Tomatoes, onions, cilantro, salt. Some chips.
And if you even have some ripe avocados you can even ask your neighbours over for dinner.
May 14, 2012
May 11, 2012
cake
At some point, I decided it would be a great idea to make the birthday cake for my son myself. And of course, I want it to be something special. I found a tutorial from Betty Crocker on YouTube, where two ladies put together a really cute fire truck as a Birthday cake. There is a whole story regarding the "making of" of this cake... But for now, I'll just leave you some photos of my version of it!
 |
| the front |
 |
| the rear |
 |
| from one side |
May 9, 2012
birthday party
My son is turning 3 on Sunday. We are having a Birthday Party for him.
It was supposed to be a small, cozy, familiar affair. But I like the people we have met in the last months, so I invited some more here, and some more there. And it seems they like us too, because they are coming! Almost all of them! Now we will be22 23 adults and 13 14 children.
I'm baking quiches, cookies, a firetruck cake (trying to get around frostings containing things like partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil as well as 2% or less of other unpronounceable ingredients. It really bothers me...). I am also planning to cut fresh fruit and toss together some salads before 9.30 am, the time our guests are arriving... Sounds good, doesn't it?
It is getting a little bit out of hand...
My husband already asked if I was planning to cater a wedding reception he doesn't know about.
Unfortunately, this is me. I can give you a reason, why I have to make each and every one of the items on the menu myself, instead of getting them from the grocery store around the corner. And I am absolutely not going to spend about $10 a lb for fresh cut fruit.
At least, I hope this will make for some beautiful pictures!
It was supposed to be a small, cozy, familiar affair. But I like the people we have met in the last months, so I invited some more here, and some more there. And it seems they like us too, because they are coming! Almost all of them! Now we will be
I'm baking quiches, cookies, a firetruck cake (trying to get around frostings containing things like partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil as well as 2% or less of other unpronounceable ingredients. It really bothers me...). I am also planning to cut fresh fruit and toss together some salads before 9.30 am, the time our guests are arriving... Sounds good, doesn't it?
It is getting a little bit out of hand...
My husband already asked if I was planning to cater a wedding reception he doesn't know about.
Unfortunately, this is me. I can give you a reason, why I have to make each and every one of the items on the menu myself, instead of getting them from the grocery store around the corner. And I am absolutely not going to spend about $10 a lb for fresh cut fruit.
At least, I hope this will make for some beautiful pictures!
May 7, 2012
red ripe tomatoes
Two weeks ago, I bought a flat of ripe tomatoes at the farmers market. After having them in salad, gazpacho and salsa, and pressing lots of them through the food mill (an European habit, which is probably rather useless in warm Arizona weather) to make homemade passata (I love home made tomato soup), I still had lots of them left. So yesterday, before going to a really neat open air concert at our local Railroad Park I kneaded some dough, cut the remaining tomatoes in half, sprinkeled the whole thing with tarragon and olive oil, and...
Apr 13, 2012
trip to Boston
We are spending some days in Boston. It is bliss. Even with the kids.
The city has so many cool playgrounds and they all are special in some way. Titus Sparrow Park, around the corner of our hotel in the Back Bay area, has two sand diggers in a large sandpit, as well as the standard play set. My son was very pleased to get hold of one of the many brushes and dustpans that lay around there, to help keep the sand in the pit, which for me was a welcome opportunity to finish my coffee in peace. The Myrtle Street Playground, in beautiful Beacon Hill, is full of tricycles, scooters and little cars to drive around. The Frog Pond in Boston Common, has an extensive play set. And there seem to be lots of small playgrounds sprinkled in between the streets in all neighborhoods we visited.
The food is delicious: after eating mostly pizza on day one, we reverted to pick up different versions of fish soup - assorted chowders :) - in many different little places. Most of them where outrageously delicious. At Fanueill Hall I just got 2 cups of Manhattan Clam Chowder from Boston Chowda, because the regular clam chowder (even if prize winning) seemed a little to thick to me. I would have loved to try out Neptune, a highly recommended fish restaurant, but with two kids under 3 you just don't do a raw bar.
And in my quest to eat great American food, I "discovered" Harbison, a delicious cheese from Vermont. It truly has a note of raspberry in it, like the guy in the cheese store pointed out to me (I love cheese, but it makes me giggle when tasting notes use flowery descriptions of flavors). We paired it (and some other excellent cheeses, like an ash covered goat cheese called Humboldt Fog) with a bottle of Gruet sparkling wine (I love bubbles), another great find I think.
Let's see what today brings to us!
The city has so many cool playgrounds and they all are special in some way. Titus Sparrow Park, around the corner of our hotel in the Back Bay area, has two sand diggers in a large sandpit, as well as the standard play set. My son was very pleased to get hold of one of the many brushes and dustpans that lay around there, to help keep the sand in the pit, which for me was a welcome opportunity to finish my coffee in peace. The Myrtle Street Playground, in beautiful Beacon Hill, is full of tricycles, scooters and little cars to drive around. The Frog Pond in Boston Common, has an extensive play set. And there seem to be lots of small playgrounds sprinkled in between the streets in all neighborhoods we visited.
The food is delicious: after eating mostly pizza on day one, we reverted to pick up different versions of fish soup - assorted chowders :) - in many different little places. Most of them where outrageously delicious. At Fanueill Hall I just got 2 cups of Manhattan Clam Chowder from Boston Chowda, because the regular clam chowder (even if prize winning) seemed a little to thick to me. I would have loved to try out Neptune, a highly recommended fish restaurant, but with two kids under 3 you just don't do a raw bar.
And in my quest to eat great American food, I "discovered" Harbison, a delicious cheese from Vermont. It truly has a note of raspberry in it, like the guy in the cheese store pointed out to me (I love cheese, but it makes me giggle when tasting notes use flowery descriptions of flavors). We paired it (and some other excellent cheeses, like an ash covered goat cheese called Humboldt Fog) with a bottle of Gruet sparkling wine (I love bubbles), another great find I think.
Let's see what today brings to us!
Apr 8, 2012
Apr 5, 2012
OK... Now I'm live...
I have been thinking for a while to have a blog. I even opened one once, but was never daring enough to post. There are so many excellent blogs already online, that I thought it was too much... But in the last months everything has changed. And I feel I need to communicate. Let's see.Now we have moved. "We", that's my ravishing husband and my two boys, aged 2 3/4 and 1 years old. We moved from Frankfurt am Main in Germany to Phoenix, Arizona. And my life has been turned upside down. Until October I was a working mom, working in the sales department of an Asset Manager. Since November I am an unemployed (and a little bit frustrated) stay-at-home, trying to organize our home and get familiar with this wonderful but oh-so-different place I've landed in...
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