Stuck in my head

"Melody Day" by Caribou. Can't get it out of my head. I woke up this morning at 6:30 fully expecting to be out of the house at 7:30 to catch my 9:05 flight. Either I'm dyslexic or I'm confusing it with the 11:05 flight...because it doesn't leave until 9:50. No worries, it gave me time to update my iPod and cram a bunch of activities into my backpack that I won't do. I used to take my briefcase but there isn't a lot of room for "in-flight entertainment." Isn't the iPod supposed to replace that? Instead, I bring two computers (work and my mac), iPod, Bose headphones, 2 books, 2 magazines (the hefty ones), etc.

I meet my boss this afternoon -- should be fun. I am excited and nervous all at the same time.

Tschüß!

Dia De Los Muertos Party

Just about to leave for our former neighbors' Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) party. This is their 2nd annual, I believe. It will be strange to see our former house across the street! Ryan has a migraine though and I'm not sure if he's coming with me. :( I hope he does...I leave tomorrow for Norfolk (only 1 night) and it's going to mean we don't have the day together. I also went to my first baby shower today -- it was actually a lot of fun. I got to decorate a onesy with puffy paint!

Halloween is only a few days away -- I am very excited! We'll be having "steak bites" which is a play on dracula...steak that you poke with a stake to eat. Har har!

Tschüß!

TGIF and Oktoberfest Stories

TGIF -- that's all I can say. Just downed the first Vodka Gimlet (my drink du jour) and looking forward to more.

Spent some time talking with Beth at work, who went nach Deutschland for Oktoberfest. Her brother moved there a while ago, married a German, and now is a musician in a small town. How cool! She told me of her trip to München with her dad, sitting in the Spaten, Franzischkaner, and many other brewery/braüerei tents...we then talked about the different foods. She said her sister-in-law made a Zweibelkuchen (Onion Cake) and it was amazing. I have the recipe and should try it! It was great to hear her reminisce.

I'm ready for the weekend -- we are going to watch "Notes on a Scandal" which I am super excited about. Cooking Bacon-wraped Turkey Breast Filets and Saffron Rice. I need to pull a veggie out of the freezer too... :)

Tschüß!!

Post-travel blues

It's been a long week -- 4 nights away and a total of 34 hours of training. Went from really sick, to losing my voice, to better. I'm mopey today which is kind of odd but I'm chalking it up to a confused and tired body. Even working on this week's food menu is a chore; and now I'm off to go shopping.

Deutsches Beefsteak is back on the menu for this week -- we received our shipment from Germandeli.com and we have some really cool stuff!

My grandma sent me some family history in the mail -- a genealogy sheet of my ancestor Daniel Shuster, my link to Germany... specifically Baden-Baden. So, I went searching and found some webcams at the Löwenbräu we ate at (and Ryan consequently smashed is finger at). I am up to a dozen webcams, showing instant pictures of our favorite places. I noticed that in Oberammergau it snowed!

Off to try and force a pleasant day upon myself. I'm sure I'll get back into it.

Tschüß!

On the road again...

In Norfolk for the umpteenth time this year -- the weather is absolutely beautiful, however, so I can't complain. Storms in Dallas made for small delays but I got here around 7 p.m. Doing an "advanced" training course for our help desk and very excited because it's a new curriculum. Should be a lot of fun (and a lot of "on my toes" action since it's brand new and I'm still studying to get ready for it).

Ryan and I got the iChat to work -- so we've been video-conferencing tonight. How cool is that?!

On the plane, I worked on my German. I have a "Learn German in 10 Minutes a Day" workbook and have been using it for over a year now. I'm still learning, slowly, but for some crazy reason I was picking up more than usual whilst listening to Clueso, my favorite German artist. It was so cool! However, I wished that I had a dictionary for some of the words I couldn't remember.

Anyway, time to get ready for sleep -- my cold is still pretty present so I have 2 liters of water to suck down before bed....

Tschüß!

Das Leben Der Anderen

With our new TV, also came a renewal with NetFlix! So, the first movie was Das Leben Der Anderen (The Lives of Others), one of the best German films I've seen. It won the Oscar last year for Foreign Film and is an amazing story of the GDR, their "informants," and the fall of the wall.

I so enjoy listening to the language and trying to get past using the subtitles. Hard for me, since my vocabulary is still schlecht (bad) and sometimes the words run so fast together it's hard to pick anything up. (Which is why we just need to live there and that'll solve the problem!)

I was going to make a casserole last night, but a tree branch was literally scraping paint off the side of the house so we ran to Home Depot, bought a extended saw and trimmed it. So, instead we had pizza.

Off to another wonderful Sunday in Austin!

Tschüß!

(footnote: I totally misspelled the movie title, but have fixed it now. Oops!)

Oktoberfests in Central Texas

Funny, I just attended my third Oktoberfest celebration...of course, in Central Texas they take it literally (it really happens at the end of September in preparation for October) so last week's festival in Fredericksberg was just the start!

Central Market, a local grocery chain, had "Oktoberwest" and I happen to shop there every Saturday...I've been eyeing the signs for weeks and today, solo, I went and had some Pork and Kraut, a draft Paulaner Oktoberfest and a draft Ayinger Oktoberfest (they also call it Märzen, because it's brewed in March and fermented until September for Oktoberfest). Ran into Julie, who was over for our dinner last Thursady, and had a nice chat. The second beer, the Ayinger, I took in the store with me and shopped. At first it felt a little strange, pushing my cart around through the vegetable aisle, list in one hand and beer in the other.

