Merry Christmas/Fröhliche Weihnachten!!

Hillsong - Christmas Songs - Darlene Zschech

Do good and dance!

The International Women's Club Stuttgart has another fabulous Charity Event on Nov 9, 2013!
Proceeds go to the battered women's shelter of Frauen helfen Frauen e.V.
There will be a fantastic raffle with amazing prizes from Goldberg restaurant, Mama Spa, Korbmayer, Holiday Inn Stuttgart, Maritim Stuttgart and many more! There will be dance from Mr. Mac's Party team, delicious Hors d'Oeuvres, yummy desserts and certainly a lot of nice people.
Tickets are still available until Nov 2, 2013 ... just email to rsvp@iwcstuttgart.org or go to the direct link to sign up!

Kürbisausstellung - Pumpkin exhibition

Aren't pumpkins beautiful? Such a beautiful sign of autumn...
And pumpkin soup? Pumpkin pie? Just so delicious!
This year, we went to the pumpkin exhibition at Blühendes Barock for the very first time.
Topic for 2013 was SPORTS - just look at the fabulous boxers and skier below!
We were lucky as our visit was at end of September, a very beautiful and sunny Saturday afternoon!
We had picnic on the meadow, ate yummy roasted pumpkin seeds, adults enjoyed chatting and boys running around. Exhibition is still open until 3rd November, 2013.

 

 

 

 

Review: Staatsgalerie for kids

A friend recommended kids tours in Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart's big art gallery.

 

 

We went there on Mother's Day this year. There was a pop art exhibition called "Op+Pop"which I wanted to see anyway. Our tour guide, a young woman, did a wonderful job: She explained screenprint (Siebdruck) with some items she brought She did it in such a simple way that I finally got it too! :-) She showed us a picture of New York where the artist used more than 200 different printings until he was finished! See this picture called "D-train" of Richard Estes here and learn more: Stuttgarter Zeitung
Pop art started in the 1960s. Famous artists are Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns.

What I didn't know at all, there was a close connection to Stuttgart area and the pop art artists: They had their pictures printed for example at the printing plant Domberger in Filderstadt.
I have to say that I learned more at this childrens tour than I recall of some adults tours!
Afterwards children were invited to be creative in the atelier. 

Mezzogiorno!

Valentine's Day is a while ago already, but I still want to write about the lovely Italian restaurant we discovered on this occasion.

Mezzogiorno is situated in the University park in Stuttgart, on the opposite side of the street of the "Katharinenhospital". It was our first try of this restaurant and we were convinced by a laid-back, modern interior decoration with large windows to the park. I loved the big "SALVE" on the wall (see pic above - Italian word for "hello"). The atmosphere is warm and the staff is very nice and contributed to a festive night out.
The food convinced us even more, first of all with the delicious taste (I had bruschetta, dorade and panna cotta) and also with the beautiful arrangement on our plates.
This is a restaurant where you can have a romantic night out, but also have a relaxed time together with your kids. We will definitely come back!

Fasnetsküchle

It's carnival time and surely, Stuttgart isn't Cologne or Rio ... but children certainly love to dress up here as well.
Additionally, we have a very tasty carnival specialty: "Fasnetsküchle".

This taste reminds me of many carnival (here: "Fasnet") celebrations in my childhood. My mom used to bake them every year and we also watched the carnival processions in Mainz, Düsseldorf and Cologne (Germany's carnival stongholds) on TV.
This year, I made them for the very first time. Surely I saw my mom making them often and also helped her sometimes. But this time I was the responsible one :-)
They are made of a sweet yeast dough, then the dough is rolled and cut into rhombs.
After that the challenging part comes: they are put into heated oil where they bake happily until golden brown.
Here's a recipe in German.
I took my recipe from this Swabian cuisine book which I got from my mother some years ago:

It can still be ordered on amazon.
And now have a look:
Start with patience and let the yeast dough grow...

Then cut the rhombs....

Put them into hot oil...

and then put them out, let the oil drip off and dust them with icing sugar:

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!!

BTW, we also watched the carnival processions yesterday and as we lived in Cologne some years, this was certainly the highlight:

Orchid buds!

Our orchid suffered during our move last summer. Accidentally it had been covered totally with paper and was put into a box. So several days it was in almost total darkness.
The green leaves showed white  spots and it really didn't look great.

Last week the same orchid gave me a very big, very pleasant surprise:
suddenly I saw new violet buds coming forth - not the white colour like before - but this beautiful violet:

What a beautiful picture of strength and beauty in the midst of adversities!
What a beautiful picture of new life and beauty coming forth!
Looking forward to see it blooming!

A heavenly night!

Since December, the Sister Act Musical is in Stuttgart! It is performed in the SI Centrum, Apollo Theatre.
I went there yesterday with two friends - and we all loved it!
The costumes were so creative - especially the glittering nuns choir costumes! Such fun!
And then the scenery was made to such perfection - the church, bar police station, but especially the different church backgrounds were stunning.
The actors are very good - great voices and a very entertaining and fun play. The songs are entirely in German with good texts and melodies. The only dissapointment was the complete lack of the original movie songs like "If my sister's in trouble" or "I will follow him".
The audience was in a great mood and gave standing ovations at the end of the play.
Sister Act is definitely worth the money (and also the cheapest seats have really good view!).
More information and tickets here: Stage Entertainment
Watch the trailer (in German) to learn more about this fabulous play: