TWD: Continued

Today I am still mentally and physically tired, but I don't want to put this off any longer. This last weekend I went to The Netherlands with the boys and another family. I didn't get back until almost 1:30 am on Sunday morning. (I'm still working on that post.) Sunday evening, I learned that Jonathan has Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. I didn't know what the little spots were on his hands, and when he complained that eating raisins hurt his mouth I decided to investigate. Sure enough, he had spots in his mouth too. That's when I called the nurse's hotline, and was informed of his condition. (As a sidenote, I found out today that he also has "Strep Bu**" or Perianal Strep--poor kid.)

With this new discovery, I decided not to leave the house on Monday, because I didn't want to expose anyone else to the virus. After Landon came home from work and we had dinner, I left for the commisary on Vogelweh Base. Normally I shop on Ramstein, but I wanted to go to the Power Zone to get Landon his birthday gift.

The main thing I don't like about shopping at the Vogelweh Commissary is I don't know where anything is. That combined with being tired and achy from spending so much time in the car on the trip made me an extra-slow shopper. As I was nearing the end of my list, a commissary worker announces over the intercom in a matter-of-fact sounding voice that "the store is now closed."

At that point, I started to panic. I had to by the things in my cart: TWD/Landon's birthday dessert ingredients, special foods and medication for Jonathan and other needed items. I quickly zoomed to the front of the strore to see if they were checking people out. They were. As fast as I could (under the circumstances) I jetted back to the frozen section for one of my oh-so-necessary items: ice cream. In my haste, however, I forgot to buy heavy cream--one of the ingredients for the TWD recipe. I also had to settle for *diet*Ritter dark chocolate since they were out of the regular stuff. It's not nearly as good, but interestingly enough, it tastes better than the Bakers Select 70% cocoa dark chocolate.

Fast forward to Tuesday. I made the dessert fairly late in the day since we couldn't eat it until Landon came home anyway. I wasn't in any hurry since I knew I couldn't post about it unless I had tasted it. Who wants to read a post about a dessert without knowing if it tates good or not?

Back to the fact that I didn't buy heavy cream. Did you know that you can substitute 2/3 cup whole milk and 1/3 cup unsalted butter for one cup heavy cream? I learned this little tidbit from the Joy of Baking website. I think it would be more effective if it weren't needed for the whipped topping though. It tasted like cream, but it didn't make very much, and some of the milk didn't ever turn into whipped cream.

Despite the fact that I had diet dark chocolate and an imporvised version of heavy cream, the dessert still tasted good. I liked the chocolate shortbread crust that Dorie uses for this tart. At first I thought it might be too chocolatety with a chocolate crust and a chocolate filling, but it wasn't.

So, after all that, I'd like to thank Kim of Scrumptious Photography for chosing a scrupmtious recipe! Head to her website for the recipe, or to just see some fabulous photos!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Cream Tart

I'm going to have to do a proper post on this tomorrow.  For now I'll just post a picture and give the dessert two thumbs up.  I'm just too tired mentally and physically to go into more detail tonight.  :)

The candles are to celebrate Landon's 29th birthday.  Happy birthday Landon!

Tuesday's with Dorie: Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

I liked this recipe because it was a bit different than usual.  I'd never had bread pudding before making this.  What did I think?  I like it!  The best part is it was easy to make.  

I chose to bake the pudding in my ramekins instead of a 9 x 13 pan because I didn't have a roasting pan or anything else large enough to put the 9 x 13  into.   For the bread, I ended up using an Italian bread that I found at the commisary, but if I were to make this recipe again, I would love to try brioche.  The bread by itself sounds delicious!  

Also, I decided I had had enough with the dark chocolate until someone suggested I use Ritter. Oh, it is so obvious that I should have been doing this all along.  Why oh why didn't I think of this before?  I'm in Germany after all, why haven't I been taking advantage of the fabulous chocolate they have here?  Even the dark tastes good.  At last I have come to peace with using dark chocolate.  :)

So, if you have some white bread that has gone stale, or you want to try something a little different,  head on over to A Baking Blog AKA Upper East Side Chronicle by Lauren to get the recipe.  Thanks, Lauren, for choosing this week's recipe!

Three Months and Dinosaurs

Today is exactly three months until we fly back to the States for good.  We've enjoyed living overseas for the past four years, but we are also excited to go back home.  It will be a bit strange leaving this house.  I will have lived here for almost three years by the time we leave.  I haven't lived anywhere else longer than that since I left my parents' house fourteen years ago.

On another note, we went to the Garten Schau for FHE last night.  They have beautiful flowers planted everywhere, dinosaurs, huge slides and other fun stuff for kids.  The boys were wild with excitement.  Jonathan kept skipping around chanting, "Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs."  He had been looking forward to seeing the dinosaurs for a long time.  

One of the dinosaurs is just a head that kids can climb in.  We told Jonathan to get in, but then Landon had to add, "Watch out though, he might bite you."  Jonathan was afraid to get in after that.  It wasn't until we put Erik in that he felt OK about it.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera.  Maybe I'll look for the pictures that my friend took when we went two years ago.  

Right-Wing Extremists

Help.  Somebody, please help.  I'm surrounded by right-wing extremists. They're in the grocery store, at the post office, the library, and even in my neighborhood.  What am I to do?  There are vets from Iraq and Afghanistan all around me. I'm afraid they might, you know, protest in the streets or something, or even worse, disagree with President Obama.  

Maybe I should just relax and have a drink.  Tea anyone?

Tuesday's with Dorie: Fifteen Minute Magic--Chocolate Amaretti Torte

Today's TWD recipe was chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon--Chocolate Amaretti Torte.  For those of you unfamiliar with Amaretti, it's an Italian cookie made of finely ground almonds, egg whites, and sugar.  

