Nothing is so beautiful as pausing to look down at your feet in Germany and seeing cobblestone sidewalks with moss growing in the cracks.

(Image from what I fear may be the last sunny day for the year)

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I’m still gathering my thoughts and attempting to dry off from yesterday’s rainy activities, so I think it’s important to first back up a little and clarify what Germany and the entire world were celebrating yesterday.  It wasn’t truly the reunification of East Germany and West Germany.  Stores were still open, I still had to go to German class, and life sort of felt like everyday life in Berlin… on the surface.

But stores were closed and classes were canceled back on October 3rd.  That’s Germany Unity Day.. or as most people call it, “Reunification Day”.

The two days are easy to mix up – even for the occasional German.  I haven’t written about Germany Unity Day here in part because it landed on a Saturday this year and in part because I’m not quite sure about the celebration.

You may have seen this picture on my contact page:

That was me on German Unity Day last year.  You can see I’m right in the most famous part of Berlin right next to where The Wall used to run.  The Brandenburg Gate is right behind me.  You might also see that there weren’t a lot of people at the festival at all.

This year marked the 19th anniversary of Germany Unity Day, Martin and I headed out to the Brandenburg Gate again.  Police had blocked the entire area and limited where people could enter and exit.  Thousands of people roamed the outskirts of the entrances; we never made it in.

Everyone wanted to see these enormous puppets that were reenacting an uncle and his niece being reunited.  My own uncle snapped these shots:

I’m sorry to say the only glimpse Martin and I managed to catch of the beautiful puppets was as they were sleeping on a barge going down the city:

Right before this boat cut off our view:

(You don’t realize how big a city of 3 million people is until they’re all trying to do the same thing as you at the same time.)

No doubt, you’re probably wondering why Germany didn’t combine the two celebrations – honor unity and the fall of The Wall in one big day.  That was something the country seriously considered.  November 9th was actually a pretty historic day before The Wall.  It’s the anniversary of:

• the proclamation of the German Republic in 1918
• the defeat of Hitler’s first coup in 1923

Unfortunately, November 9th is also the anniversary of the first large-scale Nazi-led riot against Jews in 1938.  The newly unified country could not justify a day of celebrating their new union on such a tragic day.

Don’t you think that’s a beautiful, fabulous reason to have German Unity Day on a different date?

(All images by Martin on Reunification Day except two puppet shots by my uncle)

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2. The Berlin Wall – An Anniversary
3. Votes for Women in This German Town

I’ve been thinking a lot about today.  I’m not sure what to expect or what to think.  All I know is that there are a lot of tourists and a lot of emotions here today.

Perhaps I can explore a little and come back here to share with you everything I experience.  Would you like that?

Please take a moment and leave a comment about where you were or what you were doing when The Wall came down.  I think it was one of those days for so much of the world that we will never forget.  Me?  I was sitting in Mrs. Thomas’s class in the United States, and we were all being handed Scholastic News or Scholastic Kids or whatever the little magazine we “read” was called.  I could barely read words like “cat” or “dog”.  She told us it was an enormous day in history that we should never forget. So I tried my very best to remember.

Berlin seemed so far away.

It seemed like a different world.

What would I have thought if Mrs. Thomas had said, “And one day, one of the people sitting in this very room will live in Berlin.  She’ll call it home.”

Would she have pointed at me?  Would I have been just as overwhelmed as I am today?

* * * * * * * * *

Where were you when you heard the news?

(Image by Martin for Making This Home)

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1. Six Things That Would Make You Happy in Berlin
2. Thanksgiving in Berlin: What We Put On Our Plates

Until two years ago.

I was seriously thinking of buying an appliance that could perform only one function, and I hate the idea of filling my kitchen with one-use items.  I like multipurpose.  But a rice cooker was calling my name.  My struggles could finally come to an end!

Before I broke down and bought one, Martin asked his step dad if he had any suggestions for my struggles.

“You don’t know how?” my father-in-law gasped. His mouth dropped a little. I swear he was looking at us like we were the biggest cooking dorks of all time.

Maybe we were.

Yet ever since he told us his secret for cooking rice (not instant rice), I’ve been sharing it with everyone I start talking food with, and none of them has had any clue either.

