Food for thought, or thinking about food

I have to take a moment to brag about two wonderful recipes from this past week. So proud of myself, because they both came out wonderfully!

Fist, I made a delicious orichette and radicchio pasta salad from a recipe in last month´s Martha Stewart Living.
Since it has been such a cold summer, we definately haven´t been to many cook-outs, and I found myself craving pasta salad. Martha Stewart came along just in time to provide me this outstanding recipe that yielded this beautiful salad!


(http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=d1fb2af968fd3110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default)


Today, I went to a pot-luck brunch for the Early Learning Center of the International School. The ELC is pre-K through 1st grade, and we all got together to kick off the school year. It was held at the home of the deputy lower school principal, and it was wonderful! It was so great to see some old faces I had worked with last school year, and of course, it was brilliant to get together outside of the school. I took a chance on a Paula Deen recipe. I firmly trust Paula, and know that I don´t ever need to test her recipes before introducing them to people, because they will always be good. Well, yet again, Paula proved herself with an incredibly rich, yet amazing Praline French Toast Casserole

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_26774,00.html) which was out of this world! Go Paula!!!

Three cheers for drugstore.com!!!!

I know that I really have to start getting used to German products. You would think that after 5 years, I´d have better integrated myself. But, there are certain things I just can´t give up on, and since I can purchase said items in dollars, it is cheaper to have some things sent from the States.
Yesterday, I received my drugstore.com purchase of- cleaning supplies and face soap! Woo Hoo!!! I ran out of my regular cleaer last week, and then considered buying something German. But, since I have yet to find something that comes remotely close to those wonderful scents of lavender and pine, I really didn´t want to buy a whole bottle for a week. So, shhhh.... I didn`t really clean until my precious bottle of multi-purpose cleaner arrived. Now, I am in the throes of cleaning heaven (okay, maybe that´s a little dramaticized,) but I am really excitied.
So, three cheers for my absolute favorite internet drugstore, for feeding my "dis"integration into German society :)

Baden Wuertemburg History

Today was a really fun day! Surprisingly so. My new resolution has to be better about cleaning and doing laundry during the week. I am so impressed, because I now actually have time on the weekend to do things! Yay!
So, today, Joern and I decided on checking out the Baden-Wuertemburg history museum in Stuttgart. Marcel came with us :) They opened about 3 years ago, and I really can´t believe we haven´t been there before. The museum was very interesting, it followed the history of our state from the time of Napoleon´s invasion to the present. The first floor focused on the history, and was very well presented, if you speak German. They had so much to see and read about. And, everything was artfully displayed, which really added to the experience.
I learned so much about the impact of Napoleon, the struggle to separate from Prussia, the experiences of the people living here through both world wars, and some interesting information about the state today.

The second floor was very interactive, which appealed to "my boys." There was a large display about the Black Forest, which is a very important part of our state. What I found most impressive was the hall that highlighted all the companies that are headquartered here in BW. Wow, I can´t believe how many well-known businesses are from here. Of course, there are the big ones, Mercedes, Porsche, and Audi. But, Steiff, SAP, Fischer dowels, and many others call this great state I live in home.

My favorite though was the "ABCs" of Baden-Wuertemburg exhibit outside of the museum. They had cases all over the walkway with a product or idea that is native to the state. Here are a few of my favorites:

"B" for Bretzeln (pretzels come from Altenriet, the village next to ours!)


"S" for Spaetzle, Swabian noodles!


"V" for Viertele, I know it´s hard to see, but those are wine glasses. Viertel is German for 1/4, as in 1/4 of a liter of wine, "le" is a Swabian ending for words.

Wow, where has the time gone?

Well, since my last post, which was over a month ago, a lot has gone on. I will hopefully be able to find our missing photo cards to post pictures from Mallorca and England. Until then, I guess I should just start with now, and work on reviews of other trips as I get around to it.

Things here in Germany are great. We have been having miserably cold and rainy weather, which isn´t so bad compared to the killer heat waves in some parts of Europe and the US!

This past weekend, we dog-sat for a friend. It was so much fun, we really enjoyed having a dog in the apartment. The dog we took care of is Abigail, a 75 lb. black lab. She is also one of the best behaved dogs I´ve ever met! We had her for 3 days, enjoyed lots of walks through the fields around here. I definately see the fields surrounding our town (which are the cause of our being unable to build a house,) in a whole new light! Abigail was afraid of Leo, which was priceless, considering that sopping wet he weighs 4 lbs. I finally got Abigail to come sniff Leo by sitting on the floor and petting Leo, so that he wouldn´t make his mean face and scare the poor dog! Unfortunately, our time with Abigail went really quickly, and has now left Joern and I considering a dog of our own!

