A ladies night. A hot pot and chopsticks. Friday night. Chat Night. Lots of laughter & exchange. Serious discussions. Apple crumble topped with vanilla ice-cream for dessert. Ingwer tea and gin tonic.

We all know each other from Shanghai. Connected by one man. His “5 angels”. Smart ladies. Business ladies. World travelers. So many stories to tell & share. Enjoying a dinner night together in pandemic times. It felt like being back in Shanghai. Well, a little bit.

The pandemic in a nutshell:

1st half year 2020: Covid? What’s that? A bird flue from Asia? Business trips canceled and working from home for 2 weeks? Love it! My new work mate: hubby. Cooking our own lunches, yeah! So healthy! Face masks are great fashion accessories (made out of silk & real fun colors).

2nd half year 2020: Ehm, this pandemic doesn’t seem to be a short-term thing… damn. Working from home was extended to … forever? Maybe that kitchen chair needs to be replaced by a proper office chair. The back hurts, the neck cracks. The step watch is no longer challenged with 300 steps between kitchen, home office & bed room. Delicious food & cakes (jogging pants remained accordingly). Too much of it (and extra from the neighbors). Not only the scale exploded. Oh dear.

31.12.2020: what a year! We somehow made it. Hope & high expectations for 2021: everything will be back to normal next year! What a fairytale!

4.1.2021: lockdown continues…. Happy new year! Uff… until 6.2021. Summer holidays. Yeah! Vaccine available for everyone (love it or hate it). We all figured out that masks are not just accessories but that they really have a purpose (goodbye silk masks). Free FFP2 masks for everyone >60 years old. You even recognize the Germans with their FFP2 masks abroad. Lol.

10.2021: wave #130 – what a surprise: it’s fall and Covid cases are increasing. What? The pandemic isn’t over yet? Is that a repeat of 2020? Kind of. Not as bad thanks to the available vaccine.

11.2021: hello Omicron! Christmas shopping completed early – you never know what’s shutting down next (and for how long)… lessons learnt from previous year.

1.2022: Booster! Booster! Booster! No or low expectations. Just wondering: how long does a pandemic last? The less news the better! Fingers crossed for the future. Our future. According to The NY Times half of Europe will catch Omicron in the next 6-8 weeks… well, stay healthy! Good luck to all of us 🍀

Back to you, my friend: Covid, who are you?

We (still) don’t know much about you. Spiky & nasty. A murderer. A world traveler. All the way up to the Antarctica research station. Who are you?

Congratulations & happy 2nd anniversary… You showed up in Europe about two years ago. And you have been keeping us busy since. Pretty successfully. In fact, you keep the whole world busy. You got everybody’s attention (you should hear those fights about the tennis player these days who tried to enter Australia…). You are topic #1. Globally. Since 2 (!) years! If you were music or a film you would get awarded! No meeting or conversation is ending without having talked about you. You are famous! And definitely annoying! Covid, you affected almost every aspect of our daily lives.

Who are you?

You already killed a lot of people. Some still don’t believe that you exist (that’s causing the biggest trouble!). You are the reason for the on/off closure of country borders, restaurants, bars, cafes, theaters, hairdressers, spas, schools, Kinder-garden… not cool!

You scare us. Some time ago you started mutating. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron… what’s next? That scares us the most. You are wild and out of control. Yeah, keep challenging us! The whole world is tired of you. Our patience is used up. You give and you take our hopes. Frequently.

(I believe) thanks to you, Mr T. wasn’t elected again. Well, that was kind of cool.

Traveling remains difficult. In fact we should only leave the house for good reasons these days (that’s why we keep discovering new grocery stores in 30km distance one way. Those are happy kilometers. Alternatively we love spending fortunes on soaps and hair gels just because there was no other shop open).

Because of you we had curfews in the past and nowadays restaurants have to close at 10:30pm. Sperrstunde. WTF?

Nobody exactly knows who you are and what to do to get rid of you. At the same time we are struggling finding out how to make friends with you. All we want is to accept and live with you. Really! Promise!

Some of us became survivalists. Some people became creative. Others feel paralyzed. Lonely. Sad.

Dear Covid, because of you we have been working from home since 2 years (if you are lucky to still have a job). Can we ever go back to the office 5 days a week? I don’t think so (but that’s not a bad thing).

Most of us became real good chefs in the kitchen (or nonstop food delivery service users). It was also leading to a couple of additional kilos…

You made us stop and breath for a while. Made us re-think our life style. Or you made most parents nuts.

A lot of us became more interested in news and politics. But also frequently fed up. People even „walk“ in bulks on streets now. Demonstrating against restrictions, limitations and vaccine.

Thanks to you air pollution is reduced. Globally. That’s cool! Also did you speed up the digitalization in the country I currently live in. It was about time! But it caused a new problem: how to recycle too many Amazon cardboard boxes?!

