Our tree is up! Yay! It sparkles! It’s shiny! That smell! Wonderful! Forest scent in our living room. Hmmmmm!

24 doors, I mean 24 days, to go. Counting started… Happy hubby. Happy puppy. Happy everyone. Traditions are wonderful. Adults turn back into children. Our eyes turn as big.

December weekends are the best. Especially in the north of Germany surrounded by family.

It snowed and everything turned into the most beautiful winter wonderland. Stunning.

Couch, cookies & champagne (home made eggnog – the very best)! Many cuddles and Christmas films. And wonderful Christmas shopping. Oh, so many wonderful things for the eyes, the hearts and the soul. It is the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas markets. They are open in Bremen, lucky us & very sorry for making everyone jealous. We cheered to all of us!

We even enjoyed a Christmas concert. Wow! I haven’t heard such a brilliant tossing applause in two (!) years! Goose bump feeling! Happy tears. Christmas spirits.

Getting spoilt by nieces delicious cooking.

Could you spend a Sunday afternoon any better than painting ceramics with the 2 most gorgeous and talented nieces? (No!)

It’s all about spending valuable time with each other these days…

St. Nicolaus found us here, too.

Leaving again. Our hearts are filled with love. We had a fabulous weekend. Tradition to be continued next year!

PS: Another very best of last week: hubby’s wheelchairs were picked up. May they support someone else for a speedy recovery!

3 weeks to go until Christmas…

Thanksgiving & Black Friday kicking off the Christmas season. Ready for the best time of the year. On to Christmas. Yay!

Honey scent from the candles & a cup of tea. Started decorating the house.

Continuing our wonderful tradition: finding the most beautiful Christmas tree. Before: delicious lunch with friends.

The best time of the year is about to start.

Happy 1st Advent!

4 wonderful weeks to go…

Cherry season back in June. Many delicious cherries -harvested by our friends- entered our kitchen for juicing.

5 months later… what we did next is a secret. Lol. All I can say: it’s very delicious. And we’ll use it for digestive or the next Black Forest gateau.

I enjoyed sitting on the loudest table surrounded by Portuguese speaking colleagues.

My absolute favorite chicken dish. All the other 5 courses were as delicious. Mmmhhhh! Thank you!

All of that possible in and around Stuttgart.

From the west to the east. What a great couple of gourmet days. Eat the world with friends & colleagues from Brazil, China, Iran, Canada, France, Portugal. Beautiful & delicious dinners.

Tonight on the dinner menu: online beer tasting with Frankonian Brotzeit – Heimat 💜

Happiness these days is seeing the result of hubby’s hard work over the past months, weeks & days. It’s wonderful to see his progress over the past 6 months with amazing results. Looking back now feels like pure joy.

Happiness is that he can walk again. Not many steps and not long distances, but he is walking again!

He’s playing the guitar again. Different than before but he’s playing again and it sounds wonderful.

He’s got back to “normal” pain level (except muscle ache). That’s the first time since May. Yeah!

He started brewing beer again!

He is preparing meals again: pulled pork, lamb roasts… I missed his cooking so much.

He is cleaning out the dishwasher again (that makes me happier than him 😉 ).

We are eating out again! We have a backlog and huge motivation for the next weeks 🙂

We are beginning to socialize again outside the 2nd house floor.

We are so relieved and very happy that the 2nd knee surgery a couple of weeks worked out. It’s been hard work and there’s still way to go. Step by step. We can do it. Together as team. And for now we decided to just be happy & enjoy the moment.

The least liked month in the whole year for most of us. Not sure why. But it’s a fact. Despite all the wonderful things happening.

Baking bread.

Sitting in front of the fire. Legs up.

Hours and hours on the phone chatting along with family & friends.

Walking Charlie & enjoying the fresh crisp air.

Raclette Dinner. And even better: leftover the next day.

Candle light. A lot of it.

Putting a winter coat on.

Looking forward to go to bed (weekend siestas included).

Snuggling on the sofa to watch a series.

Planning Christmas gifts. That’s pure joy. Cannot wait to put the Christmas decorations up.

