Starting new traditions

Due to work obligations/housing situation Nathan and I decided to stay here for Christmas and not travel back to the states to see our family. Since we are not with our family, whom we miss very dearly, we have decided that we are going to try and start some of our Christmas traditions. During my last German cooking class we talked about some of the German Christmas traditions, so this holiday season we are trying some of them out. In Germany Christmas Eve is spent with your family that you live with, no extended family. The day is started by making potato salad (recipe to follow), then time is spent playing games or watching movies with the family. Mid-afternoon the potato salad is served with the amazing, fresh German weiners. After this the presents just from the immediate family are open, then the family will head to church, and finally after church some dessert before going to bed. Christmas day is spent with godparents and grandparents. The day after Christmas is the day to be spent with the larger extended family including aunts, uncles and cousins. So today, Christmas Eve, we made our potato salad, some fresh bread and are getting ready for our weiners. While we cannot spend tomorrow with our families we will be calling them and treasuring the sound of their voices.
German potato salad:
3-4 lbs. yukon gold potatoes peeled, boiled & diced into bite size pieces, let cool until room temperature. While the potatoes cool, mix 16 ounces sour cream with salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Dice 10-15 cherry tomatoes, 4 stalks of green onion (are they called stalks?), and 1 small yellow onion. Mix veggies in with sour cream. Add 1 1/2 cups bacon bits to sour cream mixture, add potatoes to mixture. Let chill in fridge until ready to serve.
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Baking

Nathan and I have an amazing neighbor who lives upstairs. He maintains the outside of our building, he took care of Ellie for us when we had to go home for my mom's funeral, he cooked the most amazing meal for us not too long ago, his dog is Ellie's best friend, etc. Nathan and I wanted to get him something for Christmas, but we were unsure of what. So I decided to bake for him and his dog, Alf. For Patrick I made a bananas foster tart. For Alf I made some homemade dog treats. I made an additional batch for Ellie that afternoon, she loves them. I know many of you have dogs so I thought I would share this easy recipe for dog treats.
Ellie's Favorite Treats
1 cup uncooked oatmeal
1/2 cup margarine or butter
3 teaspoons bouillon granules, flavor is your choice
1 1/2 cups hot water
3/4 cup powdered milk
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 egg, beaten
 3 cups whole wheat flour
1. In large bowl pour hot water over oatmeal, margarine and bouillon granules; let stand 5 minutes.
2. Stir in powdered milk, cornmeal and egg. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.
3. Knead 3-4 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to make a very stiff dough. Pat or roll dough to approx. 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 1"x1" sqaures or use cookie cutter of choice. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes. Allow to cool and dry out until hard. Makes approximately 1 3/4 pounds.
Hope all of your dogs enjoy!

Christmas letter

To say that we have been busy and didn't plan ahead in sending a Christmas card would be the statement that sums today's blog. While I had the best of intentions, before I knew it, the day to make sure mail was sent out in time to make it to the states came and went. So while I did not get a Christmas card out, I am going to write today what I would have otherwise written. Sorry it is so long, we have been busy this year. So here it goes:
Dear Family and Friends,
When thinking of what the last year has meant for us we come up with two words: change and movement.
In February we headed to San Diego for a little relaxation and warm weather.

In March Nathan received his orders, finally, saying that in one week he would be leaving for Missouri for 4 months and after that he was heading for Germany. This left us with a lot of decisions to make in a very short period of time. We decided that we wanted to move together so we headed for the DMV and were legally married in the state of Colorado. We have still not had our ceremony, we are planning it for August 2011, we are just hoping that orders turn out the way they are supposed to or we might be changing it.
In May I made my way down to Socorro, New Mexico to see my brother graduate with his bachelor's degree in physics from New Mexico Tech! I was so proud and happy to be able to watch him receive his diploma on his birthday (did I mention that his professor even wrapped his diploma in birthday paper)! He now studies lighting while working on his Master's at New Mexico Tech. I made my first trip to Missouri to visit Nathan over Memorial day, the 4 months apart was good practice for when Nathan deploys soon.

