tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59910833887789845942024-03-19T01:10:26.447-07:00EuroAmerican HomeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-81645898673984982392014-08-15T19:38:00.000-07:002014-08-15T19:38:17.035-07:00The things we grow {august break 5} <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLiPGu5CWpF7ifgHCu44yDdUG0XKklZeEPmj1_6FwsbduQ2wwyyQzdzelBPQwF0Op-mX_hBcS0TPIRQlAln5lO7bB2m-Di6iQMfHOvlK7DPLINrS0CbbT4219kopE-DyVuwEZ4rdaj1Jc/s1600/Gladiolas+in+August+EuroAmerican+Home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLiPGu5CWpF7ifgHCu44yDdUG0XKklZeEPmj1_6FwsbduQ2wwyyQzdzelBPQwF0Op-mX_hBcS0TPIRQlAln5lO7bB2m-Di6iQMfHOvlK7DPLINrS0CbbT4219kopE-DyVuwEZ4rdaj1Jc/s1600/Gladiolas+in+August+EuroAmerican+Home.jpg" /> </a></div>
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The second year of growing gladiolas</div>
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and they're already</div>
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our masters. </div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-54497088516341909092014-08-05T14:56:00.003-07:002014-08-05T14:56:56.956-07:00Orange {august break day 4}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhhwW70l35hcgK9bWnfSCRyr6GbVXM_WuWV5RfI3wK2bDAFH7pxVwiHwDriP5T62X5Nfy617jss_1dEef5psaY3l8wRJf8YDBP_gFR-av47ofSSdbD50ZrE9mS4jlGe8B_cmy47O3WM8/s1600/Roald+Dahl+omnibus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhhwW70l35hcgK9bWnfSCRyr6GbVXM_WuWV5RfI3wK2bDAFH7pxVwiHwDriP5T62X5Nfy617jss_1dEef5psaY3l8wRJf8YDBP_gFR-av47ofSSdbD50ZrE9mS4jlGe8B_cmy47O3WM8/s1600/Roald+Dahl+omnibus.jpg" /></a></div>
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“I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm going to ignore your advice.”
<i>Fantastic Mr. Fox</i><br />
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<i> </i><br />
<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2014/08/sunny-side-up-and-avocados.html" target="_blank">Day 1</a> - Lunch<br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2014/08/pattern-at-pennsylvania-fair-august.html" target="_blank">Day 2</a> - Pattern<br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2014/08/window-in-amsterdam-madurodam.html" target="_blank">Day 3</a> - Window <br />
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</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-26606361397725388302014-08-04T20:45:00.002-07:002014-08-04T20:45:56.574-07:00Window in Amsterdam {august break day 3}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCLExJkFZWSvJiQohdRI0vD7uIzrt8k7jqteidq5L1B-KUcNP8DBcoYpHGxcUGgo9sOnxyVRu_pJT7ATli0xx4C5iXn432aTcUa37oI3ceBoxVn040pwzZHkPja2wlyJiMvhLQxs-qg8/s1600/Madurodam_The+Hague_EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaCLExJkFZWSvJiQohdRI0vD7uIzrt8k7jqteidq5L1B-KUcNP8DBcoYpHGxcUGgo9sOnxyVRu_pJT7ATli0xx4C5iXn432aTcUa37oI3ceBoxVn040pwzZHkPja2wlyJiMvhLQxs-qg8/s1600/Madurodam_The+Hague_EuroAmericanHome.jpg" /></a></div>
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I snapped the photo above at the <i><a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g188633-d191224-Reviews-Madurodam-The_Hague_South_Holland_Province.html" target="_blank">Madurodam</a></i> miniature park in The Hague, about two weeks ago.<br />
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It's a picture of a miniature replica of a street in Amsterdam. <br />
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Seeing the whole country, in a glimpse, gazing at the beauty of the low lands.<br />
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Three facts about <i>Madurodam</i>:<br />
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- Everything (even the trees) are on a scale of 1:25.<br />
- The miniature Dutch people wear jackets in the winter and T-shirts in the summer. <br />
- We DJed an Armin Van Buuren concert, auctioned tulips, generated windmill energy, operated wind turbines, unloaded ships at the dock, manufactured clogs, operated a roller coaster and designed the set for a production of Shakespeare. All in a few hours at Madurodam. Oh, and we ate hot dogs too. <br />
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Details for The August Break 2014 <a href="http://www.susannahconway.com/the-august-break-2014/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2014/08/sunny-side-up-and-avocados.html" target="_blank">Day 1</a> - Lunch<br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2014/08/pattern-at-pennsylvania-fair-august.html" target="_blank">Day 2</a> - Pattern<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-20874797323783925752014-08-03T18:41:00.005-07:002014-08-03T18:43:35.433-07:00Pattern at a Pennsylvania fair {august break day 2}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk46j6VDnGLG7pFplFqDrt08vKUMfIy23lEddsVmT_K41eU-Okw_x6besWkYlX9HsxdZF7ygx-sKeG31xylViR_jJAswItHv4yqNU2zR8lvkRAaUwzm5yiQjdzfiHhHUYfvQpFuZZU9cM/s1600/Pennsylvania+fair+pattern+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk46j6VDnGLG7pFplFqDrt08vKUMfIy23lEddsVmT_K41eU-Okw_x6besWkYlX9HsxdZF7ygx-sKeG31xylViR_jJAswItHv4yqNU2zR8lvkRAaUwzm5yiQjdzfiHhHUYfvQpFuZZU9cM/s1600/Pennsylvania+fair+pattern+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" height="640" width="479" /> </a></div>
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“She was snatched back from a dream of far countries, and found herself on Main Street.”<br />
from <i>Main Street</i> by Sinclair Lewis <br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2013/08/things-to-do-this-summer-go-to-fair.html" target="_blank">The fair</a> is back in town. I am struggling to get used to the cyclicity of events in a small town. The River Rescue carnival, the Apple Festival, Community Day - all too soon again. It's couldn't have been a year. I just blinked. It couldn't have been a year. <br />
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Details for The August Break 2014 <a href="http://www.susannahconway.com/the-august-break-2014/" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2014/08/sunny-side-up-and-avocados.html" target="_blank">Day 1</a> - Lunch<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-16033077653179532862014-08-01T14:17:00.001-07:002014-08-01T14:17:54.904-07:00Sunny side up and avocados {august break day 1}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjhQXWXBN3oNbQgsBKnia9uyMz-iq4vmAXuc4nPte0DXvdrci6WBVSPTth6zevflObj5xV950NxIOzRd8uTHPVPDXeHeZj5v9vG_gtJqEpMVbNKqTmH1hul-lWNmO4mBUMff3LUz_vMs8/s1600/Lunchsunny+side+up+avocado.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="EuroAmericanHome: Sunny side up eggs and avocado on toast" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjhQXWXBN3oNbQgsBKnia9uyMz-iq4vmAXuc4nPte0DXvdrci6WBVSPTth6zevflObj5xV950NxIOzRd8uTHPVPDXeHeZj5v9vG_gtJqEpMVbNKqTmH1hul-lWNmO4mBUMff3LUz_vMs8/s1600/Lunchsunny+side+up+avocado.jpg" title="EuroAmericanHome: Sunny side up eggs and avocado on toast" /></a></div>
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Sunny side up eggs on toast, topped with avocado and fresh homegrown African basil.<br />
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Gouda cheese with dried homegrown dill.<br />
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Ice tea with homegrown lavender.<br />
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Summer is my favorite season, the use of the word "homegrown" so often being one of the main reasons.<br />
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From a suburban garden to an organic farm in Normandy. That is the dream. {inspired by <a href="http://www.frolic-blog.com/2014/06/moving/" target="_blank">Chelsea</a>}. <br />
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Details for The August Break 2014 <a href="http://www.susannahconway.com/the-august-break-2014/" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-18921847887702923412014-03-30T14:09:00.001-07:002014-03-30T14:09:13.073-07:00Dear Winter, please leave!March and February were a blur, in that not much happened except having to brave the worst winter in Pennsylvania in the last 30 years.<br />
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In February, we celebrated the bitter-sweet anniversary of one year of America. <br />
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In March, we celebrated the one year anniversary of our wedding. That was just sweet, no bitterness involved. <br />
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There was chocolate ganache cake and red pomegranate wine from <a href="http://www.cullarivineyards.com/" target="_blank">Cullari Vineyards</a>.<br />
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We had the pastry chef write "Happy Anniversary" in my native language. There were no typos. Or are they chocolatypos? Very important thing to ponder. <br />
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I'm really eager for spring. I have the feeling I'll need to thaw for about 3 weeks before I can truly enjoy it. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zmS7RKJM_9SUolX1LNJ0fA0Lrvl1hMa9yBxwraDOV9YatvTnwzwnKQudZ-P6LM6PnoRButh2aohDJV_4UejVQFVMmyM6-oxerjTqfALJjan8p7JUnZ1I1DqtzBv_AY1cSUeMcJKrrfQ/s1600/Cake+and+wine+2EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="EuroAmericanHome :: Cake and wine" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2zmS7RKJM_9SUolX1LNJ0fA0Lrvl1hMa9yBxwraDOV9YatvTnwzwnKQudZ-P6LM6PnoRButh2aohDJV_4UejVQFVMmyM6-oxerjTqfALJjan8p7JUnZ1I1DqtzBv_AY1cSUeMcJKrrfQ/s1600/Cake+and+wine+2EuroAmericanHome.jpg" height="640" title="EuroAmericanHome :: Cake and wine" width="472" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-85162679059733348632014-02-04T09:49:00.001-08:002014-02-04T09:49:03.737-08:00Super Bowl with the WifeSunday was a momentous day in the EuroAmerican household. We woke up in the morning and Trevor had the entire day planned. There were going to be beers involved, nachos grande and banana bread. There would be TV watching and beer-drinking and cheering and explaining and a much anticipated finale. It was like Christmas in February, only with a more excited Trevor and a decidedly less excited me. <br />
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It was the Super Bowl.<br />
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Luckily, I was well versed in the art of acting as if I cared about a football game (and don't even get me started about calling it football). This is probably real life situation #1901 that allows me to use valuable life skills learned from <i>Friends</i>. So I pulled a Chandler and Phoebe circa <i>The One with the Rumor</i> and just screamed stuff at the TV. In retrospect, I think I should have probably waited for Trevor to explain the rules before I pretended to understand.<br />
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This is a true story:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLH_Ltp7YONuLF2khr2wmF1MHRr1WIC6Sxqia-0cY2d-BESWG8s1Hmags-BSUVRtDSOYABUVpa3qqmc2gWV4afMK2JonSezThLEvU5XhSm_1xiOhz9GExYm0hOYEPR3w80HqY4tQcg3D4/s1600/Superbowl_stick_figures_wife_2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Superbowl with the wife stick figures 2014" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLH_Ltp7YONuLF2khr2wmF1MHRr1WIC6Sxqia-0cY2d-BESWG8s1Hmags-BSUVRtDSOYABUVpa3qqmc2gWV4afMK2JonSezThLEvU5XhSm_1xiOhz9GExYm0hOYEPR3w80HqY4tQcg3D4/s1600/Superbowl_stick_figures_wife_2014.jpg" title="Superbowl with the wife stick figures 2014" /></a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-13876796278818560022014-01-28T15:24:00.000-08:002014-01-28T15:24:41.486-08:00Of maps and heartsI can't remember the first time I realized I like maps. But I know it was before Pinterest, before the crafting obsession and before moving halfway across the map. Maybe it was in the fifth grade, when we were studying the history of imperial expansions. Maybe that's when I looked at the maps of the Roman Empire doubling and then tripling, and I realized how many stories a map can carry. <br />
