Heidelberg Walk

Jennifer is a brand new teacher for the High School here. And it was the last day that we could have lunch date with her. So we went to Heidelberg and had a very nice lunch at a local restaurant. We walk to the little restaurant “Bier Brezel” on the Haupstrasse and sat down for some soup and flatbread pizza.

It was delicious, and they had a neat décor too! Anyway, I had my camera so… guess what?? I took some pictures!! ;-)

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Lazise, Lake Di Garda Italy

On the morning of the 18th of May, I read that there were a old “XV century Carmelite monastery” that was supposed to be way cool and had a gorgeous view over the lake and all that good stuff that will my HTF super happy! So I drove to Garda small cute town on the North East part of the lake and went to the Tourist office. They were very pleasant and helpful; they gave me a map and said that it was “around” there! AH AH well let me tell you something…. AROUND, mean “couldn’t possibly be found” except maybe by stopping and asking local who only speak Italian...( scusa il mio italiano non è così buono come il mio francese o inglese) I drove and went up and down, looking for some kind of sign. Normally even if it isn’t well indicated on the main road, it get at least one sign as you drove toward the “right” pass. Well, I drove and drove and looked like a stupid lost tourist that I was and NEVER found it. Well actually, I did finally found it, on Bing map, and if it is the building that I think it is… I wasn’t even CLOSE to it. Well I was close, but not on the road that go to it.
Anyway, so since I couldn’t find it. I decided to drive back toward a little town that I saw while going up to Garda.

The town of Lazise, I was impressed by the towers while driving near it, so…. I stopped and parked, and went on a walk around town. I found out that: This fortified town was first mentioned in a document dated 983 AD. The castle was at one time protected by Draw-bridges and heavy gates which you can still find traces of. A very cute little port was apparently a military port.

Next to it you can find the Medieval Church of Saint Nicolo that date from the twelfth century, and where you can see some very cool Fresco that date from this time.

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Second Celebration of my 20th birthday!

On May 17th 2010, I was celebrating my 20th Birthday for the second time. ;-)


I like BIG number. With it comes: “Experience, Wisdom, Intelligence, Maturity, Responsibility….” Bla bla bla

So now that I am 40 years young. (The new 30 right?) I can think of what that came with it.

Experience: Yes, definitely. I do believe I got that checked out of my bucket list.
Wisdom: Not so much… Or at least I don’t think so! So… Still working on that one!
Intelligence: well, let see, sometime I do believe I got some, and sometime I am definitely not as smarter as a 5th grader. LOL But, I do consider myself “stress sassy” so…. I guess in my own way, I am smart! LOL
Maturity: hmmmmm!!!!! Well obviously with the age comes maturity after all the definition is: mature state: the condition of being ripe, fully aged, or fully grown, especially mentally or emotionally BUT, I will have to say that I still have to checkmark the mentally and emotionally. Oh wait! Maybe not since 40 is the new 30! LOL!
Responsibility: well I think I am pretty responsible. I have 3 kids and cats to take care of, I don’t think they are considered maltreated. So… in that case I am responsible. However, I know that I need to work on that. So still uncheck!

So looking back, out of 5, I only have 1 fully checked one! That is BAD, don’t you think??

Anyhow. Now that I made a fool out of myself and showed the world that I am just a weird silly irresponsible young adult at heart. Let me tell you about my birthday day.

I was in Italy as you could have guess from the previous post, and my friend Miss Charm went to her conference leaving me on my own for the day. You can see what my day was on my previous post: Hills are alive
So on the late afternoon after the conference,
Miss Charm and I went to the little town that I drove through during the day called: Desenzano del Garda. Very cute little Italian town next to the lake. Gorgeous view of the Alps Mountain and the water. Old villas and typical fountains and gelato! Did I mention I LOVE Italy? ;-) So we park the car and walked around.

Took tones of pictures (you know my HTF right) and had a very nice meal looking at the sunset over the lake over the mountains. MAGNIFICO!


The only downside of the day was that I wasn’t with my family. I would have loved to have them with me, but the I thought that once in a while I could go and enjoy one Birthday without them, and since it was in Italy, how could I NOT go?



