Poppy Seed Cake

One of my favourite German cakes is Thüringer Mohnkuchen (Thuringian poppy seed cake). So I got a very good recipe from the internet and started baking :-) And it turned out really good!! It was sooo yummy!! And my Australian friends worried about getting high because of so much poppy seed in one cake ;-)

Lime Crazy

The other day I felt pity with our small lime tree. It has so many fruit that all the branches are bending down to the ground. So I started picking them and after half an hour or so I picked 8kg!!! of lime! The picture of the tree on the right is actually AFTER I harvested the 8kg!!
But what to do with so many limes?! I asked my mum and she copied and sent me a recipe for lime marmalade from an old East German cookbook. [I mean it was actually for some other fruit, because there were hardly any citrus fruit in East German times, not enough to make marmalade anyway]. So I used up at least 1kg… :-)

Conversation with Kate

Once a year we treat ourselves with a 6 course dinner at Lamont’s. Kate Lamont selects 6 or more different wines for the evening and creates different courses to match the wine. Unfortunately each portion is not very big – actually quite small. The soup for instance was served in a bigger tea cup.
But everything was very delicious!! My favourite was the ox tail and prune pie and of course the dessert – I love desserts!
And as there was a different wine with every meal and nobody wanted to waste any wine (alcohol is quite expensive over here), we all ended up being quite tipsy. In fact I never experienced Ian that drunk ;-)

ANZAC Day

I reckon Australians are never as proud of their country as on ANZAC Day – not even on Australia Day! Everyone is waving flags and you can see veterans (digger) proudly wearing their medals and decorations.
Somehow I always feel funny and weird on that day... I mean I am German…. I thought about waving my German flag, to commemorate my ancestors, but I don’t think they would be very understanding ;-)
Anyway we escaped on that public holiday up north to Lancelin. Together with a couple of friends in 4WD we drove through the dunes and along the beach to find the perfect surfing spot. It took us about 2h to decide which one was the best :-) But we finally stopped and went catching the waves. It was a really lovely day!
We even had a small BBQ, so we could have sausages for lunch. We stayed there pretty much the whole day – it was very relaxing! I even saw a small kangaroo family behind the dunes. But we were quite surprised how busy it was – at least 5 cars passed us during the day! ;-)

My new one!

I actually just wanted to get my old scooter serviced… but the guy told me that the engine of my 2-stroke scooter will not last for much longer. I’ve done nearly 7000km since I bought it 1 year ago.
And because I always wanted to try an electric scooter we went for a test ride straight away. But unfortunately we were quite disappointed even though it is a German scooter. It takes much longer to speed up and the workup leaves something to be desired.
So we took another 50cc for a test ride. And this little orange (4-stroke) scooter convinced us both straight away. So I traded my old one in (for a really good price) and bought it straight away!! :-)

A month of rain in one day

It rained! And I mean real rain! According to the newspaper 40mm of rain fell within only a couple of hours on Sunday, with 44mm being the average for April. It was serious rain and I really enjoyed it :-) I haven’t experienced this type of rain for a long time. Luckily I wasn’t riding my scooter ;-)

New Holland Honeyeater III

Just a short update on ‘our’ birds: They are still very healthy and growing quickly. The parents still feed them but they are growing tail feathers and their flying is getting better. At night they still come back and sleep next to their old nest. It is really great to have these kind of ‘pets’.

Watching the sunset in Cottesloe

One of the must-does while in Perth is having fish and chips at Cottesloe beach while watching the sunset. We did this with some friends last night. It is a really great spot – especially when the footy (the Freo Dockers lost against the Eagles) is on, so the beach is empty :-) And only we here on the west coast in WA get the sunset at the beach.
We don’t really appreciate this anymore; we could go there every day and should go there more often. I live here for more than a year already – 5min. walk for a swim in the river, 10min. walk to the beach – it’s great!
This morning we went for a ride around the river (~40km) and we saw dolphins, a mother with her little calf, swimming in the river as we rode past. Perth is a really great place to live :-)

North Freo Views

Easter Hike

I survived my first 4-day hike including no shower, no toilet and carrying a 15kg pack ;-) It was actually good fun! We drove down south, met with two other couples and hiked near Lake Maringup. The first night we pitched our tents near a small river, we ate reconstituted “curry in a hurry” and tried to catch marron. It was really romantic sleeping beneath the stars :-) It is always amazing to see sooo many stars and even the Milky Way clearly (because there are no big cities around).
The next day we had to carry all the fresh water we needed for the next two days as we were heading towards the ocean and away from the river. Additional to that it was quite warm and the path was really sandy, so the sand sticked to our legs and there was no shower :-( This was the worst part of the hike.
The last night we stayed in one of the Bibbulmun huts near lake Maringup, so there was plenty of water and even a dunny.
The nature down there is just amazing! Have a look at all the different pictures that I took during our 4 day hike. It is really beautiful!

New Holland Honeyeater II

I love watching these two little birds grow up! Every morning I sit in front of the door with a bowl of cereals and watch the busy parents come in with food every 10 min. or so. And the chicks are sooo big already :-) This morning they were sitting on the edge of the nest, stretching their legs, trying to flap their wings and starting to chirp happily. I think they will leave us soon :-(
But then we can finally go into our court yard without being afraid of another bird attack. They got really protective and started to nosedive towards my belly every time I went outside :-)

April Fool's Day

I love it ... http://www.google.com/tisp/ :-)