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Trevor and I collect maps from everywhere we go. It's ironic, really, because I can't read maps unless I turn the map to face my direction whereas Trevor only needs a 30 second glance to memorize the routes for an entire holiday. I don't even bother when I have him with me. <br />
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We saw this idea floating around on the internet to make a wall hanging with a map of the place you met and the place you got married. It proved tricky, unless someone maps out the internet (where we met), and I didn't want a constant reminder that we took our vows with none of my friends or family present. So we decided to make a collage of maps of places that we traveled to - six cities in three countries that we like for various (undisclosed) reasons. <br />
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We already had the frame. All we did was turn around the paper that came with the frame. Then we:<br />
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1. cut hearts out of the downtown of our maps; we chose downtowns because that's where our touristy selves romped and frolicked;<br />
2. cut larger hearts out of construction paper to add a solid background;<br />
3. glue the map heart onto the green hearts, thus creating double hearts;<br />
4. tape the double hearts to the paper backdrop to keep them in place; mild measuring was done (we asked each other "How does it look to you?" "Good. How does it look to you?" "Good!" "Ok, we're good.")<br />
5. reassemble the frame. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHdVavS34wTly0oYB75Mo1rsu2qSvtuksekkduALFRNjDOcwlXSzov2HNRPg_9DLQirMsfBXai7FrvOswQq5jPf-0uaCRECS8_3KFKwzsjKEWCxiNCkRfCc-h6qC7NvMjIQ221KTjszg/s1600/Map+wall+art+-+EuroAmericacHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Heart map wall art - EuroAmericanHome Blog" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHdVavS34wTly0oYB75Mo1rsu2qSvtuksekkduALFRNjDOcwlXSzov2HNRPg_9DLQirMsfBXai7FrvOswQq5jPf-0uaCRECS8_3KFKwzsjKEWCxiNCkRfCc-h6qC7NvMjIQ221KTjszg/s1600/Map+wall+art+-+EuroAmericacHome.jpg" title="Heart map wall art - EuroAmericanHome Blog" /></a></div>
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While we're on the topic of maps, allow me to bring a <i>West Wing</i> favorite moment to your attention.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/n8zBC2dvERM?rel=0" width="480"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-63344262769534980682014-01-16T15:42:00.003-08:002014-01-17T07:48:28.004-08:00Pennsylvania snow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyNKFALdnIXIDhGS2fxSkIN9ZGEM-VG6NDN0Xgiz-gICw0tb46BEDscqna8D8vaRAeUXM6v5_Bq835RMmdDR9InID8FCM0_yuvWsRD8_fVJnyDcS-MyvR_pNnJHnCgsWqN8RI7W96orY/s1600/Lewis+Carroll+I+wonder+if+the+snow+loves+the+trees+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mice mittens and Pennsylvania snow: EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyNKFALdnIXIDhGS2fxSkIN9ZGEM-VG6NDN0Xgiz-gICw0tb46BEDscqna8D8vaRAeUXM6v5_Bq835RMmdDR9InID8FCM0_yuvWsRD8_fVJnyDcS-MyvR_pNnJHnCgsWqN8RI7W96orY/s1600/Lewis+Carroll+I+wonder+if+the+snow+loves+the+trees+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Mice mittens and Pennsylvania snow: EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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I like the world when it snows. I like how the sounds are muffled and the night looks like the day.<br />
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I love the feeling of possibility.<br />
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Snow in small town Pennsylvania is not like snow in the big city. Snow in small town Pennsylvania is clean, immaculate and lightweight. It lures you to come out and play and then sticks to every fiber of your being. It's cold and dusty and irreverent.<br />
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And it's coming our way again this weekend.<br />
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This means I can wear the mice mittens that my mom bought for me ... when I turned 25. My mom is like that. <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-45571112450138966142014-01-07T11:25:00.001-08:002014-01-07T11:25:15.656-08:00My expat resolution: the year of Enough <i>These thoughts have been brewing in my mind for some time triggered by:</i><br />
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</i> <i>- just a new year on the calendar;</i><br />
<i>- my upcoming birthday, the last one of my 20s;</i><br />
<i>- my one year anniversary of moving to the U.S. (this February);</i><br />
<i>- reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1592407331/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1592407331&linkCode=as2&tag=eurohome-20">Daring Greatly;</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=eurohome-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1592407331" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<i>- going through the talks in the <a href="http://www.yearofenough.com/listen.html" target="_blank">Year of Enough</a> project.</i><br />
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2013 is over, and what a year it has been! We did so many wonderful things, and so many amazing things happened. But what will define this past year is my move to America - the physical uprooting, but more importantly, the emotional overhaul and imbalance in self-perception that came with it.<br />
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After moving in February, then getting through the whirlwind of learning the small things and meeting a bunch of people the following months, I spent the rest of the year tucked away in a corner, rocking back and forth and whimpering "noooooo moooooore change!!!" <br />
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Leaving the only life I've ever known to move to a place I had never even visited was clearly a leap of faith, one that I was willing and courageous enough to take only because I knew that the support of my husband would be there to catch me, love me and care for me. But when the reality of every day life set in, I went into self-shaming mode. I became increasingly aware of everything, but the equation would always come out with a big fat minus in it. In other words, I became painfully aware of what I was NOT, of what I was failing to be or to do.<br />
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None of the people I met became my friends, not in the way my friends of 10 or 15 years were my friends. What was wrong with me? I wasn't trying hard enough. I wasn't putting myself out there enough. I wasn't looking for friends hard enough. I didn't say yes often enough.<br />
<br />I left a job that I was good at when I came here. Then I started to feel I wasn't doing enough to get a job here. I felt like I was failing myself. What was wrong with me? Why wasn't I determined enough to brave the commute lifestyle? Why wasn't I trying hard enough to adjust to a way of living I didn't want in the first place?<br />
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There were other things bothering me. How can I be a good enough daughter for the parents that I left behind? How am I being a good enough friend for the people that have been there for me thorough thick and thin? Am I trying hard enough to keep in touch with friends back home and all over the world? What if my English is not good enough? What if my accent is not smooth enough?<br />
<br />
You would think that all these questions might spring me into action. But in fact, it was quite the opposite. The pressure that<i> not enough</i> created in my brain and on my heart had an undesirable paralyzing effect. I felt overwhelmed, so the best response that I could come up with was stillness, numbness, almost a complete shut down. This came with "perks" such as lower self-esteem, fear to try anything that might fail, fear of failure and fear of the fear of failure. <br />
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I pride myself on not wanting more possessions. I think our house (medium-sized if I'm to compare it to American standards) is too big. I think that our car is too big. I don't want more clothes or shoes because I have enough and I dislike shopping. I don't want another gadget because I have everything that I <i>need</i>. I'm not craving material possessions because I know they come at a cost, one that my little family is not willing to pay. We don't <i>need</i> more stuff. <br />
<br />
So why is it then, when I have everything that I need, I feel like I am not enough? Would I treat my best friend like that? Would I tell her: I think you're not doing enough. What's wrong with you? The answer is no. Would I put down my husband and blame him for everything under the sun? The answer is no. Would I walk up to a stranger on the street and tell him: For the record, I think you're doing at crappy job at doing this, this and this? The answer is no. Then why do I treat myself that way? The answer is I don't know.<br />
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But I do know that in this new year I will work on getting out of that habit. I've decided to start working on shifting my perception from "I'm not (doing) enough!" to <i>"</i>I <i>am</i> enough!<i>"</i><br />
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Living in the mindset of <i>enough </i>is not about becoming complacent. It's not about being lazy or inactive or settling for whatever comes my way. <br />
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Living in the mindset of <i>enough</i>, the way I understand it, is being grateful that right here, right now, what I have is enough to make me happy. That right here, right now, I am <i>enough</i>. That whatever my hopes, dreams, plans and aspirations are, they exist to complement what I already am - <i>enough</i>. <br />
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</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-19803671902304369182014-01-02T14:18:00.000-08:002014-01-02T14:38:46.624-08:00New Year: 1Days until spring comes: 77<br />
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Degrees outside: -4 C<br />
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Degrees in Fahrenheit: No bloody idea.<br />
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Number of times it took to spell Fahrenheit correctly: 2 (am getting better)<br />
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Pieces of fudge eaten today: 5<br />
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Pieces of fudge smuggled from the kitchen to my home office when Trevor wasn't looking: 5<br />
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Number of fireworks seen on New Year's Eve: 0 (must be living in a parallel universe, where colored gun powder is not considered fun and blowing up your fingers is not considered worthy celebratory activity).<br />
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Number of bottles of wine I fell in love with: 1 (Hello Niagara grape, a U.S. native. Lovely to meet you!)<br />
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Number of resolutions made: 10<br />
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Number of times I heard December-2014-me cackling "I pity the fool who makes 10 resolutions": 100 => 10 cackles per resolution. <br />
