7+ hours in the kitchen

Well I made Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. We had chicken though...but by the time it made it to the table it didn't look like chicken. I dont really know how to cut chicken into pieces...but neither did the rest of the family. They don't eat chicken that often, and when they do, it's chicken breasts, and usually fried (that's one thing that I really really miss...food baked in the oven. The oven is mostly just used for baking...I only remember one time that a main dish was cooked in the oven...too much grease in the frying pan). Anyway, I was trying to cut it and then Manfred proceeded to take one of those bone meet electric cutter things and just cut right downt he center of the chicken and then Carola just kind shredded it into pieces and put it all on the serving plate. It was funny, but sad, because my beautiful chickens were mangled and torn apart. Oh wel it's just food and its all gone now. I made stuffing too, and that was some darn good stuffing, thanks to a mix of Aunt Kathy's recipe, allrecipes.com, and my own ideas. And then mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole (allrecipes.com), Jello (sugar free from the states...they have jello here, but only about 3 flavors..and no sugar free. I think everyone thought that I made it from scratch, lol, because they kept saying that I have to make it again), rolls (grandmas recipe mmmmm), and a pumpkin pie. I have made this pumpkin pie (same recipe) before and it came out beautifully. BUT because of the lack of fresh pumpkin, and canned pumpkin puree, I had to made due with chunks of pumpkin in a jar in water. I figured it would work, I would just blend them up and it would be the same. So I did that, and then see that they dont have sweetened condensed milk here, just condensed milk. SO then I had to check the internet for the content of sugar in sweetened condensed milk. 40%. ok...I'll just add 40% worth of sugar. Ok did that. The mix doesnt look dark enough. Ok a little more sugar and more nutmeg and cinnamon. Ok it looks ok i guess. Now put it into the pie dish. Stupid pie dish! Not the same as AMerican dishes, too deep. Half of my perfect crust has now caved in over the top of the pie. oh well we are just going to eat it. Ok in the oven. 15 minutes later I add the topping. 45 minutes and it should be done. 45 mintes later...well thats definitely not set. ok a little longer...and longer... ok it should be set by now. if i wait any longer the walnuts in the topping will be charcoal. oh good, its cooled and not shaking, althought it looks like its deflated. hmmm ok time to eat it now. cut cut cut, slice. well that definitely doesnt look or feel like pumpkin pie. more like mushy chunky slightly dipping pumpkin baby food. oh well too late now to cook any longer. put it on the plate. not pretty like normal pumpkin pie. the only thing that made it taste partially good, in my opinion, is the topping. everyone else liked it, or said they did. well they ate it, although didnt go for seconds, like normal with everything else i have made. i wasnt happy with it at all. i am on a mission to find real pumkin...and i saw a recipe on the internet that uses melted ice cream rather than sweetened condensed milk. and i at least know that ice cream has sugar in it. so i will try that one. it had a lot of 5 star ratings. so thats my plan.

It snowed another few inches last night. I just love it. Its so pretty but sooo cold! The other night around 9pm it was -12°C....that's 10.4 F- and the daytime temp hovers around 0°C. But thats good because it means the snow isnt melting. Its snowing right now too. Melanie, last night I ate some snow for you. I just finished taking a shower and opened the window to let the fog out and scooped some fresh fallen snow off of the window sill and ate it for you. I love the sound too. When it is dead quiet, but you can just hear it all falling and landing on the ground and in the trees, etc. I even when trotting around in the snow covering the lawn outside my room before I showed. in a tank top and shorts and even rolled in it...it was dark and cold and snowing but fun!!!! muhuhauhauha

Guess who woke up this morning to 8''+ of WHITE FLUFFY SNOW??

