LIFE UPDATE + IMPRESSIONS FROM AUSTRALIA

Hi everyone and (finally!) welcome back!

It's been quite a long time since my last blogpost, which is due to the fact that I spent the last 7 months as an AuPair in Sydney/Australia and it was definitely one of my favorite few months in my life so far.

I am so grateful for this experience and I had such an incredible time, I did not only make some really good new friends there, but also was able to travel around Australia to discover more of the beautiful country and learned so much in general. 

My travel highlights were definitely road tripping along the Great Ocean Road and driving down the east coast from cairns all the way down back to Sydney. Some of my favorite places include definitely Noosa, Byron Bay, the Whitsundays and - of course - Sydney. Sydney is just an amazing city and what I love most about is how versatile it is, you have the city, but also the beach and the ocean. 

Down below there are some impressions of Sydney, but also of the travels I did. 

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Hey und willkommen zurück auf meinem Blog! 

Mein letzter Blogpost liegt ja schon eine ganze weile zurück, was daran liegt, dass ich das letzte halbe Jahr als AuPair in Sydney verbracht habe und einfach nicht so richtig zum Bloggen gekommen bin, bzw. es in dieser Zeit nicht so richtig meine Priorität war. 
Die Zeit in Australien war einfach unglaublich, ich kann es gar nicht so richtig in Worte fassen. Australien ist so ein schönes und vor allem ein so vielfältiges Land und neben der Arbeit als Aupair hatte ich außerdem die tolle Möglichkeit, zu reisen und mehr von Australien zu sehen. So war ich neben Sydney, wo ich gelebt habe, auch in Melbourne, Adelaide und Brisbane und habe zwei Roadtrips gemacht, einmal entlang der Great Ocean Road und einmal von Cairns den ganzen Weg nach Sydney. Einige meiner Reise Highlights waren definitiv die Whitsundays, Noosa und Byron Bay - und natürlich auch Sydney, denn diese Stadt ist definitiv eine Art zweites zu Hause für mich geworden. 
Neben dem Reisen habe ich so gute neue Freunde kennen gelernt, was ich gar nicht erwartet hatte und außerdem so viel neues gelernt. 
Also, wenn ihr die Zeit habt, für eine längere Zeit in Ausland zu gehen, kann ich es nur empfehlen, dies zu tun!
Jetzt folgen ein paar meiner liebsten Impressionen aus meiner Zeit in Australien :)

Sydney // Opera house 

Sydney // Harbour Bridge

Brisbane

Byron Bay // Sunrise

Great Ocean Road // 12 apostles 

Mission beach

Whitsundays // Whitehaven Beach

Whitsundays // Whitehaven Beach

Noosa // National park

Daintree Rainforest // Lookout 

Daintree Rainforest

I am really sad that my time in Australia is already over, I just can't believe how past it all went by! But to the same time I know for sure that I'll come back and I Avery excited what the future will bring. The last few weeks I was quite busy with applying for uni, now it's time to just wait for the responses to know and to decide on what I will end up studying. 
I hope you guys enjoyed this blogpost, within the next time I'll definitely be back with posting more recipes and food / health related post again, I have so many new recipes that I can't wait to try and share with you! 
Stay tuned and thanks for reading, 
xx Franzi 

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Einerseits bin ich immer noch traurig, dass meine Zeit in Australien vorbei ist, kaum zu glauben, wie schnell die Zeit verflogen ist! Andererseits freue ich mich aber auf die Zukunft und was diese bringen wird, vor allem im Bezug auf das Studieren. Ich war so lange unschlüssig, was ich denn jetzt eigentlich machen möchte und war die letzten Wochen damit beschäftigt  mich bei verschiedenen Unis und Studiengängen zu bewerben und ich bin sehr gespannt, woraus es hinauslaufen wird und wofür ich mich letztendlich entscheiden werde (bald mehr dazu:)). 
Ich hoffe, euch hat der Blogpost gefallen, in der nächsten Zeit werde ich auf jeden Fall auch wieder mehr Rezepte hier teilen, denn da gibt es so viel neues, was ich unbedingt ausprobieren möchte! 
xx Franzi 

