no point stories about me

Oxford with my son

2012-01-26T01:32:00.006+11:00

Not so many moons ago, my son Jimmy, the Devil Childe, moved to Oxford to do his Phud. I mean, you would have thought that as a smart boy, he would have learned from the suffering I went through but no, he wanted to test it out for himself. In any case, since he's decided to set up digs in Oxford and I haven't been there before (yet), it was decided that I should fulfill some motherly duties by attending Evensong (yes, Church) with him and have a leisurely formal dinner.

I took the Oxford Tube bus there and I'll say this - I FULLY RECOMMEND THIS FOR FUTURE TRAVELLERS. It was a 16 quid return ticket on a coach, departing from Victoria but also going to Marble Arch (where I boarded), running 24 hours and free wifi on board. How do they get the wifi on board?! The website says you have to pre-buy your ticket, print it out and hand it over to the bus driver upon boarding (which I did) but Jimmy said afterwards that I apparently could have purchased one upon boarding? No matter.

Family reunion

Meeting up in the late afternoon, Jimmy took me on a furiously quick tour of the town.

Peeking through the gates at All Souls

Ummm...can't remember what this was.

The 'Bridge of Sighs' linking the old and new quads of Hertford College. Looks more like the Rialto to me.

Jimmy gives me more information

Can't remember this one either. I don't think it was the Bodleian :S

One of the heads on the fence surrounding the Sheldonian theate.

Exeter College, I think...

Oh, I know this one - it's the Radcliffe Camera!

Since Jimmy hadn't eaten yet, we headed into town for him to grab something (a pastie) and we looked around the Covered Market which was unfortunately largely closed :(

Nice

We walked past a cake shop that had epic decorations in their window

Oh, I know that that is! Mmmm, edible...

This one's for you, Kahunes!

And then we got some cookies from Ben's Cookies. Me with my delicious oat and raisin cookie.

Now, the richest and probably the most famous of the colleges at Oxford is Christ Church. Jimmy told me that unlike most colleges which are free to visit (preferably if you're accompanied by a member of the study body, though), Christ Church charges people to enter their grounds. WHUT?! I said we could walk over and see what the charge was. It was £7 for adults. WHUT?! There was a concession for students and luckily Jimmy went to pay first because when he flashed his card saying he was a student, they waved us through. Huzzah!

The wishing well!

Here's one reason why Christ Church is famous - recognise this staircase, anyone?!

Ah, it takes me back to my days in Hogwarts...

The Great Hall at Hogwarts was also based on the Great Hall at Christ Church. But Jimmy gave me this tidbit - because the Hall is too narrow, the filmmakers built a larger replica set!

It also has a cathedral which was not used as part of a HP movie set.

Pretty impressive!

Christ Church's Tom Quad.

Eating my cooking in the Quad.

The exit we used to return to town.

The sun was slowly setting so we rushed through Jimmy's own college - Magdalen, amusingly (to me) pronounced *Maudlin*.

The courtyard

The chapel in which we'd sit through Evensong!

The Cloisters. P.S. Keep off the grass

The Magdalen Tower

Jimmy explained that the Cloisters are decorated with sculptures illustrating various virtues...and these guys strangling each other...and a pelican.

The common room that Jimmy took me to go get some water and look out over the quad.

The view out of the window over the quad

The New Building. Built in 1733

If you look carefully, there are deer in that thar grove!

The sun was setting and it was getting pretty cold at this point. Jimmy gave me two options for us to get a drink before heading to Evensong - 1. The Oxford Union, the proud and famous home of the Debating society, champion of free speech and host of many notable speakers; or 2. The Turf Tavern. A no less illustrious location, the site where two famous Rhodes Scholars, Bob Hawke and Bill Clinton respectively set the world record for downing a yard-glass in 1953 and *did not inhale*. Off to the Turf!

The board commemorating Bob's 11 second deed. Some people were sitting in front of Bill's board.

Alas, a yard glass was beyond me but a year of training meant I was easily able to down my pint.

Now nearing 6pm, we furiously rushed back to Jimmy's lodgings for him to change into a suit and grab his academic gown. Alas, I didn't bring anything formal or my PhD gown and had to sit through Evensong and dinner feeling underdressed. Seriously. One of the readers was wearing a tuxedo. But because we were late-ish and arrived during the bell tolling, we were instructed to sit in the front row. As we listened to the sung mass, something occurred to me. Many years of sitting through chapel in school have instilled in me a desire to go to the toilet. No disrespect is intended to any religious people reading my blog. It couldn't figure out why I was busting to go to the loo given I'd gone while Jimmy was getting changed, and I wondered if perhaps it was due to conditioning at school because the only way to reduce the amount of time having to sit in a cold chapel was to go to the toilet. I think this is a fairly good theory.

Anyway, after rushing back to his rooms again so we could both relieve ourselves (I'd shared my theory and Jimmy agreed wholeheartedly!), we went off to Madgelen's Great Hall for dinner. Now, Pooey always used to tell me how horrible college food is...this was pretty good! Okay, we had to pay for it, but still...a 3 course meal + after dinner port for £11? Sold!

Jimmy in his formal get up

Talking to the German (!) sitting next to him. His gown is more obvious over his grey suit.

How nice, they have crested serviettes

Entree - Tomato soup with real tomatoes. Bonus Jimmy showing how Asian he is.

Main - Roast chicken with sweet potato mash

Dessert - profiteroles with chocolate sauce

The thing about Formal Hall dinner is that it's followed by a glass of port. And it was really good port as well! But all good things must come to an end and although we debated whether I should take a later bus because the Oxford Tube bus runs 24 hours, the London Underground Tube doesn't and so rather than take a night bus back to Smee's place, we had to catch a bus that brought me back in time to catch the second-last tube home. But a plan has been made for me to return so that Jimmy and I can climb various Oxford towers. Looking forward to it!

Stories from the Salon - Ticro

2012-01-25T21:26:00.000+11:00

I have not had my hair cut since I left Melbs THIRTEEN months ago! This is due to a number of reasons, primarily to having not much time, wondering where I was going to find an Asian hairdresser in a city without Asian districts, and also being told that I wouldn't be able to find a hairdresser who could speak English. Apparently, it's not a very highly educated profession *shrug*. It wasn't much of a problem because I came here with shoulder-grazing hair but 13 months later, it was a significant distance down my back...well, a friend had described Medusa as having more manageable locks than myself. Vacuuming it was also a bitch.

Despite many people telling me they liked how I looked with my uber-feminine long hair, I had therefore decided to cut my hair back to my shoulders. The question was then where and how it was going to be cut. Knowing I was going to London, I took a page out of Pooey's book again and decided to get Lydia to book me an appointment at Poo's salon, Ticro in Covent Garden/Soho on Saturday afternoon - after lunch but before CNY!!!

Then I had to decide how I was going to cut my hair. Again, I did was Poo did and looked at www.beauty-box.jp and checked out medium length hair. After picking a few that I liked, I showed the photos to my colleagues (and boss) and we agreed - this one would suit me!

Shoulder length, long layers, seems alright! So I saved the URL on my phone and showed it to the hairdresser who agreed.

Being two days before the big day, the shop was pretty busy and I saw them turn away people. That was expected and the reason why I made a booking. Because they were so busy, I was also not surprised that someone other than a hairdresser washed my hair. What I wasn't expecting was that the person cutting my hair left to go cut someone else's hair while I sat there for a while with drying hair. Another person came along and dried it to curl the ends (such as in the photo) before the cutter came back and did more drying. When I asked if he was going to do more cutting, he said yes and did some but not much. Following putting a bit of serum in my hair, he brushed the ends forward pulled out the mirror to show me the rear and said he was done. I asked him to adjust the mirror and sure enough, there was some layering at the sides that was emphasised since he'd brushed the hair over my shoulders but I said, "No, do it again. You have not put layers into my hair." He seemed confused by my instructions (not great English) so I demonstrated that I wanted layers in the rear as well which he promptly cut until I said stop.

Needless to say, I walked out not feeling particularly impressed and not liking my haircut. This feeling continued when I met up with Smee for dinner and said I didn't like it. He said it looked alright to him. The real test of course occurs after the first wash, which I did the next day after a swim in a pool. I then went off to Oxford where I told the Devil Childe that I wasn't sure if I liked it but he said it looked alright to him. Now back in Munich, I have decided that I like it after all, so here's what it looks like:

I suppose the moral of the story is that, while I didn't feel particularly pleased with my experience there, I ultimately did get a pretty good haircut. In fact, Asia has been saying that after the shock of seeing me with short hair, she was liking it more and more while watching me give a lab meeting lecture. I'm willing to cut them some slack for the time of year and day that I got served, perhaps it's not like that when they're not run off their feet. Great hair, questionable service - your call.

Off to Rundon!

2012-01-24T21:26:00.001+11:00

Despite saying just a few weeks ago that I wouldn't go back to London for a while, hey! I'm back in London! The reason for my quick return was basically to celebrate Chinese New Year with people who celebrated Chinese New Year. I think I've previously mentioned that there is no Chinatown in Munich at all (I'm sorry, but I don't count those shops on Rosenheimerstr. as a Chinatown!). And last year, I asked Trung, the Other Asian, where I could go to see some CNY fireworks or lion dancing. Imagine my horror when he said there wasn't any! :O :O :O!!! And then hearing the drums at Paris Chinatown, it made me realise I couldn't go through that again! Anyway, I didn't really do my research - the celebrations in London Chinatown occur the weekend after if CNY falls on a weekday. This year it falls on Monday Jan 23rd but I'd already booked to fly in so as to be with people on CNY Eve. Also, I wanted to get my hair cut by someone who could speak English. Apparently English-speaking hairdressers are thin on ground in German-speaking Munich :D.

But since I was flying in on a weekend and it was CNY, Lydia met up with me for a pre-haircut lunch. She had been trawling Pooey's blog for ideas of where to eat - handing having friends who are ladies of leisure :P - and settled on Wahaca! It was pretty busy so we got some (non-alcoholic) drinks while waiting and after getting seated, we decided to get the Wahaca selection because it had enough of the things we wanted to eat, and we decided to supplement it with the Potato and Chorizo Quesadilla.

Lydia with the P&C quesadilla. It had more chorizo than the quiche we had at Zumbo's in Sydney but not by much!

Me with the Black Bean tostadas. Refreshing!

Oh noes! I was too busy eating to photograph the (L-R) pork pibil tacos, winter vegetable tacos, and the huitlacoche quesadillas. They were all highly enjoyable. Believe it or not, I really enjoyed the vegetable one! Also in the back there is the lime rice and beans that went with the chicken taquitos.

I think this was the chicken taquitos. Unfortunately we let this get cold and it wasn't so nice :( But I'll put the blame on us.

Overall, we two were very happy with our meal. We were afraid that the portions would be small given the price of the menu and it's location. This was not the case and we ended up feeling quite full! But we were both highly amused and somewhat annoyed by our waiter. He was quite hipster looking with his little beard and high ponytail - all that was missing were thick-framed glasses. Anyway, it's normal that a waiter may try to suggest dishes to try but our exchanges literally went something like:
Upon sitting down and reading the menu: "Would you like any bread of guacamole?" Us, "No, that's okay."
After placing our order: "So would like any guacamole with your meal?" Us, "Er, no just what we ordered."
After Lydia asked for a bottle of table water: "Would you instead like to purchase bottled water? It's large enough that you can fill both your glasses." Us, "No, tap water is fine."
What's with all the pushiness? Is he paid by commission or something? It became a bit of in-joke at what he was going to offer us next and then it was kind of annoying how he wasn't coming over when we wanted to pay!

In any case, annoying waiter aside, a good start to my trip!

Smoking in Germany

2012-01-20T00:25:00.000+11:00

Despite the rampant drinking and heavy cuisine, Germany has a reputation as being a fairly healthy nation. I won't bother getting into whether I agree with that assessment or not but I would just like to say that I find it strange that it's really difficult to find somewhere after 8pm to buy milk, sugar, shampoo etc....but it seems like there are cigarette vending machines on every second corner.

Just sayin'.