ME!!!! Apparently the weather people were predicting a lot of snow today...and they were right. Going to bed last night I hoped for snow, and sure enough, it came. I woke up (late...turned my alarm clock off. how typical of me), and Stefi told me to look outside. And all was white!! Well dark too, but WHITE! It was like Christmas or something. So I went and ate and rushedly got ready and then we walked down to the bus stop. Had to link arms to support each other as adidas samba indoor soccer shoes aren't made for the snow. It was so fun though! I walked outside...everything was dark, but perfectly covered in soft, dry, light, smooth snow. And then a gust of wind comes and lifts up a bunch of powder off the roof and blows right into my face and half open jacket...hadnt fully buttoned it yet and was still wrapping my scarf around my neck. The bus was 20 minutes late and then school was hard staying awake. I sleep more but still always seem to be so tired. Maybe it's becasue the classroom was perfectly quiet. Well even in the other classes that werent quiet....

Anyway. Came home and so after eating I put on my snow pants and jacket and got my camera and went picture taking. Stefi was walking the horses around and Manfred was blowing snow off the street and driveway with their way cool high tech snow-sucker-upper-blower-thing-machine. Anyway it looks expensive. hehehe And Carola was baking Linzer Torte (German cake thing. its good. mmmmm) And then I saw Stefanie with the horses and after we put them back went on an adventure to attempt sledding with the only sort-of-sled thing they had. Well I dont know if you could call it a sled...its just made for a butt to sit on. Well it didnt work as the hill wasnt steep enough we'd already trekked far enough up hill in the snow...so I just proceeded to make fun of the hill and did summer saults all the way down. I love the snow!!!!In some places there is as much as a foot. And there was snow in Säckingen too, but only a few inches. OK well I gotta go. I'm going ice skating tonite! AHHHHH Never done that before....that just means I will have a very bruised butt tomorrow! Tschüss!

this is not Redding weather

Last night I had soccer practice. And the field was frozen...now who can say they have played soccer or any other sport, on frozen used-to-be mud??? It was like we were playing on a hartplatz, a dirt field (which are just as common here as grass fields due to the weather), with little pebble. SOmething like 23° F outside. Yeah that's cold, coming from me, from California. I mean, we get cold weather in Redding, but not really cold. And its just the beginning. Average temp in the day is something like -10°C....Somewhere around 10-20F in the day, I believe. And they are predicting an entirely colder winter than before with lots of snow. That good for me, but also bad...because I am already freezing! So theres the weather report.

In other news....For the last week every night I have had dreams in German!!! Not entirely German, but there is German, and also spoken by me!!! That is so exciting!! Ich habe auf Deutsch geträumt! (i dont know if that last word is spelled right...I wrote it from hearing it,....).

And I saw Harry Potter!!! In Basel, Switzerland...very pretty city. It's about half an hour out of Säckingen with a car. The movie rocked, I loved it...havent said that about the first three. But I really enjoyed it. They can finally act. And another aweseom thing.....STARBUCKS!!! IN BASEL!!! SO of course I had to get myself a chai tea latte...and it was kinda expensive...3 to 4 euro...and then I got all my change back in Swiss Francs. Pretty money. Ok I have to go.

und kommt der schnee

Yes, it snowed, but only a little bit. But I got to practice in the snow...that was cool. Then the snow blowed north and it was just darn cold. But Pop, thank you for your corny jokes and responses to what I wrote. But about the window screen thing...they still most definitely have flies and mosquitos. Not as many mosquitos now as it is very cold, but about a month ago a few got into my room and I was attacked...I counted 16 bites on my face. And the flies are big. The swarm around the cows and the horses and the dog. But yes, the German's have their recylcling down...I noticed that right away, and it's excellent...something like it should really be incorporated in the states. The sepparate all their trash...paper, plastic, stuff to throw into the garden (compost), and other trash. such and such things like that. And this morning is clear as a bell. That was upsetting. Oh well, the snow will come again. Really wouldnt be surprised if it came back tonite or tomorrow...the weather here is weird like that. Better go. ciao

SNOW in the forecast

That's right...it's going to snow. It's actually been slushing since I got home an hour ago....but the slush is getting thicker every minute. I am so excited!!!! The forecast is for the next few days snow at 500 meters and up, and we are at 850!!! MUHUHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! I cant wait...when it comes, I will take lots of pictures and post them asap!!!! Ok, and I am probably going to go see Harry Potter 4 tomorrow after school!!! In BASEL!!! There is a bigger kino there (theatre), and they are showing it in English with German and French subtitles (I know I know i should see it in German, but its HARRY POTTER!!!! And I want to understand all, and recognize the voices....muhuhauhau!!!)

