Now that I've shoved Michael off of his computer, I finally have time for a real, pictures included post and since there are so many, how about if I just let them do the talking.
Spring has finally sprung in northeastern France.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Why Hello There!
Warning: This post contains content not suitable for those under the age of 12.
Now that I've shoved Michael off of his computer, I finally have time for a real, pictures included post and since there are so many, how about if I just let them do the talking.
I love my husband very much, but I were forced to pick out one flaw it would be his sentimental attachment to holiday decorations. For months I have been asking -- no begging -- Michael to let me get rid of our dried out and shedding Christmas tree. Finally, sanity prevailed and I promised him we would find something to fill the space. As you can see, he still wasn't very happy about it, but we got a lovely tree to fill up the corner (which I still need to take a picture of) and I must say that both of us are very happy not to stab ourselves with dried pine needles daily.
A few weeks into March, I planted some herb plants which I hope will sustain us through our remaining 9 months here in Metz. This picture of the basil pot was taken only days after planting and thanks to some sunny days the plants are almost an inch high.
And here is my other experiment, a white bean placed snugly between damp cotton balls and a jelly jar. The idea came from a science book belonging to Margeurita and Eleanora, in fact, we are growing lentil plants at their house but I am fairly certain they will be dead by the time the girls return from their spring break in Italy. As with the previous picture, this was taken weeks ago and two of the three plants are now growing and one is close to a foot tall!
My knitting has kept me sane since finding the thrift store. I am happy to report that gifts were sent home to Rosie and Heather for our little nieces or nephews to come and the two bibs above were made for Janice and Jeremy's next little pgirl. Since I do have the time and youtube instructional videos at my disposal I have been forcing myself to make sure everything I make is a challenge and forces me to learn something new. These bibs demonstrate my new found love of cable knit.
As you can see, the bib on the left is just the same as the two above and while I do love cable knit, I am now sick of cable knit bibs for the time being after making 8 in a matter of two weeks! The bib on the left however, was my first attempt at a design in knitting and also my first i-cord.
And finally, my first sweater (or shrug rather) in the process. It was an incredibly easy pattern and since it is made from the neck down, it can be made to whatever length is desired; mine was finished when I ran out of yarn. I still need to block it and figure out some sort of fastening mechanism (perhaps more i-cord?) but I will post updated pictures of that when it is finally totally done.
Janice hosted a wonderful baby shower for two other GTL wives who are (along with Janice) all expecting the arrival of their babies within the next month and a half! The shower was lovely. We enjoyed wonderful food, fun games, and good laughs and were hopefully able to help a few girls prepare for their first babies so far from family. Oh, and Kimber was a hoot, as always.
Our cravings for typical American take-out food never cease so along with pizza night we have been experimenting with quite a few Chinese take-out themed dinners. I know I've posted about General Tso's Chicken but we hit a new high this past week when we took a dive into the world of dumplings. Now that we know our little hand blender food processor attachment works as a meat grinder, I have a feeling we will be making many many more of these. The first half we fried up after eating some spicy, crispy green beans and the rest was used the next day for a lovely won ton soup lunch.
And yet again, Leah and Kyle came over for dinner and we managed to not take any pictures of the actual event. The dinner was initially going to be a very simple pizza and beer night (we though we should share some of the pepperoni sent by mom and Ben) but upon noticing the beautiful rhubarb at Grand Frais we couldn't resist delving into spring with a strawberry rhubarb pie. The night was great with lots of good conversation as always and some good, American style food.
Now for the part that should be censored from little eyes. As it turns out the Easter Bunny came and Stayed on Sunday. Of course he first hid eggs for us, which Michael found without much help (that Easter Bunny is a good hider) and left us with some delicious chocolates including the strange asexual cow pictured above...
