There’s No Place Like Home

I’ve been displaced for some time now, moving from one place to another, until now. My move to Germany went as smooth as possible. We had a day and evening layover in London before making it here.

In the past, we would be booking flights to travel to different places in Europe, but we had to put that on hold. Too many things to get done, such as getting the flat in order and signing up for German classes, which I already did. I’m excited about my German classes. It’s definitely a necessity living here. I can’t very well walk around saying, “Ich bin aus USA und ich lerne Deutsch aber nich gute.” (I am from the USA and I learn German but not good).

Our flat is coming along great. We have one junk room, like most homes, where we just threw everything in to deal with later. We’ve been planting, painting, hanging curtains, shopping for items for the flat, and cooking in between. My love and I love to cook, BUT we are also trying to lose weight, so we’re basically staying home and making our own meals.

This is a dish my Love made when we first arrived. It’s Quinoa with Sausage and Peppers. We have parsley, basil and chive plants, which you’ll see parsley sprinkled on top with some gouda cheese. This dish is fantastic. I think I’ll keep him for this meal alone. *smiles*

I make most of the meals, but once in a while he likes to pop into the kitchen, mess it up, and present scrumptious things. Last week, my Love made two walnut zucchini breads. I only had a few slices spread out over a few days and it was wonderful.

My Love likes the egg and muffins I make that are much better than McDonald’s. So again, he made these sausage patties and we froze them for when we have these for breakfast. Below are the Turkey Sage Sausage Patties he made--another fantastic recipe, and much healthier than McDonald’s. 

As of now, we’re coming along in our new home—making it our own and warming our bellies in between. Hope this finds everyone well.

Home and Cooking,

Bea

Breakfast in Canterbury, Lunch by the Sea and Dinner with the Queen

Since I arrived in Germany and will be here for a month, I’m sure most of my posts will be about our travels. I arrived in Amsterdam on Friday and on Saturday we took off on our extended weekend excursion. It’s Fat Tuesday in the States and this past weekend started Carnivale in Europe.

We drove 4-1/2 hours to Calais, France to take the ferry to Dover. Here are a few pictures where we waited to drive the car onto the ferry, and then of the White Cliffs of Dover.

On Sunday morning, we woke early to experience Canterbury before everyone else go there. The center of Canterbury is unique because it was built within the old castle. This is part of the castle.

 

Here are some pictures I took as we strolled down the quiet streets.

This sign was on one of the historic buildings. I thought it was funny.

When we were walking around by the waterway, a man told us he just saw a fox, so we stayed there until the fox came out. I think he enjoyed being on display. Mmmm….breakfast.

Here are more pictures of our walk along the waterway.

This is a picture of the original entrance into the castle. They had a picture of what it looked like with the drawbridge. Then I took a picture from the other side of the English telephone booths.

 

It took me a while to get it, but here’s a picture of a poetry (poet tree). There are pieces of paper with poetry written on it that hung from the tree. Clever.

And here’s where we enjoyed a tour of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.

Before leaving Canterbury, we stopped into their grocery store to check out what they had, and I couldn’t believe I found some Scottish Haggis. For those of you who don’t know what Haggis is, it’s made out of sheep’s liver, heart and lungs, minced with onion, oatmeal and spices. As tradition has it, it normally is put in the animal’s stomach and simmered for 3 hours.

After our Canterbury fun, we stopped at a little town called Herne Bay, but moved onto another coastal town called Whitstable. I loved this place. It was so cute. Here are a few pictures of our ventures in Whitstable. 

We had lunch at the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company and the oysters were huge and yummy. I ate them too fast to take a picture but here's what it looks like from the inside of the place.

Now it's mid-afternoon and my Love asked if I wanted to head to London. Me being the adventurer, said “sounds good.” We drove to London and walked around, listened to live music and finished there with dinner. Here are a few pictures of our time there.

By this time we were tired, so we headed back to the hotel room for a good night sleep.

Now I’m sick and hope to be better soon.

How are you celebrating Fat Tuesday?

Adventures and Experience,

Bea