My Life's Ingredients

This video has been a tradition in Germany for New Year’s Eve since I can remember, but I’ve not been watching it regularly since I moved to the UK (and I’m not able to find the videotape with it my mum sent me years ago). Thank goodness for the Internet, mmmh?? We’re going to have a quiet evening again this year, first have 2 friends over for Raclette (again, a tradition on my side of the family really) and once they’ve gone home or decided to stay over night we’re going to watch a bit TV or whatever we may have recorded or DVD (TV is going to be abysmal from what I can see!!) and then go to bed early-ish. Haven’t had a big New Year in YEAAARRS, think we’re getting old!! Oh – going through Wikipedia DH found also a Lego version of “Dinner for One”. Which traditions do you have? Have a great evening/night and all the best for 2012!!!

If there's nothing else you're doing today, or if you're celebrating Christmas Eve and you have a bit of time, go here - we've been tracking Santa for years now and cannot wait for the girls to take part next year (currently totally oblivious to the whole thing!). Track Santa with NORAD

What easier to go for in December than Christmas baking! So after a lot of Christmas Markets in my November 10 things , my 10 things for December are my favourite baked goods during Advent/Christmas time (not necessarily all made by me or at least not yet): (photos for first 3 items are mine, the rest is courtesy of Google) “Stollen” (usually just the buttery type with candied fruit and raisins, but also like the Nougat type or Poppy seed one – just NO MARZIPAN one please – can’t stand the taste of it!!) – best with some squishy cream and a cuppa hot chocolate or tea! “Vanillekipferl” (vanilla crescents – tried my best in this country to get my granny’s recipe going, but somehow they don’t rise properly and go all flat – would have thought I’d have figured out why after 13 years!) (2008 batch) (2009 batch) And the 2010 batch looked again like the one from 2008!!! I wonder if it’s the butter … or flour…   “Husare...

Yup – similar to last year me thinks – not really very Christmassy around here yet, no deco apart from the Advent wreath with the candles, the Advent Calendar Candle and the door wreath. Everything else is still in the loft. Not sure why, apart from having 18 weeks old twins (and last year was pregnant with said twins). Baked a stollen, so that’s a step forward, but somehow I don’t feel very Christmassy, and DH’s scroogey behaviour doesn’t help much (neither does his being made redundant middle of November). And with all that, OF COURSE I’m behind with Shimelle’s JYC . Had hoped to do an album (even prepared some pages at the November Crop), then got realistic and said I’d at least do the daily blogging, but even that didn’t happen. Haven’t done ONE SINGLE ENTRY – be it on here or on paper!!! Nothing! Nix! Nada! Tomorrow is Day 4 of JYC… Hope this will change soon – can’t believe tomorrow is already the 2nd Advent!

1. One of my favorite things about December is Christmas. 2. I love German Glass ornament(s)! 3. This is what I'm hoping for today/tonight: well behaved twins who sleep longer than 6am . 4. Why does the weather make such a noise? 5. Ooh, a stollen is what I baked this evening! . 6. My ears are ringing – from the cold? ! 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to an earlier night than yesterday , tomorrow my plans include decluttering and Sunday, I want to catch up with the JYC !

  That’s for my American Friends…   We’ve opened our house to friends again who like American Football – this time the 2nd game is quite interesting, Miami Dolphins vs Dallas Cowboys (DH’s team vs one of our best friends’ team), so it will be fun. We’ve cooked pies (2 Sweet potato pies – done by me - & DH’s Key Lime Pie) and DH is still going to make some Philly Cheese Steak Ciabattas and are expecting a total of 5 friends (one had to cancel). Think with the twins we will have more and more “events” at our place, and I quite like it that way. And here are some photos of my Sweet Potato Pies (first attempt ever to make them – the pie shells are shop bought though). WHOAAAAH! I really have to check out my mobile phone camera! That’s just ridiculous! They are a nice orangey colour!!! And that’s the before btw. And here’s the AFTER picture – you still can make out the NFL on the left pie, the marshmallows didn’t melt, just brown … can’t wait to have a slice!!...

Geesh – is it really the 10th already???? Let’s see what I manage this time… Decided on the Markets/fun fairs etc in Germany I’ve visited often while still living there – either just for fun or working (all linked to Kriftel as member of the Kriftel Red Cross Group). All photos bar the Hofheimer Wochenmarkt one are stock photos from the Internet. Christmas Market Frankfurt Christmas Market Hofheim (stalls manned by members of sports clubs, Red Cross etc selling stuff for their organisations) Krifteler Red Cross Christmas Market (Small Christmas Market at the Sports hall Kriftel with the Red Cross selling food, handmade things and holding a Raffle, plus having Santa coming around – worked in stalls myself for several years) Christmas Market Rothenburg (beautiful Christmas market set within the city walls of Rothenburg) Hofheimer Wochenmarkt (Farmers Market) Hoechster Wochenmarkt (Farmers Market) ...

