Every time we head to visit Michael’s family, it means a trip to Bonn and to Cologne, hence, Bologne!
KOKSTARS
Another year over…
Yep, another year (almost) over and we’ve done, seen and learned lots. We’ve been blogging collectively for just over a year now (zomg nobody posted about our one year anniversary on Nov 10th! Anyway, to cover that here’s my insight into that topic: cool!) and so much has been going on with our travels and experiences as well as cars, movies, games and food!
Speaking of food, I mentioned that we were having a Christmas dinner on the 24th (the 24th is regarded the official first day of Christmas here and presents are unwrapped on the evening of the 24th). I love Christmas dinner in Germany because at least in this family it means one thing: Raclette. Think meat, onions, vegetables, anything covered in smouldering cheese. Delish!
I kind of got too excited and ate before taking pictures so you’ll have to excuse the lack of deliciousness. You can trust me though, it’s good! Here’s an idea of what it’s like:
Raclette: Cheesy goodness
Basically it’s like teppenyaki/grill on the top and underneath you fill up a little paddle with goodness and put thick slices of Raclette cheese on top of it and leave it there until it’s nice and gooey and perhaps a bit crispy on top. In the meantime, you don’t have to wait unfulfilled because you can grill and eat meats and vegetables on top. It keeps you busy and satisfied.
This is what it looked like at the end:
Raclette: the aftermath
The next day we visited a friend of ours and she had prepared a nice roast with what can be described as potato dumplings (Kartoffelknödel) only without any filling and plenty of sauce…just the way the Swabians (southern Germans) like it!
Pork roast
And just to round out the post with some more food, we had cheese fondue recently and dipped mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli and baguette pieces into it. Not a bad idea!
Cheese fondue
My summation: Germans love their cheese especially around Christmastime! Then again, it’s pretty darn good.
Here’s to 2014 and all the new travels, experiences, cars, movies, games and food it will bring! I will be setting off fireworks I bought here so I’m looking forward to that. See you next year, y’all!
The year of Kokstars
Hi Everyone,
I’d like to start the end of the year as if we’ve been in conversation already, because it’s been rather one-sided and I tend to be the talker in this relationship anyway. Wow what a year it’s been and our first year as a blog stemming from an idea stuck in our unique collective heads for some time now. I think it’s been a great year and I thank you for joining Stephanie, Justin and I for what was and still is our creative outlet, a place we can call home on the internet and somewhere where our thoughts run a little more rampant.
I haven’t been that active lately and that would be down to one very big game which I might add is not 100% complete yet everyone is playing it ragged. As a christmas present to everyone on GTA Online, they made it snow:
Fading light over the mountains at the end of Christmas
The view of Vespucci Beach covered in snow. It was approx 25 degrees celsius here in Sydney so to see this was refreshing.
The Vinewood sign in winter, look mum I’m famous!
Getting around town in the snow in a convertible, because earmuffs are fun.
My Sandking on the top of Mt. Chilliad, loving the lighting.
All in all it’s been great writing for you this year. I hope Christmas was as good as you hoped it would be and that the new year brings new exciting things to you and your friends and family.
Shaun
Singapore! However…
You may be wondering why the posts haven’t been rolling in these past few days. It is true, all the team are here in Singapore but we’ve all gotten ill! I don’t know if it was the food which has so far been great or the water (that should be fine… it’s Singapore!) but we’ve all had stomach issues of varying degrees. Don’t let that change your mind about visiting Singapore sometime in the future because after a fun packed couple of days we will be blogging about:
– Universal Studios
– Food
– Shopping
– Getting around town
I have just bravely gotten over some bad bits of the bug and am ambulatory so I left the apartment to get some lunch. I decided against the heat of a hawker centre and took refuge in a local shopping mall in Kovan. I wanted something simple and hopefully containing nutrients and good stuff to help me get going again. So I hit up “New York New York” for a sandwich, something un-stuff-up-able. I didn’t think mayo was served in kilos nor did I know that chicken burger patties could look more like spam than anything else. In short just avoid.
Kokstars… In the beginning
Shaun: Hi and welcome to the first post on our shiny new blog. What we aim to do is bring the ideas and lives of 3 siblings in 2 completely separate parts of the world with 1 vision to the world via our brand “Kokstars”. We’ll be blogging on Travel, Cars and Games as well as all sorts of stuff in between for your reading and viewing pleasure. Expect pictures some videos and the occasional stack of words to compliment them nicely.
Eventually there will be a brand with merchandise and I can’t wait to get my hands filthy in that stuff. Oh yeah I am the car guy so here’s a bit of shameless self whoring… and what a lovely day it was.
If you are reading this you are witnessing the first step, stay tuned, we have loads more to share with you.
KOKSTARS 