Cabbage, green lentil and sweet potato curry

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  • 2 tblsp  avocado oil
  • 2 red onions, sliced
  • Large knob of fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • 1 whole garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 tsp mustard seeds
  • Chili in whichever form you have available, to taste
  • 500 g green lentil, cooked
  • 500 g sweet potato, thoroughly scrubbed and cut into chunks
  • 500 g white cabbage, shredded
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • Coriander and yoghurt to garnish (optional)

Soften the onion in the oil, along with the ginger. Add spices, sizzle for a little while, stirring, and then stir in the garlic and the potato and cook for a little while before adding the rest of the ingredients rest of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper.

Simmer till the potato is cooked through and the cabbage wilted.

24 to 26 December

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I wanted to see the exhibition “You know that you are human” in Zionskirche. According to their website, they were going to be open on 24 December. With the usual German IT resistance they “forgot” to add that in fact they were not. I guess switching on a device with that kind of access would have been too much of an inconvenience. This happens a lot in IT angst Germany and is occasionally driving me insane.

Still, it made me walk about 8 km in total on a day where I would normally have decided the weather was a little too miserable to go out, so the day was not wasted.

On 25 December, I was supposed to go for a 15 km walk, outside of Berlin so some travelling would have been involved as well, but the fog, which has plagued us most days since I came back from SPO, was thicker than ever, so I chickened out and went for a short walk to my local cemetery instead.

Hallo neighbour

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Long time no see. You looked a lot better clad in scaffolding. I had forgotten quite how unbelievably ugly you really are.

But I will never forget being deprived of the use of my balcony for two years – in mid pandemic where it would have been really nice to be able to use one’s own balcony. Not to mention the repeated cleaning up each time a load of various types of debris – and cigarette stubs (!) – had been thrown onto the balcony, and each time layers of some kind of dust covered EVERYTHING on it. All documented here: “The balcony that would not be affected”. And the lack of light – again – during the pandemic!! – in my living room because of the scaffolding. After I had been told that my balcony would not be affected. As far as I know the biggest lie ever told to me.

Victoria Berlin

Cresco Real Estate

Tart with parsnip, potato, goats’ cheese, and onion

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  • Olive oil in which to brown the onions
  • 2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
  • salt
  • 300 g parsnip, peeled and very finely sliced
  • 200 g potato, peeled and very finely sliced
  • olive oil
  • One 250 g sheet of puff pastry
  • 200 g firm, round goats’ cheese, sliced
  • Leaves from two sprigs thyme
  • 1 heaped tsp kalonji
  • 1 egg, whisked
  • 2 tblsp honey
  • 1 tsp chili flakes, or, as I did in this case: finely sliced fresh chili

Sizzle the onions in the olive oil with a pinch of salt, stirring regularly, over a low heat until the onions are caramelised, sticky and soft. This can take around 45 minutes. Keep an eye on them towards the end of this time as they can start to catch.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.

Place the parsnips, potatoes, thyme and kalonji in a bowl and toss with a dash of oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place the pastry sheet on a baking tray lined with baking paper and lightly draw a 3 cm border around the edges, taking care not to cut all the way through.

Spread the parsnips/potatoes,/onions inside the border of the pastry sheet.

Brush the pastry’s border with the beaten egg.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are almost tender. Then spread the cheese all over and bake for another20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the vegetables are tender.

Serve the tart with a salad and drizzled with the honey mixed with 1 tblsp water and the chili.

Loop from S Bhf Wannsee to Teltow Kanal and back

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Route on MapMyWalk here.

My last walk with Sprechlaufwandern. To me, there is too much schlentern und schnickschnacken and too little wandern.

I need to get more active in Berliner Wanderclub, and also check out other options, e.g. this: Berliner Wanderverband. Not that I can’t walk by myself but sometimes it is nice to walk with other people. I think. Or perhaps not. We’ll see.

But it was a nice walk, led by Anne N. Weatherwise a little misty but not cold. We saw large flocks of cormorants flying, a heron in flight, and one – to me rarer – egret. I will have to go back and spend some quality time there with a longer lense.

On 19 December a sign that the sun is still there, somewhere

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Buckwheat Bread

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(Vegan and gluten free)

 

  • 650 ml water
  • 4 tablespoons ground linseed
  • 3 tablespoons psyllium husk powder
  • 2,5 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons organic apple cider vinegar (unfiltered)

Mix well, let rest 20 minutes, then whisk.