Band of Brothers

2012-01-18T20:32:00.087+11:00

I've been watching The Pacific and I've got to say, other than the strange thrill of seeing Melbourne on film (hehehe, I know where they filmed some things!), it's not as good as Band of Brothers. Or at least, it's suffering in comparison given that I've been watching them end to end. Okay, BoB has the unfair advantage of being older and therefore subject to more viewings and I know what's going to happen, but I'll lay it out as to why The Pacific suffers in comparison.

1. The source material. Firstly, unlike some criticisms I've read, I will never, ever say that the Pacific theatre of WWII is less interesting than the European. That's just wrong. However, unlike BoB which is derived from Stephen Ambrose's text of the same name, The Pacific is based on the biographies of two different men, Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie, as well as recalling the experiences of John Basilone. While the three served in the 1st marine division, they did not serve together and so it seems more mashed together than a coherent following of different members of the same team, as we saw in BoB. This brings me to point

2. A lot of the strength of BoB is seeing how the team bonds and suffers together through adversity, whether it be during training, through the various battles, loss of members to death and injury, to the end of the war. This team feeling is partly what makes BoB so powerful because it also feels as though we are a part of them, whether they're sitting in the snow in Bastogne, getting angry at Lt. Dike, or amazed at the badassery of Speirs. To me, there is less emotional involvement because it is following different teams in The Pacific.

3. Despite the subject matter, there are some surprising moments of levity. This is important because even though War is Hell, life can be pretty damn funny.

Those first few reasons are the main strengths and weaknesses comparing the two. But because I'm superficial, a very important reason is also...
4. The cast of The Pacific are just not as hot as the one in BoB. Ron Speirs sounds like he may have been an asshole in real life (possibly murdered POWs, rampant looter, his own men are slightly afraid of him), but played by Matthew Settle (aka Rufus from Gossip Girl), it seems kinda psycho hot! Take these gifs for example:

See? Hot!

And then there's when we see how sad Doc Roe is, struggling not to bond with his teammates as they die in the snow and forest, it hurts!

Ron Livingston may always be slightly thought of as insecure Berger from SATC but he lends Lewis Nixon a certain charm despite the chronic alcoholism. And of course, BoB stars my favourite ginger, Damian Lewis, as the main character of the series, Dick Winters. I really love their scenes of platonic manlove in the last episode. Also, it's kinda fun to pick who the actors are now as the series features actors who were nobodies then and are people now - e.g. Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Tom Hardy...

4. With the team stuff and the hot actors, it's actually kinda slashy. This shouldn't be a reason for liking BoB more...but it is. Particularly Winters/Nixon. Just watch this clip.

Anyway, I'll try to repeatedly watch The Pacific until I feel a similar level of love. Otherwise, it's back to Europe with Easy Company!

Been a while since I featured my first husband...

2012-01-16T07:44:00.000+11:00

These were apparently taken back in May 2011 for Russian InStyle. I don't know how I missed them!

It's really good to see you again!

Really, really good...

(Images ripped from the cornedbeefhash tennis blog.)

Eating your greens

2012-01-15T01:47:00.002+11:00

As a child, I used to hear from people about how awful brussels sprouts were. I didn't know how they tasted from personal experience though, this was one vegetable Ma didn't cook at home. As I got older though, I discovered that some people boiled brassica vegetables to death and I figured that this may have been why they were so hated. And in fact, the half-French Soph mentioned that people hated brussels sprouts because they were cooking them incorrectly - and she proceeded to make a dish of brussels sprouts with bacon. Miam.

If you're wondering why I'm telling this (more pointless than usual) story, it's because I wanted to use it to illustrate how difficult it is to cook leafy green vegetable dishes for one person. Think about it. Buying a head of broccoli or cauliflower means you'll be eating it for the next few days before it changes colour. Ditto with trying to eat a bunch of bok choy or one head of chinese cabbage. But oddly enough, brussels sprouts are sold in relatively small pre-packaged quantities so I decided to try and replicate Sophie's dish.

Firstly after stripping the external leaves and cutting off the stem, I cut about 15 of those little heads in half and blanched them in salted boiling water for no more than 5 minutes. Once that was done, they were drained and rinsed with cold water. While they were boiling, I cut up a slab of back speck (I don't know, about 50g? 60?) and fried it without oil in a fry pan until the fat had rendered. I then threw in the sprouts but turned them so the cut surface was face down in the pan and let them caramelise for a few minutes and put in a teensy bit of butter (it looked a bit dry after a while).

And it came out looking like this...

Mmmm, bright green!

I decided I wanted to eat them with one of last week's pies though.

Different angle.

I was pretty pleased with the dish and ate it with gusto. Also, it was fun to dip the sprouts into the pie gravy. In any case, I have a delicious way of eating a leafy green that doesn't result in too huge quantities and a vaguely healthier way of getting rid of a slab of speck. Win-win!!!

Some youtube vids

2012-01-13T01:54:00.001+11:00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....ahhhh.....

Five people, one guitar!?!?!

The British Store

2012-01-12T00:56:00.000+11:00

After the excitement of visiting the American store, I decided to visit somewhere I was planning on going for a while - the British store. Hopefully I could get some fruit pastilles there!

First of all, I didn't take any photos of the store itself but it was quite *British* looking with dark wood panelling, an entire wall full of tea paraphernalia, and liberal usage of the Union Jack as decorations. For sale were tins of tea, canned spaghetti and baked beans, as well as lots of condiments such as chutney, HP sauce and Marmite. Despite being British, I was amused to see that the store sold Vegemite (which I did not purchase). I perused the shelves but did not find fruit pastilles and the shop guy told me they were on order. Oh well, but he did comment on what I had chosen to buy (insert UK accent here), "So, pies and crisps!"

Yes, there was a freezer that had haggis and also pies that had minced beef, as opposed to chunks. I promptly took them home to test out!

I've never heard of this brand before in my life. Nor has Pooey.

Also, ignore the price tag. It was not that cheap.

My impression upon removing one from the box what that I had been seriously ripped off. The pie was quite small in height with white pastry. After 30 mins in the oven however, it had turned a lovely golden colour and the pastry had puffed up admirably.

Cutting the pie open, well it sorta lived up to the mince labelling - I mean, it had mince in it but I kinda wished there was was more meat. No wonder the price (in quid) was so low. The gravy tasted alright though!

So as I enjoyed my pie, I added it to my list of possible places to go and nab stuff if just to stave off various cravings but I don't think it's completely obliterated the need to go pick up victuals from London or begging people to ship over Twisties.

Feeling Hotpot Restaurant

2012-01-09T02:32:00.000+11:00

I was fairly surprised to find that there were two hotpot restaurants in Munich. I don't know why, but I was. Anyway, following watching Sherlock Holmes, we came here for dins. The amusing thing was that my two companions were the only non-Asian people in the restaurant. As I said to them - welcome to my world!

The hot plate. High tech looking.

I was concerned that due to one of them not being used to chilli, that he'd suffer a bit so here's our pot with half mild and half spicy soup base!

Our meat plate. The place is actually buffet so they'd fill that up again when it was done. - as demonstrated with our vegetable basket.

I'm gonna put it out there, this one is better than the other one . However, it's also smaller so I'm not sure if I want people to go to this and make it harder to get into....The restaurant got really steamy which was exactly what we needed to get out of the driving rain and made exiting into a snowy world a lot more bearable. Either way, it hit the spot on so many levels.

Movie review - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

2012-01-08T00:56:00.006+11:00

It's 1891 and Europe is a hotbed of political turmoil. Anarchist bombings are being carried out, France and Germany are at each other's throats, while Britain is caught between the two and to avert war. Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is certain that Prof. Moriarty (Jared Harris) is connected to all this and a series of mysterious deaths but Dr. John Watson (Jude Law) is unconcerned. His wedding is rapidly approaching and nothing can stop him from looking forward to enjoying it...until Holmes uses Watson's Bachelor night as a way to get in contact with the gypsy Sim (Noomi Rapace) in the hunt for her anarchist brother, and way to prove Moriarty's complicity in political troubles of the world...

This movie is somewhat convoluted, filled with action and stunts, and a lot of silly disguises. In short, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It built on things that we saw in the first movie - Holmes' manic eccentricity, his ability to see how battles pan out before they happen (although this time we see them not always going to plan), and the bromance with Watson, which for all his annoyance at Holmes, we see goes both ways. The chemistry between Law and Downey Jr. is as strong as ever. The use of Moriarty in this film was also a strength - trying to figure out how Holmes would foil his evil plans. In fact, I would say the casting of Harris as the evil professor was great - he looks so ordinary but was pure evil genius!

Unfortunately, I did end up thinking during one of the many gunfights *gee, this is getting a bit long* which isn't a good sign. Also, when we all know there are a gazillion French actresses in France and Hollywood, why cast a Swedish actress (Rapace) as a French gypsy with a dodgy accent? Actually dodgy accents are peppered all over this movie - the curse of now being able to understand French and German! Also, I did start to feel a little as though Moriarty's evil tendrils were a little too widely spread. I'm pretty sure even professors in the late 19th century were not that well paid that they could form secret evil conglomerates, and his ability to get away with all the evil deeds without being traced, except for Holmes, a little too far out. But hey, if I want realism in films, I'll go watch a documentary.

Anyway, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows was solidly entertaining. And SPOILER ALERT!!! - for those who watch it, keep an eye out for the chair in the final scene.
7.5/10

The American Store.

2012-01-06T23:33:00.003+11:00

It has been with a fair amount of amusement that I have been watching something go on in my building complex. The *thing* was the opening of a store selling US products and where you could rent American cars - even Hummers.

The view of the store from my window.

I don't really understand why the store has opened there. Okay, it's a fairly residential area but even with the proximity to BMW HQ, it's not exactly a teeming bed of US citizens. Nor is it really somewhere to take a Hummer or Mustang for a spin given the narrow streets. *shrug*

Regardless, I eventually did venture in, mostly out of curiosity. There were some shelves with boxes of pop tarts, Reeses pieces, Lucky Charms, and cans of various soft drinks and beers (HAHAHAHA, good luck selling those in Bavaria!). Now, I don't actually like most packaged American foods. But I was sorely tempted to get some junk food. The shopguy came over and talked with me (surprisingly, he was Cherman) and he informed me that not everything they'd ordered from the States had arrived yet. I'll check it out later.

Given I was the only one in the store, I decided to buy something just to chip in anyway - and as it turns out, help him figure out how to use his cash register - a childhood in a grocery store comes in handy again!

As Pooey said when I told her what I got, "But you don't even drink Coke!"

But yes, we'll see how it goes. And if I ever get a microwave and a hankering for microwave popcorn, I now know where to go!

Destinations 2012

2012-01-05T21:58:00.000+11:00

I've been thinking more about taking advantage of my location and travelling around more to locations that I haven't already frequented. I should probably visit more of Eastern Europe (well, any part of Eastern Europe). So, here's a list of destinations I'd like to try and hit in 2012.

Vienna
Prague
Krakow
Warsaw
Florence, Rome, or Milan
Valencia, Madrid, or Marbella
Copenhagen
Dresden
Frankfurt or Koeln
Lyon

Clearly, I will not be able to go to all of these places. I mean, I've got to work at some point :P Any other recommendations?

Recreating comfort foods

2012-01-04T21:44:00.001+11:00

I've heard it said that the cravings a woman has during pregnancy influences the child's appetite and my Ma has said that when she was preggers with me, she had real cravings for curry and other spicy foods. I'm not sure if that's true but this past weekend when I was looking at the random things in my fridge and shelves, I realised I (more or less) had the ingredients to make Viet curry soup!

Now, I've never actually made this before but I've seen Ma do it every now and then. So I started off by frying the wings with onion in yellow curry paste in the wok and then throwing it into a pot with water, coconut milk, and lemongrass. In a massive oversight, I realised I didn't have curry leaves so I threw in come chilis to make up for that. While the pot was boiling away, I cleaned the wok and then fried some chunky cut potatoes and eggplant (separately) in the wok so that they would hold their shape when I threw them in as well.

In the end, the pot looked like this:

Errr....not very appetising.

But then I made a bowl with bean shoots, torn up lettuce, some rice noodles and the last of my hokkien noodles, and garnished with lemon and coriander and it was like being at home!

There are of course no quantities for this because it was all guesswork. Having said that, I ended up with 5 meals...that's enough for now. I think I will invest in some curry leaves just in case though.

Silvester Vorsätzen! (New Years Resolutions!)

