DTM 2008 Hockenheim Ring (26 Okt 2008)

Vrroooom...... DTM 2008

It was a sunny and cool day, spent with more than 100,000 other car fans in Hockenheim Ring. The screeches of the tyres of the race-cars were deafening, more so coz I was seated like 200m away from the track! This was my first time to a car-race, so everything there was fascinating: from the warm-up to the pit walk, to the start presentation and finally, the 1-hr race! The cars & their drivers were displayed like horses, parading around for all to see, to bet on who to win!!!Haha! But no doubt Germans have their hot favorite: Audi's Timo Scheider.

My seat was closest to 3 cars: JungeStern AMG Mercedes, Pixum AMG Mercedes & Playboy Audi A4 ( yeah playboy, with the pink bunny proudly displayed as the logo)! The JungeStern driver looked the cutiest, so I decided to support him instead of the other 2. The playboy guy dropped out after 2 laps coz his car was semi-'destroyed'. The JungeStern guy was ok, he came in 12(out of 14, but 5 others were kaputted). I finally got to try wat was like to be glued for 4hrs to the seat, with matching food: 1 can of beer, cheese-fries, currywurst, Snickers, a cup of hot coffee, plenty of cigarette smoke, and a huge crowd of Germans, all hugging to their jackets coz it was cold in the open-foyer! (oh, forget about toilet break, the toilets are few & crowded & way too far away) Timo Scheider won the DTM 2008 with a timing of 59:01.290.

Oh, and my next tickets will be to watch the Mannheim Alders Eishockey, and going to Kaiserslautern to watch the national sports, Fußball.

Heidelberg 2nd Herbst Checkup & Speyer Herbstmesse (25 Okt 2008)

Went up to the Philosoph weg...It was a hot??(ok, 15 Grad) and sunny day, but too bad the fog level was rather high due to the hot?? weather, so the Schloss could not be seen clearly. But no doubt Herbst is here, coz brown dead leaves were everywhere!
After lunch in Heidelberg, went for Speyerer Messe for more junk: Wurst, Kastanie(Roasted Chestnuts) & Schokolade rum! Though I must say the rides there the same boring kind(Fests = Pasar Malam, coz they move the games around Germany)

New addition to my room in Saarlandstr. & Tip to surviving Winter Here (24 Okt 2008)

Bought this Tefal Quick & Hot that can spurt out hot water in 3-sec! Amazing, except for the extremely loud noise it produces!!! I am surprised that it is made in France, in sg, Tefal products are always made in M'sia/China...(maybe coz it has 3yrs Garantie vs 1 yr in sg!). Oh, and it costed me a whooping 39,95€ + 8,99€ (for a 2nd filter catridge).

Now, I can have my hot water anytime, and real quick! I am thinking whether I pour in my wein and boil it, and ohmmp, 3-sec & I get hot wein!(But the alcohol will be gone, since the temp at the outlet is abt 80°C, & so will my 50€ !!!)

And now, A cold and painful job but useful job to do in winter.
In order to keep the air in ur Zimmer/Haus healthy, this is wat u are supposed to do:
For Frischer Luft, open das Fenster (wide open) for 7 min every 2hrs. Who is so stupid to do this in winter when the outside temp is <0°C. According to German Physics, this is done for wat is called Air exchanging. The warm & humid air in the room is exchanged for the cold&dry air outside during this 7min. So, u have a constant supply of Frisch Luft!!! But it is not advisable to keep a window permanently open (if u are that lazy & u being an Eskimo), coz then, the air temp in the room & outside is the same, & no air exchange can take place). Of course, if u are damm rich that u live in an energy-saving haus, u have a heat exchanger to do this job and u won't have to open ur window and freeze for 7min every 2hrs! So, remember, next time when ur Kollege open das Fenster, don't grumble or scream at him, don't malu urself! He is being kind to remove the 'stale air' in the room!

Now, I have something to do in winter apart from cuddling in my bed all day...go to the window and open it for 7 min every 2hrs (when i can remember to stay awake)

Credits to my Kollege Andreas for this winter survival tip)

Glühwein Recipe

I am consolidating some recipes to make glühwein now that Xmas is just 60 + days away.

Rezept 1:
1) Place 1/2 cup water in a large saucepan with a piece of cinnamon, ginger, orange zest, 8 cloves, and 3/8 cup sugar.
2) Bring to a boil and simmer to a thick syrup.
3) Pour in 3 cups red wine.
4) Heat to just below the boiling point.
5) Pour the wine into individual glasses.

f you wish, add a cinnamon stick and orange slice to each glass.
Serve hot.

Rezept 2:
1 bottle dry red table wine
4-5 tbs. granulated sugar, or to taste
1 cinnamon stick, broken into 4-5 pieces
10-15 whole cloves, or to taste
washed rind of 1 lemon, cut in a continuous spiral strip

Heat all ingredients in heavy-bottomed pan. Simmer for approximately five minutes before serving, be careful not to let it come to a boil. Strain and pour into glasses (insert metal spoon to disperse the heat and prevent the glass from cracking). Top with freshly ground nutmeg, if you like an extra spicy whiff. Keep remaining mulled wine on hot plate, but remove lemon rind, letting it spiral from the lip down into the pot for decoration.

