Have you ever tried to completely "eat out" the fridge? Y'know, when you're getting ready to leave for a long holiday and you want to do something silly like defrost the freezer part of your ridiculously small fridge? Well said task is upon us, and being that we're leaving tomorrow (yay!) the challenge is seeming impossible at times. I mean, think about the things you'd have left over in your fridge after eating all the normal "going together" stuff. That's right, we have a bottle of ketchup, ranch dressing, 3 varieties of pickles, 3 kinds of jams, hot peppers, lemon juice, chocolate sauce, and organic maple syrup. Ok ok there's still a bit of milk and also a tomato and cucumber for a salad today, but the rest is all this random stuff! How are we ever supposed to finish everything up without sending our stomachs into ruin?! I'm just not sure and fearing that we'll end up throwing some stuff out (not cool!). Or I could ask to put a couple things in the neighbor's fridge for a few weeks...hmm...
But the good side of all this is that we have this problem because we're going home!! Yay! I mean, to visit--some people have asked in a serious tone if we'll stay, which is weird to be asked when you're sharing news of a wonderful Christmas VISIT home with someone. Anyway-! We PLAN to come back, who knows what could happen (I'm only referring to monumental things like every airline company going bankrupt or the baby being born 5 months early (HA!) or something, please know I'm not serious) but yes, this is a VISIT home. So we're on our way tomorrow and are so thrilled to get to see our family and friends! A bonus is that we'll both see our parents tomorrow night when we land because my parents and sister will also fly into Rochester to spend time with Grady's parents (and us) for the weekend. It's going to be so overwhelming to see everyone and I can't wait!
A fun thing about being pregnant (at least here with a German doctor calling the shots) and preparing to travel is a little thing called (literally translated) compression tights. I got fitted for these lovely ladies yesterday and let me tell you, this culture is NOT KIDDING about certain things! Last week at the doctor's appointment I asked about flying and maybe some tips the doctor had for my pregnant body during the 10 hour flight, and she wrote up a prescription for these compression tights to prevent swelling. Great! I thought. Until getting fitted for them yesterday. I'm sure they'll stop the swelling, no doubt about that, but man, how do they not stop the bloodflow?! They are these thigh-high tight-looking things that at first glance seem like they would barely go up past the knee. Oh no. Frau whoever-it-was who measured and fitted me put on DISHWASHING GLOVES to get the right grip on the hose to gradually yet forcefully pull it up what ended up to be my whole leg-! It is the weirdest sensation to have such an overall tightness (literally and otherwise) around one's leg-! And I'm supposed to wear these for the whole travel day?! There's even a special technique to take them off and I couldn't help but think how much more time I was going to need to get dressed and undressed. I'll keep everyone posted about how tomorrow goes walking briskly through airports on my restricted legs, and if it actually does help the swelling. Here's to new adventures-!
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Holiday Treats
Here are my favorite goodies recipes this season:
(all found on http://www.allrecipes.com/)
Enjoy!
Whipped Shortbread Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
red maraschino cherries, quartered
1. Preheat over to 350 F (175 C).
2. In a large bowl, combine butter, flour and icing sugar. With an electric mixer, beat for 10 minutes, until light and fluffy. Spoon onto cookie sheets, spacing cookies two inches apart. Place a piece of maraschino cherry onto the middle of each cookie.
3. Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated over, or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned. Remove from over and let cool on cookie sheet for five minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container, seperating each layer with waxed paper.
Bitesize Turtle Candy*
(*this recipe is modified from the original)
pecan halves
individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped and halved
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1-2 teaspoons shortening
1. Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C). Line baking sheets with wax paper or foil.
2. Place pecan half on cookie sheet and place half of caramel on top. Repeat with remaining nuts and caramels.
3. Place in preheated oven ~5 minutes, until caramel is soft but not fully melted. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple minutes. Flatten caramel a bit with index finger (careful, they are hot!).
4. Melt chocolate chips with shortening in microwave, or in a small saucepan over low heat on stove; stir until smooth. Spoon over candies on sheets. Chill for many hours, until firm.
