Author Archives: Douglas Breeden

Autumn is my favorite season – not only because it brings a relief from the heat of summer (however, this year, summer was a sequence of rain days and heavy temperature swings, often in the downward direction), as well as the most wonderful colors in nature and this gentle, golden sunlight, but also because it yields the most wonderful fruit and vegetables. During the rest of the year, I usually long for all that wonderful produce that is out of season then, and look forward to autumn.

The transition from summer to autumn is marked by the beginning of the apple season. This is wonderful because apples are my favorite fruit.

In August there are the first new apples which we call “Augustäpfel” in German – those rather pale, greenish apples that want to be eaten quickly because they do not last very long.

Due to the warm spring we had this year, a rich harvest can be expected: There was an abundance of grapes, and the fruit trees bow from the amounts of plums, pears, and apples on their branches. Meanwhile, other apple varieties have ripened as well, and by the beginning of the week, my landlady has placed a big basket of windfall apples from her garden in the courtyard for everybody to take. I snatched quite an amount which I carried away in my spotted red (and favorite) bowl.

These apples are wonderful because they come with a refreshing sourness, totally unlike the little sugar bombs that are sold at the supermarkets nowadays. Admittedly, from time to time, I enjoy the sweetness of a Pink Crisp apple, but overall, I very much prefer the sour and juicy kinds. So now, I am sitting on this big bowl of apples, trying to eat my way through it. This was done in the following regards so far …

First of all, these apples make a wonderful snack.

However, they do contain some worms … This is natural, organic produce, friends! And since I am not so hardcore that I would take the risk to bite into a worm, I rather cut them into pieces before eating them.

~ naturally, lots of cinnamon have to go with it ~

And – surprise, surprise! – I also like to enjoy them in a combination with roasted chicken.

Finally, I love to add an apple to a green smoothie. (This love goes on and on and on …) Here is a recently enjoyed combo of spinach, carrots, apple, and plum.

~ looks muddy, tasted delicious ~

I already have some more (and more fancy!) ideas what to do with all those apples, but I would love to hear yours as well! So, if you were sitting on a big bowl of apples, what would you do with them?

Hi friends! I hope you all are well! You may have noticed that I was a little absent lately, not blogging as much as I used to do, but I was never away – in fact, I was here and still am, being stuck to my laptop most of the times. I am just very busy.

The past weeks looked about like this: During the weeks, I taught a couple of tutorials on multivariate statistics and latent variable modeling, some piano lessons, and worked on my thesis as much as possible, until late at night on most days, and also on the weekends. Some piano playing, cooking, taking walks, and mindfulness practices were interspersed throughout that, and every now and then, I met a friend or sat with my lovely neighbors in the courtyard for an hour or two in the evening, talking over a glass of wine.

It will always be like this from now on, but I like it. And I do not plan to abandon my blog or my lovely blogging friends, I just have to limit the time I spend on the blogsphere. However, I will not go away, and try to follow your blogs as good as I can.

Many important things are going on currently, because I am almost at the end of my studies now (maybe half a year to go still, with finishing my thesis and doing my last exams) and plan to make a PhD in social psychology afterwards. I am very serious with academia, and I feel that I belong there, but at the same time I know that it is a tricky battlefield: It is not enough to be good with what you do, but you have to be brilliant and have a good portion of luck as well as good connections if you want to hold your ground there, especially if you are a fair player. So, I am mentally preparing and upgrading my skills by reading scientific literature and gathering information. I know that I have the potential to be very good, that I can sustain hard times, and that I will have to.

Two weeks ago, I met my supervisor who was in Europe for some time and also in Heidelberg for a weekend. (He is back in New Zealand for another six months now.) He made some time for sitting down and talking extensively with me about the things I am going to face and I should be prepared for (so I will “run into disaster with open eyes at least”), my plans and my motivation behind an academic career, and how I should go on from where I am now. And he asked me whether I had written my thesis in English, which would be beneficial for publication reasons. I had not, because I was not too secure about my English skills when I started writing the first parts a couple of months ago, but this has changed thanks to blogging, so I have translated all 40 pages I had written so far into English by now.

My supervisor also recommended a few alternatives to Heidelberg for making a PhD which I should check out, and I thoroughly did and finally excluded them. I think it will be very demanding to make the PhD in Heidelberg, but the university has a very good recommendation internationally, I know the people and they know me, and I will have the possibility to work quite independently which suits me a lot – but which also means that there will be no guiding hand too much. However, this is exactly what my supervisor has prepared me for during the past year, and in retrospective, I am very thankful that he did, although it was not easy sometimes. So you see, the course for the time to come is quite set by now.

