You can take the girl out of the US...

I woke up this morning with a long list of things I need to do today. The last couple of days were mostly spent getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner (grocery shopping can be complicated when everything happens on foot, and you need to go to four different places for all the things you need) and so I pushed off a lot of things I would normally take care of during the week.

But then I woke up this morning and realized, it's the day after Thanksgiving. Who am I kidding? There's only one thing I wanna be doing today.

Shopping.

So that's it for me. Leftover pie for breakfast, then out to the stores (in the rain, natch, because this is Munich). Catch you later.

Happy Thanksgiving from Munich!

Plans are proceeding apace for a nice Thanksgiving dinner tonight. I am about to get the hens ready for the oven.

This morning I made the pie and it looks as though it turned out great. I will try to post a picture later. In the meantime, here's the recipe, courtesy of Southern Living magazine.

Lemon Chess Pie

2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 unbaked pie crust

Combine sugar, flour, cornmeal, and salt. Add butter, lemon rind, lemon juice, and milk; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with a wire whisk after each addition. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 350 deg F for 50 minutes.

Have a great day!

Holiday Preparations

My apartment smells like chicken soup. I am making some broth to use in the dressing and gravy tomorrow, so I have a pot of chicken legs and thighs on the stove, with veggies and such. It smells delicious. My menu for tomorrow:

2 Bavarian hens (Hendls) with gravy
cornbread dressing
green beans
rolls
Preiselbeeren (in place of cranberries)
lemon chess pie

A nice little dinner for just the two of us. Marty will be working, but should be home at a reasonable hour, since all the people in Connecticut who normally keep him at work late (yes, here in Munich) will have the day off. I'm looking forward to it.

And speaking of preparations, I realized I need to start getting ready for going home. I fly two weeks from tomorrow, on December 12. It's sneaking up very quickly! I have a lot to do before I can leave!

I got some new music this week: the soundtrack to the new Harry Potter movie, and Craig David's "Slicker than Your Average." I'm enjoying both of them. Mr. 2-Step (Craig David) has an interesting duet with Sting on his CD. I heard the disc in a store last week and really liked it. It hasn't disappointed.

I liked this Harry Potter movie a lot better than the first one. I don't know why, although I have my suspicions. My opinion: the actors are older, the music fits better, there's not so much anvil-like exposition, and it's faster-paced. I saw it for the second time on Monday (discount day at the theater) and was very favorably impressed. I'm glad it turned out so well.

And if anyone knows where I can get a copy of this poster, I'd love to know. Really. I'd love to know.

Edited to add: Okay, one that's not going for $81 over on eBay would be preferable...

And edited again to say: Make that over $200 on eBay. My god! Are they crazy?!

Haaa! Someone got to Raspberry World searching for Chia pet porn!

Actually, speaking of porn, I deleted my Raspberry World guestbooks this weekend. I was just getting way too many fake signatures from German porn sites posing as insurance companies. Yeah, I know that sounds really weird, but that's what was happening. I was getting pretty sick of having to delete three of those things a week.

So if you were hoping to sign my guestbook, I'm sorry! But you can still write me, or leave a comment by clicking on the comment link, below. I'm always happy to hear from readers.

Back in Business!

Thank you to all who wrote with suggestions for fixing the camera problem, and extra-special thanks to Maria, who told me exactly how to fix it. I really appreciate all the help, y'all! I finally had to uninstall my printer, PDA, and camera, then reinstall them in the right order. Things seem to be working now, and the XP camera driver reasserted itself. The upshot: I now have 75 pictures to process from the last week or so. Stay tuned, I will try to get to them in the next few days.

Above is Marty's Sacher Torte birthday cake from Cafe Münchner Freiheit. "Alles Gute Zum Geburtstag, Martin!" Yum!

Today we met a family with two daughters who will be helping us out with Ziggy while we're away at Christmas. Yay! These girls (age 13 and 8) were born in Germany but their parents are American (Maria, the man was part of that Wayne State German exchange program years ago). They are going to come and feed Ziggy while we're away.

Marty is in the living room watching Knight Rider dubbed into German -- the second episode they've shown this afternoon. I know you've all heard it before, and it's really true: Germans love David Hasselhoff.

Ein Auto, ein Computer, und ein Mann...

Happy Birthday, Marty!

We had such a gorgeous day here today. Blue sky and no rain. It was incredibly beautiful. Cafe Münchner Freiheit even had their blankets out on the chairs and people were ordering coffee outdoors.

Our day was mostly spent celebrating Marty's birthday. We had a french toast breakfast and then went downtown to do some birthday present shopping. It was very crowded down there! We walked around for awhile and then Marty got some hiking maps at Sport Schuster (a big sporting goods store). We had lunch at Spaten Haus.

