Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Pumpkin and Procrastination

A mountain of reading to do, a report to write, one assignment to finish, a long list of emails to send for thesis contacts, research to do, plane tickets to book, cleaning to do, a holiday to plan with my mom... But I'd rather procrastinate and share a few thoughts and links (mostly about food).


  • Freiburg, Germany just entered my list of top cities. Mountains, fall colors, plaid wearing environmentalists, mountain bikes, vineyards, farms serving fresh food from their crops, a market with delicious local specialties, scores of vegetarian friendly restaurants, the sunniest city in Germany, and the hub of green party activity in Germany. Ironically, I nearly applied to a master program here 2.5 years ago. 
  • I am beyond excited about this website: http://www.eatwith.com/ . You can cook for and host people or eat delicious food at someone's house all over the world. Cooking, eating, and meeting new people=brilliant!
  • In case you're in need of healthy food inspiration, want to procrastinate by drooling over pictures of delicious food: http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/
  • Looking for a healthy and delicious snack? Soak some dates for an hour or so, throw them in a blender with your nut of choice (I recommend raw cashews), some cocoa powder (high quality is best), coconut, chia seeds, flax, cocoa nibs or chocolate chips, and anything else you want. Mix away (hopefully you have a better blender than me), roll into balls, feel free to roll the balls in coconut or cocoa powder then immediately consume! Try not to eat them all at once!
  • Pumpkin is delicious. And more delicious when you go through the tedious process of preparing it yourself. So ditch that canned pumpkin, go to a farm, buy a pumpkin and cook it yourself! Try pumpkin soup, curry, burritos, flammkuchen (after my recent visit), pie, bread, muffins, cookies... and don't forget to roast the seeds. 
  • Eat your beets. But don't panic if your pee is red. 
  • The dense, seedy, nutty, and wholesome goodness of German bread cannot be beat. It's totally worth it to lug around "bricks" of bread back to the Netherlands. 
  • Understanding German and Dutch is quite gratifying and makes unplanned and long train delays very amusing. Observing how stressed and uptight Germans get when things do not function right and how Dutch resort to sarcasm and jokes to make the inconvenience more tolerable is entertaining. These two neighboring places could often not be more different. I love them both in their own ways. 
  • Speaking German with middle aged Germans is fun! Speaking English sentences in a German way by accident is funnier. 
  • European food gets progressively tastier the further south you move. 
  • Sharing is caring (food, drinks, clothes, beds, rooms, money, ideas, love)
  • The economic crisis is not the fault of the republican or democrat party alone but the result of a faulty economic system. Go read this book: From Financial Crisis to Stagnation by Thomas Palley. Let's stop all the name calling and blaming and change the system! 
  • I am going to to Budapest in a week in a half, Tunisia in about two to learn about smart grids, and my favorite mother is coming three weeks!
Happy fall and happy studying to all the students out there! Enjoy being a student while it lasts! 

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