Bergische Kaffeetafel

Bergisches Land is a low mountain range region within the state of North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany, east of Rhine river and south of Ruhr. This coffee table is traditional for the area since the 18th century. Looks yum doesn't it? Rye bread with black corinth raisins, milk rice, honey, butter, quark, waffles, cinnamon, pretzel, zwieback, marmelade, sausages and ham...and and...wow and I thought English breakfast is rich! Thank you Michele :)

Time For Breakfast

A nice continental breakfast coming all the way from Singapore, thank you Kay Jin :)

Åland Pancake

Continuing in the food mode...this is the last postcard I received via private swap, thank you Nina :) This pancake looks like a king of all pancakes! I found a recipe online, courtesy of finland.fi.

Recipe: Åland Pancake This deliciously filling local snack and dessert is popular in homes and cafés throughout the Åland Islands – especially with cycling tourists keen to recharge their calorie count. (Thanks to Pettas Organic Home Bakery for advice on the recipe.) 2 dl (4/5 cup) semolina (some islanders use the same amount of pudding rice instead of semolina) 1 dl (2/5 cup) wheat flour 1 litre (4 1/4 cups) whole milk 2 or 3 eggs 1 tsp salt 1 dl (2/5 cup) sugar 2 tsp cardamom Serves 4 to 6 people Heat the semolina in the milk for a few minutes to a porridge consistency, and let it cool down. Mix eggs, sugar, salt and cardamom separately, then stir this mixture and the flour into the semolina. Pour the mixture into a baking dish greased with butter, and scatter a few small knobs of butter over the top of the pancake. Bake 50 to 60 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius (390 degrees Fahrenheit), until the surface of the pancake is golden brown. Serve hot or cold topped with whipped cream and stewed prunes or jam (popular jams in Åland are made of local apples, strawberries, rhubarb or buckthorn berries).

Official - Olives And Feta Cheese

Today is Easter but I don't have any Easter cards, eggs, chicks or bunnies to show...The next best thing (or actually the best thing haha) is food, as this is also the day when people will (hopefully) feast and enjoy both food and each other's company. 

Olives and cheese are one of my favourite combinations - add some crackers and it is the only meal I need..! Plus some red wine of course :) Thank you Anouk for this card :)

Happy and blessed Easter!

Swans In The Reeds At Dawn

This is an oil painting by Caspar David Friedrich, perhaps the most important German artist of his generation; the year is anything from 1819 to 1932 (different sources different data, even for the title of the painting). You can find it in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, and is actually rather small, 33x44 cm.

As I love visiting museums I was surprised on quite a few occassions with the actual size of the paintings, be it awesomely large (Rubens) or small (Mona Lisa). Thank you Gesa for this beautiful atmospheric image :)

Swan From Finland

Swan is Finland's national bird...The stamp is not as graceful though lol. It is an illustration for a car company from 1907, it seems to be a 'modern' take on a Kalevala folk story - the snatching of Kyllikki. Thanks goes to Sari :)

Mountain Hike

Something's on my mind...can you guess what? :) Last year was the first in 20 years that I haven't been across the national border. The horror...Not a good year, but this one should rectify that..! (fingers crossed)

St Jean At St Barths

St Jean is one of the best known beaches on St Barths; Gustav III Airport is only about a mile away, so this sight is quite common for the locals. Its been 7 years since I posted about St Barths here for the first and only time; back then I wished for a local cancellation instead of the general La-Poste one, and my wish came true - thank you Denise :)

Fountains Of Bellagio, Las Vegas, USA

Las Vegas has become such a popular city, but I still fail to recognise its lure. If anything, it looks like a nightmare for an introvert lol. Still, it does raise the interest as an architectural feat. As I read the name 'Bellagio' it rang a bell...not sure why, it's like I've heard it in a song...can't figure it out. The Bellagio resort offers 3950 rooms, a line of superb restaurants, even a gallery and a conservatory. The fountains depicted here are also quite famous, their display is coreographed to various pieces of music, from Elvis Presley to Tiesto. Thank you Rachel :)

Dress Me Up!

