Life: Idiotropic

Made these with a friend today... love them. I'd forgotten how easy they are to make.

I essentially used the Joy of Cooking recipe, though when I make them again, I won't do the raspberry ones. Those are just too sweet for me, but I like the tartness of the apricot. Next time I'll make a poppy seed filling (crushed poppy seeds with a bit of sugar and may be a bit of white wine), and use that in some with or without the apricot. I think a nice mixture of chopped nuts (like a baklava nut mix) would be delicious as well.

The dough is extremely easy to work with though and takes little effort. Just make sure you chill it at least an hour. Sooner and you'll have cracking dough (which is what happened with my first batch). Thankfully, the ugly ones taste just as good.

With 30 days until our move, we all have our "lists." Lists of things to do, things to pack, things to toss, things so see, places to go...

On my littles' list was the Valkenier, a small amusement park in The Netherlands that caters entirely to little people. Not my cup of tea really - I love roller coasters and big rides, but don't like the crowds. Still, we had fun anyway and enjoyed some time just to play. It is nice when even Elise, my youngest, can go on every single ride. Their favorites were too many to count, but the clear winner was the roller coaster of apples with a decent drop that made it fun even for me. The haunted house was funny - not scary, but the kids liked it anyway. And the water slide was a hit though the lines were not worth the 5 second thrill. They left without complaint at the end of the day knowing they wouldn't be back, but we'll find something even more fun in Spain.

When I got back, we heard the tractors for a while. Since Friday there's been a fairly consistent stream of antique tractors driving to and fro along the B56 in front of our house. On Friday I'd lost count at 6 old tractors towing campers. Today I saw 3, but at least 10 more old tractors. Yesterday we saw a tractor hauling a long trailer full of people sitting around a narrow table set with beer. It's odd, but it amuses me to see just how many uses for an old tractor these people can come up with. I've seen them as tow trucks, carnival floats... it's endless. So, here's my theory. This place where I live is actually tractor heaven. Really. All the good tractors come here when they "die" knowing that they will be continually cared for, driven, and partied in for all time. Can't plow a field? It's OK. If you can haul a few bags of helium balloons, then all is well.

Random photos from the last week:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116219&id=674507268&l=b4f74028a6

Photos from Monday:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116583&id=674507268&l=ba0c3bf6c7

The waves of grain aren't amber here yet, but they are still beautiful. This photo is from last week which flew and swirled like our local wind taking me hither and fro and nowhere specific. I'm starting to feel a bit like this wheat - rooted, but tossed about willy nilly without anyone asking me if I feel like taking Toad's Wild Ride today. It's exhausting and really bad for my hair (which, in light of my new age, has mysteriously doubled the grey count).

A place I chose to go - today we did enjoy an Italian birthday party with a dear friend - always an honor to be included in these special times. And a delicious one. Mariella can cook anything. Today she made pasta with pesto trapaneza and a really delicious veggie cous cous.

It's just a number and though I don't really "like" the number, I'm not terribly torn up about it. I think 34 was worse. Partially because with every birthday comes that introspective personal evaluation that I almost without exception fail miserably. This year, either because I'm too busy with the move, or really just don't care at the moment, I skipped that whole self-evaluation entirely figuring, eh, it was a good year and this next one will be even better. Why stress.

May be I'm finally growing up.

Life is good. I have 4 girls, a guy, and amazing friends. I'm finally writing which is both strange and somewhat exciting. And... well, I'm moving to Spain. What more could a girl ask for.

A cake? Yep. Got that too. Alice came through with her famous, out of this world, best ever carrot cake, candles, singing, and all. So a few zillion calories later, I'm a little fluffier, but completely content to be... gulp... 35.

(The ice cream wasn't mine. I saw it prepared as I saw having coffee and gooseberry cake this morning with Kirk at Cafe Schleypen. It's Spaghetti Eis - a very traditional ice cream dessert here in Germany - vanilla ice cream extruded into long spaghetti-like strands and then covered with strawberries and strawberry sauce to look like spaghetti.)

On my list of "things to see before I move" was Dusseldorf's Altstadt. After all, it's only 45 minutes from my house and in 3.5 years, I'd only seen the airport. I'd read reviews. I'd read tourist information. It all led to me think that this area is absolutely precious, beautiful, quaint, and not to be missed.

