Blueberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake + Family Reunion.

When i was posting this post, the smell of fresh blueberry cream cheese cake engulfed the air that i breathed. It was so distracting.

So anyway, i've been itching to bake the cake from Joy of Baking that my sister had made when we went to go visit her in Wiesbaden. Get the recipe here. I reduced the sugar by 20 grams for the cream cheese as well as the base. And used a "lower" fat content cream cheese - basically the cheapest i could find.

I've never baked a cheese cake before, even though i LOVE eating cheese cakes.

TOTALLY YUMMEH!

This is officially one of my favorites that i've baked so far. The combination was to die for. That said, J has restricted me to have only one slice per day.

If, i had it my own way i'd eat it the whole thing in one go.

Oh and in case you're wondering, the cake is not Vegan but i'm sure one could use substitutes like margarine, egg replacer and soy milk - i'd be interested to find out how it tastes though should anyone feel up to the challenge.

I apologise if the rest of this post is long but trying to cram an overview of my holiday into a short paragraph is hard hence the reason it took me so long to get around to writing this post.

It simply takes time.

***

So here we go, my parents flew in from the other side of the world to meet their very first grand daughter. As well as to catch up with both my sister and i, whom they hadn't seen in years. A Get-together that was planned over a year ago and then later postponed in December.


J and i stayed at a very cosy service apartment and my parents stayed in another service apartment a little closer to where my sister and her boyfriend stays. Our place didn't really look like the typical service apartment, it looked like we were just staying in somebody's home. Well technically we were, except the Owners' had their own floor and the ground floor was another service apartment. Tucked away behind a busy main street, the location was fantastic with even a massive supermarket only metres away.


Our time there pretty much involved eating really yummy food. First it was Turkish food, then dining at an Italian restaurant that boasts that they had the best pizza in Germany. I've had my fair share of pizzas during my years, i would say it was really good but i'm not sure if i'd go so far as saying it was the "Best".

Wiesbaden is one of the richest cities in Germany. Many of the buildings date back to the late 1800s since the city was not bombed during the war. Some of the façades are gorgeous but of course, i didn't manage to take any photos of them - sorry.


But we did see this building covered with graffiti which holds a few bars. And just across the road was an indoor skateboard park, a place where teens could hang out and do what kids do.

Here's one of the trio; Mama Boo, Papa CG and Mimi.

I last saw my niece when she was just 10 days old, so seeing her at 7 months babbling away and on the verge of crawling was amazing. So cute and such a happy baby! She makes this "ooooOoooooo" sound that is absolutely adorable. She also loves looking at pictures of herself... ehehe.

A very well behaved baby that doesn't mind too much if others' carry her. The only time there was much of a commotion was when she threw up... on me, when we were out for lunch at that Italian restaurant.

Mmm... baby spew. o.O

Here's Mimi pulling on Auntie Chrissies' hair... again.


My mom brought some of my sisters' old toys and books with her when she was a baby. Apparently, all my baby books are torn up because i had some serious anger issues *cough*.

But when it's my turn to have a kid, my mom said, she'll bring me some of my toys that i haven't destroyed.

Anyway, when we weren't ogling over the baby and mimicking her oo's and aa's, we decided to occupy some of our evenings with Yatzy and good quality Chinese tea. One way of telling if the leaves are superior, is if the leaves stand up right in ones' glass.

Cool, eh?

Yahtzee: A 5-dice game that somehow my mother always seems to win.

YAHTZZZEEEEE!

My parents took the train to Paris - a short getaway within a holiday and this was us before the train was about to depart.

I'm not sure when the next time the WHOLE family will be at the same place at the same time. But despite the minor hiccups along the way, overall it was so good to see everyone again.

I was also relieved to see my parents, especially my mother accept J. There was a time when things weren't so rosy between them but as always, Time has helped change perceptions.

Can you believe out of the 1000+ pictures i took, i didn't even get one group photo!?

I'm such a Dumbo! Oh well.

