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.....