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Number of days I will continue to write like Bridget Jones: ToBeDetermined. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385350864/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0385350864&linkCode=as2&tag=eurohome-20">Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=eurohome-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0385350864" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> was so bad that I now have to wash it out of my brain and retrieve the goofy innocence of the first two books. Is there any way to unread a book? I didn't even finish it, so there must be a way. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEhbQSKtnY0HB5ND8pQKuuxE0QDD2FlPgXxGawQJUOABL1SlQhyoQQpQDZf2vF87Oyc-MzAoD2OFNCzyK5gL93OUVG-7XgjWumg3G99PocZ4WHWAlzoyLRo9TVv7R_nsSorg5PHmwsdV0/s1600/Pennsylvania+winter+wonderland+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEhbQSKtnY0HB5ND8pQKuuxE0QDD2FlPgXxGawQJUOABL1SlQhyoQQpQDZf2vF87Oyc-MzAoD2OFNCzyK5gL93OUVG-7XgjWumg3G99PocZ4WHWAlzoyLRo9TVv7R_nsSorg5PHmwsdV0/s1600/Pennsylvania+winter+wonderland+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" /></a></div>
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Happy 2014!<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-71553772584888542282013-12-21T11:20:00.003-08:002022-10-13T14:17:20.792-07:00Make paper snowflakes<p><br />I've put this blog to bed years ago. But since this paper snowflake tutorial is still getting a lot of traffic (especially in the months leading up to Christmas), I've decided to move it to my current website, Green with Purpose. </p><p><a href="https://www.greenwithpurpose.com/how-to-make-paper-snowflakes/">Here's the link and new photos that will hopefully make the tutorial easier to follow. </a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.greenwithpurpose.com/how-to-make-paper-snowflakes/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="764" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNZV1US-O2H4S4WIv_zUbxGpiFP8z5OFBeDeXE-bHrhqwTzIkTM-gXRq4Dz8t8kBk1DY9gVP6Ln-pZeXZOEycMPh3letZDrnuC_gI0cZCZ8-hyrDPuCovQuittxfHutn-zsxEZbXa5BDcy-lnFsIQDTrYPPKwGW9NpRwHn7H5hLh68z5st17iFTNo/w509-h764/Easy%20paper%20snowflake%20tutorial%203.png" width="509" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-41164317276411979172013-12-13T08:08:00.004-08:002013-12-13T08:08:57.975-08:00Christmas City of lights and paperThis past week has been spent in Christmas preparation mode in the EuroAmerican household. In all honesty, we started getting ready about a month ago. By that I mean that we brought down the boxes of ornaments and moved them from the top floor to the middle floor(*). A few weeks later, we set up our tree, which remained undecorated for 7 days. The tree was brand new and we just wanted to check its height and if all the lights worked. Then we brought down all the boxes to the bottom floor and this past Sunday we finally decorated out first Christmas tree as a married couple. Yes, we took our sweet time and vowed not to put it up before Thanksgiving, and then things got pretty hectic.<br />
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I delighted in taking inventory of the Christmas ornaments that Trevor grew up with, but I was so homesick when I unpacked the few ornaments that I dared to take on a transatlantic flight.<br />
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It was last year that we decided that we'll keep Christmas simple and practice mindfulness. Neither of us is a fan of excess or shopping and we certainly like being stress-free. Also, we are both born in January and birthdays don't just celebrate themselves. So we chose to forgo the shopping frenzy and indulge in Mickey and Trevor quality time. We baked, listened to holiday music, decorated the tree, assembled the gingerbread house, made some icing ornaments and watched <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00001PE59/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00001PE59&linkCode=as2&tag=eurohome-20">Into the Woods</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=eurohome-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00001PE59" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <br />
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We also made this winter paper city, which we stuck on our front window. It started out as a paper village, but Trevor got enthusiastic about making a skyscraper, and he is apparently into cubic architecture. So goodbye Pieter Bruegel-esque picturesque, hello Winter WonderWhat?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj856SsL5TMfijqRMNkM7Qs2YgVLh8V2_xcbD10asg-9iqnjobfv3j-uhzirOYS_MiGWk1y6W8bpHW4Mfae40B4d93uQ42MHJJloXl-qT0E3VDQIOrGi7-9wXMJYo8baa6umEKy6qd16o0/s1600/Winter+city+of+lights+craftEuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Christimas paper city of lights: EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj856SsL5TMfijqRMNkM7Qs2YgVLh8V2_xcbD10asg-9iqnjobfv3j-uhzirOYS_MiGWk1y6W8bpHW4Mfae40B4d93uQ42MHJJloXl-qT0E3VDQIOrGi7-9wXMJYo8baa6umEKy6qd16o0/s1600/Winter+city+of+lights+craftEuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Christimas paper city of lights: EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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This is what it looks like from the inside. The pictures that we took from the outside are all blurry because, let's face it, pictures taken in -5C are bound to be shakey. <br />
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We worked on it for about two hours, with Trevor meticulously doing the cutting and me frantically sketching houses. We reused sheet music from an old textbook, so it looks very musical on the inside. We're thinking that next year we'll just redesign the whole city and put it up for download as a pdf. <br />
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Come back soon, we have other things to show you. <br />
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* Top floor is the attic; middle floor is what Europeans call first floor but Americans call second floor; bottom floor is what Europeans call ground floor but Americans call first floor. It's all very confusing, really. Which is why, for a while after I arrived, Trevor and I would have conversations like this:<br />
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<b>Trevor:</b> Have you seen the car keys?<br />
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<b>Mickey:</b> On the table, on the first floor.<br />
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<b>Trevor:</b> They're not there. I looked.<br />
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<b>Mickey:</b> What are you talking about? You didn't even go upstairs.<br />
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<b>Trevor: </b>You said the first floor!<br />
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<b>Mickey:</b> That<i> is </i>the first floor!! <br />
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<b>Trevor:</b> That is the <i>second</i> floor!!!<br />
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<b>Mickey:</b> It's the first floor that goes on top of the <i>ground</i> floor!!!!<br />
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<b>Trevor: </b>The first floor<i> is </i>the floor that goes on top of the ground!!!!!<br />
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<b>Mickey:</b> Find your own damn keys!!!!!!<br />
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We have since resorted to naming our rooms, in the manner of old French mansions, so now the instructions for locating something are a little bit clearer.<br />
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<b>More winter-themed posts:</b><br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-euroamerican-christmas-to-do-list.html" target="_blank">How to enjoy Christmas without stepping foot into a mall</a> - in which I do the handwriting and Trevor illustrates the list by hand. <br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/11/day-12-how-to-make-christmas-cookies.html" target="_blank">How to make Christmas cookies</a> - in which I illustrate how to stuff your face while boyfriend is not watching. <br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/day-8-how-to-spot-pickle.html" target="_blank">How to spot the pickle</a> - in which I explain the tradition of hiding a pickle in the Christmas tree. <br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/paper-christmas-trees.html" target="_blank">How to make paper Christmas trees</a> - in which I don't really explain how, just show a picture.<br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/our-christmas-crafting-snow-covered.html" target="_blank">Felt snow house ornament</a> - no tell, just show. <br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/remembering-christmases-past.html" target="_blank">Remembering Christmases past </a>- in which I do just that + a bonus picture of young Mickey with a dubious Santa.<br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/baking-adventure-1-was-complete-success.html" target="_blank">How to make peanut butter blossoms</a> - in which we're confused by metric conversions.<br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-cookies-recipe.html" target="_blank">How to make sugar cookies</a> - in which we figure out metric and imperial conversions. <br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/happy-holidays.html" target="_blank">Christmas card for tea lovers</a> - proudly made by Trevor.<br />
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<a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2013/01/oh-winter-holidays-we-miss-you-already.html" target="_blank">A list of fun things to do for the winter holidays</a> - looking back is always sweet. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-49597635404022418622013-11-13T16:34:00.001-08:002013-11-13T16:34:35.795-08:00How to have a painting dateThere are painting dates (as in "Whassap, inner Picasso?") and there are painting dates (as in "I have an idea for the walls in the front room!").<br />
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Luckily, I married someone who agrees to both. <br />
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Let me tell you about the first type, for now, since this is the kind of date that doesn't take four days to complete.<br />
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I am utterly hopeless when it comes to painting. I have a lot of ideas, but no talent whatsoever, so all all my ideas end up brewing in my head for indefinite periods of time.<br />
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The multi-talented Trevor, on the other hand, can actually translate his ideas into material creations.<br />