...and for dinner he lent himself to a wonderful preparation of braised rabbit with mustard sauce. I know it sounds terrible and both sets of parents exclaimed "You're eating the Easter Bunny!?!" but we had been meaning to make rabbit here in France and Easter Sunday just worked out perfectly. For those of you that are not completely grossed out, the rabbit turned out beautifully. It was tender and very mild flavored. Which leads us to
Today which was the first nice spring day we've had in awhile. We took advantage of the sun and went for a nice walk down the road to a beautiful old cemetery (well, the picture above is of the new section) with stones from the mid-1800's. We walked around for a bit and finally decided that
Now that I've shoved Michael off of his computer, I finally have time for a real, pictures included post and since there are so many, how about if I just let them do the talking.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Metziness (pronounced: messiness)
Sorry to disappoint but there will be no pictures in today's post. Not only have we not have much to take pictures of in the past couple of weeks (aside from more food pics *yawn* and some fun with three little girls) but I also don't have access to Michael's computer at the moment. He is currently hunkered down in the other room with his powepoints and formula sheet preparing for tomorrow morning's robotics test. Let's see...what have we done lately?
Well, Michael has been hitting the books pretty hard during the past couple of weeks. Immediately following our spring break he faced 2 tests and one long homework (we're talking 8-10 hours staring at a computer screen) and this week he had one relatively easy assignment and the test he is busy prepping for. So needless to say, anytime he isn't spending on schoolwork is spend grocery shopping/cooking yummy meals including (but not limited to) Wiener Schnitzel, General Tso's Chicken and Agneau au poivre (peppered spring lamb chops). My fear now is that we are getting so good at working with just two pots and one burner, improvising with the oven when we hit a snag, that we will have no clue what to do with ourselves when we get back to our 15 or so pots and a normal 4 burner range (and perhaps an oven that can bake a decent loaf of bread). I am thinking, however, that this will be a good problem to have.
I, on the other hand (along with all the cooking stuff), have been keeping myself abnormally busy with unusual occurrences. Last Friday I had the pleasure of taking Kimber (Janice and Jeremy's 1+ year old) along with me to my English lessons with my two little Italian/French girls Margeurita and Eleanora. The older girls were fascinated by Kimber and she was fascinated with them, which worked out just perfectly. She followed them around their apartment and we all sat together on the couch to read Kimber's color book which was, thankfully, just about the right reading level for Eleanora.
The past few weeks have also left me feeling like a knitting machine. Babies, babies everywhere...seriously! I made a pretty major score on some angora wool at the thrift store ($7 for all 15 balls...each ball would normally cost about $12 in the states) so although it's a pretty impractical material, I've been using it to make two tiny baby blankets for my two pregnant sisters-in-law (Laura, would that be grammatically correct?). I won't post pictures here for a bit because I want them to see the blankets and be surprised before I go posting them all over the interwebs. So not only do I have those babies to knit for, but three wives here are pregnant so I'll be busy over the next few weeks before their shower making some feeding time accessories.
What else, what else? Well, we made at attempt at getting our car title signed over today. Josyane was nice enough to take us downtown this morning only to realize that we needed proof of address and our passports. Ah well, we shall make another attempt tomorrow. Oh, and I almost forgot: I went to my first choir rehearsal earlier tonight. A British friend from GTL convinced me to attend with her to see if I would like to join and I found that I really loved being back in a choir and especially a care-free choir that reminds me so much of my knitting group back in Pittsburgh, with our without the language barrier. However, after a five year hiatus from singing and reading music...not to mention having everything directed in French, I think there may be a pretty steep learning curve ahead of me. My favorite part of the evening was singing an Andrew Lloyd Weber compilation. First I was jokingly accused of cheating because I was singing from the Phantom of the Opera without the sheet music (but really, who can't sing The Music of the Night by memory?). Then I realized that when surrounded by French women singing in English as a foreign language, my British friend Fran began singing with a French accent while I began singing in a British accent. It was all very comical and I am excited to go back.
I guess that's all for now. I will try to get some pictures posted soon. And for those of you in the northeast, just know that I am incredibly jealous of your beautiful weather and will gladly trade our 40ยบ days with 25mph wind gusts if you are at all interested.
