Der Nebel steigt, es fällt das Laub - a German and Austrian autumn thread

[AntiqueMuppet]

A thread for anyone living in Germany or Austria, or anyone else who fancies a chat.

Previous thread here

Oh, and while I remember, does anyone want any DVDs? If not, I'll keep them to pass on to you at some point Ploom.

Morning!
Just sneaking some MN time before we leave to drive (an hour) to a big soft play place. Its a right miserable day (dreich as we say in Scotland) so a perfect day for them to run around inside. Still wonder why you dont find soft play places as often as in the UK but I do think they always seem bigger here (and dont smell of wee!).

linzer - you've got a lot of work on at the moment but hopefully none as tricky as the link hupa posted - that made me eyes sore! I'll happily take the DVDs if no-one else wants them first. It might just take me a while to watch them and pass them on. Say thanks to your brother from all of us .

admylin - thats so sad and so upsetting for everyone involved that someone commited suicide in your cellar. How awful as well for the person that found him. Can I ask where your dd buys her shoes/boots? I'm struggling to get dd a pair of Stiefel or Stiefeletten - they're all to wide for her skinny wee legs since she needs an adult size. Have spent too much time this weekend looking (not helped by the fact she's beyond fussy0.

english - wow you definitely had a lot more snow than us. Ours hasnt completely melted but I'm sure todays rain will melt the last bits. They are efficient here at clearing the roads when there's a lot of snow but they end up making big piles at the side of the road like by linzer which means 2 cars cant pass each other. Did you enjoy your few days peace and quiet and most importantly did you enjoy the sleep??

Aw nutella its your turn to be all soppy. What a romantic description of you meeting your dp in Nuremberg. I've only been into the Stadt once 11 years ago and it wasnt winter. Maybe dh and I should persuade the IL's to come to look after the dc for a weekend before Christmas and him and I should go.

Glad you're not affected by Sandy jenny but a risk of a volcano erupting sounds pretty serious. Stay safe.

None of my 3 ever slept that long at that age hupa and ds1 was a great sleeper. Thats amazing - the mum must be loving it. Think I've just been blessed with early risers but its easier now they're older - they just get up and go downstairs and dh and I carry on sleeping. Glad you had a good time in Dachau and the snow didnt affect your journey.

Still dont have my winter tyres sorted - felt shamed by the newsman last night who said all the accidents over the weekend were caused by people who STILL dont have their winter tyres sorted . I need dh to load them from our garage into the car and since he's not done it well I cant go. Thankfully the snow at the weekend was a bit of a one off for the week so I've plenty of time.

ploom I know exactly how you feel about the boots! I gave in this year and got dd 2 pairs of boots. Got them at Deichmann and they are what all the girls are wearing so she wanted to follow the crowd!
These cheap ones and these ones

I'd much rather she had a proper pair of long boots that will cope with snow too but she's been out in the rain with these 2 and says her feet were dry.

Sorry to hear about that poor man committing suicide, admylin, how awful for everyone. :(

Glad the vegan thing has started well, hope you continue to enjoy it. :)

jenny, stay safe! Or move to Germany! :)

Brrr, stay warm everyone else! :)

witches it was a shock when we heard about it and the fact that it was 2 weeks ago and I didn't know. The police must have been here.

The landlady even sent us all a round mail recently complaining that someone had left saw dust in the cellar and it was disgusting not to clean up after yourself and she would be charging us all alot of money to have it cleaned up if it's not gone in the next 2 weeks. I guess she also doesn't know.

People come and go in the building but I didn't even notice when recently someone moved out. No idea how they moved all their stuff without me even hearing it then we got a new neighbour right next to our flat and I didn't realise the last one had moved out.

I've tried to be chatty with some of the neighbours. I've even offered 2 of them to come in for a cup of tea but they kind of backed off as if I was crazy or maybe going to poisen them [hconfused]

Vegan week is going good. Made some great vegan brownies yesterday. Dd wasn't keen on the cauliflower and potato curry I made but everyone else ate it! Tofu stirfry and noodles today so we will see how that goes down. Almond milk is great too.

Nutella The dvds are on their way to you!

admylin I haven't forgotten you, I will send you that recipe (before the end of vegan week!)

Quick wave to everyone else, been stupidly busy this past week arranging flat stuff & trying to keep one step ahead of the destruction machine that is DS (who is now walking, which means even more mayhem than before.)

Here's the recipe, admylin:

1 can kidney beans
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 medium carrot, cooked
1-2 teaspoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1-2 teaspoons oil

Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend to a smooth paste (or mash thoroughly with a potato masher). Chill before serving.