Eberbach Apfeltag (19 Okt 2008)

I had a super "Apfel-ily" day today. It was my first attempt of having everything apple for lunch hahaha! I first had a apple soup, then went on for 3 different Apfelkuchen, flushed down with neuer apfelwein & Apfelsaft, and completed with a 0.5m bratwurst, with apfelmus. Jolly jolly nice.

Since apple can also be made into wein, why can't the US californians be more inventive and try to ferment their Sunkists and make some orange-wein???

Yesterday, I wanted to go to Kaiserslautern Kerwe, but apparently that place was some distance away from the Bahnhof. So, I went window shopping in the Altstadt instead.... Witnessed an interesting tingy on my way home in the S-bahn. Since the train stopped at Neustadt(one of my favorite wein-hideouts), the train was loaded with, gosh, drunk old people (at 430pm???) So, I am not the only one who gets drunk earlier in the afternoon, haha! Had a fun time hearing them singing something incomprehensible, and their generous offer of alcohol to everyone on the train, cups included (though I didn't try since they offered me some volka-liked wein (too strong lar))

Bernhard-Räder Weinlese in Flomborn (11 Okt 2008)

Today is my Happiest Day(for now...)!
I went for Grape Harvesting with the Bernhard-Räder Familie, many thanks to Andreas who made the connection for me by calling almost all Weinguts in Osthofen region!!!
Simone, Philipp, Ulla, Rüdiger & Anna(Ref: Gp Foto 1) were my warm hosts for the event.

We made our way to the cold foggy weinberg at about 930am. We started with the Riesling Trauben (Weiß), ein pause(with Neuer wein of course!), then the Spätburgunder (Rot). When I started with cutting the Rot Trauben, I could smell the strong aroma of red wein, gosh, I thought I was hallucinating lor! Luckily Ulla later confirmed with me that yes, these red grapes have stronger aroma than normal supermarkt grapes, and indeed, then smelled like red wein!!! (Heng, I tot I was drunk at 11am lor...)
Then it was 12pm and we headed back to the Weinbau for Mittagessen prepared by the daughter, Anna. After a hearty meal with plenty of wein, we headed out to the fields again. Ever thought of a drunkard harvesting grapes? I was the one. Luckily I recovered quickly enough to start work again...haha. We harvested the Sauvignon Trauben (Rot). And out work ended early at 3pm. I brought back some Silvaner Trauben(Weiß) coz they are nicer to be eaten, not made into wein...We headed back for a small celebration with more wein. I swear I really had too much today...

After the rest of the workers went home, Ulla & Rüdiger showed me around the weinbau, the fermentation place was part of an old fortress(HaHa, really old yeah), their Veggi-garden, their Gästhaus, and their Wein Appreciation Rooms... Of course, nothing will be complete without a taste of all the weins they make. I think I had about 10 different glasses of wein. Almost complete intoxication, but it was fun learning the type of grapes to produce the Trocken, Halbtrocken, Lieblich..etc(sorry, cant remember all!) My favorite was the Spätburgunder blanc de noirs(One of the weins of Kollektion Philipp). It is very special. It is a white wein made from red grapes, amazing right, that's why it is called blanc de noirs (white of blacks). Production: With just 1st pressing of the Spätburgunder trauben, the juice is white and it fermented into wieß wein. This process is difficult to control, thus, the wein is more expensive than other weins. Philipp showed me the process to make the 'white juice' from the Spätburgunder we harvested earlier in the morning.
It had been a wonderful day, filled with laughter (meine Deutsch is niche so gut, but nevertheless, they enjoyed talking to me, though I take long times to understand wat they are asking me....) and really plenty of wein!!!

I am really greatful to Andreas, who came to fetch me from Worms Hbf at 830am, drove me to Flomborn, and later, send me back to Worms Hbf :)

New Work Clothes (10 Okt 2008)

Now, I have 4 new shirts from the company.

Montag: Blaue (to highlight 'Monday Blues' Hee hee)

Dienstag: Rot (wanted to wear on Wed, but since Mon already blue, shall not wear blue again)

Mittwoch: Lichtblaue

Donnerstag: Grüne ( I don't know, but thursdays always make me think of Greenies)

Freitag: erm...Casual Friday, so no need to wear work clothes!!!

And the Windbreaker...hmm, the reflective bands really stands out in the Fotos. When the need comes, I will wear it...

Now....into full gear!!!

Mannheim Verkaufsoffener Sonntag (5 Okt 2008)

Sonntag Shopping is something that happens, well, 1-2x a year in big cities like Mannheim. The streets were once again filled with people, music and food!!! There was even a Huge Cloth Bazaar at Marktplatz...gosh, people were stocking up with wool and rugs to fight the incoming cold..brrrr.

Heidelberg Herbst Checkup (4 Okt 2008)

Climbed up to the Schloss in the hopes of capturing yellowing trees and brown leaves, but was disappointed that the trees were still quite green. I shall go there again this weekend, maybe 1 more week of chill can brown those persistant green leaves. Forever taking pics of the Schloss, it felt funny being a "Tourist" in Heidelberg, pretending to be there for the 1st again & again. Maybe next time I go there, I shall advertise myself as a tourguide, Who wants to pick me up? Just pay me lunch!

Can someone tell me if the Alfa Romeo Spider is an expensive car? Coz it was 'exhibited' at the entrance of Kaufhof. I am already indifferent to cars like BMW, Mercedes & Audi coz they are so common here. Maybe italian cars are more expensive here ;)