So maybe you already know this. Then again, maybe you’ve been as clueless at cooking rice as me. Either way, you’ll never have to buy instant rice or burn rice again (unless you want).

So you ready for this?

Bake your rice.  That’s all.  The key is all in the medium.  No stove. Put your rice in the oven.

* * * * * * * * *

Baked Rice

1. Pour rice (not instant rice) into the bottom of a glass baking dish and heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Boil water and pour over rice until rice is fully submerged.  Add more water until it’s approximately 1/4 inch (or 1/2 cm) above the level of the rice.
3. Add butter, salt, and seasoning to suit.  Cover with aluminum foil.
4. Bake 20 minutes.  Since each rice varies in cooking length, check your rice often.  Fluff with a fork and add additional water if needed.  Return to oven and continue to bake.  Our preferred rices usually takes about 45 minutes.

*If you already have the oven on for something else, consider slipping some rice into the oven along with it.

*For a unique, moist flavor, we like to add about a half a can of coconut milk in exchange for some water.

* * * * * * * * *

So there you have it.  The world can be a better place now… or at least kitchens around the world can be!  If you have any secret know-how, please share.  No need to keep rice secrets.

(Image from Flickr)

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Oranges aren’t a huge deal.  But tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers?  We’ve eaten a lot of sticker and sticker glue over the years in the United States.  Stickers on every piece of produce.

Thank you for not doing that, Germany.

(Image of my after German school snack)

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2. Hallo from Berlin!
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Pulling decor straight from nature is easy, refreshing, and just the perfect little touch for the coffee table and other corners.  Plus when the season is over, you don’t have to worry about figuring out where to store everything.  Most goes right into your tummies!

You might remember the arrangement on our dinning table.  Using natural decor just takes a trip to the grocery store.  As we eat one of the squashes or more walnuts, I find myself purchasing new ones to slip into the empty gaps.

Our newest additions are little glass votives filled with nuts and bees wax candles.  Easy and cheap!  Bees wax candles smell amazing, and they seriously lack the toxins of traditional paraffin candles.  Your house can sport environmentally friendly decor and cost almost nothing.

For a few extra touches, have you checked outside? We have little acorns, twigs, and leaves I have picked up from walks in the park.  It’s the little touches that add to our days.  (Bringing a little browns and yellows insideIt’s also a clever way to keep Christmas at bay and savor the Thanksgiving season first.)

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2. November Challenge: Does Being Busy Add to Your Life?
3. Hallway Decorating Plans

I’m learning that going without new clothes certainly doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to wear.  In fact, time after time, we keep reaching for the exact same sweaters and pants anyway.  Half of the clothes in the little dresser that we share aren’t even being touched, and I wonder if I can even remember what’s in the back of Martin’s pile or if he can remember the back of mine.

By avoiding the purchase of new clothes, I feel like our priorities have shifted in a lot of ways.  We seem to be wanting less in general.

I was a little worried at first.  As a whole, Europeans have far more fashion sense than I do.  I worried about getting caught up in how beautiful the scarves girls wore were or how adorable their autumn coats looked.  I fully expected to have to create some sort of system where I’d take small steps in accepting that I don’t dress like a European.  No purchase could probably change that about me.  I’d still be the only person in a bright coat in a sea of black clothes.

Sometimes I feel silly in my coat.  Does it have “American!” written all over it, even if it’s a German coat?  I’ve discovered that standing out has its advantages.  Every time I bike down six-lane streets, I find myself more and more thankful that cars will see me better.  When I’m trying to meet up with people, they can spot me from a mile away when I climb off the subway.  Plus Martin never loses track of where I am when we run errands together.

I have had to walk into a department store to buy Martin a pair of gloves, but otherwise?  This challenge has eliminated an entire expense for now.  The desire for more is gone.  We find ourselves celebrating what we have instead of feeling frustrated by what we don’t.

A friend of mine always says, “When I die, I want people to remember me for my character, because it’s not like I am going to be able to take all this stuff with me anyway!”

Do you have experiences in going without?  Have any triumphs or attempts you’d like to share?  We only meant to go the summer with no clothes.  Sometimes challenging yourself creates completely new habits.

Catch the rest of the No New Clothes series here, here, and here.  Happy not shopping!

