Middle Eastern Falafel and Disappointments

Sadly my days have pretty much been boiled down to what I am going to make for dinner.  And again, thankfully I love cooking.  I wake up thinking... "what am I doing to make tonight?"  There aren't many options on any given day as I can't just go out and get an extra ingredient or two if spontaneity or creativity strikes. On Thursday I tried out a new recipe for Falafel and new recipe for flat bread.  I had made Mujadara before but combined these two recipes for tonight. The first time I made Mujadara the fried onions were not crunchy and the frying of them made such a mess so this time I used the

prepackaged ones from the Asian store that I also used in the Vermicelli bowls.  Much better and a thousand times easier and cleaner.
The flat bread was really good but didn't discover until after that ALL flour in Germany is NOT self rising?  So apparently you are to add 1tsp baking powder per 100 grams of flour.  What??? nearly 3 years here and I'm just now learning this.  I always just thought their baking powder was off.  Which it is because apparently it is only once activated instead of twice.  Or something like that.  I say that acting like I know what it means but I don't really.  But for left over day I am going to add the extra baking powder and see what happens. Also the falafel were good but lacked flavor.  For left over day I will double all spices and see what happens.

Marty and I rode our bikes to our friends that lent us books and I delivered the coveted corn nuts.  They set up chairs on their back patio, we enter through the garage, we didn't go inside or touch anything and have a VERY nice hour long visit.  Wow, how simple and yet how uplifting to be around other people again.  Other than the dog park or passing other friends by chance while walking we really haven't seen anyone other than our

Josie made the MOST delicious mint chocolate
cookies using After Eight mints wrapped
inside each cookie. SOOO good. 

immediate family members for WEEKS.  It is the first time we have done anything social since this all began and it was very very good.
I had a bit of a melt down over the disappointments from this damned virus.  I always feel like I can't complain because in the big picture I really have nothing at all to complain about.  But after coming to grips with our Spring Break road trip being canceled and then my sister's visit here and our trip to Croatia together being canceled and then our trip to the UK to visit friends and see Hamilton canceled and now it really looks like we won't be able to go to Seattle.  I know it is still a couple of months out but even if the travel restrictions are lifted do we really want to go into a war zone without US medical insurance?  We had always had Marty's work insurance when visiting in the past and we do have travel insurance but I sure

This was the sun setting
as I was talking to my sister
on the phone.  It was 8:23 PM
Thank GOD for lighter, longer days. 

wouldn't want to risk getting sick or injured there during this huge unknown.  And on top of that could we really see family and friends.  Currently no one can enter the facility where Marty's parents live and do I want my older parents to risk the travel and exposure to travel to Seattle?  Can we hug then?  Would it be worth it to stand 6 feet apart and air hug?  I think that would be MORE painful!! All of the summer activities have been canceled.  And then we had someone very interested in renting our West Seattle house.  We have been extremely worried about renting it out as the West Seattle Bridge will be closed until 2021 or indefinitely!  It would take an extra special situation for someone to want to live in the area right now and these new potential renters works from home! And specifically want to live in West Seattle because they have family here.  So, our plan to

This becomes more true the
longer we stay in Germany.  And
I cannot read it without crying. 

stay in our own house is now likely gone.  I had a good cry session.  I called my sister. I woke up knowing it would all be OK but it was just really really SAD!!  Of all the things we do all year spending July in Seattle probably ranks very near #1.  So... we continue to take things day by day.  Knowing that things can change at any moment and try to find joy in that uncertainty rather than pain.  Some days it is just HARD to live so far away from so many people I love and care about.

Grocery Run(s) and Vietnamese Food

On Wednesday I headed to the store for the first time in 10 days.  TEN days.  I don't think I have ever gone that long since having kids.  For sure no more than 2 or 3 days since living here. I was pretty proud of myself for lasting that long.

