Life: Idiotropic

Although we've been in the Notre Dame before, I was still glad to be back and to have the opportunity to take more photos. It is a huge church and full of many beautiful details. We probably spent almost an hour wandering around inside.

From there we wandered over to the flower market near La Cite and looked through the shops with the flocked trees in every color of the rainbow, Christmas ornaments, and beautiful linens from Provencial fabrics. The lavender was amazing. I could have stood there inhaling that sweet scent all day. This is where I saw the row of bicycles - a new program in Paris to try to get locals to bike instead of driving - for residents only. And, where Luci found a couple sprigs of natural pine over where they had blue and hot pink trees and stuffed those sprigs in her pocket where they sat for over a week.

I love going to Paris in the Christmas season when the city is lit up and magical and the tourists are at a minimum, but, the downside is that not only is it cold, but the days are horrible short, so after a leisurely breakfast, the Metro travel, and some walking around, you add in a meal and your day is almost over. We still had a little daylight left, so we went to see the Sainte Chappelle - a church that had been closed when we were there the year before. The church is small and so surrounded by government buildings that you can almost not even detect it from the street. We had to walk through the airport style security devices and put our coats and purses through - not because of the Sainte Chappelle, but because in order to access the church, you must go through a government building. There is not a lot of the church to see, but oh, what there is is absolutely breathtaking. Up a narrow winding stone staircase with barely enough room for me with my purse, you are pushed into a room that is absolutely surrounded on all sides by beautiful stained glass windows. It's amazing and indescribable - one of those special places that fill you with amazement and awe and a true sense of weight - that what you are seeing is more that just visual. Built by Louis IX in the 13th century to house the crown of thorns, it's amazing to me that it's just hidden there among the Palais de la Cite - almost unnoticeable with people flocking to the Notre Dame - a church that is beautiful, but not breathtaking.

The conciergerie was closed when we left, so we missed that and walked back towards the Notre Dame where the kids played at the playground behind the church and Mom and Kirk went shopping. Cold and dark, we stopped for something hot to drink at the corner where they were totally out of dessert (oh, the tragedy of it all!). Still, the girls had delicious cocoa and I had a spiced wine - all warming out hands and bellies.

Warmed and not quite ready to completely quit, we walked back around and crossed the river at Hotel De Ville too see what the giant igloo looking thing was. It was on this bridge that we had a special moment - a saxophonist was playing sweetly in the moonlight. It was beautiful. We walked by normally enjoying the music, and then he started playing the itsy bitsy spider. We all stopped and watched him. The little girls all loved it. A little thing- but it made it special.

The giant igloo that we'd seen before from a distance stood beside a large outdoor ice skating rink sitting just in front of the beautiful Hotel De Ville (which isn't really a hotel). We found our way to the front (sort of) where we could see a little bit of a holiday ice capades that was going on with elves and Santa. Unexpected and fun, the girls loved it. We would have liked to see more, but a large group of young people came up behind us dancing, talking loudly, and smoking, so it was a good time to go before they got obnoxious.

From there, instead of taking the nearest Metro stop, we got distracted by a beautiful large department store complete with holiday decorations and Macy's style window displays. Not wanting to miss anything, we ventured in to the 6 (I think it was 6) story store with everything form high end clothing to craft supplies to toys... I had to see the Christmas section first to see what types of lights and decorations that they had. The lights were fun and interesting, but it was nothing that I "couldn't live without." The toy section was big and beautiful, but oooh, la la! The prices - not so beautiful. So many American toys at double or more the price... and beautiful French toys, but also expensive. Action figures and castle pieces of all kinds, stimulation overload. Loving French children's clothes, I did peak at those... but, the prices are just as high in France that they are in the states.

At that point we did manage to make it back to our apartment on Rue de la Glaciere... walking past a Haagen Das ice cream shop on the way that advertised for their version of fondue: a big bowl of mini scoops of ice cream served with fondue forks and a large bowl of rich, melted chocolate for dipping. Soooo tempting.