2012-01-03T21:54:00.000+11:00

Now that I'm into my second year in Muenchen and it's the new year, I may as well set some things to achieve!

Save money. I'm not burning through it but I'm not exactly saving a great deal either. Excluding things like rent, bills, gym membership etc., I will set myself a weekly budget of €100. This includes things like food/groceries, alcohol, and entertainment, and if I don't spend it all, it can roll over into the next week!
Ride my bike. I don't think I've ridden it since I got it...
Prune the friends from my FB account.
Lose 2kg. I think I've put back on the weight I lost but since losing 3kg led to such a dramatic change in appearance, we'll keep it to just under that!
Ich werde mehr Deutsch sprechen! I've lived here for a year now and after moving with pretty much no (usable) language, I can understand when people are talking to other people on the phone on my behalf (thanks, Markus!). So now armed with German friends and colleagues, German flatmate, and German TV, I will start speaking more German this year. *nod* Let's just hope Fabi doesn't get concerned when he realises I'm talking to my TV in German!

Finally! The Big Roesti!

2012-01-02T09:11:00.001+11:00

A month ago, I asked your opinion and received overwhelming advice suggesting that I eat the Big Roesti burger, part of a promotion of German-style burgers. The reason why it's taken me a month to get one is due in part to either not being in Germany and also getting swept up in the eating of special Christmas-specific foods! I think we were watching TV and an advertisement for the burgers came up and I mentioned to Jul that I hadn't eaten the Big Roesti yet. She said I needed to hurry up because the promotion was ending soon! :O :O :O I had to hurry and so got one this past weekend!

Well the cheese isn't well roasted but it looks pretty much like the promo pic.

Mmm, check out the potato rosti inside.

NOM NOM NOM

The burger had a distinct smokey flavour, which I'm guessing is a result of them using bacon in the burger instead of that weird round bacon such as the type that's in egg and bacon McMuffins (come to think of it, I haven't eaten Maccas breakfast here yet....). But the real impression I got after finishing the burger? I was really damn full! A great big slab of carbs in your burger will do that!

Year End Review!

2012-01-01T07:32:00.000+11:00

What can I say after my first full year away from Melbs? It was one helluva rollercoaster! Sometimes literally! Overall, I would say the big changes led to some pretty significant professional and personal development and so this has been a damn good year. Really, what more can one ask for? If I wanted everything to stay the same, I would have stayed in Melbs, or I dunno, gotten married at 25. Hah!

Starting in January, I moved from Unterschleissheim into Muenchen proper and almost immediately developed hives and discovered the tenacity of the German hospital system. Maybe it was a sign because my flatmate in that apartment turned out to be a complete fucking psychobitch and I ended up moving out to my current place - but not before having an EPIC room cooling party to simultaneously piss her off while celebrating the awesomeness that is the Eurovision Song contest. At the same time, I was slowly coming to grips with the language by attending German classes and then realising how proficient I was becoming by buying food. On the topic of food, I investigated German pastries, while also refattening myself up by eating a lot of hearty German cuisine. The quest to find good Asian food in Munich also continues! I'm enjoying it very much.

Now that I'm living smack bang in the middle of Europe, there was a certain amount of travelling to other European locales. This included going to London, Regensburg, Leipzig, Potsdam, Salzburg, Berlin, Paris, Leiden & Amsterdam, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Warwickshire, London, London, and Paris. Believe it or not, when I started writing this paragraph, I was going to write that I didn't do that much travelling. But after going through the blog, I realised I have! I might have to stop going to London so often though in 2012...

Being in Germany, the language problems means I haven't seen as many films as I usually would in a calendar year. Having said that, of the movies I did see in the cinemas, there were two particular highlights - Midnight in Paris and Harry Potter 7b. God, I can't wait to watch all 8 Harry Potter movies in a row. Maybe the next time I'm stuck in hospital.

And of course, it was a year of BEER/BIER and using bier to hang out with old and new friends!!!! Oddly enough, I don't appear to have written that much about drinking beer here. Maybe I was too drunk or hungover *shrug*. The beer year starts in Lent with the Starkbierfest (literally, strong beer festival) which was used to bond with the Amigos y Amigas from Deutschkurs. With the Summer months came hanging out in the beer gardens, particularly the one around the Chinese Tower in the Englisher Gardens. In August, the smaller towns around Munich started up with their beer festivals, before leading up to the biggest beer fest of all, Oktoberfest! And as we know, I visited again, and again, and again. It was highly educational!

And so, lets raise our beers to the end of a great 2011 and hope that 2012 is just as awesome! Or if not as awesome, at least lets hope it's as interesting as the end of days is supposed to be!

Too Cynical for Rom-Com?

2011-12-31T07:32:00.000+11:00

This was supposed to be a review of Crazy, Stupid, Love, except that the more I thought about it, the more disturbed I got. People had been telling me what an entertaining film it was, and I'll admit it, when I saw the trailer, I wanted to see it too!

But you know what? Instead of feeling humoured, warm and gooey, I felt like the movie was giving across a bad message.

The key aspect of point of Crazy, Stupid, Love is the belief in soulmates. Steve Carell and Julianne Moore are soulmates but he let himself and ultimately their relationship go. In comes Ryan Gosling, a player type reformed by meeting his own soulmate, Emma Stone. And Robbie, 13 year old son of Steve and Julianne, believes that his 17 year old babysitter Jessica is his soulmate. Now belief in soulmates in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. What I disliked about this movie is that it uses it to override all other problems in relationships.

As Julianne says in the trailer, she slept with someone else and Steve moves out of the house without a complaint. He is later berated for *giving up* on his soulmate. But you know what? I'm more concerned that the fact that Julianne already felt the relationship was in such a bad state that she went to someone else was no addressed. So he gave up on their relationship? What about the breach of trust caused by cheating?!

Robbie actively does things that embarrass Jessica, like turning up at her school to declare his love, telling her that he only thinks of her when he has a meeting with Rosie Palm and her 5 sisters, and basically not taking no for an answer (until right at the end when she says she'll wait for him to grow up). To me, this is not cute and romantic, this is the first step to becoming a stalker. In addition, your feelings at 13 are different from your feelings at 23, 33, and so forth. In fact, I'd say that was one of the problems between Steve and Julianne - they may have been soulmates at 16 but they clearly were no longer by the late 40s.

Okay, a player being reformed by meeting The One, okay, I'm not so fussed about that but I did wonder how all those women fell for his lines. I am kinda curious why a guy who seems to love women couldn't seem to form a lasting relationship with anyone until his late 20s/early 30s and instead made do with lots of one night stands though.

Now for people who think I'm bashing romcoms, this is NOT TRUE! I love the genre, I love the improbability of the storylines and how a good one makes you feel all gooey inside. And I don't take them seriously. I mean, come on, I love Pretty Woman but I don't think hookers are good partners for businessmen (or are they....) and I love Enchanted but I know a secret cartoon world doesn't exist through a portal in Times Square (or does it....!). But basically, when Crazy, Stupid, Love ended, I did not feel that warm gooey feeling that a good romcom is meant to give you. I really thought that none of the relationships we saw would end well. Okay, maybe the Ryan/Emma one will be okay if she can get over his past and he can stop with those stupid lines to random women. Maybe they chose to use conflicts that were too realistic (end of love) or too unrealistic (being in love at 13). And if this is what's considered a good romcom nowadays, I'm really worried. You shouldn't walk away from romcoms wondering about the characters' future mental health! Anyway, that's my two cents...I'm gonna watch Amelie again.

Huzzah!!!

2011-12-30T08:17:00.001+11:00

Okay, this is an enhanced photograph but...Oh, ja!!!!

A Very Bavarian Christmas Part 2

2011-12-29T06:42:00.004+11:00

Here are some more traditional Christmassy things that I didn't know about until I came to Chermany...

Advent candles, one for each week of Christmas. They start off different heights, and by the last week, they're the same!

Cherry blossom branches. If the blossoms form at Christmas, it means good luck for the new year! YES!!! *pumps fist*

A couple of weeks before Christmas, Jul asked me if there was anything I didn't eat. HAHAHAHAHAHA *wipes away tear*. And so, Jul's ma decided to roast a goose for Christmas lunch.

Mmmmm...

NOM NOM NOM!!!

Following lunch, it was time to open the presents

Christbaum mit viele geschenken!

Jul's nephew was the one to dole out the presents

And then we all rolled around on the floor enjoying our gifts!

This pattern of eating and then sitting around and then eating more was continued for a few more days. I actually had to request a walk through the village to rest between meals! Otherwise a good first traditional Christmas!

A Very Bavarian Christmas Part 1

2011-12-28T06:42:00.005+11:00

When I told people that I didn't celebrate Christmas and my family home doesn't put up a tree, I was met with a degree of horror - remember, Munich is in a region that has public holidays based on religious dates - Himmelfahrt, anyone?! Anyway, Jul invited me home to her Bavarian village to give me the whole Bavarian Christmas Experience and, with the exception of the lack of snow, I sure got it!

The first step on my way in the Experience, we went to her village's Christkindlmarkt and had some gluhwein and the local sausage - Knackwurst in semmel!

A pork sausage in a bread roll served with sweet mustard, gherkins and horseradish. Miam!

After this, I helped them decorate the (real) tree. It smelled just as purdy as it looks!

As a side story, after dressing the tree, we had to hide it because the next day, Jul's nephew was coming over and the local story is that the Baby Jesus dresses the tree - when he's done, his angels ring a little bell!

Anyway, I also agreed to go to a Catholic Christmas service. Originally we were going to go to Midnight Mass (which oddly takes place at 10pm) but it was decided that at 2.5 years, Jul's nephew is still too young to handle sitting still in a church for that long at that time. Instead, we went to an evening mass where we got to watch the village kids perform the Nativity play...auf Bairish which made it even less comprehensible to me than normal!

The church. Cute.

The view from the church over the village.

After church we went home and had a three course meal. The first two courses were cheese, pear and walnut salad followed by a meat main of veal stuffed with scallops. I was too busy eating them to photograph but I got the dessert!

Ice cream with chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis

Miam.

And then the finish the day, I helped Jul's dad drink some kirschwasser (cherry flavoured liqueur)...it burned!!!

Coming soon - more Christmas happenings!

2011-12-21T01:32:00.000+11:00

Posted this on fb but I'll post it again here because it's so true!

Es schneit

2011-12-19T00:27:00.000+11:00

Hate is probably too strong a word, but I'm not particularly enamoured by snow in an urban environment. Okay, it's really pretty when it's freshly fallen and people haven't trod over it yet, the air feels nice and dry and it's ultimately better than rain but....still...so many negatives. It takes so long to get dressed in the morning (gotta put a full set of thermals under the actual clothes and make sure appropriate socks, hats, gloves, coat...), and then walking to the closest u-bahn can be pretty hazardous with the partially melted snow, or worse - ice. And then the buses are packs and people suddenly forget how to drive...*sigh*

Anyway, here's a vid of the sudden blizzard that hit.

Amazingly about a minute after I stopped the video, the clouds cleared, the sun was shining in the blue sky and a bunch of kids came out to make snowballs!

Movie review - Puss in Boots.

2011-12-16T09:24:00.044+11:00

Looking for some light entertainment with fun characters that's doesn't require wrestling with your brain that only goes for 90 minutes? Look no further, Puss in Boots is for you!

PiB tells the story of Puss (Antonio Banderas) before the events that introduced him to us in Shrek 2. A wanted criminal, Puss is going to steal some magic beans from outlaws Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton & Amy Sedaris) when he is interrupted by Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek) who is after those beans herself. Giving chase after the robbery goes wrong, he discovers that she's working for a blast from the past - Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), Puss' childhood best friend from their time in the San Ricardo Orphanage...

What can I say? This is an enjoyable film albeit unchallenging. I don't use that word to be derogatory - it's more that unlike Up! or Wall-E, there was not a great deal of emotional-string pulling. It's a straightforward tale of adventure with flashbacks to show how Puss became the mercenary who ultimately has a heart of gold. Unlike the Shrek films, it's not overburdened by pop culture references although there are lots of little gags about they way cats are - chasing lights, playing a bit too roughly with the hamster, the hypnotic big eyes jokes...all amusing but again, nothing spectacular.

