Muuh Mooo Milk Issue
I thought my lactose intolerance had vanished. After a long strict diet and 18 months later I could eat milk products without having a bloated belly, without skin rashes and all that. I never touched fresh (raw) milk again, because I was now used to soy milk and didn’t really like cow’s milk any longer, but I enjoy eating cheese and cakes, ice cream and (milk-)chocolates again.
Until yesterday! 
It was a beautiful Sunday. We went for a walk at the beach and felt like ice-cream! It is weird, but we’re living the Australian dream, at the Indian Ocean coast or let’s say in a coastal city where the life happens outdoors, but there are so few ice-cream shops! Hardly any! When I think of my small town back home…I immediately know of at least three ice-cream shops.
Well…we found a beach kiosk and bought a Cornetto and a Magnum (better than nothing). Having a proper fresh ice-cream shop by the beach seems to be luxury down here. I really miss it.
Well…we went for a long stroll along the beach, sat down by the water and watched the kids play in the water. Then we went to a park nearby to continue our walk there.
All of a sudden I got lower belly cramps. They were so strong I had to hold my breath and stop walking; stop moving at all. My belly was totally bloated. The mister felt it and thought it was so hard and felt like I was a few months pregnant. I was in pain! We left the park and stopped at a supermarket, but I could not walk any further, so we had to drive home. I spare you with more details, but it seemed that it was the ice-cream that my stomach could not take. So weird, because I had a coffee with thickened cream and cow’s milk at my friend’s house just a few days ago….and my insides didn’t ache.
Maybe I had too many lactose-products lately….maybe Magnum’s are evil. 
[image by Petra Kress/pixelio.de]
Nov 15, 2010 • A-life & Delicious & English ♥ 0 comments »Allerlei Gedanken und Bilder zum Sonntag
Ich gucke immer auf die Uhr, wenn es 1:23pm ist.
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Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund.
Wie wahr! Heute morgen Wecker gestellt und runter zum Strand um eine Runde Beachvolleyball zu spielen. War das schoen! Erst zwei gegen zwei gespielt (weiblich: maennlich, 3:1). Dann kamen noch drei Maenner hinzu und es hat dann richtig Spass gemacht. Wir waren auch gar nicht so schlecht. Wir haben zwei Stunden bis 11Uhr gespielt. Dann wurde es schon richtig heiss. Dann Fruehstueck im Cafe neben dem Spielfeld. (Muss beim naechsten Mal Fotos machen.)
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Ostwind. Bring Fliegen mit sich. Macht die Wellen platt und das Meer schoen ruhig; perfekt zum Schwimmen. Dumm nur, dass ich die Erkaeltung noch ein bisl in mir habe und lieber nicht baden gehen sollte. Das Meer ist so selten so schoen ruhig. Ich habe mich geaergert, dass ich nicht reinspringen konnte, bzw. dass mein Verstand diesmal gewonnen hat.
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Happy Halloween!!
(heute auf g00gle Australia zu sehen)
Hier im heissen Perth sieht Halloween (am Strand!) dann so aus:
Man achte auf die Fussbekleidung!
[Danke an die (unbekannte) Familie, die sich fuer ein Foto zur Verfuegung stellte.]
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PiCola quiz (Bilderraetsel):
Bitte MITMACHEN!
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Mein erster selbstgemachter BigMac (naja, vom Maenne gezaubert, aber halt homemade):
Sieht doch sehr authentisch aus, oder
Ich seh etwas daemlich aus, aber nur mal so zum Groessenvergleich.
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Unser “grass tree” im Garten in voller Steife Bluete:
Wenn “das Ding” auf einen drauffaellt, ist man (bestimmt) tot oder mindestens angebrochen, so steif ist das. Dieser Riesenstempel ist nur im Fruehling da, ansonsten ist da nix, was oben aus dem Grass Tree rauskommt. Der scheint also zu verbluehen und abzubrechen. Aua.
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So sah das Meer (am Volleyballfeld) heute morgen aus:
Und einer, der schon fuer “Baywatch” trainiert:
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So, ich bin richtig stolz mein Blog mal wieder haeufiger zu fuettern, aber warum haben denn erst zwei Leute (danke euch schon mal!) bei meiner Umfrage mitgemacht?
Bitte mal rechts in der Seitenleiste auf meinem Blog schauen und kurz mit abstimmen. Ist doch nicht so schwer…daaaaanke! 