You make us slow down. Which is cool (if there was an end in sight it would be even cooler).

Family & friends have time again to call and talk. Most of us are desperate for talking. For hours on the phone. On a Tuesday night! Our chance to get closer again.

People seem friendlier. Older people talking in the supermarkets. Apologizing if they are in the way with their shopping trolleys.

It would have never come to my mind that a virus can stop the world from moving! Wow!

Covid, who are you?

We are really tired of you! I know people who haven’t seen their families in 2 years! Time to say bye bye! Go away, please. Thanks, Merci, Grazie, xie xie, Dankeschön!

Sincerely, all humans (& cats)

The new year still so young and already a couple of days old. Happy New Year! With the holidays behind us and a fresh year ahead of us…

Let’s celebrate January. It’s less about resolutions and lifestyle overhauls. It’s more about small, simple ways to survive the cold, and nourish your body and soul.

Today is the very first work day for some of us. Hubby is back to work since his accident 8 months ago. Wohoooo!

9 years ago a different love story began… we adopted Charlie. Happy anniversary!

So why not enjoying the Christmas Magic a little longer. In a castle. Pure magic. Stunning!

It’s definitely the end of Christmas at home. The Christmas tree has been taken down. Pine needles are swept away. Ornaments wrapped up.

The new year hadn’t started yet and it made me happy filling my first calendar pages with dinner dates, appointments and other beautiful things to look forward to. It feels good!

A new cooking book for Christmas. Same procedure as every year: diet has been kicked off. Chocolates & candy are hidden away.

Successfully escaped & spent the last days of the old year in the south of France. Taking it easy. Sleeping in. A cup of tea. A glass of red wine. Rose for lunch, sure! Reading books & favorite magazines. A cosy fire. Long dog walks. Enjoying sunshine and spring temperatures. Dining out. Dining in. Cooking together. Relaxing. Croissant for breakfast. Shopping in French supermarkets. Reflecting over the past year.

Bonjour!

France is a dream for food lovers.

And then… 45minute drive to a gourmet restaurant & hubby forgot his Covid vaccine pass. 45min drive back and change of plans: pizza machine… Bon Appetit!

Wowed by the view of the Midi-Pyrénées.

There’s a lot you can do wrong in France when it comes to food: ordering croissant at the little local corner shop (madam, those are reserved…) or eating them…

Soaking up every minute of this holiday. All we needed: a bit of sunshine, a (better several) good glass(es) of wine and delicious food.

In the mood to party. A house party for three. A very delicious countdown to midnight:

Champagne should be out and being quaffed. Oh, it’s so good!

And in between more wine & more champagne.

Bonjour 2022! A fresh start.

Happy new year! May it be a happy 2022!

What a year!

Christmas and the day until the new year is a time to take stock of our life and internal landscape. It’s like the past, the present and the future all come together.

Covid continuous. Restaurants and shops were closed in most parts of Germany until June. Wow! In between we had curfew & very restricted contacts.

It was all about vaccinations. When. Who. How bad. Now it’s all about 3G, 2G and 2G plus. What a mess. You need to be a genius to stay up to date with frequent changing Covid rules. But there was more than Covid.

Berlins Airport was opened! (only 9 years delay. Yea!)

Floods in Germany. Pretty bad. Still is.

Hair dressers opened their doors again March 1! Rough times ending… time to switch cameras back on in home office.

Abba & it’s comeback.

2021 – a record year for renewable energy.

Mallorca instead of Nordsee! A Covid test was enough to enter the airplane while the north of Germany remained in lockdown.

Amanda Gorman – the hero of poetry. A poetry in front of the capitol. The world was wowed! Hello new Mr. President!

We met many friends & family this year.

The China communist party celebrated their 100th anniversary.

Prince Philip, the Dukee of Edinburgh, died at the age of 99 7/8.

More than 2000 panda bears survive wild & enjoy living in the free.

And the Oscar goes to… Chloe Zhao for „Nomadland“.

Escalations in Afghanistan after NATO troops left.

We voted a new chancellor & government in Germany. We said goodbye to Angela Merkel after 16 years.

#FreeBritney after 13 years!

The series Squid Game was a big hit!

Mercedes Benz reached L3 in autonomous driving in Germany – the first OEM!

Hubby’s accident and a 7.5 month recovery period. Life became a total new sense again! Wishes became true: playing the guitar, brewing beer & cooking – he’s able to do all of it again.

Germanys EM goal keeper wearing rainbow color bandage pro diversity.

A summer almost Covid free. Life felt kind of normal again. Restaurants were open again! Cinemas, too! Being surrounded by too many people feels odd. If they don’t keep distance, too. What a weird world.

France became my travel destination this year. Paris in a VW Bus. All the way to beautiful Biarritz. Champagne in the champagne. And last but not least ending the year with a glass of champagne & foie gras in the Ariege, south of France.

