First REAL vacation

Just a quick post ..

Have been too lazy and busy to blog .. have been home since the last post, did some retail therapy at the outlet .. had some Gourmet Attack experience and went to the Hamburger Dom.

My thoughts on the Gourmet Attack - excellent way to try out some restaurants and experience some new things ..

Le Ciel, Le Royal Méridien

Starter: Red beet -pear cream soup with caramelized goat cheese

Main dish: Beed medaillons in jus de thyme, sauteed cabbage and potato gratin

Dessert: Home-made peach dumpling with caramel ice and a compote of berries

I chose this restaurant with a French kitchen, because of it's extra-ordinary menu - something you don't eat every day - and it was the only 5-star hotel that was participating. Although, I'm not a soup fan, I loved the soup. Very interesting combination, light flavor of the red beet and creamy (yet not too rich) pear taste. The goat cheese was not mine. Didn't fit into this composition, in my mind. The beef was very tender and perfectly prepared. It was gooood! The sides were boring, but tasty as well. The dessert was a bit disappointing .. the dumpling was too doughy and filling, the compote sour. The caramel ice was good though, with tiny bits of caramel. Dining was special at the top roof of the hotel, overlooking the Außenalster. All in all, a true fine dining experience.

Mövenpick Hotel & Restaurant

Starter: pumpkin soup with apple-pumpkin chutney and a praline of goat cheese

Main dish: Guinea fowl scalloped with onion mouse, noodle risotto and grilled mushrooms

Dessert: apple crumble in a glas and apple wine mousse

Mövenpick Hotel & Restaurants have a Swiss kitchen, which I am not familiar with, but I am starting to like soups .. the pumpkin soup was delish! Also I really like the way of serving it. We were served a tray with the can of soup, the bowl with pumpkin and the chutney seperately. After placing the tray, the waiter poured the soup into the bowl. However, a little bit too creamy and very filling. The fowl (piece of chicken) was too small, but given the starter and the (again) creamy risotto, it was enough. Nothing very special. The dessert was not mine .. I don't like crumble, so I only ate the mousse and decoration. The hotel itself is gorgeous - within the water tower amid of the Sternschanze - a going out district for youngsters. The restaurant was simple, cool and like any other hotel restaurant. I don't think, I will return for dinner, but drinks for sure!

***

Anyway, the LONG overdue day has come and I will be heading to Hong Kong TODAY! Sooooo looking forward to it .. seeing my family, meeting my new baby cousin, catching up with friends, attending the wedding of my roomie and visiting Vietnam! :)

finally!!!

Take care and good luck with everything you all are up to! :)

Weekend recap

Lüneburg is a really cute, little and especially picturesque city. Unfortunately, on Thursday we were stuck all day in the conference room. In the evening, during and after dinner we had too much to drink, so I was glad that we were dismissed around lunch time on Friday, so that I could actually explore the city. The Medieval oldtown is really sweet with it's old houses. I spent 1,5hrs to stroll around the small city center and took some pictures with my iPhone. The rest of the day, I just rested at home in my comfy clothes and catched up on my favorite series.

Some shots with my iPhone

For the rest of the weekend, I did the usual household routine by running errands, doing laundry and cleaning up. On Saturday evening, I picked up a friend from work, we went for dinner and got ready at my place afterwards for going out. Again, it was a failed attempt. Together with two other friends, we checked out Moondoo directly on the Reeperbahn, but somehow I got the wrong vibe. Maybe it was because we arrived very late (2 am), we were too tired or simply the music was too electro. So after a short stay, we went home. The next day, I met 2 ½ friends for cooking, well more sushi-making. Haven't done that in ages! I can't remember the last time, I did that, but it was nice and we ended up making too many (since we were snacking away the whole time) ..

Sushi with the ½, checking out the iPhone 4S and facetiming with the fam

I still haven't updated to the newest iOS5, since my computer is still not fixed yet .. should really get it done. Pretty annoying .. I have 3 laptops at home currently and none of them works 100% - luxury problem, I know!

***

Hamburg is having it's first Gourmet Attack starting this weekend, similar to Restaurant Week in NL and elsewhere and it's motto is "Book. Eat. Love." - clever! So I'm looking for dining buddies .. let me know, if you're in town and interested! ;-)

Have a good, rest of the week! And keep on sharing your news! :)

Happy thoughts!

