Oh my we're in Strasbourg!

So we are bright and early in Strasbourg and oh my how the grass is greener past the German border...well, warmer at least!

Sunday brunch

We are with the husband's family this weekend for a celebratory brunch and the opening of a new cafe.

It was a great turnout and the food was delicious as always (the husband's aunt makes amazing German food)

My job was to take pictures of the kids together but this was not possible. Finally I caught the attention of one long enough for me to take a picture (he was just staring at me in shock hah!)

So now back to Frankfurt...

Getting a German driver's license

I finally bit the bullet and organised myself to exchange my Australian driver's license to a German one. The thing about living in Germany is that it is quite difficult for non-Germans to find any sort of official information about German rules and regulations. So I was researching quite a bit on the internet about this subject before I went to the Ordnungsamt and found that every region in Germany has different agreements with; not only different countries but also different states. After many hours of research online I found a passage that stated that a Victorian driver's license and be directly exchanged into a Hessen driver's license - no tests, no driving lessons, nothing. Fantastic! Because I heard that to get a German driver's license from scratch would not only require doing driving lessons (again) but also doing a certain amount of hours on first-aid as well as having to study the hundreds of street signs that Germany has (and in some cases, doing an eye test from a certified eye doctor). So I printed this passage out (it was all in German) and highlighted the parts that were important (like not having to do all the tests again).

The only funny thing is, I got the husband to call the Fuhrerscheinstelle (license people) to ask them once again whether it was possible, and the first thing the guy on the phone said was "Nein!" and even though the husband explained what we found online, he was still pretty quick to say "Nein!" so I thought I should just take my chances and go there in person.

I went to the ADAC beforehand and got my Australian license translated (for like 55 euros but as our car is insured with ADAC, we were able to get a discount with it) and off I went. I came very prepared and again, asked to have my license "tauschen" and of course the first thing the lady in charge of international licenses said to me was "Nein!" and that I would have to do the driving lessons and first aid training to get one, so I showed her the internet printout I had, to which she read very carefully, again and again - then said that I need to get my eyes tested and come back to her with the results, to which I said "Nein!" and got her to read further to the paragraph where it said eye tests were not necessary.

So she was not impressed with the fact that I was telling her how to do her job but reluctantly processed my license, only I will have to wait 5 weeks for it and I have to get a date of issue from my Australian driver's license, which we don't have, but ok so I guess that's the other challenge.

Rosengut

So while the husband is busy working, his parents took me to a garden nursery specialising in roses, ok it's not exactly Gardenworld but they had some pretty interesting flowers on show

They are beautiful to look at but unfortunately growing flowers in Germany is a difficult art to master. Most of these flowers are only good for a couple of months before they die. I'm not sure whether it has something to do with the weather or the soil...or a combination of both, but I have noticed that the soil here becomes grey in colour after a few days.

One of the most interesting things here were the produce. In terms of jams, Germany has some pretty interesting flavouring combinations and here at Rosengut is no exceptions (above is a selection of jams made from various types of oranges), there were also some variations of pickled vegetables and fruits that I've never seen before.

Rosengut
Rosengut Langerwisch
Am Gut 5
14552 Michendorf OT Langerwisch
Tel: 033205 46644

Trading Times
Mon-Fri   09:00 - 18:00
Sat           09:00 - 17:00
Sun          09:00 - 15:00

Busy bee

While it hasn't been too bad a week this week, the husband has been working around the clock, including today. We decided to drive down to see the parents in-law this weekend but it hasn't stopped the husband from working all weekend. So this is what we are being at the moment, a couple of busy bees.

Ikan pepes

I've always been a big fan of fish, but unfortunately fish (or seafood in general) is just not such a popular produce here in Germany. I bought this tiny little thing at the fresh market that we have near our home every Friday, and this set me back a pretty penny (16euros). And to be honest with you, it's almost not worth it to pay for that much for a fish that could only feed a portion of two. But I was desperate for a taste of Indonesian fish so I just gave in. I received this recipe from a friend of mine.

