A little DIY my friend came up with.

It's been two and a half weeks since I arrived in Mt Garnet and started working at the Mount Garnet Hotel and country pub. It's a nice place, with nice people and a lot of fun times. Sadly, I almost never have time for myself which means no time for blogging... I hope that after my time in Australia, I'll be able to blog more about fashion, DIY, recipes and music and art again. Until then, you'll just have to put up with my pictures about my travels ;)

 I love to be in Mt Garnet. We go to Darby's (my coworker's) place almost every other night. He is trying to renovate his place a little bit and just came up with this idea for the wall behind his bar. So this post is about his little do-it-yourself-project :) I think it looks really neat and I might use this idea for my own home once I actually get one... What do you think about it?

 

 

We've been in Cairns for about one and a half weeks now. There isn't really much to do here except going on tours to the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree and Cape Tribulation, but the artificial lagoon right before you reach the sea is beautiful and just makes it easy to relax a bit.This town is full of people walking around in bikinis or beach dresses, and even though the city has a little bit of a small-American-town-vibe to it and is full of (especially German!) backpackers, it's a pretty neat place to settle down at for a bit when you're backpacking in Australia.

But, all good things come to an end, and so my stay here will end on Monday since I got a job at a country pub in the outback in the really small town of Mt Garnet. Just when I finally started to get to know the people at our hostel... But still - I'm excited!

 

We arrived in Sydney on September 2nd and are flying to Cairns tomorrow afternoon. I must say, Sydney is such a beautiful city! From now on, you will see a lot of pictures of my time in Australia, and since I don't have Photoshop on my netbook (which almost drives me crazy by the way), I guess that means you will see more natural and less (strongly) edited pictures. But maybe I should see that as an opportunity to develop a style of photographing that allows me to get more out of my pictures without editing them too much? I hope that's the case.
The pictures of me will mostly be taken by my friend Ole (who you can see in one of the pictures above). I'm trying to teach him how to take better photos. :) I think this allows me to help him and myself by finding mistakes in his photos so that I know what I have to avoid when taking pictures myself.
By the way, Sydney is full of palm trees! Even though it's spring here right now, the palm trees just have such a big summer vibe and make everything better.
Hope you all have some nice last summer days before the rain and the cold starts coming back!


Love,
Caroun

Taipeh #1

Last Sunday, I started my journey to Australia. Me and my best friend, Ole, flew to Taipei as a stopover and are now staying in this city for 5 days. It's such an interesting place, so different from Europe, with lots to see, new things to try (just think about the food!) and with many nice people. On one corner, you will find about 50 small shops where birds are sold and where parrots are chained to their own metal stands and on the other corner you will find narrow streets crammed with just lots and lots of stuff.
We flew into Taipei during the sunrise, we tried taiwanese bread and buns and something that tasted a lot similar to pizza and we went up to one of the highest floors of the Taipei 101 tower and enjoyed the view over the city. We visited a temple and met many nice backpackers and Taiwanese people. And all that in just two days.
Four more to go.

All time favorites: Schwarzwälder Brownies!

Heute möchte ich mein absolutes Lieblingsrezept mit euch teilen! Ich habe diese Brownies wirklich schon so oft gemacht, dass ich das Rezept nun bald auswendig kann und die Brownies mit jedem Mal schneller fertig sind ;) Immer, wenn ich mich mit Freunden treffe und es was zu essen gibt, kommt irgendwann die Frage "Wo hast du denn eigentlich deine Brownies gelassen?!" weil sie einfach so beliebt sind - gerade weil sie einfach unheimlich himmlisch gut schmecken! Das Rezeptbuch war wirklich ein absoluter Glücksgriff, ich habe es vor ein oder zwei Jahren bei Thalia für 2,99€ entdeckt und bei dem Preis habe ich natürlich sofort zugeschlagen. Es enthält nur Brownierezepte und alle, die ich bis jetzt ausprobiert habe, waren so ziemlich unschlagbar! Ein Muss für jeden Schokoliebhaber ^-^

Zum Rezeptbuch "Brownies einfach schokoladig" von Linda Collister bei Amazon geht's hier. :)

Und nun zum Rezept:

225g dunkle Schokolade, 125g Butter, 3 EL Sahne, 3 große Eier, 225g feiner Zucker, 160g Mehl, 100g Schokoladenraspeln, Puderzucker, Glas oder Dose (465g) saure Kirschen, z.B. Schattenmorellen (Abtropfgewicht 175g)

2 EL Kirschwasser/Sirup aus einem Glas mit Maraschinokirschen

(ich mache es allerdings immer ohne)

 

1. Ofen auf 180°C (Gas Stufe 4) vorheizen. 225g Schokolade in eine feuerfeste Schüssel geben.

Butter und Sahne dazugeben. Im Wasserbad schmelzen und zwischendurch umrühren.

Anschließend kurz abkühlen lassen.

2. Eier in einer Schüssel mit Holzlöffel/Handmixer schaumig rühren. Zucker und ggf. Kirschwasser hineinrühren. Geschmolzene Schokoladenmischung unterziehen.

3. Gesiebtes Mehl gründlich in die Mischung einrühren und Schokoraspeln dazugeben.

4. (Brownie-)Backform mit Margarine einstreichen und Teig hineinfüllen.

Die Kirschen in Abständen in den Teig drücken. 

5. Im vorgeheizten Backofen ca. 30-35 min backen, bis am Holzspieß kein Teig mehr haftet.

6. Abkühlen lassen, mit Puderzucker bestreuen.

Fertig! :)

 
Tipps:

1. Je nachdem, ob man die Kirschen erst abtropfen lässt und ggf. auf ein Tuch legt oder ob man sie im feuchten Zustand in den Teig drückt, verändert sich die Länge der Backzeit. Meine Freunde und Familie mögen es am liebsten, wenn ich die feuchten Kirschen in den Teig drücke und die Brownies ca. 40 min backe, dann sind sie von außen fest und von innen an den meisten Stellen gerade so durch und noch etwas matschig (teilweise klebt also noch etwas am Holzspieß wenn man ihn in den Teig steckt), was sich zwar etwas pervers anhört aber absolut einmalig schmeckt!
Lässt man die Kirschen erst abtropfen, sollte man die 30 - 35 min einhalten, je nachdem, wie "kross" man die Brownies mag.

2. Besonders gut dazu schmeckt Vanilleeis... besser geht's einfach nicht mehr.

Blogvorstellung auf Inspiring Impression und mintgruenemacarons :)

I know you belong to somebody new, but tonight you belong to me.

Our first litte music video production :) I hope that more will follow. 

I lie awake, alone in my bed and needles can't fix the hole in my chest.

A new cover Martin and I recorded a while ago.
You can find Martin's YouTube channel in the video description.
Hope you like it!

These photos were taken by Josephine Postzich.
I really think she's a talented young artist and I love these pictures she took of me!
The series is called "About Childhood", and you can find her pictures on her blog.
You can also visit her facebook page here :)

"Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it."
- Walt Disney

Not all those who wander are lost

all pictures from weheartit

20 days. Exactly 20 days left. And then, me and my best friend will be leaving for Australia.
To me, that just sounds unreal. I can't even really believe that yet. But it's true. We'll live there for a year, work and travel around the country. We will have the biggest adventure of our lives.
We'll gain friends, learn, and grow. We'll probably come back as different people.
At least that's what many people say.
If you want to keep an ear to the ground concerning our experiences and adventures,

follow our Work & Travel Blog
or like our facebook page.

We will greatly appreciate it!