Bugs and Birds

So we've been in Dresden since Tuesday now. The days go by so fast here! One minute its breakfast time, and the next, we're shoving lunch down our throats because its scheduled feeding time. (Yeah, its weird for us, too.)
So far we've seen a lot of the city, but really, not enough! We've also seen a bit of the nightlife which has been suuuper fun....but tiring.

Its Spring time, but you'd never guess here. Its been rainy lately, but for the last couple of days we've been able to catch some sun for a few hours.
So far, we've met and talked with a bunch of German students. For the most part, we've been able to communicate pretty well with each other. I feel like my German is improving by the HOUR! Although Dirk told me his secret to his perfect English: watch TV in English! I'm totally going to start doing that. Except in German.

This building used to be a prison. >2,000 people were executed here during the time that this was still part of East Germany. The history of this region is so dense and still so evident. Today we went to a soccer game and when you walked in, it had a poster of Nazi-Propaganda stuff that you weren't allowed to wear into the stadium.

After the game, we spent some time at the Grosse Garten, where we ate ice cream, napped, played cards and frisbee.

Im loving this city, and everyone in it!

See you post-Poland :]

Dresden

After 3 flights, a bus ride and a train ride, we have arrived at our destination!!!! Kelley and I are obsessed with the apartment that they put us in. It is the cutest thing ever, and we feel like we are living IN ikea. Our plan is to make a Cribs video....yeah, its THAT sweet.
Also, I totally underpacked. .... .... totally. I feel like the purchase of a small suitcase is in my near future...
The weather here is currently 48 degrees Fahrenheit. Which is what Im used to in the winter months of Tallahassee. We're doing a Pub Crawl tonight (don't ask me why Im not napping), I think I'm going to freeze. And I don't think I'll last long enough to get that 4th drink free....we shall seeeee.

the day before...

So I'm leaving Tallahassee tomorrow morning at 11:30. I've been holed up in my room all day (minus the brunch making with my visiting loooover) packing and repacking my ONE bookbag that is supposed to somehow fit 3 months worth of clothing....I made it happen...but hardly.
Also, I realized that I have nowhere to stay for the last 2 weeks that I was supposed to be in Sweden wwoofing.....all of the farms are booked up, so my new plan is to slowly make my way down to Stuttgart to visit Rachel, and then back up to Berlin to fly out of there with Jessy, when we head to Budapest. I think Ill be making stops in Copenhagen and some parts of West Germany.
As of right now, everything is pretty much packed and Ive got my accounts in order.....the only thing missing are my headphones!
aaaahhh.

This time tomorrow, I'll be in Dresden, Germany!

As of RIGHT NOW.....this is no longer a food blog. but instead...just my regular old blog. no longer will i be restricted to just food recipes! (which i couldnt stick to on a regular basis. =/) but speaking of recipes, we're having a potluck for my Food and Environment class on Friday....and i just can't decide between yucca or curry cabbage!

Youd think that this being finals week, Id be more worried about exams and passing my classes. but.... i kind of hit this wall. and dont really care anymore. uh-oh!

it could be....because.....

im headed to Europe next week! Heres the travel itinerary:

Dresden, Germany May 3-22

Berlin, Germany May 22-25

Amsterdam, Netherlands May 25-30

Stuttgart, Germany May 30- June 3

Prague, Czech Republic June 3-9

Berlin, Germany June 9-12

Organic Farm:Bataholm, Sweden June 13-23

Organic Farm:hopefully, Sweden June 24-July 4

Stockholm, Sweden July 5-10

Budapest, Hungary July 10-13

Dubronvik, Croatia July 13-18

Milan & Venice, Italy July 18-23

Brussels, Belgium July 23-28

Madrid, Spain (mi gente!) July 28-Aug 5

Nueva York Aug 5- ?

Expect updates on a semi-regular basis! I plan on taking my laptop and will hopefully have internet in most places.

i have NO idea how im going to fit 3 months worth of clothes in my dad's hiking backpack.