You know... it really was a nice day. We had beautiful weather, saw a few things, relaxed, walked, took in the atmosphere, enjoyed a couple unexpected surprises... can't ask for more than that. Paris is just perfect - pomp without pretense. A city indescribable in it's depth of culture and beauty, yet a place where one could live a very normal, every day kind of life very easily. A city for everyone.

Photo: Tiara and Elise on the Metro - complete pros, confident and fearless, even when the crowds got thick.

Well, we've made it. It's too late here to expound fully on our day today - for now, I'll just say that we had an uneventful 4-5 hour drive here and the kids have been amazing. Paris is, just as we left it last year, absolutely beautiful although just a bit colder with forecasts for rain and snow in a few days. If Elise gets her Christmas wish, we'll just have snow and lots of it. Then we'll have to make a snowman with a beret just for fun.

Last time I ran away for a week, I felt certain that I'd have a nice internet connection and the ability to occasionally check in, update this blog, and send an email or two. Then it rained in Spain and supposedly that bit of moisture completely took out the internet for who knows how long even though the neighbors had it...


Anyway... I am running away again - this time to Paris where there hasn't been significantly enough rain to effect anything, but yes, I did ask about the internet, the dryer, the toaster and coffeepot, and yes, they are all still there and functional.



So, this Wednesday, 19 December, I will be leaving the comfort of my home for the comfort of a Paris apartment in search of a nice vacation that is more vacation than adventure.

We'll be staying here: http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/6432.html And, hopefully, it will be good.

If for some odd reason that I can't get online... do know that I will be thinking of you all this Christmas and I'll be in touch again when I return.

~Tiffany

As a child, I was a rock collector and a sticker collector. When I grew out of those things, I picked pretty flowers and leaves and pressed them. I still have shoeboxes, envelopes, and books filled with bits of flattened foliage that I've collected over the years waiting for the some day when I'll get struck with inspiration and also find the time to do something with it all. I have always been a beachcomber (and the 10+ boxes of shells in the attic attest to that). And, when I unpacked here in Germany, I did find a bag of moss that I collected on Mount Hood in 1993 at Jessica's family cabin.

So, I shouldn't be surprised now when I find furry green and white pumpkins lodged between the wall and Luci's bed months after Halloween was over. "It's special to me. I want to keep it FOREVER." Those are words I hear all the time. I shouldn't be surprised by the rocks in her dresser and her shoes and her toy boxes and under tables. And, I shouldn't be surprised when I empty Luci's pockets before washing her coat to find - well, what a very poor magician might pull out of a hat, or what seems to be the contents of a clown car gone flea marketing. I'm amazed they can hold it all. And I'm amazed by the mind of a girl who can find beauty and significance in each of these small things.

Luci's pocket's contents - 15 December 07

1. 2 wads of Kleenex (looks clean)
2. a wood composite 1" heart
3. a Happy Meal Polly Pocket
4. a 2" rock
5. a white Fender guitar pick
6. a pink poodle keychair from Valencia, Spain
7. a large orange plastic bead
8. a shrivelled chestnut
9. a dirty white silk flower
10. a plum pit
11. an unidentifiable rubber thing
12. an unidentifiable plastic thing
13. 2 business cards from the Village Connection (picked up at the bazaar on 11 Oct)
14. a Visa/MC/AmEx sticker
15. 2 small white tages on red thread - one for 249Euros and another for 279Euros - not from anything I bought
16. 2 red worn metal stars with the silver showing through

Oh... and while we're discussing my rather "special" children, let me tell you something that I never thought I'd hear myself say:


Funny? No. I got back from Italy and Kirk had taken the kids to the toy store and had purchased one toy for each. Elise wanted a squishy rubber life sized rat which she still loves to this day (and even took to Paris with her). She bathes it in the sink. She plays with it regularly. It is among her most prized possessions. And, she swings it, frequently, by the tail everywhere, including my kitchen - hence the above quote.