Swedish Nuts
2 egg whites
1 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound nuts (walnuts or pecans are best)
1/2 cup butter
1. Preheat oven to 375 F (165 C). Melt butter in 9 x 13" dish by placing in oven.
2. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar, salt, vanilla.
3. Beat until stiff peaks form and turn glossy (about 10 minutes).
4. Fold in nuts and coat well with mixture.
5. Evenly spread coated nuts over butter in pan.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring and turning nuts every eight minutes or until there is no more butter in the pan.
7. Place hot nuts on foil and allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.
(all found on http://www.allrecipes.com/)
Enjoy!
Whipped Shortbread Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
red maraschino cherries, quartered
1. Preheat over to 350 F (175 C).
2. In a large bowl, combine butter, flour and icing sugar. With an electric mixer, beat for 10 minutes, until light and fluffy. Spoon onto cookie sheets, spacing cookies two inches apart. Place a piece of maraschino cherry onto the middle of each cookie.
3. Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated over, or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned. Remove from over and let cool on cookie sheet for five minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container, seperating each layer with waxed paper.
Bitesize Turtle Candy*
(*this recipe is modified from the original)
pecan halves
individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped and halved
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1-2 teaspoons shortening
1. Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C). Line baking sheets with wax paper or foil.
2. Place pecan half on cookie sheet and place half of caramel on top. Repeat with remaining nuts and caramels.
3. Place in preheated oven ~5 minutes, until caramel is soft but not fully melted. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple minutes. Flatten caramel a bit with index finger (careful, they are hot!).
4. Melt chocolate chips with shortening in microwave, or in a small saucepan over low heat on stove; stir until smooth. Spoon over candies on sheets. Chill for many hours, until firm.
Swedish Nuts
2 egg whites
1 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound nuts (walnuts or pecans are best)
1/2 cup butter
1. Preheat oven to 375 F (165 C). Melt butter in 9 x 13" dish by placing in oven.
2. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar, salt, vanilla.
3. Beat until stiff peaks form and turn glossy (about 10 minutes).
4. Fold in nuts and coat well with mixture.
5. Evenly spread coated nuts over butter in pan.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring and turning nuts every eight minutes or until there is no more butter in the pan.
7. Place hot nuts on foil and allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Cool New Gadgets
Check it out! Thanks to reconnecting with simultaneously pregnant friends via blogging I have discovered the ultimate cool way for everyone to keep track of the baby and its development with us (see above). And for the record, it's pink to match the website, not because we know we're having a girl-! (Although the question of finding out did come up at the doctor's appointment yesterday--but we were strong! We want to be surprised in the end!) And I'll also take this moment to exclaim how cool it is to be halfway through! Time sure is a tickin!
Sunday, December 3, 2006
A Recurring Revelation...and then some
I love root beer!
That's just all there is to it. No matter how long I go without it I savor every drop when I'm reunited with its fizzy sweetness. I also was recently reminded how much I love store bought eggnog, but that's for different reasons and another post. For now I'd like to share my pure joy when any amount of a root beer-y beverage fills my mouth.
Here are my currently on-hand brands, thanks to a trip to an American military base last month. The IBC is a special treat but the Barqs is definitely my all time fav.
I have to ration them since our only chance to get them is on such military base visits, which are few and far between. I know, I know, life is rough here in anti-root beer Germany-!
But what I'm really excited for is ordering a root beer with my meal when we go out to eat while we're back in North America over the holidays. It will be such a special treat! I tell ya, being away from some things really gives one a new found appreciation. You should try it sometime!
In other news, it's pretty much confirmed (by me) that indeed the baby's kicks are feelable now! Talk about an interesting experience! At first they were so light and sparse that I wasn't sure, but the frequency and intensity have been slowly and steadily increasing to the point that now I can almost say with complete certainty that it is the living child within and not other miscellaneous sensations. Considering that the baby is about the size of half a Subway sandwich and that my belly really hasn't grown much (yet) at all, I'd say it's about time that I'm feeling something--I mean, how does something that big (that moves around ALOT according to past ultrasounds, stretching legs and arms out, etc) fit in there without me being extremely uncomfortable all the time? Another miracle of this whole process I guess!
