Füssen, Germany

Ever dreamed of having your own castle? Enamored by princess sagas by Walt Disney? Then you have to come to Neuschwanstein Schloss at Füssen, Germany. I mean, Neuschwanstein is THE castle, bar none. We went there over the weekend as my boss was driving down to the Austrian border for some weekend ski-ing. As soon as he showed me a photo of Neuschwanstein, I went "Oh, the Cinderella castle!!!" Fussen was definitely on my to-go list, so I said why not?! We drove on the Autobahn, and I also saw and touched my first snow - no kidding...The only snow you see in Mumbai is the one you see inside a badly broken down refrigerator. My landlord, that day, asked me if I wanted to join him in a anti-nuclear protest rally at Stuttgart, and that the reactor there is very unsafe and there could be a repeat of the Japan disaster. Tempting. Tempting. But I had a little fairytale castle to pay homage to first.

Apparantly, Neuschwanstein is a bit of a tourist trap, with many German colleagues not even visited the famed castle. You'll see a horde of tourists - mostly Chinese or Japanese. The entry fee is a hefty 12 euros, and you pay more if you want a bus ride up to the castle. Add to that, you cannot take photos once inside the castle. Bummer, yeah. Oh, did I mention, it's freezing cold up there (at least for an Indian)?!

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. It's gorgeous on the inside and you could not have asked for a more dramatic setting than high up the German Alps. Fairytale-like, indeed! Now, if only princes existed in this day and age, and I could get permanent residency inside the castle....

More photos here

Tübingen, Germany - Day 1

Finally made it to Germany yesterday, despite the bomb squad delaying things at the Mumbai airport at my boarding gate and thankfully we took off just in time, before the airport was shut down briefly. The biggest dampener was not having a smoking zone inside the airport. There's only one place - a private lounge 'Celebrations' where you pay a cover charge of Rs. 1000 to enter and theres a place to smoke, your luggage is neatly stowed and you dont have to look over your shoulder every other minute to see if everythings still around (handy when you're traveling alone); you also get one free drink of your choice (always handy when you're flying) and starters.

I'm so glad I ordered the fruit platter on the lufthansa flight to Frankurt - was grinning ear to ear seeing the day old, limpid Asian vegetarian fare on the nearby seats. But what was really great about the flight despite my crummy seat at the rear, chatty neighbors, and some turbulence, was the super-cute male steward! Mr. Graf, if you're reading this, thank you for taking good care of me. I know I'm difficult when I dont have my feet on mother earth.

Having reached Frankfurt and whiling away my five hour layover to Stuttgart, I did some duty free shopping (essentials like ciggies and a mountain of chocolate), and gawked at the incredibly fresh looking food items in store there. I had a marzipan croissant and a heiße schokolade und milch (also known as the BEST. CHOCOLATE.MILK.EVER). Yes, my veganism is out the window. I even just had a tuck into a sausage. If I've come half way around the world, I might as well do as the locals do and immerse myself in all things german. I can always go back and eat dal chawal or raw vegan when I am back! (hopefully).

And despite popular belief that Germans are cold, everyone was smiling. Its another matter that I did feel lost there and not knowing the language, I turned to another Indian was assistance.

Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg is this sleepy little charming village in the south of Germany, which is more famous for its university than anything else. The first thing that hit me when I left the airport with L. was how chilly it was even at 4 PM! I was told to pack my warmest clothes, but living in Mumbai, you hardly ever need anything more than a shawl. Plus we have no idea what 0 or 10 degrees feels like. Thankfully my landlord lended me his jacket to keep warm. But I'm definitly buying a more shapely jacket from H&M at MarktPlatz.

Its funny the building opposite where I live has 'Nazi' graffiti-ed on the wall. But, its such a pretty looking building. As are most of the buildings in the village.

In Tubingen, I'm at Neckarhalde, 38 (live there) and Neckarhalde 5 (office). If anyone's around, do get in touch with me. Here's the view from my rooms. I'm told to make judicious use of the available curtains because there are horny uni students passing by (not that I care!).

My humble abode for the next 2-3 weeks:

Here are some of the gifts I got my my german colleagues and CS hosts.

And Thou Shall Have Cake

I turned thirty a couple of days back. To be honest, I was dreading the day I couldn't call myself twenty-something. Thirties is another word for "responsibility" and I'm not sure I want to say goodbye to my days of wild abandon, reckless drinking, bad boys and such.

The girls at work very generously arranged for a made-to-order vegan cake from a bakery. No-egg cakes are quite common here, but i've never seen a completely vegan cake. I thought I had to forego my days of eating cake forever -what, I am not baking my own custom cakes!! This one's made of soy milk, but you'd be hard pressed to tell a vegan and non-vegan cake apart.

And, speaking of cake - I recently won the fabulous "A World of Cake" from a giveaway at Sprinkles of Parsley. I guess beginner's luck counts - I entered several other giveaways after this one, and haven't won a thing!

Its 350 thick and glossy pages of mouther watering cakes from all over the world. Completely non-vegan of course, but hey, you can always admire food porn and gain not an inch on your thighs, right?

Top 10 of '10

2011 is upon us! The new dawn also brought with her the 5000th visitor to my blog! Yay!

Now with the obligatory look back at the year that was:

1. Farmer's Markets    
Finally having a Farmer's Market in Mumbai for locally sourced, certified organic produce. Here's a roundup of all the stuff I bought this year. For those of you who still haven't got their arses down to the market or have been living under a rock and haven't heard about the farmers market, click here.              

2. Home Made Sun Dried Tomatoes

What started off on a lazy Saturday on a whim, turned out, by far, to be the biggest hit on my blog (700 hits and counting). Who knew so many people were interested in little pieces of sun drenched fruit?! Here's the recipe.

3. Baking 

2010 was the year I finally got around to baking stuff. Nothing majorly great - and not without minor incidents - but I am very proud of my rather good looking olive and onion crackers.

Here's the recipe. 

 4. Glorious Beets

2010 was the year I came to appreciate beets in all their glory. I had them marinated, curried, in burgers, and in salads.

5. Quinoa

Quinoa was a new discovery for me. No one around me has even heard of this wonder grain. I thoroughly enjoyed my lemon and pea quinoa pilaf. But my favorite way of cooking it was my quinolicious salad. Here's the recipe.

6. Salads Galore

When I started off with this whole raw business, I used to almost fear salads - seemed too complicated. I stuck to my blended juices and smoothies. Now it seems more a hassle to get out my blender and make a drink for myself than to chop up some veggies and make a salad. There are over 20 salads to choose from so far. My absolute favorite has been:

a) Zesty spinach salad. Here's the recipe.

b) Strawberry Lettuce Salad. Here's the recipe. 

7. Seasonings

Raw food doesn't have to be bland as a cardboard! Let your imagination run wild! If nothing else, use lime/lemon and black pepper to perk up even the most mundane of salads. I loved my carrot sambal and my carrot and cabbage salad with coriander and cumin dressing. Here's the recipe.

8. M & Ms (Maple & Miso)

Maple and Miso - both completely alien foods to India. One of the first recipes I made was my asparagus and miso soup. Here's the recipe.

I absolutely LOVE maple syrup! I loved my lettuce salad with mulberry and maple dressing:

And finally, I combined maple and miso to make my sweet and sour bean sprout salad. Here's the recipe.

9. Sweet Potato Chips
Baked sweet potato chips with chilli and garlic - what's not to love?! Here's the recipe.

10. Something Sweet
And for dessert, why not try a vegan strawberry sorbet? Better yet - I adore my date, walnut and orange zest balls. Here's the recipe.