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This is why his acrylic paintings look like this, and they're not even finished. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDFjuuqJqLqrZIn6TfvzdYSPupmRdCTjZ2-3wNn34vgDSaSaXYN1VkFtz2Z1MG2rIDzuSCUk0Beg9JAZfzTsTpaZ9ZL7k7ErlQQzBCUS1Mlld3uCBFTKQHA60EWxTUWESRmKWYtKumSk/s1600/Painting+of+hot+air+balloon+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Painting of a hot air balloon: EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDFjuuqJqLqrZIn6TfvzdYSPupmRdCTjZ2-3wNn34vgDSaSaXYN1VkFtz2Z1MG2rIDzuSCUk0Beg9JAZfzTsTpaZ9ZL7k7ErlQQzBCUS1Mlld3uCBFTKQHA60EWxTUWESRmKWYtKumSk/s1600/Painting+of+hot+air+balloon+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Painting of a hot air balloon: EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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And my paintings look like this.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLBZLFl3coMhesjCfcN6gMdhHLFWr_fHO0VGlu70x9jP80doRxhXdkAAV9KX8_9X_G6JPniVr88FSUwVUIoc59zUJdsb3SirTt2bNnSDW-SR7BjNuaLA2oSKM2bFLITB-CJDwM9Kf6uE/s1600/Painting+of+ice+cream+EuroAmericanHome-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Painting of an ice cream: EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLBZLFl3coMhesjCfcN6gMdhHLFWr_fHO0VGlu70x9jP80doRxhXdkAAV9KX8_9X_G6JPniVr88FSUwVUIoc59zUJdsb3SirTt2bNnSDW-SR7BjNuaLA2oSKM2bFLITB-CJDwM9Kf6uE/s1600/Painting+of+ice+cream+EuroAmericanHome-.jpg" title="Painting of an ice cream: EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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Feel free to guess which one went up on the wall after Trevor built frames.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-26464185583760067192013-10-31T19:22:00.000-07:002013-10-31T19:22:23.064-07:00First Halloween in America<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MEZksSitA_QnYeZbd9evx0eV9CUbcY-6KwrQCAiGf_K3_-Rnuk6ZYPibGdtyLIRpvHOaMZWN3bnHbwS4v4SXsrjbxRQzhW89upHfN-TenZprYq3WwmMM_BzqqQaMwd58CSFzY_8BEgM/s1600/Fall+brings+harvest+and+wine+William+Blake+quote+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Fall is the season of harvest and wine: EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MEZksSitA_QnYeZbd9evx0eV9CUbcY-6KwrQCAiGf_K3_-Rnuk6ZYPibGdtyLIRpvHOaMZWN3bnHbwS4v4SXsrjbxRQzhW89upHfN-TenZprYq3WwmMM_BzqqQaMwd58CSFzY_8BEgM/s1600/Fall+brings+harvest+and+wine+William+Blake+quote+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Fall is the season of harvest and wine: EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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Fall in Pennsylvania has been warmer than expected. From our back porch, we can see the neighbor's tree turning all shades of autumn. In the morning, when I'm having my coffee, I look out the back door and let my mind wander. Sometimes it's squirrel-watching. Sometimes it's robin-(the bird)-watching. The tree is always there to remind me of all the change. It was barren and sad-looking when I came here in February. It exploded into a cotton candy bloom in May. It looked crisp and leafy and luxuriant in mid-July. Now it is turning tawny and amber. It made me realize that I've experienced all seasons here, and yet it still seems to me that I just arrived yesterday. But then I think about the family and friends that I miss terribly, and it seems like I said goodbye a hundred years ago. There is an ongoing battle in my head between perceiving this constant adjustment as exhausting or just liberating. So far, it feels like exhausting is winning. <br />
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We bought a pumpkin to carve for Halloween and ended up cooking it down into pie filling. We're not very good planners, obviously. But I see a lot of pumpkin meals in our future. <br />
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With Trevor working, I got to experience Halloween all by myself, staying out on the porch and giving away candy. "Giving away candy" is one of those phrases that makes me shudder, and it shall be banished from my vocabulary for at least one year.<br />
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My favorite costume was our neighbors' pug dressed as candy corn. Candy corn is this ridiculously addictive Pennsylvania-original piece of wax shaped like a corn kernel. Ok, it's candy, but it looks and tastes like wax. My favorite children's costume was a tie between a rotund ladybug and a two-year-old Al Capone complete with a moustache and a pinstripe suit. <br />
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I gave away five big bags of candy in about one hour. I spent the past two weeks sampling Charleston Chews, 3 Musketeers, Raisinets and 100 Grand. The Twix bag didn't make it through to the trick-or-treaters. Twix has a way of sneaking up on you and next thing you know it disappears unexpectedly when your husband is not looking. (For a quick reminder of my <i>modus operandi</i>, see last year's post - <a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/11/day-31-how-to-prevent-overeating.html" target="_blank">How to prevent overeating</a>.)<br />
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We're planning to celebrate November by <a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/11/day-36-how-to-buy-cheap-candy.html" target="_blank">buying discounted candy</a>, <a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/10/day-40-how-to-trick-or-treat.html" target="_blank">having peep jousting tournaments</a> and doing some light <a href="http://euroamericanhome.blogspot.com/2012/11/day-24-how-to-craft-for-thanksgiving.html" target="_blank">Thanksgiving crafting</a>. <br />
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Life is good!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-54429996170162062112013-10-14T17:31:00.003-07:002013-10-14T17:31:42.859-07:00Autumn is for having crushes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivzZafFeJ1ofMnSgnRzSE4oP1YOJOFOgc31G73ON_x6jupN0Vg-Z_nlUcjNO2HuflE0Vq4CY_zUQuHnLOBL39nvhTso2YCK7b62yrged2eZkc9j82jU_n1bjgZPDvn02k7pasUddfl6Q/s1600/fall_in_pennsylvaniaEuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="husband_crush_pennsylvania_fall_EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivzZafFeJ1ofMnSgnRzSE4oP1YOJOFOgc31G73ON_x6jupN0Vg-Z_nlUcjNO2HuflE0Vq4CY_zUQuHnLOBL39nvhTso2YCK7b62yrged2eZkc9j82jU_n1bjgZPDvn02k7pasUddfl6Q/s1600/fall_in_pennsylvaniaEuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="pennsylvania_fall_EuroAmericanHome" /></a> </div>
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<b>Mickey:</b> I have a crush on you.<br />
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<b>Trevor</b> <i>(seriously doubting that he understood what was said)</i>: What is that?<br />
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<b>Mickey:</b> I have a crush on you, and I think it's serious.<br />
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<b>Trevor<i> </i></b><i>(intrigued, but flirty; <u>flirtigued</u>, if you will)</i>: Reaaally? How serious?<br />
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<b>Mickey:</b> I think I married you.<br />
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<b>Trevor: </b>Wow, that's pretty serious.<br />
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Crush was professed.<br />
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Things resume to their normal state.<br />
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It must be fall. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-19774886498243267922013-10-04T08:50:00.000-07:002013-10-04T08:50:19.377-07:00Vintage cookbook teaches valuable lessons<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }</style>
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One of the things that I like about
living here, apart from being able to share a continent with my
husband, is going to yard sales.
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Yard sales, or garage sales, or porch
sales, are a marvelous invention which deems going through other
people's stuff not only socially acceptable, but also encouraged.
Sure, there is a lot of trash and objects that should have never seen
the light of day to begin with, but every once in a while we are able
to find a diamond in the rough.
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Today, I will show you one fine gem that I found at a yard sale for 50 cents.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaT20zZ1bfePpvmbBl9bAyzT3Pu_4F-uvmvqm93GQkGrD4LNrOkDh3Vm-_qfQKC-dHbx595hY6W33J35Fw1M4HpmCHjASr7SeM3rSn57KpxSc0bmSAhAve2ALp2JVlKI_UCIFL_kcpFg/s1600/Pennsylvania+Germantown+cookbook+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaT20zZ1bfePpvmbBl9bAyzT3Pu_4F-uvmvqm93GQkGrD4LNrOkDh3Vm-_qfQKC-dHbx595hY6W33J35Fw1M4HpmCHjASr7SeM3rSn57KpxSc0bmSAhAve2ALp2JVlKI_UCIFL_kcpFg/s1600/Pennsylvania+Germantown+cookbook+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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Introducing a cookbook from 1956,
published by the First Methodist Church of Germantown, PA. Church
cookbooks are quite a thing here. The ladies of the church put
together their recipes, which are then collected into a book that is
sold for fundraising. If you ask me, it's a great use of the
collective (food) wisdom for the benefit of both the church and the
gourmands in the community. </div>
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It came with a patch and without any binding, but we learned valuable lessons from it:</div>
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1. In 1956, married ladies used their husband's names. Mrs. Fred, Mrs. George and Mrs. Homer were probably very honored to contribute recipes to this collection. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AcAkFM4Nu41tf5nvV8r3CjH_YKoxySS11OWwzWYIexTagLNbWNSry0uelxMO5FgQxQjhzpKqmqwK6FqDnq0n9EbtIJEK_CZeSrQgnrzdjcHdDpjelleaEb0gCW1vm5vtCmJdzUr7Cuk/s1600/PA+cookbook+members+recipesEuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4AcAkFM4Nu41tf5nvV8r3CjH_YKoxySS11OWwzWYIexTagLNbWNSry0uelxMO5FgQxQjhzpKqmqwK6FqDnq0n9EbtIJEK_CZeSrQgnrzdjcHdDpjelleaEb0gCW1vm5vtCmJdzUr7Cuk/s1600/PA+cookbook+members+recipesEuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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2. Nippy Cheese Rolls can be kept indefinitely. If that's not your cup of tea, you might as well try Mrs. Bruce's nutty nibbles.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0htMGy45_xkoOkLKKEQK_fkS_mq8MaMFWP0J3rkS2Ftd6dpL1sBjZFKszPC_EgsnP0g2jcBbTDfKZFl8Z720VkbnSfO7nqd6tANKNHOfJXdX8oTUwtKCwFIjiKLsnmOzgUcNZMxC-AA4/s1600/Pennsylvania+Cookbook+nutty+nibbles+and+nippy+cheese+rolls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:nutty nibbles and cheese spread EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0htMGy45_xkoOkLKKEQK_fkS_mq8MaMFWP0J3rkS2Ftd6dpL1sBjZFKszPC_EgsnP0g2jcBbTDfKZFl8Z720VkbnSfO7nqd6tANKNHOfJXdX8oTUwtKCwFIjiKLsnmOzgUcNZMxC-AA4/s1600/Pennsylvania+Cookbook+nutty+nibbles+and+nippy+cheese+rolls.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook nutty nibbles and cheese spread:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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3. When you're expecting guests, make something that waits well for company. This tuna fish with pepper sauce will put on a nice suit and tie and make polite conversation on the settee.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYf6xY4nfKy3lRo7MvI5zYsIct6eCHASWRgIVbCI_6uau6Gbt4WuY5lXdEtzIQja0sA6C5a6sn1-vfgBFpIMp7C6OnE1I0jwxtyhDyHvFPuQUEaCATxYbLlIVjoQwqnAffALjRhyZezRk/s1600/Germantown%252C+PA+cookbook+-+waits+well+for+company.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook tuna fish with pepper sauce:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYf6xY4nfKy3lRo7MvI5zYsIct6eCHASWRgIVbCI_6uau6Gbt4WuY5lXdEtzIQja0sA6C5a6sn1-vfgBFpIMp7C6OnE1I0jwxtyhDyHvFPuQUEaCATxYbLlIVjoQwqnAffALjRhyZezRk/s1600/Germantown%252C+PA+cookbook+-+waits+well+for+company.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook tun fish with pepper sauce:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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4. "The Girls" like chicken breasts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN0QhvJbSd6DcwUFxjsh0ZNaPqRaFQyXbYTjAPBp68cywSLttaC90ZxlmFIxMdI3R33Zttjw-AaZ3HF5Rsb8BzG9ZOzQhrKQHJ_uq1dZdakr3T0CbyPyqfLlGuO_KvNVrxHlEY5fKXfeo/s1600/Chicken+Divan+SoupEuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook chicken divan:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN0QhvJbSd6DcwUFxjsh0ZNaPqRaFQyXbYTjAPBp68cywSLttaC90ZxlmFIxMdI3R33Zttjw-AaZ3HF5Rsb8BzG9ZOzQhrKQHJ_uq1dZdakr3T0CbyPyqfLlGuO_KvNVrxHlEY5fKXfeo/s1600/Chicken+Divan+SoupEuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook chicken divan:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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5. For a light refreshment, a quickie will do.