Later on I made a birthday dinner of a little chicken (a Bavarian Hendl), tortellini with pesto and cream, and green beans. Marty had a Sachertorte birthday cake from Cafe Münchner Freiheit. I wish I could show you a picture, but my camera's still not talking to the computer. (Despite our spending two hours on that today as well.)

I think Marty had a nice birthday. Now he is on the telephone with his brother.

My camera situation is really bugging me. We've figured out the problem, I think, but we don't know how to solve it. It's a Kodak DC280 Zoom camera. Anyway, this is the issue: in Windows XP, there's supposed to be an automatic driver for this camera. The software that comes with the camera itself apparently doesn't function with Windows XP. However, the XP driver that does work (which has been in operation since I got the computer) has now disappeared. And I can't figure out where to get it (either on my hard drive or the Internet) or how to reinstall it. Any ideas? I really would appreciate any suggestions you might have...

Until I fix this, the camera is holding a bunch of pictures hostage!

Good thing, bad thing (again)

Good thing:
We had a great visit with Susie and Jim this week! Such fun! I am so happy they came. It makes me wish for lots more visits from them and other people (hinting, here).

Bad thing:
Just as they left yesterday, I came down with a terrible, awful cold and I've been out of commission ever since.

Good thing:
I already ordered Marty's birthday cake from the bakery (for his birthday tomorrow).

Bad thing:
I'm too sick to go out and find him a birthday present.

Good thing:
The printer is working again.

Bad thing:
When I got the printer working again, it appears to have ruined some setting which allowed me to connect to my digital camera. Now I can't get any of my pictures to download and I have been trying and trying for days. I am so terribly frustrated. :::weeps:::

Good thing:
It's the weekend.

Bad thing:
It's raining.

Don't Be Vague. Ask for Raspberry World.

I love the Advertising Slogan Generator!

Cleans Right Round The Raspberry World.
The Curiously Strong Raspberry World.
Would You Give Someone Your Last Raspberry World?
If You Really Want To Know, Look In The Raspberry World.
Gotta Lotta Raspberry World.
Wouldn't You Rather Be Raspberry World?
A Raspberry World Works Wonders.

Monday again. I am spending today clearing out a lot of empty boxes that have been gathering at the end of my study for the last couple of months, and getting the apartment ready for some guests who are coming tomorrow from England! I also need to run out to the grocery store and do some other errands.

We had a good weekend, except that Marty was sick with a bad cold. He has had a lot of colds this fall -- more irritating than anything else, I think, although this one knocked him on his back for most of Sunday. It must be the damp. (Or so I'm told.)

We went out Saturday night and saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at the English Cinema here in Munich. This theater is one of five or six that show movies in their original versions, so it was in English. I was expecting German subtitles, but no, it was just completely auf Englisch. We went to a pretty late show -- 10:45 PM -- but it was completely sold out. A couple of differences from going to the movies back home -- we had reserved seats which were printed on our tickets (row 20, seats 10 and 11), there was an intermission halfway through, and you could get your popcorn either salted or sugared.

We enjoyed the movie. I think I liked it better than the first one. The music wasn't nearly as intrusive, and the roles were all so well-cast. The kids who play Harry, Ron, and Hermione were great. And I particularly loved Draco and Lucius Malfoy.

We were out very late -- after 25 minutes of previews and ads, plus the movie, we didn't leave the theater until after 2 AM. Then we had to wait for the U-Bahn, change trains at Sendlinger Tor, and walk to the apartment. We didn't get to bed until 3 AM. It's no wonder Marty's cold was worse yesterday.

Marty spent Sunday holed up in the bed and on the couch, reading magazines and watching Errol Flynn's Robin Hood (an old favorite). I sorted out a bunch of CDs and did some laundry and cooking. I made bolognese sauce we can either eat over pasta or use to make lasagne, if I can find any lasagne noodles here (I've been looking, to no avail). I also made chocolate chip cookies, with hazelnuts. Yum. My chocolate chips came over in our sea shipment, and I'm not sure what happened to them but they were kind of pulverized by the time they got here. But the cookies still turned out good.

This morning I met another of our new neighbors who have moved into the apartment next door. Last week I met the guy who moved in there, and said he has two friends coming to live with him as well. He also has a small dog, Rolli, whom I met this morning. He doesn't seem to bark much (he is a GERMAN dog, after all) and is definitely what Marty and I call a Hundl. I will explain about the Hundls some other time.

I'm not really used to living in an apartment, the way you can hear people upstairs and on the other side of the wall, etc. We share an entryway with the apartment next door, and it has become very smoky smelling in the last few days. I think they must be pretty heavy smokers over there (certainly not unusual for Germany). But it is strange, to me, to be living in such close proximity to people I don't know. That apartment has been empty since we moved in in September.