Well, Michael has been hitting the books pretty hard during the past couple of weeks. Immediately following our spring break he faced 2 tests and one long homework (we're talking 8-10 hours staring at a computer screen) and this week he had one relatively easy assignment and the test he is busy prepping for. So needless to say, anytime he isn't spending on schoolwork is spend grocery shopping/cooking yummy meals including (but not limited to) Wiener Schnitzel, General Tso's Chicken and Agneau au poivre (peppered spring lamb chops). My fear now is that we are getting so good at working with just two pots and one burner, improvising with the oven when we hit a snag, that we will have no clue what to do with ourselves when we get back to our 15 or so pots and a normal 4 burner range (and perhaps an oven that can bake a decent loaf of bread). I am thinking, however, that this will be a good problem to have.
I, on the other hand (along with all the cooking stuff), have been keeping myself abnormally busy with unusual occurrences. Last Friday I had the pleasure of taking Kimber (Janice and Jeremy's 1+ year old) along with me to my English lessons with my two little Italian/French girls Margeurita and Eleanora. The older girls were fascinated by Kimber and she was fascinated with them, which worked out just perfectly. She followed them around their apartment and we all sat together on the couch to read Kimber's color book which was, thankfully, just about the right reading level for Eleanora.
The past few weeks have also left me feeling like a knitting machine. Babies, babies everywhere...seriously! I made a pretty major score on some angora wool at the thrift store ($7 for all 15 balls...each ball would normally cost about $12 in the states) so although it's a pretty impractical material, I've been using it to make two tiny baby blankets for my two pregnant sisters-in-law (Laura, would that be grammatically correct?). I won't post pictures here for a bit because I want them to see the blankets and be surprised before I go posting them all over the interwebs. So not only do I have those babies to knit for, but three wives here are pregnant so I'll be busy over the next few weeks before their shower making some feeding time accessories.
What else, what else? Well, we made at attempt at getting our car title signed over today. Josyane was nice enough to take us downtown this morning only to realize that we needed proof of address and our passports. Ah well, we shall make another attempt tomorrow. Oh, and I almost forgot: I went to my first choir rehearsal earlier tonight. A British friend from GTL convinced me to attend with her to see if I would like to join and I found that I really loved being back in a choir and especially a care-free choir that reminds me so much of my knitting group back in Pittsburgh, with our without the language barrier. However, after a five year hiatus from singing and reading music...not to mention having everything directed in French, I think there may be a pretty steep learning curve ahead of me. My favorite part of the evening was singing an Andrew Lloyd Weber compilation. First I was jokingly accused of cheating because I was singing from the Phantom of the Opera without the sheet music (but really, who can't sing The Music of the Night by memory?). Then I realized that when surrounded by French women singing in English as a foreign language, my British friend Fran began singing with a French accent while I began singing in a British accent. It was all very comical and I am excited to go back.
I guess that's all for now. I will try to get some pictures posted soon. And for those of you in the northeast, just know that I am incredibly jealous of your beautiful weather and will gladly trade our 40ยบ days with 25mph wind gusts if you are at all interested.
Monday, March 1, 2010
"Spring" Break in the Alps
Just after buying out little Lune Rousse (our car, in case you weren't paying attention), we decided to put her to the test. The initial plan was a 7-day trip around the Alps in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Italy and involved something like 36 hours of driving. While we didn't end up being quite that adventurous (we realized when we got on the road that our GPS didn't include Slovakia or Slovenia) but we did have a wonderful time and got to see some incredible scenery through the Alps.
We set off on our journey two Saturdays ago with a cooler (nearly impossible to find...and don't even get me started on ice) full of car snacking goodies and our tiny trunk full to the brim with clothes and blankets. We drove first through the Vosges Mountains -- which run a little south of us here in Metz -- where we encountered our first crazy long (over 8 mile) tunnel. We then crossed into Switzerland with all of it's charm. I soon began to notice the stark resemblance that US ski resorts bear to Swiss architecture, which I know, should be a given, but I had never really thought the concept through. Every town we drove through felt like a ski resort in the Rockies. We did quick drive-throughs of Basel and Luzerne before crossing the border into the tiny country of Liechtenstein. We had told the GPS to take us to a must-see point-of-interest near the capital city of Vaduz so what else could it do but take us up as high as we could go (on tiny, tiny switchback roads) to give us this incredible sunset view of the Alps.