And here's for my analysis of German things:

They eat a lot of bread. And most is really good. mmmmm. Lunch is the main meal, like dinner in the USA. When everyone is home, everyone eats together and the table is set and all food on the table. They dont really use napkins here. And milk is mostly drank only at breakfast...warm almost always. They think its weird that I drink milk cold. Well its actually hard for me to drink the milk...i hate to say it but i just think its sooooo grosse and it leaves THE worst taste in my mouth. Comes from the cows down the street (haha that sounds funny), but even the store stuff has the taste. The eat lost of cold meets with bread, at breakfast and for a ''sandwhich.'' Like meet for a sandwhich (which is always bought at the market by the kg...never prepackaged...and a lot of time just a big chunk of salmai or fleischkäse (some weird german meat...i think it might be processed and have cheese in it), and then cut it with the meet cutter my family has, as they also do with backery purchased loaves of bread. And they always sepparate the slices of meet with a knife...not your fingers. There is always chocolate around, and 5 days out of the week there is some sort of dessert,....whether is be some german cake or something (anyone ever had the Schwarzwald Kirshe Torte? Black Forest Cake? Ive had it twice so far and I like to call it slightly-sweetened-not-so-chocolatey-SCHNAPPS-cake. It's got A LOT of alcohol in it. wow), or pudding, or a French pastry...pain au chocolat or whatever...theres always something. And over half the milk chocolate and a good portion of the dark chocolate here has hazelnutts in it. Seiously---germany is chocolate, hazelnutts, and beer. there you go, thats Germany. hehehe Then there is Nutella...which is a chocolate hazelnutt cream like peanut butter thats sooooo good!! And they eat it with breakfast...its on the table every morning with the assortment of jams and jellies, honey, butter, etc. Always a lot to eat with your bread. In my case toast. I love toast. with nutella and honey. oh i love it. The toilets flush really loud. Theres a big button you push either on the toilet or on the wall, rather than a little lever to push down. And they use a lot of water. 95% of the windows dont have screens. And they open like doors...all of them. Thats how your circulate air. They have handles that you push down on. And the handles on doors are all the same...no door knobs (it seriously just took me about 30 seconds to think of the word knob...i guess i forgot it...i was wondering if their was a word for the handle that is round and you turn in a circle....) , just handles. And there is no carpet in most homes etc. Hard floors always. They dont put their sandwhiches in bags most of the time. 75% of the time its in a plastic box that clasps and is made for bread size things. Majority of the cars are hatchbacks...they are EVERYWHERE. and they drive really fast. TV is bigger here than internet. At least in this family. BEER. Rothaus. that is Schwarzwald beer. I see more rothaus advertisements and smei trucks than most things here. Kebab...Indian taco-style food with kebab meet and lettuce and sauce. Ive had one so far...VERY VERY VERY GOOD. They dont use the oven that much, most just the frying pan. they eat with the fork in the left hand and knife in the right and scoop food with the knife to the fork. elbows on the table isnt that big of a deal. The mother always cooks the meal...men are more superior. everyone has a cell phone...everyone. (but me). Discoes (as in a dance club, they say disco here) and parties are more popular than chillin out with friends at someones house or going to little shows at the local cafe. Allemanische....the dialect in this area. Completely different from high german...waaayyy different. very similar to the swiss german dialect, which is written as Schwyzer-Dütsch. Like the days of the week in dialekt are completely different from the high german version. Arbitur...big test german secondary students take in the spring of their 13th grade. really big deal...they have stickers on their cars that say ''ABI '06'' Like we have class of 2005 etc. Big deal. well i think thats all i can think of for now. its geting closer to snow too!! ok gotta go...tschüs