May be. But not today. Last night Dusseldorf's soccer team won pushing them higher in the rankings. Today the celebration took to the market area and spilled into surrounding Altstadt streets with music, fireworks, and beer and beer and beer... you get the idea. After all, according to Wikipedia (which I read when I got home), "the Düsseldorfer Altstadt is known as the longest bar in the world (längste Theke der Welt)." Crammed into the streets littered with trash and beer cans are over 300 bars and discotheques. Makes sense. The music was ganz laut. And the bars were bursting with people who filled the sidewalks and streets dressed in all arrangements of red and white imbibing the local golden brew.

Without kids I could have possibly enjoyed that set of photo ops... the strangely clad German, the over abundance of beer. But it was too raucous to take photos of the area itself. Altstadt's beauty was covered in banners and so viele Leute. So, we headed to the Kö.

The Kö, just a few blocks from the Altstadt, is stunning in it's simplicity and tranquility. Once Kastanienallee, an unhappy citizen threw dung at the king, so they renamed the street Königsallee to appease him. And it feels kingly. Wide streets lined with posh cafes and high end shops divided with a long canal reflecting the old trees. This is what I was looking for. Unfortunately, the shops were closed and we were on a mission for food which I knew we'd find more of along the river.

Thinking "Portland's Waterfront Park" and finding crowds and concrete, we ducked into a place to eat (really greasy chewy food that only Elise would eat before she choked on a piece of ham), hydrate the girls and get out of the sun. We felt like cattle walking through the crowds along the hot cement gazing across the river at the pretty side - lined with lawn and bike paths, fisherman and a flock of sheep coming to the river's edge from time to time for a drink. Lucky sheep.

We thought we'd see a little more before heading home... but just as we stopped for ice cream, the music started and the first rainbow appeared. Kirk pulled the girls into the ice cream shop and I darted out just briefly to get a couple stomach turning shots of the Gay Pride parade. Time to go home. There were several images there that the girls just didn't need to see.

So... glad I went? Yeah. I would have regretted not seeing it. But, now having been there, I wouldn't go back without a really good reason. I'm sure on a weekday morning, it's lovely, but our Sunday post -soccer celebration/Gay Pride lunacy was just a bit more than I wanted to deal with. Dusseldorf can have it. I'll stick with Maastricht - prettier, quieter, and closer to home.

Here's to possibilities past and present.

The house seems quiet to me at the moment - that bittersweet quiet that happens when you're lost in a thought. (That and the children are outside.)

Sigh.

I just had a quick impromptu unexpected and absolutely delightful visit over a cup of tea with a friend who I have not seen or talked to in two years. And she lives 10 minutes away.

No fight. No disagreement. No falling out. Just one day, her life got busy and my life got busy and pretty soon we were so lost in busy that when briefly life would slow for just a second, we would turn to our separate circles and forget that we were just 10 minutes away.

It's sad. So today we shared tea and a short, but lovely chat, and now I'm moving and have to add her to the growing list of goodbyes and yet we're looking at each other after two years and thinking this feels more like a hello and shouldn't we try to connect a few more times before good bye?

I drove by another friend's house today - another woman that I met when I first got here and thought, wow, if only I could be her friend, and then, lucky me, I was, and then we got busy.

I'm starting to really get bugged by "busy." I'm missing out on some incredible people. But, today's connection is good. And instead of letting the awkwardness of time get between us, I am going to try to connect, even for a moment to these treasures - these people with which I shared momentary, but precious time.

Totally unrelated photo... one taken today as I contemplate a new project...

Great week. Feeling motivated. Perpetual progress pausing only for a moment or two with friends.

Monday I discovered an amazing little Turkish market just 20 minutes from me that has huge containers of fresh spices at a fraction of the McCormick cost, sun dried tomatoes, tahini, big bags of bulgar, Turkish tea pots. What a way to shop. Senay took me there and before we grabbed carts, we walked through together looking at things, picking up ingredients, translating labels, and sharing recipes inspired by the items on the shelf. It was leisurely, fun, and a time full of laughter. The Turkish people don't like to use a lot of frozen foods... instead, they harvest vegetables, like peppers, hang them together on strings to dry them, then soften them in water in the winter months to stuff with meat and rice - fresh summer food in winter. In the evenings of Ramadan, they have a sweet first, as they break the fast of the day and begin their meal. I like that - sweet first, healthy after. I got a few things - mostly spices that I can take with me to Spain. And a Turkish tea pot that comes in two parts. You boil the water in the top part first, add the tea, the put it on top of a larger pot filled with water and heat them together. Pour the strong tea into a glass, then add water to the glass to weaken it to your liking. Coffee and strawberry cakes in Ubach on the patio in the sun. We finished our day talking about our daughters.