Und auch nicht vergessen beim PiCola quiz Bilderraetsel mitzuraten. 
Wuensche noch einen schoenen Sonntag!
Oct 31, 2010 • Delicious & Deutsch & Visuelles ♥ 10 comments »What’s ill Cola doing?
She’s resting and resting…and resting. Also drinking much green tea with honey. Eating fresh fruit. Went for a short walk today (the mister said I needed some Vitamin D ![=]](http://planetcola.com/wp-content/plugins/smilies-themer/adiumicons/sideways.png)
). Very windy today, but felt nice.
Came back and had a craving for some baby food and ate a jar of organic pasta bolognese suggested for “month year one to month year five”. 
This reminds me of being back home (in that German land), where I often ate the “HIPP” baby pasta bolognese as a snack. Warm or cold. Very delicious, don’t you think? Same with Semolina – what’s the name for Griessbrei? Semolina mash? Love it, too! Or even better: Semolina soup!
I tried to get up from bed bed to move my tired body a bit and here’s the result:
Date Scones!! 
My version: 3 cups self-raising flour, 150ml lactose free cream and 150ml soy milk, 2 tablespoons raw caster sugar, 1 egg and 1 cup chopped dates. About 12 to 15 minutes at 220ºC (or 200ºC fan-forced).
I’m much better today and decided I’ll go back to work tomorrow. Only one day and then weekend anyway (in case I get worse).
Now the man came home and I will surprise him with my scones.
Intuitive Buys
When people ask me if I miss my home (Germany) I usually say ‘no’.
On my way home from work I stopped at an IGA supermarket and only wanted to look if they have “Apfelmus” (apple sauce) how I know it from ‘home’. See with what I came home:
The cookies and the liquorice are a treat for the mister. Same with his beloved sweet chilli sauce…the apple sauce is for my bakings.
Noooo, I don’t miss home.
Good things in life are sweet
Tootsie roll, Reese’s cup, 100 Grand, Hershey’s kisses, Butterfinger, Reese’s (peanut butter) pieces, 3 Musketeers, Almond Joy….
Can you follow me? Does everyone know what I am talking about? 
AMERICAN CANDY and CHOCOLATE….! I didn’t know that I love it that much! I think I never had it really or I never knew what Nathan grew up on…never really knew which chocolates came from England and which from the States….but now I am hooked!!
Yes, wow, a real competitor to my beloved German chocolate sweets.
Nathan and I were (almost) fighting…no actually we have been fighting over this bag:
A little bit of everything ‘American chocolates’.
It was a little gift from my manager who recently came back from a short holiday in the USA.
You should know that I am not very good at sharing when it is chocolate. When I received the bag I had a night out and Nathan stayed at home. He asked me, if he could have a few pieces. (!!!!)
Pardon? Hello? I just got this bag, don’t even have time to look at it, because I’m going out, and he wants a piece BEFORE I even get to it? NO! Hell, no, how can he even be so brave and ask? 
Well, this caused the first little argument. Haha.
I needed the right moment to take the bag of sweets on my lap, and the right moment to be in the mood for it to eat some. If you know what I mean.
Mr Natey didn’t like this at all. He said I was mean, very mean to say he could not have something from this bag which had all of his childhood favourites in it. He said I cannot leave it lying around, not eating anything. Mean mean mean. *giggle*
How about a bit of self-control Mr CandyPopcornOholic? :P
Well, I didn’t say he could not have anything forever…just for the moment, no.
In the end (I gave in and) he had his first piece before I had my try.
BUT…HE KEPT ASKING FOR MORE AND MORE!!
We argued…a lot…other people argue about important things (like which TV channel to watch, lol), we argue about who can have which kind of chocolate and in which time frame. I mean, if I didn’t control “the USA bag” we would have eaten everything in one go. I want good things to last. My man doesn’t understand why and for what I want to save them for.
Well, maybe to keep the delicious moments for longer than just one or two days? Especially when we cannot just go to the next shop to buy more of these….they don’t sell them here.
I am so bad. I just remembered that it was ME who grew up with a sister and who (should have) learned to share things. Nathan is a single child…but so well behaved and so patient when it comes to sharing. I tell ya, for sure this earth’s chocolate has led to civil wars back then. I am sure! Evil stuff… 
I NOW UNDERSTAND WHY HE WAS SO MAD AT ME….mad for the awesome chocolates. Because – they – are – so – goooood! Australia can go home. England can go home. A lot of countries can go home. American old school chocolates are just so very delicious and special in the taste. How could I have missed trying them the last two time when I was in the States? *wondering*
The Hershey’s kisses with the white chocolate and the cookie pieces in it are just to melt-away! So tiny but so good.