The visual style is a departure from Shrek as it is set in a dry and dusty Mexican/Western environment and quite interesting to look at. I saw this movie in 2D but as with all CG animated movies these days, it was clearly also made for 3D and featuring a lot of action sequences - various chases, an amazing sequence when the magic beans are planted. The highlight however is definitely the dance fight sequence between Puss and Kitty that pretty much came out of nowhere, and the likes of which have definitely not featured in any other CGI movie to date!

Does this review sound not positive enough? If so, don't take it to mean it's not good. It is good, it's just not the best animated film ever, possibly not even the best of this year (I haven't seen Kung Fu Panda 2 yet but I'm told it's better!). It's fun without being groundbreaking. That makes it a solid...
6.5-7/10

Christmas Market photos

2011-12-13T08:33:00.000+11:00

Regensburg looking all pretty and dolled up for their Xmas markets

Nice full Xmas tree!

I really like this photo because of how awkward Ruben y Eva look.

The gluhwein tower at the Residenz market

Big Dog!

Big Dog acting big doggish

The Residenz market also has this at the rear with little huts that each have a little story.

This is a kinda creepy retelling of Red Riding Hood.

I thought there was supposed to be only one Santa?!

Es schneit....nicht!

2011-12-11T09:22:00.000+11:00

Unlike last year when I arrived in the midst of a snowpocalypse, it's been barely snowing at all this year! It has snowed a little bit, but if it hasn't melted by the morning, it's usually gone by lunchtime.

It was pretty and it looked thick on the cars, but it was gone by morning :D

While people around me are bemoaning the lack of snow, it isn't bothering me in the slightest! The only reason I would want snow is so that it would stop raining. Otherwise, I'm quite comfortable *thumbs up*

Encore Paris - Jour 4

2011-12-09T01:16:00.016+11:00

Alas, all things must pass and after Amandine departed back to British shores, Christine and Philipp headed off for some last minute tourist action while Jul and I dealt with the check out of the apartment (most cursory look over ever!), and then enjoyed the clear blue sky and sunshine as we slowly made our way back to Chatelet and CDG. *sigh*

A dieu, Paris, et je t'aime! Je t'aime toujours!

The First Annual Macaron Challenge

2011-12-08T03:25:00.005+11:00

Laduree vs. Pierre Herme - the question of who makes the best macarons in Paris was an issue that needed to be decided. And I used the past tense because NOW it has been determined in a highly scientific manner! I will say that one of the explicit aims of our Paris trip was to determine who was the one we would recommend to others when they headed to Paris. And now, we can say for sure.

Firstly, we had to determine how we were going to test them. We decided the the most important thing in about macarons comes down to 3 aspects - they way they looked (admit it - this is a lot of their appeal), their texture, and their tasted. It was decided that we would try to do this by comparing the classical flavours - chocolate, rose, raspberry, lemon, and pistachio. PH threw a spanner into this when the boutique we visited didn't stock all of those flavours so we eventually picked ones that we hoped would be comparable. In the end it was:

Rose vs. Rose

Citron (lemon) vs. Pamplemousse (grapefruit)

Framboise (raspberry) vs. Cassis (blackcurrant)

Pistachio vs. Creme Brulee

Chocolat vs. Chocolat

It was simple. We had two macarons per flavour, which were carefully dissected into thirds. After eating, we would discuss and debate its merits and determine who received the point for each criterion.

We got some cremant to wash away the flavour in between testing rounds.

The lawyers said the scientists had to be the dissectors!

Sharing the segments

The rose looking mighty pretty. Tasted pretty too.

Gosh, look at the perfect appearance and solid texture of the cassis

Who's having a good time testing?!

The results of the Challenge were compelling. Firstly in terms of looks, PH was the runaway winner. While the Laduree shells had the nicer *feet* and bright colours, PH macarons had a lovely glossy and even apparance, and some flavours (notably the chocolate and creme brulee shells had decorative effects. For each individual flavour,

Rose Battle - Laduree took the points for taste and texture, being a rich flavour bomb. PH's flavouring was more subtle and unfortunately blown away.
Citrus Battle - The lemon had great tang but the grapefruit actually really tasted like a grapefruit, right down to the sour kick at the end. We were all actually amazed that they somehow managed to replicate that. Taste and texture to PH.
Berry Battle - Wow. Readers, if you can get your hands on the cassis, GET YOUR HANDS ON THE CASSIS! The raspberry was actually quite disappointing. One comment was that the ganache seemed like it was actually jam.
Nut/Cake Battle - The pistachio was solid, if somewhat unexciting. But upon being sliced into, the creme brulee let out such an amazing aroma and a great replication of the vanilla/custard-y flavour of an actual creme brulee!
Chocolate Battle - Laduree was the clear winner here with a strong dark chocolate flavour that won us over PH's lighter one.

And so PH basically blew away Laduree to win the competition but it was no so clear cut! The strength of PH's work is clearly their less orthodox flavours and the ability to replicate those flavours. Laduree was the clear winner in the more traditional rose and chocolate, but I would say that it is possible that their lemon would have beaten a *lesser* PH flavour except that the grapefruit was so unexpected in actually being a grapefruit. Future visitors might want to take this into consideration when deciding where they should purchase their macarons in the future.

And so after a hard day's science, we sat back and congratulated the winners by eating a *bonus round* and finished the cremant...

...ending on a classy note.

Encore Paris - Jour 3

2011-12-07T00:37:00.003+11:00

Following the previous day's meal, I was really glad that we'd organised to have lunch with mon Cousin Alix and Bron at the relatively late time of 2pm. Our location? Chinatown. I've been whining a lot about the lack of Chinatown to my friends in Munich. In fact, it's probably been getting on their nerves a lot. But I really needed to show them what it's like when Asians congregate and REALLY compete with each other on how to provide the best of whatever they can get with each other.

So the best way to start that was to go to where Pooey declared she'd had the best pho - Le Bambou!

We caught up with Bron who moved to France a month after I hied off to Munich! She said she hadn't had pho in who knows how long!

Mandy pours the tea...

As does Christine.

Oh man, I missed a good bowl of pho dac biet with all those organ meats. I was kinda disappointed with the tendons though. Where were they?!?!

Mandy also had the pho dac biet and she agreed - it was one of the best phos she'd ever had!

Christine bucked the noodle soup trend and got herself thit kho. It was soy/caramelly goodness.

An overview of all our dishes.

After lunch, we went walking around Chinatown where I tried to show the various bizarre things that I missed and people who were not familiar with Chinatown got to smell that distinct Chinatown aroma - the sweetness of various roasted meats overlaid on the base notes of rotting vegetables and stagnant water. Mmmmm, fragrant!

Like various meats hanging in a window!

Christine was pretty impressed by those delicious looking quails!

An asian bakery with lurid coloured cakes. These cakes are actually macarons! This bakery didn't sell poison pork rolls but they did sell egg tarts (Jul bought one to try) and I got a banh bao (steamed pork bun)

And an Asian stationer with lots of random weird Asian...things...

Around 4 Alix had to go meet some more friends for le goûter, which then left us ready to start shopping for the next part of our trip - The Great Macaron Test!

Restaurant L'AOC

2011-12-06T03:19:00.001+11:00

Our Saturday night dinner was at L'AOC, and for those cognisant of French food, those letters do refer to Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée - a French body that makes sure if something is labelled as particular product, it really comes from there e.g. Champagne must come from the Champagne region. This implies that the restaurant sources top produce. I'm not sure if this is absolutely the case (it was a BARGAIN meal - €29 for the 3 course menu, or approx €55/head including wine) but it was definitely amazing.

Our aperitif - it was like Kir Cassis

Prost!

Some of the homey decor.

The entire menu is in French which meant that when we got it, there was a bit of trying to translate the words into German or English and then being baffled when we'd get something saying the word didn't exist. Well, with the power of the full internet behind me, I can now say that Rognons de veau are veal kidneys! Alas, none of us ordered that. Here's what we did order!

Escargots! Miam!

Camembert clafoutis. When it was cut open, the cheese ooooozed out in a most beautiful manner :D

Terrine de foie gras. HOLY MOLY!!! BIGGEST SLAB OF FOIE GRAS I'VE EVER SEEN! Not to mention eaten!

A more sedate slab of Terrine L'AOC

Philipp ordered the Terrine de Campagne but instead of serving him a piece, they just gave the entire thing to him and he was supposed to cut himself a tranche. That's so trusting - it was delicious!

Bottle of water, bottle of wine, and the cornichons and caramelised onions that went with the terrine. I also need to make a note about the onions - I need to figure out how they did them cos I could have eaten them on their own!

The entrees were pretty damn good and somewhat worrying - they were huge serves! What was going to happen when we got to the mains?! They were also huge! :O

Confit de canard - I believe the duck was finished but the delicious potatoes slathered in duck fat were not. Mmmm skin so crispy...

I can't remember what kind of sausage this was but it was also huge. Finished!

Beef tongue. So delicate, so tender. Also finished!

Philipp and his giant Entrecote. Finished with a bit of pain!

250g of beef tartare. When this came out, we were all astounded by the sheer size of it. What's not photographed is that it also came with a side salad AND pommes frites. :O Understandably, it was not finished but I was given kudos for getting about 200g of it into my belly.

This (huge) mastiff could have helped us out!

About now, we were in a bit of a protein coma. But those who ordered the 3 course menu still had dessert to come. The rest of us decided to share a tarte tartin.

Mmmm, caramel, apples and pastry.

Fruit crumble and tarte aux chocolat

After this, we chose to walk back again during which Christine said I was the quietest she had ever found me to be! The next morning, everyone said they were so full they found it difficult to sleep. Not me though. I conked out like a python that had swallowed a snake.

Encore Paris - Jour 2

2011-12-06T00:36:00.000+11:00

While planning this time around, Jul, Amandine and I all agreed - we'd each done most of the important touristy things in Paris, this time we were going to EAT and SHOP!!! And we stuck to this promise, MUHAHAHAHA!!!!

In the spirit of our declaration, we started off by walking down the street to a close cafe/boulangerie - Fauchon - for breakfast!

Jul gets into the Asian spirit.

Amandine being cute.

Nom nom nom!

After our epic breakfast, we decided to head towards Boulevard Haussmann towards the Grands Magains to get in our shopping. I mean, we could have turned the other way and gone towards Place Vendome but you know...anyway, I ended up buying a big down coat for winter and a pair of black stacked heel mary janes that should be easier to walk in on the Munich cobblestones! We also went into Uniqlo but it was so full of people and queues that we didn't get any thermals or merino jackets :(

Eventually we went home exhausted by the huge number of crowds on the streets - I had forgotten the craziness of the shopping crowds and traffic leading up to Christmas on Boulevard Haussmann. Which are of course inflated by people stopping on the street to look at the Christmas lights and windows of Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. It sent me back 7 years!

Eventually we stopped to recharge our batteries before heading out to dinner at our restaurant in the Latin Quarter. But we decided to walk there and admire the city by night :D Our route took us down Rue Saint-Honore and through the Cour Carrousel

Where we saw this monkey guy hanging out of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs

...and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel + friend

So purdy

Walking along the Quai Francois Mitterand, we took a load of photos of the buildings lining the river,

and of the great view of the Institut de France all lit up...

and of things in the distance.

We chose to cross the river at the Pont des Arts and saw all the lovers locks,

posed like Asians,

and admired the view of Pont Neuf and the Ile de la Cite from here.

We continued along and joined all the other tourists admiring Notre Dame

and the lovely full Christmas tree outside.

And continued along while every now and then looking down the little alleys of the Latin Quarter.

We then ate a huge dinner which will be recounted in another post. After dinner, we chose to walk back again but I also saw this for all the Harry Potter fans...

HELLS YEAH!!!

Encore Paris - Jour 1

2011-12-05T00:36:00.059+11:00

As the title of this post indicates, I went back to Paris. The return trip was inspired by many things but particularly by the revelation from Jul and Christine post-my birthday trip, that despite the proximity of Munich to Paris (well, from an Australian perspective :P), both of them had not been to Paris in years and Philipp, Christine's husband, had not been AT ALL!!! Cue us firing off an email to Amandine to join us, booking flights, hiring an apartment, researching restaurants...then...jetting off!

Big smiles while waiting in MUC!