Tuesday I met a friend for our good-bye coffee 12 minutes away in a town that I have never actually walked through to visit and to look for a monument to the "elastic house." It was supposed to be obvious, but it took us walking the complete circle around the lake to finally see it at the point where we'd begun hiding behind a semi-circle of rose buses. An engraved stone and a fountain in the shape of the star of David. The elastic house in Brunssum saved over 250 Jewish children in WW2, taking them in, giving them new identities, and finding families to take them in who would all of the sudden have a new "niece" or cousin living with them. It was called the Elastic house because the numbers of people inside changed so frequently and the the walls seemingly stretched to accommodate them. There's a book written about it, but it's all in Dutch. Makes me wonder how many other stories are unknown to us because of the language they're written in.

Good Dutch cappuccino with thick foam and a dusting of cinnamon. Ciabatta with brie, ardenne ham, and honeydew melon. Elise had a tall cup of frothy steamed milk beside a cup of good chocolate chips and another cup of whipped cream - a do it yourself hot chocolate.

Another good-bye to one of those friends that I will keep tabs on forever even if it's just a note or a book recommendation here and there.

Get your autographs now.

Tonight we were at a BBQ for some friends who are moving. It was dark. Everyone was talking. The music was loud - karaoke. The kids were running around. We were all outside.

Mama Mia came on as Kirk and I were talking together. We heard the singing. It was good. So we leaned over to look into the tent to see who was singing, and there was Elise with the microphone held close to her mouth singing "Mama Mia, here we go again..."

When we were leaving Elise strumming the guitar of a guy we know. He's in a band here. And Elise just stood there quietly, observantly, listening and strumming. "She has it in her," he says. "She's gifted. She has rhythm."

Which I knew. But. Wow. It's still great to hear. We sing a lot. She dances. But in Spain, guitar and piano could be in her future.

It's sad when you look back seven days and cannot remember even the slightest detail from what was just one week ago. No age jokes, please. I'm not old yet. But really, it shouldn't be so hard. Tuesday... Tuesday... nope, nothing.

Thanks to my handy, dandy calendar on the computer, I do have some memory joggers from the rest of the week. Seriously, if it weren't for my calendar and the photos that I take, I think that every day would be Groundhog's Day.

Thankfully, it's not all a blank. Last Wednesday our conversation group met at my house which is why, sadly, I have no pictures. We had strata together - one I made with stale sesame broetchen, spinach, artichoke hearts and onion. They liked it enough to have seconds. Then I made up 1.5 recipes of pie dough and made both a traditional apple pie and an apple galette. This is the second time that I've "taught" apple pie to a group of international friends and again they seemed surprised that there are no eggs in it. It turned out great - and we had fun laughing, cooking, and talking over coffee, strata, and fresh, hot pie. Apparently apple pie dough is similar to something both the Turkish and Italians use in other dishes... I have yet to figure out exactly what though... when their words begin flying in foreign tongue, I sometimes have a hard time catching them enough to stop and ask for details. Someone hand me a butterfly net.

Thursday was, um (moment to check calendar) - Oh... among a myriad of errands and cookie baking, a lovely, ever so needed, completely relaxing time with Lorella sitting at her house drinking Italian espresso, then sitting at Cafe Immendorf sipping latte machiatos and mmmm-ing over our erdbeer tortchens. Watched a group of 60's-ish men on bicycles completely clad in bicycle attire saunter in for their beer all saying "hallo" and various complementary greetings - a bunch of flirtatious older men strutting their stuff. And then just sat, relaxed, basked in the sun and the quiet, and talked. Lorella is another one of those forever friends with whom I hope to never lose touch with. She is, as she's always been, absolutely fabulous!

