Retired from a long working life as secretary/assistant in UN and EU institutions. Freelance stress counsellor and proofreader/copyeditor. Now living in Berlin.
30 g each of pumpkin and sunflower seeds and 20 g each of flax and sesame seeds for coating
Dry-roast the pumpkin and sunflower seeds till you can smell them, let cool, add the flaxseeds, salt and 1 dl cold water, and let soak at room temperature for about ten hours.
Grate the pumpkin. Mix with the flour, the soaked seeds and the salt.
Dissolve the yeast in 3 dl cold water and add to the dough. Knead well for ten minutes, add water if needed. Coat a bowl with oil and leave the dough to raise to double its size at room temperature, two to three hours.
Dust a space on the table top with flour and turn out the dough. Knead, flatten and fold, and knead for a while, divide into two portions and let rest for ten minutes.
Mix the coating seeds. Coat two baking tins approx 9,5×25 cm with oil. Wet the surface of the dough slightly and roll the breads in the coating seeds and place in the tins.
Cover and let rest for 30 to 40 minutes while heating the oven to 250 C.
Bake for ten minutes, reduce heat to 210 C and bake for another 35 minutes.
NOTE: The gnudi need to rest at least four hours, preferably longer, such as overnight or from morning till evening.
500 g chard
250 g ricotta
2 whole eggs
10 g parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to garnish
20 g pecorino, finely grated
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 tblsp flour
200 g semolina
100 g girolles
1 tblsp of olive oil
100 g unsalted butter
lemon juice to taste
OPTIONAL: It would not be among my favourites if I did not, instead of the nutmeg, add a tsp garam masala to the ricotta mixture. Also, by mistake I had only bought 200 g ricotta, so I make up for the volume with additional grated parmesan and pecorino. And finally, I added a bit of my favourite chili paste to the sauce.
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.
Strip the chard leaves from the stalks and wash thoroughly. Wilt the chard leaves in boiling water for 1-2 minutes then refresh in cold water. Trim the ends of the stalks and cook separately but in the same water for 2-3 minutes retaining a slight bite, then refresh in cold water.
Strain the leaves and give them a really good squeeze to remove all the water from them. Finely chop the leaves and cut the stalks into 5cm batons. Keep the stalks covered and refridgerated while the gnudi rest.
Beat the ricotta until smooth, coarsely chop the chard leaves and fold into the ricotta mixture. Add the beaten eggs, parmesan, pecorino, nutmeg, a pinch of salt and pepper then fold in the flour. Shape into 30g balls and place on a tray dusted with the semolina.
Roll the balls around in the semolina ensuring each ball is evenly coated. Cover and leave in the fridge for at least four hours, preferably overnight or from morning till evening, before cooking.
Clean the girolles thoroughly with a dry brush.
Bring another pan of salted water to the boil, drop in the gnudi and simmer gently until they float to the surface. This should take 3-4 minutes.
While the gnudi cook, heat up the olive oil in a wide pan. Fry the girolles and chard stalks for a few minutes over a high heat until nicely coloured. You want roughly an equal amount of girolles and stalks, so you may not need to use all the chard stalks
Turn down the heat, add the butter and a splash of the gnudi cooking water. Stir until the butter has emulsified and begins to thicken, then add a dash of lemon juice and a crack of black pepper.
Carefully remove the gnudi from the water using a slotted spoon, drain well and add to the sauce. Gently swirl the pan to combine everything and allow the sauce to thicken, coating the gnudi nicely. Add a splash more of the cooking water if it becomes too thick, or an extra knob of butter if a bit thin. Serve and finish with freshly grated Parmesan.
Weatherbeaten and happy, took a trip to see the sea. Spent nearly six hours by the Baltic Sea (to make up for the several weeks I had planned on spending by the North Sea (which to me is a real sea :-)), but since overnighting is currently verboten, this will have to do.
I treated myself to a ticket on first class, direct train. Comfortable and – hopefully – Corona safe – just two other people in first class.
