(Enough) Money In Your Pockets

 

 

Today I´m joining Rain with her theme "Pockets".

Thankfully this dude has his bones in his jumper-pockets, cause he is cool, man.

Doubt he has money in there, too, though, so why the title?

 

Last time I joined River I showed you how to make Soljanka. 

Sure as hell I was offered books on this online and - to my "East-German" colleague/friend - fell for a used one.

 

It´s not only a cook-book, of course, it tells "us Wessies" how it was back then.

And the book doesn´t lie, Ingo had relatives there, three teamleaders even grew up there, I do know stories!!!

And here I learn more.

 

 Did you know that in 1956 they put up a program for the advancement of women?

Yes, 1956!!!

In the 1950´s they had not much.

Or too much!

They ate literally everything.

Cookbooks gave advice on how to eat every part of animals and what to do with the abundance of fruit when they´re ripe.

They had to make do, whilst "we" in the West had the Marshall Plan helping us get back on our feet, the people in the East had to pay reparations payments to the Soviet Union.

 

Besides history-lessons there are interesting recipes!

I will try this:  Grate an apple, add mustard and stir until the mixture is foamy. Put on a slice of bread and... add a slice Edamer cheese and a peanut on top - this was when you had no butter available.

 

And recipes like this lived on, even when they made money.

They did have enough money at one point, as, despite having kids, both partners worked full time.

Kindies were for very, very young children already.

Mismanagement and being cut off, plus producing for export lead to empty stores.

All the money... worth nothing. Better put your hands into your pockets!

 

As this is art and dinner...

 

I made "Jägerschnitzel" à la DDR/GDR.

I had rests of Jagdwurst we needed for the Soljanka and I found the recipe!

 

 

I won´t translate, I´ll show you instead:

 

 

Don´t.

Awful. Fatty, your kitchen will smell like an ole fast-food-place, even if you take fresh oil for this.

Slice leftovers thin and put them on a thinly buttered slice of bread, cold.

Or buy more and make another, very super-yummy Soljanka. 

 

 Henry 🦁

 

 More to come.

 

 

Do You WOW?

 

 

Our dentist looooves these pralines and I think Ingo bought them for her.

 

Sadly she tends to eat them all up at once I learned after I gave her a mini-version as thank you for her kindness and patience. 

 

Next morning at work she called me and said, "how could you?! I certainly ate them all in my break and the next patient said I smell heavily of booze!!! 😘" 

 

So far they still sit here, hence I can show you what´s in there easily:

 

 

The liqueur has 13% alcohol. But reckon you´d rather puke from all the chocolate before you get drunk 😉.

It´s special cause it´s seasonal (as marketing-gag, I reckon).

 

This is for Tom´s Signs2.

Hope you have your WOW every day, be it a tomato, which is also red.

 

Do you know / like Mon Cheri?

 

Henry 🦁

 

Hope you find joy today, in whatever that is.

Off to Hanover soon. In -1C/30F. By car. Wish us luck! 

T STands For DesasTers

 With this "cool" drink I join Elizabeth´s T.

The journal:

 

Monday: My idea, K´s doing: Next week Banksy and Zoo it is!

By car. Aw, well. Her wish. Teamleader gave thumbs up, I feel like a 5-year old!

Yes, I am an introvert and yes, this is an "achievement"...

Great work with L!!! She´s just like me, let´s get it done! No fussing around, I love this!

4 sessions of training. 

Tuesday: Admin T, oh, we had a longer chat. Seems like we´re both a tad frustrated with some (same) colleagues!

It´s gotten cold. Thankfully Ingo needed to see the dentist and hence saw: Heating isn´t working.

I would´ve frozen my butt off thinking everything is OK, I just have a cold day!

4 sessions of training.

 

Wednesday: What did I do Wednesday (it´s Friday already!)??? This week flew by! I think I tore my left upper-arm-muscle again.

Tried/did 4 sessions of training anyways, burpees are OK! Just arm up hurts.

Thursday: Can´t sleep on either side, arm hurts. 

Work... love that L shortens content A LOT. But her idea of design is rather... special and she hasn´t shown it to anyone but me.

I see ourselves moving eventually backwards.

