Wo ist Frühlings?

Hello everyone,

Well, today is April 24, 2012. We have six days until May. And many of us are asking the question that is the title of this blog post: Where is Spring? Much of the northeast of the United States (including the Buffalo, NY area) got hit with a snowstorm and here in Munich I am stuck with a chilly 37 degrees Fahrenheit, with rainy, miserable conditions. Plus the dishwasher broke on me so I ended up washing more than a full load of dishes by hand this morning, in addition to all my "regular" Tuesday chores: vacuuming and mopping the kitchen and hallway, and doing the children's beds like normal. Then I had to walk out into the rain to drop off our recycling.

Enough complaining though. I do have some good news: I AM GOING TO PARIS! This will be happening the end of May, and as of right now I have five Euros to my name until the first of the month. I will be spending about the same amount of time in Paris as I did in Athens, and I have been looking up other trip options for me before I go back to the States. Day trip options still include Salzburg and Zurich, an overnight option is Amsterdam, and one last trip I'm thinking I may take (if I have the time and money) is going to Sicily for a day or two. We will see. I am extremely excited about going to Paris, I'm almost worried I'll never come back! For those of you who would like a good foreign film to watch, and a French one at that, try "Amelie." Yes you will have to read subtitles, but it's a fantastic movie. Warning: there is quite a lot of adult content.

The children are great by the way. I haven't mentioned them much, but we have a great time. I will say this: trampolines were invented to kill innocent people like me. Some children have limitless energy, and it just so happens that these three children have enough energy I'm pretty sure we could hook them up as generators in case of a power outage. I was never a child with unlimited energy; I am pretty evenly balanced between running around and sitting down. (This is why exploring is perfect for me, it kind of combines both. Those of you who have suffered "Holly Road Trips" know what I'm talking about. Driving is a lot of sitting no matter how much of it you do, but it always takes you somewhere where you have to walk!) Anyway, these children LOVE the trampoline and I have become the person of choice to play with on the trampoline. Now, I love the children, but I'm pretty sure my calves are going to break off of my legs from jumping. On the other hand, it is good exercise. (Note: For my weight, two hours of jumping on the trampoline burns 318 calories. Thank you SparkPeople.com.)

Something I would like to share with all of you is this website: Project Gutenburg. For those of you who don't know what it is, it is a website dedicated to providing free electronic literature. Much of it is classic literature, for example I have read "The Prince and the Pauper," by Mark Twain and "The Call of the Wild," by Jack London, but it's still a great resource to have if you're short on funds (like me) and love to read (like me). Some classic literature is timeless and fun to read such as "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," by Arthur Conan Doyle, "Anne of Green Gables," by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and "Little Women," by Louisa May Alcott. Plus you can get a whole plethora of stories which inspired Disney movies such as "Cinderella," by Henry W. Hewet and "The Mermaid," by Lily Dougall. Not to mention if you're looking for classic children's books, you can get them here. Fair warning though, the original "The Three Bears" is a tad bit scarier than what America has diluted it to be. I have downloaded books on my iPod, but you can also download in other formats to other devices, such as Kindle and your PC. Check it out if you're bored!

I would like to take this time to announce I am very, very, very jealous about something. It's painful for me to admit, really. All of you know I love my Squishables. In fact, they are coming with me to Paris just like they came with me to Athens. Well, there is a section on the Squishables website where there are "retiring" Squishables. This makes me very sad. (Especially the platypus and the kangaroo Squishables. Why are they retiring? They are so cute!) There is another Squishable on the list for retirement. That is the Phoenix. My friend Justin had always commented on wanting this Squishable. I mentioned to him the other day that is was retiring and all of the retiring Squishables were shipped for free (to the continental U.S., darn it). Within minutes of this being mentioned, the Squishable was purchased. Now Justin has a Squishable mascot of his very own: Chanticleer. He even dressed him up and sent me a picture (reused with permission):

"Homeless Chanticleer," by Justin J. Totes jelly, Justin.