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COPENHAGEN TRAVEL GUIDE

At the end of July I spent a couple of days in Copenhagen, it was my first time there and what can I say, the city is really beautiful with all the pretty streets, the architecture, the harbor and the water - definitely worth a visit!
We stayed in a nice AirBnB in Osterbro, wherefrom it took us only a few minutes to get to the city center by bike. (You can find a bike rental pretty much everywhere and I can really recommend to rent a bike, because like that you get everywhere quickly, plus it feels like everyone in Copenhagen is biking which is why you actually don't see a lot of cars in the city center, which is pretty awesome.) 
We arrived in Copenhagen at noon and were looking for a place to park park our car (which was kind of a struggle) and then ended up in the quarter ? where we decided to take a little break and had some coffee and lunch. 
Later we got back to our apartment, unpacked and went for an evening walk along the water. 


Ende Juli ging es für mich für 5 Tage (und zum ersten mal) nach Kopenhagen. Die Stadt ist wirklich unglaublich schön, tolle Architektur und schöne Straßen, viele kleine und super schöne Cafes/Restaurants - definitiv eine Reise wert. 
Wir hatten ein tolles AirBnB in Osterbro, von wo man recht schnell das Stadtzentrum erreichen konnte, mit Fahrrädern (die wir uns vor Ort ausgeliehen haben, Fahrradverleihe gibt es an jeder Ecke) dauerte es um die 5 Minuten dorthin.
Ich kann es wirklich nur empfehlen, Fahrräder auszuleihen, in Kopenhagen ist gefühlt jeder mit dem Fahrrad unterwegs und Autos sieht man im Vergleich zu Hamburg in der Stadt eher selten, was ich echt toll finde. 
Montag Mittag sind wir in der Stadt angekommen und haben uns auf Parkplatzsuche für unser Auto gemacht, wobei wir uns im Viertel ? wiedergefunden haben, wo wir erst einmal Kaffee getrunken und etwas gegessen haben.
Danach ging es zurück in die Wohnung zum auspacken und abends haben wir noch einen kleinen Spaziergang am Wasser gemacht.

The next day we visited the castle Amalienburg as well as the botanical garden. The botanical garden was truly beautiful and I can only recommend to go there and just take a walk through it to explore it. We also decided to visit the palm house and the butterfly house - which are both located in the botanical garden. Unlike the botanical garden the palm house and the butterfly house are not free to visit, but it is worth a visit anyway. 


Am nächsten Tag ging es zum Schloss Amalienburg und anschließend an den daneben angrenzenden botanischen Garten. Der botanische Garten ist wirklich schön und ich kann es nur empfehlen, dorthin zu gehen. Auch das Palmen- und Schmetterlingshaus ist einen Besuch wert, allerdings kostet der Eintritt hier etwas, der botanische Garten selbst ist kostenlos und super schön, um einfach hindurch zu spazieren.

Afterwards we continued our trip to the city center where we just strolled through the streets, had some lunch and also visited the "Rundetaarn" (the round tower) wherefrom you have an amazing view over the city of Copenhagen. 

Anschließend ging es für uns weiter zum Stadtzentrum, wo wir einfach ein bisschen durch die Straßen gelaufen sind und Mittag gegessen haben und außerdem auf dem "Rundetaarn" (der runde Turm) waren, von dem man eine wunderbare Aussicht über die Stadt hat.

The following day we made a little bike trip again and among other things we visited Nyhavn, where many colorful and really pretty houses string together - so it is a good spot to take photos, hahah - but there are also a lot of different cafés and restaurants to take a little break from all the trouble there - because it is indeed very crowded there. 
After having a little lunch we strolled through the city for a while again and then continued to visit the little mermaid. 

Auch am zweiten Tag sind wir wieder viel Fahrrad gefahren und waren unter anderem in Nyhavn. Dort reihen sich zahlreiche schöne und vor allem bunte Häuser aneinander - auf jeden Fall ein guter Foto-Spot, hahah - und auch Restaurants und Cafés gibt es viele, allerdings war es dort auch sehr voll. Auch sind wir wieder etwas durch das Stadtzentrum spaziert und haben Mittags dort etwas gegessen, danach ging es mit dem Fahrrad weiter zur kleinen Meerjungfrau.