Tonight was a special night in Gillrath when three families came together to bake weckemannbrot for the children in a 150 year old brick oven in a tiny little brick "house." A group of school age children made up the small band that announced St. Nikolaus arrival by the playing of a traditional German Christmas song as he walked up the road with Black Peter at his side. Usually Black Peter looks more like a scary henchman than tonight's dark faced genie from a bottle. He usually is a he and wears dark robes. This one was obviously a lady and very brightly dressed - the girls noticed and asked who was with St. Nikolaus - she didn't look at all like the Black Peter that they'd seen before.

St. Nikolaus sat and asked the children to gather 'round. He talked with them, asking them what they wanted for Christmas and what their hobbies were. It was all done as a group, so the children could speak up as they wished. My girls were all quiet - Arianna and Luci both nervous at first. Elise is the one that I thought would be nervous, but she's also the one who understood the most, so she did fine and was happy to see a couple of her friends from school. Soon St. Nikolaus handed out the large man shaped breads to all the children. A new American family stood close, then seeing the bread with the little ceramic pipe, remarked, "it's a man? And he smokes?" I guess I'd wondered at that too. But, as anti-smoking as I am, I don't really think about it now. The girls don't either and they love to blow through those little pipes - more like bubble blowers than something that you'd smoke from. We were able to get a good photo-op - not real common here as most children will perform a talent and not really pose with the Claus. So, here are the girls with St. Nikolaus, the "fancy" Black Peter, and their large, headless bread men that they'd already nibbled on.

Tomorrow I'll be flying to London with Kirk. He has a conference, so I'm tagging along to play tourist for a few days. It should be a nice trip - cold, wet, and cloudy, but what more could I expect? Harrods will be beautiful, so though I will not shop there, I will go and watch the twinkling lights of the Christmas decor. Good pictures to follow when I return.

~T

p.s. Here's the link to our hotel - that's where the conference is held! :) http://www.theroyalhorseguards.co.uk/the_hotel/index.html

It's 6pm on Saturday evening - the first day of December as I've been told about 20 times by Arianna already today. Yesterday Luci brought home a 31-day paper chain with blue and yellow rings for the 8 days of Hanukkah and a white ring for Christmas day. The others were red and green. Elise comes home singing holiday songs in German every day now. All the girls are twinkly and excited. It's in the air. It's in the bakery windows. And tonight, it was at the Christmas market.

Contentment is a day with friends.

With family and travels, my Spanish Fridays have been becoming quite a commodity and I've missed them. This morning I was happy to see my friends again and catch up. When I arrived, Joana was watching a docudrama (Lifetime style movie) about President Roosevelt - dubbed, of course, in Spanish. I still think it's funny that my international friends know more about American TV than me. Just earlier this week an Italian friend told me about a reality show in the US called "Army wife," a show I'd never even heard of before.

So this morning we just talked, drank coffee, and ate cake. They were getting ready for the formal dinner/dance tomorrow night for the patron saint of the military - a formal event that the Spanish enjoy every year. They were laughing at the men who dress so formally in tuxedos and ties, then dancing like they were 16 to the fast Spanish rock music. I love that about my friends here. The Italian, Spanish, Greek, and Turkish could care less about how they look in spandex. They all dance. They dance with more life than I ever did in high school. It doesn't matter if they are skinny or not. All sizes dress to impress. And they all know how to move their hips. It's not about sex or how they look. It's about having a good time. They laugh. They smile. They dance to rock and roll even if they're in their 40's. They don't age.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at their party tomorrow... it will be a good one.

So, my morning was Spanish and my afternoon was Italian. Marilena came over so our girls could play together and we could cook together. I taught her how to make pie crust and a very nice apple pie and she taught me how to make the most delicious tiramisu ever. The secret to the tiramisu is the Italian coffee... something that I'll have to learn to make (basically requires the purchase of the coffee and a cute little cast-iron pot about 7" tall and 3" wide.)