 

Ingo: "Give me your finger." He put it in his mouth... one of his teeth in the back to the left  - outch!!!! A HUGE hole. Drs app Friday. Next week.

Friday: Asked Admin T > do that Lenovo-update? Yupp.

Had but one instead of three monitors.

We tried till after 05:00 p.m. (I start 06:00 a.m.) - nada, nothing! > Monday.

Did, whilst Mrs. Holle shook out her bedsheet.

Thought, wearing headphones, I threw something off the table - was THUNDER.

Then T exclaimed: LOOK!!! OUTSIDE!!! ALL WHITE!!!

 

Doctor´s-visit (neurologist due to numb feet) - electro-shocks!!!! All normal, MRI etc will have to follow 😕

Weekend: Saturday: Lazy day, College-footy on TV

Sunday: -1C/30F and it was already 09:00 a.m.

Sadly we always read the weekend-paper on Sundays. Braunschweig failed again to advertise in time. On Saturday there were 113 pairs of shoes as reminder of violence against women (who speaks of men, happens to them, too).

I would´ve gone to take a pic. And bought a Pizza da Guido´s. Instead I made some Christmas-cards for the first time, was fun. More footy on TV.

Munch-wise:

Henry 🦁

 

 

Have a sweet week ahead. And maybe a pizza.

 

Dial 112 - II

Another mural Ingo took in Salzgitter.
Here it´s a bit closer:

They don´t give 100 but 112% when called!

This certainly is for Sami´s COLOURFULWORLD Monday Murals.

More to come.
Here is another Banksy:

Wish me luck. Plan for Wednesday:
Banksy for real in Hanover and then we wanna tackle the zoo, too!
I wanted to go by train, K prefers the car and will you believe it, seems (again!) to be cheaper.
Let´s see about parking, though... And please wish us luck with the weather...

Right now 4C/39F, raining. And I have to walk 40 minutes to work. It´s still pitch-dark, too. Dog-poo-alarm.

Henry 🦁

 Have a safe Monday!

On Reality

  

Picking up from Thursday...

The older colleague in "international" workshop worked in... don´t nail me... Saudi Arabia?

In a present-meeting (long before Covid, when people met for real) he was asked by a colleague (!) where he is from.

"Germany".

The - way younger man - looked at him full of hatred and said: "You killed my family!", got up and looked mad at him.

It was a Jewish man.

My colleague stayed calm and explained that even his parents were children "back then".

"YOU KILLED MY FAMILY, MY PEOPLE! I CAN´T BE IN A ROOM WITH YOU, WITH A KILLER!", he repeated and left the room.

There were other Jewish colleagues who nodded to this but stayed.

Pic above?

Perth CBD, a group of (partially retired) teachers offered us a seat at their table at pub Moon & Sixpence, which was full to the brim.

I wore a Perth-t-shirt and hence, yes, I´m only visiting...

Oh, do you like it, why the West, why Perth?

(Perth is quite "remote")  - a nice chat.

Where are you from then?

...

well, go figure.

The dude with the long hair straightened up and accused me of Holocaust.

The others looked down in shame whilst I explained to the dumbhead that my Mom fled at age two from Prussia to Germany in the very harsh winter of 1944 and my Dad spent more time in the bunker than in first-grade-school.

(My German Grandfather was the only watchmaker in town and hence no soldier, the maternal one was a prisoner of war in Russia (he reunited with the family in Germany but died soon later)).

The walls in our heads. National and world-wide. 

Will they ever go down?

All this should never be forgotten!!!

But to blame "us" over generations that follow?!

Now look at who goes at Jewish people here in Germany today?

Not the German people.

Too many of the Muslim people we took as "refugees", THEY do.

It is horrible to watch what happens in Berlin (especially), Hamburg, Cologne etc, People yelling against Jewish people, demanding the caliphate.

Yes, you read that correct: "demanding the caliphate" in Germany.

Not working, not learning German, being properly taken care of and instead of saying "thank you for helping us out of hell" they want the caliphate, want to suppress girls and women.

 

And what does German Government do?

Nothing.

 

So far we in Braunschweig sit here safely.

