Bring on the Summer
May 5, 2008
It’s funny how the weather can effect people, it effects their mood, their energy and probably other things too. The last time I posted , way back in March there was a bit of snow on the ground, and well now there is nothing but clear skies forecast for this week.
For the last few weekends the weather has been nice and warm, in or around the 20°C (65-70°F). And it’s kicked off the beer garden season. One nice beer garden in Munich is right on a lake in the middle of the English Gardens, the Seehaus (Lake House in German). It’s only about 10-15 minutes walk from the centre of Munich. Here is a picture (from briethe) looking across the lake and into the Seehaus Beer Garden.
This is one of the best ways to pass the time on a Sunday in the Sun.
Snow, snow, snow
March 26, 2008
So after being in Sunny Florida a few weeks back and enjoying temperatures of 30°C / 82°F (and semi-monsoons), it seems strange to be back in Munich, where things are a little bit colder. Here is a picture from my street webcam this morning.
Yes we have snow again ! It’s really only the second time since November that we have had significant snow fall. In years previous (eg. 2006) we’ve had snow in the city for 2 or 3 months at a time. I live practically in the middle of the city, so this amount of snow means that plenty fell in the Alps, about 1 hour south of Munich.
Over Easter I was snowboarding in Stubai Glacier, near Innsbruck Austria, and the fresh powder was up to my knees in some places, in my next post I will show some pictures I took.
Sunday Breakfasts
February 24, 2008
This morning I did a clean out of the freezer and found some rashers and sausages from my Christmas trip home. I’m off on holidays next week so I thought I would clean a few things out. Normally I managed to get in a cooked breakfast once over the weekend, but this one was rather special
It was a healthy breakfast: English muffin, sausages, scrambled eggs, and a rasher. And about a whole 5 minutes later, this was the state of the pate
Can-can-canburgers
February 17, 2008
Late last month, I saw a great product on Gizmodo. Basically they are Cheeseburgers for campers, Cheeseburgers in a can or better called Canburgers. To cook these wonders you simply put the can in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes and voilá, you have a nice warm burger. with all the trimmings. So I took myself off to Trekking Mahlzeiten (a great German company) and ordered 4. Over the weekend, I got the urge to try them out, after a few beers on the town with friends. Here are the results
Cooking Canburgers
So let’s see what’s in the can …
So you get a pot and put it into the boiling water
So after boiling it looked like this, funnily enough
It wasn’t that easy to get the burger out of the can. Here I am fighting with it, there were ring pulls at the top and at the bottom of the can.
A New Type of Weather
January 30, 2008
Today’s famous new weather from Yahoo! is called Wintry Mix.
Wintry Mix is great, it offers all types of weather you can expect during the months November to January. I’m really looking forward to this Saturday. Actually on Saturday I will find myself down around Hitler’s favourite holiday area in Berchtesgaden, in Southern Bavaria. Kehlsteinhaus also known as the Eagle’s Nest, was a present for his 50th birthday, and costed an estimated €150 million in today’s money to be constructed. Hilter wasn’t a great fan of heights and it is reported that he went to Eagle’s Nest a few times, maybe 10 or so for as little as 1/2 an hour.
View from Lenggriess
January 15, 2008
Every time I go snowboarding I am totally awestruck with the beauty of it all. Seeing the clouds part and looking across the valley. Here are some shots that my friend dave took last weekend at Lenggriess, Germany. Lenggriess is about 50km south of Munich and is about 1600m high.
Irish Skiing
In other news my skiing website is going from strength to strength. I’m in the process of adding more and more content, and busy writing articles when I get the chance. I think I really missed the rush of visitors this year, but for next year , 2009, I hope that the skiing forum will be a happening place. Already I am getting a couple of thousand visitors looking for help on where to ski. I even had one lady phone me looking for suggestions, but that’s another story.
What a difference a day makes !
January 10, 2008
Yesterday myself and L booked some flights to Charlotte. Being the bargain hunter that I am I searched all the usual sites to see what was on offer. Preferable I would like to fly direct, but if the price is right I will take a stop or two. A direct flight from Munich to Charlotte is only possible with Lufthansa, and it takes 10 hours, and costs about $711. So I checked opodo.de and saw that I could get flights for $400 with DELTA airlines with one stop in Atlanta, and the total flight time would be 14 hours.
While I was trying to register for Opodo, L called me back and told me that it was possible to get it even cheaper. This time on Expedia.com and it was going to cost $360 each, or €250 euros with the great exchange rate. So I was the happiest boy in Munich yesterday, 10 days in the sun and the flights were a great price.
Fast forward to today and I checked again, the same flights are now $808 on DELTA via expedia and still the same price for Lufthansa. So now I feel even more happy with myself !
So it just goes to show, when you see some great prices JUMP ON THEM !
White Truffles & Pasta
December 3, 2007
This is quite possibly the best dish ever. Linguini & White truffles. Here is a picture of what truffles look like when they are shaved.
Last weekend I found myself in Frankfurt and there is a great pasta place off the Zeil (main pedestrian shopping street). At this place they serve the best Pasta & Truffles. If you’ve never had fresh truffles, well then you need to find some place that has some. The place we went tosses the pasta in a parmesan bowl, i.e. a big block of parmesan hollowed out, then puts some truffle shavings on it and some truffle oil, and voila , the best thing sliced bread and the can opener !
View from the Office
November 15, 2007
Here is a picture from my webcam, facing onto the street near my house in Munich. As you can see we have snow ! I’m off home tomorrow for a sun holiday, where the temperature should be at least 12°C warmer !
Naming People You don’t know
Here is another piece from inside my head. Do you ever find yourself giving names to people you see all the time but you don’t know their real names ? For example, we have two local bums that hang around our area, one guy (Charles) who stands at the S-Bahn ticket area begging and asking for change, and then there is another one (Jasper) who hangs around where our front door and where the newspaper vending machines are. Jasper likes to ask for 20c or 10c. I find that if I can put names on people I see regurally, I feel a little more at ease. There are people who I see probably twice or more a week on the S-Bahn or in work, who I don’t know, but I recognise them from seeing them before. Like there is this one guy (simon) , who is rather small in stature and wears these special shoes that give him an extra inch. I’ve notice this guy many times, and his ‘high heals’, so I gave him a name. Do you mentally baptise people you don’t know ? Or is it just me and my over observance ?
More Coffee Goodness
September 19, 2007
Yesterday I posted about the different types of brew, and today I am bring you a cool product called “the snail” by Pierre Ittner (via ohgizmo). This wonder can perform up to 19 bar and will deliver a nice smack of espresso. Sadly it does use those nespresso pods (shudder).
