Let it snow!

I guess we really can't complain -- last winter was so awful, that this winter has seemed like a dream.

Until today.

That was the view out the back door.

It had been so mild that many of the daffodils had already come up, and one bunch was already showing buds.  The snowdrops had buds that were already showing colour, and the crocus couldn't wait any more.

Think they regret that decision now, though.

Kitty isn't too wild about the weather, but at least she is going out every now and then.

Fortunately I didn't have any problem getting to my therapy appointment this morning.  With many many thanks to my wonderful husband who cleared all the snow from the Ford (which has snow tires) so I could use it, and he drove the Mercedes, which only has all-weather tires.

Susan

Breakfast time!

I decided that Lucas will need a hot breakfast before he goes to work (starting next week).  I also know that I will not cook it for him every morning, nor will he.  So I found a recipe for Egg McMuffins on the internet and decided to try it out.  English muffins come in a package of four, so that's how many I made as a test -- two with "fried2" eggs, two with scrambled eggs.

The "fried" egg are done in the oven!  Grease a muffin cup and break an egg into it.  Bake it!

A little butter on the top of the english muffins...

For each type I made one with cheese and one without.  Here the scrambled eggs.

The one without cheese got bacon.

That's what the eggs look like when they come out of the oven.

They make these cute little cake type things, which are actually a bit small for the muffins.

Again, cheese or bacon

'And with their tops on.....

I thought I would try some sausage patties.  Can't buy them here, but you can buy "mett", a seasoned ground pork, and I made my own sausage patties out of it.

They should probably have been a bit thinner.

The biscuits and sausages eye one another....

..... they come together.....

and put their tops on!

Oh yeah, we need dinner tonight too. A stew of stew meat, potatoes, celery, carrots and potatoes.  I didn't have any tomato puree so I threw in an undrained can of chopped tomatoes, and had to add some water during the cooking.

Lucas tested everything and gave it all a thumbs up. So we went into production.

 The bacon, "fried" eggs and muffins are ready.

Lucas started assembling.

The results:  six with "fried" eggs, six with scrambled eggs.

Another view.


And now I am tired and will probably take a nap now that dinner is over!

Back to work tomorrow and Friday, I need those days to rest up from my two days off......

Susan

A lot of this and that and some great soup

How time flies.... nothing in particular happening, just a whole lot of real life.

Our cousin Andrew Davis was in Germany recently on a college trip.  We talked to him a number of times, and had hoped to get together with him Sunday when he was in Brussels, but it just didn't work out.  We were sorry not to have seen him, but enjoyed our talks and hope he has gotten the European travel fever!

Lucas got a big envelope full of forms from Obi, and conscientiously worked his way through him.  He had to make a lot of  calls here and there, and accomplished all of it by himself.  We will mail it back tomorrow.

I have today off, so he and I headed off to the store where he will be working the first 10 days.  It is quite close to Aachen (so not that close to us).  Google Earth failed us miserably and it took us about 3 times as long to get there as it should have.  We finally found it, though (by ourselves, thank you very much) and wandered around.  Got home much more quickly!

So what's happening on the cooking front...... a while ago I had bought some darling little mini casseroles, with covers, about 4 inches long.  Saturday night I roasted a small turkey breast, with rice and gravy (what else!).  Then I  had found some fresh broccoli, so I cooked that, heated up some hollandaise sauce and served that in the little casseroles!  Yummy and looked nice.

Had two bunches of fresh broccoli left over, and coincidentally I had found a broccoli cream soup recipe.  Made that last night, and boy was it good!  I think Norbert and especially Lucas were a little doubtful when I told them what dinner was, but they ended up loving it.  It made a large enough pot that there was enough soup leftover for an appetizer tonight.

For tomorrow I am planning an oven-baked stew.

I went through the stack of loose recipes the other night and sorted them all. While I was at it, I picked out a handful to try this week.  What is the point of gathering all these recipes if they never get tried?

We are still working our way through the mini-chocolate cupcakes, so I haven't had to bake again.  I will need to so again for the weekend, though, I imagine.

One thing I have been doing lately is going through my CD collection and loading them all into my laptop.  From there they will eventually wander onto my iphone and ipad.

Off again tomorrow with no particular plans (at the moment).

Susan

Work, work, work

I haven't posted lately, since things have been unsettled and I wanted to wait until we know something for sure. Now we know!

Lucas starts work on February 1!  He will be with Obi, a German DIY chain like Loewes or Home Depot in the US.  He will start out stocking shelves, but hey, we all have to start somewhere, right?

For the first week and a half, he will be at their store in Herzogenrath, about halfway between here and Aachen.  Then on Feb. 13, he will move to their new store in Hückelhoven, about 10 minutes away!  It is a brand new store, huuuuuuuge, and that is the first day they can get in to the new building.  The grand opening will be 4-6 weeks later.

