Pfeffernusse

Every year for Christmas we got a package in the mail from my grandma.  I didn't really know her as a chef or a baker, but every year she sent us a bag of homemade pfeffernuss.  Pfeffernusse (pepper nuts) are small hard anise-flavored cookies.  I know - anise.  I always loved them.  Probably because they were from my grandma and because of the emotional connection to the food.  Anyway, they are these little bite-sized cookies about the size of a marble.  They have a distinct flavor and don't need frosting or sugar on top.  Just plain and simple.

There were two ways we could enjoy our pfeffernusse.  First, we could dunk them in dad's coffee (not mom's usually, she didn't like them).  Pfeffernusse are firm and the coffee loosens them up just enough.  Or we could eat them out of our pockets.  Yes, our pockets.  That was my favorite.  Ohio winters are cold, especially when you are waiting for the bus or pushing the woods. (Pushing the woods means walking through the woods from one end to the other in a strategic manner so as to kick-up the deer and sending them running in the direction of the hunters.)

I remember standing outside in the cold on several occasions, it was so cold so I'd put my hands in my pockets and....you guessed it...pfeffernusse!  I would pop the little delight in my mouth and just kind of let it melt down.  (I have to tell you that once...maybe a few times...I'd put on my coat for the first time of the year and find a pfeffernusse in the pocket.  When they are a year old they are a bit too hard, and sadly, you have to toss them.)

When grandma died two years ago I scoured her recipe books for the pfeffernusse recipe.  To the envy of my cousins and aunts, I found it.  It wasn't until this year that I tried to make them, and I really wish I could have called grandma for some clarification.  You see, not only was the recipe written in the time of lard, but there are no instructions.  Only ingredients.  And even that isn't a complete list.  "Enough flour to roll."  Hmmm..."enough"....I seem to have lost my "enough" measuring cup.  It was a bit of guessing, but I think I figured out something at least close to what grandma used to make. If only it were cold...

Holidays with Family (and some cute babies!)

We just got back from the States in which we were able to celebrate a whole seasons worth of holidays in just two weeks!  We didn't get to see everybody we wanted to, and we'll still wish we were there on Christmas, but it is good to be back in our place.

Our first stop this trip was Connecticut where we celebrated a wedding (again), a first birthday and Thanksgiving.  As if this didn't keep us busy enough we also squeezed in some delicious Mexican food made with lots of love by our friend Jenny, a stop at the local watering hole the night before Thanksgiving to see the variety of locals, and a nice long walk in the woods.  We had so much fun playing with our nephew Atlas...or more so...following him around as he crawled and walked and explored the whole house.

I think after our many trips crossing time zones we've almost figured out how to beat the jet lag:  NyQuil and Red Bull.  I know - not the healthiest, but I don't think the body was made for time travel and when you only have a few days, you can't waste the best hours sleeping.  Oh..and baking at 630am.  If you can't sleep, might as well do something fun! I had a great time making him these really cute Sesame Street cupcakes...I won't tell you how long they took.  But if you'd like some - forget it.  This was probably a one time shot and only one other person in the world (right now) will ever get anything close to this.

The theme of the trip seemed to be babies!  In addition to Atlas, Paul's friend had a baby just days before we landed.  He was so small and looked just like his dad!  I admired him upstairs for a bit while his dad had band practice in the basement.  Live show!  It was pretty cool.

The next..and prettiest..baby was Allison Marie.  She has got to be the cutest little girl I've ever seen! (and she happens to look like me! :) )  Alli turned 5 weeks old while we were there and greeted me with a dirty diaper.  We met our niece during the second half of our trip in California where we spent a few days with my brother and sister-in-law.

When colleagues asked how my trip was I couldn't say fast enough: "Great! I met my niece! She is so cute!  She smiled at me!!!"  This is monumental because she is just starting to smile and I had played with her the night before.  In the morning as soon as she saw me she smiled. :)  Did I mention how adorable she is?

Besides the baby, I also got to see my entire immediate family in California!  My mom, dad, Paul and I cooked up a storm in the kitchen! They cooked, I poured flour all over the counter every hour and used up all of the butter.  Shawn and I read so many books to Alli and he was awesome just holding her and playing with her during tummy time.  Amy and I went to yoga.  That was the coolest yoga studio I've been to and blows anything I've seen in Israel so far out of the water.  It was really fun and I can't wait to go again next time I'm in Cali!  Dusty made some amazing waffles and gave us all a tour of the USS Midway.  We also snuck in a walk around the block, a trip to the zoo, and a few trips to the grocery store (the Salvation Army woman outside of the store made quite a pretty pen during my many mini-trips).

It was a super fun trip!  I wish we'd have had more time to hit up more locations and see more people.  On the bright side, we'll be back in March!

The Baptism

During our first full weekend in the States we headed to New Jersey to see Paul’s family and attend the baptism of our nephew.  Though I missed the Brazilian dinner Paul’s brother and fiancé made on Friday night, I heard great things about it.  We’ll have to have a cook-off one of these days!  Saturday brought more time with family and more great food.  “Pah, pah, pah, Paul” – It didn’t work.  The baby is still too young to pronounce the letter P, much less say Paul.  Maybe next time.

