Flammkuchen or "Tarte Flambee"

For those of you who are interested, here is the recipe for the Flammkuchen!!
Inredient:
Pizza dough
Sour Cream
Onion (chopped in thin strip)
Lard/ thick bacon (in cube)
Cheese

So easy! Take your pizza dough and try to make it at thin as possible… VERY VERY thin!!
Spray the sour cream on the dough (like you would tomato sauce if it was a regular pizza),
Put your onion and lard on it and sprinkle your cheese (I do believe French will use Swiss cheese for that one)
And bake at 400 for about 15mn or until golden (or cheese melted)
And enjoy with a glass of beer or white wine!!

De blog

Hitscherhof 09

So this past Sunday we went to the Hitscherhof as we planned.
We drove the back way. No Autobahn, which was very pretty. I drove with our friend Peggy and Matt was guiding us (driving like a nut as usual) ;-)
We arrive there at about Noon, and already the parking was crazy. I remember the last time that we went to the Hitscherhof we parked not too far from the farm and they had artisan/artist selling their craft in the big barn. Well it has gotten SO big that now you have to park about 1km away and they have people selling stuff outside of the barn.
We went to find our friend Karen because we had some little items for her, and introduce her to Peggy. We tchated and Matt went in the LONG line to get some Flammkuchen. And I stayed with Karen tchating. We saw lots and lots of American, which I guess is a good thing for the people selling. I don’t even know how Karen knew which language to speak. She jumped from German to English like it was out of style! She just Amaze me!!
We went around. Matt took the kids through the Corn Maze, I stayed with Peggy and we went to see the vendors. I found some cool stuff, but since I am NOT set up at home, I only bought a little something for one of Damien’s teacher for her Xmas gift! (yeah I know I am early, but I saw it, and thought of her)
I forced the kids to pose in the Pumpkin, and after saying goodbye to Karen we left. This little trip took us over 6 hours of our day. Pretty quick, he?
Anyway… here are the pictures of our outing. Hope you enjoy them!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

De blog

Yummy Biscuit and Laziness

OK, I am going to brag about me being lazy. Yes I am!! I am sometime proud of my inventive laziness. Why do you ask yourself, well let me tell you!
Have you ever been at Red Lobster? Have you ever tried their Yummy Biscuit?? Do you like them?? Well if YES was all the answer to all of those questions, then…. Read the rest of this post!
So, I feel like eating sea food, but with it those YUMMY Red Lobster Biscuit. So I went into my “just Unpacked” pantry and found what I was looking for.

Biscuit mix!! WHOHOO!!! I followed the recipe and added some parsley, and VOILA…
Yep, I am lazy. I since then found this awesome recipe that look even more delicious!! http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/?p=4431
So I promised myself that I will try it when I have more time, and a mixer that is working (still waiting for the transformer to be shipped from KitchenAid) And if when I try the recipe and it turn as good as it look, I WILL put a follow up with the pictures of the result!! How about that!!

De blog

Hitscherhof Coming near you on 26-27Sept 2009

My friend Karen (good friend from France since… 1999) is an Artist!

She is a Soap-maker, a Basket-maker, she cooks, she sews. She does everything that I wish I could do!! OH and she speak German AND French AND English! How sick is that!!
Well anyhow. She is just AMAZING!!










She can’t really sell her craft in France because it cost so much to be a small business owner in France. So what she does is that she goes in some craft show when in season and sell her soaps to people like you and me who happen to want a good product totally HANDMADE and with NATURAL ingredients. So… If for any reason, you are like me and you enjoy also just cruising around markets that show other artist. You can go this coming weekend in (well I guess this is the city) Hitscherhof!! Here is the website: http://www.hitscherhof.com/english/events.html
Go check it out if you are in the area.
Oh, BTW, did you see how old those pictures are?? Well they were taken in 2000, and see, we already went there, and we are going back… That is to tell you how GREAT this is!!


What are you waiting for? I am sure you have a few hours to spend outside picking a pumpkin to carve for Halloween, no??
GO!!!

De blog

IKEA Bookshelf story

Some of you (Facebook friends) know that last Saturday we (Matt and I) finally made it to built our IKEA bookshelf! Here is the story behind it.
I decided that it would be a good idea to re-organize the living/office area! Since this move I realize that I left a LOT of furniture back in Iowa, and that I don’t have as much place to put away all the stuff that we have away. So, I decided that I was going to look into buying a bookshelf and a corner desk. (can you see why on the picture?)