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMl4Ifh_mXsTeqIjaPmTnH7uxYC7PFlBa8Wokwa20kRduDxGJAYWvyecMEB_26Z9fO2Krzgc56N_on8lR1n8Vc74ky71NcFJvb_13fU7EXB3ATJC9YM0YWnOUnwkLTcZCtJ4jR8PrYLs/s1600/Germantown+Cookbook+A+most+welcome+quickie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook orange cream punch:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMl4Ifh_mXsTeqIjaPmTnH7uxYC7PFlBa8Wokwa20kRduDxGJAYWvyecMEB_26Z9fO2Krzgc56N_on8lR1n8Vc74ky71NcFJvb_13fU7EXB3ATJC9YM0YWnOUnwkLTcZCtJ4jR8PrYLs/s1600/Germantown+Cookbook+A+most+welcome+quickie.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook orange cream punch:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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6. Gooey buns are a great treat after a skating party. However, it is considered <i>faux pas</i> to have gooey buns after a swimming party.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsxAY6K-2_YSpYerCwk7c-uQ_wo3pbA75u7Gd7VQvk_HWzVI8gYdxuHM28_LF6IdFekgF-uR3yio4_91GAYhPHlM6gYBgVYN5Qd8LcgeoXTx8MutkyZGXsLrdcjt4FUzvSnPMnilC25l8/s1600/PA+cookbook+-+after+swimming+party.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook after swimming party:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsxAY6K-2_YSpYerCwk7c-uQ_wo3pbA75u7Gd7VQvk_HWzVI8gYdxuHM28_LF6IdFekgF-uR3yio4_91GAYhPHlM6gYBgVYN5Qd8LcgeoXTx8MutkyZGXsLrdcjt4FUzvSnPMnilC25l8/s1600/PA+cookbook+-+after+swimming+party.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook after swimming party:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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7. This is what a healthy Sunday menu is supposed to look like. Would you like some sherbet with your red cabbage?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfw2B2pjl6XBuv1_uA9j8p9O-MLuYg_6JOQo5J2iLCRU5Ex0rQgOjco8wwb5cEMR_nLCdQpovQaRO524EwzDAXR3KHNTYFZesyRbmWBd7e-vTIpHmYlv9F16tSVbgk_6cpmoTGJSbNz8o/s1600/Pennsylvania+cookbook+menus+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook holiday menu:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfw2B2pjl6XBuv1_uA9j8p9O-MLuYg_6JOQo5J2iLCRU5Ex0rQgOjco8wwb5cEMR_nLCdQpovQaRO524EwzDAXR3KHNTYFZesyRbmWBd7e-vTIpHmYlv9F16tSVbgk_6cpmoTGJSbNz8o/s1600/Pennsylvania+cookbook+menus+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook holiday menu:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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8. It's not called losing weight. It's called reducing diet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr4e_eMfiW8Yq1cqPj8brHOq1PZA_DPBQkhyn7uw2NYhzTbTMvRd04dmAinatOI5iGYwQfEEwbLIohZoGhOT3PcyveNuSQLOUHj5-_NqIPK6bXkHTIP4no8J8-At6WTao41cm4c7lxBbU/s1600/menu+for+gaining+weight+Pennsylvania+cookbook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="diet for gaining weight Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr4e_eMfiW8Yq1cqPj8brHOq1PZA_DPBQkhyn7uw2NYhzTbTMvRd04dmAinatOI5iGYwQfEEwbLIohZoGhOT3PcyveNuSQLOUHj5-_NqIPK6bXkHTIP4no8J8-At6WTao41cm4c7lxBbU/s1600/menu+for+gaining+weight+Pennsylvania+cookbook.jpg" height="480" title="diet for gaining weight Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" width="640" /></a></div>
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9. Even back in 1956, the latest fashion and loans went hand in hand.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG7AfyL6pVIIx_WZaXJcwcKJ4fe2GyhNc5J2_DWD6d0GVat5fN0vTuC3whVjYcdyflVccGiFmem2W0S3XSBg4Kfd0GEfJTOouXdwgACRb7sPa0Ok1rqpKYnL1PnJRKSkW22ItnU0KF3Lc/s1600/Pennsylvania+cookbook+savings+and+fashion+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG7AfyL6pVIIx_WZaXJcwcKJ4fe2GyhNc5J2_DWD6d0GVat5fN0vTuC3whVjYcdyflVccGiFmem2W0S3XSBg4Kfd0GEfJTOouXdwgACRb7sPa0Ok1rqpKYnL1PnJRKSkW22ItnU0KF3Lc/s1600/Pennsylvania+cookbook+savings+and+fashion+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" height="480" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" width="640" /></a></div>
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10. There are serious reasons to save.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0SDf_g1SxVYCdpFGrAOZUsSpL24Gudi7vDsSeG7jGcP7aue_KOe3mYSEQDMOWGkXF9fCmm3YmUjLuGJG-BKPeBeg7nEgTq8yF94hwdMAGJL5tsqhySRHjDwqYb4DSy9eMlEkWJ9dspA/s1600/Pennsylvania+cookbook+ads1EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0SDf_g1SxVYCdpFGrAOZUsSpL24Gudi7vDsSeG7jGcP7aue_KOe3mYSEQDMOWGkXF9fCmm3YmUjLuGJG-BKPeBeg7nEgTq8yF94hwdMAGJL5tsqhySRHjDwqYb4DSy9eMlEkWJ9dspA/s1600/Pennsylvania+cookbook+ads1EuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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11. Keep your ads simple. And nice.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NKlAGInSc0GTpmWlfUUqOxootBLdZijSTuV1iQNFDoi7xmxcWYwAZfoKKBeYolBh1UDv-xXYr0peDz4Ks9BlqKeiFNtghsQrGmHVBdyXB8rCBXhhEuxY2ruk6JILg2xNxeUwwZaSQXY/s1600/kirk+and+nice+ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1NKlAGInSc0GTpmWlfUUqOxootBLdZijSTuV1iQNFDoi7xmxcWYwAZfoKKBeYolBh1UDv-xXYr0peDz4Ks9BlqKeiFNtghsQrGmHVBdyXB8rCBXhhEuxY2ruk6JILg2xNxeUwwZaSQXY/s1600/kirk+and+nice+ad.jpg" title="Germanntown Pennsylvania cookbook:EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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12. Unless you want to write them in all caps. Then you can be as assertive as you like.<br />
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I'm really hoping that the ladies of Germantown of yore won't sue me for reproducing their material. <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-29270516666349418592013-10-01T21:24:00.001-07:002013-10-01T21:24:48.712-07:00Fall-tastic!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDOTRMJNl4J3gVq0JpR-6MMh-Y1SpU1eq4JoFvXTyg4fWYE5S_TS2Ugj9lebltFlPe7OimWTACmCPfQ2k5oVObGl7K7kMc5sSNk_POXRUV_uDM0bGdcg3YL5vnTZZQRZGkQaOttEG4Ms/s1600/Life+starts+all+over+again+quote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Things to do in the fall - Fall Quote by F.Scott Fitzgerald" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJDOTRMJNl4J3gVq0JpR-6MMh-Y1SpU1eq4JoFvXTyg4fWYE5S_TS2Ugj9lebltFlPe7OimWTACmCPfQ2k5oVObGl7K7kMc5sSNk_POXRUV_uDM0bGdcg3YL5vnTZZQRZGkQaOttEG4Ms/s1600/Life+starts+all+over+again+quote.jpg" height="640" title="What to do in the fall - Fall Quote by F.Scott Fitzgerald" width="480" /> </a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the things that will take some adjusting to in the U.S. is probably switching from metric to imperial. I've used meters, liters and Celsius to measure things all my life. I have no idea how much an ounce is, and I have no concept of yards or Fahrenheit. My calendars start on a Monday, not a Sunday. My Autumn starts on September 1st, not September 21st (although that may be just Trevor insisting to be astronomically correct). Also, I call it <i>Autumn</i> more than I call it<i> Fall.</i> The English taught in schools in Europe is British English and I don't think half the people who speak it as a foreign language know it by the name 'Fall' (yes, I make up my own Mickey-statistics system). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Fall (aka Autumn) is Trevor's favorite season. He's just decided that last year, so let's give him credit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mine is spring, but Autumn comes a close second. Autumn for me is an acquired taste.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autumn always meant going back to school. There's no school to get back to this year, but there's definitely some learning to do. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autumn means wearing colorful cardigans, scarves and boots, probably the most comfortable clothes to wear. It means not suffering from the heat and the sweat but still not dressing in layers and turning into an immobile robotic figure; this is the perfect season to be comfy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autumn means going to the park and running in the leaves (watch out for dog poop though). While I'm there…</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autumn means picking rusty leaves and tawny acorns and shiny chestnuts. And…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sitting on a bench and reading a book. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autumn is eating white grapes. Maybe supplement that by drinking white wine. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autumn is going back to drinking hot tea. And ...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Learning something new.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autumn is all about fighting my way through a quince. I really like the bitter flavor and the aftertaste. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This year Autumn means going to the Apple Festival in this small Pennsylvania town, buying apple pie and eating it all in one day. </span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This year Autumn means going to the farms and picking out a pumpkin and cooking it into a delicious soup and a pie. This year Autumn means eating tomatoes and peppers from our own garden.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This year Autumn means picking marigolds from our flower boxes and putting them on our table.</span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This year Autumn really means being together, and looking forward to my first American Thanksgiving. Halloween, not so much. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This year Autumn means having fresh apple cider (with a little spiced rum).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I asked Trevor what Autumn means to him. Like a true man, he answered: football and marching bands. (He said more than that, but those were the first two things he mentioned.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Autumn means listening to Manic Street Preachers' <i>Autumn Song</i> on repeat. It doesn't even make sense to me anymore; I just do it. </span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_sqKt7CrWhM" width="640"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-62975013979161764172013-09-27T11:28:00.001-07:002013-09-27T11:28:36.623-07:005 Things to do in Chapel Hill<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2negE7MdGOW6otWoIpCg40_OQV6bq6euZ8qj-UYKeUuoZg7-ZLse_wZFbnx75yRJDzMObs4i3GbUFYXdXyNar6tdtMPo1Y75gXvBCQPbOE-5aZfF8z9wFG_S3MWjkRmhKyEkGM-kqxA/s1600/Chapel+Hill+CampusEuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Things to do in Chapel Hill Campus: EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh2negE7MdGOW6otWoIpCg40_OQV6bq6euZ8qj-UYKeUuoZg7-ZLse_wZFbnx75yRJDzMObs4i3GbUFYXdXyNar6tdtMPo1Y75gXvBCQPbOE-5aZfF8z9wFG_S3MWjkRmhKyEkGM-kqxA/s1600/Chapel+Hill+CampusEuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Things to do in Chapel Hill Campus: EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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Chapel Hill was the first stop on our list of places to hit on our honeymoon. I have no idea why Trevor uses "hit" instead of "visit" every. single. time, but I guess I can safely say that this year I hit Uncle Sam. No? I can't say that?! Ok, moving on.<br />
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We had high expectations for Chapel Hill. We had built it up in our heads as a place we would like to eventually move to because it has free public transportation, good cultural venues and a good intellectual environment courtesy of the nation's oldest public university. It is also a safe city, halfway between the mountains and the ocean. It has a lot of parks and green spaces, and it's not in the path of any extreme weather phenomena. As you can see, our list of must-haves is necessarily long and it's hard to find a place that meets all the criteria and isn't a major metropolitan area (we're trying really hard to avoid going back to crazy city life).<br />