Ikan Pepes
6 shallots or 1 big red onion
4 small cloves garlic
2 tspn tumeric powder
3 candlenuts
2 teaspoon ginger grated
2 teaspoons white pepercorn
2 teaspoons salt
10 small thai chillies or 1 tablespoon chilli paste (depends on how spicy you want it)
1 lemon
1 fish for 2 portions
Half a tomato

Prep the fish. In Germany, when you buy a fish at the markets, the scales are still attached, and sometimes the insides also so you kind of have to do that yourself.
Wash the fish and blot excess water with a kitchen tissue.
Grind all the ingredients together in a blender or using a mortar and pestle
Make three slits across the body of the fish on both sides
Place fish on a foil or banana leaves
 Rub the paste over the fish as well as inside the fish
Put 2 - 3 slices of tomates in the belly of the fish (you can use a whole tomato if you like)
Cut a lemon in slices and place them on either side of the fish and the remainin slices go into the belly of the fish also (basically I do this because they don't sell any fresh lemon leaves here in Germany so I've substituted with a whole lemon.
Wrap the whole fish up in a foil or banana leaves
Place in the oven for 25 mins at 170'C and open the foil up (if using) in the last 10 minutes of baking so it will not be so watery.
Disregard this step (*opening the banana leaves in the last 10 mins) if you have wrapped it in banana leaves as the leaves naturally reduces the juice coming out of the fish.

Das Berger Straßenfest

I cannot believe the Berger Street Festival is back! We have seen through 2 Berger Street Festivals, crazy! Anyways apart from having some great snacks along the street, we found a little boy selling these amazing books from the 1950's, look how vibrant they are! And for a euro per book, what a bargain! I snapped up 3 of them then came back for another 3.

I love the patterns on them, they don't even look like they have been from the 50's, they look like modern chocolate packaging...

I literally just grabbed what I thought were the most colourful ones, but look what I came across.."Allah has a hundred names"

At the fresh market

One of the great things about Frankfurt (or Germany overall) is that every town has their own portable fresh market held every week on certain days. In my town that day is today and that's pretty much when I would get my fish products. These markets can be pretty expensive (like...very expensive!) but at least I don't have to drive somewhere or walk to the Kleinmarkthalle in the city, so it saves me a long walk...I know, I'm lazy.

a quiet revolution

I know a friend whose boyfriend shops for everything online - I mean everything...like, even masking tape. At first I thought it was a little ridiculous, but I'm slowly changing my mind. I've always been hesitant about shopping online. Living in Jakarta for a couple of years has taught me that, and in Australia, it's not really the thing to do - but in Germany? wow, it's like a quiet revolution taking over the retail world. Personally, I like the thrill of the hunt...and the searching...and the window shopping. But after yesterday's day of "nein!" from retail assistants, I can completely understand this quiet revolution. We ordered something online, nothing expensive, but we paid for an express delivery to be received before midday today. It wasn't here at 11:30, nor at 12:30 or at 2pm (which to me was not a surprise) but what was surprising was the HELPFUL customer service person, Jan, from amazon.de. Not only did he tried to speak to me in english but he also: - offered to call DHL to find out the status of the package - will have DHL send my package by today or tomorrow before midday - refunded the express fee - and most importantly, the first words to come out of his mouth was not "nein" Oh Germany, I have faith in you yet!

A peaceful afternoon in Frankfurt

Enjoying a slither of sunshine

The husband can't quite walk yet so in the meantime the balcony is really where he can enjoy his bit of the outside world without actually going outside. I bought some flowers to cheer the balcony up but it seems like I as soon as I take them home, they just start to die.

Chicken sate

The husband was feeling a little down that he missed out on the Indonesian trip so I decided to cook up a simple Indonesian meal for lunch. This is so easy to make that I feel rather embarrassed to put a recipe up. It's something that my mum used to cook for us when she couldn't be bothered doing anything else but I love it nonetheless. He was over the moon!

Homemade nutella

So since being back in Germany I haven't really been that much of a fruit eater. I don't normally eat fruits anyway unless it is with some sort of a chilli sauce (Indonesian rujak or asinan) of some kind. Since rujak sauces are quite difficult to replicate, I've recently been eating peaches and strawberries with Nutella and the other day I've come to realised that I managed to eat a quarter of a Nutella jar in one sitting. So I thought I might try out at making my own Nutella (from this recipe) just so that I would feel alot better about eating that much chocolate.

Sauerkirschkuchen

Souvenirs left behind from the Tsunami

This mosque is located at the centre of town. It was built by the Dutch a while ago and the locals say that when the Tsunami hit, the wave curled over the mosque which left it completely untouched. During the Tsunami, the locals sought refuge here. 

This is what the locals called "the ship ontop of the house" and it's really just that. During the Tsunami, this boat flung right ontop of a house, completely shaved off the ceiling and roof and stayed there. The weird thing was, the the fishing boat only chipped the edge of the next door neighbour's roof corner.

This is an electric generator tank of a ship that was flung 5 km to land. I couldn't take a picture of the whole thing because it was just that massive. The Indonesian government promised to try and drag this back to see just because this thing is placed right in town and takes quite some space...but of course, they never delivered on their promise (insert shock, horror) so now it's just kind of stuck there. The locals tried at one stage to try and pull it out to see themselves but it didn't work due to...no resources.