(Images from Hamburg, Germany during a recent visit)

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Even when you don’t want to be a busy person, you have things to do.  We will always have to-do lists and projects to finish, emails to write, meals to prepare, and enough to keep our hamster wheel rolling.

So my question is:  Does being busy add to our lives?

A while back when Martin and I were preparing to return to Germany, I felt overwhelmed by lists and really started questioning why I had put some things on our list in the first place.  Which things were essential?  What really needed to be done?  Several of you left wonderful comments about how if projects are really important, they will be taken care of at some point.  Two notes have especially resonated in my mind:

Powerful words, aren’t they?  It’s important to feel at peace at the end of the day.  Being exhausted from busyness isn’t peaceful, just as Amber and Nicole have discovered.

And the funniest thing I’ve discovered about people who like to appear busy is that they spend hours setting up the appearance.  They might spend an hour each day rebuilding their schedules, assigning a time for every duty that needs to be done – right down to “Play with kids: 6:45 to 7:10″.  They might also hang onto unhealthy relationships that actually do damage to their worlds.  But it provides line items on schedules and phone conversations on the subway to fill up their days.

We can control our schedules; it shouldn’t be the other way around.

Over the summer, you may remember that I shared a monthly goal with all of you – things ranging from taking a picture each day to creating a better beauty routine.  This month, I would like to try creating more ideal days.

I’d like to spend less time feeling like I have to multi-task… especially when some of those activities are just busy things I bring into my life (like free magazines at the grocery store checkout that only pile up in our house until I read them). I’d like to connect to the world and to people without being distracted. And those to-do lists?  Well maybe some of that stuff doesn’t really need to be on my list at all.

I think it could be a lovely introduction into the Christmas season – seeing joy in all of the pieces of the day instead of feeling rushed and a need to add one more to-do.

Would you care to join me?  Or do you have any thoughts on beating busyness?

(Images from a visit to the museum this weekend)

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You can bet I wrote about it in my own journal.

We picked up a few chocolates at KaDeWe the other day.  It’s so darky and gloomy here at night.  We changed our clocks last Sunday in Germany.  Now it is totally dark at 4:30 at night.  I am bracing myself for December 21st.  Just how early in the day does the sun set then?!

I guess it’s a good time to learn how to take pictures in the dark.  Martin helped me with this one.  But I just couldn’t get the little chocolate hedgehog to look at me.

He kept a nervous eye on Martin the entire time… almost like he just knew Martin was about to pop him in his mouth.

But really?  Who can resist chocolate anything at Halloween?

Thank you all again!

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For several years, I have been making up my own writing prompts to make my journals less about external activities (what I did… what was for dinner… what the weather was like… you know – all those things that never really define who we are or what we stand for at all). I wanted some prompts that could define *me*. What made me feel alive? What were my passions? What were my favorite memories or foods?

I don’t know about you, but I’d devoted way too many journal pages trying to figure out which boy to go to the dance with years ago. They’re so disappointing to read now.

So as I was writing more prompts for myself this summer so that I’d do a better job defining my internal self as a person, it hit me. Maybe there are other people with the exact same journaling problem. So I have to confess. Learning to fly wasn’t my only big project this summer.

That’s why I’m so excited (and so crazy nervous!) to introduce you to a little product:

little books of writing prompts, papers, and pockets to inspire your creative self

* * * * * * * *

Yes! I’ve taken a leap and opened my very own shop.  You can visit it right here at etsy.

These journaling books come in several styles and colors with different writing prompts and paper collections. They help create the story of you – your likes, your loves, your lists, and the things you secretly crave. The unique writing prompts and fill-in pages help you explore your inner world – who you are and how you define yourself, not just how your day-to-day has gone.

It’s the kind of book you can pull out years later and say, “This was who I was.” I think we all need that. And I wish I had something like this from the women who came before me.

All quotes and poems are my own. I follow a theme of “she” instead of “me” and “I” because it’s so much easier to begin writing about ourselves and thinking about ourselves when the attention isn’t actually on us. Imagine standing on a stage in front of a huge crowd. Doesn’t it sound far more comfortable to describe someone other than “me” and “I”?

Sometimes I just like to turn to this page with a picture of Prague and start daydreaming:

“Just one more stamp in my passport? she thought and began dreaming of where she most wanted to be.

