Mich's Year of 30th - Opening Weekend

Hello and welcome to all our new readers and hugs for old friends :) 

Last weekend was my birthday, and (shamelessly stealing the idea from my friend Pat) I decided it wasn't just my 29th birthday, it was also the start of my year of turning 30! It therefore needed to be a proper Opening Weekend for this very important celebration. 

We spent the weekend up at our new house at Lake Macquarie - cooking, eating, crocheting... it was wonderful :) Here are lots of photos, taken by my amazing friend Emily Sandrussi, who is a multi-award winning photographer! Her new exhibition opens tomorrow in Sydney, and you should at least go check out the website for the exhibition! 

http://artereal.com.au/home/emily-sandrussi

But onto the photos!

We had handsome men at work in the kitchen ...

... dragons and Captain Poprocks helping themselves to some home made meringues ...

... the food was pretty impressive, if I do say so myself - all home made (except the bread and corn chips) ...

French onion dip and tzatziki

Raspberry Citrus Gravlax with Lemon Cream Cheese

Lomo (L) and Bresaola

Slow roasted pork belly with crispy crackling ...

... and bacon-y cabbage, and spiced apple jelly ... 

... and roast potatoes and carrots, with steamed broccoli.

... the company was excellent ...

 

... someone else did the cleaning up ... 

... and then there was dessert.

Eton Mess Mouthfuls

Chocolate Fudge Cake

On Sunday, we lazed about the place, painting and crocheting and sewing and building websites and playing video games...

... and some of the boys even learned how to crochet! 

Overall it was a wonderful weekend, and a good test of the new house, which now has all its furniture! 

We're all ready for Christmas at the lake now :) 

Many thanks to everyone who came, ate, cooked, cleaned, laughed and enjoyed! 

Herman the German Friendship Cake

Hello everyone! Welcome to all our new readers, and hugs for old friends :) 

I have been participating in a VERY exciting experiment over the last 10 days. My friend Pat received a pet cake from a friend of his, and when it was ready he passed it onto me! 

Pat's delicious baked Herman

It's called Herman the German Friendship Cake, which has been around since the 80s (at least), and you can find out more about its history here.

We fed him, and stirred him, and loved him over the last 10 days, and he bubbled and frothed and grew (blossomed?!) under our tender loving care...

...then today was baking day!

We added extra pineapple chunks to the recipe, and used tinned apple instead of fresh. It made for a lovely moist but light cake :)

Perfect with a cup of tea!

We may have eaten most of one cake already...

The remaining starter has been divided and boxed up, ready to be passed on for Herman to have new and exciting adventures with new owner Helen and pre-owner Pat. We are also keeping a bit for ourselves to feed and keep for another 10 days - I'm thinking chocolate and raspberry loaf for next time!  

If you're vaguely in my area and would love to try keeping a pet cake (I'm told it's great for kids!), let me know and I'll hook you up. If you're further afield, try and find someone with a starter, or make your own! Instructions are on the website I linked at the top of the post. 

I'm a very lucky blogger this fortnight - I get to do next Tuesday's post as well! Check back then to find out all about my birthday dinner on Saturday night - food, fun and of course a lot of laughter (I hope)!

Take care,
Michelle

Our stories - Friendship between two worlds

Hello you lot!

It's birthday week, so we decided to tell you a bit about our friendship (including some very old pictures to prove we have in fact met in person :P). Enjoy!

By the way: Have you entered our blog give away yet??? It's running til next saturday! 

How we met

Anne:

I remember meeting Michelle on her first day of German high school. She arrived with her host mum and the latter was introducing her to some of her new class mates (I was among them). I think I had a feeling that I totally needed to get to know her soon!

Michelle:

I first really remember meeting Anne in our Deutsch-als-Fremdsprache (German as a Foreign Language) class. I missed meeting her properly before that because she couldn't come on our class trip to the Netherlands because of wisdom teeth (I think)! Many happy hours mostly discussing religion and politics (in English), and I probably learned a little bit of German as well ;)

When we saw each other in person

2002-2003: 

Germany - Michelle lived in Germany

2004:

Australia - Anne stayed in Australia for 6 weeks

Germany - Michelle came back to Germany for four weeks

2008-2009:

Australia - Anne studied in Sydney

Germany - Michelle stayed in Europe for some weeks and came to stay in Germany for some days

2011:

Australia - Michelle got married to Kiah and Anne came to Australia to be her bridesmaid

Some precious and random memories over the years

Speaking Denglish with Michelle and confusing her family when they visited her in Germany. In 2002 neither of us was very good in the other's language. As a result we spoke a wild mix of German and English (= Denglish) which was a lot of fun. It really was like our own language and sometimes we still use it when I can't find an English word. Also there are some words in German and English which totally need to be introduced to the other language. Like "doch"!

Making christmas cookies with Michelle in 2002. I remember that neither of us was very good with cooking or baking yet but we had a lot of fun and the cookies were yummy!

Getting coffee with Michelle at Sydney Uni in 2004 and having a good laugh at the Bavarian accent of Michelle's uni teacher. 

Being crazy cat & crochet ladies... Early 2009 I had bronchitis and Michelle was on holidays. It was freaking hot and thus we spent our days watching the West Wing, crocheting and cuddling cats. Good times!

Making a birthday cake for Michelle's mum in 2009 when most of the frosting was in Michelle's hands instead of the cake. And all the letters didn't quite fit on the cake, so went down the sides...

Having only mozzarella for dinner in Oldenburg (after seeing Michelle getting all excited about the huge cheap price of mozzarella in the supermarket) in 2009.

Tying Michelle's wedding dress: Me holding her hands so she wouldn't fall over, Janelle (Michelle's mum) holding me so I wouldn't fall over and the other two bridesmaids pulling on the strings at the back of the dress (Michelle looked amazing in the dress btw).

Some dreams for the future

 Anne:

Crochet with Michelle at the lake when we come to visit in 2015 (And cuddle Lena the cat).

 

Michelle:

One day when I have both time and money, bring Kiah to see Europe, and go on summer holidays with Anne and Alex to do crochet with a spectacular view!