DS and I quite often have this with a bit of avocado and cheese (although obviously not good for vegan week) on tortilla wraps. I think you'd need to season it a bit more for adults.

Just so awful to feel so desperate/depressed to want to take your own life.

We got a new neighbour on Sunday, not met them/him/her yet. Our other neighbour is lovely, though we hardly ever see him.

Glad vegan week is going well.

Enjoy your walking DS, Antique! :)

Oh my goodness I completely missed the suicide thing. How awful!

Ploom Hope you enjoyed/survived the soft play! I've never been to one in the UK (I don't think there's one anywhere near where my parents live) but there are quite a few around here and they're all fairly big. I'll take my time sending the DVDs on to you then (unless anyone else wants them, in which case shout!).

admylin We buy virtually all the DC's shoes at Deichmann - they seem to have a much better choice as well as being cheaper than most other places. I wanted to get some winter boots from Lidl on Monday but made the mistake of leaving it until the afternoon, by which time they'd sold out. Grr.

The school week has just finished here as the DC have got today and tomorrow off. We haven't got much planned for the bank holiday tomorrow, but have a volles Programm for Friday - get the tyres changed (finally), get a new passport for DD1 and meet up with platanos.

Deichmann is OK linzer although the cheaper shoes don't last long. At the moment that's OK as I don't expect the dc to be in one size for long! We went to look at boots in what is apparently a Lagerverkauf for Salamander with 20% off shop price and there wasn't one pair of dc's boots under 100?.
Have a nice relaxing few days with no school! We've got the rest of this week left then it's back to school for my 2.

Thanks for that recipe antique I even have all the stuff to make it so will try that tomorrow. we tried a quick ready made tofu burger at lunch time as we were late at the dentist (and both dc were starving) but it wasn't very good.

Just found out that it's quite impossible to get an appontmet at a dermatologists. Very long waiting times and snooty secretaries. Dd has a sort of mole thing on her lip and the dentist assistant caught it with the suction thing (she's new, in training) and it's hurting her now. Dentist said to go to a dermatologist but I think I might just go to a normal doctor. Or ask dh to pull some strings at the hospital.

Got boots for dd...... at Deichmanns . They were real leather reduced from 69 euros to 34.50 - happy days. They're still a bit gappy round her calves but not as bad as some others she tried on. So she's finally sorted for winter (new coat and whole ski outfit as well as the boots) and we're a bit poorer .

We had a really good time at the soft play yesterday - we were there for 6 hours . I had organised to meet up with 3 other English speaking friends and our 14 dc (!!) and one of the friends had brought 2 friends from the UK that were over for half term so it was a really sociable day for the grown ups and the dc all had a fab day too. Must organise it again some time.

admylin - oh that sounds sore - hope you get an appointment soon. I would think any doctor could have a look at it.

linzer - enjoy the few days off and say hello to platanos. I've got an appt for monday for my tyres but doubt there'll be any snow between now and then.

aw antique - toddlers toddling always looks so cute but I remember oh so clearly how much trouble they can cause! Keeps you fit tho - saves you shredding .

Crikey, so glad I wasn't on the East coast looking at all the damage that was sustained. Not that much chance of the volcano erupting but it is the same chain as Mt St Helens and that was a bit of a surprise at the time!

Dd has a Halloween party at school today and I volunteered to help. Fortunately dh has a day off (though he's gone into work at the moment ) so he can look after ds2 who is in the mood to run off all the time! I'll take ds1 with me, then it's the dentist, then gymnastics for dd and then trick or treating! Volles Programm indeed! That reminds me Linzer, must get the winter tyres on and get ds1's new passport now he is 5.

Hope you are all having a good Wednesday.

Sorry, the thread hadn't refreshed - hope you get the mole checked out for dd soon admylin and glad you had a great time at the soft play and got new boots ploom! It's great to be sorted.

Thank you Antique I love getting parcels in the post can't wait to watch some British telly :)

Ploom in some ways I miss it. There seem to be an abundance of decent restaurants and cosy cafés in Nürnberg; but up here they don't seem to have grasped the idea of sitting in café and relaxing. So far I have 1 coffee shop recommendation for Hannover but still about 6 for Nürnberg

admylin how is vegan week? Any protests or mutinies yet?? What do you have for breakfast? I'm very curious...

The baby-ecke is painted! Well I want to tidy up in one or two places but I finished the last big bit yesterday; now we can get on with all the fiddly bits and furniture buying...