I'd have to say that it took me longer than 15 minutes to make this torte.  First of all, I couldn't find any Amaretti at the commisary, and heaven forbid I drive around Kaiserslautern in attempt to find an Italian specialty shop.  :)  Plus, I'd have to scrounge around for some Euro--this is too much trouble for  a magical 15-minute cake.  So, I made the Amaretti instead. 

Then, you're supposed to use a food processor to grind up the ingredients.  Since I don't own one, I used both my blender and my Kitchen Aid.  It work, but it took a bit longer.

This torte reminds me a lot of marzipan--I guess it's all that ground up almond.  It tastes pretty good after being chilled in the refrigerator for a while despite the use of Dorie's favorite kind of chocolate: DARK.  

The almond whip cream tastes great!  Having no plan in mind before I started, I just ended up covering the whole torte in it.  After all, I didn't want to waste any of it by only putting a dollop on each slice.

I'm taking this torte to a lunch bunch tomorrow.  We'll see what other ladies think of it!

Easter

This little bunny was made by Jonathan in German KDG.

This Easter weekend was wonderful.  Every day was sunny and beautiful and the days were filled with friends, family, and fun.  What a fabulous way it was to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

On Saturday, we invited the Shafer's over.  Jonathan had been asking a lot about Lanie, so we thought it would be fun for them to come over and play outside since it was such a nice day.

They enjoyed playing in the sand and water box, and with squirt guns. Jonathan was in seventh heaven playing with two things that he loves: water and guns.

The next day, Easter, we colored eggs and the boys went on a little Easter egg hunt.

Erik just observed the egg coloring activity since he was really tired, and I didn't want his little suit to get dirty.

Later that day during nursery, we told the story of the resurrection, and then made these posters.


The children got to glue on the rocks, grass, and flowers that we picked for them and put in their Easter egg.  We were not brave enough to take them outside during their walk, otherwise we would have let them pick some grass and rocks on their own.

After church, we went to the Meldroms for Easter dinner.  We enjoyed ourselves with good company and good food.  The Jorgensen family and Sister Johnson were there to celebrate with the Meldroms too.

In Germany, Easter is celebrated for two days.  On Monday, Landon had to work, but the boys and I went down to the Messinas for an Easter lunch.  They also invited an Italian friend, his Polish wife and his two twin daughters.  The twins, who are teenagers, couldn't get enough of Jonathan and Erik.  It took Erik awhile to warm up to them, but Jonathan soaked up all of the attention like a sponge. We ate, played outside, and chatted.  It was a very nice, relaxing day.

Last Easter, I went into labor with Erik.  It was March 23rd.  This year if Easter had been in March spring would not yet have arrived.  I kept wondering when the blossoms would bloom. It seemed to take forever.  But alas, the trees and flowers blossomed in time for Easter as if they, too, wanted to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.

Happy Birthday Mr. Erik

March 24th marked the day that Erik turned a year old.  Happy birthday little Mr. Erik!

To celebrate, we invited the Messinas (Oma Alexandra and Opa Tano) over to sing, "Happy Birthday," eat cake, and open presents.

This is a cute little bunny the Messinas gave him.  It has magnetic paws so that it can wrap its arms around things.

The other gifts are from grandmas and grandpas, Jonathan, Landon and me.

The play hut.
The bear chair.

Big leggos.

Pop-up animals.

I bought this cake mold before Erik was born.  I wanted to make it for his actual birth day, but since that didn't happen, I saved it for his first birthday.

True to his character, it took forever for Erik to even start eating his cake.  As you can tell by his pictures, he's a skinny minny.  He weighed 19.5 lbs at his well-baby check up.

Below are just some fun pictures of Erik.  What a great addition he has been to our family.  We love you, and happy first birthday!

He loves jumping on the couch.

All tired out--for all of two seconds.


That's my Erik--always happy, smiling and laughing.

There's nothing more fun than playing with Daddy.  Erik is such a daddy's boy!

In front of our house with Jonathan and Alexandra.

Jonathan thought it would be fun to pretend that Erik was his pet dog.

Hmmmm...I wonder why he is such a daddy's boy.

See his toothy grin?  Teeth nine and ten are coming in already.

The mastermind at work...or should I say the master mess maker?

 
Up to no good, I'm sure.  ;)

Jonathan is always lifting Erik up and trying to carry him.

What in the world is he putting in his mouth this time?

What, you think you're going to eat that whole apple all by yourself?!

Tuesday's with Dorie: Banana Cream Pie

I meant to share a slice of this pie with Alexandra, my landlord's wife and friend.  I did.  Really. But as I opened the refrigerator door to get the pie and take more pictures, I saw that only one piece was remaining.  The temptation was too much for me to resist, and I'm eating the last of the pie even as I type this post.  I guess I'll just have to make it again!

My pictures never turn out the best, but don't let that turn you away from any of these recipes--especially this one.   I love it.  It's so tasty, so delicious.  Make sure to go to  Sing For Your Supper (http://singforyoursupperblog.com/) by Amy to get this recipe!  

I'll have to post a link later; the URL will have to suffice for now.  I'm on a tight schedule!

Enjoy!

Blogging Frustration

I have been working on Erik's birthday blog for over a week now.  For the past couple of days I have been trying to upload videos of the event.  I finally managed to get one posted, but every other time I get some message that says something to the effect that blogger is unable to upload the video, and to please go to blogger support to report the blog id information and problem.  Of course this doesn't solve the problem.  Has anyone else had this problem, and what did you do to fix it?