The tootsie roll reminds me of “Toffee” from Germany. Reese’s pieces are so much better than M&M’s (they look the same, but the filling is peanut butter instead of chocolate).
Who would have known that I became such a peanut butter fan?
I haven’t had Nutella for over two years now. Can you believe it?
That is what happens if you live your life with an American cowboy.
Just weird how his mother said to me once that he never had such a craving for sweets? He is madly involved in the choco-sweetness business.
You might not believe it, but we have had the choc bag for a few weeks now and there are still around 12 pieces in it.
Tonight we were a lovely couple and shared an “Almond Joy” chocolate bar. What a joy! 
Yesterday we went food shopping and guess what we saw? A long bar of “Tootsie Roll”, “3 Musketeers”, “100 Grand”, and another one that I forgot the name of; all next to the check-out of an IGA store.
This is brand new. We shop there quite often and they never had those. But now, just now, after we had this American chocolates bag. Weird!!!!
Back home in Australia
…but you already know that.
Just a few more days and I will have my photos sorted…sigh…1800 plus a lot (!) of short movies.
Still adjusting to the ‘old’ westerners life. I don’t like chips (french fries) anymore, I don’t even crave potatoes, and I hardly finish a meal plate. Hello? Stomach?
I guess my body needs a while to get back into the ‘weird’ foods that we western people eat (breads or yeast dough stuff, cheese, cream, deep-fried things, etc.).
I already miss the daily fruit salad, the rice dishes, those fabulous coconut and fresh fruit shakes, the Lombok coffee….and my beloved gado-gado!
Ok, here comes a first glance of, of course something mouth watering; Indonesian food, my favourite dish, Gado Gado ( a vegetable salad with Tofu/Tempe and Peanut sauce):
My new breakfast love
Steel Cut Oatmeal!
Slow cooking has always been my favourite method, but I didn’t know that the taste of quick oats and steel cut oats are so very different. The latter reminds me of “Milchreis” (rice pudding), but one can still taste the grain of the oats. It is not too mushy (like quick oats can be)…I looove it!
I don’t mind cooking it for 35 minutes in the morning, because you don’t need to stir it during cooking. It is just like rice…you leave it simmer until it is done. During cooking time I can take a shower and get ready. Yeah, I have a new favourite breakfast!
Oh, I dressed my oatmeal very classy only with brown sugar and cinnamon.
How to cook steel cut oatmeal:
Melt
—1 tablespoon of margarine (I used Nuttelex Olive)
in a pan and add
—1 cup of steel cut oats
and roast at high heat for about 2 minutes (while stiring)
Add
—3 cups of boiling water
and reduce heat to lowest and let simmer for 25 minutes (without lid)
[now take a shower or get ready for the day]
—Add 1/2 cup of milk (I used regular soy milk) and a dash of salt
fold milk in and let simmer for another maximum of 10 minutes
Too easy – Done!
Put a portion of oatmeal in a cereal bowl and add brown sugar and cinnamon of your liking and ENJOY!
Unfortunately, I could not find steel cut oats at the regular supermarkets here in Perth. They seem to sell it only at health food stores or at whole-food shops. I bought mine at Kakulas Brothers in Northbridge. If you know of other places (as Northbridge is not very close to where I live), please leave me a comment.
May 12, 2010 • Delicious & English ♥ 2 comments »A typical breakfast
Fruehstuecksvielfalt.
What’s for breakfast? Everything!
Plum.
Oatmeal.
Green Tea.
German Pumpernickel with jam.
Homemade Bananacake.
