Saturday, November 01, 2008
Weekend Update
- As I mentioned last week, we've been going to castles on the weekends. We just set out in any direction, then we ask Frances what there is to see. There are always a lot of choices.
- Last Sunday, we went to the castle in Hirschhorn: . It was a gorgeous drive: . Hirschhorn is called the "pearl of the Neckar" because the Neckar river makes a tight loop there, and the town is nearly on an island.
Frances took us directly to the castle, which was nice, but since it was still inhabited, the only part you could visit was the tower, which only Carl and Camden climbed--while my CFS is so much better these days, that many steps are beyond me.
While there, we met a man who was writing a book on the history of the U.S. Army in Germany, which was interesting, and an American student going to the University of Heidelberg.
After wandering around the castle a little bit, we took the paths through the woods for a couple of hours: . That's my favorite part. Usually, there's a bit of a hike before you get to the castles, and I was disappointed until I discovered the trails while Carl and Camden were up in the tower. This is one thing I'm really going to miss when we get back to San Antonio--going for hikes in the woods or hills or wherever. Everything is so fenced-off there. So we've determined to take advantage of this as much as possible. Maybe we'll get sick of it, though I can't imagine it at the moment. - It's been a seriously rainy week. I didn't get the yard raked until this morning. Thank goodness all the chestnut leaves are gone now. The other leaves are so much easier. I got a start on the curtains for the dining room--I'm about halfway done. I'd hoped to get them up before the in-laws came for Halloween, but it wasn't to be.
- Thursday I had my first mammogram. It wasn't as horrible as I'd feared. The squashing was more awkward than painful--thank goodness it was early in my cycle--I suspect at another time of the month it could hurt quite a bit. Actually, the worst part was the little stickers they put on your nipples, mostly because I forgot about them until I got home, and then... well, imagine taking a bandaid off a very sensitive spot. Ouch.
- I also started the big pot of chili on Thursday, which was a little more trouble than I'd expected. At least the beans got soft. I prefer using dried beans to canned ones, but I have a tendency to get impatient, and if you add the tomato sauce too soon, it stops the beans from softening futher--something I learned the hard way. The problem this time was that I have a flat-top stove. I love the flat-top stoves, but my chili pot isn't made for those. It has a ridge around the outside of the bottom and a slightly raised middle, so the bottom of the pot itself doesn't come into direct contact with the burner. It took me far too long to figure out that setting it halfway on the burner worked better. So the chili wasn't quite as cooked down as I'd have liked, but it was still tasty.
- And I made potato fried cakes--the "doughnuts" my grandmother made and that were a Halloween staple every year when I was a kid. But I hate frying, so I made them in the donut maker my dad gave me decades ago. Turns out frying them in oil is a good part of the flavor. They taste kind of like soft cookies instead of doughnuts.
- Then there were the caramel apples. I'd bought the Braeburn apples, which I think are the best for caramel apples--just the right amount of tartness--and some caramels. The commissary was out of Kraft, so I got Brach's, which I don't like as well, and which don't have popsicle sticks in them. Do you think I could find popsicle sticks anywhere? No. So I got a package of plastic knives, and they worked pretty well. I thought I'd figured out where I'd gone wrong the last few times I'd made caramel apples, so I made sure the apples were room temperature this time. No luck. I still ended up with thinly coated apples sitting in piles of caramel.
Yesterday morning, I took the caramel puddles and, with buttered fingers, smushed the caramel around the apples. It worked fairly well.
If somebody can tell me what I'm doing wrong with the caramel apples, I'd be very grateful. I used to be able to make them with no problem. In fact, I used to make them for myself, one at a time (9 caramels and 1 t. water per apple). Argh. - Carl had a really busy week, so Camden "saved Halloween" (his words) and carved all three pumpkins: & while I was making focaccia in the kitchen. We listened to my Stray Cats CD--it kept us from getting too stressed out. Really, how can you be stressed while listening to this: ? The hardest thing was cooking while dancing.
- The weather Halloween night was cold and drizzly, but it didn't deter the
ravenous hordestrick-or-treaters a bit. We had zero idea what to expect. We bought what we thought was way too much candy--specifically buying candy we liked (or at least that Carl and Camden liked) so the leftovers wouldn't go to waste. Hah. Trick-or-treating lasted from 6 to 8 p.m. on post, and we ran out of candy (even after giving out 45 mini-bags of chips, too) at 6:45. I felt so bad. Next year, we're getting a grocery cart full of candy. - Carl's brother, sister-in-law, our nieces, and Murphy, their basset hound, got here about 6:30. Everybody except Carl and me left to go trick-or-treating. When they got back, we had the chili and focaccia. Camden was the only one who had the hot apple cider--which was fine--I'd included it on the menu because I know he loves it.
- Our younger niece, Emily, was the only one who let us take her picture: , possibly because she was the only one with a real costume. Her sister didn't like the one she'd worn, so she borrowed one of Camden's goofy hats. Camden wore his Mexican wrestling mask, but didn't think that was weird enough, so he topped it with a dog hat. And then he wore a dressy shirt, tie, and dress slacks, heaven only knows why.
- Diva was thrilled that Murphy came. They get along really well. Murphy went along trick-or-treating, and got plenty of attention. AFN had a Simpsons Halloween marathon on, but we got tired of that, so we put on Young Frankenstein for the kids. The girls ended up falling asleep, but we adults enjoyed re-watching it.
- The weather finally cleared up this morning, so I went out and raked the front yard and part of the back yard. Carl and Camden went to a model train exchange this afternoon, and checked out our local thrift shop. They got a router that should be compatible with our modem, so there's a chance we'll be able to use both computers. Woo-hoo!
- Tonight we're going to the Roadside Theater--the local community theater--to see "Sweeney Todd". I'm looking forward to it. I always love community theater. There's just something more fun and immediate about it than slick professional productions. Like the time we saw "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and the star had been in an accident, so the director had to take his place--reading from his copy of the script the whole time. I swear that made it more entertaining than it would have been with original actor.
Categories: WeekendUpdate, AboutMe
Labels: about me, weekend update
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Darla, that is a lovely picture of you and your husband!
And I love the pumpkins that your husband carved. The "throw up pumpkins" was one of the original ideas Trish and I was going to do, but we changed our mind *grin*
And I love the pumpkins that your husband carved. The "throw up pumpkins" was one of the original ideas Trish and I was going to do, but we changed our mind *grin*
Carl didn't carve the pumpkins--Camden did. This is the first year he's done them all by himself, and he was quite pleased with the results.
Love the castle pic, Darla! The pumpkin carving is great... it is very beautifully done. I know I'd made a mess out of it, haha.
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