"Wourld Rally Championchip"

Here in Germany, you will see lots of cars (ok, not lots, just more than in the US) with window stickers on the back. No, I'm not talking about those that have the children's names on the back. I'm talking about those that take up the ENTIRE rear window.

I know, I know. There are people in the States that like to do this too. I remember after Selena died, there were loads of cars with some sort of tribute to her. There are others that have the confederate flag foiled on the back window (those I really dislike!).

Here in Germany though, they seem to be a different breed, those that put giant stickers on the back of their car windows. They are young (not that the confederate flag people are not) and they seem to watch just a bit too much of MTV's "Pimp my Ride". You see the occasional "Playboy" with the playboy bunny on the back.

However, then you get those that try to be cool by writing in English, but they really come off looking like illiterate dumbasses. Take for example, the dude in the "pimped" Ford Fiesta. He had his car lowered, had some "sweet rims" on and to top it off, he had a spoiler...on a Ford Fiesta! But what really blew my mind away (and made me point and laugh, and then kick myself for not having my camera on me) was the window sticker that this cool dude had.

It started off well enough. At the top there was "WRC" in fancy writing, then it had the big Ford logo in the center, basically taking up the entire window. But what really made Markus and I pee our pants was what came next. Underneath the Ford logo were the words "Wourld Rally Championchip". I kid you not! Markus noticed that he keenly replaced the "s" with a "c" in championship. Then while we were laughing with that, I noticed the awesomeness with which he spelled world.

Seriously, what did this guy think as he was ordering it?
Cool Dude: Yes, I'd like to order a custom sticker for my car.
Salesperson: Ok, so we've got the letters W-O-R-L-D, R-A-L-L-Y, and C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N-S-H-I-P...is this right?
CD: No, no, you've misspelled that! it is W-O-U-R-L-D and C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N-C-H-I-P!
S: Uh, I'm pretty sure it's not, but whatever you'd like, your the customer.

Use spell check cool dude!

So, moral of the story is that if you see this guy driving around Regensburg (which is where we saw him) you have every right to point and laugh at him. I give you permission.

Now is about the time when we come to the debate as to the use of English in the German language...but that shall be saved for another time. Sarah and Cliff have already hit on this point (as have many other expat bloggers) and I think I'll wait for another awesome example before I go ranting on about that again :).

Velveta Shells and Cheese eat your heart out!

I decided that I really wanted to make Mac n' Cheese tonight. However, I hate the powder box stuff, and you just don't get velveta here, so, off to make this on my own. I have made it before, and this time, it is just amazing. I think it is the fact that I used half sharp cheddar and half white cheddar. Luckily, at Kaufland here in Germany, you can get decent cheddar slices. Good for burgers, GREAT for mac n' cheese!

Here's the recipe:

2 Tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 cups milk
2 cups of cheddar cheese
8 oz. macaroni (or gnocchi shells)

Directions:
1. Cook the pasta according to cooking directions.
2.Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
3. stir in next 4 ingredients and whisk until smooth
4. remove from heat and slowly add the milk
5. Add back to medium heat and continue to whisk until thickened. This takes a while. You'll get a great arm workout though!
6. Stir in the cheese until it melts.
7. Add the cooked pasta.
8. HERE is where you can get creative. Put the mac n' cheese in a buttered baking dish. You can either cover it with some more cheese OR what my mom likes to do is cover it in buttered bread crumbs and bake until golden. (I used Garlic and Herb bread crumbs from Progresso)

Seriously, this is the BEST mac n' cheese! Even when I'm back in the states and have an urge for mac n' cheese, I'll be making this recipe!

Markus' 30th birthday...Round 1

I had to call this post "Round 1" because we haven't had his real party yet. We'll be having that on June 6. However, here in good ol' Deutschland, it is basically a must for you, the birthday boy/girl to bring a cake (or 2 or 5) to work with you to share with your coworkers. So, like the good little housewife I am, I looked at this as a challenge. I decided to make some that I've never made before and some old favorites. I did end up with 5 different types of cake/muffins/pie.

First off, we have a Rasperry Buttermilk Cake thanks to SmittenKitchen (one of my favorite sites!). I used a bit more raspberries than she did since Markus looked at the picture on her site and was like "You're going to use more raspberries right?". So, what birthday boy wants, birthday boy gets. It did make the bottom of the cake really, really moist (a bit too moist in my opinion) but Markus loved it, so that is really all that matters. As it was baking, the batter kind of "gobbled" up the raspberries, so that is why I'm putting a before and after picture in here.

The next cake was a Banana Bread. Markus calls this cake, but no, it is a bread, hence the name. Sarah, Cliff, Markus and I had a long discussion about this and Markus claimed that here in Germany there are no sweet breads. Luckily for the Americans in this conversation, Sarah and Cliff just made a trip to the store (oh, and I might add that it is Easter time) and bought an Osterbrot, and Easter bread, which is a sweet bread. Hah! Score one for the Amis!

