Spinatknödel/Spinach Dumplings

This is one of my absolute favourite Recipes, we almost always cook it when we have guests and our friends totally love it. It's a recipe from South Tyrol, where we spend our Easter Holidays every year. Last year we even took a detour on our way home because we hadn't had the chance before to eat some.

German Recipe, scroll down for English Version

 

60 g Zwiebel

200 g Blattspinat, gekocht
2 EL Butter
2 Eier
50 ml Milch
30 g Käsewürfel
1 EL Mehl

150 g schnittfestes Weißbrot, in Würfel geschnitten, oder Knödelbrot
1 Knoblauchzehe
1 Msp. Muskatnuss, gerieben
Pfeffer aus der Mühle, Salz

Weiteres:
30 g Parmesan, gerieben
70 g Butter, gebräunt

 

Die Zwiebel und den Knoblauch schälen, klein schneiden und in der Butter dünsten. Den Blattspinat fein hacken, dazugeben und mit Salz, Pfeffer und geriebener Muskatnuss würzen. Den Spinat mit den Eiern in einem Mixer oder einer Moulinette pürieren. Den pürierten Spinat, die Milch, die Käsewürfel, das Mehl, Salz und Pfeffer zum Weißbrot geben und kräftig durchmischen. Wenn notwendig, mehr Toast oder Käse dazu geben. Etwa fünfzehn Minuten zugedeckt ruhen lassen. Inzwischen einen großen Topf Wasser zum Kochen bringen. Mit nassen Händen oder einem Löffel Knödel formen, die Knödel in das kochende Salzwasser geben und sieden lassen. Die Spinatknödel auf Teller oder eine Servierplatte geben und mit geriebenem Parmesan und brauner Butter servieren. Garzeit: 15-20 Minuten

60 g Onion

200 g leaf Spinach, cooked

2 Tbsp. Butter
2 Eggs

50 ml Milk
30 g Cheese, cut into small cubes 

1 Tbsp.Flour

150 g Toast, cut into small cubes

1 garlic clove

Nutmeg
Pepper and Salt

 

To serve add:
30 g grated Parmesan

70 g browned Butter

 

Peel and cut Onion and Garlic, melt Butter and roast them in a pan. Chop cooked Spinach, mix with Garlic, Onion, Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg. Mix chopped Spinach with Eggs and puree with a Blender or Food Processor. Mix Spinach puree with milk, cheese cubes and Flour, add Toast pieces. Mix to make a sticky dough. If necessary add more Toast or Cheese.Let sit for about 15 Minutes. Boil water in a huge pot. Make Dumplings with wet hands or two spoons, drop into boiling water and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Arrange on a plate and serve with brown butter and grated parmesan cheese.

 

Enjoy!

 

Irene 

The Echelon

It is not easy to describe and explain the Echelon. But I will try because I promised you a story about Me, the Band and the Echelon.

Me, you know me already, or at least that bit about me that I shared on here. I was unhappy with my life and the Music of 30 Seconds to Mars helped me and changed me. The Process of Change was fucking hard, it made me insecure, I questioned myself and I cried a lot. I am still very emotional when it comes to everything related to me and the whole Band/Echelon thing. I means a lot to me.

The Band is called 30 Seconds to Mars, they have been around since 1998 but actually became famous only a few years ago. Most people probably got to know them because they publically fought a war with their record company who had sued them for 30 Million Dollars, apparently because they broke their contract. Following the lawsuit they released an Album called ”This is War” and they have been on tour for most of the time during the last two years. They are Jared Leto, known by a lot of people because of his acting career, his brother Shannon and Tomo, who used to be a Fan himself and was lucky he is such an excellent guitarist so he would be able to become a band member when the Band needed a new guitarist.

At the beginning there was the Echelon and the Mars Army, the Army being their overall group of Fans and the Echelon being a group of dedicated Fans organized in Street Teams who would promote the band on the Streets or online, posting Flyers or doing small Missions like collectively requesting a certain song to be played on the radio, to make other people aware of the band. But over time it evolved, with the Internet, Twitter and Facebook connecting people worldwide and now the Echelon involves every dedicated Fan.