And on one last but totally unrelated note, we live on the top floor of our building and thus live directly under the roof causing the outer facing walls to slant with the angle of the roof. This creates more of a roomy feel, which we like and is part of the reason we chose this apartment above others, but at the same time it has recently become quite the hassle for our general well-being. Who knows why, but until the last couple weeks our ceiling-eye-head/hand/back coordination was working out just fine, with no actual injuries, just a couple of close calls. But lately, I can't count how many times I've bent down to get something from under the shorter part and stood up before backing out far enough or Grady has innocently raised his hand too high and a seriously uncomfortable collision occurs. The kicker is that the ceiling isn't just painted flat wall, it's practically popcorn stucco that draws blood upon any momentum-carrying contact. No kidding! Grady was actually bleeding last week after skimming his forehead. So as you can imagine, this has been quite a blow to not only our head or hands, but also to our general emotional confidence in being able to correctly judge and accurately adapt to our surroundings which can really cause one to doubt one's personal growth and progression after awhile. Anyway, it's been interesting and the only thing I can come up with is that the sun is starting to set around 3pm these days and maybe the change of light is throwing our coordination skills through a loop. But as for now I'll just keep the bandaids stocked up.
Root beer, baby and popcorn stucco. Hope one of those topics interested you at least a bit!
That's just all there is to it. No matter how long I go without it I savor every drop when I'm reunited with its fizzy sweetness. I also was recently reminded how much I love store bought eggnog, but that's for different reasons and another post. For now I'd like to share my pure joy when any amount of a root beer-y beverage fills my mouth.
Here are my currently on-hand brands, thanks to a trip to an American military base last month. The IBC is a special treat but the Barqs is definitely my all time fav.
I have to ration them since our only chance to get them is on such military base visits, which are few and far between. I know, I know, life is rough here in anti-root beer Germany-!But what I'm really excited for is ordering a root beer with my meal when we go out to eat while we're back in North America over the holidays. It will be such a special treat! I tell ya, being away from some things really gives one a new found appreciation. You should try it sometime!
In other news, it's pretty much confirmed (by me) that indeed the baby's kicks are feelable now! Talk about an interesting experience! At first they were so light and sparse that I wasn't sure, but the frequency and intensity have been slowly and steadily increasing to the point that now I can almost say with complete certainty that it is the living child within and not other miscellaneous sensations. Considering that the baby is about the size of half a Subway sandwich and that my belly really hasn't grown much (yet) at all, I'd say it's about time that I'm feeling something--I mean, how does something that big (that moves around ALOT according to past ultrasounds, stretching legs and arms out, etc) fit in there without me being extremely uncomfortable all the time? Another miracle of this whole process I guess!
And on one last but totally unrelated note, we live on the top floor of our building and thus live directly under the roof causing the outer facing walls to slant with the angle of the roof. This creates more of a roomy feel, which we like and is part of the reason we chose this apartment above others, but at the same time it has recently become quite the hassle for our general well-being. Who knows why, but until the last couple weeks our ceiling-eye-head/hand/back coordination was working out just fine, with no actual injuries, just a couple of close calls. But lately, I can't count how many times I've bent down to get something from under the shorter part and stood up before backing out far enough or Grady has innocently raised his hand too high and a seriously uncomfortable collision occurs. The kicker is that the ceiling isn't just painted flat wall, it's practically popcorn stucco that draws blood upon any momentum-carrying contact. No kidding! Grady was actually bleeding last week after skimming his forehead. So as you can imagine, this has been quite a blow to not only our head or hands, but also to our general emotional confidence in being able to correctly judge and accurately adapt to our surroundings which can really cause one to doubt one's personal growth and progression after awhile. Anyway, it's been interesting and the only thing I can come up with is that the sun is starting to set around 3pm these days and maybe the change of light is throwing our coordination skills through a loop. But as for now I'll just keep the bandaids stocked up.
Root beer, baby and popcorn stucco. Hope one of those topics interested you at least a bit!
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