough to handle, using a very sharp knife, cut them into approx. 1 cm slices and bake again for ten minutes.
Let cool completely and keep in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
And remember – biscottis are supposed to be hard. That way, at least those of us with old teeth have an excuse to dip them in our coffee before eating.
Now in lockdown 2, spending three to four days in a row at home, avoiding the crowds as well as the U-Bahn – which is probably a cesspool at the best of times. Most of the time only going out to food shop and once or twice a week to the outskirts of Berlin for walks in nature.
31 December
The moon shortly before setting this morning:
I bought these air purifiers and installed them a week ago. They claim to clean the air not only of viruses but also of particles, and since I live in a rather busy street with (far too much) motorised traffice, I thought they might be a good investment even though I have no visitors at all these days/weeks/months/(years?).
According to the instructions, when switched on, they should keep a distance of at least 1 m to walls and other objects, because otherwise, particles risk landing on the surroundings. (So this is a practical issue, and not at all a safety issue). That kind of distance is obviously not always convenient, so I have placed one of them closer to both a wall and to some small tables with white tops. After a week, I am not observing much more dust than normally, so this is a “problem” easily solved by a dust cloth or hoover.
In the photo, they look larger than they are. The tallest one is about 65 cm tall.
Counting the hours till it is no longer too early to open a bottle of champagne (although normally, I am much more of a redwine kinda gal), I am reminded of this famous quote:
30 December
Moon setting across the street.
Today was going to be one of the – to use a term which arose during the first lock-down in spring – “stay-the-f…-home” days, but the weather was too good, so – back to the cemeteries, this time Standort Friedhof Lilienthalstraße and Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof I.
28 December
This morning, BBC World is running a programme called “Europe’s migrant crisis five years later”. This is starting to get on my nerves. Although It is certainly a crisis, to put it mildly, for the migrants, for Europe it is a crisis of xenophobia, bloody-mindedness, mean-spiritedness, inhumanity, and lack of empathy and solidarity, as well as a glaring lack of political will to solve an issue which ought to be a piece of cake for an area as large, wealthy, priviledged, and some even say enlightened (yeah, well, just keep thinking that and it may come true one day) as Europe.
27 December
A few token vaccinations took place yesterday and today, the real “roll-out” starts. According to a plan I saw and posted a few days ago (below), my age group will be vaccinated in August/September.
For now, numbers are still high, and they are talking about extending the current lockdown beyond 10 January.
Although I actually enjoyed the eerie quiet, after four days indoors, I need to get out, and have a walk (with my camera) planned for today, and one (with a friend) planned for tomorrow. That’s two walks in two days. This is turning into an insanely busy schedule.
Oh – nearly forgot: First snow fell yesterday. Did not last long, and did not stay, but for about ten minutes, I saw several children jumping up and down in ecstacy on the balconies across the street :-).
Since I am not using public transport at all during this lockdown, somebody advised me to go to this place, which is within walking distance for me, for bird photography.
24 December
Playtime!
21 December
Solstice. Feeling pessimistic nonetheless. I fear the next year will be worse than this year, Corona-wise. This virus is mutating faster than rabbits breed, and it is just a matter of time before a new strain appears which is resistant to the known vaccines, if it is not already there.
For me, I feel priviledged to not have to worry about unemployment during this lockdown, and to be able to spend it in a nice home I really like. I have lived my life, fortunate to be born in the best decade and part of the world – the 1950s, Denmark, with all civil and political rights served to me on a silver platter (not to mention a roof over my head, three daily meals, and no wars), never had to fight for anything, so it does not matter whether I live or die. And I have to admit that the thought of being spared the indignities of old age and the ugliness of becoming dependent on other people’s help, is attractive and has been on my mind for a long time already. My mother spent six months in an old peoples’ home before she died and all she talked about was her wish to die and I could not blame her. Ending up in one of those places is indeed a fate worse than death.
However, I feel sorry for all those who thought they had a long life to live, and plans ….. But I just don’t think we can beat this one any time soon. If I am still alive by then, it will be interesting to see whether things really are worse than now on this day next year, or whether I will have been proven wrong.