Becoming an Echelon means entering a worldwide group of fiercely dedicated fans, People who would live and breathe the band every day, who discuss every little thing about them, who listen to their music every day, who go to see them live as often as possible and much more. Some of them even follow the band around the World/Country/Continent they live in. But the Echelon is more. I am sure there are other bands with equally dedicated fans that follow them around. But the Echelon is also about connecting with others, connecting people around the world, the love for this band brings together people from all age groups, religions, gender, believes  and countries. Most of them feel that the music has helped them during difficult times in their lives. All of them will be able to tell you how Mars and their music has helped or changed them and how happy and grateful they are for meeting others who can relate. If you enter the World of the Echelon you are greeted with a warm welcome, you are accepted as who you are, people won’t judge you, and the Echelon know if you love the band, you surely can’t be a bad person. We, the Echelon, call ourselves a family and the Band also calls us their own, worldwide, kind of crazy and dysfunctional family. As there are members all over the world you are never alone, no matter what time one of us is online, if you ask something or need someone to talk, there is always someone there.

I read something about Jared Leto once where he said he was always kind of an outsider, an odd kid; he and his brother grew up in communes, the parents separated and their mother became part of a group of hippies, always on the move, so they already kind of grew up in a dysfunctional family environment. The music they make is also kind of odd and special, it doesn’t really fit, same with the Music Videos, they are all special, especially the one for Hurricane, which was banned from a lot of TV Stations for being too sexual.

I was an Outsider as a kid and even though it bothered me, I didn’t think about adapting to fit in. I just became friends with others who were like me. But when you grow up, get married and have kids it is necessary to adapt to the life and world around you, to fit in with the other normal, married couples with kids (or at least that is what I thought I had to do). I did that, but apparently it didn’t fit me. I wasn’t myself anymore and therefore unhappy. Finding Mars and becoming an Echelon helped me realize that no one should adapt just for the heck of it, people either like you the (crazy) way you are, or not. I learned that everyone should follow their dreams, to be the person they are or want to be, no matter what others think. That everything is possible if you just believe in it and yourself.

I have found friends through the Echelon, that are like me, right now they are still only online friends because they are scattered around the country and the world, but I hope to see some of them soon at one of the concerts. I feel like I can tell them a lot of things and they will still like me, they will care and help, laugh and cry with me. I have never made friends so fast like I did with the people I met on my Echelon Groups.

The Echelon in a Phenomenon, who knows if it is just a trend and will long be forgotten in a decade or two. It is odd and weird, most people call it a Cult, it makes them uncomfortable that people care about it so much, some people have called it a sect and say that everyone of the fans has been brainwashed (which by the way is not true). It is different, it is something new, that hasn’t been there before, it is worldwide and that probably scares a lot of people. If you are not a part of it you won’t understand it. That is OK as long as you respect me and the others for what we do and like and for who we are. I might not be part of it anymore in 10 years but I will always remember how it helped me in a time when I really needed it.

As Jared Leto once said:

“Some people ask us if this is a cult, I say this, it’s something special, it’s not for everyone, it’s only for those who understand”

If you want to learn more, ask. Or go online. There are hundreds of pages on the web that will tell you about the Band and the Echelon. BBC 1 shot a short film and also recorded a one-hour Radio Documentary about Mars and the Echelon. Listen, read and enjoy…

Be who you want to be, follow your dreams……..Jump and touch the Sky!!!

Irene

Obstacles

Well, I am still not sure about posting my whole story but I will tell you an important part of it.

Life hasn’t been easy during that last year. First of all, hubby got promoted, which is actually a very cool thing and I am happy for him. But with it came a lot of responsibility and a lot of travelling. When he got the offer he told me he will probably be gone at least one night a week, maybe more or sometimes even a whole week. When he asked me if I would be OK with it I said sure, go for it, while at the same time I was dreading being alone with the kids and the stress and the feeling of loneliness, but it was good for him. We had considered moving back closer to my parents as we had to find a bigger place anyways, now that we had two kids. And for his business trips he usually has to go to his Company’s Headquarters which are close to my parents anyways. But we both decided we rather wanted to stay here with all the friends we had made. In the end I think it wasn’t the best decision, but oh well. I had to get used to spending days or weeks alone with the kids, it was stressful and drained a lot of my energy.