I went to IKEA to do my research, brought the catalogue home with me, show it too Matt. Drag Matt to IKEA with the intend to buy the stuff. Got annoyed with husband in IKEA (because he just doesn’t give a crap about the type of furniture that we have). Left IKEA with a very sorry husband. Went to the Custom place here on base, so that I could buy a VAT form, so that I could get the TAX back (you know the little extra that the store charge you for the States Taxes? Well in Germany it is almost 20%, yes you read it right, 20 %) Needless to say that I am going to use those forms as often as I can to order to have a little money back as I can!
So last week, I went back with my friend to the IKEA in Mannheim and we bought the shelf and the desk that attach to it. I was going to buy the extra desk, but they didn’t have it in the color that I wanted. I paid the cashier and gave her my VAT form, she then told me to go to Customer service to get the form filled up. OK then!! 35mn after I got my little “serving ticket #” ticket, I finally got my VAT form filled up. The Customer service send me to the cashier to get my tax money back (ARE YOU INSANE??)!!
So off I go back to the cashier, in line for another 10mn and got my 26Euro back!! Whohooo!! Well, I guess it is good pay for an hour of work/waiting (time that I could have use to unpack at home), right?
Got home, and on Saturday went to unload the shelf from the van, opened the boxes. AH!! One is the right color… the other isn’t!! OH NO!!!! I tell Matt, we need to call IKEA to see if we need to return it to the Mannheim store or if we can just go to the closest one! Call them, any store will do!! OK then, load the black part (wrong color) back in the van, and drive there. Oh the joy of the ticket #. Waited, got the lady to agree to take it back (next time you have an issue like that, go to the Store that you bought it from) ??? What do you mean??? We called, they say go anywhere?? What is the problem??? (Me in my head: OH WHATEVER!!!) ;-)

Got the right color shelf and went to see if they had the desk (they did) bought the desk and went home.

After about 2 ½ hours of putting stuff together, (and a happy Matt as you can see!) this is now what it look like (well almost since I still need to put away all the crap that need to be put away in it! And then, I will take another picture and post it. But this is the “work in progress”

De blog

Heidelberg Castle First Visit

Today, after a lot of work unpacking in the kitchen. Matt and I decided to go on a Bike Ride in Heidelberg. He was only wanted to go near the river, and come back. Our little tour ended up taking us to the Heidelberg Castle ground. And what a beautiful ground it is!
The colors and the textures of the Stones are amazing. I found it a paradise for me. I don’t know if Matt enjoyed staying behind watching me taking so many pictures.
But… you know me, I couldn’t help myself. So here they are… most of them at least. (Yes, there is more!) ;-) And by the by… If you don’t care about pictures, just skip this entry! Hehe!!
Hope you enjoy them. I sure enjoy taking them!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We got home and finished the kitchen (one and only one box left in it!! For tomorrow) so… Maybe more pictures of what we did this weekend, between the living/computer area and the Kitchen we rock!! Well mostly Matt does!! ;-)

De blog

Adventure of finding a restaurant on a Sunday evening that is still open in Stuttgart!!

So today after a few hours moving boxes, bed and other crap around. We decided to take off (a little late I will agree) to somewhere … Where was the question. So I popped on the computer quickly and found out that Stuttgart has a “mall” or so they say... Alright then, let’s go I said.
Off we go, found it soon enough (Only one hour away from home, so not too too far) and went in. A MALL?? WTH! No way OK so it is a PX with some store around! But it sure isn’t a MALL! I picture a MALL as TONES of stores. And of course… they do have different kind, but not that much and they are ALL bloody closed WTH! Jeeeesh and I thought since it was on base it wouldn’t be touch by the Sunday no work day like in Germany and most of the rest of Europe work! Sigh!!
We went inside the PX (which thankfully was still open for another hour) and I found some cute shoes and Morgane too, Damien got a pair of Jeans and Rafael got some Ammo for his Foam gun! LOL...
Then out we go, Matt is STARVING. So I ask the cashier if he knows of any place where we can sit and eat around there on base if possible. A nice couple said: “Sure go to the next barracks and you’ll get a “Tex-Mex” restaurant.”
All right!! Whohoo!! Tex-Mex!!
We put on the GPS Kelley Barrack and off we go. Only 10mn away. We arrive at our destination. Found the place and found out they don’t serve on Sunday except some bunch of Hamburger and other crap while watching the NFL! NO thank you Matt says. So out we go. I pick up a little directory of what is in Stuttgart area. Found another place to eat on another Barrack Clash Barrack or something like that.
Arrived at our destination AGAIN. And ooops… It is closed on Sunday! OH NO WAY!!!
Our dinner ended up being a bag of chips for each of us (you know the snack size) with a small bottle of our choice of drink. Oh and the kids had a Pop Tart for desert! AH!! Very Haute Cuisine right??
Well anyway. Wanted to share our little Adventure trip with you. And also did found something to share pictures wise. A little piece of the Berlin Wall was near the Tex-Mex place so... I took a picture of it.

