Letztes Jahr der Weihnachtsmarkt

Yes! It's that time of year again! The Christmas markets are starting to pop up again and my most favorite is the one in Aachen, Germany! I've invaded it every year since we first got stationed here...and it makes me very..very sad that this will be our last one. Of course, I'll invade this particular one a few more times within the next month, but still..2012 is the last year we'll be attending 'em. 

Le Sigh. 

All the stores were decked out with Christmas decor! Everything looked so pretty and magical, especially the bakeries. Then again, I think I'm rather partial to the pastries since I'm a little bit of a glutton...naahhhh....

I was actually pretty surprised that more people weren't there since today was the opening day for the market. But, the weather wasn't very favorable since it was rather chilly and raining throughout our entire visit. I'm sure most people preferred to stay all bundled up at home and snuggled up on the couch. I'm positive Eric would've preferred to do the same thing, but he was a trooper and opted to troll the market with me cause he's awesome like that. Actually, it's because he was bribed with Starbucks...

 Eric was completely smitten with the size of the long wieners that were being grilled throughout the market stalls. Nevermind the fact that we had just gorged ourselves on our favorite sushi joint, lol...he was still willing to inhale one of those bad boys!

The town hall was looking gorgeous as usual:

Eric got this crazy look in his eye and I couldn't figure out what was going on behind me...sure enough...

...one of the market vendors was selling cotton candy. All was lost. So...so very lost...

Once Eric's sugar gremlin was appeased, I went around to my favorite market vendor who sells the German glass ornaments - Inge's Christmas Heirlooms. I actually wrote out a list of the various ornaments I was looking for. Yes, seriously. Ya see, my Christmas tree is like my own little travel / life passport where I get ornaments to symbolize big things that have happened or things that are important to me. For example, I was looking for a passport ornament because of all the traveling I've done since we've been here...or a hot air balloon since we'll be moving to New Mexico. Here's some of the ornaments we were able to snag:

Since Aachen's market is our absolute favorite, it was definitely necessary to buy their official ornament:

Eric has an obsession with Chocopolis in Brussels. So much, in fact, that once we move to New Mexico and when it gets to a cooler time of the year there...he'll be ordering his favorite coffee chocolate from them and having it shipped to us. THAT, my friends, is dedication. 

Eric actually picked this one out for me. It's because I cook so much...and he loves my cooking. It's also because when he attempted to make something once and used a metal utensil in my very nice & very expensive Pampered Chef pans. I *informed* him in a rather panicked tone that you never use metal on metal...always use plastic or wood. So, I find it rather humorous that they actually have a wooden spoon glass ornament available..

The providence we live in is very known for its equestrian talents. There's always some sort of riding event going on somewhere around here , which is actually pretty cool to watch. Not only that, but the area around our house has five gorgeous horses (two of which have been born since we've been here)..and whenever we go for a walk, they run up to the fence line because they've gotten accustomed to the apples & carrots we toss their way. I'm honestly gonna miss those guys! Whenever I pull into the drive way and get out of my truck, two of 'em always rush up to the fence line and greet me with snorts & hoof stomps till I acknowledge them. 

Eric was VERY relieved that those were the only ornaments I picked up, although, none of those were on my original shopping list...so of course I'm still on the hunt for those particular items. As we walked around some more, we came across a vendor whose stall was full of gorgeous little cottages, cathedrals, little churches and all sorts of various things you'd use to make mini towns for a Christmas setting. One piece IMMEDIATELY caught my eye because it looks SO much like the church in the town we live in. After humming and haaing about it, we finally decided to snag it because knowing our luck, if we were to come back at another time to get it, it'd be gone. 

Oh, and lets not forget about Lush. During the winter time, they come out with "Snow Fairy", which I completely fell inlove with last year and have been itching to get a hold of again. Sure enough, we popped in there and they had a bunch of it on the shelf. I stocked up on a few bottles and looked a little too giddy about it...I think the staffed picked up on it cause they were giggling about how excited I was when showing Eric "LOOK! LOOK! THEY GOT IT! EEEEE!!!"

