Incoherent Scribblings

Cat Hair like Tumbleweeds

The first time I saw a tumbleweed I was driving down a barren stretch of Interstate 35 in southern Kansas on my way to Texas. All around me the land was barren and dusty. I had seen neither a house nor a car for many miles and I was driving in a slight daze.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I noticed some movement and when I looked, I saw a large ball dance across the road ahead of me. Instantly I knew it was a tumbleweed because it looked just like they always do in the movies. As I passed it, it just kept rolling and rolling and rolling along the deserted landscape.

Now days, I always picture this scene whenever I clean my house. I don’t picture it because my house is barren (though it is quite dusty) or because it has an “Old West” feel to it. I picture it because everyday I pick up tumbleweeds of my own.

However, my tumbleweeds are not the skeletal remains of the once green “Russian thistle” that break away from their roots in the autumn and are driven by the wind as light, rolling masses over fields and prairies. No, my tumbleweeds are grayish-brown and when I remove them from the nooks and crannies that the breeze has rolled them into, they are soft.

This is because my tumbleweeds are made of the loose cat fur that floats aimlessly around my house. Somehow, all this cat fur mysteriously attracts until it forms one or more balls and, just like tumbleweeds, is driven by the breezes as light rolling masses throughout my house. And like the tumbleweed that spreads its seed so far and wide that it continues to multiply, no matter how many of my cat hair tumbleweeds I pick up and throw away, there always seem to be more.

Yes, both are pests, turn up in the oddest places, and are never-ending. Therefore, is it really any wonder that I should compare the two?

What’s Cookin’? - Friday Forum

Yeah, yeah I know I am supposed to post this on Friday, but I didn’t come across it until today.

Besides, it is my blog and I will post when I want to!

1.) Do you enjoy cooking? Why/why not? How about baking? Do you do most of the cooking in your household, or does someone else? How often do you go out to eat (or order in) in a typical week?

I am the resident chef in my household. I barely trust A. to boil water and I prefer that he stay out of my kitchen. I enjoy cooking, but only when I am in the mood. Since I am not in the mood very often we usually go out to eat at least once a week. I love to bake cookies, cakes, brownies, and pies but I don’t do it very often because there are only two people to eat all of those goodies and they will go straight to our hips!

2.) Do you have any dishes (or desserts, or beverages, or whatever) that you consider your “specialty?” Did you create the recipe yourself, from scratch? How often do you make this dish?

Since moving to Germany I have done a lot of recipe experimentation because I have had to find substitutes for things that are not as widely available here. In addition to that, I am a pretty picky eater and so I never follow a recipe to the letter. If I don’t like an ingredient called for I leave it out or substitute something I know I like.

From all of this experimentation have come some dishes that I do consider my specialties and those recipes were created from scratch. Both A. and I are so fond of my “Mixed Meat Burgers” (a compilation of a variety of Greek burger recipes) that on average I make them once a week.

blondelibrarian’s Mixed Meat Burgers:

All measurements are approximate since I seldom measure anything! Makes 2-4 burgers

250g (about ½ lb.) mixed meat (ground pork and beef)
1 t oregano
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
¼ t salt
pepper (to taste)
1 egg
¼ cup bread crumbs
1 T Water
Feta Cheese (crumbled)

1. Combine all ingredients
2. Form into patties
3. Grill
4. Serve with French fries and Tzatiki

3.) Have you ever taken any cooking classes? If not, what type(s) of cooking class would you most like to take? Do you ever watch the Food TV Network? What are your favorite shows on there?

I have never taken a cooking class, but I have thought about taking one to learn how to cook Indian food. We don’t get Food TV in Germany.

4.) What’s something quick and easy that you like to just throw together when you aren’t in a cooking mood at all?

When I am not in the mood to cook, I tend to throw a pork chop on the grill for A. and make a double batch of fries. Other times I make Kaiserschmarrn, an Austrian pancake that is very similar to a crépe that I learned to make from A.’s mom. (I am sure the French would be insulted to hear the comparison, but it’s true!)

