Tuesday 15 September 2020

A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 15 September 2020 - T for cacti, juniper and ice cream

 

Hello lovely ladies, Here we are again on Tuesday. Are you all ready for the T-Party hosted by Elizabeth and Bluebeard at Altered Book Lover? All that is needed is a beverage, or something drink related. 
My entry could well be these cute tea cups planted with succulents. I really like that.


Let me show you some postcards. This week I received two postcards from Germany, on the same day, from the same town (Rostock), but from different people. Isn't that a coincidence.
Rostock used to be in the former DDR (Eastern Germany). I know a little bit about Rostock because our eldest lived in Rostock for a year. He took a year out in the middle of his business degree to get some practice in Germany. His main foreign language was German so he could also practice his language skills. It was not long after the 'Wall' fell and the business he worked for didn't have a clue about business and marketing (having lived under a communistic regime), so he ended up teaching them about business and marketing instead of learning. But nevertheless, it was a good experience.


Rostock was one of the Hanseatic towns. Do you know about the Hanseatic League? I feel a history lesson coming up! Just scroll down and skip it if you are not interested.

Hanseatic league- A former economic and defensive confederation of free towns in northern Germany and neighboring areas. Traditionally dated to a protective alliance formed by Lübeck and Hamburg in 1241, it reached the height of its power in the 1300s and held its last official assembly in 1669. I can see Iris Flavia jumping up and down as I believe that King Henry II (the Lion) started the league. 



This, on economic bases set up organization, actually was performing until XVII century. In the middle ages such trading-political union was necessary to protect land against unexpected military assaults by the Vikings, as well from the potential piracy. North Germany towns due to this union fast become the dominant economic force in Baltic Sea region and Lübeck – trading center, which was joining Baltic and Scandinavian countries.


Bremen and Hamburg as well as Hannover were hanseatic cities. I always can tell by the car number plates. (They have that extra 'H'). HH is Hansestadt Hamburg, and HB is Hansestadt Bremen. Rostock has the letters HRO for that reason.

What have I been up to this week?  I walk twice a week with my friend, but I didn't go on Friday as I was tired and slept in. I did go shopping in the village and I spotted this window above the fruit shop. (I'd never noticed it before).


I have been trying out my new oven, and I made these small yoghurt cakes. One small pot of plain yoghurt, 3 pots of flour (using the same yoghurt pot as a measure, rinsed and dried of course), 2 pots of sugar and 1 of oil, 1 sachet of baking powder and 3 eggs. I also add some drops of coconut flavoring, and I also put some in the icing. Some dried coconut on top. Done. I cut them in squares and took them to our worship meeting and they disappeared in no time!

Yesterday's walk included a climb onto a hill, from where we had a beautiful view:

I had been looking for juniper berries as I need some for a recipe. But they are all dried and discolored. I picked some anyway, hoping that they will have some flavour.

We had a 360 degree view. Very beautiful.

Another concoction in my new oven. A savoury bread. I used the steam shot function three quarters through the cooking time.

Our little bit of land where hubby grows his veggies, is not next to the house. It is in the valley. He is building a shed to keep his tools and equipment, so some building materials were delivered this week. It was awesome to watch the lorry negotiate the dry riverbed and the track to our land. In the photo you can see the lorry. Our land is to the left of the lorry, but I photographed it before it turned left and would disappear behind the trees.

A highlight this week was the visit to our friends in a nearby village. They have several abandoned houses near their house, and as that is the theme of this month's photo club entry, we combined the photo shoot with a visit. She had some lunch ready for us. Spot my glass of white wine!

And he had made a carrot cake. Here it is with my cup of coffee.

On Wednesday, we went into town to collect the new tire hubby had ordered. Down the road on the left hand side is some writing. It says: Plaza De Las Eras (square of the eras). Right at the bottom (by the tree) is the ice cream shop, where we were heading.

It's not so clear on the photo but this is a water feature. Water runs through the gully in between the two 'walls'. It makes a pleasant noise too.

We treated ourselves to some lovely ice cream at our friends' ice cream shop..


I've come to the end of this blog post. I hope to see you all at the T-Party. Visit Elizabeth and leave her some love.

Happy T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca

13 comments:

  1. Ooh I would love one of those succulent cups- love them!
    Again, really interesting history behind the postcards Lisca-thanks as always for sharing the info:)
    Beautiful places and scenery while out and about. And by the looks of
    your wonderful looking food- you're really enjoying the new oven;)
    Happy T day!