I always wanted to be a fashion designer (even though I am not that fashionable myself heh). My mum has always been good at sewing, there were editions of Burda (German magazine with sewing patterns) lying around and I started drawing designs at the age of 9 or 10 (I remember having a notebook full of sketches, but unfortunately my mum is also a 'terminator' - she throws away stuff easily, and I hardly own anything of sentimental value from the pre- and early-school era because I wasn't quick enough to hide stuff from her). Anyways...I had a very nostalgic flashback when I saw this postcard in a shop in Germany - this is also the kind of stuff I used to do, because during my childhood in Yugoslavia magazines for kids used to have this 'cut-out fashion'; you'd first cut out a paper 'mannequin' and then all these different clothes that you'd 'dress' her with. Soon enough I started to make my own models and clothes. I do wish I managed to keep at least some of it!

I wonder if anyone else remembers or has done this..?

Rainbow Boa

And a new snake card! Epicrates cenchria cenchria is a boa species native to Central and South America, known for its attractive iridescent sheen caused by structural coloration, which makes it a popular pet. I can't tell if this is the right way to show the card lol, where's its head at? With lovely animal stamps, thanks to Natalia :)

World Travel - Taiwan

One of the card series that I've mentioned recently :) I like receiving one example of any popular series, and this one is quite nice. It's been made even nicer with the colourful back and special postmark - thank you Jennifer :)

Sargantana De Menorca

Lilford's wall lizard is a species of lizard of the Lacertidae family endemic to the Balearic Islands. It is also endangered due to its habitat loss :( A lovely addition to my collection, gracias Elena :)

A Few Words

As I have returned to my old job and consequently to blogging, here is an update on my postcrossing activities...For sure the most important news is, Croatian Post decided to up the postage prices, and that without prior announcement. Actually I got this news unofficially about a week ahead, sent an inquiry to their official e-mail address, to which they responded 'we have no such knowledge'. This made me believe that the info I received was just a rumour, and it was a huge relief - but no, wrong! And I wouldn't be writing this if the increase in price was minimal...it was in fact as follows:

Postage for all countries will be the same, 8.60 kunas.  It used to be 4.60 for Europe, which means the price in that segment has risen by 87%. Whoa. For outside Europe the rise is 50%; in this light the rise for letters which is 13% doesn't sound too bad, when in fact even that is too much esp considering our standard of living.

Last year I swapped only sporadically but sadly it may be even more of a case this year. I have a pile of postcards waiting to be sent, I'd like to find them a new home as their shoe box has become all too familiar and they must feel at least a bit bored. If anyone wants a card please feel free to pick one from my album on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/daldon77/albums . I don't think I am picky when it comes to themes, I do foremostly collect UNESCO (whs, intangible, biospheres, anything), donkeys and reptiles, but then there are landscapes, architecture, history, people, animals, food, drinks...in a nutshell I like seeing and learning new things from the cards I receive. It makes me sad and more than a bit angry that Croatian Post made a huge step in discouraging postcrossers...We all learn about the world from these little images from across the world.

Official - Eguisheim, France

Eguisheim is a medieval village in France's Alsace wine region. The narrow, concentric streets of its old town are lined with many preserved half-timbered houses. The stamp shows another Alsatian town of Kayserberg. Both are situated close to Colmar, known for its Christmas market. Wine region, quaint houses, markets...We all know what needs to be done :) Many thanks to Stephane.

P.S. This post lead to me booking a room for November in Strasbourg, wheee...!

Official - Snacks From Switzerland

This postcard looks like a cut-out as some letters are missing. However one thing is for sure, the Swiss have always had excellent bread. Pretty stamps too :)

Official - Frankfurt, Germany

I've always thought of Frankfurt as one of the 'citiest cities', with nothing but skyscrapers and rectangular buildings (a bit of exaggeration of course), but here it looks attractive and pretty diverse. Danke Andrea :)