I just love it, and this year we had even more kids around than usual. Glad to see so many younger kids with their parents, and Doug can’t wait for the girls to be old enough to go “guising” = kids have to do something to earn their sweets – a joke/dance or similar – Doug prefers this to standard “Trick or treat”, and the amount of kids asking right out for money was next to nothing this year I think. Have been sewing the twins’ costumes, didn’t give myself enough time to do it properly, and it’s been a while since I touched my sewing machine, so the outfits are a bit of a dog’s dinner. Suppose, they look ok as long as you don’t turn over the girls (I can’t measure correctly either, apparently – didn’t allow enough fabric for the “skirts”). So … here they are in their secret identities!! Kara on the right, Megan on the left. And yes … their parents are total geeks. And now the usual Halloween addendum: “Hallo Ian”–still funny as!! :D Looking forward to lots of years of the ...

Ok, seems I’m doing this every other month maybe. I was thinking a lot about things I did in my kiddyhood and teens that my girls won’t be able to do (for whatever reason). See a movie at a drive-in cinema (the one I’d been to was closed and is now derelict since about middle of the 90’s I think) Camping with friends on a patch of land in the cul-de-sac (now it’s all in back gardens only) Go for a midnight walk in the woods during aforementioned camping (parents wouldn’t allow camping outwith house boundaries nowadays – lots of scare about abduction etc) Go for midnight swimming during aforementioned midnight walk (doubt there are any pools available and it’s too much scare for kids to do this now) Get fresh water for your tea in a well in the hills (not sure if the one in my area in Germany still exists, but don’t know of any around here really) Regular street parties with neighbours (does anyone do that around here? We had that regularly, and it was absolut...

Specially for my friend Jan who asked for the translation. Thousand Years are One Day - Udo Juergens “Do you know how many stars there are? And where the rivers flow to? Say, why does rain fall? Where’s the end of this world? What was here a thousand years ago? Why do wheels work? Are clouds faster than the wind? A child has so many questions… Child, forget the questions, You’re still to small for that, You’re not yet ready for that, That can still wait.. Refrain: What is time? – What is time? – What is time? A moment An hour Thousand years are one day! (that’s the part they used for the German version of “Once upon time – man”. I didn’t even know the rest of the lyrics until I googled them for my blog post !! And that’s why I stop the translation here – sorry, Jan! Just not used to the rest of the song so not that easy for me to translate. And if anyone knows a better translation or wants to translate the rest of the song ...

although this year it’s only the NFL kind. I’ll miss being with “my lads” from the Stirling Clansmen, they had their Returners Training Camp last weekend, usually the first opportunity for me to take photos. On nice days we may take the girls in the “tumbler” up to Stirling next Spring if it’s not too windy. So – it’s back to NFL via Fox Sports Fantasy Football courtesy of Johnny’s league – and the “DC Girls” (that’ll be my team this year!) has already got one W(in) in the column. :) This means reading some blogs about player news etc, my 2 main “go to” guys on the Net are Michael Fabiano of NFL Fantasy Blogs and Gregg Easterbrook’s TMQ on ESPN. Reading in between feeds when I have time. Have to point out that my draft picks were mostly due to help from our friend Scott who was here during "draft evening" and gave hints and tips to both Doug (he's in my division with his own team, the "Wonder Twins". So - if anything is going wrong, Scott's getting the...

(photo-heavy, and emotional contents) With all the programs on the TV I was thinking back about that fateful day of 11 September 2001. I’m sure it’s one of those days you will always remember where you’ve been when you heard the news. (photo taken from Orlando News Centre) The day was only 4 days after our wedding, and we were looking forward to our honeymoon starting on the 20th – in the USA. I was at work when I heard the news, some of my colleagues had internet access and had checked the news and then passed the info on – a plane  (American Airlines Flight 11) flew into 1 WTC (World Trade Centre North Tower) at 8:46am local time (12:46pm UK time). We were all shocked about this “accident” and worried for the people in the tower. When I saw the news of the second plane at 1:03pm UK time (9:03am local time) into the South Tower (2 WTC, United Airlines Flight 175) I thought it was a repeat, couldn’t be happening. At that point I started worrying about my friend Susan ...