After a quick drive through of the capital city, we crossed yet another border into Austria. We did another quick drive through of Innsbruck and their Olympic Village left over from 1964 and 1976 winter Olympic games. Not long after Innsbruck, we stopped for the night at a well-lit rest stop just before the German border and after some sandwiches and chocolate milk we settled into our tiny car for the night. Unfortunately, sleeping in a tiny car in the Alps in February proved to be not as good of an idea as we might have hoped. At about 1:30, Michael woke me up because he was cold. We tried to start the car but with the cold and our teeny tiny engine (at least, we're hoping that was the problem), we couldn't get it to start. Defeated, we set in for one of the coldest nights of our lives (even colder than Denmark). We officially woke at 6:30 (the car still wouldn't start), had some coffee in the rest station, and watched a beautiful sunrise over the Alps. We took our time and finally, at about 8, the car started, thawed out and after nice warm showers, we were on our way.
Back on the road, we passed briefly through Germany on the Autobahn (on which I was too scared for our safety and the car's abilities to actually go over
130km/h), then popped back into Austria for a stop in Salzburg. After parking our car in a cave at the base of a mountain, we spent the day hiking up and down mountains, through new town and old town, showing our dorky colors while seeking out Mozart's homes and scenes from The Sound of Music. In fact, here I am on the steps made famous by the song "do re mi". We also did the usual: looked in all the churches, had sausages for lunch, and witnessed a strange festival/parade the purpose for which we have yet to figure out, here is a video, perhaps someone reading this will have some insight.
That afternoon we got back in the car and drove another 3 hours or so to Vienna, Austria. After a quick (and scary) jaunt downtown, we quickly drove back to the outskirts to find a cheap hotel where we spent the evening eating more sandwiches and watching the Olympics in German.
The next morning we took a quick subway ride into the city where we spent the morning on the grounds of the Hapsburg Palace. We ate lunch at a lovely Beisl (restaurant on every block) including Wiener Schnitzel, goulash, and huge beers. We were seated at a table with two women conversing in French (they probably thought they were being sly, and that we wouldn't understand them) and after a bit we began talking. They were very sweet and told us they were sisters. I can't remember all of the details but they had lived all over the germanic world. One lives currently in Vienna while the other lives in Geneva (her husband is in the UN and they also lived for a bit in Westchester County, NY). They both spoke English well (although the one from Geneva was much better) along with German, French, and possibly Italian? After spending half a year in France and slowly learning the language, I can hardly believe how people fit so many languages into their brain. That afternoon we did a tour of the outer "ring" of the city where we came across many things but none so important as Beethoven's former house (Michael was very excited) and the really incredible ice skating rink set up outside of the beautiful City Hall building.
After our loop we went to see this incredible Monument Against War and Fascism. It is quite graphic (disclaimer: this photo shows graphic content, not suitable for young eyes), showing a woman giving birth to a soldier and the head of another soldier.
We then went to the ritzy Sacher Hotel to indulge in a little before-dinner decadence that is the Sacher Torte. This chocolate layer cake with apricot filling was a requirement for my Basic and Classical Cakes class back at the CIA and I was excited to have it in it's original venue. We enjoyed our shared slice with two espressos and lots of whipped cream, then went on our merry way. After our sweet appetizer, we made two dinner stops: the first was at the sausage cart down the street where we shared one huge sausage and the second at a fancy grocery store where we picked up 3 salads (beet, egg, and ham) and beers to take back to the hotel. We enjoyed said salads that night while watching more German Olympics.
