Accidentally on Purpose! ;)

Hej guys!

As I was just watching this hilarious TV series-which I never hear about before accidentally finding it on the Internet-I decided to write a little review about it here in order to make it known to more people. You know, it's really, REALLY incredibly funny!!! :)

So, it's all about 37-year-old Billie Chase (Jenna Elfman), who breaks up with her "perfect" boyfriend and boss (Grant Show) because he doesn't want to marry her. After that break-up she has a one-night-stand with 22-year-old Zack (Jon Foster) and soon after realizes that she's pregnant. From now on she has to deal with Zack, who's almost a child himself, his friend who's a weedhead, her jealous ex-boyfriend, the threat of being sacked and much more.
The first season of Accidentally on Purpose follows their lives from when Billie and Zack meet each other until the baby is finally born. But I will not tell you any more details about the plot because I don't want to give away anything.  ;)
Unfortunately there is only one Season, but I think that might be because it is based on the book Accidentally on Purpose by Mary F. Pols. I guess the book doesn't go any further, so neither does the series. But that is a real pity, because it's one of the funniest things I ever saw!!!
It's not only the whole situation, which the main characters always manage to see with a sense of humour, also the other characters like Zack's or Billie's friends are simply too funny for words-especially when they meet each other!
There is a synchronised German version of it, but I'd recommend watching the English one, because it's definitely more fun. Plus, one of Billie's friends plays a Scotswoman, and the actress actually is Scottish, so you really can here the Scottish accent next to the American one - which makes it even more funny AND you can really hear the main differences!

So, if I was you, I would definitely give it a chance, it's worth it! One episode only lasts 20 minutes, so even if you don't like it nothing's lost.
Anyway here's a little teaser.  :)

Food Blog

Well, so after browsing food blogs for about an hour now-geez, I'm getting hungry from reading all those recipes-I decided which one I wanted to write about.

May I present:

The Amateur Gourmet!

Most of the blogs I came across were nothing special, exchangeable, but I somehow got stuck on that page. I like the way the author is telling you a story to every recipe. Some of them are funny and all of them are interesting. He tells about himself cooking with friends, him being educated about recipes or him offering an amazing cooking machine to a friend (Steve's Sous-Vide Salmon).
Another good thing about this blog is, that it has lots of pictures in it. Adam Roberts (the author) seems to take pictures during the whole cooking process an loads them up with his recipe-that makes it more fun to read the blog, and if you're cooking one of the recipes yourself you can always compare if yours looks right.

What I found interesting was, that this is not only a hobby of the author, but also his profession. Apparently he started with law school and somehow stumbled into the whole cooking thing. When he started to really like it he decided to start this blog in order to document his progress as he was learning. He also hosted several cooking shows and published at least two books (couldn't find out the definite number). To me, that guy sounds pretty interesting!

So, I decided to compare his experiences with Guacamole with my own.
Apparently we both know a Mexican person, who claims to know the REAL Guacamole recipe. The interesting thing about it is: his friend's recipe differs from the one I was taught by Lily, my brothers Mexican girlfriend.
They both use avocados, chopped onion and diced tomato. But while Lily's recipe only uses salt, pepper and lemon, Mark also adds jalapeños and cilantro. Well, which one is the original recipe? Can anybody tell me? I guess it just differs from region to region, which is okay, but then nobody should claim to know the one and only real recipe.

As for me, I guess I will stick to my personal favourite:
-Avocado
-Onion (chopped into tiny pieces)
-only a little tomato (diced into tiny pieces)
-a little bit of garlic
-salt
-pepper
-and a little bit of lemon juice-really just a little bit
-> put it all in a bowl and mash it together with a fork!

How can you eat rotten fish?!

So during today's lesson me and my group somehow came across the question "What's the worst or strangest dish you ever tried?".
After thinking for a while I remembered what it was:

Surströmming!