* * * * * * * *

Journals are in limited supply, so when they’re gone, I’m afraid I can’t make more.  Please swing by the new shop, let me know what you think, and you know… pick something up for yourself or a budding writer you love.

And thank you for your continued support of Making This Home. Happy writing!

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What do people do with red cabbage?

All I can think about is the salad bar where the old man in front of you is picking through the mixed greens so that he doesn’t get any bright purple pieces of cabbage in his salad.

There’s got to be more than that, right?

I’m trying to challenge myself with incorporating a few seasonal vegetables into our meals – the kind of seasonal vegetables that we normally don’t buy.

You can probably guess that when you live in Europe and you’re buying local produce, you sort of run out of good ol’ American recipes. That’s why our kitchen has been smelling remarkably similar to the retired, East German woman’s next door.  She’s always cooking up some sort of funny smelling food, and on several occasions, I have to admit that I have closed our windows so we wouldn’t smell it any more.

Old style European cooking – especially Eastern European – is certainly not bad.  It’s just different than American cooking. I’m always nervous to take a bite.  And I’m nervous to eat everything on my plate because at least in my experiences with Martin’s Czech grandmother, you could gain five pounds in one sitting.  You just can’t get enough, and when you have, she refills your plate with just as much food.  Boiled potato breads, thick sauces, dense vegetables, the creamiest, saltiest mashed potatoes…

The weirdest thing is that as an American, I have absolutely no idea what she puts in her food.  I mean, I get that fried cauliflower has cauliflower.  What I don’t know is why it doesn’t taste like cauliflower.  The spices, the mixture of foods – I don’t know.  I can’t even duplicate the mashed potatoes!

Eastern European cooking is not something I’m about to wing.  That’s why I follow recipes here, and I follow carefully.

The first half of the cabbage became a very German, soft cabbage and apples combo that I cooked on the stovetop.  I think we had leftovers for six days!

The second half of our cabbage became this:

It’s an Eastern European style “Cabbage Pie”.  I know I put a mountain of dill in there and some hardboiled eggs (told you it was different!).  But even as the cook, I still can’t figure it out.

Cabbage pie makes your house smell like the old country.

It makes me open the windows in hopes that the lady next door will smell it and forget all that banging and sawing we did last year when we rebuilt our kitchen.

It makes me think, “Maybe I should bike over to the market and get another cabbage.”  Then I remember.

There may be no cabbage in our fridge… but there’s still a whole lot of cabbage pie.

While we’re talking about Eastern European style, you might just be interested in how we celebrated a Czech Christmas last year.

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I never really got to experience autumn in the Rocky Mountains.  Just as school started, we would start getting frost.  The leaves on the trees would die, and warm walks like this through the parks were impossible.  I never minded it.  In fact, I loved it.  But I also love this so very much.

What’s it like where you live right now?

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It’s the homemade croissants from a little vegan bakery near our house.  The croissants only cost 65 cents.  Crazy, right?

And here’s a little tip for making tea.  Heat water in a kettle or hot water pot.  Pour it into a teapot with one tea bag.  That’s right.  You don’t need to use a tea bag for each cup.  One bag is enough to flavor an entire tea pot as big as ours. It’s easier than dealing with a bunch of tea bags floating in your cups, and even easier if you prefer loose leaf tea because it’s so much less work.

Drink on!

And pssst.  Here’s how we clean mineral deposits out of our hot water pot with one natural ingredient and no scrubbing.

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My father-in-law took me apple picking right in the middle of the city earlier this week.  It was great fun, and before we knew it, my entire bike basket was filled with fresh apples.

Now the family is left to battle it out:  who can come up with the best apple creation?

So Martin and I have been tossing shredded apple and cinnamon to our pancakes, baking apple cakes, and consuming large quantities of applesauce.  Everything has been delicious, but seriously – how much apple can you take without needing a little something else with it?

We are huge fans of making our own granola over the oven, and as you know, we also make our own roasted applesauce.  I combined the two once last year, and thanks to the guidance of this article, I decided to perfect our baked apple crisp this season.

This recipe doesn’t have a lot of sugar in it, making it good for breakfast.  Add a little whipped cream on top, and it’s perfect afternoon snack with coffee or tea and good friends for company.

