this is a long time planned but very retarded post. during mid of july and august i lived five weeks nearly vegan.
the only exception being the milk in coffee grabbed outside.
normally i am almost vegetarian but i have never cared about veganism before.
now i am what alicia silverstone calls "flirting with veganism":)
although i understand those who live completely vegan for ethical reasons i would, could never do so.
the problem is not that animal products are somehow bad but that in times of mass production we have unlearned to value them enough, to spare them for special occasions rather than consuming all the time and to pay for them what they are really worth.
we should go a step back to the past, when without mass production the traditional nutrition was naturally to a big part animal free. back then it wasn't necessary to worry about one's eating habits and to make up categories like being vegetarian, vegan.
as a gal who usually doesn't hesitate to process several pounds of dairy at once it was a very revealing experience to impose restrictions on myself:
- i nourished on more raw and fresh goods than ever. of course facing summer season was helpful in this regard.
- i tried out new veggies, pulses, grains and learned how to cook with them.
- i was surprised that altering a familiar dish into a vegan was mostly not a big deal.
- without butter i stopped with my habit of producing insane amounts of pastry week by week.
- without parmigiano i checked my pasta addiction.
- and so on and so on.
in the end i felt more alive and kicking than ever. detox (something i don't believe in and would never do) must feel like that :))
i can recommend a temporary vegan diet to anybody for the sake of broadening one's nutrition horizon and to bring some changes into one's eating habits.
now that i got lots of ideas on how to do it, i keep more parts of my daily diet vegan while enjoying it even more to have a steak of salmon, an old swiss cheese and a buttery viennoiserie for special occasions :)
here i introduce you one of my favorite lunch boxes from the diet:
crisp broccoli with smoked tofu, glazed onions, cashew nuts and a dressing made of almond butter and orange juice.
i have tried all sorts of "european tofu" from the supermarket (i use this for western style dishes, not the "real tofu" that you get at the asian store ;). a lot of brands tasted either dull or odd so here is a picture of my preferred tofu brand.
also see my favorite soy rice drink, there were odd tasting soy milks as well. and finally, if you haven't tried almond butter yet, give it a go. it's absolutely delicious.
i made korean pumpkin porridge - hobakjuk for the first time. all i can remember about my mum's pumpkin porridge is that in the beginning there was a giant pumpkin.
(interestingly even in the huge city where we used to live in korea such a preciousness came as a gift raised by private hands. i don't remind any one that we bought in a store.)
and it always was quite a laborious way to go from there: peeling the big pumpkin, cooking it, making rice cake balls and a red bean paste until finally everything was combined to the most velvety creamy thick (fat and dairy free) soup.
try it and you will instantly know that pumpkin is destined to be cooked in exactly this way.
now i find myself under different circumstances where tasty pumpkins that don't have to be peeled are available everywhere. i made an ultra-fast clumsy version with only pumpkin, glutinous rice flour, water, sugar and salt. lacking experience my rice balls turned out ugly but once dumped in the most forgiving puree, it didn't matter at all. the result was so utterly delicious, so similar to the hobakjuk i had in memory that it felt like cheating :)
if you adore pumpkins as much as i do than there is no better way to enjoy its pure taste!
fast and easy hobakjuk
1) steam the pumpkin in a pot with a little water on the bottom (no special devices needed)
2) make rice cake balls out of 1-2 cups of glutinous rice flour, little hot water and a pinch of salt. i like them rather big, about 1 cm diameter size.
3) mash the steamed pumpkin in the pot with a potato masher. i prefer this to pureeing so that a little bit texture remains.
4) add as much water as you like (i like it not soupy) and bring it again to boil.
5) add the rice cake balls and 1-2 tbsp of glutinous rice flour until the porridge has the consistency wanted
6) add sugar and salt. the amount depends on if it should be served as a dessert or as a main dish. and if refreshing kimchi is on hand.
luckily i had fermented kimchi and i like sweet porridge so mine could be like a salted caramel - salty enough but definitely more sweet :)
Past weekend I was amazed by a lovely farmer's market in the city of Karlsruhe (seat of the Federal Constitutional Court as well as the Federal Court of Justice; the cityscape is said to resemble, even to have inspired that one of Washington D.C.). It is surrounded by a region appreciable warmer than Northern Germany. The range of regional produce on sale at this market at the onset of fall was just enviable. Giant artichokes, wild herbs, exotic mushrooms, freshly picked figues - most of these I could never have on hand at home.
The city is close to the beautiful Palatinate wine region (Alsace and the Black Forest aren't far away either) where at this time of the year they offer their regional delicacy in every winery or restaurant - Federweißer and German onion pie. I cannot think of a better way to start with fall ;)
Wochenmarkt Gutenbergplatz, Karlsruhe. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 7:30 am.
Eateries with a beautiful view:
Altstadtkeller, Kunigundenstr. 2, Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
Burgschänke Rittersberg, Am Hambacher Schloss 19, Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
A little flashback: I have given up getting handmade Asian noodles any time soon but in Germany's only Japantown at least I had this very delectable bowl of noodle soup. The noodles weren't made from scratch but the soup contained a deep broth made of fresh produce. Very likely there are other decent Japanese eateries around so waiting longer than half an hour in the line wouldn't be worth it. A little waiting definitely is.
A stone throw away there is a great Korean, Japanese grocery store with a big selection of import noodles and reasonably priced dinnerware.
Naniwa Noodles & Soups, Oststr. 55, Düsseldorf. Closed on Tuesdays.
Dae Yang, Immermannstr. 21, Düsseldorf.
After a serene weekend in and around Düsseldorf where I visited some fresh and old local art sites the new presention of a private collection held by Arthur de Ganay made up a suitable end.
Düsseldorf is the capital of North-Rhine Westphalia and along with the city of Weimar and Leipzig, home of the most prominent art school in Germany. The list of landscape painters that belong to the Düsseldorf school of painting (comparable to the Hudson River School and the Barbizon School) is endless. The list of artists from all parts of the country who have passed the art academy in the 20th century makes up a who is who of almost every influential German artist of modern times. And last but not least the academy has been the site of the photography school of Bernd and Hilla Becher, that has been introduced in U.S. through the genius Ileana Sonnabend, whose gallery is still recognized as one of the most remarkable ones in New York.
The current presention of the collection features a dozen of exemplary works of Becher students (Elger Esser, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth) along with works of Hiroshi Sugimoto and Arwed Messmer in an intimate, truely "Berlin-style" location - an old factory site where you get the feeling of overviewing the cityscape and where the television tower is mirrored in the picture frames... The pictures are mostly large format and colorful; partly landscape and partly architecture. They convey absolute, almost surreal silence and invite the viewer to contemplate long about time and past, spaces and dimensions. After all, the viewer might be puzzled about the people and human stories that have been omitted. An exquisite personal collection that you can feel is sorted with affinity and endurance.
Sammlung Arthur de Ganay, Köpenicker Str. 10 A, Kreuzberg. Guided tour every first Saturday after registration.
Btw another highly recommendable art collection in a spectacular private home:
Sammlung Hoffmann, Sophienstr. 21, Mitte. Guided tour every saturday after registration.