Our last night. My last night as president. A member's only bingo night. I had cookies, salsa, chips, stuff for our charity, and a bunch of IWC travel mugs all together. Got there early, set up, watched people jump in without question and help thinking wow... this is it... it's time. I can go. They'll be OK. And the night went off without a hitch. I was the Bingo caller which aside from a tired voice after, is actually kind of fun. I spent the night watching the crowd, catching bits of conversations, smiling at my friends aware of small inside jokes, remembering so many fond memories, and thinking about good bye. For most of these people, this night was good bye. Towards the end I thanked them for the time and the opportunity then introduced them to their new president, my friend, Francesca. Just thinking about it is sad for me. This has been the best 3 years of my life, I think. So many people, blessings, opportunities... mostly people though. I will miss the people.

Late night, early morning. Traipsing all over Maastricht with Arianna and her second grade class looking at the Roman fortifications and looking through the Museum of Natural History. Boy. It's hard to be a second grader... all that walking, all that looking, all those coffee shops, and not a minute to stop for a cuppa Joe. So sad. The kids loved the trip. We learned about Roman toilets all lined up together in a half-circle, so the kids sat down on stones set where a Roman toilet lies beneath the pavement and posed straining for a photo (not my idea - it was a boy's mom). We saw a statue of a horse that was definitely a boy. We saw the toilet in a guard post in the old wall and a statue of a bear with human hands. These were the highlights. The kids also loved the rooms upon rooms of old bones and taxidermy at the natural history museum, a place that has me thoroughly convinced that I am really more of a zoo person. We lunched by the statue of d'Artagnan, the fourth musketeer who died in Maastricht at the age of 62, in combat from a bullet to the throat. The kids shopped for tacky souvenirs - pens and ceramic "wooden" shoes. And at the end of a 7 hour day out, we finally headed home.

Exhaustion comes in the form of pizza take-out from Il Genios and a shared bottle of wine with good friends. My kind of Friday night.

Photos: 1) A large gold framed advertisement hanging on the outside wall of a restaurant in Maastricht 2) Sculpture of a extinct blue-lipped giraffe with a lady whose arm moves to pet it when the merry go round nearby turns. This was the location of several caged bears in the 60's before the people protested that it was too sad. 3) 16 second graders huddled around the statue of d'Artagnan in Maastricht. 4) Arianna posing on the bridge over the Maas river with a lovely view of Maastricht in the background - or it would be, except that it was raining and the umbrella covered all.

Tiara quote of the week: "guys are so confusing. they're moods change. they'll be like one way and then another. it's like they're PMSing or something. And they think us girls are confusing."

My rule of birthdays is that the birthday girl/boy gets to completely manage their own special day within reason. School may not be skipped, but I will cook anything and bake anything and all activities within the realm of possibility will be done. Sometimes it is a bit more challenging. On more than one occasion, Tiara has wanted me to make sushi for her. And, some cake requests have been difficult.

This year, I made cupcakes for Elise's class as this was her snack day. She had school and came home full of spunk, but just wanted to play with her new Polly Pockets from grandma - easy. Then she wanted chocolate cake, so I did heart cakes and the girls all decorated their own - easy. Mac and cheese for dinner - again - easy. And she spent the entire day playing, dancing, and singing completely contently. The challenge will be the cake for her birthday party - the one that she's oh so specific about - a round white cake with white frosting with green shamrocks all around the edge, then blue flowers with stems laying across the middle and a big green anchor sitting in the middle. Huh. Have no idea where she got this one from, but it's interesting and I appreciate that she has her own idea and isn't doing the standard cartoon character thing.

Arianna told her martial arts teacher that today was Elise' birthday, so she made a sparkler with candy attached for Elise. The Germans use sparklers for special birthdays and anniversaries. So after Elise was done with her little one, Tante Tinny came out with three more so she, A, and L could do it again. It is a nice tradition.

Anyway... the day ended with sugar overload and the opening of presents. Elise got ready for bed and triumphantly announced that she will get two wishes now because she blew out candles at school this morning AND at home this evening. Smart girl might get get those wishes!


More photos (temporary link - will only work for a month or so):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111832&id=674507268&l=2f8ad33d80

Mother's Day seems like a good enough place to start, keep up, and them may be possibly back track a bit and catch up. It's hard though... 4 big trips in the last month, company x2, and a move looming ahead in, oh, 50 days. Ouch. May be it's better if I don't count the days. Not enough time.

