More about red currants

This is another post about red currants, I finally got creative and found some ways to make use of them.

I took the courage to make my own red currant jam. It didn't seem to be hard at all, I was encouraged by some of my blog friends and colleagues. Thank you again for the tips and recipes. I had some strawberries left from the strawberry picking field trip we had with the kids at school and decided to put them in too. This was not included in the recipe but I thought they are both berries and would probably be a good mix.

Jam making does need a bit of patience, because you need to continuously stir the fruits the whole time. It took me more than an hour because I really didn't know how much time it needs. It says in all the recipe I got from friends and in the internet, "let it boil until it thickens." But it really didn't get thick at all or so I thought. Actually after 90 minutes or so I decided to just give up and put them in jars. I left some on a small bowl to see if it thickens, well after it cooled down it thickened of course. Simple chemistry which I have forgotten of course - silly me! So I put them in small, nice jars and voila - don't they look lovely?? They are very yummy too! The V told me that fruits that are a tart and sour make the best jellies and jams. This is what he learned from his grandmother. I gave them as lovely gifts to friends. It's nice to bring them when you're invited for dinners. I thought I would make enough to give to a lot of friends but it turned out I didn't even make enough. Well till my next jam making sessions of course. I am currently harvesting raspberries. So there will be more post about that.

Of course I still had more red currants left and we had some visitors yesterday for lunch and coffee. Well what do you know I found this red currant muffins recipe from recipe zaar - they are so yummy and really good for summer. They are healthy, fruity, refreshing and so moist, it almost melts in your mouth. It must be that buttermilk in it. I followed the recipe as it is and didn't change anything at all. I think my meringue wasn't perfect but it was nevertheless super yummy. It just melts in your mouth. Try it for yourself.

summer break

Finally, the long awaited summer holiday starts today :) And what do you know it started with a lot of rain too.. well I don't really mind it because this means I don't need to water the plants and I can also save on some water because we have 2 big drums to gather rain water.
We don't have any plans for any summer getaway at the moment so we might actually just stay home and do some trips around our region. This is after all our first summer ever in our new home.

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Speaking of trips, The V and I would be going to an out of town trip tomorrow. However is it a very sad journey as we would be going to a funeral. A friend of ours passed away last Friday. She was just 37 years old and full of life. She had pulmonary hypertension which actually resulted from a normal flu/cough. She said there are only a thousand patients in the whole of Germany with this disease. Germany has an 80 million population.

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Frankfurt Marathon

I went to watch Sex and the City with a friend last Wednesday. I thought it was a nice movie, funny and sentimental in some of the scenes, of course there's a lot about shoes and men and talk about sex. But hey, I want to have a nice, light evening and enjoy a movie. Not think about serious politics and argue about world peace.

Well that wasn't the highlight of my evening in Frankfurt - there was a marathon in the city known as JP Morgan Chase Marathon which had 73,719 participants! It was a 5 kilometer marathon.

It was interesting to watch all these runners with their colourful t-shirts and gear. Each participant was sponsored by his company, so each of the runner wore a different attire. Some companies have 10 people, some 2o and more , some just about 5.
While watching the happy or tired faces of the runners I can't help but overhear their conversation.
Runner 1: ..exhaling, inhaling really hard.. "i'm so tiiiii....reeed...".looking around nervously., left, right.. almost out of breath talking to runner 2 "are we theeeerrrrreeee yet?"
Runner 2: .."exhaling, inhaling really hard and almost out of breath... "no, no, mc donald's is on the next turn
Me: What??? hahahahahhaahha, my friend and I had a blast laughing. I thought these runners are here for a good cause.
And here's another one....
Runner 1: talking to runners 2,3,4,5,6 "Ok, now I'm going to the corner and you better look real good."
Me: Hmmmm, I wonder what he's up to
Runner 1: goes to the corner, takes something from his belt bag in a flash. Suddenly a small hand held video camera is produced and shouting to runners 2-6 "ok, all set!" (bear in mind he does this with thousands of people behind him, there's danger he might be run over by the crowd)
Runners 2,3,4,5,6: panting, waving, , posing, giving that exhausted look to the camera
Runner 1 : "ok now me" in a flash giving his video camera to runner 6 and assuming position with runners 2,3,4,5 now panting, waving, posing, giving that exhausted look to the camera
Me: thinking to myself - "all for the love of pictures" and while in the midst of this thought a man walked past me.

Me: "What the??? "
A participant of the marathon just walked past me, or should I say nordic walked past me, with those 2 long poles along with him. I thought marathons are runned not walked. Well I guess I was wrong, I'm just wondering if those 2 long poles haven't hurt anyone.

Too bad our movie had to start so we run off to the cinema with barely a few minutes left, otherwise there would have been more stories.

Red currants

When we bought this house, one of the things that attracted me to it is the garden we have in the back. Although we live in the middle of the city, there is nevertheless a small garden included in the house. What made it more exciting is that I saw some kind of bushes planted. Since it was still winter there were no leaves to see which kind of plant they were. The owner then told me they are raspberries and red currants. Wow! I got so excited, I am like a child when it comes to picking berries and all. I used to just pick ( or should I say steal?) red currants and blackberries from our neighbors. Now I have my own to pick. Let me tell you it's not as delicious as I remebered it to be. I used to not get enough of them (probably because it's not mine) but today I picked about 1.5 kilos of red currants and ate probably about at least 250 grams of it!! And there's still more of them out ripening on their stems.. what shall I do with them? I plan to give at least some to my colleague but I don't know what to do with the rest. She told me I can make a jam out of it. I haven't really tasted a red currant jam ever. Have you or do you have any tips for me? It would be a pity to throw these yummy red currants. I do get some help from all the birds gulping them each time. But there is just too much of them and less birds and people to eat them. The V. wants to have the red currants uprooted after summer. He thinks we should plant there something more special than red currants. The raspberries are not yet out but I think they are yummier than red currants and I know a number of people who would willingly get them fresh from me :) oh by the way, it was also a bit of hard work picking these berries, now I know why they are a bit expensive when you buy them.

Update on the cake sale

Blackforest cake made by one of our friends - this seems to be the most famous german cake of all time (for non germans). In an international community like ours you can almost say - "Tell me what cake you are eating and I'll tell you which country you come from" (*wink,wink*)


It's been a while since my last post. I must have been too tired after that bake sale that I have not updated you about the result of our fund raising. Well the good news is - we made €914.00 - just selling cakes to our congregation. at €2.00 a piece. Of course some of them gave more than the price demanded - it is after all for a good cause. Our friend going as a missionary will actually work in a hospital for children without any salary at all. That's why we raised /still raising some of the money she needs. Our goal was to finance her first month and though we thought it was a bit too ambitious - we made it :) Too bad I couldn't make a picture of the whole crowd who got crazy about our cakes. I was too busy selling them. Here is a bit of the cake buffet. The shot is not good but you can still have a glimpse of it. Well in the end it was worth it - we might do it some time again in the future.