Last week saw a good mix of work and play, with some socialising thrown in for good measure. The weather was as wintery as we would have liked it at Christmas; still not overly cold, but cold enough for snow and frosty nights.
On Monday, the 16th of January, I arrived home from O.K.'s well in time for work, with both trains running as scheduled. The sunrise was spectacular - my photos can of course only give a poor impression of it, as we were speeding along and there is always the window's reflection.
From around lunch time, the sun was shining, and so I interrupted work for about 2 hours in the afternoon and went for a walk until sunset, picking up work again afterwards. On the last kilometre of that walk, the first rain drops started to fall.The rain turned into snow on Tuesday (Jan. 17). It was one of two on-site working days for me that week, but unfortunately, about half of the local trains were cancelled because of too many of the staff missing due to illness, and getting to the office took me a full hour when the actual train rides are supposed to be only 17 minutes long and I live and work only a few minutes from the respective stations.
You can imagine I was not in the best of moods and found it hard to get warm for the rest of the day, especially as the office building is not properly heated due to energy cost.
 |
View from my kitchen window at about 9:30 pm on Tuesday
|
Wednesday, the 18th of January, went a lot smoother - I caught all my connections, managed a lunchtime walk in winter wonderland with my colleague, had a good hot meal in the canteen, and an even better hot meal in the evening at my Mum's. My sister and I helped my Mum with a few household things and then sat down for a lovely spuds casserole.  |
The same view just before 8:00 the next morning.
|
It was still cold enough on Thursday (Jan. 19) for the snow to last, and the sun was out again, but I did not have time for a walk. After work, my sister and I joined our small group of volunteers for our first meeting of this year. Over the years we have been working together, we have become friends, and it is always nice to meet up.Friday, the 20th of January, was sunny again, and this time, I managed a beautiful walk between work and starting on my weekly cleaning round.
 |
Not long until sunset - and we have passed the 5:00 pm mark now!
|
O.K. arrived for the weekend some time after 9:00 pm, and we enjoyed the leftovers of the "Thai" style thick, creamy vegetable soup I had made for my cousins between Christmas and New Year and put in the freezer for just such an evening. Spicy with ginger, nutmeg and pepper and on a coconut fat base, it was really warming and very filling (spuds, butternut squash, carrots and parsnips); add to that fresh crusty bread and malty beer - we wanted nothing more.We like to spend weekend mornings at a very leisurely pace, and Saturday (Jan. 21) was no execption. Hardly surprising, we had "breakfast" at noon, and it was early afternoon before we were ready to start on a walk - we would not have gone out earlier anyway, because it was snowing and windy for most of the morning. Although there was only the odd snowflake coming down while we were out, the cold wind made walking a little unpleasant, and so we were back home after just over 7 km.
Preparations for the evening were now in order: We were booked for another virtual wine tasting. We have participated in such online tastings several times over the past few years, and always enjoyed it. This one was my birthday present for my sister, and it was up to her to decide whom to invite and were to gather. She chose my flat, and there were my sister, my Mum, a close friend of ours, O.K. and myself.
As before, the tasting was fun, the sommelière and the winery's manager were the right mixture of entertaining and informative, and all five wines were nice. We had various snacks with them, no cooked meal, but I believe nobody left hungry. O.K. and I walked my Mum home afterwards; it was cold but not slippery.
It was noon again when we sat down for "breakfast" on Sunday, the 22nd of January.
 |
Sunday morning from my kitchen.
|
Another cold day but maybe 2 degrees warmer than before, and with less cold wind, meant we were ready for a longer walk that lead us to the lake, back via the deer park and then through the palace grounds before crossing the centre of town for home, where we arrived still in time for coffee and cake. |
It's not been cold enough yet for the lake to freeze over properly; what you see is just a thin layer of slush.
|
 |
You can buy hot drinks and cake here, but we had both waiting for us at home.
|
 |
The small palace by the lake is called Monrepos, "my rest".
|
 |
The deer was very interested in the many people walking in the park. They know that some always come with food for them.
|
 |
This small palace in the deer park is called Favourite.
|
 |
North front of Ludwigsburg's residential palace; this is the oldest part of what was supposed to be "just a little hunting lodge" in 1704 for the then Duke of Wuerttemberg.
|
 |
View across part of the palace grounds.
|
I made a quiche for our dinner, making the kitchen really warm and cosy. (I posted the recipe here some years ago, along with pictures of each step and the final product.)O.K. had to drive home, and I did not envy him! On Sunday evenings I always wait until he texts me that he arrived home, and this time it took him about 1 1/2 hours - no traffic jams and no icy roads or snow and rain to make driving difficult.
The palace is beautiful. What was it for?
ReplyDeleteWhich of the three palaces to you mean, Sandi? The two smaller ones were never inhabited; they were built "for fun", so that the duke and his court had a place to retreat to after a hunt, or just for a party by the lake.
DeleteThe residential palace has 365 rooms and was the official seat of the Duke of Wuerttemberg (later king) and his government. Of course that all ended long ago, and the palace has been a museum ever since.
Amongst all that the Thai soup warmed the cockles of my heart (or stomach). It's about 45 years since I attended a wine tasting. They used to be held by Pieroth. I wonder if that sort of on-line tasting is available in the UK. I must check. I don't recall seeing the 'small' palaces before but that might simply be my memory.