I am just wondering how long I have to look at all this ugliness. These days, in this restricted, locked-down world, it is easier for me to avoid seeing my own ugly face in the mirror than to see this – first, last, and in between:
One of the things I have learned during lockdown that I was never aware of is that we need daylight – daily – in order to be able to produce the melatonin which we will need in the evening in order to fall asleep and get a good night’s sleep. (I am not even sure I was fully aware just how important sleep is).
This makes me feel even more priviledged to have a balcony. Even though I want to stick to my self-imposed regime of staying at home about four to five days a week during this lockdown, I have a place to step out onto, away from traffic noise, where I can sit, breathe, watch the clouds float by, read, and hope for a bird or two to turn up for a photo op (even if it is usually only dumb pigeons, and a bit too far away).
19 December
It is strange not to be busy preparing the usual end-of-year parties.
Some years, I have had a pre-Christmas glögg, followed by a curry to balance things out, party. Those have actually been my season’s favourite.
Christmas does not mean much to me, other than an excuse to share good food and wine with family (when I was still living in Denmark), and now friends. As far as I recall, I did not enjoy it much even as a child. I remember it as a time of the year with too many expectations of everything having to be perfect and done in a certain way, not to mention sequence. And as for the infamous Danish Christmas lunches – I always actively hated them and attended as few as possible.
After moving to Luxembourg in January 1976, I and a Danish friend thought it was fun to hold traditional Danish Christmas dinner in early December for non-Danish friends and colleagues, and as far as I recall, we went overboard with the traditions. Of course we all then went our separate ways over the holidays and only came back in early January.
Then, after I moved back to Denmark late 1985, for a number of years while my niece was a child, Christmas Eve was fun. But that is just about the sum of it.
Actually, this Christmas, I would have been spending in Denmark, for once, since my niece had invited me to a combined housewarming and Christmas dinner on 24 December. But that was not to be. A pity in a way, but on the other hand, apart from seeing my brother and his family again, I have no particular desire to visit Denmark.
Since I moved to Berlin in January 2016, every 24 December I have either eaten out with a friend in a really good restaurant, or invited a handful of like-minded people to a “this-is-NOT-Christmas-dinner” dinner at my place.
Incidentally, I find people who now whine about not being able to spend Christmas exactly the way they normally do, pathetic and hypocritical. Not only are they completely forgetting about all those who usually have to work over the holidays, but more importantly, they are completely ignoring all those who have been displaced, as refugees, and the younger generations separated from the oldest generations, and have been unable to celebrate anything together for years, AND without knowing whether they will ever see them again. They are also forgetting how they often complain about the pressure put on them to have a picture-perfect, idyllic, whale of a time year after year, and in many cases having to spend the time with people they don’t even particularly want to spend time.
That was my penny’s worth about Christmas. I am looking forward to the peace and quiet, and just for once – I am hoping for snow 😊! It would at least temporarily change the views from my flat and make my street – not the most attractive street by any stretch – more photogenic.
My usual New Year’s Eve party, with anything between ten and around 22 (as far as I remember) people, lounging around, sipping champaign, and watching the fireworks from my 6th floor perch, is of course also not going to happen. In any case, fireworks are becoming so reviled – for many good reasons – and politically incorrect, that those days are probably over anyway. This year, Corona has been an excuse for banning the purchase of fireworks which I am sure will pave the way for a more general ban in the future. Good for the air quality and for the pets, especially the dogs.
For my part, with no fireworks to watch at all, I am not sure I can be bothered to put on a party on 31 December ever again, or even stay awake till midnight :-). I think also in future I will prefer to spend the evening reflecting on the past, present and future, and this year, I have a lot to think about and decisions to make, and some more “dead wood” (metaphorically speaking) to let go of. And persuading myself I have reasons to stay in Berlin and not move to somewhere on the North Sea.
Anaway, what I meant to post were some more photos I took with that 85mm which is causing me so much trouble. I am wondering what that lens is actually for. No matter what I do or photograph, the photos turn out soft and grainy. (But I did know that it was the completely wrong lens for the first photo :-)).