Exactly one month to go until my vacation! I'm counting the days! I could really use some change of setting to reboost my energy! Still need to do some detailed planning ..
I had the opportunity to join Sue to Rome in two weeks, however through the stress at work and the stupid connections from Hamburg, the tickets got way too expensive and impossible :( But I HAVE to go one more time after my big holidays next month. Since two years, I made it a new tradition to spend my birthday in a city that I've never been before. And since i still have 14 vacation days (3 full weeks), I made it my mission to go somewhere oriental :)

Last weekend I finally got the chance to visit Hamburg's Apple Store, which is supposed to be Germany's biggest! Btw, I accidentally washed my iPhone's earplugs, because I forget to take them out of my sport pants and guess what? They still work .. I just don't hope there will be a tiny electrocution in my ear the next time ..

Apple store at the Jungfernstieg

Hamburg is getting a lot of new additions to support my retail theraphy :) Zara Home just opened last week, where I've already bought a pressie and Abercrombie & Fitch will open next spring! :)

Zara Home, Große Bleichen, HH

Oh and my new ankle boots arrived, so I can throw out my old ones! I will show them in the next post after I impregnated them (double-hint at Sam)! :P

Miss you, sis! FT soon!

Also I met a new friend, who hooked me up with nice Kiehl's goodies :) I've been trying out this Midnight Recovery Concentrate and it somehow reminds me of massages, so very soothing!

I ♥ goodies!!!

My superior told me this week that she is surprised everything went well with my part of the financial forecast/budget planning. Should I take it as an insult or a compliment? Normally, my glass is half empty, but after my meaningful ending in my last post, it should be half full .. Anyway, she added that she acknowledges my progress overnight (?). After the rough week I had, it's good to get a little tap on my shoulder ..

This Thursday and Friday, I will be on a company teambuilding workshop in Lüneburg, north of Hamburg. I'm curious what that has in store for me ..

Anyway, as I was saying .. one month to go .. hope you have great vacation plans in store as well or at least some other happy things to keep you motivated! ;-)

Expect the unexpected

Last weekend turned out a bit different than expected. The girls were supposed to arrive at my place around 10pm, so I started cooking shortly after 9pm, when Sue called and told me their flight was cancelled. All attempts trying to re-book, finding a train and a rental car failed and they finally ended up in Berlin (!) for the night. This incident kinda messed up the whole weekend in some way.

The girls finally arrived around lunch time and we went straight to the city to do some shopping and sightseeing. The weather was just perfect! Since the AIDA cruise ship was in town again, we wanted to take a close up by ferry. Somehow we took the wrong one and ended up spending 1,5hrs on the ferry. At least we could enjoy the view!
We went to dinner around 8.30pm at 4experiment Gastraum, a more alternative restaurant that is opened by 4 friends that create new dishes - every day! It's an easy going restaurant with high quality ingredients that make extraordinary dishes. It was quite okay, but it didn't blow me away. Afterwards we took a quick tour through the Reeperbahn to check out the crazy people and went to a club in the city. However, the drinks were too pricey and the girls too tired, so that we already left before 1am.

On Sunday we had breakfast at a cafe nearby and went straight to Blankenese, the richer part of Hamburg with its famous stairs (there are about 5000 of them).
Somehow, the weekend went by way too quickly - as always. The week afterwards was crazy busy - monthly closing and budget in the same week. So glad it's weekend now!

Girl's weekend

On another note, it was shocking to hear the news about Steve Jobs. I've been reading a lot about him these days and this quote struck me:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

With this being said .. make the most of it and expect the unexpected! Enjoy the fall weekend!

Indian Summer

Fall is officially here, but this weekend summer is back! I'm soooo looking forward to this weekend, since .. 

1. Sunny 24 degrees! Calls for Hamburg's beach again ..

Sunny!!!

2. It will be a long weekend due to the German National Day on Monday, well the German Unification Day.

3. My girls are coming! They are two of my oldest friends that I know since high school. Sue, I have already known since I'm 10 and Sarah probably since the age of 12-13. Seems like ages ago! So a fun, busy weekend is planned. :)

Sarah, Sue & I - good times in Düsseldorf

4. Partying! Haven't been for so long! We scored some VIP tickets to an exclusive club in the city center of Hamburg.

5. October is around the corner, which means NEXT month I am having my well-deserved, long-awaited vacation. Technically it's still 6 weeks to go, but still it's next month. :)

***

Happy (long) weekend and enjoy the sun! More after the weekend!