I also made some blueberry muffins since those are Markus' favorite. I got the recipe from RecipeZaar, which has just about every recipe known to man. The recipe I used was especially yummy. I liked the hint of lemon in it...but Markus told me later, he'd prefer it without it. Well, the baker gets to decide this one, and the hint of lemon stays! It compliments the blueberry so well!

Also on the list was a chocolate cupcake with a cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese frosting wasn't anything to write home about. It was a bit on the runny side, so I'm still searching for a good cream cheese frosting recipe, but the chocolate cupcakes! Oh man, were they good. This is also a recipe that came from RecipeZaar, but from one of my favorite posters on there Kittencal. She really has some awesome recipes.

The last thing I made was my Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. I posted on this earlier. And really, if you leave it be for a day, it will not be runny! I tested it out this time and it really worked. Or, if you make it in the morning and let it cool completely and then enjoy it after dinner, it isn't runny. The picture of it is above (with the cupcakes). Since I have loads of pictures of it in another post, I figured I didn't need another one here.

So, Markus took all of these to work with him. They were all a big hit and they were basically gone that day. There was just a bit of the banana bread left, but Markus left that in the fridge and the next day it was gone. So, success!

Holzkirchen

This past weekend, I tagged along with the Musikzug Hirschau to Holzkirchen. They were having some sort of Spring Festival and the Musikzug was invited to come and play in the beer tent and in the parade. It was quite nice.

Right when we got there, we had to quickly unload the bus, the Musikzug peeps had to change into their uniform and we had to hustle over to the beer tent since we were running a bit late.

The tent was huge and there were loads of teenagers there in traditional tracht (dirndl's and lederhosen). It made for some AWESOME people watching. Another lady, Kerstin who is the leader of the baton twirlers that march with the musikzug, and I had to protect 5 tables that were reserved for the Musikzug. This was hard considering the tent was packed and when drunken teenagers sat at the table, I had to go over and ask them to move. Finally, I just said that if they would move when the Musikzug came that would be fine too. So, then I didn't get as many nasty looks.

The Musikzug finished playing and then had to go back to change...this took FOREVER, especially when you're sitting there trying to save these 5 tables from drunken teenagers. They finally came and we ate dinner. There wasn't too much selection. Currywurst or Schnitzel, those were the only two things that sounded good to me. I decided on the Schnitzel...it was ok.

Then the guys (Markus, Fischi, Max and Georg) wanted to go and ride some of the rides. They had bumper cars and you would think that these 3 30-year-olds were 12. They were so excited. Luckily, I had the trusty camera there so I got some funny shots of that. And there was a swing ride. Georg really wanted to go on that, so they did.

As the night wore on, the beer tent got smokier and smokier, but the people watching outside got a lot more interesting :). But around 11, I decided to call it a night. Markus walked me back to the gym where we were staying, I told him to go back, but he was really tired too, so he stayed. The others came home at around 1:30, but I didn't hear a thing.

Then it was time to get up...at 6am! They had to go and do the "Wake-up call" for the town. I decided that I didn't need to attend this so I stayed in bed for another hour and a half then went and met them for breakfast. This was a good plan on my part :). It was raining a bit and just gross weather in the early morning.

Luckily by the time the parade rolled around, it was gorgeous weather. Sunny with blue skies. While they marched on the parade, I decided to sit and soak up the sun. I was at the start/finish line of the parade, so I would get some good pics anyways. There was an interesting couple sitting next to me and we chatted a bit, but I must say Oberbayerisch is kinda hard to understand. I got maybe 75% of what this guy was saying. He did get a kick out of the fact that a Texan was in Holzkirchen for their little festival.

The first picture is a good one of Markus playing. The second is of the Musikzug marching.

Back to the parade, when the Musikzug came back around, I hooked up with them and walked to the beer tent with them. There we got free food and free non-alcoholic drinks (yay! Perfect for me!). After lunch, we headed back to the gym, packed up and headed back to Hirschau.

It was a great weekend, the only thing that happened that was HIGHLY annoying is that the bus' air-conditioning was broken! I was roasting. Markus was fine, but then again, he's not growing another human. :)

Baby Girl

So, baby girl has decided she wants to kick (or punch) a lot lately. It is quite funny because you can see my belly move when she does it really hard. Quite an interesting feeling...

Update on the little girl

We were at the doctor today for a normal checkup, and little girl is growing normally and still not really wanting to show her junk (or lack thereof) to my doctor. I did cheat on my doctor and go to a fancier doctor to find out the sex in the 18th week. Well, today, my doctor said that it is "likely" that it is a girl since she can't see a penis or testicles. So, now my doctor is 80% sure it is a girl (but I'm 100% sure...there was NO mistaking it on the sonogram from the fancy doctor).