Then I got a notice from my doc, during a regular check-up they found something unusual which required another closer check. I don’t want to go into detail but in the end I had to have surgery twice to remove tissue which showed signs of abnormal cell growth, which most likely would have turned into cancer if left alone. I was shocked, as soon as my doc said cancer; I was thinking “I am going to die”. As it was found very early, not even close to being malicious, I am definitely not dying from it. But it required surgery, being anesthetized, spending 2 weeks on the couch both times, check-ups, and more check-ups and a lot of waiting for the results. I was told that usually they get all of the abnormal cells removed in one session. There is only a minimal risk of needing another surgery. So yay, lucky me hit the jackpot and needed another. I fell into a hole after getting the results from the first surgery and they said there might still be some cells that haven’t been removed. I felt miserable, I cried, I didn’t have energy anymore. It was during the winter months and so on top of that I got a really bad case of the flu, I had migraines and back problems from all the coughing. I cried all the time and stayed in bed for days. I tried to “keep my shit together” for the kids but couldn’t. I was one of the worst times in my life. I had also somewhere in between lost my job and we had moved which came with lot of work because we had to do some renovations at the old apartment and settle into our new house.

.

The second surgery came and went, I spent some days on the couch and waited for the next check-up. Healing was slow, but OK. I overall felt a little better, still very stressed, easily upset, tired ALL.THE.TIME, had mood swings and couldn’t concentrate very long, but sure everything would work out in the end. We went on vacation with my mom over Easter and I tried to relax as much as possible. Afterwards I called the doc who had done the surgery for results and he said all the cells have been removed. I was happy!! But as always, there is a BUT… I had to see my doc for a regular check-up and he told me that there is something odd with my results. So I had to see the doc at the clinic again and I am now waiting for the latest results. I am soo sick of this rollercoaster of good and bad, up and down, happy and sad.

During this last year I have changed a lot. Even more that I have in the years before. At the beginning I was a housewife and mother of two, working as a freelance Counsellor from home. Then I became sick, lost my job, moved, was upset all the time, tired, frustrated, couldn’t stand my kids being loud and rowdy and drawing away from my husband, I didn’t like my life, myself or anything around me. It got better at times and then it got bad again, then better, then worse. And then I found something that helped me,  that brought back my old self. Not the one from before the miserable time but actually the ME that I had lost a few years ago, the happy one, the crazy one, the one that would walk around singing. I found music that described how I felt; I found a band that I liked. I became a fan again, just like in the old times when I was still young; there was something that made me happy. I connected with other fans and found out that the music had helped a lot of them through equally hard times. I will tell you the story later, it is an odd story. It involves me, a band called 30 Seconds to Mars and a huge, kind of dysfunctional, worldwide family of fans called the Echelon.

I am still not over all of this, there is still a long way to go until the day when I can say “I achieved what I wanted, I am happy with my life and I wouldn’t want to change a thing”. There are still days when even my music doesn’t help, days I will spend on the couch, knowing I should be doing something, even if it is just the laundry, but finding even that too hard to do.

Today is one of these days.

Nailpolish

Something light and funny today, even though I wrote a VEEERY long post/story about myself and the process of change that is happening in my life right now. But it's not only very long, but also very personal and kind of dark and moody so I will keep that for a day when I feel about sharing it. And as it is almost bedtime i will keep it short today.

Let's talk weird hobbies and addictions right now. I am addicted to nailpolish. It has been worse before, especially in my teens and twenties but it is slowly coming back (part of the change process I guess). I used to paint my nails all. the. time. I wouldn't go out with naked nails, I spent hours and hours painting them (one reason I stopped, with two kids you don't have hours and hours for it). Different colours on each nail or pink, black, green, purple, glow-in-the-dark, french, you name it...whenever I go shopping and there is an aisle with cosmetics and nail polish I have to stop and always find something nice I would  like to have. Nowadays I usually stop myself from buying more because I rarely use them, I have so many different kinds that still have nailpolish which is 10 years old (but still good).

Now that my kids are a little older and there is no risk that one of them will eat my nailpolish because they suck on my finger (which actually didn't happen much even when they were babies, only while teething I think) I think I will get back into the habit of painting them. I like painted nails, it looks good, and cultivated and It makes my hands look longer (they are kinda short and chubby - like me) :) And my daughter loves getting her nails painted so it's a fun mommy-daughter thing to do now.