   

The last day we decided to explore (by our bikes again) Christiania, which is kind of an own city in Copenhagen. It is an alternative quarter and to be honest, in my opinion it is an acquired taste, but it still was interesting to see it as well. 
Subsequently we continued our trip to Refshaleøen, where we discovered "Reffen", which turned out to be some sort of "Food Truck Market". The variety of food trucks was crazy, there was pretty much every food you can think of, wether it's Indian, asian, Italian, Thai, Burgers, Poke-Bowls, Salads,... and it doesn't matter, if you are vegan, vegetarian or eat fish/meat - everyone will find something there. 
Plus the market is directly located at the water, so you can enjoy your meal while having a wonderful view of the harbor. 

Am letzten Tag waren wir (wieder mit dem Fahrrad) unterwegs zur Christiania, was eine Art eigene Stadt in Kopenhagen ist. Es ist sehr alternativ dort und meiner Meinung nach etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber es war auf jeden Fall interessant, es mal gesehen zu haben.
Nach unserem Besuch dort ging es weiter mit unserer kleinen Fahrradtour zum Refshaleøen, und zwar zum "Reffen".
Dort gab es eine Art Food-Truck-Market, wo sich unzählige kleine Food-Container aneinander reihten. Es gab dort wirklich alles an Essen/Essensrichtungen, egal ob Indisch, Asiatisch, Italienisch, Burger, Poke-Bowls, Salate - dort wird wirklich jeder fündig, egal ob vegan oder vegetarisch oder halt Fisch/Fleisch.
Uns wurde gesagt, dass dieser Food-Truck-Market ein Geheimtipp ist und nicht (oder nur sehr selten) in Reiseführern zu finden ist, also auf jeden Fall empfehlenswert!

I hope you enjoyed this travel guide and I hope I could share some interesting (and maybe new) tips for exploring Copenhagen. Have you guys ever been there? And if so, what are your favorite spots there? Let me know :)

xx Franzi


Ich hoffe, der Post hat euch gefallen und ich konnte euch vielleicht auch ein paar (neue) Tipps für Kopenhagen geben. Wart ihr denn schonmal dort und wenn ja, was sind eure Lieblingsspots dort? Schreibt eure Tipps gerne in die Kommentare :)

xx Franzi 

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VISITING THE NETHERLANDS // TRAVEL GUIDE

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Hello hello and welcome back to a new blogpost - it’s time for a travel guide today!

In early may I spent a week in the Netherlands in Alkmaar with my family and what can I say - it’s such a beautiful country and I totally fell in love with it! All the pretty streets, the town canals, all the beautiful houses and cute restaurants and cafés - pretty much everything. 

Alkmaar is an incredibly pretty city and from there we also made a few trips to other cities including Amsterdam, Hoorn and Egmond - so here’s a little Netherland-Guide to share some impressions with you! 

ALKMAAR 

Alkmaar is where we lived during our stay in the Netherlands - we had an apartment directly in the center of the city which was amazing! We explored the city, did a little bit of shopping as well and made a tour with a boat through the town canals, which I can really recommend to try - because you get to see the city of a different perspective. As an alternative to a guided boat tour you can also rent a boat on your own and kind of create your own tour which I would probably do the next time since I actually prefer to explore new cities or other new places in general on my own without a guide - but the tour we made was still worth it too.  

AMSTERDAM 

Since Amsterdam is pretty close to Alkmaar (it just took us a little bit more than 30 minutes to get there with the train) we took advantage of that and decided to make a day trip to the capital of the Netherlands too.

Whenever I visit a new city I love to just stroll around the streets without having a concrete plan where to go and what to visit - so that’s pretty much what we did the day we explored Amsterdam. But we still visited some of the popular sights as well - such as the flower market or the Jordan-Quarter wich is supposed to be the most beautiful quarter in Amsterdam and I definitely can agree with that!

HOORN 

Another day we decided to go to Hoorn which is another beautiful city - located directly at the IJsselmeer and definitely worth a visit too. And again we just strolled through the city, took a break at a café and also went to see the IJsselmeer.

EGMOND 

Another city we visited was Egmond. We rented a bike in Alkmaar and made a bike trip to the city. During that bike trip we came across a lot of fields with tulips and other flowers which was very pretty. When we arrived in Egmond we first went to the beach (it was too cold to swim tho, hahah) and then walked along the streets and once again had a little break with coffee and the best waffles in a cute café. 

