The Oak Tree

The Oak Tree

by Johnny Ray Ryder Jr.

A mighty wind blew night and day.

It stole the Oak Tree's leaves away.

Then snapped its boughs

and pulled its bark

until the Oak was tired and stark.

But still the Oak Tree held its ground

while other trees fell all around.

The weary wind gave up and spoke,

"How can you still be standing Oak?"

The Oak Tree said, I know that you

can break each branch of mine in two,

carry every leaf away,

shake my limbs and make me sway.

But I have roots stretched in the earth,

growing stronger since my birth.

You'll never touch them, for you see

they are the deepest part of me.

Until today, I wasn't sure

of just how much I could endure.

But now I've found with thanks to you,

I'm stronger than I ever knew.

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1200 / 1200

Throughout the time that Eric and I have been together, I've experienced his love of video games (as well as Johns)..for the most part, I've stayed pretty mellow with it considering I used to be REALLY into them when I was younger. If you've hung around me, you might've noticed I have stumpy thumbs (they look like toes)...my Dad blames their size on my excessive video game usage when I was little. Hardy har har. Anyway, when I was going through college..I had to put the games down and focus on my grades. Fast forward a few years later, met Eric, fell in love..got back into the habit because you can't have a recovering crack head in a crack house and not expect them to stay clean. 

About a month and a half ago, Eric picked up a game called "Saint's Row: The Third"...and I'll be honest. It looked absolutely ridiculous. It's along the lines of "Grand Theft Auto" with a mixture of slap happy humor. A you progress through the game, you get more weaponry (like a baseball bat that's a massive dildo called "The Penetrator"), sniper rifles, flying hover crafts, a slew of cars that you've stolen, lots of clothes, the list goes on and on. In addition to that, there's been tons of DLC (down loadable content) so you can play a variety of "game show" missions as well as be an actor on a movie set. You can get VERY creative when it comes to designing your character, the clothes they wear and their mannerisms. 

Like I said, I thought it was a stupid game at first, but for some reason or another..I got super hooked on it. I mean BAD. It's pretty rare that I know more about a game than Eric since he reads all the gamer books, Xbox Live magazine in other little nerdy things to get additional information on cheats for a new game. Well, I know more about this game title than he does...it's a bit of a mind warp for him. 

After, ahem, many hours of playing.. I've FINALLY beat a game..COMPLETELY! Eric hasn't even done that! I'm sure there are people reading this and thinking, "You have way too much time on your hands if this gets you excited"...well, gimme a break. I don't really get into games all that much since I enjoy platform titles verses third person / shooters, which is all Eric and John really have an interest in. So when I finally find something I like, yeah, I'm gonna enjoy it! 

This is probably one of the more random posts I've ever done, but hell..I'm geeky happy about this! Now... I suppose I should go make a significant dent in "Skyrim".

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Olive You ♥

It's been a while since Eric & I have been able to go on a date day between his work schedule, his back getting injured, my health problems, and everything else life has decided to throw our way. SO, when we had the chance to run off to Aachen yesterday, we took full advantage of it! 

Back in...ohh, November..there was an alley he and I walked down just to get lost rather than sticking to our normal path. By doing that, we walked past this shop called Korb Bayer, which had beautiful olive wood items! I must've looked like a kid outside of a toy store because I just staring through the window to see all the various goodies they had. Honestly, I didn't go inside because I knew I'd leave with a ton of stuff..and at the time, we were in Aachen to do Christmas shopping for other people. The olive wood place would have to wait. 

* image provided by internet search *

Fast forward to *now* and we finally managed to make our way back over to Aachen and have our beloved Crazy Sushi. From there, we ventured around and found the alley way we stumbled across in November. Sure enough, the store was still there! Yay! It's a little shop and can hold about three people on the main floor, but there's lots to look at on the walls, various layered shelves and a hutch that happens to hold grooming items for men. While I was drooling over the olive wood items, Eric found a pretty cool shave kit that he kept debating on whether he wanted to get it or not. 

* image provided by internet search *

After checking it out further, we ended up getting it because the quality is fantastic, the brush itself is made out of badger hair, and the handle on the razor is made VERY well & Eric liked how it felt. The cool part is that instead of having an old fashioned razor head, they customized it so you can use Gillette razor heads, which is perfect for Eric since he has to switch 'em out once a week. 

While we were talking with the shop owner about the shave kit, I saw this mortar & pestle set that I completely fell in love with! My kitchen currently has two mortar & pestle sets, but I like having the various styles and textures since I think they add a little more to the decor. After humming and mulling it over, we ended up snagging this piece as well since I really liked the tiger stripes and polish was beautiful! It actually reminds me of a store back in California that specialized in burlwood sculptures because of the texture..just..love! 

After that, we made our way over to our favorite oil & vinegar store, which happened to be called "Oil, Vinegar & More".

* image provided by internet search *

When the time comes for us to actually leave Europe, I will REALLY miss that store! We constantly buy garlic olive oil from them as well as walnut oil..by far the best flavored oils I've ever had! I normally use 'em for infusing seasonings with meats I'm marinating overnight. After talking with the owner, we have an order set up with them that when we're almost on our way out, we'll be buying a few large containers of their stuff. By large, I'm talking at least two gallons of each flavor. Yeah. We mean business!

There ya have it! Another successful date day in the lovely country of Germany :) 

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Ask & You Shall Receive!

Go figure...I posted about my "wants" and two of 'em happened pretty fast! If only everything worked that way, right?  Is it sad that the owner and his wife know me by name? The second I walked in, I heard "Hello Erika!" with big smiles and waves. I shop there way too much. 