Seriously? The discovery of short-term rentals in Paris has revolutionised my travel experience. Okay, they don't come cheap and require a deal of planning about who will come to split costs if a bit heavier than booking a hotel but we scored a beautiful (albeit small) place at the border of the 1e/2e arrondissements, between Place Vendome, Madeleine and L'Opera. So convenient!

Our hall table

Nice!

Cheese!

The convenient location made us decide to walk to see the Christmas Market that has been set up along the Champs Elysee and admire the general Paris Xmas Pretty.

Oh hello!

Das Riesenrad and the crazy traffic at the Place de la Concorde.

Proof that we were there! (aka Philipp and 3 girls)

Because the stalls are placed along the Champs Elysee, the Xmas market didn't have as much of the small village appearance of the Munich markets but it did feel a lot less crowded.

The Christmas lights were damn patriotic!

A really pretty tiovivo.

This blue light display near Frankie D. Metro were a particular favourite of tourists (yours truly included).

And because Paris is Paris, I got myself a crepe. And it was Xmas market time, I also got myself some mulled wine. As Philipp said after taking this photo, "That's one happy face!"

Sure is. Amandine joined us later that night back at the apartment and the happiness continued in the days (and posts) to come!

Spaghetti Ice Cream

2011-12-02T07:18:00.000+11:00

Mischka lurves Germania and when I said I was moving here, she said I had to eat spaghetti ice cream. When I asked her to explain more, she said it was basically ice cream that was made to look like spaghetti and that I'd know it when I saw it. Well I saw it in Aldi and despite it being a brisk 7C today, I decided that YES, I WOULD eat ice cream!

Spaghetti eis is strawberry flavoured!

Mmmm, such suess (sweet) presentation.

Vanilla ice cream *spaghetti*, strawberry flavoured *bolognaise sauce*, and shaved almond *parmesan*

Thoughts? Well it pretty much just tasted like vanilla ice cream with strawberry and nut topping. Not bad actually but other than novelty value, I'm not sure I'd say it's something that HAD to be eaten. Having said that. Fabi saw me as I was taking my photos for this blog and he asked if I'd had it in an ice cafe yet. When I said no, he said it was something I had to do so maybe there's more to dessert than making it look like savoury food!

Maccas - ja oder nein?

2011-12-01T07:08:00.002+11:00

One of the great constants in this world is McDonalds. I've eaten it in 6 different countries now (Australia, France, Italy, UK, US, and Germany for the curious) and other than some quirks related directly to the country, it's pretty much always tasted the same. The idea of Maccas being the same no matter where the location was confirmed to me by a friend of SwissChris who is a pilot for Lufthansa. Now McDonalds Germany is having a special with German-specific menu items! So help me decide which one(s) I should eat!

First up! The Big Roesti - beef patty with potato pancake, bacon, cheese, and cheese sauce in a bacon and cheese roll.

Kaesegipfel - deep-fried brie with cranberry sauce.

Okay, this is just wedges...nothing special

Die Nuernburger! Nuremburg sausages in a ciabatta with roast onions and mustard.

Schwarzwaelder beef - two beef patties with a slice of Black Forest bacon/ham with roast onions, cheese and mustard sauces

and finally, the Alpenchicken. Chicken schnitzel with a layer of cheese and bacon in the schnitzel.

You see how difficult this is? Help me out please!

Multilingualism

2011-11-30T03:42:00.000+11:00

I was in Regensburg over the weekend with my amigos y amigas to enjoy the first Weihnachtsmaerkte wochenende (Christmas market weekend). One thing I discovered is that while my chums very kindly spoke English as much as possible for me, I could vaguely understand their Spanish! This has instilled a desire in me to learn Espanol....which may have to occur after I finish learning Deutsch, Francais, Italiano, Zhongwen....

But I've already started! After pointing at a merry-go-round/carousel and telling Ruben that we needed to ride it, he said to me, "Do you know that it's called in Spanish? Tiovivo. Do you know that that literally translates to? Lively uncle." When Eva complained about bizarre word translations, I noted that uncles are the most likely ones to hold you up and spin you in a circle. See? It all makes sense!

Iker likes chocolate milk

2011-11-29T20:24:00.003+11:00

I haven't written much about my husband Iker in a while (probably because he's been gallivanting around with that floozy of another woman), but one of the great things about Stalkbook is that you can use it to stalk people.* We are friends on this website (naturally!) and he likes to keep me updated on what's been going on.

So imagine my surprise when he demonstrated his love for chocolate milk!

And that he also likes to snack while surfing the net. See? Soulmates :P

*I'm not really stalking him. His photos come up on my wall out of their own volition :P *cough*

Replying to comments

2011-11-25T23:47:00.001+11:00

Normally I would reply to comments or at least, add comments when people have commented. I have noticed that for some reason, when I've tried to post comments for a few entries I've been receiving an error message in German basically saying that something is wrong with the form and it can't be posted. This is despite many tries and increasing frustration.

Basically, I don't know why my comments aren't posting but it's not because I'm ignoring them!

Otherwise...
Dr. Wallace, I will try to get BETTER evidence of my breaking of the 10 minute barrier - but you need to keep in consideration that while the clock is stopped at 10:07, the distance is 2022 so if you think I can row 22m in 7 seconds...I'm a lot better than I thought! Also, what is your record?...:P

Pooey, I can't remember if the Kimchi was free but we definitely did not get refills!

And for the ramen was so good, I was so happy.....so...happy....

Things I have seen Germans open beers with...

2011-11-22T21:27:00.017+11:00

This post was inspired by the Bavarian I met at a party on the weekend and how he opened his bottle of beer! It then made me think of all the ways I have seen them open beers!

The side of a beer crate
A spoon
A fork
A knife
A cigarette lighter
Another bottle of beer
A bench
A radiator
A stick
A rock
A key

And of course...

A bottle opener

And so, congratulations to German/Bavarian ingenuity and the determination to get the things they want! Just not the rest of the world anymore, k plz? (Kidding. Sorta)

Takumi Ramen!!!

2011-11-20T03:47:00.058+11:00

Sorry NippoNoodles but I think I have found THE BEST RAMEN in Munich!

After a gym session, I dragged Chrish along with me to Takumi Ramen to help me with my Asian food hunt. This was actually a fortuitous decision because he told me he'd been to Japan twice and was bitterly, bitterly disappointed when upon returning to Melbs he found the ramen to be beneath the standard to which he'd grown accustomed. As he parked his bike outside of the kitchen window, we noted that the scent of the stock was nice and porky! This got me excited...

Then when we went inside, we were slightly disheartened by the number of people waiting for a table but on the other hand, a lot of people inside were not only Asian, they were Japanese. We then noticed that the bench by the kitchen was free and signalled to the serving guy that it was just the two of us, so like a pair of assholes, we bypassed everyone in the queue and sat down! MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!

First up, our entrees!

Gyoza...well, they tasted like normal gyoza, really.

TAKOYAKI!!!! I miss these octopus balls so much!!! And they tasted JUST RIGHT!!!

Also, they were very hot. Like they should be

For our mains, Chrish got really excited when he saw Karaage chicken ramen was on the menu and settled for that. I wanted the Gomoku ramen (with seafood) but the waiter told me it was sold out so I *settled* for the miso special. But after he was gone, I realised there was a poster saying they were having a special Tan Tan Ramen which I've never heard of before but the description made it sound a bit like Dan Dan Mian so I'll have to come back later to eat more takoyaki and try that out!

My miso special with added soy egg.

They were both served in giant noodle bowls and were so good, the broth was so delicate and flavoursome...the texture of the noodles, al dente...*wipes away tear* And because I have a giant Asian stomach, I finished off Chrish' food so I can say that both our meals were of a high standard. And making my way home through the cold, foggy, night air, a part of my heart was warmed by the knowledge that a good authentic noodle shop is always ready to feed me when I finish gym.

Glory Nuts of Comprehension

2011-11-19T20:57:00.001+11:00

As a side story to the concert, it's taken me almost a year but when I went to watch George perform, I HAD MY FIRST COMPREHENSIBLE GERMAN CONVERSATION WITH SOMEONE WHO COULDN'T SPEAK ENGLISH and DIDN'T SWITCH TO SPEAKING ENGLISH!

And okay, it was about buying nuts but it's still good because of context! Basically, we got to the concert early and decided to buy some pre-concert food. Jul wanted a crepe while I wanted some sugar-roasted nuts and so we split to different stalls. I originally wanted almonds but seeing all the different nuts, I changed my mind to wanting mixed nuts. But there was a problem - there was no sign saying they were selling mixed nuts. So, we had a convo that went along the lines of this:

Me - Hallo! Entschuldigung, haben Sie gemischte Nuesse? (Excuse me, have you got mixed nuts?)

Server - Ja, aber nur fuer zweihundert gramm (yes, but only for 200g)

Me - Oh, und wie viel kostet das? (Oh and how much does that cost?)

Server - (not given so that you don't realise I got totally ripped off).

Me - Hmmm, das is okay. Ich moechte gern bitte! (I'd like some!)

And as I walked away with my toasty mixed nuts, I realised I'd only spoken German to her! She'd only spoken German to me! And we BOTH UNDERSTOOD EACH OTHER!!!! And because 200g was far too much for me to eat in one sitting, I took them to work the next day and shared it with the crew and told them my story! We decided these nuts were alternatively representative of glory and comprehension which therefore makes them...

GLORY NUTS OF COMPREHENSION!!!

George Michael Symphonica

2011-11-18T20:56:00.002+11:00

Well doesn't time just fly? Many months ago, Jul and I received tickets to George Michael as our birthday present and now the time has come to go see him in person!

Look at our happy pre-show faces!

We got there pretty early (damn gps said it would take us 20minutes to walk from u-bahn to Olympiahalle - more like 5 mins!) so we sat down early and admired our awesome seats.

But the show wasn't just George singing - he was backed by quite a nice a nice light show that was unfortunately difficult to photograph because I shake too much :(

See? Fancy

Jul and I wondered how long the concert would go for given what we knew about George's increasing age and his problems with the law and addiction but you know what? It went for a good 2.5 hours! Okay there was a 20 minute intermission but that still puts performance time around 2 hours! The concert setlist comprised primarily of cover version from his Songs from Last Century album and other pieces from artists who he said inspired him or filled with personal meaning.

Set list
Through
My Baby Just Cares For Me
Idol
Cowboys & Angels
True Faith
Going To A Town
Let Her Down Easy
You Have Been Loved
Wild Is The Wind
Brother Can you Spare a Dime

(Intermission)
Patience
John & Elvis are Dead
Roxanne
Song To The Siren
A Different Corner
Where I Hope You Are
You've Changed
Love Is A Losing Game
The Recluse
Russian Roulette
Praying For Time
Feeling Good

Encores
Amazing/I'm Your Man/Freedom 90
I Remember You

Another thing I'll say one thing about his performance and the concert book (which I buy cos I'm a sucker) - there was a lot of candour with him flat out addressing the fact that he went to prison after his last tour and had to had therapy to address his various problems and saying some songs were dedicated to his last boyfriend (his words). This elicited *awwws....* from the audience which was met with *don't worry, we cheer up at the end!* And it was like that - the concert overall was quite muted reflecting the music/instrument style but as when Pooey saw his last concert tour in Rundon she commented to me that it was like time never passed, "He opens his mouth and this SOUND comes out!" It was just like that for Symphonica. Also, he dances the same. Hehehehe.

Blasts from the Past...or Not

2011-11-16T20:46:00.024+11:00

Going back to the gym, I've rediscovered a few late 90s/early 2000s music pearls. Well, maybe "pearl" is too strong a word but I'm remembering how much I enjoyed songs like Usher's You Make me Wanna, the Spice Girls' Who Do You Think You Are?, the backlist for the Backstreet Boys, Milkshake by Kelis and so forth. This made me want to look up the videos to share on Facebook and this blog.

Except there's something really special about Youtube in Deutschland that stops me from looking up official video clips or various artists' VEVO accounts to watch and post. Many times when looking up videos here, I'm greeted by this message:

Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany because it may contain music for which GEMA has not granted the respective music rights.

And it's not just limited to official channels! A few months ago, Aunty MyTree posted a vid of her kids singing songs and posted it on youtube to share with the family. A day later she got an email from youtube Germany saying it violated some terms and conditions. And so the rest of the family could watch it but not me :(

It's really annoying. But I guess we can deal with it.