No date day is complete without Starbucks....since I was still very stuffed from the sushi, Eric opted to get himself his usual. In the process of getting his drink, he inquired about them selling their large "in house" mugs because we KNOW they used to sell 'em, but always came at a bad time, or they just didn't have enough in stock. Well, this time, they had 'em. So of course, he bought 'em and went on his merry way to meet up with me since I was off taking pictures of stuffs. I got a chance to check 'em out once we got home and I was surprised that they changed the mugs! They used to have the green siren logo on the front...and now it's just a recessed image in the mug (which shape has also been changed). Either way, I was happy with 'em!

Sounds dorky, but I thought it was pretty cool that they have a "V" on the handle to represent "Venti"..it's the little things, right? :)

So, there ya have it. That was our day...pillaging the Christmas market, did some people watching, did some shopping and ended up coming home to defrost since it was rather chilly / soggy over in beautiful Germany. On that note, off to enjoy some nice hot tea that Eric made :) 

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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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My sickness....has returned....

Ahhhhh...this that time of year when the Christmas markets around Europe return! When the Christmas markets pop up, that means I'm able to get some pretty bitchin' blown glass ornaments for my tree.  Today was the opening day for Aachens WeihnachtsMarkt (here's posts from the FIRST and SECOND time I've attended) and it was everything I was expecting! Although, it seems like they spread out the vendors more than last year, but the majority of the same people I bought from were still there. In fact, a lady I bought my Jim Shore animal Christmas statue from two years ago (and last year) remembered me! How cool is that? I guess I leave a lasting impression? :)

Anyway, I made a straight shot for my favorite vendor, Inge's Christmas Heirlooms, who sells blown glass ornaments:

I have a thing about collecting glass ornaments for our tree of various places we've visited, or things that remind me of important events...so at this point, the Christmas tree looks like a massive passport stamp cause it's got stuff from all over on it. Last year, I bought what I considered "Big Ben", but when I showed it to Eric, he said it looked like the bell tower in our town. Now every time I look at it, I don't think of our trip to London...I think of my town center, lol. If only I could find a blown glass pear, then I'd be a happy camper! My town is "Peer" but it's pronounced like "Pear"..and our town mascot is a dude hugging a pear, lol. It seems impossible to find one as a glass ornament!!!

Since Eric and I went to the market together today, I was able to get his opinion on which ornaments to pick up since I didn't wanna pick out something (again) and get my happy bubble popped. Here's what we ended up getting:

There is NO freaking way this can get mistaken for something in my town! It's Santa dressed up as a Royal Guard standing next to Big Ben! I was torn between this or an iconic red phone booth, but this pleased Eric since it has two alarmingly obvious things that symbolize London!

 We've been doing quite a bit of traveling this year, so I thought it was father fitting to get some luggage ornaments. The white one is mine while the red is Erics:

Of course, since we have out newest fur baby addition to the family, I wanted to add another puppy to the mix for the tree:

I meant to get one of these last year, but by the time I made it back up to the market to snag one, they were sold out :( It's a Lebkuchen cookie (kinda like gingerbread) that says "For You" ..makes me think of my Grandma cause she got them for me when I was little :) There was one we kept in our house for YEARS that said " Ich liebe dich", which means "I love you".

 And this...is my FAVORITE this year!! When I saw it, I said "OH MY GOD. This is coming home with me!" ...totally PERFECT since I love taking pictures and I really wanna hone my skills! I showed it to Eric and he said the same thing. How cool is this??? And it was VERY reasonably priced compared to some of the simpler ornaments they had. 

I'm still on a mission to find an Eiffel Tower as well as an Edelweiss to add to my collection, although for some reason, they're really hard to find! Given, there's eBay and what not..but some of the people on there are asking ridiculous prices for some of those things! Oh well, I have several more weeks of various Christmas markets to explore, so, fingers crossed!!