The next morning (I guess we're on to Tuesday by now) we hopped in the car and drove the 6 or so hours south through the Alps and thanks to tunnels and relatively warm weather, we had no snow troubles in our tiny car. After passing over the Italian border we stopped at a grocery store for necessities -- olive bread and more cheese -- which we enjoyed immensely as we neared our destination for the night. After a long day of driving (and quite stressful driving I might add, Italians are crazy on the road) we managed to make it to the outskirts of Venice before deciding to stay at a nice hotel (more expensive than our cheap hotels but doable with off season rates).
Wednesday morning, after an amazing spread at the breakfast buffet, we took the hotel shuttle into the city (a little sketchy in an unmarked van...we though he might take us to some warehouse). There weren't many "sights" to see in the city and even those that were open banned photography. So we happily strolled the city for the morning, crossing over hundreds (well, maybe not hundreds, but a lot) of bridges and taking pictures.
I'm sure it's been said before but it is essentially impossible to take a bad picture in Venice. I fell in love with the brightly colored houses propped precariously over the teal water, looking like they might fall in at any moment. For lunch we stopped in a little pizzeria and enjoyed some of the best pizza I've ever had in my life, topped with pepperoni and peppers along with some red wine. We continued to stroll the streets and explore churches after lunch with a quick pit stop for gelato (meringue for me and tiramisu for Michael). Before we knew it, it was time to grab a quick slice of pizza for the road and head back to the hotel on the shuttle.
Initially we had planned to take our time driving home from Venice but since we had spent a little extra on our hotel the night before, we decided to make a marathon drive of it an get home that night. So after arriving back at the hotel at 7pm, we hopped in the car and made the fairly uneventful 10 hour drive back to Metz, arriving home at about 4:30am.
After reading my essay on the subject, I'm sure you want to see more. To view the entire 159 photo album, simply click HERE.
We set off on our journey two Saturdays ago with a cooler (nearly impossible to find...and don't even get me started on ice) full of car snacking goodies and our tiny trunk full to the brim with clothes and blankets. We drove first through the Vosges Mountains -- which run a little south of us here in Metz -- where we encountered our first crazy long (over 8 mile) tunnel. We then crossed into Switzerland with all of it's charm. I soon began to notice the stark resemblance that US ski resorts bear to Swiss architecture, which I know, should be a given, but I had never really thought the concept through. Every town we drove through felt like a ski resort in the Rockies. We did quick drive-throughs of Basel and Luzerne before crossing the border into the tiny country of Liechtenstein. We had told the GPS to take us to a must-see point-of-interest near the capital city of Vaduz so what else could it do but take us up as high as we could go (on tiny, tiny switchback roads) to give us this incredible sunset view of the Alps.
After a quick drive through of the capital city, we crossed yet another border into Austria. We did another quick drive through of Innsbruck and their Olympic Village left over from 1964 and 1976 winter Olympic games. Not long after Innsbruck, we stopped for the night at a well-lit rest stop just before the German border and after some sandwiches and chocolate milk we settled into our tiny car for the night. Unfortunately, sleeping in a tiny car in the Alps in February proved to be not as good of an idea as we might have hoped. At about 1:30, Michael woke me up because he was cold. We tried to start the car but with the cold and our teeny tiny engine (at least, we're hoping that was the problem), we couldn't get it to start. Defeated, we set in for one of the coldest nights of our lives (even colder than Denmark). We officially woke at 6:30 (the car still wouldn't start), had some coffee in the rest station, and watched a beautiful sunrise over the Alps. We took our time and finally, at about 8, the car started, thawed out and after nice warm showers, we were on our way.
Back on the road, we passed briefly through Germany on the Autobahn (on which I was too scared for our safety and the car's abilities to actually go over
130km/h), then popped back into Austria for a stop in Salzburg. After parking our car in a cave at the base of a mountain, we spent the day hiking up and down mountains, through new town and old town, showing our dorky colors while seeking out Mozart's homes and scenes from The Sound of Music. In fact, here I am on the steps made famous by the song "do re mi". We also did the usual: looked in all the churches, had sausages for lunch, and witnessed a strange festival/parade the purpose for which we have yet to figure out, here is a video, perhaps someone reading this will have some insight.That afternoon we got back in the car and drove another 3 hours or so to Vienna, Austria. After a quick (and scary) jaunt downtown, we quickly drove back to the outskirts to find a cheap hotel where we spent the evening eating more sandwiches and watching the Olympics in German.
