Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Oops!
Some of you may know the children's book by Sandra Boynton - Blue Hat, Green Hat, where the poor turkey keeps on getting it wrong... well, I guess Luna thought it was instructional on how to dress! Oops!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
German Chocolate Chips...
Many of you know that I am still figuring out how to bake over here... you saw my post on the cookies I made and "baking powder."
Well, I didn't get into the chocolate chips... chocolate chip cookies are such a mainstay of American childhood that it was the one thing I started worrying about long before we ever got here. I just want to be able to make chocolate chip cookies for Luna! Well, the good news is that we can get chocolate chips... the bad news is the price and volume by which they are available. I think a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for like 4 cups, and I know my new favorite brownie recipe is about the same... well, here's a picture of what we can get here. I included the banana in the picture for reference... and each of these boxes is 1.99 euros - (keep the exchange rate in mind. :))
Sunny Saturday!
After 8 or 9 days of rain, snow and clouds, we finally saw the sun today! Here are some pictures from "lunch" in Erlangen, and our walk around the lake behind our house...
Each town with a church has a sign at the entrance to the town which announces the churches there, and their service times. This is the sign for the churches in Weisendorf - one is Catholic, the other is Evangelical.
This is the Rewe in Weisendorf. It is where I do my grocery shopping. It's very close to our house which is nice, because I go there almost everyday. I like to walk with Luna in the stroller.
Here's what it looks like inside. That's the whole produce department there. Nothing out of season here! The whole thing is about 1/4 the size of a typical American grocery store, but the quality and selection are very good.
View of a little hamlet surrounded by fields.
Building a house in Germany is a serious undertaking. They're all concrete block construction, and there is always a crane required, which sits there the whole time it takes to build the house.
Afore mentioned crane...
This is the back of our house from the other side of the lake. Ours is the half on the right. We will clear out the trees and brush along the shoreline this spring.
Nice view of the lake from another spot.
Pics of Luna from the other day...
This is outside the Cafe Mengin, which is our favorite place to go for coffee and Apfel Kuchen (Apple Cake) and Apfel Streudel on Saturday or Sunday mornings. It's on the market square in Erlangen, and there is a sun room which overlooks the Schloss (castle) Park.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Saturday Morning Waffles
We had "waffles" this morning. I made some whipped cream to go on them. Yum. Needless to say, we had a bath right after breakfast...
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Yay!
I was checking feedburner today for the latest traffic on blogaroozer, and noticed a blog I was unfamiliar with listed in the incoming referring websites, so I clicked on it to check it out... and lo and behold... someone (outside of friends, family and myself) is using one of my backgrounds!!! I was so excited. What a milestone. You can check it out at...
www.amberandnic.blogspot.com
AND she mentioned me in a post - so hopefully I will get some good word of mouth, too! I left her a comment to let her know she is my "first" (at least as far as I can tell) and to say Thanks!
www.amberandnic.blogspot.com
AND she mentioned me in a post - so hopefully I will get some good word of mouth, too! I left her a comment to let her know she is my "first" (at least as far as I can tell) and to say Thanks!
Fun Day
Hey All-
had a fun day today. Now that I'm home, I've been scanning in fabrics I have around the house to use for my blog backgrounds. I can't really use anything new because of copyright concerns, so I've been scrounging for old linens I have that are appropriate. So I decided to go to Neustadt a.d. Aisch to pop into an "antiquaten" I had noticed there. Well, when got there I didn't see it from the road, and Luna was asleep. Neustadt is on the way to Rothenberg, which is about 45 miles away - so I just drove to Rothenberg! Rothenberg is a really quaint old town that still has the entire medieval old town wall circling the city, and tiny little streets and gates that you have to drive through. I was there when I was a kid, and remember it because I ran down the street barking like a dog, and my father asked (in German) a stranger we passed, if he had "seen our dog?"