We had a nice time talking. She is so nice. Of course, I told her that I was going to make her Sicilian Couscous recipe this week and she said, "You can't." "What? Why not?" "You can't get the couscous here - only in Sicily." So she teaches me the recipe and now I can't even make it???? That is really not fair. She laughed at me. Apparently her Italian friends are complaining too. Next time she teaches a class, she needs to have extra supplies on hand!

She was surprised to see me making the apple pie dough. I don't think that it compares with anything that she's made before and she thought that there would be eggs in it. She said that it would probably be the perfect crust for the Ricotta cake that she makes - just ricotta cheese, lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon mixed together and baked in a crust. Yum. She's invited us to visit her in Sicily next summer and all we need are bikinis and towels and then we can eat gelato the Sicilian way - not in cones, but served in brioche!

Last year about this time I had the amazing privilege of attending a "coffee" at the Consular General's home in Dusseldorf. Along with some other ladies from our base, we talked with Mrs. Boyse and met with other leaders in the American women's groups from Dusseldorf and Cologne. It was then that I met Hannelore.

Marilena Cammarata is from Marsala, Italy down in the western part of Sicily and before she moved here, she had her own pasta shop. She can cook anything - and not with recipes - with seeing and touching. She uses her hands for her pastas and pizzas.

Today she taught a group of Italian ladies how to make Sicilian couscous - a dish only found in Sicily as couscous is very rare in other parts of Italy. I was so happy to be invited and all the Italian ladies were very warm and friendly and made such an effort to make me feel welcome.

They made Italian coffee. "Would you like some coffee?" "Yes, please." "It's Italian coffee." "I like Italian coffee." "It's very strong - not like American coffee." "I know, I was just in Italy. I like strong coffee." "Do you need sugar???" No... my coffee is too strong for some Americans. I like the strong coffee. So I had two. I was asked about apple pie and pumpkin pie, so I may end up teaching them a few American things. We all sat down after doing all the preparation for some cake while the couscous steamed.

This isn't the couscous from a box - precooked - like we are used to. It's the uncooked natural couscous. So in a large turkey pan, Marilena slowly mixed bottled water into the grain with her hands adding a little at a time until it was absorbed and the couscous was soft and stuck together a little. Then she added a drizzle of olive oil and a bit of salt, pepper, and curry. All the couscous was put into a large terracotta pot with holes in the bottom so that it could be steamed.

The other ladies chopped eggplant, onions, leeks, potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots and put them in a large pot. Then they added water, steak, and cooked it slowly over low heat. As the vegetables and meat cooked, they put just a little of it into the water under the couscous so that the flavors in those things could steam the grain and add flavor that way as well. After about an hour of steaming the couscous and cooking the veggies and meat, the couscous was put into a pan and all the veggies and meat were put on top with just a little of the broth. It sat for 5 minutes and then served.

Oh my goodness. It sounds so simple, but this was amazing- unlike any couscous dish I've ever had and so full of flavor. I'm getting some un-precooked couscous soon and trying this one myself!

I would love to be reminiscing about the leaky rain in Spain, but today I am worn out from yesterday's holiday and cannot think of anything other than the dishes in my sink, the turkey bits on the floor and how, oh how will I ever get this house looking like Thanksgiving never even happened, so that I can fast forward into Christmas. Now after visitors and trips, it's hard to wrap my mind around the hauling of 4 large Christmas bins down from the attic and putting decorations (that I will ultimately have to put away again) here and there all over my home. My Spanish friends dream about the ultimate self-cleaning house. Days like this, I share that dream more than ever.