This Mother's Day was special because my mother was actually here - on her last day before her return to the states.

Arianna announced several days ago that for mother's day, I had to sleep in. She was quite emphatic about this. So, all three little girls got up early, helped Kirk cook breakfast, and insisted that grandma and I be allowed to sleep. They were even quiet. Until 9 when Arianna loudly and triumphantly stomped into my room with an exuberant "Happy Mother's Day" shout that could probably be heard for miles. Ok, ok, I'm awake now.

We had a delicious breakfast and a lazy morning - lazy for most. Kirk was busy making a hammock for Felicity - Arianna's American girl doll who just so happened to be having a birthday on the same day. It kept the littles happy and quiet as they completely trashed the entire living room all in the name of "decorating for Felicity's party."

In the afternoon we went to Immendorf to one of my favorite cafes where we sat and relaxed while the kids played. They all got ice cream. Mom and I split a strawberry cake baked in the shape of a heart for just this occasion.

We wrapped up the evening in quiet, Kirk and mom visiting while I frosted cupcakes for Elise's birthday. It was a day without a lot of pomp, but I appreciated the quiet, relaxing pace - a stark contrast to the last month and something I sorely needed. Now I'm in full speed ahead. Next time for rest, may be in 60 days or so.

Sometimes I'm so busy clicking and watching that I miss those split second moments. Thankfully, my click happy finger doesn't and so upon uploading, I'm rewarded with gems like these. Sorry if this grosses you out. You are probably glad to have missed this spectacle. The truly gross thing here was not the owl itself engulfing baby chicks for lunch, but it's handler, who just previously had taken a whole baby chick from her satchel, put one foot in her mouth, then ripped off it's leg. I wish that I would have gotten that photograph - handler with dead baby chick foot in her mouth clenching down with her blackened teeth... but I was too in shock to use the camera at that point and still in shock when she did it again with the other leg. She fed the legs to the owl first before giving it the rest of the carcass which is swallowed - head and all. Hence this remarkable photograph.

So this was the beginning of our family trip to the Gangelt animal park. I'd hoped to spend this beautiful sunny day at an orchid garden, but the girls won and animals it was. Not bad on this nice day. The kids hand fed deer and sheep and threw food to the pushing boars and their adorable piglets. The baby boars looked more like tiny rabbits with the markings of newborn deer - so beautiful in comparison with their course haired parents. Tiara was happy to see a moose, but disappointed that it had no antlers. And Arianna was the only one (yes, only) who escaped the giant hamster wheel at the playground unscathed.

I was happy to had feed raccoons who took peanuts from me gently with their dainty hands and yellow toothed groundhogs who were surprisingly careful taking peanuts from me while leap frogging over each other to be the first for food. All the animals seemed to be enjoying the nice weather. Even us.

And the craziest animal today was my amazing guy who held on to the edges of the hamster wheel and went all the way around before collapsing in a heap. I even joined the fun in my skirt and sandals coming home with a scratched leg and scraped knee. Haven't had one of those in a while! Guess we can count it as a successful day.

This afternoon as we drove towards the commissary, I asked Elise if she heard any music today. Her dimples puckered as she smiled. "Mmmm hmmm. Drain pipes!"

Today was one of those serenely beautiful days that I felt relaxed and absolutely blessed to be living in Europe. We began the day visiting the cheese guy at the Geilenkirchen market so that we could stock up on these delicious sauces that we'd bought to serve at Kirk's assumption of command ceremony - one a pineapple curry mustard sauce and the other an apple mustard something I'm forgetting sauce. Both amazing served with cheese and crackers. Mom bought three jars - one was a fig mustard. I bought 4 - 2 each for 2 different people who tasted it at the party and wanted some. I'll get some for us next week. The market was especially full of flowers today with a couple extra vendors and a group of ladies handing out roses to all the mothers - a nice gesture. The lady who gave us our rose was standing next to a poster of herself as we walked back - running for some office in the upcoming election.

From there we just had to stop at my favorite bakery across the street for latte macchiatos and fresh from the oven aprikosen quark kuchen - still soft, warm, and probably the best I've ever tasted there.