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So we went to Chapel Hill to test the waters and see if it's as good a match as it looked on paper. We walked and drove up and down, back and forth, left and right, but we were not convinced. Something was just not clicking with us. <br />
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But Chapel Hill is a wonderful little town, with a lot of things to see and places to <strike>visit</strike> hit.<br />
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Here's five things we did in Chapel Hill.<br />
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<b>1. Walk around campus.</b><br />
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a great place for people watching. The North end of campus runs along Franklin Street, which is full of restaurants, bars and some other small businesses. If you are looking for almost any variety of cuisine, you can walk there.<br />
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But before you eat, walk through the wooded campus and make your way to the Old Well and grab a drink from the fountain. There is a great rumored tradition that if you drink from the fountain on the first day of classes, you will ace your exams. But it only applies to freshmen. We had a drink, but nothing miraculous happened to us. That is, if you don't count our teeth freezing. <br />
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If you lose track of time while student watching or squirrel watching, there is a huge sundial near the observatory. The Morehead Planetarium was closed, but they nice people at the visitor's center let us walk around the Rotunda on the main floor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnk7s0ySJg-gzIsD5gHImN2eRIa2aCC1Tb2dlSxWQoyZQWLt7FfxKz6HSUEjnq5XYuTyzX6s2EZBmYkrFWZyToYkr8CSNOLwqJ7dyeO5SOFkmRRiUWitDrh3jt4-n88Y7BXBf2rYFU-fQ/s1600/Chapel+Hill+Old+Well+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Things to do in Chapel Hill Campus: EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnk7s0ySJg-gzIsD5gHImN2eRIa2aCC1Tb2dlSxWQoyZQWLt7FfxKz6HSUEjnq5XYuTyzX6s2EZBmYkrFWZyToYkr8CSNOLwqJ7dyeO5SOFkmRRiUWitDrh3jt4-n88Y7BXBf2rYFU-fQ/s1600/Chapel+Hill+Old+Well+EuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Things to do in Chapel Hill Campus: EuroAmerican Home" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old Well </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcTFehl8oImMjvczgC_Kfnm1hyphenhyphenvCZ1p8J6c1XrZo45zDfKFQrRuPOFPsUK9YMGyMMJO-47YFwDpmWWGmgXGMiLxxovhNMUa8JyyXwTu8wgXozN2huMQpjYSoRoQifRBHZexwQNpaAc0fI/s1600/University+of+Chapel+Hill+Campus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Things to do in Chapel Hill Campus: EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcTFehl8oImMjvczgC_Kfnm1hyphenhyphenvCZ1p8J6c1XrZo45zDfKFQrRuPOFPsUK9YMGyMMJO-47YFwDpmWWGmgXGMiLxxovhNMUa8JyyXwTu8wgXozN2huMQpjYSoRoQifRBHZexwQNpaAc0fI/s1600/University+of+Chapel+Hill+Campus.jpg" title="Things to do in Chapel Hill Campus: EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDvKBK57_LnzTMBhPV6Q7Ab5HKtuSFh31MlhBiAjfejxS_SDMd-8I3dlsDoXvtSQRAm7e2LDcCbJ4uTv_r-3oB9lyzXgNILn-urmpPBKhd74ftmmbsBMOOX-Xsz1KDG3AtJDN633lnPM/s1600/Chapel+Hill+Campus+Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Things to do in Chapel Hill Campus: EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDvKBK57_LnzTMBhPV6Q7Ab5HKtuSFh31MlhBiAjfejxS_SDMd-8I3dlsDoXvtSQRAm7e2LDcCbJ4uTv_r-3oB9lyzXgNILn-urmpPBKhd74ftmmbsBMOOX-Xsz1KDG3AtJDN633lnPM/s1600/Chapel+Hill+Campus+Church.jpg" title="Things to do in Chapel Hill Campus: EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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<b> 2. Take a stroll through the North Carolina Botanical Garden.</b><br />
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The Garden is administered by the University, so the admission is free. Since we were visiting in early September, we weren't expecting a lot of things to be in bloom. They were also doing work on some flower beds and paths, so there was a lot of gravel in my shoes by the end of our visit. Perhaps we were spoiled by Palmengarten in Frankfurt or the Hershey Gardens, but we found the Garden in Chapel Hill to be not very visitor-friendly. The signs offered no information about the plant, other than the name, and it all just looked like a hot mess. (Obviously, I am still very much under the influence of season four of <i>Arrested Development</i>.)<br />
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The Garden has a green education center with a nice reference library that you can browse through. We also liked their exhibit of local artists' paintings. They also have plants for sale, but not for the bargain hunters that we are.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-KSQJWc3dActHtFQHwY9I4RPAAWVSHgPSlDOUNJnH_E-Moev3Duyetmmp6fzqkipDnHFmIzYmcQrzyIM-mGJb0HlUNm4OCck-vuSuCglpuCuM70bxTDZ34XPDKHYs8RwadoaZtWEAjI/s1600/Chapel+Hill+North+Carolina+Botanical+Gardens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd-KSQJWc3dActHtFQHwY9I4RPAAWVSHgPSlDOUNJnH_E-Moev3Duyetmmp6fzqkipDnHFmIzYmcQrzyIM-mGJb0HlUNm4OCck-vuSuCglpuCuM70bxTDZ34XPDKHYs8RwadoaZtWEAjI/s1600/Chapel+Hill+North+Carolina+Botanical+Gardens.jpg" title="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9j45Qmlcpax9KSPY1OaDg4u3tO-HRxC2dlUs67cFbGNXws3OFOgkMOQSeh9qMVRQx7UaghGzleEowBTPNjKIZ8G4eHH0FeAAUvYeEiLyD4H5BLacQQ8Gn53O8y7zI5ncTQ4LCjQWThs/s1600/Chapel+Hill+North+Carolina+Botanical+Garden+-+Tree+of+Life.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9j45Qmlcpax9KSPY1OaDg4u3tO-HRxC2dlUs67cFbGNXws3OFOgkMOQSeh9qMVRQx7UaghGzleEowBTPNjKIZ8G4eHH0FeAAUvYeEiLyD4H5BLacQQ8Gn53O8y7zI5ncTQ4LCjQWThs/s1600/Chapel+Hill+North+Carolina+Botanical+Garden+-+Tree+of+Life.jpg" title="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tree of Life by Sarah Craige</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nnIRU_rGZ1rhQDy15RndP_W9KjPMRuiqqlGaYRMXu06MD91atG5LWSp8Qvn3Xh5avgffDwl_GqlEznedMFkFWXaVZeXCsK64FZNoXMc5Uhc16kyWAQP4l6ebQJYUJ0SM3Gqbgwbs0I0/s1600/Things+to+do+in+Chapel+Hill+North+Carolina+Botanical+Garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nnIRU_rGZ1rhQDy15RndP_W9KjPMRuiqqlGaYRMXu06MD91atG5LWSp8Qvn3Xh5avgffDwl_GqlEznedMFkFWXaVZeXCsK64FZNoXMc5Uhc16kyWAQP4l6ebQJYUJ0SM3Gqbgwbs0I0/s1600/Things+to+do+in+Chapel+Hill+North+Carolina+Botanical+Garden.jpg" title="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivuSBi3LdFwYP5qZgr4nQZEoqoF_houDLa4brbjwiqKKdCxgVxxPftaf3BtyiHGm-qkzQ8PE74VO5dZz3aE-XuVfPTnHfrz1tCpCrHLvq14GoMd52N_BT7sm1czUbVMKHATlqjBeVLNtI/s1600/Chapel+Hill+North+Carolina+Garden+Water+lilies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivuSBi3LdFwYP5qZgr4nQZEoqoF_houDLa4brbjwiqKKdCxgVxxPftaf3BtyiHGm-qkzQ8PE74VO5dZz3aE-XuVfPTnHfrz1tCpCrHLvq14GoMd52N_BT7sm1czUbVMKHATlqjBeVLNtI/s1600/Chapel+Hill+North+Carolina+Garden+Water+lilies.jpg" title="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6Ks5gxWYEFZu-WjFx3rOFM-eDGgJpjDkdlunzYI5Hew5MfXcuUDMBdyB1vKYVcvAJ3Go4WSUoDTl2prNbGAk2cq2YdqR5EP6ShPwuxB41Dnh8RR207EgE5unOHgqM1vQ9yOy6a9Aofk/s1600/Chapel+Hill+ArboretumEuroAmericanHome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii6Ks5gxWYEFZu-WjFx3rOFM-eDGgJpjDkdlunzYI5Hew5MfXcuUDMBdyB1vKYVcvAJ3Go4WSUoDTl2prNbGAk2cq2YdqR5EP6ShPwuxB41Dnh8RR207EgE5unOHgqM1vQ9yOy6a9Aofk/s1600/Chapel+Hill+ArboretumEuroAmericanHome.jpg" title="Chapel Hill Botanical Garden - EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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<b>3. Visit Ackland Art Museum.</b><br />
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Just like the Gardens, the museum has free admission because it is a part of the University. Just like the Gardens, it suffers from a lack of information about the pieces, other than the name of the artist and the name of the art. The museum collaborates with the University, so some classes in the Humanities take place in the gallery.<br />
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I must give them credit for owning a Max Weber - <i>Composition with Three Figures</i>. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMc7NGjV12ZnxlG5ifrWND4Z3edzGL0UxPeVHWEngBHEb-aQTrgGu3lDxoakk6mV8m6b8jlF6CxY_1kCTsfrYacUcFqYZdx-0k9RUddKONPbbshA4slY5uK8FOExaH7x6EUkoTVeYBmo/s1600/Chapel+Hill+Ackland+Art+Museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Chapel Hill Art Museum - EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYMc7NGjV12ZnxlG5ifrWND4Z3edzGL0UxPeVHWEngBHEb-aQTrgGu3lDxoakk6mV8m6b8jlF6CxY_1kCTsfrYacUcFqYZdx-0k9RUddKONPbbshA4slY5uK8FOExaH7x6EUkoTVeYBmo/s1600/Chapel+Hill+Ackland+Art+Museum.jpg" title="Chapel Hill Art Museum - EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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<b>4. Hang around in the Coker Arboretum.</b><br />
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The Arboretum is another great free bit of nature right in the middle of campus. The trees were full of students, ripe for picking from their hammocks. It seems this is encouraged, although some trees were clearly marked "NOT a hammock tree". We made our way through and after reading about the 100 year old trees, Trevor picked some dwarf palm seeds. Ssshhh! Don't tell anyone, er, I mean, he thinks the seeds must have gotten stuck in his shoe. Oh well, I guess we'll have to plant them at home.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtptBL9sntF1GoTAYOuCnF209Qm9F-PKHtsierUSHF4VGqKeUHp1c1WIEA9XEpQ2gNTJ92MHOpASDmManf4mm7yyYRQ52H6u_I6ZJxRPxMOKLQppzh0ZY7c6bSZ8ttZdsUj1hKb-lFcc/s1600/Chapel+Hill+Arboretum+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Chapel Hill Coker Arboretum - EuroAmerican Home" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtptBL9sntF1GoTAYOuCnF209Qm9F-PKHtsierUSHF4VGqKeUHp1c1WIEA9XEpQ2gNTJ92MHOpASDmManf4mm7yyYRQ52H6u_I6ZJxRPxMOKLQppzh0ZY7c6bSZ8ttZdsUj1hKb-lFcc/s1600/Chapel+Hill+Arboretum+.jpg" title="Chapel Hill Coker Arboretum - EuroAmerican Home" /></a></div>
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<b>5. Go Downtown. </b><br />
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As I mentioned before, there are plenty of restaurant choices: Mediterranean, Irish, Asian, Mexican, a brewery, Southern-style and also plenty of student-friendly menus. Right in the middle of it all are some great metal sculptures that emit glowing mist. If you like that sort of thing and need a place near campus, for just $450K you can purchase a 2-bedroom condo. <br />
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<i>Fitzgerald's</i> in downtown Chapel Hill is the place where I had the weirdest American food so far - fried pickles, and got a first taste of <i>Samuel Adams Oktoberfest</i>. The beer has since become one of my favorites, but I deeply regretted having the fried pickles. They were so addictive, that I had to eat them all. Hence the regret!<br />
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I almost forgot. Here's a gratuitous picture of a deer next to the highway. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-29549358928098994412013-09-24T08:13:00.002-07:002013-09-24T08:13:59.880-07:00Mosquito politicsOur neck of the woods is proud home to some serious Ninja-meets-Chuck-Norris type of mosquitoes. Now that fall is here, they're beginning to die down, but I'll write about them as a warning for spring.<br />
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These mosquitoes look like they're wearing black-and-white stripped pajamas. I could have gone for the zebra comparison, but I already threw Chuck Norris there in the first paragraph. I wouldn't want anyone to think that I'm prone to exaggerations. I take blood-drawing and needle-carrying creatures very seriously. I have every reason to, since they only seem to be targeting me. Yes, I am jealous that Trevor remains unscathed during summer, and I look like a walking Swiss cheese. Yes, it bothers me that conversations in our house go like this:<br />