NippoNoodles

2011-11-14T03:14:00.000+11:00

Believe it or not, I woke up EARLY on a Sunday morning for no particular reason. It was actually kinda annoying. But since I was up and not feeling the effects of a big night of gemuetlichkeit, I decided to go the gym. This meant that a couple of hours later, I was hankering for a post-gym workout meal. Walking back from the gym towards the closest Maccas (I know, I know), I came across NippoNoodles, a Japanese noodle bar. As I considered it, a waiter opened the door and said to me, "We're open." In I went!

First impressions...

Other than the presence of the mass to hold the cutlery, it looked all right!

My green tea. Green.

Also, as I was waiting for my order of butaniku (pork) ramen, I noted that as more customers came in, they looked Asian and they sounded Japanese. That's a plus!

My delicious looking ramen.

Now, I ordered *shoyu* (soy-based) ramen but I hope they mistook what I said for *shio* (seasalt-based) because the soup stock was really salty, much more than I've ever had anywhere else. I believe it's highly possible because I had to repeat my order a few times and I noted that some of their staff didn't actually speak German. Having said that, the noodles themselves were of a lovely texture - soft, yet chewy. I ate everything but the soup with glee!

As I was paying, my waiter asked me if I had a card. Errr no, I was paying in cash. But then he took out a loyalty card, placed a stamp on it, and said if I ate 4 more times, I'd get the 11th FREE!!! Looks like I'll be coming back then! Next time, I'll try miso based :D

Christmas is coming...

2011-11-13T20:39:00.002+11:00

Wow, time has just flown by and I've been in Muenchen for nearly a year now! This was brought to my mind when I was walking near Odeonsplatz and saw the Christmas lights were up on Briennerstr., near where I went to my first Christkindlmart!

Kims Restaurant

2011-11-09T06:10:00.004+11:00

One of the things that still angers me is my first apartment. I loved the location of my first apartment - it was downright brilliant and perfectly suited me in terms of where I worked, my social activities, everything. If only my flatmate weren't a stupid psychobitch. I'm much happier now with my new flatmate(s) and actually, the change in location isn't that much of a hassle because it's only 8 minutes down the same u-bahn line.

But what annoys me now about having to leave Maxvorstadt is that my gym is close to my old apartment and I've found this Korean restaurant near the gym and it's really quite good! And I know because one night I checked it out with two fans of Korean food, Other Asian (Trung) and Swiss Chris, and Korean food virgin, Jul!

We started by ordering a number of entrees...I was both too Asian and not Asian enough by eating them before photos could be taken. What I recall us having was the Korean seafood pancake, dumplings, spring rolls, and some potato starch noodles. The highlights were definitely the noodles and pancake - while not as large as what I was used to in Aus, they tasted just the same and I was mega-pleased!

For the mains,

Galbi! Actually, I was kinda surprised they didn't keep the bone portion on but meh, I'm learning to roll with non-authentic food.

Beef Bulgogi. This was actually kind of disappointing because it got overcooked :(

I can't remember the Korean name for this but it's that spicy marinated pork. This one was actually my favourite (along with the pancake and noodles) and I will happily eat it again and again!

And oh hooray, we got various types of kimchi as sides!

Afterwards, we actually got dessert consisting of bean-filled glutinous rice balls (a bit like mochi) and of course, battered fruit fitters. We were all pretty pleased with the meal - except for Other Asian; he wanted more rice - and said we'd come back. Swiss Chris said he wanted to come back and eat the dishes we didn't try. I joked that since the menu was hanging in a box outside the restaurant, he should take a photo and tick off the ones we'd eaten.

He then looked as though he was seriously considering my suggestion...

Dumpling hunt

2011-11-08T09:54:00.028+11:00

I know it sounds like sometimes I'm just spending all my time in Munich looking for foods to comfort me but really...c'mon people, how can a city as big as Muenchen not have a Chinatown? Luckily it does have two (apparently famous) universities and research institutes. And where there are universities, there are Asian students. And where there are Asian students, there are generally el cheapo Asian eateries! Browsing around myasianmunich, there are apparently two dumpling shops in the Univiertel (uni area) area and so after admiring the colours of Autumn, I shuffled over to try some dumplings to assuage my hangover.

I went to Akuo, where I was surprised to find the shop empty (okay, it was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon) but they were serving so I sat down and ordered 10 dumplings. While waiting, I registered that the staff spoke Mandarin, not Shanghainese but probably Taiwan. And then the dumplings came and they looked like this:

I was pretty pleased with their appearance. I mean, they're not xiaolongbaos but they look like pretty normal jiaozi to me and served with some soy with chili in floating in it. That's good. So I ate them and they were fine as well but I don't know....either the dumplings in Melb have a high meat to veggie ratio or I felt like they should have had more meat in them. Don't get me wrong! They weren't bad, in fact, they were pretty good! But they just weren't the same. Maybe I'm just being fussy. Or maybe I should drag the only other Melburnian with me next time although he doesn't understand why I crave dumplings the way I do.

And so, the hunt continues.

der Föhn

2011-11-07T09:54:00.005+11:00

This is going to be a bit of a sentimental post today. As cold as it has been getting here (and it has been getting pretty damn cold), Autumn in Munich when the sun is shining is downright beautiful, especially when the sun shines, the sky is blue, and lovers are out in force (okay, the last one is a bit awkward but seriously, lots of people randomly make out on the street here). This being Germany, there is a special word for this weather phenomenon - der Föhn, which is caused by our proximity to the Alps. Bless.

The random days of warmth led me to walk around the Kunstreal on a Sunday morning when I had a hangover but still managed to heroically drag myself to the gym. As I walked around the gardens, I admired the contrast of the changing colours on the trees with the deep blue sky and green lawns. *sigh* I've seen the colours change before but living now in a city with primarily deciduous trees, it's a glorious sight. So naturally I did what any Asian does. I whipped out my (phone) camera.

But I still can't wait for Winter to be over.

ROAR!!!

2011-11-05T02:57:00.003+11:00

It took me a month of dedicated (and not so dedicated) gymming but I finally got myself back down to 10mins to row 2km! MUHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

But now Mr. Wallace (Dr. Wallace's papa) wants a video as proof. Hummm.....

Movie review - Real Steel

2011-11-04T04:39:00.000+11:00

Last week, we decided to enter the lucky draw that is a *Preview Screening*. For the uninitiated, one buys a ticket and the cinema shows a movie that would be opening in the coming weeks. You're not informed which movie will be screening until lights go down. And this is how I ended up watching Real Steel. My initial reaction upon seeing the trailer for this movie a few weeks ago was that it was incredibly stupid (and not in an enjoyable Transformers way), but I'd heard from several people that it was actually quite good. I believe the words "Rocky with Robots" were used. I beg to differ.

Charlie (Hugh Jackman) is a...well, deadbeat...who was a boxer and is now a robot boxing trainer and not a particularly good one at that. After losing his last robot in a fight against a bull (which I found incredibly cruel and stupid), he discovers that an ex-gf has died and he now has custody of an 11 year old son Max (Dakota Goyo) that he doesn't want but Max is (fortuitously) wanted by his wealthy aunt Debra (Hope Davis), and negotiates with her much older husband to *sell* Max so long as Charlie takes the boy over the Summer. Max naturally doesn't want to go but changes his mind after meeting Charlie's sorta gf Bailey (Evangeline Lilly). Charlie wastes the money he got on a champion robot which he subsequently destroys by not listening to Max's advice and theyre back at square one...but things change when Max finds a robot thown in the junkyard...

I'd seen the trailer a few weeks earlier and made the comment, "Wow, that looks like a shit movie," but I'd heard from Dr. Wallace and Officer Fisk that the movie was in fact not bad. No, from the first few minutes, it was bad. I think the scene is about 5 minutes in when three litle girls at the county fair ask if they can see his robot "PLEEEEEEAAAAASE!!!" *high pitched tone* And it just continued from cliched stupidity from there. Of course Charlie coulda been a contender...if they didn't move to robot fighting! Of course father and son will reconcile and bond! Of course the underdog robot becomes the people's champion. Christ, even Charlie's name is a cliche from all the times people sigh, "Oh Chaaarlie...." Give me a break.

And why are the the people who are the *villians* - the Russian owner of the champion robot, Zeus, and Zeus' Japanese designer - actually the villains? Is it bad that Tak can design such a champion robot and Farra can afford to own him? Surely Charlie is more of a villain for completely neglecting his son for the first 11 years of his life, selling him, and then being so irresponsible as to LOSE the $50,000 immediately? Or how about leaving his son in the middle of the night in a junkyard? Or agreeing to have a ROBOT fight an ANIMAL?

Seriously, I disliked this movie enough that I considered walking out to get home by 1am (the screening started at 11:15) but I decided to stick it through cos I'm Asian and I paid good money. One of my companions had similar thoughts and I turned around at one point and said to him, "Are you sleeping?! If I have to sit and watch this, you have to as well!"

Maybe I wasn't in the mood but I suspect that if I were to waste the time to watch it again, I'd still hate it.
1/10

P.S. I just remembered that as I walked out, someone asked if the boy playing Max was the same kid as the one in The Phantom Menace. No he isn't (that kid is like...20+ years old now), but Max was JUST LIKE stupid annoying child Anakin, right down to the haircut. That memory made me take an extra point off the score.

House of Pies

2011-11-02T09:28:00.000+11:00

One of the things I've really missed while living in Muenchen are meat pies. This is actually quite bizarre because I didn't actually eat that many pies in Melbs, or at least, I don't think I did. The craving was partially assuaged by Pooey smuggling party pies into Europe for me (and Smee) but for times when an Aussie is not able to come to Europe with foodgoods, I've since found a stop-hold!

A while ago, Kiwi Amy and I were talking about foods we missed and she mentioned that there was a SHOP that sold TAKEAWAY PIES in the Hauptbahnhof. For those who have never been to Munich Hauptbahnhof (Central train station), it's a multi-storey bohemoth. I figured out where the shop, lovingly named *House of Pies* was located but for various reasons, every time I previously went for a pie, the store was either closed or I got lost in the various tunnels. This past Saturday, I was heading to Ludwigsvorstadt to visit a shop when I realised *Hey! I have to change at the Hbf...I can GET A PIE!!!* And so I did :D

I think I ordered a classic steak pie

It came in a tinfoil pan (tick) but the girl didn't offer me sauce (passable because I said I wanted it mitnehmen - takeaway). I paired it with veggies to make my lunch marginally healthier.

Cutting it open, I was pleasantly pleased to find it was filled with gravy which was quite nice. It probably could have had a bit more meat but otherwise in terms of flavour, I was happy.

So now that I know I can go here to get a passable pie (as opposed to going to an Irish pub and have a dry shepherds pie as has happened previously and went UNFINISHED), I will work my way through their menu which includes sausage rolls and fruit pies. Good times people, good times.

Nudelhaus Sano

2011-10-30T04:38:00.003+11:00

Despite claiming that I would revisit Sushi Sano, the fact is I haven't. But this past weekend, what I did manage to do was visit it's sister restaurant Nudelhaus Sano! This place is a VERY small shop front that serves udon, soba, and ramen soup noodles. It also sells pho which is a travesty to me, but since the place is run by Viets and there are apparently not so many Japanese people in Munich (Trung said he'd never had Japanese soup noodles!) I'll let it pass. But I'll never order it.

What I did order was the following:

Edamame. Are they meant to be warm? I can't remember. But they were nicely lightly salted.

Chashu ramen!

It's no Menya, it's not even close, but I've been away for a long while and the soup base was and all right light soy-base, but the pork was nice and the noodles had a nice texture.

The Damage.

But then being Asians, Trung and I were still hungry so we ordered more sushi. One of Trung's friends saying something along the lines of *omg, she's small but she eats almost as much as him!* heheheh.

Quote of the week

2011-10-28T02:23:00.001+11:00

Nameless Person 1 (this will be apparent why later), "We should go to this restaurant - it has their menu online!"

Me, "Hmmm, sure why not? It looks good."

NP1, "Mmmmm...Reh-ravioli!"

Me, "What is 'Reh'?"

NP1, "It's...umm...I think, Bambi."