Thursday, while you were scurrying about preparing your turkey and it's trimmings, we were just finishing up a nice taco dinner. Sounds horribly wrong, doesn't it? But it's not a holiday for us here. Kirk had to work. The girls had school. I'd baked 8 dozen pumpkin cookies to send to school with Elise, Luci and Tiara and to work with Kirk. I made caramel apples for Arianna's class. Then I went to and photographed Luci's party where her class dressed up as pilgrims and visited the other kindergarten class who had dressed up as Indians and they all had a pumpkin pie feast together. Then to Arianna's party for their feast which consisted of all the treats that mothers brought in including "puppy chow" - something that all the other mothers seemed to know -- Glorified chex mix with peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar.

On Friday (this is starting to sound like a Very Hungry Caterpillar story - I'm sorry... it's late now and I'm probably too sleepy to be coherent...). A hem. OK. Let's try this again. On Friday, I enjoyed a quiet Spanish morning with my friends where we discussed politics... a frequent discussion - always interesting. Then from 1 until almost midnight I baked 2 pumpkin cream cheese rolls, 2 apple galettes (home made dough, of course), a pecan pie (with said dough), and a new recipe for an amazing spice cake with coconut pecan icing, and then did all the pre-cooking of onions, and celery , and cranberry sauce, and assembled the stuffing. Cleaned it all up, so I'd have a "new kitchen" to work in the next day.

This morning, I prepared my 20# bird with a compound butter and rub, stuffed it, then made yams with banana and pecans, the mashed potatoes and gravy, the 3-onion goat-cheese tarts, the artichoke spread on baguettes, the stuffing, and then got stuff out to make paper turkeys with the girls. Kirk was in charge of one deep fried turkey - and, because he wanted to fry more meat, one chicken that he found shoved and forgotten in the back of our freezer. Guests started arriving at 1430, then "fashionably late" still arrived until almost 1700 when we finally ate our delicious meal. This was a much smaller group than last year, but it was a nice group and I honestly liked everyone that was there - strange comment, but it felt good to look around and be really happy that each of them could come.

Today was particularly beautiful as I drove to Schinnen for Thanksgiving shopping in hopes that they wouldn't be sold out of turkeys. (They weren't - only sold out of fresh cranberries and pecans! Oh... how will I survive?!!?!?)

Could there be a downside of travel?

Running away to Italy, but bringing my journals and hope to pull the Spain and Italy trips together to post all at once.

Four weeks of family allow for no blogging...

Back next week!

Tiffany

This one is different from the one I made last year...

I made a few loaves on Thursday when I taught the recipe to some Norwegian friends who had never tried anything with pumpkin and had never tasted cranberry sauce either. We had a nice time and everyone made two loaves.

Anyway... the flavor is wonderful - not too sweet, not bland - good pumpkin flavor. And, almost 4 days later and they are still really moist and delicious. If you're not a fan of nutmeg, you can decrease or leave out that. The bread does have a very distinctive nutmeg flavor. I'll probably reduce it by half the next time I make this.

Pumpkin Bread

Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Hour

Ready In: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

Yields: 32 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened 3 cups sugar 3 eggs 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg 1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Combine dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Stir in pumpkin. Pour into two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until bread tests done.

After three weeks of company, the last three days have been a flurry of activity as I've tried to catch up on all those things I put aside for the visit. One of those low priorities that gets pushed off is, of course, this blog. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I should be able to get Spain properly blogged with all its glitches by next Wednesday when I leave for Italy. Be patient... Spain is coming. It just takes a while to weed through the over 5300 pictures that were taken over the three cameras there. The time has been good though... I think I've needed the distance to get some perspective.

Today was a taste of America in the Netherlands - Bagels and Beans. Dad and Angie, freshly flown in from the states chose the more exotic options - date pie and fig cake. I, not having been in the states for almost 2 years now, chose the bit of America, a delicious bagel sandwich. Coffee and cocoa is always good there and though my bagel was overall "American," I did enjoy a bacon that is quite local and delicious - nothing like American bacon, and a creamy European goat cheese.

We stopped quickly for some cheese at the Sittard market and to look and see if anything "jumped out" at me to use for Halloween costumes. Nothing jumped, but we were successful in getting some pesto cheese, Elise's favorite graas kaas, and a British made Mexican cheddar.