Otherwise, the week has been pretty slow. I finished reading a great book- The Savage Garden by Mark Mills. It is set in Tuscany, Italy about 10 years after WWII. The main story is a murder-mystery, but there are many different levels to the story. Although I found it hard to follow in the beginning, mostly because it was weighed down with a lot of Roman mythology, I really enjoyed the book by the end!

I guess that´s all for now, hope everyone reading this is doing well!!

Feeling really bad

Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to work with some amazing kids. One of the most amazing has become a good friend of mine, Tori. Unfortunately, last June, she and her family finally moved back to the States, after 4 years. Overall, the year seemed to be rolling along fine for her, despite the typical teenage trials.

She´s been going through a particular rough teenage spot lately, which of course, made me upset anyway. Now, she also told me that her mom is really sick, and her dad is deployed. Mom might need surgery, but right now, things don´t look too good. Everyone is scared.

It is times like this that I have the biggest problem being in Germany. I adore my life, but when something bad happens at home, I can´t always get back to be with the ones I love. This summer is especially busy for us, with traveling, doctors appointments, and life in general, so going home is just not an option right now.

So far, I have missed my cousin Katie´s graduation from college, and my cousin Elizabeth´s graduation from high school- both were events that I absolutely did not want to miss. I missed graduation parties. I missed going to the races with my father. I missed everything that I have worked so hard to hold on to these past 5 years that I´ve been here. And now, I can´t be with Tori when she needs a strong support system the most. This is so frustrating! I know that my life is with my husband, but sometimes, I wish life could be put on hold so I could be a bigger part of other people´s lives.

I am trying as hard as I can. I try to stay in touch with emails, and phone calls. Sometimes though, it is not enough. Then I feel guilty being here, where people think I´m living a carefree life. I´m not complaining at all about my life, there are just some days when living in another country doesn´t have such a romantic feel. This past week has definately been one of those times!

Standstill

Europeans are very good at going on strike. The French are probably world champions of organizing themselves into strikes, but Germans can be pretty good too.

Last week, I started working with the cutest little 4 year old boy. He has speech problems, and I am working with his school SLP to implement his summer program. We meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This morning, Joern was going to drive me to base on his way to his meeting with Toys´r us in Cologne. Because this is a HUGE ride for him, I was going to take the train home.

When I woke up this morning and turned on the TV, it was loaded with reorts about the train strike that began this morning. The strike isn´t just the Bahn, which is the German version of Amtrak, it also encompasses the subway and street car systems in most cities- Stuttgart included. The strike began around 5:30 this morning, after some people had already boarded trains for work. A woman in Berlin had gotten on a train, and at 5:30 when the train pulled into a "middle-of-nowhere" station, she and all the other passengers were told to get off the train, because the driver was now on strike!

I hated to have to cancel, but without my license, and without Joern being even in the same state, I really had to! Argh! At least House is on tonight- I guess that´s the day´s saving grace!

Here´s to happy and easy flowing travel!

What to do, what to do?

Rainbow over Neckartailfingen

Coming off the news of my new job, any news pales in comparison. My new latest obsession- vacuum cleaners! I really broke ours on Saturday, and considering that it was 30 Euro and we got three years out of it, I don´t think we got that raw of a deal!
So, I hopped on my trusty internet on Saturday to check out reviews of vacuum cleaners- oh my gosh, the choices are mind boggling! I checked the Cleaning & Organizing forum on TheNest.com, and everyone recommends Dyson. I admit, I am a sucker for clever marketing, and am pretty much sold on the Dyson myself. I figure that I am a working woman now, and can afford a quality home appliance.
The second thing pushing me towards the Dyson are the tumbleweeds of rabbit fur that refuse to be vacuumed, swept, or anything, and Dyson has a specific model for animals.
The price of course, is the only problem with a Dyson- I only worked 2 weeks in the past month, and most of my money would be gone if I decide to purchase my dream vacuum.
In my research though, I have also found two other companies with animal models- one a Miele, which has an excellent reputation. Their Cat & Dog 5000 (oh my gosh, how exciting!!) is 100 Euro cheaper than the Dyson, but it doesn´t have a hardwood flooring function. So frustrating.
Unfortunately, that is all the news that is new here. My aunt wrote to me this morning- yay!
Hope everyone is good and that you´ve all enjoyed my L-O-N-G entry about Venice :)