Anyway - Luna was sleeping, so I just drove on, and when I got there, she was still sleeping, so I just kind of drove around and checked it out. Will be very excited to go back when the weather is better, and we can get out and explore.
So then I just turned around and drove back! And on the way back, not only did I find the store I was looking for, but another store as well. No really exciting finds today, but good places to stop back by! I'd like to find a little antique trunk to keep Luna's toys in in our living room, an old butter churn, and a wooden plate that says "Unsere Taglich Brot, Gib Uns Heute." It will be fun to look again - but when it's warmer. Both stores were in old barns and FREEZING!!
had a fun day today. Now that I'm home, I've been scanning in fabrics I have around the house to use for my blog backgrounds. I can't really use anything new because of copyright concerns, so I've been scrounging for old linens I have that are appropriate. So I decided to go to Neustadt a.d. Aisch to pop into an "antiquaten" I had noticed there. Well, when got there I didn't see it from the road, and Luna was asleep. Neustadt is on the way to Rothenberg, which is about 45 miles away - so I just drove to Rothenberg! Rothenberg is a really quaint old town that still has the entire medieval old town wall circling the city, and tiny little streets and gates that you have to drive through. I was there when I was a kid, and remember it because I ran down the street barking like a dog, and my father asked (in German) a stranger we passed, if he had "seen our dog?"
Anyway - Luna was sleeping, so I just drove on, and when I got there, she was still sleeping, so I just kind of drove around and checked it out. Will be very excited to go back when the weather is better, and we can get out and explore.
So then I just turned around and drove back! And on the way back, not only did I find the store I was looking for, but another store as well. No really exciting finds today, but good places to stop back by! I'd like to find a little antique trunk to keep Luna's toys in in our living room, an old butter churn, and a wooden plate that says "Unsere Taglich Brot, Gib Uns Heute." It will be fun to look again - but when it's warmer. Both stores were in old barns and FREEZING!!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Blogaroozer Backgrounds
It's still a little early for Valentine's Day - but since I'm excited about my new backgrounds, and in order to show them off a little, I thought I would start featuring them here on our personal blog - so if you get our updates by email, make sure to check out the blog page, by clicking on it in teh email, once in a while to see the new backgrounds in action!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
We're Home! (And American Cheese!)
It's been a couple days now, and we're pretty settled in and mostly over jetlag - and mostly unpacked - (ugh - 7 suitcases!!) It's super cold here. I guess I didn't really think it would get that cold here. It's been about 5-15 below Celsius. I thought that the thermometer was broken at first, so I set it out in the sun... it just went down, so it turns out that it's actually working!
First day back we loaded up on groceries. And I am SO excited, because I found American cheese! I know you must be thinking - "What are you doing eating American cheese in Europe, where the best cheeses in the world are readily available?" and don't get me wrong, I love European cheese - but there's nothing like American for a grilled cheese sandwich, burgers or macaroni and cheese. Anyway - we were standing there looking at the different cheeses, and I saw some that were pre-sliced and packaged in plastic just like singles. So I started looking them over, and thought, hmm - why not? Got it home and tasted it, and sure enough, it tastes exactly the same - if not a little better! And I'm sure it has less preservatives! It's called Schmelzkase, which means Melting Cheese, and comes in 3 different flavors. I tried "Toast" flavored, and it was perfect. I'm so excited.
Then I also decided to bake some of my Mom's Cowboy cookies, which is a super good recipe for a chocolate chip type cookie which also has coconut & walnuts. Well the last time I really baked here was when I made Luna's 1 year Birthday Cupcakes. At that time I sat down with our landlady and had her tell me what to get for shortening, baking powder and baking soda - because of course the names are all different. And not only could I not find any of those ingredients in my kitchen, I sent Bas to the store to look for me.
He came home with most of what I needed, and some of what I didn't. SO after another trip to the store... we had everything we needed - except brown sugar. They just don't have it here. So next time I will have to see if they have at least molasses, so that I can make some myself. So I used regular sugar. I think that was the least of my problems. We got Bak Pulver on our second trip (Bas originally brought home a sack of flour, because he thought that was baking powder :)) and I remembered it (Bak Pulver) from when I cooked the cupcakes. I had Arm & Hammer at home, so that was taken care of.