Kaiserschmarrn:

1 egg
1 cup milk
1 T sugar
dash salt
about 1 cup flour

Blend ingredients on medium speed in order given. (Batter should be thin.) Preheat skillet with 1 t oil over med-high heat. Pour one ladle-full of batter onto skillet and cook about 2 minutes on each side until pancakes are golden brown. (It may be necessary to turn heat down to medium. When pancake appears dry it is time to turn in over.) Makes about 4 pancakes. Serve warm with powdered sugar and fruit or Nutella.

5.) What is your favorite kitchen appliance? Is your kitchen generally well stocked with equipment? Describe your kitchen to us ~ what it looks like, what’s on the counters, etc.

I think my favorite kitchen appliance would have to be my dishwasher! I hate to do the dishes! I also really like my mini food processor too…

I would say that I have about every kitchen appliance that I want, I have a cupboard full of herbs and spices, and I keep the non-perishable items that I tend to use on hand so that I when I am in the mood to cook, I can!

For a European kitchen, mine is pretty big. Most kitchens here are not built in, but we were lucky and found an apartment with a refrigerator, stove, oven, sink, and cupboards that were. The refrigerator is very small though, so since we had room we bought a second one. All of those things, along with the dishwasher are along one wall. I have a “portable” counter and the table along the other wall and still we have room to walk through. My kitchen isn’t always as clean as it should be and is usually cluttered, but I don’t think that reflects badly one me: It is only a sign that I actually use it!

Now, let’s eat!

Oops!

Guess what I have been doing tonight instead of stitching? Online stash shopping!

I saw Black Swan Designs’ “Pansy” Angel and just had to have it! Pansies and violas are my favorite flowers and I just couldn’t resist it. Of course, while searching for it, I found some other things too…

Back to “Passing Admirers”

After all the finishing I did earlier in the week, the past couple of days I have been on a little craft break. I sat down and tried to do a little bit of stitching on “Passing Admirers” the other day, but couldn’t concentrate and yesterday I didn’t even take my stitching out of the basket.

However, today was a different story and I managed to get about three and a half hours done on Polly’s dress. My short term goal is to try and get her dress done in this rotation. I would say her dress is close to 80% done, so I think it is a very reachable goal. If I accomplish it, I will be so happy because when her dress is done, except for the backstitching, I will be done with her. And even though she is a very pretty lady, I am really ready to move on.

You can check out my latest “Passing Admirers” progress in my cross stitch gallery!

Where Have All the Snowmen Gone?

After a relatively mild December and January, winter hit southern Germany with a force in February.

I am not going to moan and groan about the temperatures and the snow, because after all, I spent the first 23 years of my life in IOWA for pity’s sake. Sure it is cold here, but compared to those lovely winter days of my youth when during basketball season I was running around in a short cheerleader skirt and it was so damn cold outside that my nose stuck together when I breathed, winter here just isn’t so bad. In fact, after living for 5 years in the South, I found that I actually missed winter just a little bit.

Last night as A. and I walked to dinner (we went out for my belated Valentine’s Day Dinner), it dawned on me that something has been missing from German winter: Snowmen! Seriously, I don’t think I have seen ONE snowman in the three winters that I have been here.

I asked A. if kids even build snowmen here. He claimed that in the Rhine Valley where he grew up they seldom got enough snow to cover the ground, let alone to build a snowman, but thought perhaps I hadn’t seen any here because most property is fenced off and hidden behind tall bushes. Possible perhaps, but not all houses are hidden. You can see quite well into some yards and I swear I have not seen a snowman!

Then he suggested that perhaps the kids here have built so many snowmen that they are bored with them. Maybe… but as I personally come from a place where there is lots and lots of snow almost every winter, I highly doubt it. After all, I still love building snowmen. If our apartment complex had a yard, I would go out and build one right now!

If kids do not build snowmen here, then I think that is a great pity. Some of the best winter days I had as a kid were when school was cancelled and all of the neighborhood kids would gather at the Play Park and spend all day building snow forts, snowmen, having snow ball fights, and making snow angels.

But even when school wasn’t cancelled and we just had a good solid snowfall, everyone’s back yard would have at least one snowman standing there with sticks for arms, an old ratty hat on its head, a carrot for a nose and rocks or buttons for eyes. For me, winter just isn’t complete without a snowman and so here in Germany, I must ask: Where have all the snowmen gone?