Staying or leaving?

For a few weeks now, I have no idea what I should do with my hair. I really love having short hair. I used to have really long hair for a really long time(I think since 1998).

 

2008   --    2010

Then in 2011 I cut my hair short (of course I didn't do it myself).

 

2011

And I really really loved that! I was so used to having long hair that there was a long period where I didn't even consider cutting it. But after the cut it felt so much better! I didn't missed the long hair at all. And the best part is that it got stronger since the cut. I have really really thin hair and because of the cut at least the ends got better!;) 

Then in 2012 I decided to have bangs. My whole family was against it and said it would make me look thicker and I should not do it. I went against them and got the hair cut and I really liked it with the short hair. I didn't get full bangs just one side.

2012

After I cut the bangs myself ones (which turned out horrible, but it grew out eventually) I kept them for over a year and went to the hairstylist every other month. 

2013

And now what? Guess what, I DON'T KNOW! At the moment I often wear it like this:

2013

..because it is way to long and bothering me a lot at the moment. I am not really sure what to do. Keep the bangs or let them grow out and see if I still like my haircut? I just know at the moment, that I hate this phase of growing...

That time of the year

Since it is pumpkin season I thought about making a pumpkin pie. Unfortunately I didn't have recipe. So I searched some of the blogs I read and guess what! They didn't really have one either, just adapted versions for pumpkin bars or muffins. But I wanted a typical American one, with a pie crust and then the pumpkin filling. So I searched the web again and came across a nice blog for an easy crust (Americanbaking) and a very detailed recipe for a pumpkin pie at PickYourOwn. However I adapted both recipes and merged them into one.;) I started with the pumpkin preps and once that was done I did the crust, which is very easy!!!:)

Pumpkin Pie

adapted from PickYourOwn

Ingredients:

a pie pumpkin (You can use different types of pumpkin. I used a hokkaido.)

1 cup sugar 

1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground cloves 

1 teaspoon ground allspice (Here in Germany it's called Piment)

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

3 cups pumpkin glop (ok... "sieved, cooked pumpkin")

1.5 cans (12oz each) of evaporated milk (Here in Germany it's sweetened condensed milk)

How to:

1. Prepare the pumpkin for cooking

Wash the exterior of the pumpkin in cool water, no soap. Then cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and scrape the insides. You want to get out that stringy, dangly stuff that coats the inside surface. I find a spoon works just fine!

2. Cooking the pumpkin until its soft. 

Put the pumpkin, I cut it into small pieces, into a big pot and water to it until it is all covered. Let it cook for 25-30 minutes or until completely soft.

4. Puree the pumpkin

Remove almost everything of the water, leave only the pot ground covered. Then I used a hand blender and smashed everything. Because I used a hokkaido pumpkin I didn't have to remove the skin, but remember to do so if you use a different type of pumpkin.

5. Mix the pie contents

Mix all the ingredients above well using a hand mixer.

6. Do the pie crust (SEE BELOW)

Do the easy pie crust and add it to a form.

7. Pour pumpkin mixture into the pie crust.

8. Bake the pie

Bake at 210°C for the first 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 175°C and bake another 45 to 60 minutes, until a clean knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Easy One-Dish Pie Crust

adapted from Americanbaking

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions: 

1. Mix oil and milk until frothy.

2. Add flour, sugar and salt to milk oil mixture and mix with a fork.

3. Put mixture into 9-inch pie crust form and press into and up the sides of the pie crust. Prepare pie in this crust as directed.

I used two small Hokkaido pumpkins and had way too much pie filling. I made three small pies, two with a crust and one without! If you just want one pie, you can easily freeze the pumpkin puree!;) 

Shared with

Me and those cakes

I love layered cakes. However I su** at making them. I have no idea what I do wrong. I ALWAYS do as the recipe tells me to and they are still not working for me. This following recipe being another example for that.