OH, and I found the PERFECT Villa for retirement! LOVE IT!!!

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Raclette

Yesterday we went to Strasbourg, and we stopped at the big supermarket to get a few items that we really needed!
-Cookie
-Chocolate
-More cookies
-Apple Sauce
-French Cheese
-Orangina
just to name the "Needed" fictuailles that we brought back!
Anyway. I told Matt that since we had the "Raclette maker" we could make one and invite a few of our friends to taste a traditional French/Swiss meal!
So we are going to make a meal out of Potatoes, Cheese, and ham.
You can see on the table (pictures on the left) that there is the Raclette Maker (big black weird looking appliance) and the potatoes, garnish, cheeses, and ham.
OH don't forget the wine!! LOL!!
So the whole idea, is to have a bunch of friend that like all those that I mention, and everyone will have a little pan that will be placed under the broiler of the appliance.


The cheese melt and then you drop the melted cheese on top of your potatoe/ham/garnish plate. It is delicious and so great when the weather is getting cold (I know I should complain since we only have rain and over 50 degree today) but still it is kinda chilly!! LOL! we will be eating those thinking of ALL of you who are FREEZING back home!!

Bon Appetit!!

Say WHAT???

I was at a friend house earlier and learn that "The LOUVRE" museum is going to have a McDonald in it!? WTH??? Are you INSANE??

I am so shocked!! I am sorry, but to mix The Louvre and all it's history and treasure with McDonald food?? To me it is just the stupidest move EVER. So since I can't do anything but talk about it. I did play a little with some pictures!! couldn't resit!!
I should send it to the Ministere de la Culture (the office in charge of the Louvre)
this is outrageous!!

Enjoy!! I am sure I will not next time I will go there!

Are we ready for this picture to become reality? This is what I ask!

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!!

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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

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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!!

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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!!!

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Whole Wheat Chocolate Espresso Cookies

YES you read it right! WHOLE WHEAT!!! and if you continue on reading you will find the "nutrition facts" at the bottom.
I was reading the newspaper to "my" residents on Tuesday 12 of May and Elaine Magee had a recipe that I found very "appetizing" you can find lots of cool information on her site: http://recipedoctor.com/

(I hope she doesn't mind me "stealing" away her recipe!! but since it was published on the web and on the newspaper and it is for SHARING purposes ... I think it will be OK!)



Anyway... since you know me, I can never leave out a good recipe without sharring.. here you go:
(oh and another little trick, if you don't like the coffee flavor, like I don't. skip the expresso powder)


Makes about 24 cookies

2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips–60% cacao (semisweet chocolate chips can also be used)

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

4 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons less fat margarine (with 8 grams fat per tablespoon, 2 grams saturated fat or less and no trans fat per tablespoon)

1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar1 large egg, higher omega-3 if available (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)

1/2 cup powdered sugar


1. Add chocolate chips to glass bowl or microwave-safe container and heat on LOW until chocolate chips are melted (stir after the first minute and after each 30 seconds after that). Set aside to cool.

2. Meanwhile, in medium bowl combine whole wheat flour, cocoa, instant espresso, baking powder and salt with whisk or fork and set aside.

3. In large mixing bowl, cream margarine and brown sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the egg or egg substitute until combined, scraping the sides of bowl midway to incorporate all of the dough. On low speed, pour in the cooled chocolate and beat until blended. Still on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating just until combined (do not over mix).

4. Wrap dough in plastic and flatten dough into a disk (so it cools faster) and set in freezer for about 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 350-degrees and add powdered sugar to a medium bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape dough into 1-inch balls then roll balls in the sugar two times and place on prepared baking sheets, 2-inches apart. Bake about 12 minutes, cookies will still be soft but will have spread and the powdered coating cracked. Cool cookies on wire rack.