One More Postcard

I've just added some more pictures from last weekend, in addition to the ones I put up yesterday. You can find all the new stuff on the Postcards page.

The cakes to the right are decorated with a design of chestnuts, created out of marzipan. All of these cakes are so pretty. I wish I liked marzipan!

Yesterday I was walking through the Viktualienmarkt, and as I passed the bakery I noticed a fresh batch of pretzels (Brezn) coming out of the oven. So I hopped in there and bought some, and had one right then, still warm from the oven. Oh, heaven. Absolute heaven.

Good news! I finally got the printer working. It required a power converter from the US and a new cord from a store in Munich. It feels like a luxury to have a working printer again! I've only been without one since... oh, mid-August or so. Can you imagine? Me, without a printer for three months? Man.

This morning when I woke up, Marty told me he had reserved tickets for Harry Potter this evening. So we are off to dinner in a little while, and then the movie. I hear it's great. And I can't wait to see it!

Patience Is Rewarded

I've updated the Postcards from Europe page with three new things: Munich Hauptbahnhof, Augustiner Keller, and Public Advertising.

Enjoy! And I wish you a happy weekend. I am listening to NSYNC's Winter Album and drinking peppermint tea. Hope you are having just as much fun. :-)

My Love for San-X Knows No Bounds

I know I've talked about Kogepan and Afro Ken here before. But here's a San-X character I've never seen before: Beer-Chan! Ha!

I especially like the description:

You will hear Beer chan drinking in big gulps and cheering anytime anywhere!! I hope Beer chan be loved by everyone !! It can be going to be a favorite of your beer lover father !?

But the best part is this movie.

Ahahahahahaaaa!!!

And even weirder is this Tissue San guy. Just read the descriptions of the different chracters. Ha!

Three Ways

Wow, we have great weather here in Munich today. Sunny and bright. It's a beautiful day. I've been out, now I'm back, then I'm headed back out. So just a quick update.

I got the pictures from this weekend processed and I hope to have some time to code the new postcard pages today or tomorrow. I have pictures from the Augustiner Keller, the Munich Hauptbahnhof, and a walk we took in the mountains on Sunday. Oh, and a few new "sex sells" ads.

The cake, above, is from the display window of a nearby bakery/cafe. They have a window full of cakes decorated with marzipan. I'm not sure what the appeal of marzipan potatoes is, but I see them lots of places.

I am loving the new CD by The Wallflowers, "Red Letter Days." It just came out here yesterday. It's just great. I love it.

The new Harry Potter movie is coming out this week here, too. I need to see which theaters are showing it auf English. Whee!

More later.

Drumline!

Oh man. This movie is coming out in December: Drumline. I love this trailer. I love it. I can't wait to see this.

I am such a band geek, even now, even 16 years after I graduated from high school. I looooooved marching band. Hey, I met some of my best friends in band. Like Marty, for instance!

So I am psyched about this movie. And it's coming out in December while I am home, so I will actually get to see it.

JC Chasez of NSYNC has some songs on the soundtrack (that's one of them being played during the trailer) and I love that, too.

I can't wait!

Friday Night

We had dinner tonight at the Augustiner Keller, up past the Hauptbahnhof. I took several pictures of the place -- a typical beer hall -- and I will try to post them this weekend sometime.

End of the week. It is nice to have a weekend spread out before us with nothing more planned than grocery shopping and spending time together. I'm sure we'll find some plans -- we almost always do -- but it's just good to know we have a couple of days to spend together.

It's been cold and rainy this week. The weekend looks like more of the same. But I'm getting used to it. My London umbrella from March is still holding up.

The Wallflowers have a new CD coming out here next Monday. I am really looking forward to it. I listened to two of the new songs at MP3.com and they are really, really good. I loved their last CD, Breach, so much. I can't wait for this one. I think it came out this week in the US, and I've heard it's good from people who already have it back home. And according to Katynka, they said on The Daily Show last night that they plan to tour in Europe this winter. I'm holding them to that!

I got a bunch of videos in the mail this week. Bless all those wonderful fangirls. I have lots of never-before-seen (by me) NSYNC footage to watch on the cold winter nights. Over here it's almost like they never even existed. Strange, considering they lived in Munich for several months at least, and in Germany for a year or more. But that's a long time ago now, and there have been many, many boybands since then, and they're just not on the map. Except in my study, of course.

These next couple of weeks I need to make arrangements for Ziggy when Marty and I go home in December, and take care of some other business that needs to get done before then. And our friends from England are coming on the 19th. So I'm trying to think a bit about what we'll want to do when they're here. It'll be a short visit, but lots of fun, I think.