I'll say good night now and leave you with a pic of my collection and my nails coloured in my newest addition - neon pink:

Irene

Zitronenplätzchen/Lemon Curd Cookies

Another recipe I want to share with you. I found this onlne when I was searching for something to use some left-over homemade Lemon Curd. They are really good, light and fluffy and if you don't watch it you can easily eat 5 of them in a row.

German Recipe, scroll down for English version

400 g Mehl
100 g Speisestärke
300 g Butter
150 g Puderzucker
Prise Salz
1 Pkt. Citroback
1 Ei
1 Eigelb

Füllung
1 Eiweiß
1/2 Tasse Lemon Curd (gekauft oder selbstgemacht)
75 g Puderzucker

Aus den Zutaten für den Teig einen Mürbeteig herstellen und den im Kühlschrank ruhen lassen.
Dann den Teig ca. 4 mm dick ausrollen und mit einem runden Ausstecher Plätzchen ausstechen. So ungefähr 4-5 cm Durchmesser.

Mit einem Teelöffel eine kleine Menge Lemon Curd in die Mitte des Plätzchens geben und den Rand mit Eiweiß bestreichen. Das Plätzchen zusammenklappen, so dass die Ränder aufeinander liegen. Mit einer Kuchengabel zusammendrücken.

Bei 175° (Umluft 150-160°) ca. 15 Minuten hellbraun backen.
Die abgekühlten Plätzchen mit Puderzucker bestäuben.


English Recipe

4 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Corn Starch
1 1/3 Cups Butter
1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp. Lemon Extract
1 whole Egg
1 Egg Yolk

Filling
1 Egg White
1/2 Cup Lemon Curd (store bought or homemade)
1/2 Cup Confectioner's Sugar

Make a dough for all ingredients and store in the fridge for at least one hour. Roll out and cut out 2 inch rounds with a Cookie Cutter. Put a teaspoon of Lemon Curd in the middle, brush the sides with egg white and fold to make halfmoons. Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes, let cool and sprinkle with Confectioner's Sugar.


Enjoy!

Irene

Oh Jared...

Please excuse if this post is a little blurry and I use phrases like OH MY GOD or equal a lot...I am still in a kind of post-concert bliss and I feel like a teenager again.

Why is that you ask? Well, I went to a Rock-Concert yesterday, and not just any Concert, it was 30 Seconds to Mars and it was absolutely GREAT!!! Better than I had ever imagined, I had been anxiously waiting for the day ever since I ordered the tickets in June and I was all giddy and excited all day. Even the fact that I had to sit at the doc forever (had a check-up appointment but they had an emercency coming in and I had to wait for over two hours) wouldn't put me in a bad mood like it usually does.

I know, being over 30, I am not a "normal" teenie-fan anymore, and I was made aware of that even before the concert when we were watching the "hardcore" fans down on the floor (we hads seats on the stands) sweating and getting squished in the front row. I used to be one of them, pushing my way to the front or second row (no matter how much the others would kick me or swear at me), sweating, jumping, singing band songs really loud, but watching that yesterday I couldn't imagine myself down there (at least not until I saw them being brought up on stage to sing with the band during the concert, THEN I wished i would have gotten floor tickets!). There was one girl who had to be taken out by the medics even before the show started because she had fainted and there were a few more during the concert.

We were there around 6 pm, the doors open not long after that, we found our seats, got something to eat and I bought a T-Shirt as a souvenir. Then we waited and watched the crazy people down on the floor. At 8 there was a pre-band, actually it was some 30STM Crew Members playing Cover Songs for about 30 minuted and then more waiting until the band came around 9:10 pm.

What I really like about 30STM or especially their front man Jared (besides him being a real hottie) is that they are soo close to their fans. During the show Jared would stop singing and just talk to the fans, interact with them, get some of them out of the front rows to put them on stage and talk to them like they were friends. At one point during the show he was at the front of the stage, really close to the fans singing "Hurricane" unplugged (just him and his guitar) and they pulled on girl out, she was obviously dehydrated and about to faint. He stopped singing, asked what's happening to her, if she is OK and talked to the security to put her up on stage with him. he had her sit on stage, close to him for about 15 minutes while he sang, every so often checking on her, talking to her, hugging her and gave her a kiss on the cheek (which nearly made her faint again). It was sooo absolutely great. OH MY GOD, how I would have loved to be her or to be close enough to the stage to be chosen as one of the fans to be up on stage for some of the songs.