18 December
Had to go and catsit for a couple of days in Prenzlauer Berg. Brought the Canon 85 mm, 1.2 II USM with me to practise. A heave beast of a lens that I can’t get the hang of at all, which can be seen here:
Last day of “Lockdown Light”. Tomorrow, Germany goes into a “hard lockdown”, in the first instance till 10 January. No big difference for me personally, except I have decided to avoid public transport altogether and therefore will not be going on any long walks on the outskirts of Berlin.
On the positive side, here is some evidence that the sun IS still there, somewhere:
14 December
Starting the week on a negative note, or two, rather – then it can only get better from now on :-).
As if the stinking, noisy, waste-of-space, lethal weapons that are private cars do not do enough damage to our eco-systems, in every sense of the word, Mercedes-Benz has found a way to also send a maximum amount of black printer-toner into circulation. No less than eight full newspaper sized pages with a black background. Well done Mercedes-Benz. And congratulations to Tagesspiegel for distributing this work of genius.
2. It turns out that several of my (so-called) friends are anti-vaxxers. They are old enough to have survived epidemics such as measles and polio thanks to decisions their wiser parents once made on their behalf. So they are also hypocrites. In the case of COVID-19, it is a civic duty for those who can to be vaccinated in order to obtain the essential herd immunity so that as many people as possible can start living as normal lives as possible some time within the coming year (2021).
People with such anti-social attitudes need not contact me any more. It is simply too depressing to realise just how many people are against vaccinations for no other reason than that it is what the authorites recommend; or stupid enough to believe in conspiracy theories, and some even in that video where medical professionals from around the world claim that Covid19 does not exist and that the vaccine is designed to sterilise girls and women. The pharmaceutical companies ought to sue the whole lot of them.
13 December
Another misty morning. There have been many of those this month.
Together with the walk to and from Anhalter Bahnhof that was only about 10,5 km – not good enough, so I will have to make up for it next week :-).
I definitely want to go back to “Steg durch Tegeler Fließ”. The following is a reminder to myself of the types of wildlife one can alledgedly see there:
8 December
I thought I was going to walk around Flughafensee in Tegel. More fool me for not checking first whether that was actually possible. It is not.
What I did see of the lake was lovely, but soon you get to the bird protection area along the western shore of the lake. On the side away from the lake, this area is fenced in (although with an easy view to the area, if not to the lake).
I followed that fence, thinking that sooner or later, I would be able to get back to the lake, but soon met a considerably more aggressice fence which turned out to run along the security zone of Tegel Airport (which closed a couple of weeks ago).
I only really managed to take photos of two birds, both spotted while I was waiting for the bus. One is a cormorant in flight. I don’t know what the other one is, but it was nice of it to sit still long enough.
This is the route. Starting point is U-Bahn Station Holzhauser Straße. End point is where I took the bus (133) back to the same station. https://www.komoot.com/tour/292517821. A nice day out although it turned out a bit different from what I had expected.
6 December
It is a different scenery every morning.
I wonder if that is Mars:
5 December
For a couple of minutes this morning, the sunrise looked like this.
4 December
Tegeler See revisited with a lens better suited for cormorant photography.
Supporting my local restaurants during lockdown. A sacrifice ;-). This evening from Himmel 8 in Ritterstraße, delivered by Wolt.
3 December
One of my few concessions to the season. That is not too christmassy, even for me.
2 December
Moon setting on a day that feels frosty-misty. Or misty-frosty.
Later spotted this outside the Jewish Museum and then played a little bit with it in Lightroom. Autumn colours are my favourite and I am sorry they are almost gone. It has been a long and very lovely autumn in Berlin, though.
Now I have to start working on my dislike of the colour green so that I might end up liking spring almost as much as I like autumn.
1 December
This year has been great for tidying up and discarding “dead wood”, literally and metaphorically.
Anyway, back to the tangibles: Found this old cutting – such as it is, but my mother never bothered with petty details such as source and date – of my father (second from the left) and colleagues just before a performance at the royal theatre. It is probably not the case any longer, but back in the day, the fire brigade (also civil servants) was present behind the scenes in all non-private theatres and concert halls, (hopefully) unbeknownst to the audience. That was just about the only part of the job my father liked. As an added bonus, when a performance or concert was not sold out, he was able to sneak me in for free .