ReplyDeleteThe smaller palaces have appeared in photos on my blog every now and then, but I have never said much about them.
DeleteI am sure that during the pandemic restrictions, all sorts of tastings have been going on all around the world; I know of gin tastings in Yorkshire, online tours at stately homes, and so on.
Those sunrise photos from the train were amazing, Meike! You and OK are better than me at walking in the cold and snow. I have such a fear of slipping and falling that I never take my walks outside when it is snowy or icy. I ride my Exercycle instead but it isn't as fun as a good hike! :)
ReplyDeleteWe don't like slipping about, either, and would not go for walks if the paths were very icy. But a bit of snow is not necessarily slippery, and the only thing that did bother us was the icy wind.
DeleteExercising at home is good when going out is not a good idea, but of course we also need a certain amount of daylight and fresh air, and I agree - it is not as fun as a good walk or hike! :-)
I would dearly love a recipe for a thai style soup.
ReplyDeleteThose palaces are amazing. Are you able to go inside them?
There is no recipe as such, Debby. What I do is this:
DeleteI melt coconut fat in a large pot. Whatever veg I have at home (spuds, carrots, parsnips, pumpkin...) is peeled, chopped and goes into the pot. I fill it with water so that the veg is just about covered, then bring it to boil and cook it until the veg is soft enough to be mashed. Then mash it all. Not having a blender means the soup is never a homogenous mass, but pieces of veg are still recognisable. I add cream and spices: salt, pepper, freshly ground nutmeg, ground ginger, and maybe a bit of powdered lemon grass. For a less "Asian" version, a cube of veg or chicken or beef stock can be added. Stir well and bring to the boil again. The soup freezes well and tastes even more intense when it is warmed up the next day.
The residential and Favourite palaces are open to the public with guided tours. Monrepos (by the lake) is only open for events, such as concerts, and can be rented as a venue for weddings etc. I have been inside all three many times.
The Hungry Deer.
DeleteCold & hunger. Winter, like war, exposes our vulnerability.
These short frost-bitten days alarmed our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
The outlook from your kitchen window is lovely and melancholy like Scotland.
So the residential palace began as a little hunting lodge ?
The aristocracy for all their decadence left us sublime architecture.
United States & Canada had no aristocracy and their cities are sterile places.
The small palace could only have been built in Europe. A gem.
Yes, the Duke of Württemberg only wanted to have better quarters for himself and his party when he went hunting in the extensive woods that covered the area back then. There were a few farms whose names survive in our street names, Schafhof, Fuchshof and Erlachhof, but they were working farms and not ideal accomodation for the aristocratic huntsmen. His successors added to the original building until it became one of the largest Baroque palaces in Europe.
DeleteThere is a fascinating novel to be written about those vanished farms.
DeleteAnd I can think of a witty and sharp-eyed Librarian who could write it too.
I have been rereading the novels of Molly Keane (aka M.J. Farrell) Virago Press.
Like Somerville & Ross and Elizabeth Bowen, she was Anglo-Irish & hilarious.
The Ascendancy in southern Ireland were social isolates in their big quiet houses.
They had lively lives, fox hunting, shooting, fishing, and dances for the Quality.
I am reading *Two Days in Aragon* (1941) which looks back before the Troubles.
Those working farms near you would have supplied beef & poultry to big houses.
Do you ever watch YouTube films about Berlin and Vienna, early 20th Century ?
The bourgeois owned the city streets as they did in London/Glasgow/Manchester.
Now, it is just having the money to send your children to private schools.
No, I have never watched YouTube films about Berlin and Vienna early 20th Century, but I have watched several about the period from the first post-war years until the 1990§ when the US Army was very much present in my hometown. It is an era which fascinates me, partly because my own childhood and youth fell into that time and I remember how different my hometown felt then compared to now.
DeleteIn my last terms at school 1968-69 I bought Barbara Tuchman's masterpiece :
Delete*The Proud Tower. A Portrait of the World 1819-1914.*
Also, Le Carre's *A Small Town in Germany* (Bonn) and Deighton's *Funeral in Berlin*.
So I was caught up in European history.
My parents met in a weapons factory where they worked. No WWII, no me.
You might enjoy the Mark Felton Productions, YouTube.
*The Hitler Captured at Stalingrad.*
*The Ukrainian Hitler.*
I asked my Uncle Robert (a sergeant-major blown up in Normandy) how he rated Germans as soldiers.
*The very best,* he said. I can still hear his deep rumbling voice.
He looked a bit like Al Jolson his favourite singer.
Correction: A Portrait of the World 1890-1914.
DeleteIf you have seen Visconti's Death in Venice, you have a glimpse of that world as it was for the very privileged.
Barbara Tuchman said that the poor of Europe lived in cellars.
Her title was taken from a poem by Poe :
While from a proud tower in town/ Death looks gigantically down.
"You can imagine I was not in the best of moods...". I hope you did not swear! When I come to think of it, I do not know a single German swear word.. Perhaps you could do a special blogpost on swearing, listing all the German swear words you know along with translations. By the way, your quiche looks perfect!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Neil; I was quite pleased with that quiche, too.
DeleteAs for swearing, I actually did not swear - I think I did not even think "Scheiße" (the German equivalent of "shit" - literally as well as metaphorically). We are so used to those delays and cancellations of trains here that we calculate them in when we plan a journey. Still, when the weather is inclement, even waiting 5 minutes on a draughty platform is best avoided.