Putin... will (have to die now) not take Ukraine and make his way on again till Berlin, the extremist Muslims hopefully stay in those huge metropolis (why not send them back home? They do NOT respect our law, I just do not get this).

 

Soon some positive thoughts on the wall that once was and still is.

 

How is it like in your heart and brain? Germany divided or united? A killer-nation?

Or just too far away to spend a thought (I could understand that). 

 

More to come on "the East", if you like to follow...

 

Henry 🦁

 

... look forward and make it better.

 

On Respect

I felt just like this friendly, well-read Taurus yesterday.
With whom I join Eileen´s Saturday critters.

Sorry he´s so pale - it was pitch-dark when I sketched him and I had the daylight-lamp on... Not the best time of the year for sketching...

Really, I was at the neurologist (first time) - app 01:00 p.m. - I had to wait a little.

A Mother-Daughter-duo in the waiting area AT FULL BLAST chatting more or less none-stop, the maybe 60-y-o daughter showing her mom ENDLESS pics of people dear mom did not know. Mom spoke mostly silently, indicating her hearing is OK and since daughter understood, her hearing must´ve been as good.

Ruthless, rude, I could hardly concentrate... No other patient said a word. Amazing how rude some people can be. Sad.

After some electro-shocks (not kidding) I had to wait way over an hour, sadly these two "ladies" had to wait nearly as long.

I was home 03:20. More than 2 hours (sadly without a result, more tests why my feet are/get numb are due). 

Those "ladies" can be glad I have no horns!

´Nough of unpleasant meetings, off to see your critters, have a nice Saturday!

Henry 🦁

  Some think they are ... superior?

FFO, Smiles And An Unusual Touchdown

In 1986 I visited London and certainly went into a book store. Got two books, "Charlotte´s Web" and, yips, you guessed it, "It".
I was 14 years old - that book definitely was not really for me, but stubborn as I was I read it anyways.

Addendum, as two of you already did not understand: Stephen King´s "It" is not really for children... Or any book by Stephen King. After all his genre is "horror" and he is really a good writer...

Back then there was no internet, no amazon. Maybe in huge cities at the train station you got English books, but not in my home-town, so this was heaven.
Well, or with this dude rather hell... 

A scary face with which I join Nicole´s FFO.

And for Annie´s Smiles... how about this?

  Can´t believe it´s Friday already again - the week sped by, despite the ever-grey weather.

What can we do against grey and cold? Smile and laugh...

Henry 🦁

 Hope you have a fun Friday!

 

Walls (Plural) In Our Heads

 

 

Let me start with a bummer.

Astronaut and musician Chris Hadfield took this pic of Berlin from the ISS ten years ago - no idea if it looks different today, I´m no astronaut and I know none to ask for a pic of today.

 

Does this count as arty landscape? In that case I join Rain today. 

If you disagree, how about this then:

I´ll explain in a future "GDR-post" why some people from "over there" could enjoy this, promised.

The wall fell 1989 and 2013 you could - and still can - "see" where you are.

 We had an International mini-workshop at DB (Deutsche Bahn, where ESE is a daughter of). I happily joined.

We were 6... Germans. We went through the exchange anyways and two came from Berlin.

One sees retirement soon and grew up in GDR/DDR, the other just started his business-career and claimed: You "see" when you enter East-Berlin - the light is much warmer.

Head of the meeting - whilst we discussed - looked it up and yes.

As you can see: West Germany has "cold", eco-friendly LED-street-lamps, East-Berlin has warmer shining gas still. > No need to scroll up, here goes again in small, see:

 

 

 

Isn´t this plain CRAZY???

More to come... For now enjoy this....

Food-wise, as it´s art and dinner ...

It was winter, say 1997, and I was hungry. Flat-sharing with three others and this was all I found - really the weather was too icky to go outside.

3 minute-noodles from day before, dry.

Whilst you fry them cut olives with paprika-paste, add. Cut mozzarella, spice up with dried oregano and thyme. Add till all is one mass - enjoy.

 Henry 🦁

 

 .. are we... it´s about time, Germany.

 

I had three Teamleaders from East Germany, with one I am in daily contact still.

And now I think a colleague from "over there" became a female friend!

Just yesterday I made Jägerschnitzel à la DDR.

Don´t... will show next time.