Fatwoman 1 Mallymoodle 0

2011-10-26T02:35:00.000+11:00

I'm not a particularly large person and in Germany, I'm even smaller than normal! In fact, Juliane once said to me, "Wow, when you're not wearing heels, you're REALLY SHORT!!!" Hehehe. A plus of this is that when I need to do things like dodge through Oktoberfest crowds, or cram myself onto the u-bahn, my small size comes in handy. This backfired on me the other day.

I was sitting on the bus, taking up my small amount of space and reading my Kindle when all of a sudden I felt a "whoosh!" and was pushed up against the glass of the window and lost the ability to move sideways. While I was distracted, someone of the larger persuasion chose to take advantage of the fact I was taking up less than my allocated public transport space! And then to add insult to crushing, I had to get off earlier than they all the did to allow me to get past them was a cursory angling of her legs into the aisle! I believe I made a small lapdog-like shrieking sound as I pulled my coat out from under her mass. Lesson to self - always keep an eye out in future.

This post is inspired by KH's immortal entries because when it happened, I was reminded of his own experience.

Let there be Light! (sorta)

2011-10-25T19:42:00.015+11:00

One of the things that continues to mystify me about Germany is the apartment situation. When Germans leave their apartments, they tend to take fittings that would not have occurred to me to remove, e.g. the Kitchen. This can also be extended to the light fittings. As a result of the former tenant taking their lights with them, I have been living in a room for the last 5 months with two lamps or candles for light and three wires hanging out of my ceiling. The long European Summer sunlight hours mean the lack of an overall lighting situation hasn't really bothered me, but things are different now that I'm waking in darkness and arriving home in semi-darkness.

The sound rules in our block of apartments means we're not to make a great deal of noise after 7pm mean that any light fixture putting would be done on weekends and I'm not great at DIY and I'll be the first to say I should not be handed a drill and told to make a hole in the ceiling. So finally on a weekend when Fabi and I were both in Munich and both free (!) we decided to put a light up in my room. After a bit of drilling, that's when we discovered a metal plate in the ceiling. And so we instead put a hook into the hole and hope that will be strong enough to hold up a light. But we have to wait a bit to make sure the glue is set enough to support a hook and a light hanging from it.

So maybe I'll have light by December!

Making Enemies in German Class.

2011-10-23T03:42:00.000+11:00

In my feeble attempt to become more Deutsch (and you know, be able to actually live here and read my mail etc.), I have now started my third different Deutschkurs. - the in-house one that I was promised months ago. As a result of this discontinuous learning, my language knowledge is understandably hodge-podge to the extent that I could apparently know complex things such as where the conjugated verb is supposed to be in a side clause, but not know how to do *simple* things like tell the time.

This has manifested itself in funny ways. For example in one class, the teacher asked me which were the Summer months. I proceeded to say, "Von Dezember bis Februar" much to everyone's surprise. I then clarified by saying "Oh, ich komme aus Australien!" The teacher then said something along the line of, "O rly? What is Summer like in Australia?" which then set me off on a spiel saying it depended on where you were because it varies. When I finished talking, I saw my classmates had a WTF look on their faces. Clearly it doesn't matter if we're all phds and postdocs - if someone is smarter than you in class, you hate them :(

This happened again recently except this time Asia was in class with me. This time, we were doing possessive pronouns for the different cases and our teacher wanted us to write a description of a family member outlining things like age, hair colour, personality etc. I proceeded to write something about Pooey (hai Pooey!) and then the teacher said "You can do this for homework - except Mooey, you can do it now as an example." Err, okay. I then read out what I had written down and when I finished, the class - including Asia - had that hating look on their face again.

The Gym!!!

2011-10-20T20:51:00.000+11:00

During the excesses of die Wiesn, I decided that all those litres of beer and half chickens were making me tubby. While I could try counting on the hard Winter knocking the kilos off me like it did last year, I decided it was probably time I went back to the gym properly.

Part of my resistance to joining the gym was the fact that this country seems to only have rolling one year contracts that have to be cancelled 3 months before the end of the year otherwise they roll it for another year. Not happy, Jan! But ah well, I can suck it up because I'll know if I'll be staying here for another year hopefully 3 months before I leave. But now I have joined and it's a question of how to integrate it into my life multiple times a week.

Unlike the old one, there are no classes and no pool (dammit), but they do have Concept 2 Rowers and lots of different weight machines! And best of all, it appears to be fully stocked with lots of hot guys who get a bit stroppy when I kick them off the assisted chin up machine! Viel Spass!

Cold

2011-10-18T20:44:00.000+11:00

Despite it being on Autumn, I'm now sleeping with two doonas and a hot water bottle. And then when I checked the weather on my Wunderfon, it was -1C. It made me glad that I used this past weekend to pack away my summer clothes (*sniff, good-bye t-shirts and dresses) and bring out the thermals.

But it's actually a lovely sunny day that's supposed to top out at 21C so lets hope today's thermals and woolen jumper don't kill me!

In Rundon with Pooey (and others) - Day 4

2011-10-15T07:53:00.019+11:00

On my last day in Rundon, me and Pooey had a 9am appointment to look at more dresses but we were so early to Marble Arch that we decided to swing into Primmy for ANOTHER round! It was bizarre - it was the emptiest we'd EVER seen the store. Okay, it still looked like any other department store on a weekday but it made us think that the best time to shop there is clearly 9am on a Monday morning.

After this, we found a dress that might be *the* dress. Therefore I will not post it here but if people want to know what it looks like, post a msg and if Pooey gives the okay, I can email a pic to you :P

Believe it or not, after this we decided to go BACK to Primmy and the difference of 1 hour meant that there was actually quite a long queue to get into the changing rooms. It was, however, shorter than we'd seen it at many other times and so we joined in to try on some dresses. Then we ran around the city trying to find some last minute items (e.g. hand warmers), and beautifying moments.

And then for the last few hours in Rundon, Poo and I gathered up Amy for one last quick shopping round and lunch before heading back to furiously try to pack everything. Good thing we bought me the luggage allowance on Sunday night because I went back to Munich with a full suitcase in addition to my huge carry-on backpack. And then to make up for getting me to London at a reasonable hour, my Easyjet flight back was delayed. A typical end to a holiday ;)

In Rundon with Pooey (and others) - Day 3

2011-10-14T07:05:00.002+11:00

The Asian food binge in London continued when we decided to have yum cha. Pooey was shocked SHOCKED!!! when I told her the story of the blank faces in response to my question as to where I could have it Munich so she and Smee decided to include me in their search for the best yummers in London.

Poo and Smee peruse the menu

They were finally satisfied by what we'd settled on

I SO HAPPY WITH ALL MY FOOD!!!

Unfortunately, the happiness didn't last so long. While all the food was *right* on the surface, the more we ate, the more we realised it was kinda sub-Melb standards. I was particularly disappointed by the xiao long baos which had almost no fluid inside! :O

Anyway, after the disappointment, Smee went off to look for Thai basil so he could make pho while me and Poo continued our shopping odyssey. First stop was Escapade Costume Shop in Camden where I bought a costume for an upcoming Halloween party and where we saw this amusing sign:

Because we were so highly amused by the costumes for sale and decided to make our time in the long queue worth it, me and Poo decided to try on a few costumes. They ranged from the hilarious to the horrifying. Why are female costumes so slutty? Almost all the outfits had skirts that ended just after my ass, low necklines or both. Also, it was annoying to discover that the Camden Town tube stop allows passengers out but not back in. People visiting the area might want to be aware of this.

Next, we went to Oxford St. and went nuts, as outlined in this entry. As big sis and a hater of European Winters herself, Pooey is especially concerned about the likelihood of my freezing in the snowy Munich Winter which resulted in us first hitting Uniqlo and Marks & Spencers before committing shopping suicide by going to Primark last on a Sunday afternoon just before 6pm. At several points, one of those announcements that goes *This store will shut in X minutes* was broadcast over the store. At the first one, Pooey said, "Just ignore it" and sure enough EVERYONE in the store pretty much ignored it! We eventually managed to leave the store as the 5 minute message was broadcast.

From here, we actually then went to Embankment. Why? It turned out Smee was unable to find Thai basil in Chinatown and he went home and phoned around different groceries to see who was stocking them on a Sunday night. Having located a shop in Hackney, he decided to borrow a car and drive there to get it. We also bought some noodles, hoisin sauce, chili sauce, and a six pack of soy milk which I was taking back with me to Munich.

And then we had home made Pho!

NOM NOM NOM

Pooey looking mighty happy

More happy faces!

Smee slaved over it all day so I guess his smile cracking abilities were less than ours.

Close up with all the herbs and chili and hoisin sauce!

And then after this, I actually passed out on the sofa and vaguely recall Poo and Smee turning off the TV and lights.

In Rundon with Pooey (and others) - Day 2

2011-10-13T07:36:00.002+11:00

On day 2 in Rundon, me and Pooey got up to achieve what was one aim of my visit - finding her a wedding dress. For this purpose, despite the late night the day before, we got up early and made it to a bridal shop in Angel where J joined us for champagne at 10am.

To be honest, I've never really given much thought to what kind of dress Pooey should wear. She already has an idea of what she likes and she's got a pretty good body so most cuts suit her and we both know that white white doesn't suit Asian complexions. This meant I wasn't required to stand around and say *yes, no, no, YES YES!!!!* and instead sat back drinking my champagne, and fool around with various wedding paraphernalia.

Yes, this does mean wearing a veil. Pooey attendant found it hilarious and she was so nice, she offered to get a veil for J to wear as well so she wouldn't feel left out.

Another girl was there trying on dresses.
I really wanted to tell her that the things she was choosing didn't suit her. She's in the background.

Afterwards we headed out towards Soho for our afternoon tea at Soho's Secret Tea Rooms.

Along the way, me and J got tempted by (lots of) cakes at L'Eto Caffe and we bought a passionfruit meringue. The waitress was a real bitch and we're never going back there.

Pooey's already blogged her entry (wtf, she's posting faster than me?!) but the Secret Tea Room location was the top room of a dingy pub and you had to walk through the bar to access it. The room itself is quite small and cute but also a little dingy.

A sad and empty tea service

Services that are now full and happy! (And so was I!)

Anyway, I'd just like to reiterate Pooey's assessment that it was pretty average. The most notable aspect was probably the sheer magnitude of cake we received. Or it could simply be because there were five of us present - SEM and Leesh also attended - and some of us may not have pulled our weight in cake! Not me though.

We then went our separate ways and Pooey and I walked through Chinatown to get to the Shaftesbury Theatre to watch Rock of Ages.

Because I was still in a bridal mood, we couldn't resist taking this photo at a photography studio that does cheesy wedding photos.

The view of the stage from our seats.

Some of the cast performing Don't Stop Believin'

If you like 80s rock (Journey, Bon Jovi, Mr. Big, Pat Benatar etc), you will enjoy this! I will confess to singing along with some of the songs but not as much as the woman sitting next to me REALLY enjoyed it and sang along with ALL the songs and bounced around in chair while doing so. But perhaps the best thing about the musical is that it really doesn't take itself seriously - characters often break the fourth wall and speak directly to the audience and at one point, they even made jokes about the fact they were in a "musical with poop jokes and White Snake Songs". In fact, here's a fun promotional video featuring cast members!

However, I must mention that Eye of the Tiger does not feature in this musical.

We then went home where Smee made curry chicken and roti for dinner and where we had PARTY PIES as an entree!

It's really funny what you miss when you can't have them. These sure hit the spot and then Pooey packed some into plastic boxes for me to take them back the Muenchen.

In Rundon with Pooey (and others) - Day 1

2011-10-12T07:34:00.006+11:00

When Pooey booked her ticket to return to London I decided that, despite having been there a month earlier, I TOO would hang out with her London! And so I did and we had an awesome few days as ladies of leisure without (much) care for money! At various adventures we were joined by various Meldoners. Here's a (delayed) recap!

First of all, despite swearing I would never fly with them again, I found it hard to resist their super super cheap prices and chose to fly Easyjet again. However this time I decided to take an earlier flight and so instead of wandering the streets of London at 3am, I arrived at Gatwick at the more reasonable time of 7:30pm-ish. I was happy! I'd arrive in the City at a reasonable time for dinner! And then, I saw the Immigration queue. *sigh* London City Airport is great because it's all business people meaning the *UK/EU* queue is a monster while I can happily skip to the *All Other Passports* line. Not so at Gatwick. I eventually made it out around an hour later, but it's OKAY! I managed to pass the time by reading Harry Potter on my Kindle. Seriously, that device has revolutionised my life.

