White Asparagus

Through our kitchen window in the cottage:

We are living on a dirt road in a small village in the country where we are surrounded by woods and wetlands. Its very green here. Thats the road behind the fence.

In the village we have an adorable market where we can get "Frisher Spargle" which means fresh asparagus. In Germany it is far more popular to get white asparagus than green. I think its delicious. Especially when we eat them like we did on Day 1 when the family came over. I made a soy-cream sauce with herbs and we drizzeled it over steamed asaparagus. Side: boiled potatoes.

Every morning Bea stops by this market to pick up fresh made Vollkorn Broetchen. These are beautiful whole wheat rolls that are topped with Kurbiskern (Pumpkin Seeds) or Mohn (Poppy Seeds).

The cool bread slicing machine in our cottage!

Looking from outside the house into Bea's kitchen. Those are some of the veggies delivered to the house in a crate every wednesday.

Monday - The first day/Der Erste Tag (excuse my poor german)

So, our flights were not so bad. I felt pretty stressed about the cats because we kept having to give them more medicine to make them sleepy so they wouldn't scream. I was so worried that they had to go potty but couldn't, or would go in their crates and it would be so offensive to other passengers noses. But, nothing happened and we made it to Germany fine! This flight definitely felt shorter than my other two flights to Europe but maybe that was because it was not as scary to me knowing what I was in for. Daniel seemed to enjoy it too. We watched Marley & Me, Desperate Housewives (not daniel), and part of Twighlight. We only slept about 2 hours. I apparently became extremely dehydrated despite my excessive water consumption. I had the worst headache!

Anyway, we left around 6 on Sunday and arrived in Frankfurt around 8:45 where we connected to another flight to Hannover and finally arrived at 10:45. Suprisingly, we weren't nervous to meet our new family at all and when we did finally see them at baggage claim it was like seeing old friends. The kids were there and so were both Bea & Cord. It was a really nice start to a growing friendship.

When we got to our new house, this is what we found. :) Here are a few pics of our new cottage. Bea put these lovely roses and pink flowers in there and after 1 week i still have them and they are beautiful! Check out that sweet fruit and veggie assortment! :) I'm at home here already!

This is part of out little kitchen. Right outside that window is a chicken coup. We are surrounded on three sides by a chicken coup with three little guys running around inside it. A white one, a black one and a stripped black/white one. It suprisingly doesn't stink at all and we get to enjoy a view of the little cluckers while they run around the pine trees, pinecones, and bushes outside our window.

Here is chicken numero uno.

The Bansemer's also have a beautiful pond outside their house with a huge sandy beach where the kids build sand castles and go swimming. Its surrounded by woods, mostly pine. So day one was a holiday in Germany and family came over and everyone laid in the sun on the beach while all the little kids played in the water.

thinking of everyone back home...

yoü will laügh when i tell ü that we are listening to coüntry müsic from detroit (99.5) on the radio here as the kids are getting ready for bed and we are all winding down. I am thinking of how we coüldnt have foünd a more perfect family to come to. They woüld love every one of ü back home and yoü woüld also be very comfortable with them. will yoü all come and visit me? :) jüst think aboüt it!

"We're leavin'...."

"on a jet plane! Don't know when [we'll] be back again!" :) Caio all! Thank you for the warm goodbyes and loving celebrations.

Peanut Butter Fingers

For anyone who would like the recipe, here are Grammy's famous Peanut Butter Fingers from the wedding day. The are very sweet. They do well with modifications so go ahead and fiddle with the recipe if you like! Of course, I make them vegan :)

1 c. Flour
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Brown Sugar
1/2 t B. Soda
1/4 t Salt
1/2 c. Butter
1/3 c. Peanut Butter
1 Egg
1/2 t Vanilla
1 c. Oatmeal
1 c. Chocolate Chips

1.) Combine all except c.chips
2.) Blend until coarse crumbs
3.) Press into greased 9x13 pan
4.) Bake 350 for 20-25 min
5.) Once removed, sprinkle asap w/chocolate chips
6.) Cool to allow chocolate to harden.
7.) Mix PB Drizzle: 1/2 c confectioners sugar w/ 1/4 c peanut butter & 2-4 T milk. Drizzle over chocolate.
8.) Cut & enjoy :)

Thank you.

Have you ever paused to observe that moment in time when you were at the crossroads of indulgence & restraint? What did you feel? A rush of emotions? Maybe the battle of greed and gratitude?

It is such a moment of life. And today I felt that.

It was when I was standing there looking at him, hearing his voice, and trying to imprint in my memory every last bit of him. It was when I was leaning in to my third "last" hug...I was noticing. Don't I take a fourth? What else is there? Then I turned, still unsure, to walk out the door with tears welling in my eyes and heart...and I was observing the battle in myself. I closed the door and stood there for a second on the walk to steal one last look back, and suddenly it stopped. I turned up to the sky and the words, "thank you" drifted up into the night, taking with them the struggle...and I became peaceful.

The dreaded packing...

We did a "mock packing" today to see how well our stuff would fit into our luggage. So far, we have two extremely large suitcases with clothes, a third with boots, coats, kitty litter & food, and a fourth with shoes, and miscellaneous toiletries, books, and other various nonsense. I have to say, the today's event facilitated my changing from a state of carefree bliss to utter tension and buzzing nerves. Can I just tell you, German cars are not that big. We are going to arrive to meet this poor family with FOUR suitcases of our own, TWO cats, ONE computer bag, ONE au pair, and ONE husband. And I am praying to whoever can hear me that: 1. they dont go running, 2. we fit in that little car.

My mother recently said to me that she thought it might be easier on me that daniel and the cats are coming... and I have to say that is far from true. I am moving all of the things I hold most precious to me across seas and extremely concerned about their comfort. This is hardly a breezy adventure to me. It is not often (enough) about me at all. Dont get me wrong, I do often daydream about so many grand experiences I hope to have there, but I spend more time considering how my host family will feel about all the accessories their au pair is bringing with her, how my cats will adjust to their 12 hour druged plane ride & fourth home in less than a year, and how my dear husband will feel about leaving his big american, english speaking, trans am racing, comfortable world for a cobble stone street, tiny town, crazy-new-language speaking, 350 sq ft cottage living, kind of life. Yes, all my thinking is exhausting me. And I have been asking these questions since last October when all the talk of this trip began. And, thrilled I will be soon enough, to recieve some actual feedback on all my questions.

According to a google search for Wedemark, Germany, these are some lovely gentleman's photos from his trip to the town we will be living in/near by. Enjoy :)

Projects

This weekend we perked up the cottage by painting the plastic adirondack chairs fun colors. We painted yellow, lavendar, green, and blue. :) We also planted lots of new flowers (columbine, iris, azaleas), a few hostas (i am learning about what these things are all called), and made a new patio out of flagstone. :) My dad would be proud. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera, so no new pictures. This was a great holiday. We enjoyed lots of fresh flowers cut from the yard, yummy fruits and veggies, and lots of sunshine.

Hope you enjoyed your holiday! :)

Life the last few days...

Onigiri - Japanese rice balls

Just a thought so far....but I am considering making these Japanese rice balls called Onigiri. The photo shows them in the triangular shape but you can make them into balls too. They have little strips of nori (seaweed - the stuff on the outside of sushi sometimes) and a filling. I have read that some people fill them with umeboshi plums, or ginger strips and avacado chunks... i think plain will be nice. I absolutely love the slightly sweet, earthy, nutty taste of short grain brown rice by itself. I will let you know if I make them, what they end up with inside, and how they taste!