Cool Travelling

This girl loves travelling! Lately this is kind of hard because my other significant one does not share those genes. P is a bit the boring kind when it comes down to discovering the unknown. He does not have the urge to pack a suitcase and go out there and let adventure take its course. Stallie does and is bitten very badly by the travelbug. The last few years I have travelled alone and leaving behind A&P. Must sound a bit egocentric but believe me a Stallie who has been out into the world does function more effeciently.

Because I do now travel less then I would wish for I had to search for some substitute travelling. First of all there are my books and they take me on many breathtaking outings. Especially with the expertise of Nicola and her very clasy bookclub I have visited many surprising and less obvious countries. Some of these booktrips manage to fuel me up for a whole long dark and travel free Winter.

Still, I am forced to do so much more then just reading and I had to come up with something else as well to let me travel without having to book a trip to the tropics or the arctic. And because a woman ends up a lot of time in a kitchen I started to use this as my basecamp. It is in there that I not only experiment with food and try to copy some five star chefs like Jamie,Nigella & Bill but also enter my very own designed travel agency and board on the next plane.

How do I manage to do this? Well, thanks to the imaginary multi tasking ability women are blessed with! While stirring, frying, grilling, mixing, seasoning, pouring and baking I also need to open my fridge once in while. When P and I bought this very cool equipment I remember I just considered it useful but at the same time rather boring. After all it is not the American Dream Fridge I am desperately after. The one that spits out ice cubes to spice up my home made mojito! At first sight this is just a very uninspiring white fridge!

Well, I hope that once you stand still in front of it you will see so much more. Chances are when you take the time you will see the pimped up version that I daily get to meet up with. It is covered by tons of 'cool' magnets of all kinds, shapes, sizes, colors and materials. This rainbow collection forms my private travel brochure and enables me to be 'place'worped.

So while my candle light dinners and quick lunches are prepared I might be:
- on my way to London to attend a banquet at Hampton Court in the presence of Henry VIII
- standing on top of Rockefeller and kissing P while the sun sets over NYC
- wandering through Zûrich nibling on the sweet champagne macarons by Sprüngli.
- getting lost in the Louvre and then having 'café au lait avec un croissant' in one of these post card cafés in Paris.
- sipping a huge glass of sangria after a long fiesta in Madrid.
- hiking across the green hills of Ireland where tons of sheep cross my path.
- boarding for an other ride on the Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris.
- strolling through the streets of the mysterious Tuscan village of Volterra (Twilight!!) and enjoying the best gelato ever.
- trying to decipher the Pheostos Disc in a pub of Thessaloniki.
- holding on to P while he is steering a heavenly blue Vespa through the streets of Rome.
- sunbathing on a Mexican beach in the company of the best cocktails ever!
- reading precious manuscripts in the mysterious library of Trinity College in Dublin
- guiding tons of friends through Brussels and going into many chocolate shops
- reading Pride&Prejudice in the background of Castle Howard and hoping Mr Wet T-shirt Darcy will walk by.
- recovering in one of the luxerous hospital beds at Hospice de Beaune.
- speeding over the Golden Gate Bridge of San Fransico behind the wheel of yellow Ferrari California (Top Gear Cool Wall side effect!)
- ....

Can travel all over where I am while cooking. Many of these sticky thingies have spiced up my day. Thanks to them I manage to survive the cold, rainy, less sunny, snowy and gloomy days. This also thanks to the help of generous family & friends who were so kind to spend some of their travel budget just on my benefit. You can all be sure that this touches me sincerly! It means that I was travelling a bit along with you all!!!

Of course P & A have claimed also some inches of the fridge to leave behind their personal objects of affection. P goes wild for the imitation Cool Wall of Top Gear! Every summer I try to update it by bringing home the summer issue of Top Gear with the latest magnets. We differ a great deal when it comes down to cars. Thanks to these little white magnetic tiles we can discuss cars without any casualties. I move my favorites while he is at the hospital!

A has got a whole animal farm up! Including sounds! I can tell you that it sometimes freaks you out to hear a sheap while you are frying fish. And lately he has figured it out that when he goes for magnets that he can have an extra souvenir when were are on a trip! Smart shoppaholic in the making!

So, in case you want to travel along and don't want to spend a fortune on taxes, luggage, passports and other travel essentials then just give me a quick call. But there are no guarantees on the star quality of the meal because when I am travelling to Mexico the chili con carne might be a bit too spicy according to your taste buds. And then a visit to a medieval hospital as Beaune might not be your best destination ever!!! But don't worry I am about to order my Doctor Carlisle Cullen magnet and then you are up for the best care ever!! COOL!!!