 

me before the Concert

♥ Jared on stage ♥

They played for 90 minutes and it was soooo GREAT! Really, it was such a great Concert. I actually came home and checked online to see were they are going to be next and I am seriously thinking about going to the Concert in Hamburg, because they will be there in 10 days and we will be visiting my parents that time, they live about an hour away from Hamburg. They Nuremberg  Show was inside, the one in Hamburg will beOpen Air which I think is even better. Open Air Shows in the Summer are the best things ever!!!

And now excuse me, I will go and listen to some music or watch the Closer to the Edge Music Video once again (it's the BEST Video!!) or surf the web, look at some Jared Pictures and drool ;)

Irene

Busy

Yesterday morning I sat on the couch and thought about posting another entry but couldn't really come up with anything. I was gonna name the blog post "Bored" and tell you all how bored I am and also tell you that I had recently read a blog post from someone (on a blog I found when I was blog-hopping because I was so bored) who wrote about the "Epidemic of the "I'm so Busy-i-tis" " which is a sarcastic look onto people (or moms) who think it is necessary to tell the whole world how busy they are by rattling off their to-do lists to anyone who will listen because it makes them feel important. You can read her blog post here (and she also has some more intersting ones). I was thinking about it and actually realized I was totally "un-busy" right then. I mean there are a lot of things that need to be done around the house, but I didn't feel like doing them. But then I thought about it again and said to myself "get your lazy butt off the couch an do something" Hubby is on a business trip, due to be home tonight and wouldn't it be a nice surprise if the whole house is squeaky clean (for once, usually it's on a "clean enough"-level) because both of us don't feel like spending our weekends frantically cleaning toilets or dusting. And with him working during the week and me, well being a housewife (you know, housewife TV, Coffe parties, shopping trips, doing my nails ;) ) there is no time during the week for frantical deep cleaning.

So I spend yesterday morning cleaning, continued after picking up my son while he was taking a nap and even got a few things done in the afternoon while he was playing (first he helped me by dragging his toy vacuum cleaner behind him playing "vacuuming" but then he went back to making a mess in his freshly cleaned bedroom) because my daughter all of a sudden was able to spend some time at the neighbours playing with a boy from her kindergarten (his grandparents are our neighbours and he often spends his afternoons there with his mom, they really like Jenny). In the evening a friend came over and I offered to help her with something so that also kept me busy for a while this morning. For lunch I went to meet her to talk about stuff and after picking up Fynn from the kindergarten I should be finishing my cleaning spree right now but as I saved the best for last (cleaning the bathrooms) I don't really feel like it... *sigh*

Oh well, off I go...

Irene

P.S. somewhere in between I also applied for a job, waiting for a response now so please keep your fingers crossed, who knows maybe I will be busier that I want to in the near future.

Gnocchi with Cheese Sauce

Sharing a recipe today that I came up with myself. Well, I googled a bit to find out how much I need of each ingredient to make enough for me and hubby (and maybe the kids even though I didn't think they would eat it). To be honest, it's basically a "clean out my fridge"-recipe because I had a lot of different kinds of cheese left over from other dinners I made the days before. But it turned out really good and hubby liked it a lot so I thought I would share. It's also really easy and fast. And you can use other pasta if you like, we ate the rest of the sauce two days later with regular pasta. You can also use other cheese but I suggest not using to many different kinds and not ones that have a strong taste.

Gnocchi (as many as you need) I bought a pack with 400g which was enough for me and hubby and the kids
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Flour
1/2 Cup Milk
different kinds of Cheese, I had some left-over goat cheese, some cream cheese, grated pizza cheese (Gouda and Mozzarella), Gouda.and Parmesan.
cherry tomatoes
roasted almonds (I would have preferred pine nuts but didn't have any)

*Melt Butter in a small pot, add Flour, stir constantly until it combines and immediately pour milk to make a thick sauce, put in the cheese and melt together, add milk as you go to make thinner. Put in salt and nutmeg if you like (i don't, but I saw it in one of the recipes I found).
* cut cherry tomatoes in halves
* roast almonds or pine nuts in a pan until slightly brown
* boil water and put in Gnocchi (or cook other pasta)
* arrange Gnocchi on plate, pour sauce on top, top with some cherry tomatoes, nuts, Parmesan Cheese and fresh basil.

Enjoy!

Irene