Um, where have I been?

For about a month, we had no internet at home. I was a little traumatized... believe me! Just a day ago, we got internet and I called my mother, who said I need to get blogging again. So, here I go with my latest entry of experiences.

We moved into our 4-story home about a month ago now and still we are not all settled. For the most part, we have the boxes gone from our bedrooms, bathrooms, and main living areas. I have curtains hung up on one of the floors. However, our guest room, garage and office are in shambles and we just can't go very much further without purchasing storage units. Hopefully, soon we'll be looking good. Because of the lack of internet, I wasn't really able to explore too much but I have been able to make this house a home, keep it cleaner than I usually would and take up my old hobby of cooking. Friday night, I made "street tacos": homemade shredded beef, pico de gallo, guacamole, and homemade tortillas. It was so yummy. I also was able to experiment with a vegetarian cook book that my aunt gave me a year or two ago and I made Walnut Alfredo. It was really good. It had the creamy consistency of an Alfredo without cream. Walnuts, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, and hot water. It was an emulsion of sorts. At the end I sprinkled it with Parmesan but other than that, it was dairy free. I was really excited about it... perfect for the vegetarian on the guest list or a creamy topping for meat (since, I'm attempting to keep kosher again). Okay, I'm gonna say it again and the readers can probably fathom, I was really excited about this new recipe.

I've gotten used to our home. On the outside it doesn't seem really impressive but once inside it feels like a good size. Not a huge back yard but we've got 4 balconies, which is actually really nice. During the warmer months we can be outside but we don't have much yard work to do. It's built like a stovepipe, which at first I wasn't in love with, but the design is for energy efficiency. It's 4 stories high (3 flights of stairs that I use all the time). Surprisingly it works for us. The first floor is the entryway, laundry room, garage entry, and guest room. The guest room opens up to the backyard (which I'm not too keen on). Then the second floor is the main living area with kitchen, living room, and two balconies. The 3rd floor is where our room is, the main bathroom with the bathtub, a linen closet, and the office (2 balconies). The top floor is the boys' rooms and a bathroom with a shower. The home itself is connected to other homes that are similar, so it looks like apartments from the outside.

I'm getting used to Germany. I'm finding that if we leave our area, it feels more comfortable for some reason. We are trying out our German (Zwei Laugon Brezil Bitte=2 Long Pretzels Please) but it's going much slower than I thought. I'm still working on getting Samuel registered into Kindergarten but that too has proven more difficult. Because there are so many Americans here, I've heard stories of Kindergarten being a little unwelcoming to foreigners trying to get there children in. I got an idea from someone online about talking to my Realtor/Landlord about working on getting Samuel registered so I may go about that route.

As far as traveling goes, we are touring a little bit of German but are waiting until Mike gets his normal passport (Yes, he had one... it's a long story) to leave Germany. As spring approaches there will be much more to see. I, for one, am very eager to see the Tulip festival in Holland.

The food here is good. The Italian food in our area is really good. The beer is good but we tend to like the darker beers. Here they serve mostly Pilsners and Hefeweizen. This is the German wine region. All the wine I've had is really sweet. I'm hoping for a good recommendation for a local wine??

Alright, this was a shorty but for some reason writers block has hit me hard lately.