I LOVE KEY WEST Part 1

It's the title, it's the topic.
I've only been to Key West for a few days (eh... two), but I liked what I saw. The atmosphere, the look and the people - I really did like it all.
So I'm going to show you a lot of pictures, that's why I'm splitting this entry into two.

But first a little history class:
Key West has actually nothing to do with "West" - it's the southernmost point of the US. Key West is more of a translation mistake. The first English speaking settlers misunderstood the original name Cayo Hueso (means island of bones, long bloody story) and renamed it to Key West. Great huh? Okay, now that you've learned something, we can start with the pics.

This tour was one of the longest (I guess it actually was THE longest) journey during our trip. Driving from Miami to Key West takes some time, but it's very interesting, because the most time, all you see are bridges.
It basically looks like this:

You have tiny tiny islands, that can hold nothin but a road. The height difference between ocean and land is not even 30cm and yes, left side of the lane is water again. Sometime for miles. It can be a little frightning.

So we drove and drove and yeah, nothing interesting happened. Or I don't have it on picture, because we had our film camera with us. We only had a stop here:

And lunch at IHOP. I love diners! It's really sad, we don't have places like IHOP or Denny's in Germany. It's really nice there.

Our food (of course):

So yeah, I had a burger... But if I remember right, it was the only one during my 2 weeks there! I didn't eat the mayonnaise and it was good! What kind of buns are these? Never seen them before.
Maybe you wonder ( I guess you didn't even realize, but I'm telling you anyway), why my parents had breakfast for lunch. In my family we love warm breakfast (basically because we never have time to make one). We love it so much, we could eat it all the time. I love having bacon and eggs for dinner.

A couple of hours later we arrived at Key West (sadly our hotel was quite outside). I have pics of our room, but they look the same like the ones in Cocoa Beach. They look all the same...

This day was almost over, so we decided to just drive to the city and take the ghost tour. Again, I have lots of pics. But it was dark! I can't show you, I'm sorry.
It was a really interesting tour, where a guide takes you through town to all the creepy places, where people died or murdered or I don't know forgot to turn off the oven. Stuff like this. He (his name was Mike) did a good job, it was very funny. Or maybe it was supposed to be scary and he did a miserable job. I don't know, I felt entertained!

That day, we also took the chance to see the boardwalk. It's totally famous, because every evening the people gather to celebrate the sunset. There are lots of artists and strange curiosities and when the last sun beam vanishes, everybody claps. It's great.

On this pic, it's a little too early, there aren't a lot of people there yet. But there will be when it's getting darker.

They also have guys like this! I never thought, they really existed.

It was so cool!


The next entry will be about our second day, Ernest Hemingway, more food and everything else.

Bento: Pancakes and Glazed Carrots

This is one of the bentos I've recently made.

It's a Pancake Bento:

Pancakes, Glazed Carrots, Blueberries, Radishes and Chili-Cheese-Balls (frozen product). The little bottle contains maple syrup.

For the pancakes you can just use a pancake mix! I use the German brand "Mondamin". Of course pancakes aren't a very healthy lunch for everyday. But you can't have rice as daily basis ... you get bored sooner or later. So sometimes you should mix it up with different karbohydrate dishes like noodles, bread or pastries like pancakes, wraps or milkbread.
If you want a cuter bento, try to cut the pancakes in shapes ... teddy bears, cars, flowers ... a big cookie cutter works best for clear edges. Chocolate sauce is perfect for decoration like faces etc.

Glazed Carrots are a great alternative for picky eaters. You underline the carrot's sweetness with sugar, but it's still healthy.

Glazed Carrots:

6 mini carrots or 2 normal carrots
1 Tbsp Sugar
1Tbsp Butter

1. Peel carrots. Put carrots in a small saucepan and add just enough water to cover the carrots. Bring to boil.
2. Add sugar and butter and reduce heat. Cook until the liquid is gone.
3. Check if the carrots are tender.

That's it!

Glasierte Karotten:

6 Minikarotten oder 2 normale Karotten
1TL Zucker
1TL Butter

1. Karotten schälen. In eine kleine Saucenpfanne geben und mit Wasser gerade bedecken. Kochen.
2. Zucker und Butter hinzufügen und Hitze reduzieren. Solange kochen bis die Flüssigkeit verschwunden.
3. Jetzt nur noch überprüfen, ob die Karotten weich sind!

Fertig!

Itadakimasu!

Bento: Beef And Pepper Stir Fry

Beef And Pepper Stir Fry is a good way to combine meat with lots of vegetables.

For 2 Bento portions:

70g beef
1 green bell pepper
1 small carrot
1 tsp oyster sauce
1tsp rice wine
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp starch
1 clove garlic, minced
oil for frying

1. Cut beef into thin slices and dust with starch. Cut pepper and carrot the same way. Combine oyster sauce, rice wine and soy sauce in a bowl.
2. Heat oil and minced garlic in a frying pan. When the garlic releases aroma, add beef and stir-fry until heated through. Remove from the pan.
3. Add vegetables to the pan and fry for 3-5 minutes with lit on, so the carrots get tender. Put back beef and add combined seasonings. Stir until the sauce is absorbed.

Rindfleisch Paprika Pfannengerührtes

Für 2 Bento Portionen

70g Rindfleisch
1 grüne Paprika
1 Karotte
1TL Austernsauce
1TL Reiswein
1TL Soyasauce
1TL Stärkemehl
1 feingehackte Knoblauchzehe
Öl zum Braten

1. Rindfleisch in feine Streifen schneiden und mit Stärke bestäuben. Paprika und Karotte genauso schneiden. Austernsauce, Sojasauce und Reiswein in einer Schüssel vermischen.
2. Öl und Knoblauch in einer Pfanne erhitzen. Wenn der Knoblauch sein Aroma freigibt, das Fleisch hinzugeben und so lange braten, bis es durcherhitzt ist. Fleisch aus der Pfanne nehmen.
3. Gemüse in die Pfanne geben und ungefähr 3-5 Minuten zugedeckt braten, bis die Karotten weicher werden. Das Fleisch zurück in die Pfanne geben und die Sauce dazu geben. Solange rühren, bis die Sauce absorbiert wurde.

Bon Appetit!

Bento world

Have you heard about those fancy little lunch box meals, conquering the world starting from Japan? They're called bentos and I love them!

Too tiny, to actually carry a decent lunch, you think? Wrong! ... Well not completely, it depends on your stomach's size.
For me it's absolutley enough. You're supposed to fill it to the top, so it's brimmed. If you do so, the small box might remind you of a boulder, but a totally delicious one!
True, it's cold, that sucks... but to me, it doesn't matter at all!
The picture above actually isn't a bento for me ... I'm allergic to shrimp ... but it still looks so good!