30 November
After three days indoors at home I needed to get out, despite the cold, grey and misty weather. I took the S-Bahn (not particularly full) to Tegel and walked to Tegel Hafen, along the lake, to “Dicke Marie” (alledgedly the oldest tree in Berlin), to some wild animal enclosures and a bit further before returning towards Schloß Tegel which turned out to be unapproachable, and home via the same station. A little less than 15 km in total.
28 November
Berlin has been a hotspot for a while now, and in today’s news came the gloomy statistic that one person dies of or with Covid19 every 100 minutes.
25 November
I know it is foggy when I can’t see the top of the buildings on Potsdamer Platz. When I finally arrange to go for a walk with a friend, we pick the foggiest day this autumn. Will we able to see each other with the distance we are supposed to keep?
At the Landwehrkanal:
24 November
Sunrise. Taken with the 35mm macro lens because there was no time to change lenses. It came out quite well. That is increasingly a favourite lens.
22 November
Guess a macro
15 November
Sunrise, and sunrise reflected, in what used to be the Postbank Building, and in some pigeons enjoying the view.
On 13 November, they found a “Blindgänger” – an undetonated, WW2 US bomb about 550 m from my building (this still happens once or twice a year). Today, they started evacuating around 7.500 people from buildings within a radius of 300 m. The Jewish Museum (Architect Danish Libeskind) is within that radius. Surrounding streets were blocked from traffic and the area filled up with police cars and Red Cross vans. Around 18.00, the bomb had been diffused and traffic returned to normal. Or as normal as it gets during this lockdown.
While I was – exceptionally – out most of the day, on Museum Island, at Hallesches Tor, and at a couple of other places on the way, trying to take photos for this week’s assignment for this online course: Every Place has a Story, co-presented by C/O Berlin and Strudelmedialive, and taught by Anja Hitzenberger, I also took these photos:
8 November
It’s a new world.
7 November
Still practising, and making the best of an epic fail.
5 November
A Beautiful walk round Straussee, to and from Strausberg Stadt, on the S5. Walking round a lake reduces the risk of getting lost, although with my pathetic orientation skills, you never know. Only problem: The sound of cars, more or less distantly, pretty much all the way.
4 November
In the morning I was watching CNN in disbelief that it was not exactly a landslide. After three or four hours, John King’s speed-talking and the speed at which he was able to compute incoming results, and their consequences and possible scenarios in his head was making my head swim and the good weather and fresh air called my name.
I also wanted to take these two beasts out for the first time – arrived yesterday, from me to me – just because A) like so many others, I am not spending money on most of what I used to spend money on, and I won’t be for what is probably going to end up being a period of about two years, if not forever: travel outside Germany; concert, opera, theatre and cinema tickets; and clothes and shoes – apart from a pair of really good walking shoes, and B) to make sure one birthday wish came true:
I no longer had time to go further afield so I opted for a walk along the Landwehrkanal to Urbanhafen. A bit repetitive, but plenty to practise on.
3 November, shortly after sunrise
The weather looks promising, but since I am not planning on going out, it is kind of irrelevant (for me, this is day four in the first set of Corona-imposed stay-at-home days during this second lockdown), and I actually have a very different birthday wish this year – just one – a big one – and I’m sure most of the rest of the world is joining me in keeping everything that can be crossed crossed.
Later, on my balcony:
2 November PM
Weather improved, and expecting my much-looked-forward-to photography course in Amrum in December to be cancelled any day now, it is time to find a different approach.
2 November AM
Day one of second lockdown in Germany. And fittingly, the greyest, rainiest day so far this autumn.
Soak 300 g kidney beans in plenty of water for at least eight hours. Discard soaking water, rinse, cover beans in water and cook for about an hour. Drain but preserve most of the cooking water.