So when J wasn't the chauffeur and i wasn't entertaining the folks/baby, we had evenings that we went back early. But instead of spending time together, J spent the whole evening and early morning playing his computer games.

BoooOOoo!

He later made it up to me by spending the afternoon with me at the Thermal Baths which so happened to be surrounded by wrinkly old people. Then later taking me to a Japanese all-you-can-eat buffet for dinner where i ate a ridiculous amount of sushi.

I mean it's not like i have any issues with him playing his computer games but when he's playing Warcraft every day, after work AND on the weekends, i get a bit annoyed. And now that's he's been invited to join some clan, he's even more into it when he's got his headphones and mic.

It's like the world around him at home ceases to exist.

So after i grumbled one too many times, he came up with a solution and that was to have one day of the week, where he can play his game all night/morning with no interruption a.k.a me.

So we'll see.

Tomorrow is Friday and according to J, it's his game night.

Love Parade Gone Wrong.

Hello! Sorry for the lack of updates but since we were away, i used it as an excuse to getaway from work as well the need to do a daily update. We actually came back on Sunday but i'm just taking my sweet time to collect my thoughts.

And sifting through over a thousand pictures i took and finding just a "few" that best describe our 9 days away is proving to be hard but i know it has to be done. I will be back with a proper update.

The last 4 weeks have been a whirlwind of activies and family reunions.

And a last minute decision made us make a detour before heading home to two very missed kitties.


So the Love Parade was on in Duisburg and seeing that it was sort of on the way home, we thought we'd check it out. We had gone to the Love Parade in Dortmund two years ago and had lots of fun, so we thought, why not!?

An early check-out at our very homey service apartment meant our eyes were half closed by the time we were half way to Duisburg. The drive was only two hours but we were tired. So J made an impulsive decision to stop at one of the rest stops along the highway and we both passed out for just over an hour.

During which time that one hour nap and detour to pick up a friends' friend probably ended up saving us from being tangled up in that stampede that killed twenty in the tunnel leading to the Love Parade.

You can read about how the event unfolded here. Or reports here, here and here. You can even watch videos that witnesses have uploaded on YouTube.

I still can't believe that that many people were stuck in that tunnel leading to the venue. The images floating around on the Internet are shocking. I can't even begin to fathom what it must have been like for those being trampled on. I'm not good with small spaces and being so small, i'm sure i wouldn't be able to handle the lack of space/air but then again, who could?


The minute we arrived they had barricaded the street leading to the tunnel/bridges and you could hear the Police on the loudspeaker telling people to go home as the area was full.

We had no idea how packed it really was, we were simply following the mass crowd ahead. Behind us the cross-section was slowly filling up.


The sound of an overhead helicopter, police sirens and ambulances trying to fight their way through the crowd echoed. One could only describe the area as chaotic.

The streets leading to where we were, were lined with Police vans.

At that time we didn't know that there was only one entrance, so we walked back thinking we could find another entrance, only to be told by the Security that there was only one, so we walked back to where we were stopped.

One entry and exit for that many visitors? That's crazy! Who agreed to that stupid idea? An estimated 1,4 million people turned up during the course of the day and the actual Love Parade area was only supposed to hold 250,000.

What the... ?


By the time we got back the area we were at was packed! There was a stream of people exiting. Some had no shoes on and others were piggybacked out looking quite exhausted.

Some looked bothered. Others looked lost and confused. And some were voicing out their anger about how poorly organised the Love Parade was.

We eventually turned back and headed back to the car only to hear on the radio that so far ten people had died. We counted our lucky stars that we took that nap at the Rest Stop, otherwise, who knows what would have had happened and where we would have ended up at.

***

Turned out 20 21 people between the ages of 18 and 38 died and over 500 were injured.

And although there are some people, who aren't as affected by what had happened, i can't help but get upset and cry each time i watch the news coverage and the YouTube videos. Maybe it's because i was there and saw the ambulances rush out. Or maybe knowing how close we were to being in that mess just simply scares me.