The Treehouse Song

I counted all of the good things you are

and that list of charms was

longer than my chain of broken hearts

and when the day was done

I figured I had already lost

from the start – from the start

...baby we were made of gold.

Day One...

So, I am by no means a Catholic. But I just love giving things up for Lent!

So this year, I decided to go big. Im giving up high fructose corn syrup! Im really excited about this, because I think its going to force me to cook again! yay! I've been missing the kitchen and Im tired of eating Triscuits and other snacks. The time has come for real food again!

So today, for the first day of the 40 (I started a day late), I made some sauteed mushrooms and onions for breakfast that lasted me until linner (really late lunch/really early dinner).

Im lucky enough to have a roommate who loves to make salsa. He's made a fresh batch almost every week since the beginning of the year. Yeah, its awesome.

So for this part, I just used:

mushrooms

onions

garlic

salsa

Sauteed the onions in some olive oil for a little bit, and added the garlic, the shrooms and the salsa!

I put it on some (corn syrup-free) rice cakes that I had, since all the bread in the apartment has HFCS (its just too long to type!).....

For linner, I fried an egg and put the left over mushrooms on top of it! So good!

Just look at it! mmmmmm.

Southern Feasting!

So I went to a local farmers market last Wednesday, and it was so awesome!!! There were people selling sweet potatoes, homemade breads, okra, bitter melons (what!?) and all sorts of other things that i had never heard of before. Including something that looked like lettuce....but it was spicy!

The nice farmer that I bought the sweet potatoes from gave me 2 bitter melons to try them, but they went bad before I could cook them!!!

Anyways, I ended up coming home with okra, sweet potatoes, the bitter melons and my roommate bought some pineapple bread. It was delish.

In honor of these Southern foods, I decided to cook up a storm! Fried okra, and sweet potato & okra ....stuff. hahaha, I dont really know what the second one would be. It looked like it would make a great pie filling!!!

Ive only had fried okra from Shane's Rib Shack. And ohmygod. It was amazing. So i attempted to recreate its goodness....they must have a secret ingredient.

For the batter part, I used some flour, some red pepper flakes and some (okay, a lot) of curry! You could kiiind of taste the spiceyness.

I sliced up the okra, then dipped them in an egg (scrambled-like) and then in the flour. Then they were put onto the pan, which was full of hot oil! (Deep frying is not my thing...as you can tell by the burnt okra pictured above.)

It was fun, but I dont think Ill be trying that again anytime soon...they weren't nearly as good as the ones from the Rib Shack!

stuffed green peppers. mmmmm.

Ive been wanting to make stuffed peppers for the longest time....so I finally did! And they were yuuum.

Ingredients:

green bell peppers (or red. yellow. orange. ANY!)

barley (or rice. cous cous.)

onions

one tomato

a can of red kidney beans (or black. or corn. or garbanzos....really just any legume)

one apple (fun, no??)

some celery

minced garlic

curry powder

hot sauce (if you want it...)

some spicy brown mustard

a dash of balsamic vinegar

dried oregano and parsley

salt and peppa

I cooked the onions, garlic, tomato, apple, and some of the celery in a skillet with all the spices. Meanwhile, the barley was also being cooked. The oven was set at about 350. Cut around the stem of the pepper and pull out the stem and all of the seeds from the inside. Once everything is cooked a little, you can go ahead and mix the barley with the veggies (including the rest of that celery!) and the can of beans all together. Then cut the peppers open (unless youve got mad skills and can put the stuffing into the peppers without tearing them!), and spoon the mixture into the peppers.....put them in an oven safe dish, and set them in the oven for about half an hour or an hour....just check up on them every once in a while, and they should be fine!! Oh! Feel free to sprinkle some cheese on top of them, too!

VOILA! you now have....

STUFFED PEPPERS!

:]