Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Travel: The City Hall of Kortrijk, Belgium

Stadthuis, City Hall, Town Hall, Rathaus , the place with many names in English, Dutch and German. Here is Town/City Hall of Kortrijk in West Flanders in Belgium

The City Hall was built in the Transitional Style of the Late Gothic-Renaissance which facade is decorated with the statues that represent the Counts of Flanders.

It is a pity that I was not able to go around the interior of the this beautiful building as I was only passing by when I saw it. I was heading to another important part of my trip... a visit to an Asian Shop called Trung Son located somewhere in the city where I get to buy Asian food once in a while





The Statues of the Counts of Flanders guarding the facade of the City Hall


Monday, May 14, 2018

The Chef in Me: Cooking Jackfruit (Langka) Marmalade/Jam

Maybe funny, but when I visited the Philippines last 2016, I found lots of Langka (Jackfruit) sold in the markets and in one corner of Sampalok Lake which I saw when I was brisk walking.

I brought some packs of Geliertzucker from Bremen where I reside at the moment. These Geliertzucker are specially prepared sugar for making jams/marmaladed from the fruits harvested during the spring and summer season.

In Germany, I make Kirschmarmelade (Cherry Marmalade), Johannisbeerenmarmelade and Quittemarmelade from the fruits which we harvested from our trees around the yard, so when I saw and smelled ready to eat Langka fruit , I thought I must preserve some of these fruits until I return to Germany and enjoy it with our native bread called Pandesal with nice brewed coffee during breaksfast

Here are the result of my experiment in pictures below:

Langka (Jackfruit) from the Philippines and Geliertzucker from Germany, another untion of 2 cultures












Testing the consistency if it is hard enough to spead over bread

 To invert the glass after the hot marmalade is placed in the glasses until they get cold. This was the method Ive learned from the German housewives who taught me how to make marmalades/jams



 Oh so tasty, scraped the remaining syrup from the pot



The finished product, my very own Langka Jam

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Mattupetty Dam

Mattupetty Dam is one of a beautiful places of interest that is  located about 13 km from Munnar Town.  Mattupetty is situated at a height of 1700 meter above sea level, Mattupetty is known for its storage masonry dam and the beautiful lake, which offers pleasurable boat rides and nice view especially from afar.

Munnar is one of the most beautiful and popular hill stations in the Southern State of India, Kerala and the site of vast tea plantations/estates in the South of India.

Mattupetty is located approximately 13 kilometers away from Munnar and the Mattupetty hill town lies at a height of 1,700 meters, the main attractions of which are the Mattupetty Dam and Mattupetty Lake which  plays an important role in water conservation and power generation.









The view below , while I was at the middle of the Masonry Dam which look like a bridge or a bridge where trucks and other vehicles and pedestrians can pass through