Since mom was leaving, we drove straight to Landgraaf for chocolates from Ducharette - yeah, rough life I lead.

And then we needed to pick up Elise. So I'm driving onto the base and in front of the plane tail and the row of flags is a huge gathering of men in skirts. I drive by, run an errand, then drive back just as they have assembled and are marching toward me piping and drumming. The police van leading them waves me to pull off the road, so I jump out and take their picture. Drive towards Elise' school and see them again, so I pulled over again and both mom and I jumped out to take their pictures. Not to miss a moment, yes, a third time as we rounded the corner a couple minutes later, we saw them again and both jumped out to get more photos. By this time a couple of them were both giving my mother and I some very strange looks. Two crazy women with big cameras stalking the blue skirted pipers. I still have no idea why they were piping, but it was fun to hear and I had never seen the Scottish drummers spinning the fuzzy ended drum sticks before. It was neat.

So, hence the quote that started this. I finally did pick up Elise and she told us that the "drainpipers" came to her school and offered for them to play the drum, but she didn't.

The last half of our day wasn't exciting - unfortunately real life chores still must occur, so we fled to the commissary for a quick trip. The plus was the shot of the chapel that I got on the way back. I'd hoped to get it as I saw it from the road with the bright yellow raps field in the foreground, but the flowers are taller than me and I couldn't get a picture of the chapel behind the flowers.

A nice day today shopping with Mom and Elise at the Dutch RD4 shops - these amazing, smelly, dirty, junk shops that are full of random trash and a lot of treasures. Hooray for the Dutch and their love for all things IKEA. It serves me well when I can get a beautiful Royal Ascot bone china tea cup for 50 cents and true antiques for Goodwill prices. Today was for the little things... teacups and spoons - mostly. But found a couple nice chairs that will supplement my dining set nicely - so extra bottoms don't get stuck on the piano bench or some rickety folding thing. Your bottom will thank me if it comes to visit in Spain.

Drove back through Gangelt and had to catch this view - the village's skyline the church spire and old wall. The cows and the clouds. These are moments when I imagine the awe that some of the great painters must have felt sitting in a field gazing at this.

Found ourselves lunching in Immendorf at my weekend hang out for salami brötchen and a erdbeeren tortchen. Yum. Mom and I sat in the sun and relaxed while Elise played and talked to the turtle who she's named Monty.

...I'll never eat veal.

There is a wonderful little produce stand in my village in a barn on a farm where they raise lots and lots of cows. I've seen these tiny babies there before in previous spring times. I've thought how cute and sweet they were and chased away any questions.

But today 8 tiny baby cows filled the 7 igloo pens there. Two sharing one, but the rest all alone in its own igloo and it's own tiny fenced area. These were TINY cows. Sweet, gentle, nervous as Elise slowly reached out her hand to pet them. Some were shaking. Some tried to nibble her fingers as if looking for milk. Some still had their umbilical cords dried, but attached. And I had to ask aloud the question I'd thought before - the horrible question as to why, oh why they'd be here, isolated away from their mommies. So young. And I got the same answer from my mom and my husband who are far better and grasping reality. And it's not an answer that I like very much.

So though it's not something I would normally eat anyway... nor even have the chance to order on a menu, I think it's fairly safe to say that any chance of veal consumption is now over.

Dolmas are those delicious rice filled grape leaves that you find at Greek restaurants... or at least that's what I thought. And while I won't get in between a Green and a Turk in the origins of their foods (my Turkish friends all say that Baklava et. al. are Turkish foods first that the Greeks copied - either way, it's all delicious), the names do get a little confusing.

Today I went to Senay's house to learn to make Dolmas. No, not the filled grape leaves. I did roll a couple of those today, but those are Sarma - with a filling similar to Dolma, but without the meat. Easy to make... drop filling in the center of the leaf, fold in the sides, then roll tightly and steam. Dolma in Turkish is something different... a rice and meat stuffing in vegetables like zucchini. Tender, moist, full of flavor. I could eat these every day!