Ever heard about it? It's a traditional dish from Sweden, and those Swedes love it-who knows why.
It is rotten fish. Well, not actually rotten, fermented. I don't see the difference, but apparently there is one. Strömming is Baltic Herring in Swedish, and for this dish the herring has to be small and young. The fish is put in barrels in a temperature controlled room (15-20°C) where the fermentation process takes place. When the process is over the fish is filled in cans and then sold.
When I was in Sweden for four months I had to try it-partly out of curiosity and partly because my parents taught me not to reject any kind of food without at least trying it.
So I was invited to that big Surströmming-party-thing with my host family and of course I went with them. Even before we entered the house I noticed a weird smell which got even worse when we went into the house. Of course, rotten fish had to smell, but I wouldn't have it expected to be THAT bad! It was really horrible, it almost drained me of all my hunger-and I was VERY hungry that day.
By the time the food was finally ready to eat I had accustomed to the smell and was more positive about actually trying it. Usually you eat Surströmming on some kind of thin, crispy bread with butter, boiled potatoes and chopped onion. In some areas they also add tomatoes or some spices, but we didn't. So I prepared my dish like the others did and took my first bite...
To be honest, it was neither good nor bad. It's definitely nothing I have to try again, but it wasn't disgusting or anything. The thing is just, that it is a taste we are simply not used to, I cannot compare it to anything I know. But what's worse than the taste is simply the idea, that you're eating rotten fish, pardon, fermented fish. If I tried it more often I would probably come to like it, but I don't see why I should make the effort-especially because I don't think they even sell it anywhere but in Sweden.

^^ Doesn't look that bad, does it?

Anyway, what that experience taught me once more is that you should really just try food, even if you don't think you will like it. It's a sign of respect, especially with national dishes, and maybe you'll discover something you like. Plus, it is definitely exciting and fun.  :)

So, what's the strangest or most unusual or most disgusting dish you ever tried? I'd love to read about them.

I am from Barcelona - well, unfortunately I'm not...

Hej guys!

How's it going?
Well, I just finished setting up my blog. It took me ages! Either this is really confusing and difficult to do, or I'm just stupid.
For some reason I couldn't get it right, until I finally decided to just take one of the templates and make a few adjustments. Now I can live with the design, and that's all I wanted. At least I can start posting now-if I find any good topics.

Right now I thought about recommending a band:

I AM FROM BARCELONA!

They used to be one of my favourite bands, but for some reason I haven't listened to their music for at least a year now-god knows why. When I was sitting in the sun yesterday afternoon, relaxing and enjoying the warmth, I kinda stumbled over them on my iPod.
I really enjoy their music a lot because it's so easy-going. All the songs are happy and give you a feeling, that everything's fine and life's beautiful. Which it is-of course-but sometimes we need something to remind us of that fact.
Anyway, I found it pretty interesting to find out some facts about that band like, even though they call themselves I am from Barcelona, they're actually from Jonköping in Sweden.
Also, the band consists of no less than 29 members. 29! Can you imagine? Seeing a concert from them must be really funny, and I guess there's a lot going on on stage.
Another thing I like about them is, that they use all kinds of instruments such as clarinets, saxophones, flutes, trumpets, banjos, accordions or kazoos (whatever that might be), not only the usual ones.
Their music probably doesn't meet your taste in music, but give it a try, it's really happy music and always makes me smile! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W0-9ii8ycE

All this snow is making me saaaaad! :/

Usually, I LOVE snow, really! Especially when it's snowing like that, but since I'm not back at home I cannot really enjoy it the way I usually would. Even though living in a city has a lot of advantages I really miss being able to simply go out of the door and for a walk in the nature. Especially in stressful times like now (is anybody else freaking out about all those exams?!?!?!?!?!) there's nothing better than just taking the dog for a nice half-hour walk in the breath-taking winter scenery. After that you're more relaxed, don't hate the stuff you have to so much any more and it's easier to concentrate again. Not having those possibilities at the moment is really making me sad and I realize that it's harder for me to focus because I have barely anything to make up for all the uni-work and put me back to balance.
But still, there's one tiny ray of hope: my upcoming journey to Ireland! :) In the semester break I'll just relax and enjoy my one-week holiday in my mostly beloved Ireland. My best friend Anna's coming with me and we'll visit some friends and just enjoy life! I can't wait for it. Until then, I'll just try to do my best covering at least some of the subjects and survive.

Have you heard about Spotted?

Hej guys!
Have you heard of Spotted yet? It' s an initiative on facebook which helps you to find people you saw but didn't have the courage or time or whatever to talk to, even though you might have wanted to. It was founded only a month ago and started off with Spotted: University of Vienna, but now it already exists with the University of Graz, Nightlife of Graz and many more. You can send the team a message with the description of the person you're looking for (of course it has to be as precise as possible) and they post it. All the members can now see your description without knowing who you are, and if anybody thinks he knows the person they can tell their name and you can check if it's the right person and then contact them if you want to.
I think it's an incredibly sweet idea, because it happens too often, that two people just see each other but cannot talk because of some reason, or meet on the bus and don't have the time to exchange numbers or anything.  It's mainly about love and fun, and because it's anonymous it's far easier to ask the others for help. I don't know if it works, but I could imagine that it does help people, especially if they are too shy to take the opportunity when they see someone. In addition to that I really like to read the description because they are really nice, and already brightened some of my bad days now! :) Unfortunately I was not able to help someone yet, but who knows, maybe I will read a post of someone looking for a person I know in the future?
It's just a lovely idea, to spread a little love in our world, which sometimes seems to be filled with nothing but hatred and frustration. Give it a try-maybe someone's looking for you? :)

New Year's Eve!