My meal planning and dinner ideas had hit a rut just after Easter when I was really out of ideas for what to make.  I love cooking, I really do.  Thank God, really since I do it ALL. THE.TIME.

Especially now since we are all home for allmeals and snacks.  But I sometimes have trouble getting inspired about what to make.  On a walk with Marty when we were both particularly hungry we dreamt up some ideas.  This week I was going to branch out and try my hand (first time ever) at Vietnamese food and even though I've tried to make Middle Eastern food before I've never had much success.  With these dinner ideas in mind I made a long list before heading out on Wednesday morning and my grocery run this time would have to include Mitte Meer (a Mediterranean/Mexican store) and the Asian

Market along with my normal, local grocery store.
I used a scarf for a mask - highly uncomfortable and hot- and had thin gloves.  Marty and I rode together first to the Mediterranean store.  He waited outside while I shopped and then took my first full grocery bag home on his bike.  I continued on to the

Asia Market and then headed home with my Asian Store purchases. I went in our house via the back door and unloaded everything on to our large table and then we both left again with our empty bags

to the normal, local grocery store.  The first two stores did not have a lot of people or lines.  This time at my local little store it was more crowded and people were giving each other a lot of space so it took extra long.  But this time, for the first time since it all began I saw no empty shelves or freezers.  Everything seemed very well stocked.  They even had yeast!  The final thing that I had not been able to find in my previous trips.

I had a FULL cart.  They don't really allow you time to bag your stuff.  The checkers go SOO fast (they have become slower during Corona and for the most part a bit kinder) but still the Germans just quickly load everything back in their cart and then roll their cart to a TEENY tiny shelf for bagging or

outside.  I rolled my cart outside and Marty and I bagged.  We each had a large, heavy bag for our bike baskets.  We each loaded a backpack and then we each had a light bag (mostly bread) that we could put over our handle bars and ride home that way.  Again, I went through the back door and put everything on the table.  Then I tried to spray everything that had packaging down with disinfecting spray and wipes.  And then put away in the fridge and cupboards.  It is a process.  Especially with that much food.  The entire trip to 3 stores cost 165€ and should last us 7-10 days!  That is pretty amazing considering each of the specialty stores was roughly 38 € each store.  At Mitte Meer I bought dry garbanzo beans (6 euro) stocked up on salsa (3.75 € per jar) and refried beans (3 € per can)

Refried beans are a new family favorite since finding them here.  I had thoughts of making salmon as Mitte Meer has a nice little fresh fish section.  It would be our first time here... somehow eating/cooking salmon outside of Seattle where it is so fresh seemed off putting to me but then realized we are pretty close to the icy cold waters off of Norway and Sweden.  It was SO expensive.  50 € per Kilo making it roughly 25 $ per pound.  I decided against it and instead picked up some TASTY Italian olives - my favorite.  4 € per jar.  A few other things and a couple bags of these yummy corn nuts.  They taste nearly the same as the American corn nuts just much smaller.  I also picked up a bag for a friend who loves them and was having a down day the other day.  I had originally thought of bringing her a bright thing of flowers but know in this day and age getting something at a specialty shop is much more appreciated.

At the Asian store I had a long list and am not as familiar with their products.  The store was nearly empty which was nice.  Normally this is where I buy peanut butter, brown sugar, edamame and seaweed snacks for Benjamin's lunch.  This time I had real ingredients on my list: fish sauce, sesame oil, vermicelli noodles, fried onions, lemongrass, I also stocked up on plain, canned black beans and a large bag of jasmine rice.
At the regular grocery store I got everything else, including dog food.  Phew!!
The Asian bowls turned out with great flavor but the noodles were undercooked and still a bit stiff and not totally soft the way they should be.  They were also cold because the directions said to run cold water over them to stop the cooking but next time I will serve with warm noodles.  SO disappointing about the undercooked noodles. But we all ate the same thing for once (normally either Josie or Benjamin has a special meal because they won't like what the rest of us are having) and everyone actually liked it.  Small tweaks for the leftovers later in the week.  I did chicken and tofu and both were super tasty.  I only bought enough chicken for one night so leftovers will be just tofu - which works well because we all enjoy tofu.

