29 October 2020. I found this walk on Komoot’s list of most beautiful autumnal forests in Berlin: https://www.komoot.com/tour/275005256. Start and end S-Bahnhof Frohnau.
A beautiful walk in real mixed forest, with a couple of minor obstacles along the way:
I had time to play with some “ICM” photography:
NOTE: The recipe that inspired me did not mention neither thyme, rosemary, ginger or garlic, but I think those flavours are required, and go well here. Alternatively at least a couple of bayleaves. There is no reason to make northern European food more bland and boring than it has to be. Perhaps I’ll add garam masala and chili next time.
It did list a dl of cream, but I have never been able to see the point in adding cream to savoury dishes, so I threw in 100 g oats instead (since I am trying to incorporate oats into everything these days).
Cut the chestnuts, potatoes, onions and garlic in large pieces and add, together with the ginger to a pan and sizzle in the butter (or ghee).
Add the stock, thyme and rosemary, salt and pepper and bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes.
Fish out the herbs, and blend the rest. Season and serve garnished with chopped parsley or roasted oats.
650-700 g hokkaido, in 2 cm pieces.
200 g cooked chickpeas
100 g oats, plus some for garnishing, roasted in ghee or oil
250 g broccoli, in pieces
100 g snow peas, trimmed and halved
200 g chopped red onion
3 (or more) finely chopped garlic cloves
20 g finely chopped ginger
3 tblsp coconut oil
2 tblsp sugar (coconut blossom sugar if available)
2 tsp Thai red currypaste, OR fresh lemongrass, lime leaves and chili
400 ml coconut milk
Salt and pepper
Lime or lemon juice
Fresh koriander
NOTE: An ice-cream scooper usually helps to carve away pumpkin seeds and fluff.
Also, Contrary to what many recipes will have you believe, it is not necessary to remove the peel. When cooked, it is eminently edible, and there is nutrition, colour and texture which it is a shame to waste.
Sautée onion, garlic and ginger in the oil.
Add sugar and let it lightly caramelise.
Add currypaste or lemongrass/lime leaves/chili and stir.
Add coconutmilk and bring to a simmer
Add pumpkin and chickpeas and simmer for ten minutes.
Add broccoli and snow peas and simmer for about three minutes.
Season with salt, pepper and lemon or lime juice, and garnish with the chopped fresh coriander and roasted oats.
This was my first, and definitely not last, walk with Berliner Wanderclub. Fifteen people met at Bernau S-Bahn Station and took bus 894 to Wandlitz. We then walked to Liepnitzee, followed the southern shore to Obersee and Hellsee, past Schloß Lanke and Upstallfließ, and finished in Lobetal (a very interesting place). In total around 16 km. Unfortunately, I forgot to record the exact route on komoot.com.
Bonustip: The “Alte Schmiede” in Lobetal doubles as library and café (coffee and homemade cake: 2 euro), and probably a lot more for the citizens of Lobetal, most of whom are physically or mentally challenged one way or another. The café also has outdoor seating.
Given the fact that it was not a photography tour and that therefore, there would not be much time to take photos, I only took one lens with me, and I must say I am quite pleased with what one can achieve in a short time with the Canon 24 mm, aka “Pancake”.
Practised some “ICM photography” on the way (too rushed, of course, since photography was not the purpose of the walk and I had to keep up with fourteen other people):
1 butternut squash
2 cloves garlic
2 red onions
1 tin tomatoes
1 tblsp harissa
1 knob fresh ginger
1 tsp turmeric
2 tblsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper
Bayleaves
1 tblsp honey
1 tsp smoked paprika
100 g feta
Herbs to garnish
Preheat the oven to 200 C
Halve the squash and remove the seeds with a spoon or an ice scooper, depending on the size of the cavity.
Place the squash peel up and cut almost through at about 4 mm intervals. Place a pencil on either side to make sure you do not cut it all the way through.
Slice garlic and onions and mix with the tinned tomato and 1 tblsp olive oil, season with turmeric, chili, salt and pepper, and spread this mixture in a small baking tray.
Place the squash peel up on top of this layer. Place a couple of bayleaves in the slits. Drizzle the rest of the olive oil on the squash halves and bake in oven for 20 minutes.
Paint the squash halves with honey, dust with smoked paprika and bake, uncovered, for another 20 minutes.
Scatter feta cheese over the halves for the last ten minutes in the oven, or just before serving.
