Christmas #2 with Stoffels

28 Dec - We visited our Favorite German Son and his family for Christmas #2. It was also St Stephen's Day - the patron saint of Michael's church. Petra cooked a WONDERFUL Traditional meal: soup, a super potroast with a mayonaise, hardboiled egg and cucumber dressing, mixed veggies califlower (blumenkohl), carrots (karotten), peas (erbst), boiled potatoes (kartoffeln), then for dessert a WINE MOUSSE!!!!

We tried wine, tried some of Alfons' wonderful likor which is different than in the states. Alfons does likor and schnopps as a hobby. We tried his newly bottles 9 yr old schnopps - WOW!! Then KIM drove down to the locks on the Rhine River in Detzem - next to Leiwen where Petra is from. When we returned Petra served a wonderful apricot cake - SNAP!!!

Kim, Jamie and Petra sang a few songs around the Christmas tree. We exchanged gifts, bought some wine and had a GREAT TIME!!!

Thanks so much to our Favorite German family!!!

Petra's Wonderful Lunch!!!

Christmas

25 Dec - Christmas. We wish EVERYONE a very merry Christmas (Froehlich Weihnacht) and a happy New Year (Guetes Neu jahr). We had a great Christmas and received some wonderful gifts from everyone.

Jamie and her new iPod

Kennedy's and our tree.

Garmish Trip

21 Dec - We are ready for our trip - Jamie wakes us up with that wonderful sound you only hear at 4 in the morning around the porcelin throne. Yep - she had the flu!!! We started our drive to Garmish - site of the 1936 Winter Olympics. The drive was OK with alot of rain and fog. We had a good meal for supper. On Monday - we toured Schloss Linderhof - one of the 3 castles of King Ludwig II. It is really nice but only the house was open. It was cold and a little rainy but nice and NO crowds. The house is really ornate with alot of gold, paintings, etc. The King lived here with his vase collection, had no visitors and ate alone. http://www.schlosslinderhof.de/englisch/palace/history.htm After that, we went to Oberammergau site of the Passion Play. http://www.frommers.com/destinations/oberammergau/0846010001.html Next, we visited the Ettal Monestary where they make likors and beer. yummmmm http://www.kloster-ettal.de/index-uk.html That night we visited the Garmish Christmas Market (Weihnacht Markt). Cold, gluhwein and food - really nice. We tried a dish with veggies and melted cheese and of course a crepe!!! Then of course we visited a Chocolate store and then a bakery!!!!! Yep, you know us - no food left untouched!! We know a couple members of our extended family will be HAPPY with photos. We had a very nice dinner at a local resturant. Most of the night this strange bag lady followed us around the town. She would come up and try to talk to us and we'd just speed up. We tried to give her money to make her go away but she just kept following us. We could not figure out if she was Heidi Klum in disguise, Kim's Mom or Phyllis Dillar on steroids!!! Be on the look out for this strange woman!! On Tuesday - Jamie attended Ski school for the day. She did really well. I'm sure we will be back. Tue was also Kim's Birthday - yes, she turned 39 (again). We dined at a very good resturant in Partenkirchen. Kim got some nice things and of course in the Bavarian tradition - the owner brought us PEAR SCHNOOPS shots!! Jim had one, Kim and Judy could not even try it so James had theirs and his :))) On Wednesday, Christmas Eve - we left and had about 30 minutes of clear skies for some great panoramic views of the Bavarian Alps. Then we got back to the fog. We tried to go by Neu Schwanstein Castle but it was VERY foggy so we did not walk up. It was a very good trip and we had a great time - family, food, fun - Next up - CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas Market - Trier

20 Dec - We visited Trier Germany with our Favorite German Son and his Mother, Petra!! Most towns have a Christmas Market in the town square. Trier is one of the oldest cities in Germany and was once the farthest city north of the Roman empire. The city has several old roman Ruins: the old Roman Baths, Ampitheather, Roman Wall and Roman Churches. it is a very beautiful town on the Mosel River about 20 minutes from Luxembourg and about 30 mintes from France. The Christmas Market was very large and very local not commercialized and touristy like those in Nuremburg and other places. We highly recommend it for those interested in very reasonable prices, excellent regional food and really nice Christmas items like CHOCOLATE, FOOD, BEER, Gluewein (warm spiced wine) and other things that don't really interest me as much. We finished the day with some wine at Michael's house :))))) Trier Christmas market James and Petra eating an Onion and Ham Fried Bread Austrian Germnodel - Jam filled Bread Dough with Vanilla Cream and Cherries - SNAP!! Jamie and Her Favorite German Brother Michael at the Porta Nigra (Black Gate) in Trier.

Making Christmas Cookies

Kim and Jamie took several days to make Christmas cookies and other sweets. Kim made some baklava that was the best I've had - she knocked the cover off this one. They made alot of things to include peanut brittle, chocolate covered pretzels, sandies, and OUTSTANDING caramel, spritz butter cookies. They also made gingerbread cookies at girl scouts. Jamie putting chocolate on the pretzels!! Some of the cookies!!

Making Gingerbread house at Girl Scouts!!