Fotocollage vom Jubilaeumsdinner
Schoen wars! Bei unserem Lieblings-Sushi-nesen Hanami in Mt. Lawley und beim Eismann nebenan. Obwohl es mich gerade mit ner dicken Erkaeltung erwischt hatte, wollte ich das Cola-Natey-Jubilaeumsdinner, was der Herr des Hauses reserviert hatte, nicht sausen lassen. Wir hatten Glueck und bekamen einen der zwei begehrten Tische, wo man an einem niedrigen Tisch sitzt und die Fuesse in einer Art Luke unter dem Tisch freihaengend baumeln. Schuhe sind nicht gestattet. Man sitzt auf nem Kissen auf ner Art holzvertaefelten erhoehten Buehne im Restaurant. Sehr stylisch und oft ausgebucht; aber wir hatten Glueck unser 5-Jahres-Jubilaeum in unserem Lieblingsrestaurant an unserem LIeblingstisch geniessen zu koennen. Und nun, lass es Sushi regnen… Vorspeise Hanahmi Special Salad, Pork Goyza, dann Assorted Sushi (21 Stuecke), Avocado Roll (10 Stuecke), Unagi (Aal, 5 Stuecke), extra Reis (haetten wir gut weglassen koennen), und gruenen Tee mit geroesteten Reiskoernern.
Das letzte Bild zeigt, das die Augen groesser waren, als der Magen…oder es lag daran, dass wir beide gesundheitlich nicht so 100% fit waren. Mit ner Erkaeltung hat man ja meist nicht so viel Hunger. Der Salat zur Vorspeise war von der Groesse her schon ne Hauptspeise und die Avocado im Salat hat ordentlich satt gemacht.
Unsere Sushi Reste wurden sehr nett verpackt. Wir bekamen noch neue Sojasosse in kleinen Tuetchen und frischen Ingwer dazu. Am naechsten Tag hatten wir also noch mal genug uebrig fuer einen sushi-lunch.
Ich hatte die Sushi-rollen beim Hanami kleiner in Erinnerung…diesmal waren die kaum als Ganzes in den Mund zu schieben. Hier bekommt man wirklich nicht nur beste Qualitaet, sondern auch ordentlich grosse Sushi Rollen. Toll!
Was hier anscheinend anderes ist, als in Deutschland oder in den USA, ist, dass in fast alle (oder sogar alle?) Maki-Rollen Mayonaise hinein getan wird. Finden wir nicht so toll, daher gibt es von uns immer die z.B. Avo-Maki-ohne Mayo Bestellung. Ob das wohl drueben in Sydney auch das mayo-verseuchte sushi gibt?
Der Eisbecher nannte sich ‘Hot Fudge Sundae’ und ich sage euch, seit dem ich den gegessen habe, will ich hot fudge jeden Tag!!
Das Zeug ist sowas von lecker. Der Mann konnte, mal wieder, nicht verstehen, dass ich das jetzt erst zum ersten Mal gegessen habe. Ich auch nicht. Fudge ist sowas wie ne warme klebrige caramel-toffige Sosse a la Schokolade, die einfach suechtig macht.
Eis essen ist hier uebrigens eine nicht so guenstige Angelegenheit, da der Kugelpreis bei um die $3.50 anfaengt. Meine 3-Kugel-Manier aus Deutschland wuerde mich hier arm machen. Fuer drei Kuegeln Eis bekomme ich ja schon eine grosse Maki-roll mit zehn grossen Sushi-Happen, hehe.
Der Eisbecher war mit $6 (eine Kugel) aber reichlich gefuellt und ein guter Deal.
Perfektionismus
Perfekte Avocado zum Fruehstueck.
Perfekter Sticky Date Pudding (Kuchen) a la Cola.
Und: australische Gaensebluemchen ueberall in unserem Vorgarten (noch nie vorher gesehen; die bluehen wohl nur im Spaetwinter, wenns ne ordentliche Portion Regen gibt). Wer haette gedacht, dass Gaensebluemchen so gluecklich machen koennen. Nun ja, ich bin fast ausgeflippt, als ich sie entdeckt habe.
Ja, das ist ein Teil unseres Vorgartens, dessen Rasen sich ueber den Winter prima von der Duerre erholt hat. Ihr denkt, dass sieht doch aus wie Schweizer Kaese? Na, dann habt ihr den Rasen im letzten Sommer nicht gesehen. Hier bei uns im Westen waechst alles auf Strandsand, es gibt keine Muttererde wie wir es von Deutschland gewohnt sind. Die gibts, wie ich hoerte, nur drueben, beim Mau im Osten. :P
Dazu gibt es einen fantastischen Artikel hier zu lesen. Why it’s hard to keep a good looking lawn in Perth.
Aber laut meiner Ueberschrift sollte ich mich lieber nicht weiter mit der gartentechnischen Herrausforderung in Perth beschaeftigen, sondern mich dran erfreuen, wenn dann was blueht, vor allem wenn es mich an zuhause, die alte Heimat, erinnert.