In June/July I made a trip up to Minnesota and Wisconsin to see my college friends again before we moved. I hadn't seen them since the year before and it was good to reconnect. As I said my good-byes to them I realized that these were the first of many good-byes to come. When my week in Minnesota came to an end I headed for North Dakota where we celebrated Grandma Ferne's (Nathan's Grandmother) 90th birthday! I met most of Nathan's extended family on his dad's side at the birthday celebration.  I made my way back out to Missouri just 10 days later to see Nathan graduate, was proud of my new US Army Engineer!
In the beginning of August we made our great move to Baumholder, Germany. We had been here in Germany less than 2 weeks when my mom sadly passed away and we found ourselves returning to the states to say our good-byes at her funeral. We were devastated to say good-bye but knew that she was in a better place without the pain. We were also grateful for the time that we did have with her, she was able to see both Jake, Nathan, and I graduate from college, Jake's exciting new research, Nathan and I starting our lives together. I think she knew that we were all finding our way on this road called life and knew that she didn't need to suffer any longer.
In September we made our way to Rudesheim, a city on the Rhine river that is proud of the wine that it produces (it was very tasty). A couple of weeks later we headed for Cologne and enjoyed the incredible cathedral and gorgeous city. We made our way to a wine fest in Bad Durkheim. It was not a wine tasting as we thought it would be, it was more of a get drunk on wine event, they served the wine in big beer glasses. At the end of the month we made our way to the pumpkin festival, we found pumpkins that were big enough to hold me.
In October Nathan was gone training so I didn't do a lot of traveling. Instead, I started taking German cooking classes, classes on being an Army wife, started leading 2 Girl Scout troops and started unpacking all of our stuff.
In November we were busy we started out by spending a weekend in Luxembourg, one of our favorite countries and cities so far. The next weekend we went to Mainz for the beginning of Fasching (see my previous posts for an explanation) and then to Paris that same weekend. We loved Paris, a definite return trip is in order for us. For Thanksgiving we went to Porto, Portugal. We enjoyed the city, the tours on the river, and the tasting of the Port wine.

In December we have busied ourselves with Christmas markets. We have seen lots of snow come our way the last couple of weeks, they closed the airport and violence erupted between passengers making the international news. We have been on a hunt for a new house the last couple of weeks and we are happy to say that as of yesterday morning we have found a new place and will be moving in Feb. 1, more details to come later.
2010 has been busy for us:
Trips across the Atlantic: 3; states we have been in: 10 (we had some road trips back and forth to places); countries we have been in: 5; graduations: 2;  memories made together and with friends and family: countless.
We hope you all have a beautiful and wonderful Christmas and may God bless 2011 for you.
~Katie & Nathan

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

I used to dream of a white Christmas every year in Colorado. It's not that they never happened you just never knew if it would snow around Christmas, and if it did would the snow stay around long enough for Christmas. There is no doubt in my mind though that this year it will be a white Christmas for us. About a week ago we had a blizzard leaving us with about 6 inches of snow (we already had a couple before that even), then Thursday night we gained a couple more inches, and finally last night and today we gained about 6-8 more inches. The dog has fun playing in the snow (check some of her photos and videos on my previous posts). She spent a long time this morning playing with our upstairs neighbor's dog. Running around and chasing each seems to be funner than ever in the snow. We have enjoyed the snow, our one complaint is that it is slowing down our housing search and which in turns slows down our progress to see as many Christmas markets as possible. I do, however, enjoy being cuddled up on the couch watching a movie with a hot cup of tea or hot chocolate. Now that I know that we will have a white Christmas I will be dreaming that all of our family and friends find that they too will have a beautiful, white Christmas.

Winter Wonderland

These photos were taken between our house and the gate for post, about 1/2 mile from our house!

Videos

Videos of the dog playing in the snow, the first is from a couple of weeks ago, the second when she loses her ball is from today.

Pics

Here are the pictures of the onion cakes that I promised.

What we've been up to

It is amazing how time flies, can you believe that it has been 4 months since we moved to Germany? I finished my level 1 German class this week, and I am now eligible to take the level 2 class. I cannot believe that it has been 4 months since I quit my job, I have interviewed for a very promising job here (fingers crossed I get it). We moved out of my house and Nathan's parents' house in Colorado Springs only 4 months ago, moved into our apartment here and now we are looking for a different house here. We had a small electrical fire a few weeks ago, followed by other electrical issues which has led us on our current search for a new house. We have gone from a dog who had no concept of stay to a dog who just last night laid down on the floor and patiently waited for her food and Nathan to let her know that it was ok to go up to her food; we still have a little more work to do on the leash but we are getting there.

The last few weeks we have filled our time by fulfilling various social obligations including the 40th ENG BN masquerade social 2 weeks ago. We have been to countless holiday parties, potlucks, end of the year gatherings, etc.

I have cooked enough in the last month to feed the entire Army and possibly some of the Air Force (jk, but seriously for the 502nd company party I cooked a ham, 2 huge casserole dishes of stuffing, a cheesecake, 2 cheese & cracker platters, homemade hot apple cider and 2 different punches, and that was only one of the events we have been to that I had to cook for). Since we got back for Portugal we have tried to go to as many Christmas markets as possible. Each town seems to have one, whether it is only a few vendors and lasts only a day or several hundred vendors and lasting the entire season of advent. The markets are all outdoor, you can find a wide variety of food, baked goods to take home, crafts, imports, etc. So far we have been to the markets in Trier, Heidelberg, St. Wendel, here in Baumholder, Saarbrucken and Spandahlem. We have plans for more, hopefully we can fit them in with our housing search.