I dunno. Maybe i'm just over sensitive.

I'm sad for those people who lost their lives. And what was meant to be a happy event turned out a nightmare for many. Or worse, even cost them their lives.

May their souls rest in peace.

Hello Rain + Vegan Apple Carrot Muffins.

Last night there was a massive storm which caused the sky to turn an angry grey. I could hear the wind howling and the trees swaying outside.


I went to go check on Yoshi and Luna, to see if they were OK and found Luna getting all excited watching the leaves dancing in the wind. Their latest passtime is trying to catch those annoying Summer flies but the sudden storm was something they hadn't yet experienced. However, her adventure on the balcony ended, the second i saw lightning.

Sorry, no fried kitties today, thank you!

The storm must have passed Düsseldorf because it turned out that J's flight from Dublin was delayed for about an hour and half, which meant he wouldn't be back till after midnight.

So to keep me occupied, i tried to bake Vegan Apple Carrot Muffins by All Recipes [dot] com for our road trip later.

I had some left over Apple Sauce from last night's Kartoffel Puffers [similar to oversized Hashbrowns but round] and instead of it sitting in the fridge and getting lost amongst all the other unfinished bottles, i thought i'd make something out of it.

I made some minor adjustments;

Vegan Apple Carrot Muffins

• 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 cups 1 cup white flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups finely grated carrots 1 Medium sized carrot - grated
• 2 large apples 3 Medium sized apples - peeled, cored and shredded
• 6 teaspoons egg replacer (dry)
• 1 1/4 cups applesauce 1 1/2 cups of apple saunce
• 1/4 cup vegetable sunflower oil

1. Preheat oven to 190˚C. Line muffin tray with paper muffin liners.

2. Grate Apples and Carrot. And don't forget to squeeze out the excess juice - you could always drink it later.

3. In a large bowl combine brown sugar, white sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in carrot and apple; mix well.

4. In a small bowl whisk together egg substitute, applesauce and oil. Stir into dry ingredients.

5. Spoon batter into prepared pans.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.

I had ordered a box of Egg Replacer when i got my Soja Schnetzels the other week because i had never cooked with it before and i was curious. Turns out be a great alternative to real eggs when baking especially if you're a Vegan or have simply just run out of eggs. You could of course use real eggs but then it would defeat the purpose of it being Vegan.

I tried baking Vegan Chocolate cookies using the Egg Replacer last week but they ended up being super sweet, so i wanted to make something else. Something that wouldn't make my teeth hurt.

And voila!

My first attempt to baking Vegan Apple Carrot Muffins. And i have admit, they tasted pretty good. Although maybe next time i'll use melted margarine instead of oil.

The inside was spongy and moist. And the fact that there's less sugar makes it perfect for an in-between snack coupled with a fresh cup of coffee. And i love that i can taste the cinnamon.

Cinnamon always seem to remind me of Christmas. Oh! How i miss cooler temperatures.

One Down, Two to Go...

It's Wednesday and i've been up since 5:30am. And even though the shutters are down, i can feel the heat trying to squeeze its' way through the ventilation holes. The thermometer in the bathroom says it's 29.8˚C. All i can feel is warm air around me and i haven't stopped sweating since i woke up. Yuck!

I wanted to write about the weekend but i need to do some work and write up a Quotation. How else do we pay for our bills?

Work calls. Sigh.


And trying to get a decent picture with Little L smiling is nearly impossible. But here's one taken just before her bedtime. Ignore the sweats and messy hair. It was hot.


But just a few things before i forget and get caught up with other things, J and Little L left early this morning for Duesseldorf airport. Yup, 2 weeks has passed so fast. I don't think we've done as much as we've done in the last year as we've done in the last 2 weeks.

Plus it's amazing how fast money can deplete when you have a child in the equation. All you parents out there, let me hear you say, Hell Yeah!


So she arrived with a back pack and a pink bag slightly smaller than the cabin roll-away bag but somehow, over the 2-week period she managed to accumulate much more. Various presents including a massive Lego set we bought her for her birthday, which ended up being bigger that the cabin roll-away bag!