So, to get an idea of how big she is, they measure the upper leg...or femur. Today it is 39mm (about 1.5 inches). If you multiply this by 7, you get a rough idea of how long she is. So, 39*7= 273mm or 10.74 inches. She's a growin'! There weren't any really good shots of her today though...they've tended to be crappy lately. But in the 28th week, I'm going back to the fancy doctor for a 3D sonogram and have him take some photos and videos.

As always, I will keep this updated :)

The Slingbox Solo

No, my dear gay friends, this is not a sling that you can use by yourself, this is a way for me to watch US television over here in Germany. (You dirty minds you!)

The adventure begins really when I moved to Germany May 27, 2007 (wow, almost 2 years now!). German TV is ok, but really, it doesn't hold a candle to US television. They do have US shows, but there is always something lost in translation, and not to mention that the dubbers seem to all sound the same. I must make the disclaimer here that I am in no way a TV addict. I like TV. I like my horrible reality TV every now and then, but seriously, who could not like Food Network or TLC? You're not human if you don't think what The Barefoot Contessa puts on the table doesn't look absolutely yummy. Come on! It's Ina Garten! She makes it all look so easy!

Ok, enough about Food Network. So living over here, I have begun to like a few shows here and there. They are mostly reality shows though. "Das Perfekte Dinner" is probably my favorite. Five contestants have to cook a three course meal and be judged by their peers. The only problem is that it is on EVERY night. Sometimes I miss watching the contestants that I really want to see...and then you see some people try to cook "American" or "Mexican" food and you see how they utterly mess it up. No my German friends, adding corn to a dish doesn't make it automatically Mexican. I swear.

So there was always this longing for quality programming. Ok, ok, if I am being serious with myself here, I mean to say quality food programming. There, I said it. About a half a year ago, I met a lovely gal named Christina G. She is somewhat of a goddess in the blogger community over here in Germany. Everyone knows her blog and she's been up for a few blogger awards. She is also a pretty awesome person. I read on her blog something about this wonderful piece of technology called a "Slingbox". She is able to watch US television in Germany...legally!

Do you hear the angels singing too?

Holy cow! My prayers have been answered! I can finally watch and see what the Iron Chefs will do with Basil/sardines/sauerkraut/fetal pig as the secret ingredient! I can see if those little people can actually make it in this big world! I can see how Jon and Kate are able to handle sextuplets and twins! I can DVR any show that I'd like! Truly amazing news!


How does this thing work exactly? Well, let me explain the absolute simple wonders of this little, wonderful piece of technology.



There are a couple of versions of the Slingbox. There is the Solo and the HD one. I decided to go with the Solo since if I were to hook up my computer to our TV, it wouldn't be HD, and plus, the solo was A LOT cheaper, so I went with this one. The other thing that I needed to get was an extra cable box. You need to have a cable box that you are able to control remotely (you get these little infrared sensor thingies that you need to attach to the cable box and it acts like your remote.). One thing that I did find out later, since I was so freaking excited about this little bit of technology, was that the Slingbox needs to be plugged directly into the router. Where I was setting this up, the router is 2 rooms away.

Oh no! Crisis! Luckily, those smarties over at Slingmedia have thought about this can came up with the "Slinglink". This is a nifty little device that is like a wireless hookup for your slingbox to the router when you're slingbox is in a different room. Eureka! Problem solved. It was a bit expensive, though, to solve that problem. The Slinglink was about 75 bucks (plus tax). A picture of the Slinglink:

The setup was a breeze. You just have to install the Slingplayer on your computer, type in your username and password (you have to set this up on a computer that is connected to the Slingbox network, i.e. the network which the slingbox is hooked up to) and voila! You are able to watch TV remotely. I was so excited about this I wanted to try it out with my friend Emily's computer at a Starbucks down the street to see if it really worked or if I needed to take the whole thing back. It was a beautiful thing when that picture of Maury popped onto the screen. I tried changing the channels, and it really worked like a breeze. Then, I sent Markus a detailed e-mail (it wasn't long since set-up is so easy) on how to set this up, and he was up and running in about 2 minutes (plus the time to download the player).

The realy nice thing about the slingplayer is that you have two options about how you control the box. You can use a virtual remote control:

Or you can choose from a guide list. The only problem with the guide list is that you can't DVR shows that way, you have to use the remote...however, I'm pretty sure that is a way around that, and I'm still working on that. The slingplayer with the guide list:

So, now I'm back in Germany, and I must say, I am extremely happy with the Slingbox Solo. Of course, the picture quality isn't spot on, but it isn't horrible either! We haven't hooked it up to the TV yet to see how the picture will be, but we are going to try that out tonight when we watch The Daily Show. I'm sure I'll have another update about this later.

So, here's the breakdown of the costs of the Slingbox:

Slingbox Solo: ~$180
Slinglink: ~$75
Cable box: ~$21/month
Watching US TV in Germany: Priceless!