Pooey patiently waited for me at Gatwick and knowing that I've been suffering from a lack of Asian food, particularly roast duck, and people to share it with, she had decided that we should go eat a duck (and other food). The delay at Immigration and time taken to drop my luggage off meant that it was late enough for Smee to join us!

It looks like we're doing a happy food dance!

We ordered (clockwise from left) umm...something with tofu, the DUCK!!!, salty egg battered prawns, rice, and kangkong. Miam.

After this, Smee and Pooey taught me their mint smashing game. Despite being an absolute novice, I wont because my misunderstanding of the rules meant I threw my mint directly at someone. This gave me extra points! When we got back to their apartment, Pooey showed me some of the goodies she smuggled into the UK for me. These were party pies (to be discussed later!) and a snuggie to keep me warm on my sofa during the hard Muenchen Winter.

Being a two-headed monster Pooey's one :D

She got me one in red.

A good start to the funness that is a Rundon weekend!

Getting ready for Winter

2011-10-11T07:37:00.001+11:00

I was pretty proud of myself the last time I was in London. Other than things I regarded as essentials (a pair of jeans, some thermals & toiletries), I didn't do that much shopping. But this time with Pooey's company, it was as if I was crazy buying stuff. A look at the weekend's damage to my bank account puts it at €300. Heheheh But I would like to argue that a lot of it was goodies to get me ready for this horrible, horrible Winter.

So with a bit of help from my lovely model, Pooh Bear, here's some of what I bought!

Earmuffs!

A new coat! What you can't tell from this photo is that it actually flares at the waist - another Primmy win!

Primmy gumboot socks. The furry bits are supposed to sit at the top of the boot.

The skirt made me think very much of Bavaria, and the hat is from M&S

I love matching accessories (hey, I'm a certain type of girl) and M&S were full of those! Scarf and arm warmers!

I also love M&S glittens (gloves+ mittens). So many to choose from...

Then we went to Uniqlo where I picked up a cashmere scarf in my favourite colour...

and some thermal shorts to go underneath that deer skirt!

I think this hot water bottle and woolen case also came from Primmy but I needed some jelly hand warmers to keep my hands toasty warm. Pooey had never seen them before and will take one home for Ma!

Pooey also brought me a snuggie in Stonecutter red.

There are more things I bought but I decided to stop abusing Pooh by putting him in thermal shirts and more undies.

I hope with these things the Winter will be marginally more comfortable. I think I need to stretch some of my woolen jumpers though - I was looking at them and I think they've shrunk in the wash :S HOW WILL I FIT THE THERMALS UNDERNEATH?!?!

But I'll write the entries about what we did in Rundon as soon as I get some time!

Seeing things

2011-10-06T07:33:00.000+11:00

*News flash!* I like to sleep in. Chances are, if I'm seeing the sun rise it's because I'm heading home from a party. Well the unimaginable has happened - I had to get up early to go to work and saw the SUN RISE. When I woke, it was still dark and it was kinda grey as I was walking to the u-bahn, and pinkening as I waited for the bus. Walking to my building, I actually saw the sun low over the horizon near the Allianz Arena and decided to pause on my rush to work to take a photo.

Wow, it's really pretty.

I hope I never see it again.

Bus race

2011-10-05T22:58:00.031+11:00

So! I don't know if people have noticed but I tend to not write that much about work. This is because work is largely not interesting. Everyday has pretty much the same way about it. I get up and do my morning ablutions, catch the u-bahn to the bus stop, catch the bus to work, work, then do everything in reverse. Every now and then, work throws in something different, e.g. going into the animal facility or being able to do my own experiments (as opposed to palming them off onto my technician). But today! Something special happened. Or at least, something different.

This being Germany, public transport usually runs like clockwork. Pooey marvelled that the trains would pull in by the minute, on the minute. Likewise, buses have a bit more error in them but they're also fairly reliable (imo). In peak hours the bus comes every 10 minutes with every other bus being a special express Betriebsfahrt from the u-bahn to work. Oddly enough, the normal bus and the express both seem to take approx. 10 minutes to get to work *shrug*

Anyway, when I turned up today at the u-bahn, I was met with a larger than usual crowd of people waiting for the bus. I wondered what was going on but then I figured it out - apparently one bus DID NOT TURN UP!!! :O And then the most shocking of things happened - TWO BUSES turned up at the same time! My position in the crowd meant I was closer to the Betriebsfarht but it was sitting behind the normal bus and thus have our time dictated by that one...or WOULD IT?!

What followed was one of the most exciting 10 minutes of my life, ha ha snort, as the Betriebsfahrt battled the normal bus for supremacy and position in the bus lane. There were moments when they appeared to be racing side by side, trying to overtake before reaching a wall of stopped traffic, each trying to edge the other to hit stops. Eventually, we, the Betriebsfahrt made it there first! Our victory was short lived as the normal bus pulled in seconds later before I was even able to disembark. Oh well. And then the rest of the day was boring.

Dachau Konzentrationlager

2011-10-04T07:35:00.004+11:00

On one of the last beautifully warm days of the year, I actually took a break from the Oktoberfest revelry to go to Dachau Concentration Camp (Konzentrationlager) for some perspective and quiet time.

As much as life in Munich seems to be a never-ending stream of parties, beer, and good times, it's sobering to think that the city was a hotbed of extremist politics and Munich was a Nazi stronghold and where the party came to prominence. The town of Dachau is 16km or a 15 minute ride on the Munich s-bahn (S2). From there, the walk is approximately 30min or there is a bus to the camp itself. Because it was such a lovely day, I chose to walk. The way to the camp is marked with several signposts denoting significant places (e.g. where prisoners were made to make roads/buildings). The proximity of the camp to the town was a little startling, even accounting for changes in geography with time.

Dachau was the first concentration camp, existing for the entire 12 years of Nazi power, and the model of how all subsequent camps worked.Unlike Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau was not an extermination camp (people sent there solely to be killed), although it too had a gas chamber and crematoria to dispose of the bodies. Instead, the camp tended to kill by starvation, abuse, withholding medical treatment, and overcrowding. Originally starting off for political prisoners, the camp was built two hold 6000 people, eventually holding at least 10 times that amount. In addition to holding people declared 'undesirable' by the regime (i.e. Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals), the camp also held a large number of clergy (mostly Polish Catholics) and Bavarian Royalty. Although most of the buildings have been demolished over time, two of the 'barracks' have been left standing with examples of how the conditions inside the camp changed over time to become more crowded and unsanitary. The camp was the second liberated by Western Allied Forces and the museum contains several photos and videos showing the atrocious condition of the camp and inmates, living and dead.

On that note, one of the things that startled me about actually being in Dachau was the contrast between what happened there and the state of the camp now. As most the pictorial evidence from the time was in black and white, it was startling to emerge from the cold museum and barracks and see the gloriously warm day with the golden birch leaves against the deep blue sky. It's easy to think of everything that happened here occurring in gloomy grey conditions from the photos when the reality is the prisoners would have also experienced all the horror on similarly beautiful days. For some reason, this actually made me really sad.

While I totally recommend that tourists come here, I would just like to say that I don't believe this is a place where one should act like a tourist. By this I mean I found it incredibly tasteless to walk around the space where atrocities occurred and see people posing with the Arbeit Macht Frei gate or taking photos of the plaque that denotes where POWs were shot. Hence the photoless entry.

Entrance to the camp, now a memorial, is free but I recommend getting the audiotour to guide you through the various buildings still standing and the survivor testimonies.

Things I learned during Oktoberfest.

2011-10-03T19:10:00.001+11:00

1. My limit is 2L of beer at the rate of 1L per hour - otherwise it gets too warm. On one hand, I feel like I could and should do better - it's the Asian in me! On the other hand, Oktoberfest beer is around 7% alcohol so 2L is like....2 bottles of wine.

2. Be friendly to your waitress and tip her well. If beer is €8.90, you should be paying her €10, you'll get served faster that way. Also, she might be able to get you into a tent next year.

3. The word Schlampendirndl - literally, slut dirndl. It is MUCH more fun when you're in tracht but a traditional dirndl is meant to go to your ankles although knee-length is acceptable. Thigh high, or worse - ass high, and you'll have ppl whispering or even yelling *schlampendirndl*!

Also going to a costume shop and buying an *oktoberfest outfit* really makes you look like a Schlampe.

4. The word Fahne - when you drink too much alcohol and you emanate the smell of booze. It actually really amuses me that Germans have a word for this!

5. The main section of the Hofbrau tent does not take reservations on the weekend. This makes it full of tourists on the weekends. They are probably either Italians or Australians. Eleonora often had her head in her hands when the Italian anthem was sung (quite often).

7. A half roast chicken IS a great thing to eat! But the Entenbraterei (roast duck restaurant/tent) serves some pretty damn good half ducks. I'm gonna try and eat one of those next year!

8. On that note, there is more to Oktoberfest than just the main beer halls. When Amy and Rachi asked me what it's like, I said, "It's a bit like the Easter Show." So go out and eat the carnival food (when she came back, Amy said, "I ate fairy floss today!") and ride the rides. The jury is out as to whether it's better to ride before or after booze.

And finally...Oktoberfest is sure damn fun with a bunch of friends. Looking forward to doing it again (maybe) next year! :D

P.S. People using their iPad to take photos/videos look like absolute morons. They're waving around something which is about A4 size (often because it's in a case). I pointed out some people doing this to Ruben and he snorted and said they were 1. Idiots because you wouldn't want to take something like that into the chaos that is a biertent and 2. Showing off. I really wish I took a photo of it cos it seriously looked stupid.

Round 6 & 7!!!

2011-09-30T20:50:00.053+10:00

...this time with work people and then more non-Germans!

Katy's mother works for some company (I didn't ask which) and one day during lunch, Katy announced that it was possible for her mother to get her a table in the Augustiner Tent...but it would be in the balcony. Is that okay and did people want to go? This was met with :D faces and so the table was booked!

The view from the balcony!

Juliane, Birgit and Susi. As believe I actually said to the blonde and blue Birgit, "Wow, you look like a REAL German in a dirndl!"

Getting ready for the beers

My beer!

Augustiner doesn't sell Radler (shandys) so here I am chugging my beer. Then I got a brezn (pretzel) to go with my beer. Then I was told I had to drink my beer through the brezn to be a real Muenchener. I think this last bit was a joke.

Half a chicken! Miam.

But it wasn't enough and I....er...ended up eating Susi's rahmschwammerl as well

The Oktoberfest songbook that also has the words to Ein Prosit :P

As the night went on, someone had the brilliant idea to immortalise the best thing about dirndl - cleavage. Also, we believe in equality.

Prost!

It was a hard Thursday and highly amusing to see who would be the last person to turn up on Friday. As a side note, kudos to the girls who managed to drink THREE LITRES of beer. As much of a drinker as I am, I was not one of them.

And then on the final Saturday, althought I was getting pretty beered out, I went back to the Hofbrau tent with Ruben, Eleonora, Cam, and a bunch of Cam's friends who are Aussies living in London! Hooray for worst of both worlds!

We got there at 8:20am but all we could get into was the Hofbrau tent and we managed to score a box with a bunch of Italians and French people that was unreserved until midday.

My breakfast

The menu was tacked onto the wall of the box *thumbs up*

Beer service begins at 9 IN THE MORNING. Despite this incredibly early time, a number of people, stood on their tables and SKOLLED biers. This guy was a legend in particular - he did something like FOUR by 11am.

But because the box was reserved, we got up and went to where Cam was sitting in the main area. This woman was selling Lebkuechenherzen. I didn't get one, but I did apparently get a badge made to look like lebkuchen that says *spaetzl*. Kekeke

I ended up leaving somewhat early in the afternoon (3pm) because I really wanted to go to the loo, but it was a real disgrace in and I said I'd rather leave the tent and go to a civilised one. Also, I watched a girl vomit about 15 feet away from our table. I couldn't smell it but watching it was enough. Admittedly, after wandering the grounds and eating sugared almonds for a while, I felt it was time to get back in the tent and was glad they stamped my hand before I left. But when I got back, the let me into the biergarten but not into the tent! Turns out I had the wrong coloured stamp to get back in. Ah well.