Classic chocolate cake with vanilla frosting
(recipe from Sweetpaul)
Ingredients:
Dough
240g salted butter
150g brown sugar
50g sugar
1 egg
240ml milk
1 tsp. vanilla
180g flour
1 tsp. backing powder
30g cocoa powder

Frosting
340g sugar
3 egg whites
80ml water
2 tsp. corn sirup
1/4 tsp backing powder
1 tsp vanilla

Prepare:
1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
2. Beat the butter and both types of sugar in a bowl and beat until frothy.
3. Add the egg and mix well.
4. Add milk, vanilla, flour, backing powder and the cocoa powder and again mix well until you have an even dough.
5. Divide the dough equally into two baking forms. (I weighed the dough and the half the weigh into each form.)
6. Bake for about 35 minutes or until a wooden stick comes out clean. Let the cakes cool off afterwards.
7. For the frosting you have to mix the sugar, egg whites, water, corn sirup and backing powder in a metal bowl (because you have to put it onto a water pot.)
8. Put the bowl onto the pot with water in it.
9. You have to mix the mixture well until thick and creamy.
10. Take the bowl from the pan and the vanilla. Then you have to beat the frosting until it cooled off completely. It's supposed to be fluffy.
11. Put one of the cakes onto a cake display and add 1/3 of the frosting and spread evenly. 
12. Put the second cake on top of the first and frosting and put the rest of the frosting on top and on the sides.
13. Add some sprinkles if you like.
14. The cake is supposed to cool off for an hour in the fridge before you serve it.
ENJOY!!

Now this recipe doesn't sound too hard, right? But somehow the cakes didn't went up in the oven and I got some really flat cakes. (First I thought everything vanished into thin air while baking. But when I took them out I could find the really thin cakes!:P) And then the frosting didn't go as planned. I had to add the baking form again because the frosting was leaving the scene...:/ (Even after letting it cool off in the fridge it kept running away...)
I don't know what it is with me and layered cakes. I guess I have to try until one of the recipes I use will be successful! AND I will try this recipe again!!! This has to work!;)

But the you know what?! THE CAKE TASTED AWESOME! So rich of chocolate and very soft and wet on the inside. Really really yummy!:)

Project Traveling

I try to write a diary of every vacation I am off to. I used to be very good at that but now I got really lazy and it keeps piling up. I still have to do all trips from last year. :/ 

What I used to do was just writing down what happened that day and added some flyers, tickets or things like that. In recent writings it has changed. Now I also add pictures and it's becoming something of a scrapbook or smashbook! Love the change that you can see throughout my books and will always know what was "in" that time...

I collect all things from a day of the holiday and keep them safe in a bag, so that I know from which vacation it is and from what day!

I really love that I am not the only one doing this!!! 

I also just started writing some notes after each day, so that I wont forget the little sweet details of one day!;)

I love having these books. I've been writing holiday diaries since I was 12, I think. My first vacations I didn't write anything down and I am really sad that I wasn't into it by then, because a lot of great memories are probably gone... I started because I wanted to keep a diary. However, I was never really consistent on writing into one every day. I really tried, though. So somehow it turned into a vacation diary because I only have to write every day for the maximum of two weeks, which I always was able to do so with a normal diary (and then I got lazy and just wrote every other day, so I quit). 

And I am still doing it (kind of). Every time I look up an old diary of mine, I smile and am really glad that I took the time to write everything down. (Of course the grammar and the spelling is really fun to read. It sometimes is so off. But hey, I was a kid and did not know any better(hopefully), so I was allowed!)

Anybody else still keeping (handwritten) diaries?

Little things...

....that make me happy!!;)

1 - Going for a long walk to clear my mind

and seeing the first mushroom in the woods this year! *happy*

2 - Caphé Sunday with hot cherries and cold vanilla ice cream! *yummy*

3 - Feeling so American today! 

4 - Next day I was feeling very British instead!

5 - Yummy food!

6 - Feeling a little bit at (scond) home (in the US) in Hamburg! ;)

7 - Famous German cook at a signing.

8 - I NEED TO HAVE THIS!!!!! *hint*

9 - FIRST Pumpkin Spiced Latte! *makes me smile*