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Christmas Markets - Part Duex

Last year, I made my rounds to several different Christmas markets between Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands. My absolute favorite from then was Aachen, Germany cause I managed to score some pretty cute stuff (here's the post from last year: Hood-Tastic ).  Here's another post talking about the ornaments I picked up: She who dies with the most ornaments...WINS! .

So, I had high expectations this year considering last year was so awesome. Then again, maybe since last year was my first time experiencing European Christmas markets, everything was just THAT amazing to me. I dunno! 

I headed to Aachen today since I had made plans with a friend if mine to go. Sadly, she had to opt out because her son seems to have caught a nasty bug that's been floating around (causes kids to look like the exorcist and puke). I ended up going solo since I was really excited to go and I was alright with heading up there by myself (I'm a big girl, I can handle it). Parking was a nightmare. Forty five minutes of frustration, people tail gating me, getting cut off and almost hit a few times... my blood pressure went through the roof and managed to give myself a nice headache by the time I finally found a place to park. I guess today was trash day, so a lot of the businesses where you can park (parking area's around the streets) were filled up with large trash cans or tons of trash bags, or people were parking very stupid / inconsiderately to where it was impossible to park another car.

After much aggravation, I found a spot. Luckily, I brought my jacket with a hood because it started raining shortly after began walking around! 

After walking around for about 10 minutes, I realized there weren't as many vendors there as there were last year. Doesn't seem like it at first, but once you notice there's "more room" than before, you tend to see where the "holes" are. Kinda disappointing :-/ If anything, it's just pretty to walk around and see all the different decorations that the vendors had up. Luckily, the lady who I bought my ornaments from last year was there:

I managed to pick up one that thought looked like Big Ben....but when I showed it to Eric, he said "Oh nice! It's the bell tower in Peer!". That quickly deflated my personal victory cause when I looked at it, he was right. It looks like the freaking tower! Now I gotta go back, or enlist someone for their services, and get a double-decker red bus so it's "FOR SURE" a symbol of London! It's all Eric's fault.

After I got the ornament, I picked up some potato fritters (they're absolutely UH-mazing)....definitely something I look forward to during Christmas markets! They offered me apple sauce with it, but I didn't want any considering I still wanted to walk around without dribbling sauce every where:

From there, I walked around a little more and killed some time since I was waiting for the local sushi place to open up. No, I wasn't eating for myself since I just had the potato fritter. Well, technically I was. I was picking up sushi for dinner since Eric and I wanted some.

On the way there, I figured I'd take a few random pics cause things looked pretty:

All in all, it was "OK", but not mind blowing like last year. The only thing that's really gonna make me go back is the ornaments and the potato fritters. I think Eric and I are going to venture over to Koln's market, or even Bernkastels since I know theirs is officially going on. Might as well kill two birds with one stone (Christmas market and get our pottery!)

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Thirty Minus Two

Remember when you were little and how excited you'd get when your birthday was comin up? Your parents would plan out a fun party with all your friends and family, lots of presents...all that good stuff? 

I guess that fades once you get older. 

My birthday was yesterday...and it didn't feel like it was all that special. In fact, it felt like any other day. I ran errands all day... from Belgium to Germany, back to Belgium. Then from Belgium to The Netherlands and back. Fun fun fun. At least I got a call at 5:30a from my Dad wishing me a Happy Birthday...BS'd for about an hour with him, then I was off for my long drive. Is it sad that my husband and son didn't say anything till almost an hour and a half after I was up to say, "Happy Birthday!", and that only happened because my Dad said really loud on the phone, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Kiddo!".  When it was my husbands birthday back in August, the second he woke up, we sang the birthday song for him and had breakfast was already ready for him. For me? I didn't even have a hot chocolate or nuthin'. Not even a card. Correction, John made a card for me off of the computer late last night. My bad.