Per 2 cookies (12 servings per recipe): 144 calories, 2 g protein, 22 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 1.5 g monounsaturated fat, 1.5 g polyunsaturated fat, 18 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 105 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 31 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids = .2 g, Omega-6 fatty acids = 1.2 g. Weight Watchers POINTS = 3

Madeleine Recipe

For Diane who has been BUGGING me to put this one online.. She will hate me when her "derriere" is as big as mine just because she ate too much! ;-) Love ya Enjoy!!

(pronounced Madeline… sort off!!)

Make about 24 cake

2cup of Flour
1 1/2 cup of Sugar
1stick of butter
1tsp of baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp of Vanilla extract or a lemon zest

Whip the eggs and the sugar together until completely soft. Add the flour/baking powder mix little by little. Add to the batter choice of vanilla extract or lemon zest and the melted butter.
Let it sit for 10 to 20mn. Butter your mold (Madeleine mold or muffin if you don’t have any)
Bake for 10 to 12 min or until golden brown at 375 Degrees.

You can find recipe for Madeleine all over the web, some even have fancy flavor like the one on this picture is with hazelnut powder. I also saw a recipe on MarthaSteward.com with orange blossom water for Wedding shower, I thought it was really really fancy! I bet you can also make some with Rose water! ;-) Yummy!

Far Breton Recipe

Another recipe from Brittany is the Far; it is a kind of Custard cake kind of like a Flan with dried Prunes in it. It is delicious (for those of you who like egg custard) I had several people asking for the recipe so here it is for you! ;-) Enjoy!!


Far Breton Recipe

1 liter of Milk
6 eggs
1 1/4 cup of flour
1 1/4 cup of sugar
Dried pitted prunes
Mix the flour, sugar and the eggs together, warm the mil for 2 minutes in the microwave and add it slowely to the mixture until you hava smooth batter.
Pour the batter in a pre-buttered pan. Add the pitted dried prunes so that it cover the bottom of the pan (you can put as many or as little as you wish (or none at all if you don’ t like the prune taste)
Bake for 40mn at 350F

Yummy Crepes

I am from Bretagne/Brittany the West part of France, one of the things that we eat in Brittany is Crepes (of course we eat lots and lots of different things) but Brittany is known for the crepes.

The famous one are Buckwheat crepes they are salted crepes made from Buckwheat flour and water. We eat them garnished with ham and cheese and eggs (that’s the traditional garnish) but also with cool stuff like mushroom or bison meat or tomato and even Goat cheese and Salad. For myself I love the “Andouille” or the Mushroom.

When you go to a Creperie in France you will also have the choice of sweet crepes, those crepes are made from regular white flour, milk and eggs. The garnishes for those are plain sugar or jam or for fancier one Pear with Melted Chocolate or even Banana… YUMMY!!!

Last year when I was at my mother she took out her “electric crepes maker” and I was amazed of how easy it was to make those. So when I got back to Iowa, I went and bought myself a crepes maker (I waited FOREVER to get it, but it arrived and I have tried to use it at least once to twice a month) mind you my kids are picky eater (funny cause they are not in France when we make those) but, they won’t eat the American Buckwheat crepes that I make (I guess I don’t have my mother’s hand for the recipe). But today I made some crepes. My husband missed the last time that I made crepes so I thought since he was coming home for the weekend I would make some for him and the kids (and ME of course) ;-)

So here is the recipe for the crepes and some pictures just to make you salivate with envies! (That will teach you to come and visit me more often he?) ;-)

Crepes recipe

For 18, not very hungry people

1.5 cup of Flour

4 tbsp of sugar

2 tsp of vanilla extract

1 stick of butter (salted)

31oz or 3.875cup of Milk

4 eggs

In a bowl put the flour and the sugar together, put a little whole in the center of it and put your eggs in it (obviously without the shell)

Start mixing those ingredients together and when the mixture gets heavy, pour the milk little by little until completely incorporated.

Melt the stick of butter and mix it with the batter. If the batter has “clot” (little pieces of dry flour surrounded with wet batter) pour the batter into a strainer until you have a smooth batter.

Cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit for 1 to 3 hours.

Cook each crepe on a crepe maker or in a pan well buttered.

Enjoy it with Sugar, syrup or fresh fruits or just plain it is yummy too!