 

Onion cakes

In my German cooking class we recently made a local favorite for late fall. The literal translation of the name of the dish is onion cake, it is not a cake. It has a crust and then is onions and egg baked on top, then topped with cheese. I made it the other night for Nathan and he loved it.
1. Slice 5-6 onions, saute with either butter or oil.
2. In a sauce pan head 1/2 cup milk and 1/3 cup butter to 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit. Add one packet of yeast to the milk. Then add this mixture to the milk mixture to 1 1/4 cups flour in a large bowl. Add 1 tsp salt. Let flour mixture set for 15 minutes in a warm area.
3. Add 1 - 1.5 cups of diced ham or bacon, I did a mix the other day, to the onions. Continue to saute until onions are very soft but not yet turning brown.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line pan with wax paper, I use my German cookie sheet which is the size of a small US cookie sheet but it is about 1 1/2" deep. You need a pan that is at least 1" deep.
5. Roll dough out into bottom of cookie sheet.
6. In a large bowl add 8 ounces of sour cream and 4 eggs to onion mixture. Add 1.5 cups of mozzarella cheese to onion mix. Pour this onto the dough.
7. Top with 2.5 cups mozzarella cheese. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until egg is completely firm.

I have pictures of what I made the other night but the site is not letting me upload pictures at this time, I will try later.

 Guten Apetit!

Army families

I was just as guilty as any other non-military family until I moved here with Nathan, but it is unbelievable how many military families live under the poverty level and are continually stressed about the necessities of life. I am saddened how many families cannot afford groceries, essentially living off of WIC and food stamps, how many enlisted hold several part time jobs to make ends meet, etc. It also makes me mad how many military wives are denied jobs because employers know that they will be moving on within a couple of years, or if wives do find jobs chances are they will not get the same pay as their civilian counter parts. Yes, the military does come with its benefits such as free health care, chances to move all over the world, etc. However, the pay that the enlisted are paid, which makes majority of the Army, does not cover the necessities of life. Which brings me to my new point of I cannot believe the very notion of stopping military pay increases. These are the men who deploy for a year at a time so that the rest of the nation can be free, the men who die fighting for our country, and the women who try to hold their households together while their husbands are deployed. Michelle Obama recently gave a great speech about military families and I invite all to watch her speech, even if you are not an Obama fan please watch. Copy and paste the following into your browser-
http://www.livestream.com/twc2010/video?clipId=flv_b988639c-f1af-46fa-9a6f-b110230f3284
I consider myself blessed to be the wife of an officer in the Army. I am proud of my husband and everything he does. I know most if not all Army wives feel the same. We are all proud of our men, no matter what we have to put up with.

Port wine

More Porto photos

Thanksgiving

Due to having a couple of extra days off during the Thanksgiving weekend we decided to take a trip to Porto, Portugal. When we left Germany it was snowing, then when we landed in Porto it was about 60 and sunny! Our first day in Porto we explored the old part of the city and then took a river cruise. We then enjoyed a typical Portuguese dinner of lamb and fish. Our second day we took a tour around the city and then headed to start enjoying what Porto is really known for, port wine. We visited a couple of cellars, explored the caves that the big oak barrels are kept in, and then tried some wine. The grapes for the port wine are grown about 100 kilometers up river from Porto. There is a set of mountains that create a barrier for the grapes from the winds off the Atlantic. These mountains help create the perfect climate for the port wine grapes of dry summers and harsh winters. This specific climate creates a very thick skinned grape that makes perfect port wine. The grapes are then hand gathered, put in huge vats and crushed by people stomping on them. The juice is then put in large oak barrels, after three days brandy is added to the wine to stop the fermentation and create a sweet wine. It then continues to sit in barrels aging for 2 years, at this time the master of the wines tries the wines. If the master states that the wine is a vintage classic then the wine is bottled and continues to age in the bottles. Port wine is the only wine that continues to get better with age. When you open a well aged port wine you have to decanter the wine to get the particles out and let it breathe about 45 minutes, also as soon as it is open it needs to be consumed within 2 days so that it does not oxidize too much. If the wine is not considered a vintage classic it may be put into a large oak barrel to age up to 10 years more or it is kept in smaller barrels where as it ages it becomes a lighter or white wine as it oxidizes. Our last day in Porto we checked out the hall of music and then headed for home, where there was even more snow. We loved Porto, we cannot wait for our next trip.

You know you're an Army wife when...