Add 1 tsp salt the last five minutes of cooking
While the beans are boiling:
2 tblsp oil or ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
350-400 g (after trimming and peeling) red onion, chopped
1 tblsp each of chopped garlic and chopped fresg ginger
1 chili, chopped
2 tins tomatoes
1 tblsp coriander powder (preferably from roasted whole seeds)
1 small tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
1.5 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
1 bayleaf
A small handful of curry leaves
3 green cardamom and 3 black cardamom, slightly crushed
3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
Suggested garnish (optional):
chopped cilantro (fresh coriander)
1 tablespoon ghee, drizzled on top
1 dollop of yoghurt
Some julienned fresh ginger, fried in ghee if desired
To a pan, add 2 tablespoons oil on medium heat. Once hot, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle.
Add the chopped onion and cook till they turn a light colden – about five minutes on medium heat.
Add the ginger-garlic paste and green chili and cook for one minute
Add the pureed tomatoes, and cook, stirring occasionally, for five minutes.
Add the rest of the spices, mix well and cook for about ten minutes on medium-low heat.
Add the kidney beans and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes on low heat. Occasionally mash some of the beans to give the curry and creamy texture. Add cooking water if needed.
1 pumpkin, about 1200 g when trimmed and deseeded (but not peeled) – cut in cubes
600 g cooked chickpeas with the cooking liquid preserved
4 cm piece of ginger (about 30 g) chopped
5 red onions (about 350 g after trimming) chopped
5 cloves of garlic (about 30 g after trimming) chopped
1 fresh red chili or to taste, in whichever form you have chili available
Ghee
1 tblsp mustard seeds
2 tblsp coriander seeds, roasted and ground
1 tblsp cumin seeds, roasted and ground
1 heaped tsp turmeric
Salt and pepper
1 bunch fresh coriander
A small handful of dried curry leaves
1 tin coconut cream
Heat the ghee and cook the onions at low heat for about 20 minutes. Add garlic and ginger after about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally – the onions should start to turn golden but not brown.
Add the mustard seeds, stir, cook for another minute.
Add the ground coriander and cumin, stir, cook for another minute.
Add the turmeric and the curry leaves.
Add the pumpkin, stir well.
Add the coconut cream and some of the chickpea cooking liquid, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Add the chickpeas, bring to a simmer, and cook till the pumpkin is cooked.
Blend the following in a blender or food processor:
250 g of any kind of flour. I used half chick pea flour, and half oatmeal. If you are a gluten addict, you can of course use wheat flour. Next time, I will try amaranth and/or millet.
2,5 dl water
50 ml olive oil
1 large egg
2 cloves garlic
1 piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
Remove to a bowl and stir in:
150 g cooked (boiled or roasted) beets, chopped or grated
75 g chopped onion
1 tblsp fresh herbs, chopped, or 1 tsp dried.
120 gram goat cheese, crumbled or grated
Big pinch freshly ground black pepper.
Mix well and bake in waffle maker for seven to eight minutes. Serve with for example a fried egg, a sauce made of goat yoghurt mixed with herbs, and caramellised onions.
Leftover waffles can be frozen and resiscitated in the toaster.
Trim and grate the above, mix together, and press as much liquid out of it as possible.
1 egg
75 g chickpea flour
30 g fine oats
Chili, in whichever way, shape or form you have available, to taste
Mix with the grated vegetables, salt, and the dry-roasted spices and shape the mixture into 12 cakes.
Bake in ghee and/or olive oil on medium heat till they are brown and crisp on both sides (turn them only once or twice – then they will not fall apart). Drain on kitchen towel.
Serve with a dipping sauce:
1 green chili (or any other form of chili you have available)
Optional for the added nutrition: 2 tblsp flax- or chia seeds and 1 tblsp dried seaweed
Preheat the oven to 200 C
Cut pumpkin into or slices, drizzle over olive oil and season with salt. Bake for 40 minutes until golden and cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool a bit.
For the last 10 minutes add the nuts onto the tray for toasting.
Dry-roast the oats on a frying pan, stirring constantly.
Allow to cool a bit.
Fry the onion with olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, smoked paprika and garam masala, and fry for another minute. Add the cranberries, stir, and take the pan off the heat.
Blitz all ingredients in the food processor till everything is properly combined but still has a bit of texture.
Bake in a well-oiled or -buttered bread tin at 180C for 40 minutes.
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