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<b>Mickey:</b> <i>I got bit agaaaaaaain! I was in the garden for 5 minutes, and came back with 7 mosquito bites.</i><br />
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<b>Trevor:</b> <i>Aww, my little mosquito buffet.</i><br />
<br /> OR<br />
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<b>Trevor</b> (talking to the mosquitoes* and pointing at me): <i>Look guys, the food truck is here! </i><br />
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<i> </i>Combine the mosquito bonanza with our love of puns and Trevor's penchant for talking politics, and you get this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjTOqrdrJ4mY_tSCMq8pOB8krPVUL1YDWUB_2AxiB6Qfx1kOMT5VrQ1XAjtbThbC5HfRNglL4XBeu7dQtG8OgDKR4cecy1BzhEgRg06J-DvNLQHSsKIdHfrBl1OdMR7nqAT_7_FJMuHi8/s1600/mosquitobuffet.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Mosquito politics stick figure: EuroAmericanHome" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjTOqrdrJ4mY_tSCMq8pOB8krPVUL1YDWUB_2AxiB6Qfx1kOMT5VrQ1XAjtbThbC5HfRNglL4XBeu7dQtG8OgDKR4cecy1BzhEgRg06J-DvNLQHSsKIdHfrBl1OdMR7nqAT_7_FJMuHi8/s1600/mosquitobuffet.jpg" title="Mosquito politics stick figure: EuroAmericanHome" /></a></div>
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* My husband talks to bugs and I still love him. He loves me despite the fact that I'm in the habit of naming inanimate object around the house. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-81307551435519406592013-09-13T13:30:00.000-07:002013-09-13T13:30:52.539-07:00Honeymoon Road Trip We're back from our honeymoon road trip, and we're recovering after a lot of traveling through two states (North Carolina and Virginia). Three if you count Maryland. But we're not counting, because we didn't stop there. <br />
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Our first stop was in Chapel Hill (North Carolina), followed by Norfolk, Cape Charles, Jamestown and Williamsburg (all in Virginia), and an afternoon in Alexandria (also in Virginia).<br />
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We strolled through a botanical garden and an arboretum, learned a little bit of history, relaxed at the beach, spotted a shuttle launch, crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel twice, ate a lot of sea food and walked the streets of Colonial Williamsburg. Trevor drove over 1000 miles (1600 km.) and somewhere in there we celebrated six months of marital bliss and counted our blessings. <br />
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We also bought our first Christmas ornament as a married couple, courtesy of the only country in the world that has Christmas stores open all year long. And I added three new mugs to my collection, because who knows when I'll ever find mugs with dancing kitties and French chefs again.<br />
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We'll tell you more about it soon.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-750183222774694722013-09-01T08:26:00.004-07:002013-12-12T19:53:45.184-08:00Things to do this summer: Read a children's bookIn an effort to brush up on my American popular culture skills, and get some of my husband's totally random references, I decided that I need to know more about Dr. Seuss and his body of work.<br />
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Trevor often forgets that I did not grow up in America, and he's genuinely surprised when I tell him I have no idea who Yertle the Turtle is. Obviously, I need an education. <br />
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So we grabbed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039480001X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=039480001X&linkCode=as2&tag=eurohome-20">The Cat in the Hat </a>at a yard sale, and Trevor read it to me in mischievous voices.<br />
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It is the story of two very bored children with nothing to do on a cold and wet day. That is until a tall cat with an even taller top hat shows up and tells them they can have "lots of good fun that is funny". The cat proceeds to show them tricks and cause havoc in the house until the children's mother comes home. The story in verse was written by Dr. Seuss as an effort to promote literacy to beginning readers, by using an entertaining plot and a limited vocabulary made up of short words. <br />
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Here are five things I learned from <i>The Cat in the Hat</i>:<br />
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1. Get a bossy fish that will take you to school. If you want to make him shut up, hold him up on a rake. <br />
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2. When a cat says "That's not all!", the cat means it. <br />
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3. Cats are attention-starved pretty much every second. <br />
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4. Beware of things called Thing One and Thing Two. They'll wreck your house.<br />
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5. Stand up to your cat and make him clean up. <br />
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After we read the book, I started noticing this hipster cat everywhere. Here he is on the door of the local elementary school, on the first day of school. The cat cleans up after himself, so I guess he sets a good example with that.<br />
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But we couldn't stop here. On one of our walks, we went into the library, went downstairs to their children's room (yep, they keep the kids the basement), and looked for more Dr. Seuss books. They had a whole shelf full of them, and we picked <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679805273/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0679805273&linkCode=as2&tag=eurohome-20">Oh, the Places You'll Go!</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=eurohome-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0679805273" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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We sat down at one of their small colorful tables, and I started reading in a whimsical voice. After we finished the book, we got up and walked out. Needless to say, the librarian had a good story to tell to his buddies that day.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-68759338217457898442013-08-30T13:28:00.000-07:002013-08-30T13:28:10.519-07:00Things to do this summer: Visit an art exhibitPreferably one of your favorite artists.<br />
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Preferably French.<br />
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Preferably awesome.<br />
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Preferably Toulouse-Lautrec at the Allentown Art Museum.<br />
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I was honestly very impressed with this museum. It's no Louvre or Tate, but for a small art museum it is very well-curated. The Lautrec exhibit info left out the spicy details of his life. There was no mention of Lautrec residing in a brothel, suffering from a genetic disease due to inbreeding or his supposed cause of death. But they couldn't clean up the art itself, so we got a nice glimpse of Parisian nightlife in a cafe chantant, the bohemian atmosphere of Montmartre in the 1880s, celebrity culture and decadence, and cabaret obsession in the Belle Epoque. <br />
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The collection was on loan from Herakleidon Museum in Athens, Greece. It didn't exactly include Lautrec's best-known illustrations (most of which are on display in Paris and Washington), but it did showcase his life-long friendship with chanteuse Jane Avril and his proclivity for Parisian cabaret scenes. A very nice touch was the fact that the works were accompanied by music, passages from French literature, photographs and other objects meant to recreate the original atmosphere of the era.<br />
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There was one treasure that made it to the Allentown Art Museum, a copy of one of his most famous posters advertising Divan Japonais, one of the many café-concerts that Lautrec used to paint in. This poster surfaced a few years ago, after being hidden from the public eye in a dusty attic for over ninety years.<br />
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There are a few other paintings that are worth admiring at the Allentown Art Museum. Philadelphia native Colin Campbell Cooper's masterpiece, <i>Columbus Circle, New York</i> (1909), is breathtaking just by the amount of detail in a bird's-eye view of a bustling cityscape.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN0wVMdsQpC6zmch2GTNM2zDDaUBQhEgNrtFuLKdd0b91OipCd2rOZPL2zdwZIk-yPC7t5XFPtoPm-5KHaI2N6t3p55Jk1YdVBMhmTkTn3LEFGffRLqf877hUFi6_TJt8h3nbjB2nwZ8/s1600/Colin+Campbell+Cooper+-+Columbus+Circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Colin Campbell Cooper - Columbus Circle, New York - Alentown Art Museum" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFN0wVMdsQpC6zmch2GTNM2zDDaUBQhEgNrtFuLKdd0b91OipCd2rOZPL2zdwZIk-yPC7t5XFPtoPm-5KHaI2N6t3p55Jk1YdVBMhmTkTn3LEFGffRLqf877hUFi6_TJt8h3nbjB2nwZ8/s1600/Colin+Campbell+Cooper+-+Columbus+Circle.jpg" title="Colin Campbell Cooper - Columbus Circle, New York - Alentown Art Museum" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=39952" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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Then there is <i>Mr Darlington's Still Life</i> (1890) by Quaker and Pennsylvania native <a href="http://www.antiquesandfineart.com/articles/article.cfm?request=516" target="_blank">George Cope</a>. A trompe l'oeil so well-made that it makes you want to reach for that Harper's Weekly.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVQYBauWzYZU1Bi5kACnlFdpa5r6BpURhLhVbcXbSLmAtMxxx2EWyeUZ7o7eESIvnOOev86GbvS1pd-pPAQ2XSU53nwMLNJtHBAGoIg5NAPp6-Ke5_5SGEZ-ALZn2Jmy7aVQuH2WLF2s/s1600/george+cope-mr+darlington%27s+still+life+allentown+art+museum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Mr Darlington Still Life by Quaker and Pennsylvania native George Cope-Allentown Art Museum" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinVQYBauWzYZU1Bi5kACnlFdpa5r6BpURhLhVbcXbSLmAtMxxx2EWyeUZ7o7eESIvnOOev86GbvS1pd-pPAQ2XSU53nwMLNJtHBAGoIg5NAPp6-Ke5_5SGEZ-ALZn2Jmy7aVQuH2WLF2s/s1600/george+cope-mr+darlington's+still+life+allentown+art+museum.jpg" title="Mr Darlington Still Life by Quaker and Pennsylvania native George Cope-Allentown Art Museum" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.allentownartmuseum.org/node/21?scrolling=no&width=500&height=450" target="_blank">Source</a></td></tr>
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And <a href="http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/1983/635.html" target="_blank">Julius Bloch</a>'s <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/itinerant_wanderer/6736725779/in/set-72157628890108243/" target="_blank"><i>People on a Streetcar</i></a> (1937), a social realist depiction of working class America after the Great Depression.<br />