The train journey there was magical, shortly after sunrise, snow covered fields and frosty vegetation. And many large areas covered in solar panels. Taken from the train:
Plumage – even in relatively colourless, northern European birds, fascinates me:
More of the maritime vibe along the canal:
Many sculptures:
Insel der Frauen, Wolfgang Friedrich, 1999
Südliches Firmament, Heimtrud Nyström, 1999
Drei Klaashahns, Christian Wetzel, 1999
Möwenflug, Reinhard Dietrich, 1972
Lotsenehrung, Reinhard Dietrich, 1976
Liebespaar, Wilfried Fitzenreiter, 1979
Esperanza, Ené Slawow (Eneos), 2012
Grosse Stehende, Werner Stötzer, 1986/98
Welle, Anne Sewcz, 1997
On the beach:
The pier:
Other impressions:
And finally, some photos that should definitely be deleted, but I choose to see them as abstracts :-):
The weather was foul and the forecast said -8 to -10 Celcius with snow and strong winds. However, I was determined to keep my appointment with Maxie – my regular “walking bubble person”. After all – how often do we get this kind of weather nowadays? We managed about ten km.
Engelbecken-Hof, Leuschnerdamm 13, a house mentioned in the book Verborgenes Berlin, built in 1904 by the Swedish stonemason company Kessel & Röhl, with a characteristic facade and a lift in Jugendstil:
Also mentioned in “Verborgenes Berlin” is the building from the time of the industrial revolution on the corner of Adalbertstraße and Waldemarstraße with the characteristic reliefs. On the other corner, there are two large murals.
To the closest places of interest according to these books:
The Diaspora Garden – I did not actually go in (I think they are closed to visitors), but I have seen the garden before, inside the Michael S. Blumenthal Academy, a more recent addition to the Jewish Museum opposite, on the other side of Lindenstraße. Read about it here.
Here a couple of photos from the outside of the academy (I love the sloth and wonder how long it has been there without me noticing it):
Around Theodor-Wolf-Park between the southern end of Friedrichstraße and Wilhelmstraße there are many large murals. According to the book “Die Schönsten Berliner Stadtspaziergänge” (from 2010), this is the largest mural in Berlin, from 1996 by Christian “Lake” Wahle. The book is from 2010, and I am quite sure it is no longer the largest.
Here two of the several other murals in the area:
Again, I have not actually seen the next “attraction”, although it is almost a neighbour, and also did not enter the building today: the spiral staircase in the house of IG-Metall – Haus des Deutschen Metallarbeiterverbandes. (A website worth exploring a bit, and now that I have been reading about it, I will certainly look at that building with new eyes every time I pass it). The house was designed by the architect Erich Mendelsohn (another revelation worth exploring, with an amazing life story), and the staircase is, according the the book Verborgenes Berlin, one of his lesser-known masterpieces. Here is, for what it is worth, what I was able to come up with today, taken from outside their glass entrance door:
Further along Alte Jakobstraße, for no particular reason:
Ritterhof, Ritterstraße 11, according to the book “Verborgenes Berlin” one of the few buildings in this street that survived WWII:
From neighbouring buildings, and the building site next door to Ritterhof:
Coming up to the third consecutive summer of shade and claustrophobia now. How much longer will that monster be stealing half my sunlight? And how much longer will I have to look at that ugly wall?
Tempelhofer Feld (Berlin’s greatest playground for young and old). The photogenic child was a random encounter, and yes, I did get permission from the parents to take the photos and to place them here. I am about to take my portrait photography a little beyond animal portraits and perhaps human children portaits would be a good place to start.
Passed by this hindu temple which has apparently been under construction on and off for decades. If and when it is ever completed, it will be the second-larges hindu temple in Europe.
I decided to familiarise myself with Tiergarten, a.k.a. “Berlin’s green lung”. Although it is always close, no matter where in inner Berlin you are, I have never made much of an effort to get to know it. I guess I thought it would be too cultivated-park like. However, with government’s 15 km rule, and my own rule about using public transport as little as possible, this is no time to be picky.
The route on komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/305134669.
Tiergarten does seem very kempt in places but there are other areas where nature seems to have more of a chance. There is also a large area with many rhododendron, some streams and lakes, and wildlife (although unfortunately, I did not see any of the famous beavers).
Also many statues and memorials, some very well-known, some less so.
Not at all a bad place to have within walking distance in times like these. I expect it is crowded during weekends, though.
First a couple of photos on the way there, in Niederkirchnerstraße: A statue outside the southern end of the ministry of finance. I can’t find any details of it, and I am even quite sure it has not been there long. I seem to remember seeing it somewhere else before.
The remnants of the Berlin Wall outside the Topography of Terror, and the statue of Karl-August Fürst von Hardenberg outside the Berlin state parliament (Abgeordnetenhaus).
In Tiergarten just a few of the many statues and memorials. First the Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven memorial, then two photos of Siegessäule, one of some of the eight bronze animals at Floraplatz. Photo number five I am not sure of, and photo number six is the memorial for Karl Liebknecht.
