Personal Stories | Page 2 of 2 | Pen, Needle and Fork

A culinary tour in Stuttgart

It’s been a fruitful search and I was able to find a culinary tour and the Culinary Lady who tickled my taste buds. There must have been several times I mentioned that I’m a Food enthusiast or “Foodie”. You can even find my Instagram account re-named to stuttgart_vittles to pay homage to the archaic word vittle or victual. Most of the pictures I post there are food-related since I believe enjoying good food is one of the best part of living. This special culinary tour date with Hubby last Friday got me so excited in sharing our experience.

I believe enjoying good food is one of the best part of living.

First of all, the Culinary Lady offers several tours you can decide on. You can find more at her website www.culinarylady.com. Although her website is in German, you can email her in English. She does accommodate tours in English if you give her enough heads-up, this include mentioning any allergies or specific food you prefer. The tour is prepaid so we only had to pay for our drinks in each places we went to but the rest were all taken care of.

Second, we took the Genuss- und Kulturspaziergang tour that brought us to das Bohnenviertel. This area is close to the city center and has various cuisines to enjoy. Each places we visited with the Culinary Lady gave us something new to savor, even the ones that I thought were just typical German fare. The Culinary Lady provided us with historical enlightenment, specifically of the middle ages, that brought the current staples in our table like salt, black pepper, potatoes, corn, etc.

The Culinary Lady provided us with historical enlightenment.

Imagining what transpired through the centuries and hearing it around a cobbled stone street area exhibits how much food influences surround us.

Lastly, I got some pictures up for you to enjoy! In total, we had a 5-course menu that consists of an appetizer, soup, fresh roll, main dish and dessert with coffee. There are no pictures of the appetizer and soup since I came to the tour very hungry. I pretty much devoured those right away.

The Culinary Lady has another tour we plan to check out next year. We are also looking forward to going back to the places introduced to us. Check out our dear Culinary Lady and her wonderful tours.

Reformation’s 500th year

If you’re a fan of Martin Luther, then you must be excited to celebrate the 500th Reformation today. Luther posted his famous 95 Theses on the doors of the church of Wittenberg back in 1517.

I am sharing a couple of destination videos done by Rewboss on his YouTube channel. These are: Eisenach Destination video and Erfurt Destination video. Although Rewboss didn’t go to Wittenberg, these two cities were important. It showcased where Martin Luther lived, studied, taught and eventually hid when he was excommunicated.

These were tumultuous times for the Catholics, however, Martin Luther cared enough for the souls of the people. He re-directed them to the real source of their salvation. He also paved the way for the poor to understand the Bible and the correct Christian teachings by translating the Bible from Latin for German. Although, many misunderstood the reasons why he was against certain rituals of the Catholic Church it did eventually pave for a new branch of Christian belief, which holds fast on Jesus Christ’s teaching and the Bible.

Do you approve? Still go and live your life!

Dear readers,

“Do you approve of me?” is a question that were never voiced when we talk to our parents, siblings, other family members, and friends regarding our dreams. We seek approval and acceptance but we can’t seem to ask that question directly, perhaps since it will make us sound so destitute for affirmation in the end.

I have spoken with my family and several friends about pursuing my dreams. They, in turn, have numerous questions of their own:

“Is that what you really want to do?”

“How are you going to go after it?”

“Have you mapped out what path to take?”

“What are your plans to succeed in it?”

“Do you have a plan B to achieve your goal?”

Many of them have a realistic view on how I could fulfill it ~~or how the dream might fail~~; this perspective is based on the environment they grew up in and their experiences. Any which way they answered my question, my instinct is to check if they have answered the covert question–the question I dare not ask up front:

“Do you accept me and my dreams?”

This is a bizarre situation I placed myself in because I am setting myself up for rejection and even double rejection. Whatever their answer is to the main question, I will always look for meaning and clarity on the concealed question.

As a whole, many have been supportive in my pursuit as long as I always evaluate and re-evaluate the path I need to take to get there—I have to stay focused. There were also many who pushed me to “try things out” because in the end regret for not trying is the real failure. Most of all, there were many who unconsciously answered that they do approve of me and better yet they believe and have faith in me. That at last made me realize that my goal in achieving this dream is truly not to please other people.

Pleasing people is similar to opening a valve that drains you. Depending on who you are trying to please, it could feel seemingly small and totally unnoticeable or a constant overflow from a dam. Perhaps it started as a trickle and now you’re dealing with a downpour. This is still an ongoing battle in my life but it feels wonderful to tell myself that it is not my goal and I could definitely take it off of my goal list. Right now my goal is to maximize my skills to produce wonderful stories and books that would reach out to people, so I should focus on that.

Readers, the main lesson I am learning here is to take responsibility for my life.

I can’t turn to anyone and blame them for leading or pushing me to pursue things nor could I sulk and wait around for life to hand me bags of gold and opportunities. Neither should you. So, this is what it means to move forward:

Find your dreams and exclusively pursue it
Undertake it without pleasing other people
Lastly, it is your responsibility to live your life to the fullest.