The next morning we took a quick subway ride into the city where we spent the morning on the grounds of the Hapsburg Palace. We ate lunch at a lovely Beisl (restaurant on every block) including Wiener Schnitzel, goulash, and huge beers. We were seated at a table with two women conversing in French (they probably thought they were being sly, and that we wouldn't understand them) and after a bit we began talking. They were very sweet and told us they were sisters. I can't remember all of the details but they had lived all over the germanic world. One lives currently in Vienna while the other lives in Geneva (her husband is in the UN and they also lived for a bit in Westchester County, NY). They both spoke English well (although the one from Geneva was much better) along with German, French, and possibly Italian? After spending half a year in France and slowly learning the language, I can hardly believe how people fit so many languages into their brain. That afternoon we did a tour of the outer "ring" of the city where we came across many things but none so important as Beethoven's former house (Michael was very excited) and the really incredible ice skating rink set up outside of the beautiful City Hall building.
After our loop we went to see this incredible Monument Against War and Fascism. It is quite graphic (disclaimer: this photo shows graphic content, not suitable for young eyes), showing a woman giving birth to a soldier and the head of another soldier.
We then went to the ritzy Sacher Hotel to indulge in a little before-dinner decadence that is the Sacher Torte. This chocolate layer cake with apricot filling was a requirement for my Basic and Classical Cakes class back at the CIA and I was excited to have it in it's original venue. We enjoyed our shared slice with two espressos and lots of whipped cream, then went on our merry way. After our sweet appetizer, we made two dinner stops: the first was at the sausage cart down the street where we shared one huge sausage and the second at a fancy grocery store where we picked up 3 salads (beet, egg, and ham) and beers to take back to the hotel. We enjoyed said salads that night while watching more German Olympics.
The next morning (I guess we're on to Tuesday by now) we hopped in the car and drove the 6 or so hours south through the Alps and thanks to tunnels and relatively warm weather, we had no snow troubles in our tiny car. After passing over the Italian border we stopped at a grocery store for necessities -- olive bread and more cheese -- which we enjoyed immensely as we neared our destination for the night. After a long day of driving (and quite stressful driving I might add, Italians are crazy on the road) we managed to make it to the outskirts of Venice before deciding to stay at a nice hotel (more expensive than our cheap hotels but doable with off season rates).
Wednesday morning, after an amazing spread at the breakfast buffet, we took the hotel shuttle into the city (a little sketchy in an unmarked van...we though he might take us to some warehouse). There weren't many "sights" to see in the city and even those that were open banned photography. So we happily strolled the city for the morning, crossing over hundreds (well, maybe not hundreds, but a lot) of bridges and taking pictures.
I'm sure it's been said before but it is essentially impossible to take a bad picture in Venice. I fell in love with the brightly colored houses propped precariously over the teal water, looking like they might fall in at any moment. For lunch we stopped in a little pizzeria and enjoyed some of the best pizza I've ever had in my life, topped with pepperoni and peppers along with some red wine. We continued to stroll the streets and explore churches after lunch with a quick pit stop for gelato (meringue for me and tiramisu for Michael). Before we knew it, it was time to grab a quick slice of pizza for the road and head back to the hotel on the shuttle.
Initially we had planned to take our time driving home from Venice but since we had spent a little extra on our hotel the night before, we decided to make a marathon drive of it an get home that night. So after arriving back at the hotel at 7pm, we hopped in the car and made the fairly uneventful 10 hour drive back to Metz, arriving home at about 4:30am.
After reading my essay on the subject, I'm sure you want to see more. To view the entire 159 photo album, simply click HERE.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)