He has transitioned into using my Kindle because we
just can't keep enough books in his hands.  Still
he is finishing a book every 1-3 days. 

The day was sunny but a bit colder than it had been so we all went outside and sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  The news broke that Germany will start re-opening by May 4th.  It is unclear yet which grades will go back then but nearly 99% it will not be the grades that Josie and Benjamin are in.  They will begin with students in a transitional year.  For Germany or at least our school in particular that means grades 10th and 12th first and then 6th graders the week after.  We will have to wait and see what happens after that.

Easter Monday

It is interesting how you slowly get used to new things.  Our first year here we were first so shocked by everything being  closed on Sundays.  All the stores and shops.  The hardest part was the grocery store if you had forgotten to pick something up.  I never had to plan ahead in Seattle because stores were always open. Not just every day of the week but 24/7.  Here stores are open Monday through Saturday and grocery stores from 7AM until around 8PM.  Once we were finally getting used to that

we realized that there are SO many national holidays here and on a national holiday all the stores are closed too.  In the States there were national holidays - like Labor Day or Memorial Day and sure, some things are closed but even on Christmas Day the grocery stores are open, even if just on limited hours.

Here in Berlin, in addition to the normal holidays and national holidays they also celebrate Christmas Eve and 2nd Christmas.  So for 3 consecutive days the stores and everything is closed.  Same for Easter.  Good Friday is a holiday as well as the Monday after Easter.  The first year we were here I was always caught unaware.  What?  Another holiday??   Then there is also Ascension Day and Pentecost.  Both national holidays - everything closed.  In addition to all of their other holidays.  It seems that in the Spring between Easter and the end of school they never even have one full week of school.  There is always a holiday.  This year I was actually prepared, partly due to having to stock up in the age of Corona and partly due to learning over the past two years.  I was a bit worried because for the past two years we have had medical emergencies on the Friday of Easter weekend (oh, I forgot to mention that most people take the entire week off.  From Good Friday until Monday an entire week after Easter) So our first year here Marty had another eye emergency.  He has having significant changes in his eyesight which typically means there is a beginning of a lacquer crack.  A very rare eye disorder. 

This had us in the ER and racing around to find eye specialists when most are out of town on holiday.  Then last year was when Josie had Mono but we didn't know yet.  She was SUPER sick and we spent the entire week after Easter trying to have her seen by someone when again most people are away on vacation.  I was a bit anxious leading up to the holiday weekend but I think this year the world wide pandemic played out to be a bigger deal than our personal family medical emergency.  Thank God.  Not health scares here.
We enjoyed the day much like all the rest in the past 4 weeks. I made another loaf of bread.  This time an Italian loaf since we were having left over Italian food for dinner.  This used WAY more yeast and several more ingredients.  The results were a very tasty loaf of very soft bread.  Imagine a really soft old fashioned dinner roll.  Yummy!!  The kids LOVED it.
Plus the day included a bonus Skype call with our good friends the Kitcheners.  They live in the UK and we had to figure out how to handle our upcoming planned trip to visit them in London at the end of May and attend the musical Hamilton.  Sadly the Theater had already sent out emails canceling the show and we had to decide on a refund or to keep our money with the theater and attend sometime later in the future.  I'm sure we will see it at some point but we opted for the refund.  And sadly another trip canceled.  Another bites the dust as so many things are these days 😞

Easter 2020 Evening

We had such a full day on Easter it warrants two posts. Haha, it wasn't really that full but we did take a lot of pictures.  The day was so beautiful that we were outside nearly the entire day.
A friend here has connections (yeast, marshmallows) so I asked for another favor and bought a couple bags of good old American

marshmallows.  The ones here are few and far between and are pink colored, do not melt properly and taste different.  So we built a fire and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.