Long story - short. The cookies turned out super flat and crumbly. I'm sure brown sugar would have helped, but I don't think it would make that much of a difference. Then I found Te baking supplies from when I made cupcakes and started taste testing stuff. The baking powder (Bak Pulver) tasted exactly like the Arm & Hammer. So I looked it up online, and everything I could find said that Bak Pulver is indeed baking powder, but I know that I also used something called Natron when I made the cupcakes. So does anyone know - do baking powder and baking soda taste the same? I'm wondering if Natron is actually baking powder... anyway - they're still good, just not as chewy as they should be!
Today we went to N-berg. We've used up all of our favorite new mustard - Tomato Senf, so we wanted to get some more. We had lunch at the famous place for Bratwurst on the Marktplatz, and then went to the Toy Museum or "Spielzeug Museum. Most of the toys were behind glass of course, but we did find a couple for Luna to try out. It was a really nice day - and even though cold, nice to walk around.
I got in trouble for taking these pictures, too! A voice came over the loudspeaker... oops!
First day back we loaded up on groceries. And I am SO excited, because I found American cheese! I know you must be thinking - "What are you doing eating American cheese in Europe, where the best cheeses in the world are readily available?" and don't get me wrong, I love European cheese - but there's nothing like American for a grilled cheese sandwich, burgers or macaroni and cheese. Anyway - we were standing there looking at the different cheeses, and I saw some that were pre-sliced and packaged in plastic just like singles. So I started looking them over, and thought, hmm - why not? Got it home and tasted it, and sure enough, it tastes exactly the same - if not a little better! And I'm sure it has less preservatives! It's called Schmelzkase, which means Melting Cheese, and comes in 3 different flavors. I tried "Toast" flavored, and it was perfect. I'm so excited.
Then I also decided to bake some of my Mom's Cowboy cookies, which is a super good recipe for a chocolate chip type cookie which also has coconut & walnuts. Well the last time I really baked here was when I made Luna's 1 year Birthday Cupcakes. At that time I sat down with our landlady and had her tell me what to get for shortening, baking powder and baking soda - because of course the names are all different. And not only could I not find any of those ingredients in my kitchen, I sent Bas to the store to look for me.
He came home with most of what I needed, and some of what I didn't. SO after another trip to the store... we had everything we needed - except brown sugar. They just don't have it here. So next time I will have to see if they have at least molasses, so that I can make some myself. So I used regular sugar. I think that was the least of my problems. We got Bak Pulver on our second trip (Bas originally brought home a sack of flour, because he thought that was baking powder :)) and I remembered it (Bak Pulver) from when I cooked the cupcakes. I had Arm & Hammer at home, so that was taken care of.
Long story - short. The cookies turned out super flat and crumbly. I'm sure brown sugar would have helped, but I don't think it would make that much of a difference. Then I found Te baking supplies from when I made cupcakes and started taste testing stuff. The baking powder (Bak Pulver) tasted exactly like the Arm & Hammer. So I looked it up online, and everything I could find said that Bak Pulver is indeed baking powder, but I know that I also used something called Natron when I made the cupcakes. So does anyone know - do baking powder and baking soda taste the same? I'm wondering if Natron is actually baking powder... anyway - they're still good, just not as chewy as they should be!
Today we went to N-berg. We've used up all of our favorite new mustard - Tomato Senf, so we wanted to get some more. We had lunch at the famous place for Bratwurst on the Marktplatz, and then went to the Toy Museum or "Spielzeug Museum. Most of the toys were behind glass of course, but we did find a couple for Luna to try out. It was a really nice day - and even though cold, nice to walk around.
I got in trouble for taking these pictures, too! A voice came over the loudspeaker... oops!
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