Alright, this was my little travel guide and my impressions of the Netherlands, I really hope you enjoyed it. Have you ever been to the Netherlands? And if yes - what are your favorite cities and favorite spots there? Let me know in the comments!

Enjoy your day, 

xx Franzi

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LIFE UPDATE + MY FAVORITE ACAI BOWL RECIPE

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Hey everyone and welcome back to a new blogpost - finally!

I know, I know, it's been a while but I've been very busy with school lately due to my final exams - but I am officially done with my written final exams! My oral exam, which also is my last one, will follow in June but until then I have some more time to concentrate on my blog and upload new blogposts again!
I still neither can realize nor believe that school is really over now - this is so crazy and also kind of sad... 

At the moment I am enjoying my free time and working a little, plus I am planning my stay abroad. I am already so excited for it! I plan to go to Australia in October for about half a year for working & traveling - so if you have any tips concerning that, please let me know and send me a message.
Furthermore I spent the past week in the Netherlands (a blogpost about it will be up in the next days as well, so stay tuned) and in a couple of days I'll spent a week with some friends in Denmark which I also am already looking forward to! 

But however - today it's time for another recipe, namely my favorite Açaí-Bowl-Recipe. 
I love having açaí bowls so much a the moment, especially when it's getting warmer I love to have them for breakfast to start off the day with a delicious and very refreshing breakfast. 
Have you ever tried an açaí bowl? Let me know I the comments below - and now, let's get to the recipe!

Ingredients: 

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup of frozen berries 
• 1 tsp of açaí powder
• 1 tsp of maca powder 
• 1 tsp of blackstrap molasses (or maple syrup/agave syrup)
• some plant based milk or water
• any toppings you like (e.g. granola, more berries/fruit, nuts and seeds,...)

All you have to is to put all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix it up until it has a smooth consistency. Depending on how creamy you want it to be, either add more or less liquid. Then pour it into a bowl and add whatever toppings you like on top - I usually go for some granola, nuts and some more berries or other fruit.

I hope you enjoyed this little recipe and if you recreate it, let me know :)

xx Franzi

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BUCKET LIST: WHAT I WANT TO DO IN 2018

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Hey guys and welcome back to a new blogpost!

I hope all of you spent a lovely new year's eve and had a great start into 2018!

And again another whole year has passed.
I don't know about you but I feel like 2017 went by crazy fast and I can't believe that this year is already over!

So, 2017 is over now and now it's time for a new year! And even though in my opinion you don't need a new day or a new week or even a new year to begin to change something in your life I do have some things I planned on doing in 2018, so I guess it's the perfect time to share some of my plans I have for this year with you.


1. Finish School
As some of you may know I am currently in my last year of school and in April this year I'll write my final exams - what I still can't really believe, because I spent so much time in school and it seems so weird to just not to go there anymore... So, I am very excited, but also totally scared for what will come after school and a little sad about leaving it as well. But for now - let's "enjoy" the last weeks and hope that my final exams will be good ;)

2. Run more
That's basically my goal every year, hahah. And I have to say I actually ran quite a lot last year, among other things I participated on my first halfmarathon in 2017 and it was amzing! So I really want to run another one this year and - who knows - maybe I'll be able to run it under 2 hours, which would be my goal :)

3. Write more blogposts
Another thing I want to do more of is to write and publish more blogposts. Since I have to do lot for school at the moment and probably will have to do even more the closer the final exams are coming I guess I won't be able to do that but when I have finished all of it I defintley will be more active here.

4. Living in another country for a few months
Since I'll finish School this year and don't know exactly what I want to do afterwards I would like to take a gap year and spend some time living in another country. I am not sure yet where and when exactly but I really have to start planning my stay abroad soon! (Btw, if you have any tips concerning a gap year in another country please leave them in the comments or write me :))


Alright, these were my 4 most important plans and goals for 2018, I hope you enjoyed this more "personal" post! And I would love to hear of your plans too, so if you also have some things you really want to do in 2018 let me know in the comments! :)
Let's make this year a good one!

Love,
Franzi

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CHRISTMAS COOKIES: VEGAN CINNAMON STARS

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Hey guys and welcome back to another recipe post!

I can't believe it already is Christmas eve tomorrow! The past few weeks were incredibly busy due to a lot of exams in school, but now I finally have holidays and some time to calm down a little.