On an unrelated note – but don't worry, I can tie this all together, just give me time – I decided to bake some mini-cupcakes.  I love my sweets, but sure don't need the calories, and thought that those two-bite thingies would fill the bill.  Whipped up a batch of devil's food cake dough,which made a couple zillion minis.

By the way, my official taster sadly told me they were no good and that he would offer to sacrifice himself and eat them all, to spare us.  Nice try, kid.......

Said official taster is also starting work soon (see, I told you I could do it!) and will have to leave the house very early.  I personally would gag if I had to eat breakfast under those circumstances, but that won't stop me from trying to get a hot breakfast into him.

The mini-baking idea sort of lead to all this.  Mini.cupcakes and muffins would be ideal to take with him as a snack.

But for breakfast?  What can we have that he can eat warm without a lot of time and bother?  Well, I can make and freeze in individual servings french toast, waffles and pancakes.  Easy enough to pop in the toaster and eat.

I can also make those wonderful and totally cholesterol-free (ha ha ha) sausage-egg muffins that Lucas loves to much.  Again, out of the freezer and into the microwave and they are ready to eat.

I also found a recipe (more than one, of course) for make your own Egg McMuffins.  We bought the ingredients today and will test them tomorrow.

Speaking of such cooking, one of the things I will do when Norbert and I fly over to the US to visit Mom next month is to re-fill her freezer.  I make casseroles or whatever, and divide them up into individual serving sized containers, and pop them in the freezer.  Not just casseroles of course, but also soup, meatloaf slices, muffins, breakfast items and so on.  She is just not into cooking much anymore and this guarantees her a good hot meal.  We also help her stock up on single-serving meals.

I will also do the same for her church, St. Paul's Episcopal in Edenton, NC.  They keep a freezer full of food for those in need, but sadly lost their whole supply when the electricity was out so long after the hurricane last fall.  I told Mom that I would like to do my part to help them stock up again.

It feels good to back into the cooking and baking routine!

Work seems to be the theme of the day:  I have a lot, and seem to have more and more translating work all the time.  Norbert has a lot of work and long hours.  Lucas will be starting in the work world.

I find it important to have a set routine, and am moving into one for the first time since before Christmas.  Things will go smoother after Lucas starts his job and we all get used to that new routine.

By the way, Kitty's paw is totally healed!

Susan

PS.  Norbert is always unclear on the difference between such things as pie and cake, and muffins and cupcakes, and just told me that the “brownie cakes” were good!  Gotta love him.....

Two very full days "off"

Spent much of Wednesday on the road.  First I went to my “marinate & grill” session – bath therapy followed by the sun cabin.  Raced home and picked up Lucas, took him to his first job interview.  Turns out the guy had something come up and wasn't there, Lucas should come back at 4 – exactly when his second appointment was.

So in the afternoon we headed out the other direction, to the second interview, then tore back to the first one.  Stopped at Burger King for an early dinner, as Norbert had physical therapy at dinner time.  Then I took Lucas to his girlfriend, who lives not far from appointment number two. 

The great news is that he was offered jobs at both interviews!  I don't want to say more until it is all 100 percent wrapped up,  but it looks extremely good.

Kitty had to have her share of attention too. At 1:30 Thursday morning.  I got up and escorted her to her food bowl.  An hour later she called me again.  I grabbed the afghan and hit the couch, she curled up with me.  But have you ever tried to sleep with a cat on your chest, who is purring VERY loudly?  Not easy! 

I dozed off and on until 5:30, then Norbert got up as usual at 6.  It was a short night......

Lucas and I took advantage of yet another day off to go to Mönchengladbach shopping.  Well, I went shopping.  You know how sometimes you shop and find nothing (which has been happening to me about the last 5 months)?  Well, today it worked out.  I found tons of stuff!

-- Two sweaters (medium rose, turquoise)

-- Two pair slacks (light/medium gray, light gray-brown)

-- shoes (gray suede)

-- three blouses (light blue, turquoise blue, pink-gray-white print)

-- purple skirt

-- dark rose knit jacket/cardigan.

So now any guys reading this are rolling their eyes in boredom.......

But it was tons of fun and Lucas and I had a good time together, as we usually do.

Came home, threw everything n the wash machine and hit the sofa for a nap.  Then threw Kitty in her carry case, put her in the car and went to the vet for follow up.

She managed to throw up in her case as soon as we parked at the vet.  Didn't have to wait, fortunately, so we were able to clean up right away. 

Her paw is getting better but is still infected.  Some pus came out around the infected claw.  She still has to stay inside, and must go back for a third shot on Saturday morning.

Tomorrow should be a calmer day, “only” my writing work and a therapy session in the morning.  Looking forward to the rest!

Busy day with bad Kitty language

Busy times

The New Year is proving itself to be a full-packed one.  Norbert and I are both on a full physical therapy programme.  And we both have lots of work at the moment.

Today was a work day for me which started off slowly.  That's ok, gives me time to do things around the house.  And I got a lot done, too, including two loads of laundry washed, dried, sorted, ironed and put away!  Plus I took about 6 bags of old clothes to the donation center.