I know that I am still new to the military but I have started a list of things that make me realize just how different military life is. So here is my list, I will add to it as I come up with stuff:
You know you're a Army wife when:

1. You stub toe on your husband’s Kevlar vest and boots on a regular basis and it no longer bothers you

2. Driving on post and your husband yells “soldier”, and you realize that a soldier is crossing the road. Reminds me of somebody yelling “deer” while driving.

3. You are constantly doing laundry and setting up uniforms

4. You are no longer referred to by your first name, you are now Schill’s wife, Robinson’s wife, etc.

5. When the sight of uniforms, sounds of tanks, trucks and choppers, and artillery in the distance are the soundtrack to your life

6. It no longer shocks you to be called ma’am

7. When your life revolves around PT and final formation

8. You have more camo in your house than any other gear or clothes

9. You use hooah appropriately and on a regular basis

10. You don’t have to stop and think what time 2130 is but you may have to stop and convert 9:30 PM to military time

11. When you’re already planning a better way to pack for the next move, and you’ve just barely arrived at your post

12. You can recite the Soldier’s Creed

13. You know your husband’s social security number better than yours

14. Your address contains all letters and numbers and no actual names, i.e. CMR, APO, AE

15. You know what AER, ACS, PCS, LES, ACU, TDY, etc. mean

16. When talking to other wives you use more acronyms than you do words

17. Your husband’s work and dress clothes cost more than any of yours do, including your ball gowns

18. You have been at your new post for 4 months and you are one of the old kids on the block

19. It doesn’t bother you when asked what your husband does you refer to his MOS and then asked where he works you refer to his company; for example 21A (and you don’t say A you have to use the phonetic alphabet and say alpha) in the 502^nd

20. You cannot do anything on your own without a power of attorney

21. You have jewelry that represents your husband’s branch or unit

22. The sight of the flag and the sound of any patriotic song make you very emotional and proud

Paris pics 2

Paris pics

Have some catching up to do!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted, I guess I have just been very busy. Oops! Since my last blog we have been to Mainz for the beginning of the Fasching season and the announcement of the theme for this year. We have also taken a day trip to Paris.
I will begin by talking about Mainz and the Fasching festival. On November 11 at 11:11 AM each year the mayor comes out and announces the theme for the carnivals and parades for each year's fasching season. Most festivals don't start until the beginning of January and last through Easter, with most of the festivities starting the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and lasting til Easter. We made it up to Mainz in time for this years announcement, which is music. I am thinking along the lines of musicals, etc. Not entirely sure. We decided to go to Mainz for the announcement because it is considered one of the three powerhouses for Fasching festivals, the others being Cologne and Dusseldorf. Fasching is said to have started from one of two ideas: the first being that the King used to give the people one day to say whatever and bash the government leading to the idea during Fasching of whatever you do goes. The other idea of origin comes from the time that farm workers would go from house to house collecting different food items for festivities while wearing masks and making lots of noise. Personally I think its a mix of both. Fasching is often referred to as the fifth season here and there is still an idea of whatever you do or say goes. Another aspect of Fasching though is all of the carnivals, balls, music, etc. that occurs. I am not exactly sure how to explain it but maybe a mix of Halloween and Mardi Gras. I look forward to seeing the festivities and parades to follow.
The surprise trip that I planned for Nathan was a day trip to Paris, which by the way he figured out about a week before the trip. We left Baumholder around 2 AM and arrived under the Eiffel Tower about 9 AM. We had to stop for about an hour to let the bus driver rest, plus there was some traffic coming into the city. We arrived just in time for most of the museums, shops, etc. to open. We did arrive in style, some of the friends we went with provided the group of us mimosas on the bus as we were driving into Paris. We immediately started to walk along the river to the Louvre after taking some pictures of the tower. Spent the morning looking at all of the art, yes we did get to see the Mona Lisa. There is no way we could have seen everything that the Louvre had to offer even if we spent a whole weekend there. It was far larger than either of us had ever imagined. We then walked towards a eating/shopping district more for locals than for tourists, but we had some of the best food there! We ate with a group of people so plenty of dishes were sampled including various types of fish, duck, various cuts and cooking methods for beef and some amazing produce. I tried the duck and loved it, when we go back (which we will be going back) I am going to get the duck. In the afternoon we took the subway to the Notre Dame cathedral that everybody thinks of when they think of Notre Dame. It was simply gorgeous! We then had some crepes and headed back towards the Eiffel Tower on the subway. We were able to see the tower all lit up and then we headed back for home. We arrived back here in Baumholder shortly before 2 AM.
We are getting excited for our upcoming trip to Portugal for Thanksgiving. We hope all of our family and friends a safe and happy Thanksgiving! We love you all.