  • 300 g buckwheat flour
  • 100 g buckwheat flakes
  • 1,5 teaspoons baking powder (phosphate-free)
  • 0,5 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1,5 teaspoons sea salt
  • 250 g mixed seeds e.g. a mix of buckwheat and seeds such as sesame, pumpkin, flax, or sunflower, plus more for garnish (100g)
  • Oil to grease the baking tin

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a baking tin (for example 10 x 30 cm) and line with baking paper.

Combine the dry ingredients well.

Combine the wet ingredients well.

Combine the two and mix really well.

Transfer the dough into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top with a spatula. Optional: sprinkle with extra seeds.

Bake for 1 hour 10-15 minutes. The bread should be golden brown and very firm to touch in the center.

Remove from baking tin as soon as it is cool enough to handle.

Keep refridgerated for about a week, and also freezes well.

From S Bhf Johannisthal to the Christmas Market in Rudow (or – that was the plan)

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Sunday walk organised by Lisa K.

I had signed up for the walk because according to the weather forecast, it would be sunny. I should have known that it would have been better to stay in bed 🙂 when I saw the actual weather:

It looked enchanting enough from indoors, but as I made my way towards Johannisthal, it turned out to be dark, foggy, wet, and of course cold (minus 7C).

And by the time I got to S Johannisthal, it had only gotten worse, and felt utterly miserable. I could not wait to get back home as quickly as possible and started to return before I had even found the others.

To make my day completely “perfect”, the bus from Schöneweide to Märkisches Museum was completely packed with people (I had even deliberately missed two of them because they were so full) and NOBODY was wearing masks, and nobody was checking. Berlin is pathetic that way. I should probably go and live on a deserted island but for now, I will just hibernate and treat my home as one.

Two versions of spicy red cabbage

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In both the country I live in and the country I come from, this precious vegetable, extremely healthy and at the same time inexpensive, is served especially in winter, to accompany all the seasonal dishes from roast duck to pork with crackling

Here are two spicier alternatives, the first one with, among other ingredients, mustard seeds and ginger, and the second one with, among other ingredients, kalonji, onion and garlic:

Spicy cabbage number one:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil, coconut oil or ghee
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 knob ginger, chopped
  • 1 green chili
  • 10 curry leaves or 2 bay leaves
  • About 800 g coarsely shredded red cabbage
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • Salt
  • Vegetable stock or water, as needed

Sautée the mustard seeds in the oil or ghee till they begin to pop.

Add the cumin and curry leaves and sautée till fragrant.

Add the garlic, ginger and chili, sautée till starts to soften.

Add the cabbage and turmeric and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring. Season with salt. Add a dl of water and cook till the water has evaporated and the cabbage is tender but still with a little bit of “bite”, about five minutes.

Spicy cabbage number two:

  • 2 tblsp avocado oil
  • 2 tsp kalonji
  • 1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 heaped tsp fenugreek seeds
  • Chili, in whichever form you have available, and to taste. I used chili flakes this time
  • 2 medium red onions, sliced
  • 5 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • About 800 g coarsely shredded red cabbage
  • Vegetable stock or water, as needed
  • 1 tsp garam masala

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the kalonji, and stir for a few seconds. Then add the other seeds, and the chili if using, and stir.

Add the onion and garlic, and fry for a few minutes, until softened.

Add the cabbage, and fry for a few minutes.

Add enough stock or water to cover the bottom of the pan, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is tender.

Uncover, stir in the garam masala, and simmer off any remaining water

Wednesday walk with Sprechlaufwandern around Krumme Lake in a loop from S-Bhf Grünau

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I don’t know how much longer I will join these walks. They walk a little too slowly for my temperament, and today I was frozen to the bones for most of the walk, especially at the end. I guess that is the one and only downside of having lost quite a lot of weight: you feel the cold more. I used to be the last to feel cold. It is not because I am not wearing many layers of clothes. Perhaps I should look into investing in some special underwear for these occasions.

Also a bit too much chitchat for my taste, nobody enjoying the quiet of the forest, but I guess the name indicates that that is actually the purpose.

Also, it seems absurd to me to get on one’s way sometimes as early as 7.30 (and, in the case of today, in minus 7 C) in the middle of winter in order to join a short-ish walk that for some inscrutable reason which seems to be a secret starts at 9.00. Especially since this also means travelling in the one hour where public transport is at its fullest. But there must be a reason why the start can’t be postponed till 10.00. I just can’t see it.

With the morning looking like this, as change from weeks and weeks of thick fog, I was finally tempted to be on my way:

And it really did turn out to be a sunny, if – to me – bitterly cold day, and the frost did give the landscape a kind of dreamy look. The walk was really lovely, aart from the issues I now seem to have with the cold :-).

The route on MapMyWalk here.

Pitstop before catching an S Bahn back here.

The life of a Danish pensioner in Berlin