I also want to get out soon and go to some places around Munich but not in the center, like Dachau. I can get there on the train pretty fast. Last summer we actually looked at an apartment there, in Dachau, but we felt like it would have been too isolating to live out there. Never mind the horror of all our friends and family when they saw our change-of-address cards. I like it better right in Munich, anyway, although Dachau does have a nice little Altstadt (as well as the obvious, the holocaust memorial). But I do want to go to the memorial out there, and Marty has already been a couple of times, so I will most likely go alone, soon. From what I understand, it's not really the kind of thing you want to visit often, although it's important, and definitely something I want to see at least once.

It's been a big music week here. I think I've recharged my discman batteries five times. I traded CDs with someone in New Zealand, my five World Music mixes (plus Pop Muzik) for six of hers. Plus I have the new Nick Carter CD, and JC's new song (not released for another month, but I downloaded it from the Internet). I'm not interested in Justin Timberlake's new CD, but I am looking forward to The Wallflowers next week. And right now I am playing NSYNC's version of "When You Wish Upon a Star" on repeat. And it is very relaxing, at this time of night, right before bed.

That's all for now. Schönes Wochenende!

Pictures are Up

Kommissar Rex says, the pictures from Innsbruck and Hall in Tirol are up. Go check 'em out!

Forgot to Mention...

Last night on "Wer Wird Millionär," the only question I knew the answer to was, what is the stage name of Robert Allen Zimmerman? (But of course it was asked auf Deutsch.) And the choices were Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, and Bob Dylan.

I knew the answer before they even showed the choices. (Laura, you can be proud of me.)

And yes, the contestant got the answer right too.

Do you know?

Das ist ein Fall für Kommissar Rex!

Auf Deutsch:
Dieses Wochenende haben Marty und ich einen kleinen Ausflug nach den Alpen gemacht. Am Freitag sind wir nach Innsbruck, Österreich, gefahren. Wir haben die Innsbruck Sehenswurdigkeiten besucht, und weil das Wetter sehr schön war, ich habe viele Fotos gemacht. Wir haben zwei Nächte in einen Gasthof gebliebt, im Hall in Tirol. Am Samstag und Sonntag hatten wir Sauwetter, aber das ist ganz typisch für November. Es war wirklich ein gutes Wochenende!

In English:
This weekend Marty and I took a small excursion to the Alps. On Friday we drove to Innsbruck, Austria. We saw all the sights there, and because the weather was nice, I took a lot of pictures. We stayed two nights in an inn in Hall in Tirol. On Saturday and Sunday we had bad weather, but that's typical for November. It was really a good weekend!

Innsbruck, as you may know, is named for a bridge (Brücke) over the river Inn. Our hotel in Hall was also right on the Inn. It was a very comfortable place. I'll post more information when I put the pictures up. Look for them in the next day or so.

We finally bought a TV (Fernseher) a week or so ago, and we've been watching some German television lately. The first night we sat down and turned it on, we ran across this show: Kommissar Rex. Kommissar Rex is a police dog, a German shepard who works with the Vienna homicide squad (Mordkommission). This show is, I think, a drama. But it's funny, too, in the way that Canadian shows are sometimes funny without meaning to be, probably because of the premise itself. The show is about murder investigations, of course, but then you have the whole Kommissar Rex hijinks with dog tricks and such... it's very entertaining. Now Marty and I keep pointing things out to each other with, "Das ist ein Fall für Kommissar Rex" (that's a case for Kommissar Rex).

Also they have two different versions of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, a German one (Wer wird Millionär?) and an Austrian one (Die Millionen-Show). Those are good to watch, because they put the questions and answers on the screen in writing, so I can learn new vocabulary from them. Also, neither show has Regis Philbin, which is a 700% improvement over the US show. (Although the Austrian host really is kind of a sadist, I think.)

We've also watched Voyager and The Next Generation, dubbed into German. Janeway speaks a lot better German than I would've expected.

Everybody here has a cell phone, or a Handy. SMS (text messaging) is extremely popular as well. Anyway it is normal to hear a cell phone ringing anywhere you go. And it's funny to hear the different ring tones people have. This morning on Hohenzollernstraße I heard a woman's phone ringing with Eminem's song "The Real Slim Shady," and a few minutes later in the post office I heard the theme from Indiana Jones.

Speaking of Marshall Mathers... his movie, 8 Mile, starts this weekend. This weekend, back home. Here in Germany, it's opening on January 23, or maybe January 30 (there seems to be some confusion about which is the actual date). I am so bummed. Thank goodness I am going home at Christmas; I can go see it then. And I will, believe me.