And how can Christmas holidays start better than with baking Christmas cookies? Well, I don't know, hahah, and that's why I created the most delicious vegan cinnamon stars yesterday!

In Germany, these cinnamon stars (Zimtsterne) are probably the most common Christmas cookies and to create a vegan version of them I tried out baking with aquafaba for the first time and it turned out amazing!
For those of you who don't know what aquafaba actually is: it is basically chickpea water. I know, this may sound pretty weird, at least it did for me, when I first heard of it and I was very skeptical about it, but it seriously is a perfect replacement for egg whites, so go and try it out!

So, if you haven't made any Christmas cookies yet - go for it now, you definitely won't regret it! And well - what is Christmas without Christmas cookies?
Even though it does take some time to make these, it's a pretty simple recipe with only a few ingredients and they taste amazing!

So, let's get to the recipe!

Ingredients

• 350g of almond flour
• 200g of powdered sugar
• the liquid of one regular sized can of chickpeas
• 2 tsp of cinnamon

Instructions

First of all, add the liquid of the chickpeas into a bowl and beat it up until it thickens up (just like egg whites), this takes a couple of minutes. Then filter the powdered sugar and add it slowly to the chickpea liquid. Put about 6 - 8 tbsp of it aside, because we will need it later as a topping.
Afterwards fold in the almond flour to the mixture of the chickpea liquid and the sugar and  combine it well until you have a sticky dough, then put the dough into the fridge for about one hour.
Thereafter roll out the dough and cut out star shaped cookies, this could be a little hard since the dough is pretty sticky. (It helps to add some flour on top of the dough.) Put the cookies on a baking tray and add the rest of the mixture of the chickpea liquid and sugar on top.
Finally bake them in the oven at 125°C for 15 to 20 minutes.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I would love if you try out the recipe and If you do so, tag me on your photo so I can see it :)
Btw. is baking Christmas cookies also some kind of tradition where you live? Let me know in the comments!

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas time!

Franzi

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VEGAN CINNAMON BUNS - PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREAT

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Hello and welcome to a new recipe post!

I don't know about you but I am a huge cinnamon lover and especially during winter and christmas season I can't get enough of it as well as I can't get enough of cinnamon rolls at the moment!
And to create some healthier and most importantly vegan cinnamon rolls than the original ones are I exprerimented a little bit and I am more than happy about the way they turned out.

And since it's actually not that much time left until christmas (and we all know how crazy fast time flies by, especially when christmas is around the corner) I thought it would be the perfect time to share this recipe with you guys.

Btw, I am already totally in christmas mood, I just love the christmas season so much with all the beautiful decorated houses, with all the lights and candles and christmas trees, with the christmas markets and with all the christmas vibes.
So, as you can tell, I am a huge christmas lover and I am already decorating my room with fairylights and candles and other christmas stuff while hearing christmas songs - which is kind of my favorite thing to do at the moment - next to baking of course - because what is christmas without cookies?
Or cinnamon rolls - so let's get to the recipe now!

Ingredients for about 14 small cinnamon rolls

For the dough:

• 150g of spelt flour
• 100g of regular flour
• 20g of a sweetener of your choice (I used xucker)
• 1/2 cube of yeast
• 150 ml of plantbased milk

For the cinnamon filling:

• 3 tbsp of coconut oil
• 30g of Xucker or coconut sugar
• a lot of cinnamon

To make the dough, first warm up the plantbased milk and then add the yeast and give it a good stirr.
In another bowl, combine both of the flours with the coconut sugar, mix it and add the mixture of the plantbased milk and the yeast.
Stir this mixture again until you have a doughy consistency.
Afterwards the dough has to rest for about an hour at a warm place so it can rise.
After that, roll out the dough and spread the warmed and now liquid coconut oil on op as well as the coconut sugar which you have to mix with as much cinnamon as you like (the more cinnamon the better, hahah).
Next roll it up and cut it into little pieces so that you'll have about 15 small cinnamon rolls.
Now you can either put them into a muffin tray or just on a regular baking tray and let them rest for another 30 minutes.
Then bake them for about 12-15 minutes at 180°C in the oven.

I really hope you enjoyed this post and I'd be very happy if you try out the recipe! And if you do so, make sure to tag me on the photo so I can see it :)

Have a lovely day <3
Franzi

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