160 g dried dates
60 g peanut or almond butter (I used almond butter, and next time, I might replace some of it with tahin
50 g honey
4 tblsp pumpkin seeds
4 tblsp chia seeds
100 g oats
50 g chopped almonds
Optional: for extra nutrition, add 1 tblsp baobab powder, and for extra flavour, 1 tblsp of the best and darkest cocoa powder you can find.
Coarsely chop the dates and purée them with hot water. Start with 1 tblsp water and gradually add just enough to make a thick, fairly smooth purée.
Slowly heat up and mix the nut butter and honey.
Mix all ingredients well – best done by hand.
Line a small, square plate, 15×15 cm or similar, with baking paper, and PRESS the mixture into it. You want to be able to cut it into compact bars once it has set.
Leave cold for at least an hour.
Again recently, a lot has been written about the health benefits of oats, so my current obsession is to try to incorporate oats into as many meals as possible.
In this case served with one of my favourite aubergine dishes – an old faithful.
2,5 dl oats
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic and a small knob of fresh ginger, finely chopped
5 dl vegetables, in this case red pepper and zucchini, chopped
1 dl cooked green lentils
1 small tsp turmeric
Salt
Chili to taste, in whichever form you have available
1 tsp garam masala
Dry-roast the oats till they smell good.
Heat the oil and sizzle the cumin seeds. Add onion, garlic and ginger and sauté.
Add the vegetables and the rest of the ingredients except the oats, and sauté till the vegetables soften. If it starts to dry up, add water rather than oil.
Add the oats, stir well, and cook through.
Garnish with (preferably) fresh coriander, or any other herb you have available.
Along Ritterstraße and Reichenberger Straße, and a visit to Galerie Kwadrat, to, and back along, Landwehrkanal.
The pandemic now pervades all of our lives to an extent that a sequel to the first Corona diary is in order, and therefore, this will be continued in “Corona Diary II“.
Autumn colours
Another grey and rainy day.
Covid19 numbers are back to what they were during lock-down in early spring. And so is the weather, so this feels like “back to sqare one”. Looking out the window, mainly for splashes of colour.
The containers in the backyard of the neighbouring construction site about to be overgrown, and a bottle left from New Year’s Eve 2019/20.
Between two buildings in the morning.
With or without the tree?
It finally rained, and the construction site was quiet. Bliss.
Not exactly from home, but I am not at home a lot these days. This is not a good time of year to have to keep all windows and doors closed due to ear-splitting noise and clouds of dust (see “Neighbours from Hell”).
So on one of my getaways, I missed a train and therefore had time to photograph the starlings which reside on Bahnhof Alexanderplatz. Tiny but cute, with beautiful plumage.
Beautiful rain. I could not resist putting some of my plants back on the balcony. I usually scoff at people who spray water on flowers before taking photos of them. So I wait till it rains. A concept possibly better known as a form of hypocrisy.
Swallows (I think – correct me if I’m wrong). The acrobats of ornithology. They fly so damn quickly that I’ll never be able to get a sharp photo, even if they come quite close to our balconies. They are probably also the reason why insects never really make it as far the flowers on our balconies. Both a blessing and a curse.
My balcony on a rainy day.
I have tried to make my balcony insect friendly by sowing some wild flowers, and also counting on the herbs that eventually bloom, such as oregano and thyme.
So when there is finally a suitable macro photography model on my balcony, is it thanks to those efforts? No. It is because of a mint plant which I bought in a supermarket earlier today.
Splashes of yellow.
And some experimenting.
A crane disappeared and revealed a tower I did not know I could see. Now I have to go and see what it is. Sigma 150-600 at 600 mm.
It was just a tiny little thing, about ten mm long. And don’t worry, no animal was harmed in the making of this photo. It is safe and sound, back in the coriander plant where I found it. I love my Canon 35 mm Macro lense.
A small section of my early morning coffee view, with a little bit of exposure tweaking in Lightroom.
And in the early evening, I played with Mr Sigma 150-600
Enjoying the sunrise (very early morning). I do hate pigeons, but they sure make better models than, say, swallows.
Sigma 150-600 mm, at 600 mm, heavily cropped:
Thistles.
It was just a tiny little moth, not much bigger than a mosquito.
The wall has been looking like this since some time between 22 and 25 September when I came home from a trip. I wonder how long I will have to look at that.
This time, everything is covered in sawdust which I assume will not be too difficult to remove, but I had not planned on having to clean the balcony once more this side of winter.