Shut up

I couldn't resist sharing with you this pictures taken from an article about a homecoming celebration. I thought she just was hilarious (it made me wonder if hubby talk a little too much though) ;-) Anyway for the article/picture you can go here: http://www.bw.eur.army.mil/news/HPpdf/2009/Sept_3_2009.pdf

De blog

Sandra's Sunday

This Sunday I took a break from my moving routine to join my friend Sandra to a “Horse Show” (don’t ask me where it was, I don’t know. She was driving! Hehe!!)
Niway, we went to see her sister (the chicka with the Hat on the horse! Blonde!) where she was competing in the “Dressage” part of the show.
For those of you who don’t know what this is here is a little something that I went fishing on Wikipedia!
Dressage (pronounced dress-ahhzh /ˈdrɛsɑʒ/) (a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a path and destination of competitive horse training, with competitions held at all levels from amateur to the Olympics. Its fundamental purpose is to develop, through standardized progressive training methods, a horse's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform, thereby maximizing its potential as a riding horse. At the peak of a dressage horse's gymnastic development, it can smoothly respond to a skilled rider's minimal aids by performing the requested movement while remaining relaxed and appearing effortless. Dressage is occasionally referred to as "Horse Ballet" (cf. nl:Dressuur). Although the discipline has ancient roots, dressage was first recognized as an important equestrian pursuit in the West during the Renaissance. The great European riding masters of that period developed a sequential training system that has changed little since then. Classical dressage is still considered the basis of trained modern dressage.
Early European aristocrats displayed their horses' training in equestrian pageants, but in modern dressage competition, successful training at the various levels is demonstrated through the performance of "tests" of prescribed series of movements within a standard arena. Judges evaluate each movement on the basis of an objective standard appropriate to the level of the test and assign each movement a score from zero to ten - zero being "not executed" and 10 being "excellent". A score of 9 is considered "very good" and is considered a particularly high mark, while a competitor achieving all 6s (or 60% overall) should be considering moving on to the next level.
You can find the rest of the info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressage
And she got a 63% so needless to say that she is WAY good!! I was WAY impressed, but then, I am impressed with mostly anything horse related!
Here are a few pictures that I took!

Make a Smilebox photobook

OH and then Sandra showed me her parent’s farm (Horse) and I took more pictures. Here they are!!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Thanks Sandra I had a great day!

De blog

Little trip to Houat

My family has been vacationing in Houat since “forever”. My mother and father met on the Island in 1967 (or something like that) and the rest is history. My father’s last wishes were that his ashes were spread in the water around Houat, which we did. So as you can see this Island has a special place in our heart.
My Father’s Aunt has a house on the Island and uses it for her vacation as well as leaves it for her kids to use. And sometime offer it to my mother. Which she did this year. Needless to say that when my mother told me about it, I was excited to go with my own family. Matt being TDY couldn’t come, but I took the kids and went.
Here are some pictures of the Island that I took while there, but also below a little something about it.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Houat pronounced like “what” mean Little Duck in Breton. The Island was better known as Enez Houad in Britton. Houat lives on fishing and tourism. Its population grows from 340 inhabitants to about 3000 visitors a day during the summer. One of the things that Houat is known for: is the calm and peace on it. There are only a few vehicles on the Island. One small bus goes from the port area to the camping, and back. And only a few other car travel to deliver the supplies to the stores. But if you think that you will be able to take a taxi to your hotel, think again. The Shuttle might get you there, but this is the only way of transportation. Well not counting your legs walking or biking.
The Island is covered with Dunes that are now protected, and passages for the “tourist” can be found around the Island for people to enjoy a stroll. The Flora is remarkable and rare. (You can find some of them on this website: http://www.melvan.org/photos-plantes-patrimoniales.htm (In French)
By seeing the pictures you will probably know why we love this island. If you ever want to spend a peaceful and enjoy the sun, the sand and the quiet of a nice vacation time with your family or on your own, check out this Island. And if you are not a “camping” person, you can find lots of rental houses online. Just check it out. It is just LOVELY

Make a Smilebox photobook

De blog