The reception for the baptism was before nighttime the Mass and once all of the guests were there, Paul’s sister told us she wasn’t 100% sure the Mass was going to be in English! Ha ha.  It was…and it wasn’t.  Half of the songs and half of the readings were in English.  The gospel and homily were done in both English and Spanish.  And the baptism was only in Spanish.  I was translating for Paul’s cousin which is pretty difficult given that I haven’t spoken Spanish in a year.  The church was packed and the mass was…long (3 hours).  After the part and the after-party, we went back to the hotel to hang out with Paul’s siblings.  As I write about this all now I don’t know how we had the energy to do it all, but when you only have limited time back home with everyone you just subtract and hour of sleep and add a cup of coffee, and somehow it all works out.

Home Sweet Home - Part One

Paul gets to go on lots of trainings and attend conferences for work, but this time, I got to go on training too!  Paul was studying the nitty gritty of managing contracts and I was studying the basics of U.S. assistance to other countries.  Our trainings were conveniently both in Washington, D.C. (so we got to spend some time in one of our favorite cities, eat at our favorite restaurants, and see our friends!) and conveniently timed around our nephew’s baptism and my Grandfather’s major award!  Although we promised ourselves after Christmas that we wouldn’t do it again, we crammed 4 states, 7 flights, a train, and 2 buses into 2½ weeks – and it was totally worth it!  We were pretty useless at work the first day back so this weekend is the recovery consisting of sleep, water and vegetables.

So the trip starts out with us, as always, super excited to be back in the States.  Because we were on official training, work told us a dollar amount that we can spend on the hotel and we find our own hotel.  And if you know me, you’d know that I will get the best deal – so we stayed in some of the most famous 5 Star hotels in the city!  Fabulous!  We got to see a lot of our friends which was really really great (and the main reason we were excited to get back to D.C.).

Just like every time before, I loved D.C.!  The food, the architecture, the smiling people!  What better way to start off your day than a man saying “Good Morning!  Have a great day!” and handing you a free newspaper as you enter the metro?  The training was really interesting and we got in as much time with friends as possible while being introduced to three new great restaurants:  Founding Farmers, Grill Fish and Hill Country.  The first is all local food with amazing cocktails (like the specialty cocktail at our wedding.  The second was delicious fish – also ecofriendly!  The third wouldn’t make my list of favorites, but Paul liked it so much he ate there twice in two weeks.  We also checked out a few houses but they were just slightly over (4xs) our budget.

The highlight of Part One for me was my short trip to Miami!  I’ve heard many people compare Miami to Tel Aviv – nothing alike.  Okay, very much alike, but to compare them is to compare McDonald’s to Ray’s Hell Burger…or Wal-Mart to Nordstrom’s.  The best part about it?  Alexandria!!!  If you haven’t seen us together, we are quite a pair.  Not only do we ALWAYS get asked if we are sisters, but there is always an interesting or funny story about the people we meet or the things we do.  She is great, her friends are great, the food was great, the weather was great! My only complaint is that I never have enough time!

Israel is not so far away...

At the wedding reception we had a table with greeting cards and asked our friends and family to fill out a card and write a date on the back. On that date during the next year (this year, our first year away) we would open the card. We have gotten some really lovely messages and we look forward to those days when we get to open another card at breakfast. Last week one envelope read:
TO: Jen & Paul, Far Far Away

But Israel is not so far away. Especially if you have Skype. Now, this might sound like a Skype advertisement but I assure you they are not paying me for this. I wish they were. Every evening as we are making dinner Paul and I check to see who is on Skype. The usual suspects include our parents, Paul's brother, my cousin (though she never answers), my grandparents and 2 or 3 friends. We talk to those people quite often.

Moral of the story: if you miss us you should get on Skype! It makes the Atlantic seem like a puddle. For example: this weekend my mom and I had a one hour sewing lesson/date and my brother gave me a hug all the way from California! I had lunch/dinner with Greg in Brazil, a drink with my dad in Ohio, a chat with Jill in Wisconsin, with the Vaca family in Connecticut, with Alexandria in Florida, and coffee with my grandparents in Wisconsin.

Granted, it would be nice to sit next to my mom for the sewing lesson or actually feel my bother's arms instead of the hard computer monitor; but Skype is leaps and bounds above letters, phone calls or emails. And it is infinitely better than silence.

Assuming we had unlimited vacation time and money this is one example of why it is difficult to physically cross the Atlantic to see everyone: Paul might make it, but I'm not THAT strong of a swimmer. Haha, just kidding. Paul is having one heck of time trying to get home from a bachelor party right now. His "trip" home will end up being about...Sunday at 7pm until Wed at 3am - plus an 8 hour time change. You can do the math. It was not supposed to be this way, but this is how the mother nature, the human body and airlines work. Paul will write about this later and you'll understand what I mean.