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Visit<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/itinerant_wanderer/sets/72157628890108243/detail/?page=2" target="_blank"> this Flickr gallery</a> for more pictures of the works on display at the Allentown Art Museum. <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-14252075071835904532013-08-16T20:50:00.002-07:002013-08-17T05:16:13.757-07:00Gettysburg Day TripLiving in Pennsylvania has its perks. Sure, I'm writing this in mid-August and I'm wearing a cardigan, and it does seem like we're experiencing some sort of time warp, in which we skip from July to October weather from one day to another. But we are living in a historically-rich state, and we are never more than an hour away from a great day trip.<br />
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A few weekends ago, we wanted to dabble in a little Civil War history (you know, it was one of those mornings), and took a day drip to Gettysburg. We chose probably the hottest day of the summer to do this, but we had been planning this trip ever since I got here, and we really didn't want to postpone any longer. Sadly, neither did a motorcycle convention, which made the town packed and extremely loud. There were motorcycles EVERYWHERE and the streets were inundated with the noise of roving Harleys. <br />
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Gettysburg is less than an hour away from our house, and what a charming little town it is.<br />
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What gives Gettysburg its historical importance is the fact that the Union and Confederate armies chose to duel it out on the fields surrounding the town for 3 days in July 1863, during the American Civil War between the North and the South. This is also the place where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in November 1863. What I didn't know is that Lincoln's speech, considered one of the most powerful and eloquent pieces of oration in the US history, was only 272 words and 2 minutes long. Talk about concise! Even more interesting is that Lincoln delivered his short address right after the main speaker, politician Edward Everett, who spoke for over 2 hours. There must be a lesson in this. <br />
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The town delivers and caters to history buffs and philistines alike, with antique shops, small museums and a self-guided tour of the battlefields. We went into an antique shop gallery which, in a town like this, was like going into a museum. Stray bullets from the Civil War? Check. Old bottles of Coke? Check. Vintage tins? Check. Coins and stamps? Check and check.<br />
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While we were walking around town, we came across this little gem of a museum, the Gettysburg Museum of History, which is privately owned and free to visit. This was probably the highlight of our visit. We admit, it's not every day that you get the chance to see a lock of Martha Washington's hair, Eisenhower's golf clubs, President Ford's glasses, Lincoln's wallet and – the cream of the crop – Elvis Presley's underwear (plus underwear that was thrown at him by his adoring fans, thankfully all women). Oh, and if you're that much into Elvis, they also had his Graceland bidet cover on display. It was yellowish-mustard. I kid you not. But if you think this is creepy, another item on display is a prescription for sedatives for one Marylin Monroe, dated close to her death. And one of Evil Knievel's jackets. So yeah, don't miss this museum if you're in Gettysburg (and into weird things).</div>
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After closely scrutinizing hundreds of objects belonging to dead people, we decided to lift our spirits with ice cream and a walking tour of downtown. Gettysburg looks very European-like, with small cafes nestled in the ground floors of old buildings, squares full of flowers and wide sidewalks swarming with tourists. Needless to say I was homesick, and demanded to move there immediately. <br />
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We ended our visit with the self-guided auto tour of the battlefields, which is 24 miles long and includes 16 tour stops. It would have taken us about three hours to complete the tour at the optimal speed, stopping at all the memorials along the way. But it was too hot and too sunny for this kind of a history lesson, so we took the short route, cut corners, and promised ourselves we'll come back for a complete tour and a visit to the Gettysburg Ciclorama - a sound-and-light show of the spectacular 377-foot painting by Paul Philippoteaux. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5991083388778984594.post-36342713643420084992013-08-12T15:39:00.000-07:002013-09-19T14:44:39.679-07:00Things to do this summer: Learn to make veggie dipsWe spent our Sunday making a very delicious vegetable spread called zacusca or zakouska o<span style="color: #b40429;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;">r zakusca or however else Google might like to index it.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">This is probably my favorite vegetable spread, aside from my newfound love of guacamole, and it is quite easy to make. It doesn't require over-the-top cooking abilities, but it does take a lot of time and patience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">This Sunday we found we had both, and on top of that we had fresh tomatoes from our own garden, so we ventured into the unknown territories of canning. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">These are the ingredients for 5 big jars of zacusca:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">2 medium eggplants;</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">2 medium white onions;</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">14 medium tomatoes, the juicier the better;</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">4 bell peppers (we used one of each color: green, yellow, orange and red);</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">3 table spoons of olive oil;</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: small;">a tablespoon of salt;</span></b><br />
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<b>3-5 bay leaves;</b><br />
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<b>pepper. </b><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">All of these ingredients will end up in a large pot, so be sure to have one before you start. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">This method requires roasting, broiling, sauteing and boiling, so arrange with friends to check up on you every once in a while to make sure you didn't set your kitchen on fire. Or let them know in advance that they'll be getting phone calls in which whimpering and the occasional cursing of your burners are the only things they'll hear. It's ok, that's normal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">There are a lot of ways to make this dish, but we chose one that is suitable for a healthy diet. This means that we reduced the oil substantially, we used fresh tomatoes instead of canned tomatoes or paste, and we broiled the tomatoes instead of roasting them. The key to a good zacusca is roasting some of the vegetables, so they get a smoky aftertaste. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Put your hair up so you're not tempted to pull it all out. Here it is, in 20 (twenty!) easy steps:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">1. Roast the eggplants and the peppers on the grill. Blacken their skins, but don't burn them. This requires the same skills as parallel parking: hand-eye coordination and lateral vision. So I've heard, I can't parallel park.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">2. Peel their skins off while they're still hot. It's easier if you do it under cold running water. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">3. Let the juice seep out of the eggplant. Your liver will thank me for this later. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">4. Remove the stem and the seeds from the peppers. Remove the stem of the eggplants, but don't bother with the small seeds.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">5. Finely chop the peppers and the eggplants. My mom says that if you use a metal knife to chop the eggplant, it oxidizes and looks really ugly in the final mix. We chopped it with a wooden spoon (yes, it is possible). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">6. Do you remember we had tomatoes on the list of ingredients? Good, now it's time to broil them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">7. After the tomatoes are broiled, skin them and remove their stems. Do this in a bowl, not a sieve. You don't want the juice to seep out, we need it in the zacusca.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">8. Finely chop the tomatoes. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">9. Julienne the onions. Amaze yourself with the fancy cooking terms you're using while your husband is crying his eyes out because he is the one in charge of the onions.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">10. Saute the onion in the olive oil. Just a little browning should do. Do this in a large pot, this is where all your ingredients will end up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">11. Have a glass of wine. This is the time you'll probably realize that you're 10 steps and only 50% into this recipe.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">12. Add the chopped eggplants, tomatoes and peppers to the onion you were sauteing in the big pot. Stir and add 1 tablespoon of salt, about 3-5 bay leaves and as much pepper as your weakest link can handle. In our family, I'm the weakest link, and I have the final say when the pepper stops. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">13. Cook all this for about 30 minutes. Stir often to prevent it from sticking to the pot. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">14. The 30 minutes are up; you've probably had some more wine; sober up 'cause it gets tricky. Now you have to transfer the mixture to glass jars. Don't let it cool, we're not done with it yet. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">15. Once your zacusca is in jars, it's time to seal them. We'll use the same big pot that you used for cooking it, so go ahead and wash that. I know, tedious!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">16. Put a kitchen towel/napkin/rag on the bottom of the pot. (Really important step! I'd put orange cones around that sentence if I could.) Fill half of the pot with water. Bring it to a boil.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">17. Wrap you jars in paper or newspaper. Or use this unexpected opportunity to get rid of old bank statements.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">18. Place the jars in the boiling water and boil for another 10 minutes. Don't worry, they won't crack, as long as you didn't forget step 16. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">19. Let the jars cool in the water. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">20. That's it! You're done! Do a celebration dance and drink the rest of the wine. Yes, I do mean that second bottle. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">You can eat it as a spread or as a dip. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Linked at <a href="http://frugallysustainable.com/2013/09/frugal-days-sustainable-ways-90/" target="_blank">Frugally Sustainable</a>, <a href="http://www.myhumblekitchen.com/2013/09/simple-lives-thursday-165/" target="_blank">My Humble Kitchen, </a><a href="http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2013/09/19/thrifty-thursday-week-28/" target="_blank">Living Well, Spending Less</a>, and <a href="http://www.servingjoyfully.com/2013/09/18/thriving-thursday-919/" target="_blank">Serving Joyfully</a>. </span></span><br />
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