The hammock was in full use as was the little Yahtzee handheld game.  We had a family tournament.  Fun, Sunny day.

Easter 2020

Even amidst Corona we managed to pull off a pretty nice Easter day for one another.  The weather was seriously amazing.  I think the high was 77 degrees.  It started out sunny and a bit cool but warmed up to summer like conditions by mid day.
I kept telling the kids that we weren't really going to have Easter the way we normally do with chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs,

etc etc because I barely go to the store anymore and the last time I went on Monday I did not have Easter in mind and I was not going back to the store until after Easter Monday.  So, we had the couple of small bags of Easter treats that Marty brought back from Seattle weeks ago but other than a nice brunch

we would have a low key Easter.  But, I actually had thought about Easter last time I went to the store, last Monday and stocked up with a chocolate Easter bunny for each of them and a few other bags of treats.  I pulled up some small plastic containers that we had used to hide the chocolate in in years past.  And the night before I put a handful of chocolates in each plastic cup.  In the end they each had a basket full of candy and then each went in search of 6 plastic cups filled with

chocolate.  Marty does the honors every year of hiding the small Easter plastic "baskets" or cups.  When in Seattle that was always Opa's job.  They both do it where you don't need to open any drawer or cupboard and is basically in plain sight but there are always a few at the end that they struggle to find.

I had made cinnamon rolls the day before.  I let the dough rise a couple of times and then Josie and I spread the butter and sugar and cinnamon on top, rolled them up, cut them and placed them in the pan to sit in the fridge overnight.  I let them sit on the counter for 45 minutes in the morning before

popping them in the oven.  They were DELICIOUS!! Along with fresh fruit from the fruit stand by the Sbahn train station that I had picked up the day before (mangoes, blueberries, strawberries and pineapple) along with scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes and hard boiled eggs that the kids had decorated the day before.

We all lounged in the back yard after breakfast, went on a family walk and then had left over for dinner.  All in all a VERY relaxing and filling Easter day.

The Best Neighbors

We really lucked out with our new neighbors.  Often neighbors can make or break your living experience here in Germany.  We have had nothing but very nice, sociable, responsible neighbors since moving to Germany.  We have heard complete horror stories from others so we know we are quite lucky. 

The idea of good neighbors is even more important when buying a place. We definitely will not be living anywhere else while we are living in Germany and the neighbor situation was really an afterthought when buying the house.  And boy, did we luck out.  Our neighbors we are closest to (physically and friendship wise) live next door. Our driveways are separated by just a short, wire type fence.  They have a boy a year older than Josie and a girl a year older than Benjamin.  We don't see their son much but when we had first moved in, their daughter would come over and jump on the trampoline with Josie and Josie would go over to play with their two cute little bunnies.  Since all of the Corona stuff we have texted and talked

more across the fence.  We ask each other if we can pick up anything at the store, I have borrowed some German reading books for our kids while we don't have access to our school library and they lent me a large cast iron roaster so I can make my bread.  We haven't done anything really socially with them but I think once things get back to normal we should have them over for a drink or dinner or dessert.
About a week or two into lockdown I asked if she needed anything.  She said she didn't but that her parents needed some tomatoes.  Not thinking a thing of it I picked up a small basket of tomatoes.  When her parents came by for what seems like a daily visit (they live just a couple blocks away) I handed them to her.  They were very

appreciative but I didn't think a thing about it.  Well, on Friday I get a message asking if I have refrigerator space for a special gift.  Her mom made a DELICIOUS cake with whipped cream frosting and a currant type frosting in the middle topped with shaved chocolate.  A Happy Easter, Late moving in, thank you for the tomatoes cake.  WOW!!  SO so nice!!!  Thankful to have such kind and thoughtful neighbors.
The very nice evening ended with some trampoline time for all of us.  Whoop Whoop!!

