Once again we have been afforded some downtime, and we have been thoroughly enjoying it.
We returned from Scotland and London, and we were pretty exhausted. We had been travelling for weeks on end, and we were ready for some time alone. I decided it was as good of a time as any to start making some good habits including getting back into cooking, reading, and being active. First, Barbara went with me to the largest grocery store in Erlangen, Kaufland, to show me what and where the typical ingredients I would need were. I was able to pick up flour, different oils, brown sugar, beans, rice, etc. etc. etc. etc. From there, I became obsessed with Pinterest and started trying recipes... So far, the hits have been:
- three cheese alfredo bake
- homemade marinara sauce
- enchiladas with homemade sauce
- taco casserole
- crab wontons
- pizzadillas
- chicken parmesan
- broiled salmon over garlic noodles and spinach (although next time I will not put so much garlic and I will saute the spinach)
- stuffed peppers
And the misses:
- cheese and spinach macaroni
- dried strawberries
- parmesean tilapia
Outside of cooking, we have been enjoying the end of Billy's football season with the Nürnberg Rams. I cannot express what a pleasure and joy it has been to be a part of that this season. I am so proud of what Billy has accomplished and blessed to get to know some of the players. Billy had a couple of really great carries in the last game versus the Allgäu Comets. I am really looking forward to next season! We have a cookout with the team this Saturday, and we may be going to Holland with one of the players and his wife around the Christmas season. He said it is really beautiful and one of the the largest Christmas markets is there!
I got to get to know some of my colleagues after we all went out to eat at a Greek restaurant together. We were going to go to Drei Linden, which bosts XXL schnitzels at almost 6 kgs a piece. However it was closed for whatever reason. Afterwards we went to the Havana Bar where Billy volunteered to have a cookout at our place the following weekend. Thereforeon that Saturday we had a big potluck dinner with American BBQ, sushi, lettuce wraps, Bulgarian mousakka, German meatballs and potato salad, pasta salad, cucumber sandwiches, Asian flavored chicken wings, fruit, and homemade wet chocolate cake, sugar cookies, and TIRAMISU!!! It was fantastic. Of course I got blasted for my cheap rum and ouzo... but what can I say... I like the cheap stuff. Afterwards we went to a BIG party at the end of our street. This year three of the men in our village turned 50, so they had a tent party with a DJ and an unlimited beer supply. Billy took on the birthday boys in a game of "who can pound the nail into the tree stump with a lead pipe first?" Nobody can mess with my man in any game that requires construction skills. Billz won easily! It was awesome. They also head banged to Rammstein at 4am together. GREAT NIGHT!
I have been getting into groupon.de here, so we tried to enjoy an all you can eat Spanish tapas buffet for which I had bought a groupon; however it was horrible. We DID enjoy a 90 minute message that I bought off of the site though.
Billy's birthday came and we went to Zen for dinner, an Asian fusion restaurant with GREAT drinks. I gave him his birthday gift there - TWO TICKETS TO SEE THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS IN MUNICH!!! Stoked! The following Saturday we went out to Fantasy Bar for sushi with a large group of people (Sara also has a bday in August on the 8th and Jason's marines boot camp anniversary falls on August 13). By far, the best sushi we have had in Germany!!! We did some bar hopping afterwards and called it a night. Ohh we missed our bus again and had to walk over three miles home too... typical Billz and Hannah.
The next day Billz and I caught the bus to the train station early so that we could go out to Brombachsee, a large lake just south of Nürnberg. We finally found the right ingredients for a BOMB bloody mary, and thoroughly enjoyed our day (outside of the bees EVERYWHERE).
This past weekend we returned to Brombachsee with the two couples we have become really close with here, the Johns (Phil & Sara) and the Earlys (Jason & Barbara). It was relaxing and Barbara made chicken sandwiches and brought brats to grill - SUPER TASTY! Afterwards, we celebrated our neighbor's birthday, but we had to leave early because Billy had his final game the next day. We did, however, get to enjoy another EXCELLENT cookout. I cannot say enough good things about our neighbors. Seriously, they are two of the best people I have ever met - genuinely giving, beyond helpful, so much fun, considerate, quirky, and just plain cool. I hope when we return to the US in October for vacation we can find a cool gift to bring them back.
Unfortunately Billy's game did not go so well. They lost this game, which was sad because many of the players will not be returning next year. However, I am really looking forward to being a bigger part of the Rams family next year and supporting them through the season.
Summer finally hit Germany, and it has been in the 80s for almost two weeks now. I was really dreading this since there is no air conditioning anywhere; however it has actually been really enjoyable (other than a few nights that I got entirely too hot to sleep and trying to cook in the heat is pretty tough as well). I know it is supposed to be portion size that keeps the French skinny; however I was talking to one of my French colleagues who lives in the south of France. She is here for the summer, and I asked her if she was doing ok with German food or if she missed the French cuisine. She told me she doesn't miss the French food because it is too hot to eat in southern France right now... if they eat it is at 10pm when the sun has gone down!
This weekend we are headed to a cookout with the football team and Billy is going with a group of ex-pat spouses mid-week to pick us some fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, etc. I will definitely miss the fresh food when we return to the US.
The end of September through October will be really busy for us. Joe (my good friend from Theta Tau) and Andrea DeVoe will be staying with the Earlys mid month. We are planning some day trips and we may potentially join them on a trip to Amsterdam. Our village has their Kärwa (beerfest... every village, town, etc. has one between the months of May thru October) which we hope to be a big part of this year (help with making the float, serving beer, etc.). I may be returning to the US for a conference in St. Louis, and I am going to Bulgaria for an outage before returning to the US for two weeks. During those two weeks we will fly into Charlotte for four days (wedding, doctor, dentist, friends, Billy's family), then go to Raleigh for three days (my fam), then to Charleston for a wedding, then back to Charlotte for the Panthers vs. Saints game, then to Lynchburg for work for two days, then to Washington DC for Les Mis (!!!!), and finally to Lexington Park, MD to stay with Tiff before driving back to Charlotte to fly back to Germany. WHOA! At the end of October we are meeting my mom and sister in Paris for five days (hopefully a short trip out to Normandy will be included). Hopefully we will throw in another ski trip with the group down to Garmisch and a weekend in Chiemsee at the Earlys' German teacher's house (it is supposed to be incredible) before the end of the year. Just after Christmas Seth is going to visit and we are going to Istanbul for NYE!!!
Anyway, in the meantime, the American women in our area have set up a women's group so I plan on getting involved with the book club (already started the book) and the monthly socials. I am also going to do a Beth Moore bible study with Sara - I just need something to keep me focused on what is important, plus it is a great way to build relationships.
In Goose news, due to his bad behavior we have started training lessons with him. We had our first class last night and basically we need to change everything we are doing. It is working already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