Favorite word of the year: Spuckschutz (spitting support).

I sadly lost my granddad this year.

The year was full of love. Pure love. Emotions. Happy tears. Sad tears. Lots of laughter. I have to admit this was a very exhausting year for me.

We were fortunate to meet friends again we haven’t seen in years.

It’s soon 2 years ago that I entered an airplane the last time. Wow! My CO2 footprint is recovering.

A rally. Driving 5000km through Germany with daddy. No sat nav, no GPS. Just a map, 2 minds in a youngtimer (well, forget about that CO2 footprint recovery…).

And just like that… Sex and the city is back.

10 minutes to outer space. Billionaires in competition.

Change of dress code for the German gymnasts at the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo: whole body suits for everyone! You go, girls!

Out of routine: packing a bag for a weekend takes forever!

With ever changing restrictions and travel advice – we can dream, right?

Camper van dinners were a big hit in lockdown.

Personally I feel 2021 was worse than 2020. So, let’s try that again: Fuxx 2021. Hello 2022! (A pandemic lasts 6 years… starting the new year with a little less expectations for 2022. In best case that’s leading to nice little surprises).

Let’s end the year gracefully with champagne & foie gras in great company.

Wishing all of us to keep healthy and accident free (and loosing a couple of Covid pounds would be great, too).

Bye bye 2021!

Happy new year! Hello 2022!

Our guest has arrived. The fridge is filled up with goodies. No need to leave the house for the next days. Snuggling in. Enjoying the cozy fire. It’s time to slow down at home. Christmas mood is on!

People say Christmas is commercial, but I still find it a time of wonder. It reminds me of the pleasure of small things: buying beautiful ribbon, wrapping a present in beautiful paper. Buying a new ornament each year in December while visiting my sister.

Wishing you a lot of joy, awes, beautiful gifts and a wonderful time with each other.

Have a peaceful, magical & sparkly Christmas with your loved ones!

Last work days in 2021.

It’s done. Another year in home office survived. New trend: virtual Christmas parties! Drinking in front of the monitor is just not as much fun. I prefer the real get together with humans, mulled wine and hangovers the next day. lol.

An Advent lunch. And more important: the dessert.

Another (Mexican) dinner date with hubby.

A mulled wine street party with the favorite neighbors. A very fun & delicious night.

Producing Pralinés.

Making Christmas dinner plans. It’s going to be delicious! Wrapping gifts. Listening to Christmas songs. Dancing in the kitchen with the chocolate bowl in my hand. Booking seats in the local church for Christmas Eve. Inviting for advent coffee. Receiving Christmas post. Happy times. Delicious times. 5 days until Christmas.

Start spreading the news

I’m leaving today

I want to be a part of it

New York, New York

These vagabond shoes

They are longing to stray

Right through the very heart of it

New York, New York

I want to wake up in a city

That never sleeps

And find I’m king of the hill

Top of the heap

These small town blues

They are melting away

I’ll make a brand new start of it

In old New York

If I can make it there

I’ll make it anywhere

It’s up to you

New York, New York

New York, New York

I want to wake up in a city

That doesn’t sleep

And find that I’m number one

Top of the list

Head of the heap

King of the hill

These little town blues

They’ve all melted away

I’m gonna make a brand new start of it

In old New York

And

If I can make it there

I’ll make it practically anywhere

It’s up to you

New York, New York

New York

-Frank Sinatra-

A scheduled flight. A canceled flight…

We dreamt of spending next weekend in New York. The city which never sleeps. The city most famous for Christmas shopping and Christmas spirit. The city famous for its street Hot Dog.

New York, I’ll come back. Maybe next year?

Honey, snow & cinnamon flavors in the air. It’s a sign that Christmas is close. I love these hours, only 2 weeks to go…

The kitchen is mine: Baking cookies for neighbors, dogs & us while listening to Christmas songs. Yeah! Hubby ran away… Charlie supporting while patiently waiting that I accidentally drop a bit of peanut butter… lol.

Another favorite: writing & posting Christmas letters around the world and dropping little surprises. A little thank you for a big support to us this year. We are very thankful, especially for our family & friends and gorgeous neighbors.

A little bit China at home: Hot pot dinner party. Super delicious & immune booster characteristic.

Surprising guest for Sunday dinner: an old friend from the US.

Not exactly sure how many times I watched the trailer in the past days… So excited. So ready. 90 minutes ahead.

If you can’t be in New York City… NYC comes to you and better: Hot Dog, Cremant and a sofa.

Shock: and just like that… Mr Big died. OMG. Noooo!

Oh and I have frequent dates coming up: my TV, my sofa, my bottle of bubbly and I.

The shoe must go on! Cannot wait for next Thursday.

*pics stolen from Instagram 😉