Dirty Dog

Mogli LOVES wading through this nasty canal by our house.  He chases birds and squirrels and is able to be off leash and really explore.  Up until recently it has been one of our favorite walks with him but he has becoming braver and the water has become nastier and the combo has not been good.  The

past few days we have just hosed him off with water when we have gotten home but then he really was starting to stink.  We bought some sensitive, all natural, puppy shampoo and gave him a warm bath with hot water from the tap mixed with cold hose water.  He actually didn't mind it so much. 

Daily Finds

Every day it seems we find something new about the house.  We bought it back in May 2019.  When we bought it there was a long time renter living in it.  He and his family had lived here for 9 years.  He was EXTREMELY organized and treated his things very well.  We ended up swapping our apartment for the house. Meaning, he didn't want to leave the house mostly because finding something even remotely equivalent in this area is nearly impossible.  But because we were living right around the corner in a very nice, large apartment at the time, the renter decided that our apartment was the best replacement he could find.

So, we swapped.  The move happened over the summer. We moved all of our stuff into storage on the HOTTEST day of the year in Berlin.  It was the day after school got out and the day before we left for our summer in Seattle.  We left a few things in the apartment that the old renter wanted and he left his house - but mostly the garage and downstairs storage areas - full of useful household things that we did not own here because we had never needed them and things the renter would not have space for or need for (yard tools/equipment) due to living in an apartment where the community garden space is maintained by the rental management company.  We knew many of the things that were coming with the house (trampoline, scooters, fire pit, baseball equipment, the big American fridge, tons of wardrobes - German houses and apartments nearly never have built in closets. Our

apartment happened to have them so we needed all new wardrobes but since the renter already owned them and would no longer need them in our apartment he left them in the house. ) Even before the renter moved out we had begun our remodel which continues to this day.  Most of it has been completed and a couple of months ago the construction guys finally cleared out all of their tools and equipment and since then it seems we find another treasure that the renter left.  Now, we aren't sure if these things were the renters or the original owner of the house but many of these things have great value to us. 
The daily find on Wednesday was a entire, small storeroom at the back of the carport which had tiki torches, fuel for the torches, an electric lawn mower and a huge hammock.  The weather was perfect for enjoying all of these new finds. 

Spring Break...Not So Much

I have been sitting outside in the sunshine each
morning enjoying a cup of coffee.  Pretending on
on a vacation somewhere else. 

We were set to have a 10 day German road trip right now.  The week has been perfect weather wise which was one thing I had worried about when we decided to not fly anywhere (south for more warmth and sunshine) and in fact the forecast boast the most perfect weather for a road trip.  High 60's/low 70's in all the cities we had hope to visit. I always put the weather of cities of coming trips on my phone's weather app.  Did you know that most of true happiness is not doing or being in the moment but in the dreaming, hoping and anticipating of something about to happen?  I always have our local weather and Seattle weather set on my phone but still have the cities we were about to visit and had been dreaming of it until just a couple weeks ago. So I just had a look through.  Yep.  All of the cities claim a PERFECT weather forecast for when we were supposed to be there.  Oh, well.  For the first time in my lifetime, my canceled trip and canceled plans coincides with the ENTIRE world's canceled trips and plans.  So we are all in this for a good cause.  No spring break, no restaurant outings and no social get togethers for ANYONE.  The whole situation still blows my mind sometime. 
Likely against popular opinion, there is something about this time of lockdown that I actually enjoy and will sorely miss once things are back to normal.  Granted, I wish it could have come with much less pain around the world and for loved ones that were sick or lost someone during this time.  I cannot even imagine what that nightmare must have been like and it really keeps me awake at night thinking of people dying alone.  But this time of really simple pleasures has been nice and comforting.  The freshly baked bread, the time with very little responsibilities and even fewer expectations.  There is something very beautiful in the quietness of the ENTIRE world. There has never been anything eve remotely like this in my lifetime.  We are pretty much business as usual around our house.  Marty already worked from home.  I hadn't started my two jobs yet... well, not really anyway.  The kids, even though they are annoyed by the school work that they should do are sleeping in and other than the normal occasional fight, enjoying each other.  I don't know, I think I might miss these days once they are gone.. but when will they be gone is the million dollar question. And HOW will they be gone is an even bigger question.  I think like most things I want the "normal" back but do not want to wade through the murky unknown to get back there.  The distance between what we are doing now and any sense of normalcy seems so far off and that time, that coming out time, scares me a bit. 
So Tuesday started off with more of the same.  Nothing really.  I did my big cooking days Monday and Tuesday where I make two large meals and then we alternate those throughout the week.  This time it was Meat Chili and Vegetarian Mexican corn and bean soup based on a recipe from the famed Colophon Cafe in Bellingham (dubbed "favorite soup" by Josie when she was maybe 3 years old because it was her favorite soup) and fresh cornbread for Monday and on Tuesday it was marinara sauce with meatballs and veggie meatballs with lentils and mushrooms as the base.  Normally I throw in one night of Yumm Bowls to mix it up a bit.  Day 2 of Spring Break. Not a road trip but not so bad either. 