After the whole day, I ended up buying myself a 360 Kinect:

Just in case you don't know what the Kinect is, it's a sensor that's added onto the Xbox unit. Sure, they have a little camera system you can use to chat with people, but, it kinda sucks: 

Hence why I upgraded to the Kinect. It's a sensor system that actually has face recognition, it doesn't need a remote to work (YOU are the remote). All in all, it's pretty awesome. Here's a video that'll explain it better than I can: 

Once I got home and settled in, we got it set up with the xbox and programmed it...I gotta say, it's pretty awesome! We tried out the Kinect Adventures game that came with the sensors (Johns inlove with it) and it's super entertaining. It even takes pictures while you're playing the game (I wish I could figure out how to import them to my computer!). 

Here's some other games I'm interested in getting, ya know, once they're available to buy (they're all workout type games):

Another thing I purchased was this cute little sign I found in the Shoppette at Schinnen: 

It's rather fitting for our house :) 

So, my birthday was rather mellow. Lots of traveling for the sake of being helpful and for being a friend, being considerate of my family and getting grocery shopping done for them... not really much of an "Erika Day".  Given, I received well over a hundred "Happy Birthday" wishes from various people on my Face Book wall (thank you, by the way). Then again, if the lovely social networking site hadn't reminded them, would they have known any better? 

So, yeah. Happy Birthday to me.

Sorry if I seem so pouty, but, I'm rather disappointed.

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Türkische Apfeltee

Eric and I had an official Date Day in our favorite city: Aachen. I seriously can't get enough of that place..but at least we make it up there once in a while, ya know, as a treat :)

We did our usual routine: Crazy Sushi, Oil & Vinegar, Lush and Starbucks.

As of late, we've really been getting into Tea. Big time. We usually pick up different flavors of stuff when we're out and about and I realized that there was a store specifically for tea in Aachen. It's called, "Tee Gschwendner" and it's a pretty cool lil shop!  When you talk in, a wall of all different tea scents hit you in the face, plus they have unique little teapots available!

Several years ago, Eric was stationed over in Turkey and has ALWAYS talked about Turkish Apple Tea and how amazing it is. After staring at the great wall of tea tins, I spotted one that said, " Türkische Apfeltee ".. When I pointed it out to him, he instantly got excited cause there was a chance it was the authentic stuff he's been looking for. The gal opened up the tea tin for us to get a whiff.. and I swear, Eric's eyes dilated and he looked like a kid in a candy store! This is exactly what he's been hunting for! We ended up getting a 250 gram bag in addition to some tea strainers for our mugs:

The tea is actually pretty interesting.. it's dried pieces of apple with different spices tossed into the mix. In a sense, it almost smells like Apple Pie (seriously). 

We're now on a mission to find a Turkish teapot set..at least that's what Eric said since he wants to have his official Turkish tea the proper way. Instead of using a standard teapot to boil water in, you use this:

 

How to use a Turkish Teapot:

* Put 2 heaping spoonfuls of black tea in the top double boiler per glass along with enough water to cover - about a quarter of a cup per glass should be sufficient.

* Fill the bottom tea kettle with half a cup of water per glass. If you are only making a few glasses, make sure to add extra liquid so it doesn't boil away. Minimally, the bottom teapot should be at least a quarter of the way full.

* Place the top kettle on the bottom kettle, put the whole thing on the stove, and bring the water to boil. Because it is a double boiler, the top should become very hot, but should not boil, and the tea will end up being very strong. This process will take longer than just boiling water, but will be worth the wait!

* When the water in the top boiler is fragrant and very hot, pour the tea into a cup, using a tea strainer if you do not want leaves at the bottom of your glass. The end ratio should be about 1/3 to 1/4 of a cup of tea to hot water.

*  Add sugar to taste, or, if desired, milk. For a traditional Turkish tea experience, use only sugar, and serve in a tulip shaped cup.

 

One of our friends is currently over in Turkey for the next week, so hopefully he can keep an eye out for one of these for us. Poor guy, he's already searching for a rug for us..might as well add a teapot set to the mix, lol.

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