DP still has a few days of leave to use and most of the things I'm doing wind down in the next two weeks so should be able to stop panicking and start relaxing together soon

BTW where is everyone? :o It's gone very quiet in here

nutella vegan breakfast isn't much different to non vegan breakfast for us. We've had toast with jam or slices of cucumber and chopped peppers (we eat that when we're not doing a vegan week) or musli with almond milk instead of milk and lemon tea, dd had a chocolate soya drink. I thought I would miss cheese mostly but I haven't and I'd gone off eggs recently so don't miss those and as I was vegetarian anyway, it hasn't been much of a change for me.

Dd has had a few moments when she's wanted chocolate or sweets or a quick snack that isn't vegan but she's sticking to it and mostly just gets herself an apple!

ploom sounds like you had a great soft play day! I've only ever been to one in the UK when the dc were tots and it was great, very safe for the dc but dd got stuck and I had to crawl through a tunnel, over a hanging bridge and into a pool of balls to show her the way out!

Congratulations on getting boots! I know how hard it is with fussy teen or pre-teen girls. The boots dd got this year wouldn't have been considered as OK last year. Same with her summer shoes, she suddenly decided on a style and was happy to wear shoes that would have almost killed her to even try on the year before.

Admylin sorry to hear about that suicide in your cellar, how horrible :( Hope your DD's mole can be looked at very soon.

Antique yay for toddling! I missed the kids when they were at the in-laws earlier in the week, but I must say it only takes a few days to forget just what a whirlwind of chaos, mess and destruction a young toddler can be, and the house I spent 3 days re-organising, cleaning, sorting and tidying already looks as trashed as ever... hmmm

I would hate to ever give up milk in tea, it is my biggest comfort and without the milk tea is undrinkable and life would be dark and sad :o especially in winter - I don't hate black coffee but its not a comforting drink without milk either, more a wake-up slap in the face :o guess I'd have to drink Glühwein from 6am onwards :o

Hi everyone! My parents left on Tuesday and I had to work yesterday despite it being a public holiday, so I'm taking it easy today and finally catching up with the thread.

admylin hope you're not completely weirded out by the suicide, how horrible . Vegan week sounds great though. If you need any more recipe ideas, give me a shout. I've got a recipe for couscous with roasted veg (including butternut squash, which you can actually buy atm) and a Madhur Jaffrey chickpea and potato curry which is one of my favourite things to eat ever.

antique I shall be trying that recipe of yours as well. DD currently loves eating things with dips, plus she gets so much meat at kiga that I really need to find alternatives to leberwurst/ham/Ferdi Fuchs sausages at teatime. Hooray for walking ds btw!

ploom I couldn't get an appointment to change our tyres until the 13th. I'm hoping it won't snow again in the meantime!

vegans have you heard anything about "Hefeextrakt" (yeast extract)? I bought some vegan salami today which has it in, but there was an article in the paper last week about it being terrible and it was mentioned at our Elternbeirat meeting at the kiga this week when the subject of rubbish food came up (Sudexo are supposed to be taking over the catering next year ). I'm confused about whether Marmite might actually turn out not to be a superfood or whether Hefeextrakt is something else entirely.

Sorry to see that cake has gone. Maybe she'll have more time to come back on here when the baby is here!

Hello to everyone I haven't managed to namecheck .

cheaspicks glad you had a nice time with your parents. Your dd will miss them at first I bet. at no tyre change appointments until the 13th! Must be a great time of year for business if your're a car mechanic! I think I should go and see about an appointment soon.

chickpea and potato curry is one of our regulars but thanks anyway (dh is Indian) and quite a few of the traditional curries we make are infact vegan! Have you seen the majula's kitchen website for Indian style veggie food? Her recipes are great and alot of them are vegan too.

english that's what I thought would be difficult too but the almond milk was OK in my tea. I like lemon tea though too. Lol at the Glühwein from 6am on ! Dd actually has some punch flavoured tea that tastes alot like Glühwein so why not!

Have a lovely time with platanos, Linzer and enjoy the bank holiday (which we don't get here in Hessen, boo!)

admylin Good luck with getting your DD's mole looked at. Do you think you'll got to the GP and get a referral? That website looks good - both DH and I are big curry eaters so a few new ideas always go down well.

Ploom Glad you had a nice time at the softplay place. PIL were here yesterday & this morning so I haven't had chance to shred, but DS is more than making up for it! He had his injections this morning so is napping now and I'm having a nice, hot cup of tea (when I really should be cleaning).

jenny Sounds like you had a busy day yesterday!