Anyway, it takes an hour and half to get to Duesseldorf Airport from where we live and because she's only 8 years old, J has to accompany her to Ireland since the airlines won't take minors. Then the Mother and Mothers' boyfriend will pick Little L up and drive from one end of Ireland to the other to get home. Then J will hang out at the airport and fly back tonight and hopefully be home by midnight.

But our action-packed Summer doesn't end there, there's more!

Then tomorrow afternoon J's older brother a.k.a MyFirstEx will be arriving and staying at our place whilst he does his internship at Js' work place. In return he's supposed to take care of the cats whilst we spend 9 days in Wiesbaden visiting my sister, her boyfriend and my baby niece.

My dad is flying in on Friday morning and so we need to be at the airport really early then drive back in the evening for when my mom arrives. Then moving into separate service apartments for the next week. I'm hoping we'll have access to the internet there.

As for our guest, i'm not actually sure how long Js' brother plans to stay with us.

I'm thinking, and hoping, it's only when we're gone. I will need to speak to J about this when he gets back tonight. I mean i've accepted the fact that yes, he's part of the family and by doing him this favor, we will be helping him to lower his accommodation costs. But still, after having Little L around of 2 weeks and being away for another week or so, we're bound to miss our privacy. I will want my privacy.

So we'll see.

Fingers crossed the cats don't run off and nothing gets damaged.

I also will insist that my Work Room is a smoke-free zone. Stray ash and lost burning cherries are not welcome.

I'm not being a bitch.

I don't want to go away thinking that our apartment might get trashed in our absence. And when it comes to my new iMac baby, i am simply just protective.

Little-Miss-Wants-Everything-Her-Way + Say Bye Bye Labret

A quick post today because Little L is making a MASSIVE issue about not wanting to eat the strawberry yoghurt [amongst many things] that she insisted that i buy at the supermarket. This was right after she tried to excuse herself from the table to go to the toilet so she could spit out the little piece of Almond jelly with Lychees that i made for dessert.

I told her it was rude to do that and she wasn't going to die if she tries things. And just so you know i made her swallow it.

So now J is explaining to her that there are starving children in the world who have nothing to eat and are forced to eat off the streets. Further emphasising that she should not waste food and that she can't have EVERYTHING she wants.

Seriously, every time she rolls her eyes, it drives me nuts! Now i know how my mom felt when i used to do that when i didn't get my way.

Sorry mom!

Should i ever have children one day, i hope to all living things that they won't be picky eaters and they won't whine as much.

So anyway, i went to the dentist this morning for my second Deep Teeth Cleaning appointment and i'm happy it wasn't as painful. Yay for smooth and clean teeth! My gums are slightly sensitive and will be for at least another day or two - so booOoo to that!

But damn that drill! The high-pitched sound always makes my toes curl.

Anyway, i was also strongly recommended to remove my labret - that piercing just below my lip.

My beloved piercing has caused my gums directing behind it to recede. I was trying to take a picture via Mac's Photo Booth but somehow it didn't look that ummm... nice, so just imagine.

So the more the back of the piercing wears down my gums, the weaker the base will get. Which inevitably will cause the tooth to be loose, ending up with me losing the tooth altogether.

Oh no! I'm only thirty, i don't want to lose my teeth just yet!

Therefore, to save my vanity and my gums... and of course my tooth, i will have to say good-bye to my labret.

=(

PS. I seem to have misplaced my camera! OH NOOooOoo. After a mad hunt through the apartment J found my camera. It was on the floor, in the kitchen, under the cool box. I reckon Yoshi tried to hide it from me as payback for all those times i nearly blinded him with the flash.

South Park does Facebook

An ol' college friend posted this, on where else but facebook, and i thought i'd share it with you all.

Facebook not only has kept me in contact with friends that i have near and far but it's also reconnected me with people i've known during my prepubescent years. The longest running "friendship" so far is a girl whom i went to Elementary School with in 2nd grade.