Schinnen was next for some quick cash - preparing to leave for Spain the next day. Packing for them was easy since they hadn't unpacked. For my cumbersome crew, it took the rest of the afternoon.

Well... here was day two of our visit with Dad and Angie when they were still a little jet lagged and we were keeping the days slow. It's a hodge-podge of photos...

This morning we headed off to the infamous "Barkenhof" - an interesting little gourmet food shop in Saeffelen. I wouldn't normally take visitors shopping, but this place is just a little bit special - not only because of the foods they carry, but because of the quirkiness of the owners who will feed and "educate" you as long as you let them. Olaf is a playwright who lives part of the year in Mallorca, Spain. His wife owns and runs the shop, creating her own tea blends, and then travelling, buying antiques for her shop to sell, and remodelling Spanish homes in her spare time. They are both a bit eccentric, but friendly. Poor dad and Angie got cornered by Olaf right away as he went into his spiel about how we should enjoy a 4 hour meal instead of eating fast food. He was going off his assumption that all Americans eat fast food and that we don't know how to cook and don't have quality food available. Huh. And all Germans eat wurst? I think not. So, over and over again we heard the question, "So what are you collecting?" Olaf is a tall German man of medium build, shoulder length hair in tight curls greying slightly, rosy cheeks and red lips - slightly hunched over and clearly in our big American personal space (personal space is A LOT smaller here) as he kept repeating that question... Dad, Angie, and I looked at him confused? What are we collecting? Ahhh... with the time we save by eating fast food... what are we collecting? Uh... time for other things? These are the crazy stereo types we run into here. Americans are typecast through our movies. And they fall for it.

Anyway... once we got past his 4-hour meal/collecting spiel, we finally got to taste a few things... a delicious goat cheese with French honey drizzled over it, a variety of balsamic vinegars and olive oils, tea, and a delicious dip that my dad mixed for us! It is interesting to taste different oils... there is a big difference. I use my nice oil that Kirk got for me in Italy not only for cooking, but for my skin. Good olive oils are supposed to soak completely into the skin in 10 seconds leaving absolutely no greasy feel at all.

Here's one I've been wanting to photograph for a while to get it on record... Dad did it for me.

Here's the "propaganda milk." Something that you wont' see where you are. This is "U.S. Forces Europe" milk - that's what it says on the front of the carton just under an eagle. On the back are two "ads" -- one says "Read the Stars and Strips your daily paper," and the other says "Reevaluate Reconsider Reenlist"



Next photo...

Here's one of Elise at her Kindergarten. She has a wooden candle picture by her cubby where she has her backpack, coat, and haus shoes. Then the same candle picture is on the cabinet where she keeps her art and again in the bathroom where she has her own towel. It's very sweet. Each child has their own little blue towel hanging up with which they dry their hands. Elise enjoys her independence at this school that is run very Montessori-like.



And here's my Luci. I had dad and Angie with me when I picked up Luci and Arianna and intended on taking them both next door to ballet class. Then, without warning, Luci disappeared and her grandma and grandpa disappeared with her. I ran with Elise slung sleeping over my shoulder to ballet - no sign of them... ran to the front of the school - still no sign... started to run towards Luci's classroom and there they were coming out to find me. My adventurous girl was showing off her class and giving a royal tour. Here she is with her backpack in funny - Luci is not one to do anything conventionally.


Not to leave out Arianna, here she is dancing. She took ballet and jazz/tap last year for just a couple months and dropped it. This year she and Luci are just doing the jazz/tap class and are both enjoying it. It's nice for me also to have them both together - easier on the taxi driving that I seem to do so well. So, every Wednesday right after school, Arianna and Luci both dance for an hour with Mrs. Stella, a very sweet British lady who graduated from the London Academy of Dance and teaches here on the base every afternoon. I think the parents all love Stella as much as the kids do. She's just wonderful to us all.