Coffee or tea? Not one to turn down coffee - any coffee - and excited to try what sounded both exciting and exotic - a cup of Turkish coffee, I opted for the former. Turkish coffee is different - really different. You measure 1 1/2 heaped teaspoons of finely ground Turkish coffee into a small cup of water. Add a teaspoon or so sugar to taste, and then cook and mix well. Double/triple... for more servings. That makes one. Pour into a tea cup and enjoy? Ahh. The enjoy part. Senay went light on the sugar, but for me, the coffee was still very sweet. But the first half of the cup at least had the consistency of other coffee. And then I reached the middle, where the liquid layer sat on top of a thick syrup-like sludge. Probably delicious for one used to that thick chewy consistency, but for me, I just couldn't take much more than a couple deliberate tries. I did notice that many coffee cups on the counter were half full. Thankfully, I also had the opportunity to try some Turkish tea - brewed in a double tea pot where the tea is made very strong on top with plain water boiling underneath. You pour the strong tea in first, then can pour in water to reach the preferred tea strength. Very clever. And this was yummy especially served in pretty Turkish tea glasses.

Senay took our conversational cooking group to a whole new level this morning with so many dishes already made for us to sample while we cooked. Sarma - the stuffed grape leaves, Kisir - a delicious Bulgar salad similar to tabbouleh, and Çemen - bread with a thick spiced tomato spread. All delicious, so we piled our plates, talked, and snuck back for seconds and thirds as the morning went on talking about foods and sniffing jars of spices to know what nane and kekik were (mint and thyme).

Wisdom abounds at these socials... we learned from Ilaria two Italian expressions. One translates to "In a small bottle, you find a good wine." Sounds nicer that our "one on the lips, forever on the hips" rhyme. Then we giggled over the Turkish words and learned that in Italy, "when someone talks not so clearly, we say they're speaking Turkish." The expression on Senay's face when she heard this was priceless. So nice we are all friends and can laugh at these things together.

Ok... so on to the recipe... or my chicken scratch notes as I watched Senay cook.

Wash and lightly peal 4 zucchini. Cut them into 2-3 pieces depending on the length of the zucchini - 3" pieces are good.

Core the pieces leaving 1/2" solid on the bottom so they can stand up like a cup. Set aside.

Mix 1 minced onion and 15 heaped T. rice pre-washed. Add about 4 t. mint, 1 t. black pepper, 2.5 t. dill, 1 t. thyme and 3 t. salt. Mix well. Add 2 T. tomato paste to the rice mixture, then mix in 1 cup ground meat (we used beef - they would also use lamb). Add 1/4 c. olive oil and 1/4 cup sunflower oil. Mix well.

Puncture the edge of each zucchini a couple times to vent. Fill the zucchini 3/4 full with the rice mixture. Stand in a pot (see photo).

Boil water separately. Pour the water into the empty mixture bowl to mix with the spices clinging to the boil. Pour over and into the tops of the zucchini. Sprinkle with a little salt. (The tops each had a little water in the tops and there was about 2" of water in the pot.)

Cover. Turn on high heat and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with plain yogurt mixed with some crushed fresh garlic.

If you are making Sarma with the grape leaves, then you either use fresh leaves, or you can buy the salt packed ones in the store. When using the store bought leaves, soak them over night in water, then boil them in water for 1-2 minutes before using. The Sarma filling is the same as the Dolma filling except without the meat.

Notes: The Bastard of Istanbul is a book the ladies were excited about written by a Turkish author, but translated into Italian. It is a book they were passing along to each other sharing. We also talked about names. Lara is a popular Italian name taken from Dr. Zivago - was popular in that time. And my friend, Rosella, was named after Scarlet O'Hara. Rosella being the Italian version of Scarlet.

Honestly, though it's only 10:30, I'm too tired to really think straight let alone be creative. Not necessarily physically tired, but mentally done with to-do lists and menial tasks, thinking, planning, wondering... the move that doesn't seem like it should be stressful, but some how, in the back of my mind is, and though my days don't seem harried, my mind is working overtime. Creativity is relegated to the duties of picking out children's school outfits and cell phone ring tones. Pretty sad.

That being said, thankfully, spring is not sharing my mental state. Even the dandelions are celebrating and I have to take some joy in them. The Germans don't seem forever bent on their demise and so along roadsides and in round a bouts, across fields and scattered throughout backyard lawns, the ever sturdy dandelion is splashing the countryside with fuzzy bright yellow. The bit of sun is helping too and the flowering trees rain pink petal confetti with a bit of a gentle breeze. It's nice.