For those of you who do not yet own a Squishable, I highly recommend it. My next Squishable of choice would be the mini penguin, mini platypus, or the mini kangaroo, with the penguin and platypus tied for first place. Check out Squishable.com if you haven't yet! Chanticleer also has a cartoon:

And as always I have recipes to share with the world! My new dinner recipe is shown below:

Stuffed Mushrooms with Ribboned Zucchini

Okay, definitely one of my better ideas. Came up with it all on my own. (Only looked up how hot the oven should be for the mushrooms.)

Ingredients:

For the Mushrooms -

12 Large Button Mushrooms

1/3 to 1/2 of a Day Old Italian Bread Loaf*

1/4 of a Medium Onion, chopped

1/2 Tablespoon of Butter

About a Cup of Vegetable Broth (hot works best)

2-3 Tablespoons Grated Parmesan Cheese

*Note: You can really use any type of bread here, but in my opinion I think French or Italian would work best. Also, when broken up this should amount to about 2 to 3 cups of bread.

For the Zucchini -

3 large Zucchinis

3-4 Large Cloves of Garlic, chopped fine

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/2 of a Lemon (optional)

Salt/Pepper to Taste

Nutritional Information:

I'm going to focus on the mushrooms and the zucchini since they are the primary ingredients here.

Selenium, vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and D, copper, potassium, zinc, manganese, protein, anti-inflammatory benefits, antioxidant benefits, cardiovascular benefits, and anti-cancer benefits from mushrooms. Whoa.

Fiber, vitamin A, C, and K, vitamin B complexes, and potassium in zucchini.

This meal is less than 400 calories per serving (serves about three), can be made free of dairy with the substitution of butter to olive oil and remove the cheese, and can be made gluten free with a substitution of bread.

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius.

2) Prepare your mushrooms by twisting out the stem, then gently with a spoon removing as mush of the gills as possible.

3) In a large bowl, break up the Italian bread. Pour in vegetable broth just until the bread comes together in a paste-like substance. Saute the onion in the butter over medium heat until the onion is soft and lightly browned. Stir the onion and the Parmesan cheese into the bread and broth mixture.

4) Spoon the mixture into the mushrooms as evenly as possible. Place filled mushrooms evenly in a glass baking dish and bake for about 5-10 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned and the mushrooms are leaking.

5) Meanwhile, chop the tops off of the zucchinis and ribbon them by taking a vegetable peeler and peeling as much of them as possible (it's okay if they're uneven).

6) Lightly saute the garlic in the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes or so, then add the zucchini.

7) Stir regularly, and when the zucchini has begun to wilt add salt/pepper, and squeeze the optional lemon over the top. Continue to stir until zucchini is tender, or if you desire a slightly crisp flavor, until the zucchini just begins to brown.

Enjoy!

Sources:
www.whfoods.org
www.nutrition-and-you.com

Kettle Corn!

I based this recipe off of Chaos in the Kitchen's recipe. A few adjustments were made.

Okay, I loved Chaos in the Kitchen's recipe, but since I'm a health nut, and an organic one at that, I edited the ingredients a bit. In the original recipe, the amounts of oil and sugar were extreme. Yes, of course I will admit that it probably tastes great, but it's really excessive. The recipe below also really only serves one or two:

Ingredients:

1/8 Cup Popcorn Kernels

1 1/2 Teaspoon Canola or Sunflower oil

2 Teaspoons Raw Sugar

Large Pinch Salt

As far as the directions go, I followed the original recipe's. Thank you Chaos in the Kitchen!

Lastly, I wanted to share a plant update. It's been so long since I've done that, and other than a bit of regular plant growth nothing exciting happened... until today. I had been getting a few pumpkin flower buds, but out of the blue one had opened while I was sleeping. Since I had planned to make a blog post yesterday, the first two pictures below are from yesterday, while the last one is from today. I hope everyone reaches spring soon! I'll keep everyone updated on events as they happen.

Au revoir!

My plants as of yesterday. And yes, I know I should probably remove my dead gift flower.

This was my pumpkin flower yesterday...

Ta-Da! It looks a little like a hibiscus flower to me. Either way it's beautiful and I'm so excited about it. Sniff... I remember when it was just a little seed...