Pasta nights

We established a new tradition in our family life: pasta nights! That means we are not just eating pasta- we are making it by ourselves. Inspired by our son who loves pasta and also enjoys baking/cooking with me we started with this new tradition two weeks ago. Last Sunday was our second run. It works pretty good! But you need time, a lot of time… The Sunday before, we made raviolis (but in shape of “pierogi”, much easier) with a delicious meat filling. I love Jamie Oliver`s recipes, and he has a few good pasta recipes, especially for the dough. Rolling out the dough was physically very exhausting, so this was my husbands part. With a glass I cut round shapes and Jakob put the filling in and finished. Our dog, who kept us company the whole time, deserved the leftover filling. He loves pasta nights now too. It was such a fun!!!

By the way, they tasted excellent, too. Yes, even better than my favourite Barilla pasta. (And we had enough to feed two more families…) My husband discovered his love for cooking and went to buy the “absolutely” necessary supplies for the next pasta night, that was last Sunday. This time we made fettuccine with our new pasta machine. Each of us had a part to do again: Olaf was putting the rolled out dough in the machine, Jakob was moving the curb, I was placing the fettuccine on cut boards. Joey was licking the flour from the floor.

Needless to say, we all were covered in flour. And laughing! The dinner was great! Maybe next time the fettuccine should be a little bit thicker. But this will have to wait two more weeks. Our next pasta night will have home made gnocchi on the menu.

Good friends

Three weeks ago I had to go to the ER , I got pneumonia. Because of my Crohns therapy it can be dangerous, so they kept me in the hospital. By the way, I was not in shape to go home anyway. Of course, when this happened my husband was on a business trip in Europe. I was all by myself, just with my 9 year old son, and no family who could help. But help came: from my friends and neighbours. They did not mind that I called them at 6 am in the morning. Our friends were happy to get Jakob ready for school and even to have him over night. They took just wonderful care of him. My neighbour came right away and drove me to the hospital, he did not leave me until a doctor approached. To be honest, I was scared, lying in the ER, my husband far away, not knowing what will happen, feeling terrible and completely lonely…and then I saw my friends face through the glass door. I don`t think I`ve ever been happier in my life to see somebody as in this moment. Àfter putting the kids on the bus she just rushed to the hospital. She kept me company until I was in my room and made sure I was okay. My neighbour who drove me also took care for our dog. Another neighbour called and asked what I need from home. He had our home key and was offering to stop by, which he did. In the afternoon another neighbour (who is more a friend) came for a visit with flowers and magazines. And for a talk, which was the best for me. On the next day there was a visitor already after breakfast. Another friend. She brought me chocolate croissants. Just on time. We talked and laughed. I found my humor again. Or even better: I found out that I can count on my friends (and neighbours) when I need them.

My husband got an early flight and was back home on the same day. He picked up Jakob and in the evening, me. I responded well to the medication so I could continue the therapy at home. Everybody called and asked if they could do something for me. What more could they do ?!

Back to school!

The Back-to-school-week is like a hurricane. You are expecting it for days or even weeks, preparing as best you can and it still can overwhelm you completely. I am usually very organized but the first week of school is chaos. But obviously not just for me, for the school and especially for the transportation department also… The busses drop off the kids more than one hour later, and in the morning they just miss them some times. So, desperate mothers (like me) are driving the kids to school (behind the bus).Crazy!

Sports, scouts meetings, orchestra rehearsals are starting, all kind of papers have to be filled out, new teachers to meet, new schedules to follow and so on…But even the worst hurricane is over at some point. I hope!

Ps. By the way: Jakob is really happy with the beginning of school: He loves his new teacher (it is a man for the very first time!) and he can spend recess and the bus drive with his best friend.

School can be fun! At least in the first week…

Home again

We are back from our last trip for this summer: we visited our family in Germany. We stayed for one week, as every year, which is a short time. Our family never forgets to mention this. But even if we would stay for a month, there is always a point when we have to say bye and it is always hard, no matter for how long we would stay

. So, we enjoyed the short time we had together and tried to see as many family members and friends, as possible.

The most important thing for me was visiting my grandma, who is 91 and to her I was (and am) always very close. In this age you never know if there will be a next time, a next year… But I was happy to find my grandma in a really good shape. We enjoyed many “Coffee-hours” together in one of her favourite coffee-shops in the town. She loves to drink cappuccino. Me too.

We stayed with my in-laws in their house.

You know, there is always the same question: where do we stay over night? All our family members would like to have us, especially my parents, but in this case (and in so many others…) my husband makes the decision. However, we had a wonderful time.

Jakob played with his cousin and the kids of our friends, went swimming with my parents and got extremely spoiled, as usual. We needed an extra bag for his new toys, but I understand it, because the grandparents try to compensate for one year in one week. (We got spoiled too.) It was good to visit our friends and see how much older the kids got. They change so much, especially when we see them just once a year. But it´s not just the kids who are changing…

A nice treat for us was spending some time in Cologne, which is not just a beautiful city but a place where Olaf and I went to the university and lived afterward for six years.

We even showed Jakob the building where our “old” apartment was. And we discovered new places in Cologne too, for example Starbucks, Ben&Jerry`s…

And we walked a lot. Something I still miss in the USA. And we talked a lot! And we had many nice dinners together. And many glasses of wine. And many kisses and many hugs.

But then it was time to go home again. And here we are. Back home.