Last week almost convinced me that I might be a people person after all! But now it’s Monday morning and I desperately crave some alone time. Some weeks are just crazy. And last week was one of them.
In terms of work, it’s been a good week. I made some good progress with my manuscript and also finally was able to sort out some admin stuff with the university.
I am officially declaring defeat now and so I started to apply for a bunch of jobs. Unfortunately, they are neither a good fit nor do I actually want them. But I guess at some point I just have to suck it up and become a part of the workforce again.
The funny thing is that after feeling forced to sit down for these things for weeks now writing a recipe blog post was the wind under my wings I needed to get started.
After I had the recipe and pictures sitting in my folders for months now, I finally managed to write the actual post for this Spicy Beef and Chickpea Shakshuka. It was good to write again and I was on a high all day.
My energy was still high enough to clean the whole apartment afterwards. Maybe I should try writing more often again!
I went to Crossfit twice and hung out with my buddy afterwards. Relaxing, good chats and homemade Asian food included!
We had our friends and neighbours over for a BBQ one evening and on another evening Stefan and I spontaneously went on a pizza date in Munich.
We also had a fun evening in our kitchen talking about unnecessarily stupid like stuff we have to deal with and also discussed how we would spend the millions we will never win in the lottery. Which is a bummer by the way because we would have great plans! All while we were also cooking Indian food by the way.
On Saturday we celebrated my cousin’s 30th birthday in a beer garden by a lake. It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun. It also didn’t hurt that Germany won the world cup match this evening.
On Sunday we had our friend over for dinner after we spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen preparing a meal that was in the making for one whole week. Stefan made salt beef that had to marinate in kind of a salt broth for 7 days. I baked chewy NY style bagels to go with it. Unfortunately, I got confused and accidentally made three times the dough I originally intended. I still have half the dough sitting in my kitchen waiting for me to make more bagels out of it.
I hope I have enough space in the freezer to store them there. Otherwise, I need to drop some off at my in-law’s. That’s probably not a bad idea.
So next to baking more bagels I will concentrate on my manuscript today. Also, I have another eye doctor appointment later. So I actually against all instincts have to put on pans and leave the house.
But before all that I am linking up with Meg for some Week in Review fun!
You’re always welcome to write here, especially if you get the cleaning itch afterwards. I’ve got some cabinets and drawers in desperate need of a wash.
I’m actually looking forward to today since Ave is going to the in-laws and I can try to take care of some stuff here and soak up some much needed alone time. Hopefully I hit the mix just right.
Also I still need to figure out Lightroom. I struggle with using the brush feature. I’m doing something wrong; I’m sure of it, but I will figure it out.
Here’s to a fresh week.
P.S. Aren’t Stefan and the Hubby cute with their World Cup messaging?
Hahaha oh well, next time then 😉
I hope you had a good day full of relaxing and getting stuff done. Let me see if I find a good tutorial on how to use the adjustment brushes. I feel like with Lightroom it’s 20% knowing how it technically works and then 80% figuring out what you like and don’t like. It just takes a while to get the hang of it. But in the meantime please ask whenever you have a question!
Haha yes! Those two are so cute!
Sometimes, taking the first step in a new direction is the toughest part. So glad that for you, it involved writing a recipe blog post, because the spicy beef looks amazing! I bookmarked it. Good luck with your manuscript.
You say it! I think I just need to make the first step and then see where I land.
Oh good! Let me know what you think if you try it!
Thank you! I am just on a little editing break right now. But I have high hopes to finish it this week 😀
My god this post screams so much luxury. Beer garden by a lake!? Yes please. You made homemade bagels? Its a massive thing for me to make any dish requiring more than 12 hours, let alone 7 days!! Major props to both you and Stefan. It’s so great to have these kinds of creative things you want to do, or try, and then actually do them.
I guess they are made a lot easier when they come with evenings together in the kitchen laughing and talking about this that and everything. Your kitchen dates always sound the absolute best.
The introvert/extrovert push and pull is real. I can’t decide if I crave connection more or alone time more, but all I know is that after I’ve been social, my solo cafe dates are everything.
Oh gosh! We couldn’t even store the beef in our own apartment because our fridge is too small. So one of us had to go to our in-laws every day to turn it and make sure it’s fully covered. Luckily we live very very close.
Our kitchen dates are my favourite part of the week. It’s just a good opportunity to catch up, talk and also get a good meal out of it 🙂
Right?! I WANT to go out and meet people but then always end up completely overwhelmed and in dire need of alone time. I feel I can never balance it right!
David and I often have those ‘if we won the lottery’ conversations. I honestly think we have more set plans for our ‘post lottery win life’ than we do for our actual future! And as always, the conversation ends with… “Hmmm maybe we should actually play the lottery”. Ha!
I think making triple the amount of dough is just being sensible, I mean why make just one batch when you can make three? And I bet they will freeze perfectly. You won’t need to worry about breakfast for a while! Just a shame there wasn’t masses of salt beef left over as well!
Have a great week lovely. Hope you get some quiet time to recharge the batteries!
Hahahahaha same!!!!!
I would agree if the forming, cooking and baking part wouldn’t just take so bloody long! I ended up freezing some bagels and also freezing some dough. It was just way too much! I mean the dough was probably enough for 40 bagels?
Quiet time is not really in the books for this week again. But I want to finish my manuscript so maybe it’s a good excuse to say no to a few social things.
P.S. Thank you for your email 🙂 I’ll reply soon!