St Nickolaustag (St Nickolaus Day)

6 Dec - On this night all across Europe, St Nick visits the homes of kids and places candy in the shoes of good children and sticks in the shoes of bad children. Jamie must have been good this year - St Nick found her skow boots and filled it with chocolate.

Jamie's Last Two Swim meets

7 Dec - Heidelberg - Jamie had a good performance and was faster in two events but did not qualify for Championships in any . She swam the 100m IM and placed 2nd, the 50M Free and dropped 0.5 sec and placed 2nd and then the 50m Breast and dropped 0.6s and finished 4th. She earned 22 points for her team but the team lost to Stuttgart. there we 5 teams total at the meet. 13 Dec - Ramstein - Jamie had an average performance and only dropped time in one event. She swam the 100M IM, finished 2nd, the 50m Free finished 3rd and 50M Breast and finished 5th. She earned 26 points for her team and Kaiserslautern won. There were 7 total teams. Jamie also swam the first leg of the 200m Freestyle Relay. The first swimmer scores a split time that counts for time. She swam a 40.75s - that is 0.5s faster than her best time but still 0.76 sec slower than qualifying. Jamie was swimming very well in the relay leg for the first 40m then slowed dramatically - she could have qualified if she had finished strong. She learned a valuable lesson. Her next meet is 3 Jan in Baumholder. Her Grandparents will be here to see her try and qualify again for Champs. She is within .76s in Freestyle, 1.31 sec in Breast and 3.5 sec in the IM. She is more than capable of qualifying in all 3 events but has to develop that killer instinct. She has 3 more meets to qualify. Her final meets are 3 Jan in Baumholder, 10 Jan in Geilenkirchen Holland and 17 Jan in Ramstein. Tschuss

More German Food - Just for Myungsup :))

Been awhile since we posted photos of food so here is some more. We know how much Myungsup enjoys these photos and how hungry it makes him. Sorry but they are TOOO good not to share and enjoy!!! French Raspberry (Malina - slovak, Himberren - German) Tort Meat and Sauerkraut - Strasbourg France (yes - I needed a heart operation after this) 3 meat Hot Pot - OUT FREAKING STANDING!!! - Strasbourg, France

Petra's Peach Creme Cake - Double WOW!! Maybe one day she will marry me. I'll keep asking :))

Michael's New Wine....... Well, Tina considers it food :)))))

Making Bananna and Nutella Crepe - Rudesheim

Finished Crepe and Gluhwein (Hot Spiced Wine)

Blackforest Cake and Another cake - Rhine River

Pork Medallions with Mushrooms and Potato Croquettes - Bingen

Wild Pig with Spaetzle and veggies - Castle Lichtenberg

Monster Chipotle hamburger at Chili's - Jakub's Favorite - Ramstein Air Base

Kim's Dump Cake - Everyone's favorite Mexican Appetizers - K'town

Thai Food - Tina's Favorite - K'town

Thai Satay - Jamie and Tina Favorite - K'town

Turkish desserts - Berlin - yummy

Schweinebraten (pork roast) - Berlin

Noodles Carbanara with salad - Berlin

Carbanara Al Panna - Berlin

Ice Cream :))))))))))) - Berlin Train Station

Jaegerschnitzel - Berlin

Cannot remember the name but basically German Halushky

Spaetzle (Egg Noodles) with cheese and bacon bits - Berlin

Chicken basket with Fries - Berlin

Petra's Flan with caramel sauce - WOW!!!!

Petra's Mushroom Soup - EXCELLET - Jamie helped

Petra's Pork Roast with Gravy - OMG!!!

Shrimp Scampi at a wine fest - Leiwen

Schwankbraten - Pork steaks roasted - Leiwen

When Enemies become Friends

See an article about the exchange student program and how two families worlds apart 20 years ago are now joined by their shared "daughter" . See 26 Nov issue http://www.bw.eur.army.mil/sites/news/Herald-Post/PDF/PDF.htm This is exactly why we have the exchange student program. Please share with others.

Thanksgiving #2

28 Nov - We welcomed our Favorite German Son and his Parents - Alfons and Petra - to our home for their First Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful meal and perfect company for the evening. We have many things to be thankful for and our extended family is one of them. We are blessed with 3 wonderful international "kids" and their wonderful families. We had all the Traditional Thanksgiving items. We had little placecards for each food in German. Pretty Kool huh!! Alfons and Petra never tried Sweet Potatos before and LOVED Kim's now WORLD famous Sweet Potato Souffle. Our friends in Australia even cooked it last week at a party for Friends. Corn Bread dressing was also new to them as was sweet Ice tea. Petra brought a wonderful Feldsalat. We also had Green Bean cassarole, Kim's Wonderful Cheese Bread (Ahyoung and Tina would be happy), cooked sweet carrots and gravy. We had a very good Savignon Blanc wine from New Zealand and it complimented the meal quite well. We talked and enjoyed the company. Of course, we had Pumpkin (Kuerbis) Pie, Sweet Potato (Suess Kartoffel) Pie and Pecan Pie. Finally, Alfons and James shared a shot of Slovak Borovicka. Nosdrave!!!

Kennedy's and Stoffel's enjoy Thanksgiving

"Kennedy's" and the food.