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  2. The succulents in cups are a great idea. Rostock is indeed a beautiful town, and yes, I did learn about the Hanseatic towns in school. Glad you are having fun with your new ovens, it all looks very delicious. You visited a wonderful place, too, love the photos. Have a great week, happy T Day, Valerie

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  3. Nearly being a Fish-head myself I certainly know about the Hanse - but I have never been in Rostock (shme on me)...
    Windows like the one you show I saw in Lucca, Tuscany.
    For the rich, but I think it´s sad.
    Beautiful views, inside out! And yummy, too, happy T-day and hugs!

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  4. I'm loving those succulents in those teacups, so pretty! Lovely postcards and how lovely to spend time with your friends 😁. It looked like you had fun out and about on your walks and at your friend's ice cream shop too - yum! Happy T Day wishes! Hugs, Jo x

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  5. Restock looks like a pretty spot to visit. I love the teacup succulents, they would make great gifts. Your lunch looks yummy ~ and dessert as well ~ Enjoy

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  6. Looks like you’ve had a fun and good filled week Lisca. I made some sourdough bread and also something called a French toast bake. It is sliced bread and then you pour an egg and milk mixture over it. I added some apples and crunchy brown sugar topping. Then it sits overnight and then you bake it. It is suppose to be for breakfast but we had it with sausage for a light Saturday night dinner. Glad to see more of your scenery. It is really beautiful and very different from my normal. And thanks for the history lesson. I’d heard the term before but didn’t know what it was. And the license plate lettering lesson was good too. Hope you are having a great T day. Hugs Erika

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  7. Hi Lisca, busy week. awesome views for your walk, your desserts look delish and I am not familiar with your steam in the oven. great postcards again-enjoyed learning about them Happy T hugs Kathy

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  8. Cute cups! I've never heard of that kind of cake. It looks tasty. And that bread! You have a very scenic environment for photography. Happy T Tuesday!

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  9. Nice postcards. Rostock is a beautiful place!

    Your Yogurt cakes sound and look delicious along with the carrot cake and the steamed bread. Yum! Isn't baking rewarding? Not just the act of putting ingredients together to form something edible but it tastes good and smells good. And I love how you said you used a pot of this and a pot of that. If I did that it would fill up a lot more than those pans that you used. Is a pot a form of measurement? We use cups in the USA or we go by weight in grams.
    Your meal with friends sounds wonderful especially the bit about going for ice cream. And what a clever way to include a water feature.
    Happy Tea Day,
    Kate

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  10. I don't even know where to start. A lovely post, in a lovely place, by a lovely lady. You are blessed to be where you are. Baked goods Yummm. Enjoy your evening.

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  11. Pretty succulents. They're some of my favorite plants because I can usually keep them alive.

    I wonder if, in hindsight, your son is grateful to have been in Rostock at such a critical time and having been able to help. Great story.

    That is a neat coincidence to receive two cards from Rostock in one week ... and they're even similar in design.

    I'm imagining Iris jumping up and down too. Thank you for the history lesson. You always share such interesting info sparked by your postcards.

    What a cool way to measure ingredients for your cake. Fewer dirty dishes. The cakes look delicious. Did you make that up or are there recipes like that online?

    I smiled at your "I Love Lisca Day" comment on my blog. Great minds think alike.

    Happy T-Day. Stay safe and well. Hugs, Eileen

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  12. Fabulous post cards, I remember learning about the Hanseatic towns (we lived near the East coast) and of course in later years I have had an interest in Henry II as the husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine! You have filled in the gaps nicely! Your baking looks delicious as does your friends carrot cake! Love the views you get to see! Belated Happy T day, Chrisx

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  13. I apologize for taking so long to visit. It was definitely beyond my control as you read. I'm trying to catch up, but it's harder than I actually imagined it would be. One thing that would have helped was if I hadn't had to scroll through your next post to get to this one. That's why I ask everyone to show JUST THEIR T POST and not their blog in general.

    The succulents in the cups were beautiful. Nice postcards, too, dear. It was great to learn your son lived there for a year, even though he ended up teaching the company business. I'm sure that helped his language skills a bit, too.

    You have lots of friends and I worry that no one is wearing a mask. You have tons of drinks this week, too. So glad you got to try out that new oven. Now I'm really hungry. Thanks for sharing this post with us, the postcards, the food you prepared and all those drinks for T this week.

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