Elephantastic

Heeeya!!!

Welcome back! How was Easter for everybody? For me it was really stressful but at the same time very nice. I came back from Berlin and just had so much to do. I had to write the exposé for my bachelor thesis. That's a short description of what my topic is going to be, how I am going to work on it and so on, with which I am applying for a supervisor, so wish me luck please! I also had to study really hard for my final exams which took place during the Easter holidays. I hope I did well. But I was also very happy because my boyfriend came home for the holidays. Since a couple of months he is living in Munich where he has an internship with BMW, so I was very excited to see him again and spend some time together!!!
And now, let's get to today's topic - ELEPHANTS!
Earlier this year I told you that I adore Babar and elephants in general.

Jean de Brunhoff wrote the story of Babar, a little elephant whose mother was killed by hunters. Babar escaped and arrived in a big city where he met an old lady who took care of him, bought him his famous green suit and taught him good manners. When he returns to the jungle the old elephant king had just died. Babar becomes king and marries Celeste.
There are several books about Babar, his family and his adventures as well as some TV series and movies. I really loved those as a kid.

For my birth I got a cuddly toy of Babar, which my parents named Dumbo. This has led to a lot of confusions over the years. But I don't care. I love my cute little Dumbo. You might not recognise him anymore, because throughout the years we had to "operate" on him a couple of times. Now he is wearing a printed shirt and you can't really see his crown anymore.

Here you can see exactly what Dumbo used to look like because we bought the exact same Babar toy again. I called him Beau, and the resemblance really freaks me out. When I see the new one, I feel like I am three years old again looking at Dumbo, haha. But as you can see here, it is actually a hand puppet.

Dumbo was always the most important toy for me, I took him everywhere! On holiday, to kindergarten... He travelled half the world with me. He came with me when I lived in England and also when I moved to Spain. Because of Dumbo I have a Babar collection and loads of elephants in general. Elephants are my favourite animals. They are just so beautiful!

Babar, Celeste and their youngest child

Safari - Babar, I baptised him Graham, isn't he adorable?

Part of my Babar collection. Additionally to Dumbo, Beau, the original Babar couple, Graham and Magnus, the big hot-water bottle case on the left, I have six Babar books, one really amazing Babar Yoga book, a towel and facecloth, six beautiful collectible glasses, a collection of pins, and probably a lot more I can't think of right now. And they are all so pretty!

My pin collection

And additionally to all the Babar stuff I have so many more elephants. Stuffed toys, mugs, Dumbo the Disney movie obviously, lots of photos and posters, and a gazillion elephant-shaped decorations. They are all so cute! I have one giant elephant photo on canvas in my room that my parents took in Africa when they were on safari.

Yes, I admit, I am a little obsessed with elephants, but I just can't help it!

How did my life as a "tourist" continue after I did my internship in Lanzarote and visited the Lake District again? I moved to mainland Spain for my Erasmus semester abroad. That's what we are going to talk about next week! Viva España! As I told you before, my decision process about where to go was very long and complicated, for a while I thought I'd go to Mexico. And because I love Mexican food and because I know many of you have heard of several of the dishes without knowing what they actually are, I'm going to give you a short description.

Fajitas

In Germany many people often talk about Tortilla-Chips, but that just doesn't make sense at all. Those are actually called Nachos, those triangular chips / crisps that you can also get at the cinema, with jalapeños and cheese dip. You can also eat them with spicy salsa (and please don't call it salsa sauce because salsa is just the Spanish word for sauce) and/or sour cream and/or Guacamole. Guacamole is an amazing dip made from avocados. I usually purée 2-3 ripe avocados, 200g of cream cheese, the juice of 2 limes, some tomatoes and chilli and add spices. It's delicious! Tortillas are really thin wheat pancakes that you can fill with those sauces and dips, cheese, refried beans, meat, bell peppers, lettuce and other vegetables. If they are baked with cheese they're called Quesadillas. But please don't get confused. In Spain the word Tortilla means a completely different dish - the typical potato omelette. But let's just the stay with the Mexican cuisine for a moment. Tacos are hard shells that you can fill exactly like the soft Tortillas. The already prepared, filled and rolled Tortillas are then called Burritos, and they are also really popular in the US, where you also get alternatives such as the Breakfast Burrito. And now, if you order Fajitas, you get your Tortillas, you get all the vegetables, sauces and other fillings and you get a sizzling pan of meat, usually beef, chicken or shrimps.
Now I get really hungry! :D

Snacks and Spanish Tapas with Spanish Tortilla (potato omelette) in the front

I hope this helped you to understand all the similar and yet really different Mexican dishes. And I guess you all know the Spanish cuisine. I already told you a bit about it in my recent post about Lanzarote. There you have the potato omelette called Tortilla, all sorts of Tapas and I guess the most famous Paella, a big pan with rice, saffron, seafood, meat and vegetables. Soo, I hope now you have a first taste of my next post!

If you're from Mexico, please feel free to correct me or inspire me with amazing and tasty recipes ;)

Paella

See you then
 

Love you

Jen Jen

Churros