This particular crisp was waiting for just such friends to stop by last week before we even picked our own apples…

Baked Apple Crisp with Granola

First build the apple layer right into an 8×8″ baking dish:

diced apples, partially peeled*
2 tbl sugar (or less depending on how tart your apples are)
2 tbl flour
dash of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

*Depending on the apple ratio you want, fill the dish anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 full.  The crisp shown above was filled 1/2 full with apples (they shrink!).  We like a higher ratio like 3/4 full… probably because of our enormous quantities of apples, right?

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C).  Toss ingredients together until apples are well coated.

Granola topping, made in a saucepan:

3 tbl butter
1/4 c honey
1 c oatmeal or musli (musli is a mixed breakfast cereal in Germany)
1/3 c chopped almonds or nuts on hand
1/4 c shredded coconut
dash of salt
sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, other items you put in your granola (optional)

Melt butter in saucepan at medium heat.  Add honey.  When well combined and warm, add dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Spoon over apples and spread in an even layer.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 C) for approximately 35 minutes or until granola mixture is lightly toasted.  Apples should be tender.

Cool until warm and serve.

(Images for Making This Home)

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I have to confess.  Martin and I complain.  We also already broke down and bought a Christmas item between running around to take care of this paperwork and that.  Moving overseas always requires so much paperwork.  I feel so bad because Martin has to pretty much take care of most of it for us.  My German skills are growing, but little things like returning an item to the store or telling the woman at the post office what kind of postage I want for a letter to the US are huge projects for me.  Vocabulary like “return this item” and “certified mail” aren’t really words you first learn.

Many people complain about how uptight and unfriendly Germans are compared to Americans.  I laughed so hard when a man here once said to me, “Don’t you Americans get tired of smiling all the time?”  The thing is people really are kind here, and I think they’re really patient with my German vocabulary (or lack of vocabulary!).  You don’t have to smile to be a kind person, and I think that’s so hard to forget when you grow up with smiley faces all around.  Plus it’s absolutely amazing to be around people who are Always Prompt.  It’s a society of people who are all on time.  I love it!

Anyway, I have trailed off from what I originally wanted to show you.  It’s the Christmas item we bought at the grocery store, and we’re already using it every day.

We got this cute little box of tea called Advent Tee.  It has 24 packages of different flavored teas with holiday names like Santa’s Secret Tee – each one numbered for a different day in December.  The best way to warm up after a chilly day of biking from errand to errand is a snack with tee.  Would you agree it’s a perfect way to warm up any time you feel the chill?

Advent calendars originated in Germany, and they’re really popular for candies and little gifts.  I could see things like Advent Tee taking off in the United States, too.

There’s nothing particularly Christmasy about these teas (other than their fun names).  In fact, I think the company just combined 24 of their different teas and made festive little wrappers.

We’re already on Day 7.

Anyone else sneaking in a little holiday stuff?  How about rapidly increasing your hot beverage consumption?  It’s so cold and wet in Berlin.  Now I see why tea and hot water bottles are all the rage in our neighborhood shops right now.

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1. If we lived in Southern Germany, I wonder if I could get Martin to wear Lederhosen while I waltz around in a Dirndl.  We could live in a small town and dress up for all of the festivals (like the one above).  We’d eat lots of fresh pretzels and roasted nuts and sing traditional drinking songs.
2. I’d have to attempt to sew my own Drindl with this pattern.
3. Or if we lived in the US right now, I’d make this adorable trick-or-treat bag with Christine’s easy-to-follow instructions.
4. Then I’d be pining for a dress marked down so low at JCrew that they’d practically be giving it to me for free while Martin would be tiptoeing to the Apple Store.  I suppose there was a reason the two stores were so close in the mall we went to in Denver.
5. Of course, we’re in neither place – not Southern Germany, not the US.  That’s why we’re keeping busy with other things.  Like taking quiet autumn pictures like this:

What is your end of October like?  Are you finding quiet moments to embrace?  Are you lusting for anything?  (I love the look on the man’s face in the top picture, far right.)

(Images for Making This Home)

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2. A Typical Sunday in Berlin, Germany
3. An Expat’s Guide to Germany