We were 7 years old. Cool, eh?

I may only write the random message or birthday greeting on certain friends' walls but sometimes there isn't that much to say. What else can you write, apart from the obvious, to someone whom you haven't had any contact with in over a decade or two?

My life is so different from what it was like three years ago. Is it safe to say, i live a pretty drama-free life now?

And even though i'm so far away from "friends", when i'm browsing through their photo albums and reading their status', it makes me feel somewhat closer to them [in a non-perverted way of course].

It's as if i'm there, but i'm not.

I'm at the age where friends are getting married and having babies. Believe it or not, because of my nomad kind of life, i haven't even been to ONE single friends' weddings. Let alone met any of their babies.

Maybe i just need to start finding younger friends or maybe i should stop moving around so much.

Anyway speaking of Moving, let's move on before i get all emotional. If you're like me and were one of the unfortunate ones who got sucked into the FarmVille cult, you may appreciate this one...

Just so you know it took me many lost hours of harvesting and planting to make my way up to level 37.

But like every addiction, i've told myself enough is enough and i'm weaning myself off FarmVille... and Café World.... and FishVille... and YoVille.

However, should you feel the urge to send me free gifts like Tuscan Wedding Party ingredients in FarmVille, feel free, i promise i won't refuse them.

^.^

Home Alone with Two Kitties.

I can't believe it's Friday already, it feels like it was just the weekend. It's been so hot lately that i've had to keep the shutters down for most of the day. Leaving them up and letting the sun heat up the apartment like a sauna, makes concentrating very hard. The air is thick and humid.

But since J and Little L left on Wednesday afternoon, life with the kitties have been relatively back to normal. Luna isn't freaked out as much since there isn't someone trying to grab her every other minute.


And Yoshi has become my shadow again and has spent a lot of time using my forearm as a pillow when i'm at the computer. To the extent of meowing with disapproval if i move too much or even dare to start typing when he's found the perfect sleeping position.

Luna has a tendency to now whine first thing in the morning. She sits outside the bedroom door and does this Nobody-loves-me-please-pay-attention-to-me whine anywhere between 5 - 7 am. And even though i've been told i should ignore her to prevent her from making it a habit. But when the scratching begins and she starts slamming her mini body against the door, i can't help but intervene.


The last thing we need are gashes in the door. We've already had to drill into the wall a vertical scratching post on one of the corners to prevent them from doing more damage.

But i've figured it's as simple as opening the door and acknowledging that Luna exists and perhaps petting her a few times. And as if that's her recipe for contentment, she then runs off like a happy camper and i won't hear from her for another few hours.

Workwise, i've been quite productive and managed to get a huge chunk done yesterday. Hence, the reason why the dirty dishes are piling up and J's work shirts are huddled together waiting to be ironed. My deadline is today and i've got another 7 more pages to complete.

Must. Stay. Focused.

Other than that, life is pretty quiet when there's no boyfriend or an 8 year old at home. The only constant noise i hear is from the standing fan - which i kinda like.

There are no early wake up calls. No cartoons. No hungry grumblings. No activities. No Fewer disturbances. I think that's what they call Peace in some households.

Alone with my thoughts and missing J already.

Who needs an Alarm Clock when you have a kid.

I apologise for my absence but since Little L arrived last Thursday, i haven't had a proper breather to sit down and regurgitate my thoughts. And trying to squeeze in work has been just as hard. The first morning Little L was here, J had to be at work at 5:30 AM and so i was in charge of taking care of the little one all by myself. There's no such thing as sleeping in when you've got a kid around.

The days are ticking by so fast but before i get caught up with things, i'll try my best to recap the past week with some highlights.

Day 1 - 01.07.2010:


Little L arrives. We then played "Pirates with fairy dust" on the playground and raced Carrera cars in the bedroom.

Day 2 - 02.07.2010:


The postman delivered my order from Alles Vegetarisch. Yay for Sojaschnetzel Gyros!

