Last Travel log of 2015

Hi

I must take a few moments here to acknowledge, be grateful and express my immense gratitude for having travelled so much in the year 2015. I feel overwhelmed, as I sometimes think of it sitting alone in my contemplation mode that I have really had the opportunity to turn my dream travel destinations into a reality and thus I feel immensely thankful for each step I walked, miles I drove and flew.

Antalya, Turkey

Travel Diary - Southern France November 2015

Hi readers,

This time the travel itch took us to the south of France . I had always and really always wished to visit France and not the stereotype Paris trip but more inland and distant, blame it on my nomadic soul, the distant and unknown always pulls me, the ´Fernweh' as it is known is what I am a victim of.  So for the 5 day vacation that my husband had we got lucky with some good deals on airtickets to Marseille and then our Hotel in Nice, rest was for me to plan. Marseille is the third most populated city in France and I, the wandered prefer to travel and see less populated places. So upon landing in Marseille, as how we usually do, we picked up a car from one of the rental services at the airport and headed to Nice which is about 200 Kms away but a central point to lot of places in French Riviera (Cannes, Antibes, St. Tropez etc.) also widely known as Côte d'Azur, the Italian villages on the border and Monaco (one of the smallest countries in the world). 

View of 'Promende des Anglais' from our room's balcony (Radisson Blu / Nice)

Grilled Salmon

Hello People

Continuing with my clean eating plan and some nutritious dinner ideas and of course my obvious love for fish, had me pick up some fresh pink Salmon fillets at our weekly village market. This market is such a delight to shop in, well I am going to do a post about that soon because I am totally in love with this way of picking my groceries and the fresh produce from local farmers that one gets to buy there but that is for next time.  

This is what our dinner looks like at least 2 times a week. In order to get good amount of Omega-3 fatty acids and Proteins from our meals I love putting this simple, healthy meal together without feeling liking I am having to swim upstream. Ideally, in a week one must consume fatty fish such as this twice and at least once low-calorie high-protein fish like Cod.

Pan grilled Salmon served with steamed rice, salad and veggies cooked in coconut curry

Oat Cookies with Chia and Flax seeds

Hello People!!

I am in love with the concept of clean eating, making my nibbles at home to which I know what has gone in. I still crave desserts and didn't want to have the fat laden ones and to satiate my munching syndrome I ended up baking these 'Golden Goodness Cookies' as I call them. These are chewy, healthy and delicious all at the same time Oh Yes :)

Cookies done

 

Upside Down Pineapple and Ginger Cake

Hi Everyone !!

I am fan of Pineapple for its taste, texture and fragrance. It screams summers to me and I bought a whole big Pineapple (greed took over me ;) ) in the weekly market of our village. So thought of baking this 'Upside down Pineapple & Ginger cake'. However, this time around I replaced part of all-purpose flour with my favourite Oats and added a hint of thinly sliced ginger to it. 

Nutella Cake with Oats

Hi People

How much I love desserts !! You know what this is actually a transition. In India, I was never fond of eating sweet things but after moving to Germany I have completely fallen in love with the stuff Germans make in their bakeries, its awesome, yum and totally worth the calories and indulgence.

Anyways, I am still conscious of what and how much I eat and that means somedays I like to skip buying dessert and bake something at home. This time I baked a Nutella Cake with Oats.

Apple and Olive Salad

Hi Everyone

Since past few weeks we have been following a high protein diet regime and have been consuming more meat at home. Sunday evening was a dinner with friends at an American Diner called "Miss Pepper"(was such a lovely place) and it of course meant so much more meat. I really wanted to take a break from this and that was enough of a reason for me to make an Apple Salad today adopted from a recipe by Chef Kunal Kapur. I relished this salad for lunch today and would love sharing my take on this recipe.

Baked Fish on the weekend & how it happened

Hi everyone !

I just was having a hard time all of last week, rather from the day I got back home from the holidays. Ask me why? I just could not stop sulking about the holiday being over too soon :( . I so really wished to extend this vacation for the little things like cycling, gallivanting around in the near-by villages, jogging on the lakeside and relishing fish and sea food for my meals, that I was enjoying so much. Nevertheless the sulking part, had to get myself and my spirit going so during the weekend grocery shopping when I came across some fresh Dorada fish on the meat counter I could not resist and got it for the weekend dinner. 

North Holland and its villages

Hi Everyone

This post is all about my second visit to Holland in June this year. It was a short vacation with our doggy boy 'Joy' in tow and a drive of a little over 3 hours to North Holland.

Prague for my Birthday !!

Hi readers ! This year it was decided to bring in my birthday in a new place and so it was Prague for me. A three day long trip, Joy boy was dropped into his Dog care and there we went...

Vacation in Lanzarote, The Canary Islands, July 2014

Hello everyone !! I am loving this whole writing and tale telling activity. In this post, I will take you through our holiday in Lanzarote which is one of the 17 islands of Spanish Canary Islands.Lanzarote is an active volcano (technically) and is in fact a result of the volcanic activity. I have always wanted to visit the Canaries for all that I had heard and read about it and I jumped at the chance to visit it once Manish was able to take a week off for a holiday.  

Amsterdam on a Long weekend

Hi People !!

I cant wait to tell you about my travel tale from August of 2013 when we travelled on a long weekend to Amsterdam. This time we decided to take a train which took about 2.40 hours to get to Amsterdam’s central station. We travelled together with a friend of Manish from India who was visiting Germany and another one who's working here in Cologne too. This was such a fun fun trip. 

Königswinter and Drachfels - A Day's Trip

Hi my dearies ! So our second travel tale or much rather 'A Day Trip' is about this beautiful little hilly town near Cologne called "Königswinter". Its the cutest city and summer town I had so far seen. The narrow enigmatic lanes bending into the uncharted and lined with pretty houses which had beautifully dressed facades decked up with flowers, stones, quotes and the years they were made in, makes this a very romantic place.