Reading favorite magazines.

A cup of tea.

Hubby started brewing beer again.

And when he starts the pulled pork in the BBQ, the smell is all over in the garden. Love.

November Blues? No!

Hello weekend! Hungry for a little city adventure. Saturday morning. +2C degrees. We are pretty good in coloring up the grey November day.

We are ready to discover & indulge in the next 3 kilometers: a culinary walking tour in Stuttgart West.

Start at the Stuttgart Notre Dame (ehm, Johanniskirche). When Stuttgart is closer than Paris… where the Notre Dame was the original architecture to copy.

Great walk through the beautiful Westend of Stuttgart.

Many delicious culinary stops along the way (surprise and best warm up included too: a shot of Mezcal produced in Germany).

The tour ended in little Portugal with fresh oranges & clementines and tomato chutney and honey… mmmmhhhhhh! Shopping followed, obviously.

Next stop: facial.

Could a Saturday afternoon end any better? No! So much fun. So much laughter (not only due to the early morning shots. Lol).

A perfect day is ending. We are energized and got so many new ideas of where to go next in Stuttgart: bars, Cafés, shops… cannot wait to be back en tour.

Enjoying dinner back home with hubby: deliciousness from little Portugal included. A glass of red wine in front of the fire.

Happy weekend y’all!

It’s November. It’s Friday night. It’s goose menu night.

Delicious.

More delicious.

Deliciousness.

Best idea on a foggy Friday November night: eating out in great company. Sofa is awaiting us now. Good night!

Spontaneous ideas are the best: a weekend surrounded by the the best wine in the world. In great company. A very bubbly weekend.

Arriving at the beautiful Champagne in France. 50 Champagnes on the menu, each offering up to 5 different champagnes – and now decide which one!

Perfect start: 3 tastings combined with beautiful food, chosen by the charming waiter. We arrived in Champagne & food heaven. That was only the first night. Mooooore bubbles to follow.

All you hear in restaurants: plop! Plop! Plop! Of course, a French monk invented the magical elixir in 1729. It took him 47 (!) years to develop the best wine of the world. Lucky us the bosses of the champagnes thought big and the gorgeous elixir was sold internationally.

Wine can only be labeled as “champagne” if made in the Champagne appellation (region) of France, the crush must consist of only the Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, or Chardonnay grapes grown within the region & champagne must be fermented twice: once in barrels, and again in bottles. And that’s how the bubbles get in there. After the second fermentation, caused by adding a little more yeast and sugar when the wine is bottled. Then the wine is left to age for at least 1.5 years in half-lit, dark underground cellars.

After aging, it’s someone’s job to turn each bottle slightly every day for about two months until the sediment settles in the neck of the bottle. After a shock freeze (-25C degrees) when the bottle is opened, the pressure forces the sediment in form of an ice-cube to come blasting out. Then the bottle is quickly corked to keep the bubbles inside, preserving the magic that is champagne. Producing this happy drink is serious business.

There’s up to 150 different wines in one bottle, prepared by specialists tasting the wine. Last step: „dressing“ the Champagne (label & neck band) – didn’t expect anything else in the country of fashion.

And finally it’s time to uncork the bubbly.

This beverage of celebration is truly delightful.

We did more than just drinking champagne… we enjoyed winding through rolling hills, along vineyard covered valleys and past quaint little villages. So beautiful, especially in fall with changing colors.

Walking along the ‚Avenue de Champagne‘, popping in at tasting rooms along the way. Breakfast, lunch or dinner – champagne is always a brilliant idea in any occasion.

„I only drink champagne on two occasions. When I am in love and when I am not.“ – Coco Chanel

There’s bliss in the bubbles. A ta sante!

Best idea to come by bus. Bringing the deliciousness back home to enjoy more of it…

Autumn is beginning to show its amazing colours.

Autumn, like spring, signals a new start. It’s the very definite end of something – warm days, long nights, the languid nature of summer – but it also brings new intention, a renewed fervor for life.

Heartiness, a feeling of security and naturalness – 3 ingredients for feeling cosy.

Happy fall y‘all.