And seconds after putting away the items from the box, Luna came strolling in and decided to pee in the empty box. Unnecessary flavoring, i say!

-__-

P is for Papa.

Then whilst J was still at work, we decided to surprise him and bake Vanilla Cupcakes. Each cupcake had the persons' initial but by the time we decorated them, you couldn't see the letter.


Played Mini Golf in close to 40˚C temperatures. Went out for ice-cream. Borrowed a bunch of childrens' board games and books from the library. Finally bought three fans, a children's pool and a massive umbrella for the balcony.

Day 3 - 03.07.2010:


Decided to go swimming in the wave pool and it cost us 21 Euros for 2 Adults and 1 child. Told the lady behind the counter that Little L was 6 years old, just so we could get a 3 Euro discount.


Drove to the city to try and watch the World Cup whereby they set up a huge screen for public viewing; Germany Vs. Argentina. I'm not much of a football or Sports fan but for the sake of just going, we thought we'd check it out. We made it for Germany's first goal but left after 5 minutes because Little L couldn't handle the heat and wanted to go home - which i then wasted 3 Euros on parking.

Serves me right for trying to cheat the woman at the Swimming Pool. Never mind.


We then tried to play Monopoly City but then Little L lost interest and ended up making up her own game.

Day 4 - 04.07.2010:


Sorted out the balcony and filled the kids' pool with water.


It was the right temperature to have a BBQ without roasting ourselves. And i ate some vegetarian sausages. I recommend the Wirsten (the orange coloured ones on the right) they were the closest thing to real meat. As for the white ones, they tasted a bit off.

Day 5 - 05.07.2010:

Spent about 6 hours at Safari land and Hollywood Park in Stukenbrock. [And if you pre-order online you get a discount!]


The first section allowed you to drive in with your car. The lions and tigers were pretty much chillin' the whole time and there were rangers on duty in Zebra-wannabe camouflaged autos.

The second part was where all the rides were. It was like going back in time, some of the rides looked like they needed serious replacing.


We went on a roller coaster and when the ride was over, i dropped my wallet in between the gap as i was getting off the ride. Good thing i noticed and the guy was able to climb down and get it.

There's a reason why they tell people not bring any belongings on the ride. Oops, sorry!

Us on the water slide. And as usual, i was the only one screaming... again.


We also caught the Cowboys & Indians show and a Circus show.

Day 6 - 06.07.2010:

J and i had an appointment to see the dentist. It had been nearly 3 years since my last visit and thought it would be a good idea to get my mouth checked out now that i have local health insurance. Turned out i needed to get Deep Teeth Cleaning done.

source

It involved cleaning beneath the gum line and around the tooth area with sharp tools which are commonly used for treating gingivitis and periodontosis.

But the procedure isn't covered by my insurance, so it cost me 45 Euros plus an additional 10 Euros which i have to pay my health insurance.

The Dentist told me that i was lucky i came in now because had i waited any longer, further damage could have meant i could have risked losing some of my teeth.

GASP!

Even though i have no cavities and my teeth are well taken care of, it doesn't help that i have dodgy gums.

Plus i was also told i brush too hard and i'm wearing down part of my gums... ewwww. Now i'm forced to use a Soft toothbrush.

But my gawd, when that woman was prodding me with that metal device, my eyes were tearing. IT REALLY HURT!

Then the Dentist tells me she can only work on my teeth for 45 minutes and that i have to make another appointment to do the rest. Which means i have to fork over ANOTHER 55 Euros and have my teeth and gums prodded at for another 45 minutes.

I think i can hear my bank account crying. I should have been a Dentist.

Day 7 - 07.07.2010:

J and Little L drove up north to see the parents of The Ex. Little L insisted she wanted to stay over at their house. They live in Hannover which isn't too far from where J's grandmother lives. I'm not sure what they plan to do but i know they'll be gone for 3 days. In which time i'm supposed to finish my work so i can meet my deadline... on Friday tomorrow.

Looks like i'll be pulling an all-nighter. Sigh.