Nutrition also plays an important role in this whole picture, because I tend to react so sensitively to many foods, and there is little more having such a potential to make me feel bad, put stress on me, and weaken me, than these foods. What suffers the most when I have allergy symptoms or take a ride on the blood sugar roller coaster, next to overall well-being, are my energy levels and my ability to concentrate. So you see, figuring out my eating and sticking with that so thoroughly is not only motivated by the wish to feel better, but also by the plan to achieve and maintain my maximal performance level to sustain the work load that comes with an academic career. I see food mostly as fuel now, but this does not mean that enjoyment has to go short, as these pictures may show …

~ carrot tagliatelle and kale with scrambled eggs ~

~ carrot, plum, and almond protein smoothie ~

~ roasted chicken and pumpkin with parsley and almond butter ~

~ fresh raspberries (a very rare treat) ~

~ roasted chicken with carrots, onions, and lamb’s lettuce ~

And I also enjoy my beloved green protein smoothies on an almost daily basis. These are just the best to fuel yourself with vitamins and energy, and they are so easy and quick to prepare! I already have a vision of me being the nerd who has a blender in her office … And as you can see, I have also started to drink from jars, so I belong to the cool folks now. (It is not a Mason jar, though, so there is still room for improvement in coolness, but I may order one some day.)

~ spinach and nectarine protein smoothie ~

The next thing to do now is to finish my thesis until the end of September, because once a year, the best works are awarded with a price, and the deadline for submission is October 31th. Until then, however, it has to be corrected by both my supervisor and my second corrector, probably re-edited by me, and finally reviewed already … So there is still a lot of work to do. Please wish me luck!

Are you currently at a point in your life that calls for setting the course, or have you been lately?

Do you remember that we got a lot of grape juice from the grapes in the courtyard recently? Harvesting, pounding, and juicing the grapes is always a peculiar mixture of fun, mess, and labor. My neighbor family owns a big juice extractor, and all the good grapes go into there.

You see, this one is not at all like a convenient, electrified juice extractor, where you can just throw in whatever you want to juice, push a button, and it does all the work for you. Instead, the squeezing mechanism is activated by throwing all your body weight against the green lever that is fixed to the wheel on top of the juice extractor, and move it around horizontally. Then, the juice pours out of the tube at the bottom.

You see, it is quite the work! (And none for me, because with my messed-up elbow joint, I cannot do things like these anymore.)

After an afternoon of work, you will receive this: fresh grape juice!

And not just a small pot like this! There were so many grapes this year that we were finally sitting on more than 60 liters of grape juice that wanted to be finished off as soon as possible, because on the second or third day after extraction, it already starts to become alcoholic. (This might actually be nice, but the vine that grows in the courtyard is not appropriate for making wine – vinegar maybe – so this is not what you would want.)

So, what to do with all that juice? Of course, you could drink it, but it was so sweet that I rather wanted to stay away from that sugar-overload. Instead, I made jam.

Jamming is a great way to quickly finish off big amounts of fruit or juice, and although I do not actually eat jam, I know several people who do, and who are happy about a jar of home-made jam.

Actually, it rather became a kind of jelly because the basis of it was fruit juice, not chopped fruit. To make it more interesting, I made two different kinds: one with lemon juice and fresh mint, and one with chopped plums and nectarines. If you want to make this but cannot find any grape juice, you could also make this with other kinds of juice. I imagine blackcurrant juice would be awesome as well!

HOMEMADE GRAPE JELLY

makes a lot of jelly

Grape, Lemon, and Mint Jelly Ingredients

3/4 l (3 cups) grape juice
1 lemon, juiced (or 2 tbsp lemon juice)
500 g (1 lb) canning sugar
1 handful of fresh mint, finely chopped

Grape, Plum, and Nectarine Jelly Ingredients

350 ml (1 1/2 cups) grape juice
2 large plums, pitted and finely chopped
2 nectarines, pitted and finely chopped
500 g (1 lb) canning sugar

Equipment

jars for filling in the jelly
jelly funnel (optional, but makes things easier a lot)

Directions

In a large pot, bring all ingredients to boil – grape juice, lemon juice, and canning sugar, or grape juice, canning sugar, and chopped fruit, respectively – and cook for about 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Eventually, add the mint, then fill the hot jelly into jars immediately.

With this, a funnel helps to prevent spilling. Try to fill the jars to the brim, then close them firmly. Let them sit for a few minutes before turning them upside down.

