Kombucha Goodness

By this time I've been brewing Kombucha for months. For the last few weeks my enthusiasm in the brewing process has somewhat flagged, seeing it is rather involved. It's well worth it, though, and my enthusiasm in drinking it is as high as ever.

I'm starting to build a routine. Every eight days or so is brewing day. I start the tea (using green tea leaves, Sencha to be precise) either the evening before, so it can cool overnight, or early in the morning. First I wash all the implements with freshly boiled water. After the bottles have cooled off - I use glass bottles only, don't know what the culture can do to plastic and don't want to try out - I take the cloth from the container, take out the culture and rinse it well under cold water. I put it onto a plate, use a clean kitchen towel to cover it, and set it aside. Then comes the bottling. I use a measuring cup to pour the liquid, a funnel and a strainer on top of the bottle to catch sediment, and leave a bit of space in case there's further fermentation. Then the container needs to be cleaned with boiling water, and left to cool. Then I pour the tea into it through a strainer, add the sugar, add some of the batch as starter, mix everything together with a wooden spoon, and finally add the culture. A fresh cloth, bound tight with a piece of elastic band, and the new batch gets to sit for another eight days or so. And I get to wash the dishes.

At some point there's taste testing. It's interesting how different the brew gets dependent upon how much sugar I use or how long I let it sit. This is about the only time I drink it straight, since it's rather potent and strong tasting.

I read somewhere that in the making of Bionade they use Kombucha as the foundation. I've been trying out different combinations, using Kombucha, juice, and sparkling water. These drinks taste so good I had to get a soda maker so I don't have to haul all those bottles of sparkling water home.
Pour a small amount of Kombucha into a large glass, add at least the same amount of ginger ale/elderberry flower spritzer/mango juice/banana juice, and fill up with lots of sparkling water. The juice needs to have some kind of sweetness, when using 100% blueberry juice I had to add agave nectar to make it palatable. 

Ohlsdorf Cemetery

After living in this city for well over two years, I finally made it to the most famous cemetery, Ohlsdorf. It's like a very large park with graves in it. And cars. Actually, it's the largest park in the city of Hamburg. It's lovely, with lots of old-growth trees, and statuary from different eras. It's a great place to walk and ponder life and death.

Recent stuff

Porridge with strawberries

Artwork

Handiwork

Oatbread

The most infamous street in the world

Last week I took a stroll to St. Pauli, the next 'hood over, which is infamous for its live sex shows and other forms of formerly scandalous behavior. Here's where sailors used to come on shore leave to get drunk, get laid, and get tattooed. Maybe they still do.

I must be a total prude, because window-shopping for sex toys with the in-laws (or parents) is very high up on my creepometer.

 This is probably where the Salvation Army originated.

I had currywurst here on my very first day back in Germany. (Before I became a Vegan, obviously.) I remember it not being very good. The Tofu King vegan currywurst from viana is definitely much better. Without the grossness factor as well. But you can't beat the local color.

I think there is or was a German tv series based on this police precinct on Reeperbahn and Davidstrasse.

Stairs to the famous Hafenstrasse, the Elbe down below.

Detail on the old fishauction hall.

On the Vegan front, not that much to report, got my snacks (organic cornwafers and pretzel sticks) at Budni on Talstrasse (Budnikowski = fabulous local Hamburgian drugstore chain). And the Rockn' Roll Hotel Kogge does serve soylattes.

Plantings

I took these photos of this year's plantings about 10 days ago. I planted basil, cilantro, calendula, lemon balm and nasturtiums. There is no fresh cilantro (coriander) to be had in the stores here, and no seed either, so I bought a pack of whole cilantro seeds which is sold as a spice, and planted some to see what would happen.

Apartment Search with Vegan Fringe Benefits

I was up at 4 am yesterday, which wasn't that strange, considering I'd gone to bed at 8 pm the night before. Which wasn't that strange, considering I'd only slept 4 or so hours the night before going to bed at midnight,still waking up at sunrise as usual. It was early enough to catch the 6:14 train to Berlin, if just barely. I literally got there the very last minute, the conductor was doing her 'The doors are closing' spiel. No idea how I made it to the station in 5 minutes.
It was great because the train wasn't all that crowded. A lot of people were sleeping, stretched out all over the place. It reminded me of those 40 and 55 hour trainrides we took to Greece and Italy back in the day.

I didn't know there are compartments exclusively for women.

Neither did this guy.

Took the subway to look at an apartment, which of course was the main purpose for this trip. I did like it, even though the bathtub is really short, and the balcony had been turned into an indoors space.

 

This building in Schoeneberg on Grunewaldstrasse speaks for itself.

Had a lovely soy cappuccino at this chocolate place in Schoeneberg, called Winterfeldt, it's on Goltzstr. 23. They have an extensive selection of all kinds of unusual and pricey chocolates. I particularly think the tiny pralines are cute. Love the way they decorated the walls.

Then my stomach dragged me all the way to Friedrichshain to Yoyo's Foodworld, where I opted for a Vegan Sumatra burger. Sorry, couldn't wait to take a photo before starting in on it. It was absolutely delicious. Juicy, great fries, good salad, even though I couldn't decide if those couple of large leaves were for decorative purposes or for eating. Got some of the patties to take home, along with a Buccaneer bar, which is sort of like a Vegan version of the German Mars bar = American Milky Way. Or is it the other way around?

And, a soy hazelnut icecream cone for dessert at Caramellos.

To round the day off, I found the perfect summer jacket at the Chapati store next door.

Another amazing subway ride

I probably don't get out enough. When I saw these kids on the subway with their crazy 'dos I thought to myself, how atrocious. My second thought was, I must be getting old. And then: Does this have something to do with the band Tokio Hotel? A friend told me years ago about this German (?) band that seems to be very popular with teenagers. I might have come across photos of them somehow. You know, like you pick up completely useless information from the magazine rack at the cash register when you're waiting to check out, or when you open your yahoo account and there it is, the so-called latest news in headlines.

Maybe their hair looked something like this? Are they responsible for this fashion?

I wasn't really stalking them, they did get off at the same stop and changed into the same connecting train. Anyway, I thought they were pretty darn cute.