The big news at work is that Team NetApp has been invited to the Giro d'Italia.  Hooray!  Such a boost for German cycling.  And I got exclusive quotes quite quickly.

This morning I noticed that Kitty was limping.  She of course avoided me all day, so I couldn't investigate.  About 7 pm. I lay down to take a nap but realized the vet was only open until 8, so it was time to act.  Lucas brought her downstairs and put her on my lap.  Felt her left front paw, no reaction.  Felt her right front paw.... wow!  Strong reaction with very bad Kitty language!

Lucas and I got everything ready, he threw her in hr carry case and into the car.  (She HATES being in her case and riding in the car).

We waited maybe 3 minutes at the vet (I love them) and it turns out she has a badly infected claw bed.  She got a shot of antibiotics and pain killer, and has to go back for another Thursday afternoon.  The hardest part of it all is that she has to stay inside until then......

Dinner tonight was cornmeal-batter-dipped fish, macaroni and cheese, and broccoli. Somehow it all disappeared, quite rapidly!

More work news:  I had an inquiry to do some more translating work, which would be nice.  And Lucas has two job interviews tomorrow!

So tomorrow is going to be even busier than today.  Better than sitting around being bored, that's for sure!

Time flies in the new year....

January 6th already!  Epiphany, as I recall.

What we have mostly been doing around here is working -- both the paid stuff and the around the house stuff.

Lucas and I took off to Maastricht, Netherlands, on Tuesday, for the Vacansoleil team presentation.  It was my first time driving on the Dutch autobahns, and I accomplished it with no problems.  Yeah me!

Also had my first two "bath and light" treatment sesisons for my psoriasis.  I wear my bathing suit under my clothes to go in.  Then I go down in teh basement of the doctor's practice.  The bathtub is filled about 4 inches with warm water.  Then the aide lays a plastic sheet across it.  I climb in very carefully and lay down (well, as much as I can since I am after all rather tall....) The she dumps a bucket of water with medication in it over me, and wraps me up in the plastic like a blue mummy!

I stay that way for 10 minutes, very relaxing.  Then the timer goes up.  I sit up, start draining the water, unwrap myself, and kick the plastic aside enough to stand up on the tub bottom.  Climb out, dry myself, throw the plastic away. 

Then I walk to the other side of the room, put on eye protection and climb into what looks like a cross between a shower stall and a sun bench.  The aide has previously set the time, so I walk in and close the door, which starts it.  There are handles to hold on to. 

Since I am fairly light-skinned ( a nice way of saying ghostly white), I only get "beamed" for less than three minutes.  When it stops, I exit, dress and go home!

Our task this weekend is to take on the kitchen!  Go through all the cupboards, rearrange, toss what is not needed, and so on.  We have some ideas about better storage possiblities.  Since both of us have gotten so much into cooking and baking, we really very much need to do something.

So there was nothing really exciting to report today.  But we have both been surprised at how fast the week has gone.

Susan

New Year's Eve

We hosted the small family gathering this year: the three of us (with Lucas only off and on), Norbert's sister Reingard and her husband, Herbert; their daughter, Tanja and her husband, Stefan; and their son, Rainer.

Norbert and I decided on buffet of more or less finger foods, starting with Frikadellen (German meatballs/hamburgers) and sauteed chicken fillet strips.

 Devilled eggs, homemade French bread and garlic butter, boiled shrimp and hot cocktail sauce, platter of baby carrots, green, orange, red and yellow paprikas with ranch dip sauce; and smoked trout fillets and smoked salmon.

Oops!  I think he is good enough to eat  up, but he wasnt on the menu.  'This handsome devil just jumped into camera range as I was photographing the food.

On we go with cheese platter with grapes and crackers, pretzel sticks, chips with ranch dip, two kinds of peanuts, and paprika-flavoured chips.

And you have to have dessert, too, right?  The last of the chocolate chip cookie bowls came out, this time filled with Brownie Trifle:  chopped up brownies topped with chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream, with some sprinkles on top for a bit of colour.

A good time was had by all!

One of my Christmas presents, which I asked for (and actually picked out myself) was a soup tureen.  There is a small shop in town which sells Brenzlau pottery, beautiful Polish pottery pieces.  I have a few pieces of it and seem to get another one or two every year.

Of course I had to put it right to use.  I made Williamsburg Turkey Soup.  Anything with carrots, onions, celery, turkey, rice, a half pound of butter and a pint of whipping cream has to be good, and it was.  And it was even better the second day!

Remember those little Santa has?  I found more places for them.....

A new kind of Christmas Cactus:

Where else but on the (chocolate) Santa?

And even an Iphone needs a little love every now and then....

Tomorrow, Tuesday, will be an interesting day.  I have my first physical therapy session at 8:30 and must admit, I have absolutely no idea of what to expect.  Immediately after it I will come home, pick up Lucas and head directly to Maastricht, Netherlands, about an hour away, for the Vacansoliel team presentation.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it all was.

Susan