Keep the jelly in a dark, cool place, then it lasts for about a year.

Have you ever made jam or jelly yourself?

Once a year, we have a garden party in the courtyard.

Some of you may know that I live in a kind of courtyard community: The house that hosts my apartment belongs to a complex of buildings which are arranged around a courtyard and served as a coaching inn in ancient times. Now the houses are departed into several housing units and hired out. There are 13 or 14 apartments now (some have been put together recently, so I am not absolutely sure) and about 30 people who live here, me included. The age range goes from 11 months to over 70 years, and the community consists of families with children, students, young working adults, and elder ladies and gentlemen.

The annual garden party starts in the afternoon with harvesting the grapes from the vine that grows along the main building. The vine is an old variety that cannot be used for making wine, but my neighbors have a big juice extractor and make grape juice from it. This year, we had a very warm spring (and a cold and wet summer), and there were so many grapes that we got more than 60 liters of grape juice from them although we did not even harvest them all.

~ and you can also eat the grapes just right away ~

In the evening, we put up tables and benches and enjoy food and talking together.

Everybody brings something to eat or drink, so we have a nice variety of dishes and differents kinds of white and red wine.

One of my neighbors had set up his barbecue and grilled sausages for everybody and also some chicken for me.

And while my chicken was getting ready, I sneaked around and pictured some of the delicacies for you that the others had brought.

~ the neighbors’ son had baked countless trays of pizza ~

~ this one had tomatoes, mushrooms, capers, and mozzarella ~

~ roasted oregano tomatoes with feta ~

~ zucchini and feta skewers (so pretty!) ~

~ yoghurt and cucumber dipping sauce ~

~ fresh bread ~

~ mixed salad with marigold blossoms (I loved that) ~

I was happy about that wonderful salad and quite dug into it. Because all other things were centered around wheat and dairy, I had brought the chicken for me and also made a bowl of salad.

~ my plate: roasted chicken and salad (duh ) ~

The cucumber salad on the right side of my plate is the one I had brought. Instead of making my usual tomato salad with parsley or basil, I wanted for something fancier and a more unusual combination of ingredients this time, so I added in bell peppers, plums, and Thai basil, and made a lemony dressing to go with it.

LEMONY CUCUMBER, BELL PEPPER, AND PLUM SALAD WITH THAI BASIL

6 servings

Salad Ingredients

2 cucumbers, peeled and cut into thin slices
2 red bell peppers, cut into small cubes
6 plums, pitted and cut into slices
2 handfuls of Thai basil, chopped (retain a few leaves for decoration)

Dressing Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tsp lemon cest (optional)

Directions

Mix the cucumber and plum slices, bell pepper cubes, and chopped Thai basil in a large bowl.

If you use freshly made lemon juice for the dressing, scrape off the lemon cest with a cest cutter before you juice the lemon.

Mix all dressing ingredients and pour the dressing over the salad. Let the salad sit in the fridge for about half an hour before serving so all the flavors can combine nicely. Add some Thai basil leaves for decoration, then serve and enjoy.

What do you like to bring when you attend a barbecue or a garden party?

Some of my neighbors’ kiddies apparently dropped a fruit gum lollipop on the cobblestones in the courtyard recently … And it did not take long until the ants discovered this big treasure of sticky sweetness.

Do you see those tiny ants crawling around on the fruit gum? They apparently want to have the whole thing. Just, how do you get such a big thing to your home when you are a so little? Imagine you had to carry away a cupcake that was 500 times the size of your own!

But the little ants did not seem to give up, and continued to eagerly climb around on that fruit gum. I was intrigued to know what would happen.

A day later, more than half of the whole thing was gone already. It had not rained meanwhile, so every change in the state of that fruit gum must have been due to the work of the ants.

I think they have nibbled on it continuously, stuffing their little bellies with jelly candy. So, it seems I am not the only one who is a sucker for sugar around here.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and picked up some berries I used for a stir-fry today. It was very good – spicy from the pepper and a little sour from the berries.

ROASTED CHICKEN WITH CHINESE CABBAGE AND REDCURRANTS

1 serving

Ingredients

butter or oil
5 leaves of Chinese cabbage, cut into slices
150 g (5 oz) chicken breast fillet, cut into pieces
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 handful of arugula
1 handful of red currants

Directions

Heat fat in a pan and fry cabbage and chicken for a few minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin. Add arugula and let it warm for a moment until the leaves become soft, then add a handful of red currants and carefully mix everything. Serve and enjoy.