New Year's is coming closer now, and I finally fixed my plans today. Am I the only one who is kinda annoyed by New Year's Eve and all the expectations linked to it? It somehow has to be an amazing night, and if it isn't everyone's disappointed. That's exactly why I spent all my last New Year's Eves at home with my parents. They always make a little party with friends and fondue and usually it's great fun. This year, however, they decided to follow a invitation, and suddenly I had to make new plans. The thing is just, that i prefer little parties with friends at home to those huge parties with going out...especially on New Year's Eve, when everything's even more crowded than usually. Anyway, I'm giving it a try this year again...last time I did that it wasn't a big success, but who knows about this year..? :)

The Hobbit!

So, yesterday I went to the movies with some friends and we were watching The Hobbit. Does anybody of you guys know what its's about? If not, it tells the story of what happened before The Lord Of The Rings. Basically it tells about Bilbo's adventures and how he happened to find the one ring. I am a huge fan of The Lord Of The Rings, I watched the movies uncountable times and read the books at least five times. :) I don't know why, but Tolkien's world just fascinates me. The storyline is really complex and contains so many different parts that it never gets boring. Eventhough I have to say that I didn't like the book of The Hobbit as much as LOTR because (at least the german version) is more of a children's book. However, Peter Jackson managed to convert the book into an amazing movie. It's not as dark and evil as the LOTR trilogy, but is more light-hearted and funny. When watching Peter Jacksons movies you really see his love for the details and epic screenshots. He really did a great job making the Middle Earth-stories into movies, maybe because he loves it so much himself. Anyway, after leaving the cinema I couldn't stop smiling because I was so enchanted. And this does not happen often at all. I'm already dying for the other two sequels of The Hobbit, but I will have to wait another year for the second one and then yet another one for the last part. I think I will definitely go and watch it again! ;)
I strongly recomment that movie to everyone who loves this kind of films...hold on, actually I can recommend it to everybody! Even if you're not too much into fantasy films, that one would be a good one to give it another try and maybe discover something new. :)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eI3f4b-b8ig

Cheese makes everything better!!!!!

Have you ever thought about it? Cheese makes everything so much more delicious!!!! Well, melted cheese, of course, and it has to be a good one too. But just think about it:

Spaghetti with tomato sauce-boring. Spaghetti with tomato sauce and parmesan-delicious!

Lasagna-pretty good itself, but add melted cheese and it's a hundred times more tasty!

Grilled chees sandwiches-don't you dare denying it's one of the best snacks ever!

Fondue-have you ever tried a real swiss cheese fondue? If not, do so as soon as possible. It is so incredibly tasty, you would want to wrap up in it!

Raclette-just top up plain potatos with melted cheese, maybe mixed with bacon or onions, and a potato is getting one of my favourite dishes!

Kässpätzle-oh my god, they are like, the most delicious dish ever!

Pizza-just imagine how boring it would be without cheese...

Leberkäse-yummy, but Käsleberkäs, give me more, give me more, give me more!

So far so good...at the moment I can't think of anything else, even though I KNOW that one could continue that list forever. :) You got any ideas?

Anticipation!

Good morning everybody! :)
Christmas is coming closer each and every day-I bet you know that. I already got all my presents, but they weren't hard to get as I only need some for 3 persons. But, the most important thing, is anybody else so incredibly excited about going home? As I'm from Salzburg I cannot simply say "oh I feel like going home now, I'll just step by for a day." Which is HORRIBLE! I haven't been at home for over three weeks now-no problem usually, but when I'm not all too happy in general I miss home even more. Unfortunately this is the case now. Am I the only one who is somehow fed up with all the studying at the moment? I don't know how it's with you guys, but I have a test tomorrow, one on friday and the PC on monday...and I don't really see how I can pass them. But anyway, in one week's time I will be done with all that-at least for one or two weeks. The semesters at the uni are unbelievably short, don't you think? Anyway, I will try my best in those tests now, and as the day when I'm finally going home again is coming closer, my mood will get better. At least that's the plan.
Have a nice day!