Just three weeks ago it was winter... frosty grass in the mornings, rain, icy car windows, brrr. Then I spent a rainy week in Belgium, then a sunny week in Berlin... and now, I think (fingers crossed) that spring is here to stay for a while. I leave for London on Sunday, then Belgium on Wedesday, then France on Friday. Sounds like a crazy story book, but such is my life. After that it's packing cleaning, and purging. Only 69 days left until I hit the road for Spain.

Thankfully, it is officially spring and finally ice cream season. Our long winter was quick to go so within a crazy two week period we went from bitter cold frosty mornings to warm shorts and t-shirt weather that brought all the blooms to the roundabouts and opened the doors to all the ice cream shops. Cafes are now more outdoors than in with chairs spilling out into market squares more than doubling the sizes of the restaurants themselves. Bicycles are everywhere and happy people are sitting with ice cream or beer relaxing, smiling, and enjoying the season. It feels good to be outside.

Today we went to Sittard on some Easter Bunny errands, but took a moment to enjoy an ice cream from Die Twee. Smurfijs for the girls - they love that blue stuff. And though I've asked random ice cream servers for the last 3 years what flavor exactly is a Smurf, today I finally got the long elusive answer - Caramel! So now you know. According to Dutch and German ice cream makers, Smurfs definitely taste like overly sweet caramel - a flavor and a color that my girls absolutely love.

Enjoyed the city today. The market area was absolutely packed with folks relaxing in the sun at cafe tables. We wandered and took pictures and bought some good cheese so my visiting Uncle could try some and see a bit of The Netherlands. Felt good to wander and relax. A nice afternoon.

Played Easter Bunny tonight... everything is ready. Going to hide this letter now to save. Arianna wrote to the Easter Bunny. Our friends might not be able to join us tomorrow for dinner because one of the kids is sick... my girls are all very concerned and sad that their friends won't be able to be here. Here it is:

Today, in between packing, cleaning, laundry, and submitting the yearbook, I went to Aquana, an indoor water park with Kirk and the girls. I sat at a table with a book, relaxing, acting as a home base for everyone, and people watching with Tiara. We decided that men should definitely stick with the American style swim trunks and avoid the Speedo altogether. Some of the visuals were quite disturbing. We've also decided that Americans are not the only ones with a weight problem and that we're grateful that the obese in the US have the decency to wear one-piece bathing suits. Yes, it may be catty, but we were bored and fake tans and Speedos make easy targets for idle chat.

The kids had a blast and by the end, Luci was going down the big water slide all by herself and Elise had mastered the little one and even made a couple German friends. It's come to my attention this week that Elise has retained a lot more of her German than she's let on and she's using it quite a bit while out and about locally.

It was a nice diversion - a bit loud - but nice. I needed to escape the house. And, when I got home I was able to completely finish submitting the yearbook online along with the required paperwork so that I can finally say that it's completely done and there's no looking back. Now I'll have time to tackle a lot of these pre-moving projects and may be even catch up here a bit.

Well, the last couple weeks have been a rush of activity, much of it mundane and not even remotely blog worthy with the rather glaring exception of my weekend house-hunting trip to Valencia where I found my town, my neighborhood, the girls' school, and what may be my house. Yeah... probably have a bit to tell, but now, having returned, I feel as if I have one foot in Spain moving forward and another foot in Germany and quite frankly, doing the splits across Europe isn't very comfortable and I'm just a bit worn out from it all. That coupled with the fact that in a line of strategy that rivals most armies, the glorious German weather is on the March. We've suffered daily attacks of weather and I'm afraid we're wearing thin. You can see it each other's faces. Just today I was lured outside by an unnaturally intense beam of sunlight that illuminated everything outside in an orange glow with the malicious intent to attack and it did, viciously pelting me with hail as I ran to my car with hair and coat drenched with ice and a shiver as melted ice slipped down my back.

I would love to tell you with certainty that I will catch up on all this and cheerfully impart all this exciting news to you, but honestly, I fear that the "time to catch up" will not likely present itself until I'm sipping sangria aside a large aquamarine pool somewhere in the near vicinity of Valencia, Spain. But then, 3.5 months isn't long to wait, is it? I don't know if that's comforting or terrifying. May be both. So much to do. So little sangria.