Nutella Are you excited about baby shopping? I loved it when I was pg :)

English I don't drink milk so the idea of milky tea and coffee makes me go a bit green around the gills! I can totally see how it would be a nice comforting thing though, especially in the winter. Maybe if I drank my tea with milk my teeth wouldn't currently be a lovely shade of PG Tips and I wouldn't have to scrub them with every whitening product I can get my hands on!
Glad you enjoyed your DC-free time and hope they haven't wrecked the place too much now they're back!

cheas Glad you had a nice time with your parents! There were a few more recipes for dips in the BLW cookbook if you want me to send them to you?

I've just whizzed around and tidied up a bit as we have people coming round to view the flat tonight, but it feels a bit pointless as as soon as DS wakes up he will wave his magic wand of destruction anyway. I gave up in the end this morning as he was following me around emptying everything I filled and unfolding everything I folded.
We advertised the flat on the internet at about 10pm on Tuesday and by 10am on Weds I had four viewings booked and another two or three enquiries, so I'm quitely positive about finding someone as it then means we can start packing to move in December, yay!

Antique That sounds really promising; hope the viewing goes well tonight. I know what you mean about tidying seeming pointless; I feel the same most of the time even though mine are all well past the toddler stage!

admylin I was surprised by how easy it was to switch to vegan food (I gave up dairy products when DD1 was a baby on the advice of our paed, although only lasted for about a month), but the fact that I was also vegetarian beforehand obviously made it easier, as did the fact that you could get vegan substitutes for more or less everything (I was surprised by how much I missed butter/margarine, until I found a vegan alternative).

cheas Glad you enjoyed the time with your parents. I'm also working today despite the bank holiday; I accepted a job due the middle of the next week before I realised that DD1 is off on Monday and Tuesday, so will have to try and get a bit more done this weekend.

English I would miss milk in tea and coffee as well (although I used to like soy milk on my cereals), although Glühwein from 6 am would be a tempting alternative.

Nutella I was thinking earlier this week how quiet it's been here, and then realised that it's Herbstferien for a lot of people on the thread.

Jenny Hope the Halloween party went well. Does your DS2 (I think he's the only one that was born there?) have an American or a British passport (or both)?

We went trick or treating last night, which was good fun but I am never going on an empty stomach again. We started off at our German neighbours', who offered us a schnapps - I refused, but they still brought me one. After a couple of alcohol-free stops, we ended up at our old neighbours' house, who invited us in and opened a bottle of wine. I think another one or two may have been opened at some point. I do actually remember all of the evening and don't think I said anything too embarrassing, but have no memory of the DC going to bed - thank goodness DH was around to feed them and make sure they went to bed!

Oooh for once my DH (who does no housework or cooking and not a lot of childcare) wins useful husband of the thread - he changed our tyres last Friday :) He DS1 has always "helped" (not intentionally sexist as he tried to get DD to learn to, she claims to be interested then wanders off to do something else after half a minute). Apparently this year DS1 did almost all of the work with DH only doing heavy lifting and safety precautions - DS1 is only just 5... Perhaps the mechanics are making money for doing something most people could do themselves???

English DH always used to change our tyres, but stopped for some reason - I think it may have been because we always park our car on the road and don't really have a lot of room to change them (he always used to change them at my ILs'). Definitely a useful skill to have, at any rate - I wouldn't know where to start.

I knew that about your dh, admylin , I guess as I was thinking of making that curry myself I just wrote it down without thinking. That website looks great - I've been looking for a chickpea and spinach curry recipe for ages and the one on there looks straightforward enough (except I don't have asafetida, but that won't matter, will it?)

antique I can't stand to drink milk either, although I do have it in tea (but I'm more of a coffee drinker). DD really, really hates milk, to the point of not eating white or even cheese sauce, or quiche, or strawberry ice cream if a blob of cream has previously been on the plate . We only buy milk if we know we are going to be cooking with it, so I think we could live without it. Doing without yoghurt and cheese otoh would be very difficult though.

I've been baking sourdough bread this week - made my first loaf on Monday and am currently making loaf no. 2. Fingers crossed it will be as good as the first one - I left the starter lying around uncovered for half a day by mistake, but as far as I can tell it seems to have survived.

I can't stand milk on its own either, cheas - I think it's a consequence of being forced to drink school milk (the top inch of the bottle was particularly disgusting). I also remember the crate of milk standing in the sun for a good part of the day as we didn't drink it until the afternoon.