Flowers!

With the nice weather and some time on our hands we decided to plant some flowers.  Since the remodel our yard has been a complete mess.  We were just about to start on a huge yard project with a new back patio, fire pit, new fence, etc. etc just when the whole lock down started.  We managed to (hopefully) save the nearly 100 year old rose bushes that we had to dig up before our remodel, transplant in the back in the shade for

the summer - hoping that the construction guys would remember to water them while we were in Seattle and the days were HOT and long and then we planted them back where they belonged in the Fall.  We were thrilled to see new growth on the leaves.  We didn't cover them at night like a lot of our neighbors when the really cold temps hit again last week so hopefully they make it.  But other than some very pruned back and not blossomed yet rose bushes our yard is pretty bare.  Moss grows where grass should and Mogli digs the biggest holes all over the

One solo tulip made it through the construction
work.  It has bloomed already and is now done. I
love tulips but they do not last long. 

yard.  The plan is to build a couple side gates and then only allow him unsupervised in the back yard where he can dig all he wants.  But for now we figured a few perennials might bring some color and life to our front yard.  We found a bunch of pots in the garage.  The old renter left so much stuff here and with all the construction workers stuff in our garage we had no idea what was really in there until they cleared their stuff out.  Lots of pots.  Just what we needed. We rode our bikes to the Home Depot equivalent (Obi) which is about a 10 minute bike ride.  We had to be cautious night to buy too much of anything as we only had our bike baskets and our backpacks. 

We ended up with a 25 pound bag of dirt that I was able to put into a grocery bag sticking up and out and then fold it over a bit to fit in the basket and Marty took the 4 large packs of multiple plants in his basket.  We saw some people biking with the handles of the plant packages hung off their handle bars.  When

there is a will there is a way.  There was a HUGE long line at the front of the store and at first we thought - WAY too many people. But even though it was nearly 10AM and the store normally opens at 7AM they were just opening. So at the strike of 10 the whole mass of people were let in and the place is as big as Home Depot so everyone spread out nicely. 
The kids have been particularly lazy.  Half of me thinks, well who can blame them.  I mean, they can't really go anywhere or do anything and it is Spring break but the other half wants them to get their lazy butts up and help with something, anything around the house.  The flowers were just the thing.  Back in Seattle the kids and Marty would plant our flowers in the pots and around the yard every year on Mother's Day.  It was a nice reminder of more normal times.  They will hopefully spread out and grow big... now it looks a bit bare but the color alone brings me joy.

We even took a walk all together later in the day
with the whole family.  And to top it off there was
no fighting. Yay!!

The day was warm - nearly 70 degrees so the kids started a water fight and barely helped but they were outside and laughing and not plopped on the couch.  So, I'm taking it as a win.