AirPower 2013

As it's time for another free post, I decided to write something about the AirPower 13, after spending the whole day thinking about a topic-is it possible that finding topics gets harder?!?!
Anyway, the Airpower 2013 is taking place on the 28./29. of june. I know, it's still more than half a year to go, but as I'm looking forward to it so much, I decided that I could write about it now as well as any other time. :) In case anybody has never heard about the AirPower before, here's what it's about: It's a huge air show, actually the biggest in Europe, as far as I know, taking place every 2 years in Zeltweg (Styria). It is organized and sponsored by the austrian army, Red Bull and Styria. A huge plus about it is, that it is completely for free. Every other air show takes a high entrance fee, even much smaller ones, where you can't see half as many or extraordinary airplanes/aerobatic teams.
What I really like about the AirPower is the great variety it offers. You can see renowned aerobatic teams like the Frecce Tricolori (Italy) or the Red Arrows (UK) as well as vintage airplanes and really fast jets like the Eurofighter or the Gripen. There's a good range of international military and private airplanes, barely seen somewhere else in that compilation, and they usually have a varied, interesting program. In addition to the aeronautical part of the show, they offer child care, food and drinks, merchandise articles, and various other activities like bungee jumping or helicopter flights. These, of course, do cost something.
As I am really, really into the whole airplane-thing (but just the nice fast ones, the big passenger-aircrafts are boring) this is a mandatory appointment for me, and if anybody else is interested in that kind of stuff, I strongly recommend going there-it's awesome! :)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_gcNXtv_AoE

Junkerpräsentation 2012

As some of you guys probably know the annual Junkerpräsentation took place yesterday evening. It was my first time attending it and I really loved it. As I generally love wine this is pretty cool for people like me. We tried some different wines but ended up at the one wine-maker's stall we already know, Lazarus, as he simply has the best Schilcher. :) Besides the pleasure of drinking good wine in nice company I loved the fact that you're usually wearing traditional clothes there. I love my Dirndl and I think it's a pity that I can't wear it more often withough being stared at, so I enjoyed this welcome opportunity to finally wear it again.
What I think was funny about the Junkerpräsentation is that so many young people (manyy students I guess) attended it. I guess the original idea of this fair was for the wine makers to present their wines to people who would actually try them and then buy those they liked best. As there were a lot of young people attending the fair, it seemed to be more about getting drunk than about actually tasting the wines and buying something (as most students probably can't afford those wines anyway). Not that this is a problem for me, I did the same, but I think it's a funny change, and I'm wondering how it came. :)

Hej guys! :)
So, I thought it's time for another little post, and this time it's really gonna be shorter than the other ones.
I have this friend, Max, and he's a really nice guy. Haven't seen him in ages, though, but hopfully we'll meet again soon. Anyway, he got a blog himself and there he posts small summaries plus critics of every film he's watching (and didn't know before). He's doing it just for fun, as far as I know, and because he simply really likes watching movies. Most of his summaries are english, because he thinks if it's possible at all you should watch  the movies in the original language. I really like his critics because they are honest and not too long. Moreover, he often watches films I never heard about before, so it's also interesting, and if I think they sound interesting I watch them myself. Plus he's not focussing on one genre but covering most or all of them. I don't know if anybody of you guys likes films that much, but if anybody's interested, check it out! :)

http://supereinfachschwierig.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/the-perks-of-being-a-wa...

Hello there!
So, I thought it's time for a new free post, but then I spent ages on the topic-I guess we all have problems with that! :) Usually, I would write about myself, because there's always something going on and it would be the easiest thing to just write about something personal. But as most of these topics would be too personal, I will keep them for my diary.
Is anybody else writing a diary? If nobody does, give it a try! :) I really love it, it's good to get rid of your thoughts by writing them down. Especially when I'm not feeling good at all I like writing things down, it somehow helps to understand myself better and get another view on things. Of course, I also talk things over my friends, but sometimes I just can't because I would be embarrassed. It's probably not, that my thoughts and feelings are really that embarrassing, but I THINK they are, and that's the point. Neither can I tell my sister or mother everything, nor my best friends or boyfriend. Therefore it's just good that I can write things down and only I can read them, as long as I don't give anybody else permission to.
But I'm not always complaining in my entries. There's a good part of sad or angry entries, but I also have many which tell me about the good times. I started the habit of writing something after a good night out. The thing is, I often come home after being out with the feeling, that this was one of the best nights ever, and that it's so bad that nobody's going to remember it for long. So on the next day I'm opening my diary and start writing. Sometimes it's a lot, sometimes just a few sentences, but I'm always trying to include the best or worst or funniest or most personal parts. So every once in a while I'm reading some of the entries and it's just wonderful to do so! :) You can just completely recall how you felt in that exact moment or what happened in that period of your life, and suddenly you remember long forgotten things.
So, just in case somebody thinks "Well, that all sounds nice, but how would I write it?" or "Okay, but who has the time to do so?"  It's not that important how you write it. I usually write in a mixture of standard German and dialect and it sounds as if I'm telling a friend what I think. I don't use the "Dear Diary" line, because it feels stupid to do so, these are my innermost thoughts addressed to no one but me. Moreover it's not that important that you're writing daily. If nothing worth to remember happens in a whole week, I'm not writing either. Sometimes I write very often, and then there's  three week break. I only write when I really want to, otherwise there's simply no point in doing it.