I popped into my beloved Slegers and right off the bat I see this fantastic old world globe. Sure, it'd be nice to have one that has actual information on it, but I think this one is MUCH cooler because it has paintings of sea monsters, astrological signs and old latin terms for various continents. The globe even rotates on an axis so you can adjust the degree coordinates! LOVE! AHH!! Everything is applied on old parchment paper, so I'm curious to do a little more research behind this particular goody. 

Then I made my way upstairs since that's where I remember the church benches being. Given, I had the choice of a single seater, or a double seater. After debating and debating, I ended up putting a deposit on the double seater "just in case" since it was the only one left, but there were two single seater benches. Before I went and bought the thing, I had to make sure I ran it pass "The Man" since I was basically buying it for him. Ya see, he has this knack of tossing his uniform all over my kitchen table in addition to his hat, change, other doo-dads that aren't clean..on my nice, clean kitchen table. See where I'm going with this? So, yeah..this bench is for "his" corner where he can hang his hat and other junk.

It's obviously been sun bleached, but I'm not really worried about it right now since, hey, it's a bench. Once we move back to the States and we're re-united with all of our stuff that's in storage (like my power tools), I'm going to strip it down and stain it darker. It's solid Oak, so it's going to last a lifetime and I'd prefer having the color match the rest of our furniture :)

For the time being, it's still over at the antique place since I need to find a spot to put it (yes, shame on me for buying it without a designated place), but it also gives me time to get rid of some more stuff. Luckily, the owners don't have a problem with it staying there. As the owners wife put it, "You'll be back. You always come back".

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Want Want Want...

I gotta say, over the course of the last three years, I've managed to score some pretty awesome stuff. There's still some things I want to find before we make our great migration back to the lovely United States even though my house is on the verge of bursting due to my current collection. It's a sickness, what can I say? If you had all this stuff at your fingertips, wouldn't you take advantage of it? 

*A church bench* 

Random for me, right? I'm not religious what so ever, yet I want one of these for the (future) foyer when we're done moving around. During my many antique hunting trips, I've stumbled across a few that are beautifully carved and look pretty fantastic. 

In all honesty, I can thank Pinterest for wanting the bench because I love how people have set up a bench with a nice line of hooks for jackets and other goodies. If I manage to get my paws on one, it'd DEFINITELY be used in an area where Eric can kick off his boots and leave his uniform on that rather than scattering them all over the house for me to clean up (our kitchen seems to be a magnet for those things!). Not a fan of being a maid!

*A trunk*

Given, I have two pretty cool trunks, but I want just one more that really *pops* in terms of how our decor is. My husband picked this up for me while he was away for work related stuff. I LOVE all the carvings! We keep this one downstairs since it holds our throw blankets & pillows (we use 'em to cuddle up on the couch). 

 This one is upstairs in the guest room to hold shoes as well as socks since there's a  removable tray. I actually bought this off of someone who was moving away.

And this is the one I'm aiming to get from a local antique store. Once I get this, I'm done in terms of "storage things" for around the house. 

*A globe*

I really want one! I especially want a vintage looking one because they're SO cool! 

*A nautical compass*

Silly, I know...but I think it has something to do with all the old things I enjoy, especially since all of it ties in to traveling :)

*A vintage camera*

I've been on the hunt for one of these things for a WHILE...as in, the last year. Between scouring various antique places as well as eBay, it seems pretty impossible to find one that's in semi decent shape, or that isn't ridiculously overpriced. It's going to be used as DECOR..that's why I refuse to spend $200+ on it since it's going to sit on a shelf. 

Lots and lots of wants.... le sigh.

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Chicken Ticky Tava

We've been stationed here for three years now..well..just shy of three years by two weeks, but still, three years! Throughout our stay, Eric has always asked me to find him some Chicken Tava whenever I make it over to the Turkish market. While I'm picking up our produce from over there, I ask one of the vendors about this mystical thing Eric speaks about and they look at me like I'm some sort of nut. Truth be told, I've heard other people talk about it, but those people were either stationed in Turkey at some point in time, or knew of a restaurant that served it four moves ago. 

Well, a gal on my Facebook ended up posting a link for a Chicken Tava recipe, so after reviewing it and reading the ingredients off to Eric, it was settled that I needed to attempt this sought after meal (all while Eric was giddy with delight). 

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/2 (12 ounce) jar roasted red bell peppers, drained
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 (6 ounce) jar mushrooms, drained
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (16 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese

It's actually a REALLY straight forward recipe. Super super simple. If you don't have a Tagine, you can totally do this on a crock pot if you're wanting to have it cook for several hours. It'll make the chicken very juicy and allow the flavors to enhance, or, you can always do it in a tall stock pot and have it ready within twenty minutes. It's all up to you, really :)

Take the roasted red bell peppers and drain out the juice, then toss them in a food processor / blender. Since I don't have either, I put them in my Manual Food Processor and worked 'em till they were practically a sauce consistency. 

After I was done blending, I tossed in the minced garlic and let it sit together while I finished prepping the rest of the ingredients:

Once everything is opened up and chopped, toss in the Tagine / crock pot and set on medium low heat..set it and forget it. Yes, it's really that easy! 

I let mine cook for a little over four hours and it smelled amazing!! I made some rice to go with this, topped with some mozzarella and bam:

 Eric looked like he won the lottery when he walked in the door because it made him think back to when he lived in Turkey. Apparently he lived off of Tava for quite some time, lol.

So, there ya go! Chicken Tava that actually gets the husbands "thumbs up" since he's actually had it from Turkey :)

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