Nearby the Tsunami Museum is this plaque which shows flags of all the countries that contributed to rebuilding Aceh after the Tsunami. The size of the flag shows how much they contributed, in terms of man-power and money donations. Of course the Indonesian government didn't like this concept because they contributed nothing so it was agreed that this plaque could be hung up if the Indonesian flag was 20 times bigger than the rest of the flags. The locals kind of laugh at this because they say that the Indonesian flag is the biggest and they contributed the least.

Must try foods in Aceh

Teh tarik

Grilled corn

Mie Aceh

Freshly grounded Toraja coffee beans

Inside out martabak

Hasan Restaurant

This restaurant has been newly renovated with an elevated floor so that I guess if there ever was another big flood, they are quite safe.

My all time favourite food, pregedel (kartoffeln Frikadellen)

Ayam goreng dada (fried chicken breasts with lime leaves) is a must to try. This is what I dream about eating all the time!

This place is actually called Warung Nasi Hasan but it's not really a warung (street stall) as it is more of a restaurant. I'm guessing this is quite a famous restaurant here in Aceh because it looks more sturdy as other restaurants and it is painted in this flouro green colour which is, to me, a colour that the big city-slickers in Jakarta like. I cannot fault the food, it was everything I liked in an Indonesian food; fried, spicy and with a teh botol nearby.


Warung Nasi Hasan
Jalan Laksamana Malahayati
Kajhu, Banda Aceh

Aceh close up

The monument ahead is pretty much the centre of town and this was where the people gathered shortly after the Tsunami to find missing people and kids. Later on, the strip of land that divides the street (on the right of the picture) was where the people would line up all the dead bodies that they found around them so that others can identify their loved ones who didn't survive.

It's amazing how blue this water is (it really is that aqua blue colour in real life). The airport and the way into town is divided by this river. During the Tsunami this was littered with wreckage and dead bodies as high as this water was.

Driving through the town of Aceh and hearing the Tsunami stories from my aunt and uncle makes me wonder how they (and my little cousins) ever survived it. There are countless stories, I mean - just countless of stories.

Aceh from afar

So yesterday was quite an uneventful birthday but I didn't mind because today was my real birthday treat. When I was preparing for this trip, I managed to convinced my mother to fly out to Aceh to visit my uncle. And she agreed to come if I organised the flight tickets (which was anyway easy because I bought them online hah!) - ahh yes I'm so lucky to have a mother who is game to do some crazy things with me. We left for the airport rather early (6am) to get to Aceh in the morning and this is what I took from the plane ride there. As you can see even thought the Tsunamis hit Aceh in 2004, parts of Aceh are still submerged and when you hear someone say that earthquakes changes the way a country looks, it became really evident to me in these pictures.

Kepiting Asap

I love the menu boards here!

Fresh seafood is really fresh here

The best thing on the menu, smoked crab in 17 spices paste

I think I may have mentioned this restaurant in Kebon Jeruk before but I thought I might just quickly write something about it again. So as it is my birthday (without the husband...grrr this is like three years in a row already!) I wanted to have some crabs. I know there are plenty of street stalls selling these but I'm a bit picky with my sea crustaceans when in Jakarta (I know I'm weird because I eat beef tongue from the street stalls all the time). This place is really as fresh as you can get with seafood and I just cannot get enough of this place.

Rasane Kepiting Asap
Jl. Raya Greenville Block AS no. 35
Kebon Jeruk
Jakarta Barat

Tel: +6221 5696 1144

Sate Padang Ajo Ramon

This carpark at Pasar Santa turns into one of the most popular hangouts for Jakartans at night time. In fact, this area is more famous for its food stalls at night than the pasar itself - one of them being the Sate Padang Ajo Ramon stall. Now I've eaten enough sate padangs in my lifetime to know which I like and which I don't like, and I've got to say, this particular sate really kicks it out of the park for me. It's a bit spicy for my liking but I don't mind as long as there are a couple of teh botols handy. And I like the fact that I can come here as late as I want and there would still be stacks of people in their pyjamas queuing to eat here, especially during Ramadhan.

Food stalls at the Pasar Santa carpark

The cooked sate is then left in the gravy so it intensifies the taste of the gravy and keeps the beef tongue tenderised

spicy crackers to eat with the gravy(kerupuk singkong pedas)

The complete dish

The chef in his semi-formal batik attire

Sate Padang Ajo Ramon
Jl Cipaku 1
Pasar Santa
Kebayoran Baru
Jakarta Selatan