Charlie in the Snow...

So, here is the best shot of Charlie in the snow. How freaking adorable is he? Markus took this shot, but I was holding the snowball on top of the camera...teamwork. I love the bit of snow on his nose! He is an absolute snow dog. Whenever it snows, he cannot wait to get outside!

Here is a more regal shot of Charlie. He just looks like he is such a good boy, and he is, don't get me wrong. However, shortly (about 2 seconds) after this picture was taken, his best friend came around the corner and the attention went to her.The snow was perfect for packing. In Texas, I was never able to make a snowman bigger than a foot, but here, we were able to make these roll things that were about 3 feet high! It was pretty fun, and Charlie had fun trying to destroy the balls as Markus rolled them.

Here is Charlie sitting on top of the large snow rolls. Later, we had about 7 of these things and he had to jump from one to the other. He had a blast!

Jumping off the rolls...

How adorable can one pup be???

So, this was our weekend. Playing in the snow, but also practicing what we learned at puppy school. Charlie still has a lot to learn, but he's already improving, and that is important.

Hundeschule Take 2

So it was Charlie's second day at dog school. It seriously gives me hope since he isn't the worst dog there...he just maybe has the shortest attention span. But we learned a lot today and a few hours later we went to a big field to play and works some more on his "homework".

That was loads of fun since there was about 5 inches of snow. Charlie loves the snow. I'll have some pictures up tomorrow seeing as we forgot the camera today...So, this will just continue tomorrow...

Here's a few pictures of Charlie in his first snow. It was back in March and he was only three months old! How cute is here. In the pictures where you can still see the grass, he just learned the "sit" command. Then he was too excited and didn't want to sit, hence the crazy picture. Then, later in the day, it had snowed more...he went nuts he was so excited! He's loving the snow even more since he's bigger and has more friends...

First attempt at making any kind of bread...

So, my challenge today was to make a loaf of bread. Of course here in Germany they have loads of bakeries with loads of bread...white bread, whole wheat bread, really dark bread, bread with sunflower seeds, bread with pumpkin seeds...really any bread you can think of. However, they do not have a good cinnamon raisin bread (at least not where I live). So, I figured I would give it a shot.

I searched my favorite recipe site (recipezaar.com) to find a recipe in which you didn't need a bread machine seeing as I don't have one. Well, I found one and I thought I could do it. (Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/Worlds-Best-Cinnamon-Raisin-Bread-Not-Bread-Machine-98867)

Everything started off good. I got all the ingredients together that I needed, measured them and got the butter and things to room temperature. My mom always did it this way, so I guess it just rubbed off. (Thanks mom! You're the best!) So, I add the warm water to the yeast and heated up the milk and everything was going well. Then I noticed that the yeast wasn't "foaming up" like the directions said it would...oh crap, what do I do now??? I guess at this point I should say the equipment that I have...I have a big metal bowl, a wooden spoon and elbow grease. I guess when I added the warm water to the cold bowl, it cooled it down considerably, and didn't activate the yeast properly...or something like that. So I did what anyone would do in this situation...I set it over the small pot that the milk was in and made a make-shift double broiler...Ok...now it's getting foamy/frothy...saved!

Next to the next panic...I had one egg...Luckily, I have a store about 2 minutes from here, so, quick dash over there...saved again!

Ok, so at this point, nothing else goes wrong and it actually goes pretty smoothly. It doubled in size, so I didn't mess it up with the yeast disaster. They were really lovely. And the taste! Oh the taste! My first attempt at bread was definitely a success! Not that I am tooting my own horn or anything... :) But just look at that swirl!!!

First Post

So, I have been doing a little bit of research on blogging, and I have found it to be so intriguing that I am going to give it a shot.

So, about me. I love to cook, so I am pretty sure a big topic will be food. Living and cooking in Germany is definitely NOT like living and cooking in the US. You don't get the same products, so you are having to find substitutions or make replacements for things. I have found that the end result is actually better! It is because of this experimentation in the kitchen that I have honed in on my culinary skills. So I guess, my next adventure is going to be putting these skills to the test.

I teach English to adults here in the area. It is pretty fun. Some days are much more stressful than others, so I'm sure that will also be a topic of conversation...especially on those trying days when I just need to let some steam off!

I think that for the next month, I am going to try to be cooking/baking at least one thing a day. I think this will be an interesting and fun challenge.

I am married to a wonderful guy. He is German and the reason that I live in Germany now. I met him my junior year at the University of Colorado at Boulder. We had a long distance relationship there for a while since he was an exchange student, and I decided that I would move over here for a year and try out the whole expat thing. I liked it, but I after a year, I went back to the states to continue studying.

Now, we are happily married (hence the wedding photo) and we have a four-legged furry son named Charlie. He is a bit hyper, and I think he has ADD. We are now taking him to the Hundeschule here in Weiden, so I guess I'll be talking about that as well. "The adventures of raising a bi-lingual dog"...that sounds like a good title...

So, let's let the adventures begin...