Then, I reminded myself that I'm in Texas...that was followed by several minutes of "OMG, I live in Texas..." a phenom that I've gone through many times during the past 3 1/2 years since we moved to Austin.

Anyway, the Oktoberwest was great -- had an Oompa band out front (not as good as the one from Fredericksberg, but I can't pas up waltzes and marches) -- and I have my eye on a couple others coming up throughout the month. Dare I say, Oktoberfest Slut? :)

Off without a hitch

Our Oktoberfest dinner with our monthly Mira Monte supper club went off perfectly! We had such a fun time and I think everyone else did as well. The fun part was everyone did their part to bring a "German" dish and by the end, some were surprised how GOOD german food really is -- no sauerkraut or bratwurst at this meal...nothing wrong with it but this isn't a festival or a picnic.


Das Menu:

• Wienerschnitzel: Homemade, of course. Made 8 of them and timed it well...I was worried that after making them, they would get soggy or the breading would fall off. But I put it in the oven at 200 afterwards and it really kept it warm and dry. Might have dried it out a bit but the Jägersoße (see below) helped.
  
• Käsespätzle: I made a double-batch and had to do it in 4 sets...making Spätzle isn't easy! But it was worth it...they looked authentic, and broiled with Butterkäse and Butter made it sehr, sehr gut.
  
• Jägersoße: Totally used a packet from germandeli.com and it was AWESOME. Everyone could not believe it was from a packet...I will so be buying more of this.
  

Others brought...

• Bretzen: Pretzels...Whole Foods makes some fancy pretzels! Rosemary, parmesan, etc.
  
• Gherkinsalat: Spencer, who told great stories about how his dad's family would run around their Georgia backyard in lederhosen, made two types...American and Deutsch. The former had red onions and white vinegar. The latter was more creamy. Both were amazing.
  
• Kartoffelnkuchen: Julie did a great twist on these, using butternut squash and garlic in the batter -- they were fantastic!
  
• Deutscheßhokoladenkuchen: Totally made that word up -- German Chocolate Cake, a decidedly American dish, that was sooo awesome. Yum!
  

With that large of a party under our belt, I suppose we are ready for more. Sadly, our dishwasher gave out (a short maybe?) the day before so we had a lot of dishes to manually wash. But, it gave us time to talk about dinner and relax. Isaac was a GEM. He knows everyone, but usually only sees them on a one-on-one basis. He chatted a bit, even sat on Dennis' shoulder!



Tschüß!

German Oktoberfest Dinner Tomorrow!

Tomorrow we are hosting our first Oktoberfest celebration at our house and our first large dinner party! The "Mira Monte Originals," our monthly dinner group, are coming over.

OK, I am not smiling because I am a bit nervous -- so much to do, like cleaning, shopping, cleaning, figuring where everyone is going to sit (9 people total!), compiling all of my German music, getting our treat bags ready, and and and...

How neurotic of me -- I suppose eventually this will be a non-issue, easy process to put on these sorts of shows. We had a run-through dinner party with our friends Suzanne and Gary last week -- it was a great success! But prepping for 9 is much different than prepping for 4.

My part of the menu: Weinerschnitzel and Kaesespaetzle. Should be a snap, right?

Tschüß!

Oktoberfest Video #2

Here is the Liechtenstein Polka, which I talk about below.....I love this song!

Oktoberfest Video #1

Hahaa....here is Scott and Steph dancing to the "Chicken Dance." 

They are in the middle circle...Scott is in green, Steph is to the right.

I heart Oktoberfest!

&otI just remarked to Ryan..."I am so happy...today was everything that I hoped it would be!" OK, I know that sounds cheesy, but I had a lot riding on today's event. We were in Germany a year ago and...and...ahhh Oktoberfest in Texas? Hm.

In truth, it was absolutely a blast. Most of it had to do with who we went with -- Ryan, of course, and then his co-worker Kris and her friend Steph. They were fun to be with and completely caught the spirit of Oktoberfest. We ate a ton -- Bretzen, Sausage, Potato Pancakes, Sauerkraut, Struedel, Frybread. And drank a TON of fantastic, draft German beer. (Thank goodness someone else drove!)

We got there a little after noon and left at about 5:30 -- most of the time we sat in the big beer hall and listened to a fantastic Oompa band called "The Swingin' Dutchmen." I heard a lot of songs I knew, including "The Liechenstein Polka" which was a popular American-type Polka in the 50s...but I remember playing it at Grandma and Grandpa Van Horn's house. They had this old CD of different polkas and this was our favorite.

I went up to the bandleader's wife and asked for it and she said many others had...and later they announced they would play it, to great applause from our table. The bandleader picked up on that and pointed to us as if we would come up and sing it with him...we declined, of course, since none of us truly know the words, but we bounced around, clapped, and had a fantastic time.

One of the best parts was the German beer...they had a whole tent dedicated to it and we did our job trying them all out. Ahhhhh it was good!

After a long day, we came back to Austin, went to Molotov and had Frank & Angie's pizza while watching some reality TV on the bar TV. A fantastic day!!

Click on the below picture to see the photo album!

2007-10: Oktoberfest

Tschüß!

Oktoberfest!

As Oktoberfest in Deustchland winds down today, we'll be off to a local Oktoberfest in Fredericksburg, Texas. They have held it for many, many years and I am looking forward to two things: bier and food! Hopefully there will be an oompa band or two!

There is another fest during the first week of November called Wurstfest in New Braunfels; I hope to go to that too.

Tschüß!

One Year Ago...

We left for Germany one year ago...I am so reminiscent. Ahhh, we will be back soon I promise!

Tschüß!