Rediscovery!!!

Good morning guys!
So, yesterday I spent the whole evening reading. And only afterwards I realized how long ago it is, that I last did that-even though reading always was one of my passions. Does that happen to anyone else? You love doing something, then, for some unknown reason, you're forgetting about it, and suddenly, accidentally, you rediscover it. Only yesterday, when I did it, I realized how much I missed that! The sheer pleasure that comes from reading a good book is comparable to nothing I have lived so far. I have an ex libris saying

"Bücher lesen heißt
wandern gehen
in ferne Welten,
aus den Stuben,
über die Sterne."

And once more I realized how true this is-at least for me. Physically I was sitting in my bed, motionless. But mentally I spent the evening fighting giant whales, a horrible storm, looking for solutions and experiencing the overwhelming joy when my companions (and me) finally found what we were looking for.
It's funny how much more you get out of reading than watching TV for example. Even though reading is slightly more exhausting than watching TV, because it takes some concentration (even more so as I'm currently reading an english book), but it gives back so much more. I could spend an evening watching TV and be in a miserable mood afterwards, but that never happened while reading a book.
Actually books I like become my friends, and whenever I reread them I remember the time when I read them before, how it made me feel and what I experienced during that period of time. They store my memories and help me to remember. A book never fails you.
For some reason I do not like the electronic version of books. I tried the whole kindle thing and it did not suit me. Even though it's more convenient to have one small screen with you than some books, which take a lot of space and are heavy, I need the paper between my fingers to truly enjoy reading. It always exhausts me if I have to read longer texts on a screen, I don't know why, but it's harder for me to concentrate on a screen.
Some people might call me weird now, but the love for books is just an essential part of myself, and I am so happy, that I rediscovered it!

First try...let's see how it goes!

So, just as everybody else I need to start my blog now. As I know myself pretty well I thought I'd better get this whole blog-thing started right now because once the beginning is made it's easier to continue.
Actually writing a blog, especially in a foreign language, should be something enjoyable for me. I love writing freely, even though it's often hard to find something to write about. That it has to be in english is no problem for me either, because using my language skills is something i really enjoy.
As I do not really know what exactly to write about I may as well introduce myself:
Hi guys, I'm Birgit. :)
I'm turning 20 on the 13th of November (less than a month-interesting...) and I originally come from a tiny village near Salzburg (Faistenau, if someone knows it by any chance). I have four siblings, all older than me, and two are currently studying in Graz as well-which is pretty cool for me! ;) I graduadeted last year, but I decided that I didn't want to start studying immediately after school so I went abroad. From September to Christmas I was in Nyköping, Sweden, working as an AuPair. It was nice up there but I was bored as hell! The whole AuPair thing did not suit me very well and this family actually would not have needed an AuPair, I had barely any work to do. So when I came home I worked in my summerjob for 1,5 months to earn some money, which I immediately got rid of again when I was in Ireland. In spring I spent 3 months in Derry, Northern Ireland, working at riding stables. This was, without doubt, the best thing I ever did in my entire life. I had the best time there, learning a lot about horses, Ireland and my new favourite people, the Irish. I was overwhelmed by how lovely they are, always friendly, helping you wherever they can...simply really nice and friendly people.I benefited so much from these three months, it's unbelievable. I would love to go there again, but before I can do that I need to at least start doing something with my life. This is why this autumn I finally had to start my studies-which is not bad, but still I feel a terrible longing for my life back in Ireland...I really miss it there.
So...I guess that's it for now, I'm tired, my brain is empty!
Any comments or questions? If anybody bothers I would love to read anything about how I'm doing! ;)
Have a nice evening and see you guys on thursday! :)