We became regular customers, and started visiting the Eis Cafe every Monday after family home evening. We developed a relationship with the family that runs the gelato shop, and since we have been visiting regularly since at least the twins were born, they watched our kids grow up. Annika learned how to order in German (although they understand our English just fine) and her confidence grew – she was always the first to order with “Ich hatte gern schneeman mit erdbeer und chocolate.” She took this responsibility seriously, but her eyes were beaming. As soon as Lucy and Elise could talk well enough they had their own opinions about ice cream as well, and they would not settle for boring single scoops anymore. They almost always order a “schneeman” (snowman) with their sister, but sometimes mix it up with pinocchio, spaghetti eis, or mickey mouse. Elise likes banana and raspberry, and Lucy likes strawberry. Once Brad tasted the Pernigotti Italian hot chocolate it has been rare for him to order anything else (and Baumholder weather is rarely warm enough to make hot chocolate impractical.) Even when he doesn’t come with us, our friend Giovonni is ready with a take-away cup of amaretto hot chocolate for me to take home to him. The hot chocolate is so thick it is the consistency of a melted chocolate bar and must be eaten with a spoon. Which makes it wonderful for eating with ice cream or on top of a waffle. As for me, I can never decide. I vacillate between banana splits, spaghetti eis, waffle cones, and the house specialty. With so many options, how can I settle?

We have the book “Alexander Who’s Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move!” by Judith Viorst. It’s been popular in our house as our moving date approaches. In the book, Alexander’s Dad advises him to go and say goodbye to all of his favorite places. We’ve been saying goodbye to our favorite places too. While we will probably visit the Eis Cafe a couple more times before we fly out, I brought my camera last time to document this family tradition of ours. I don’t know how much of Europe our kids will remember as they grow up, but I have the feeling they might not forget the Eis Cafe.

Pouring over the menu

So hard to wait. . .

The Schneeman, Pernigotti, and Panciera Becker

Digging in . . .

This picture is an older one, but before the Archers left, we had a kind passer-by take a picture of our families with Giovonni, who has served us gelato for 4 years now. He is so patient with our girls, and makes us feel like family. The picture is a little blurry and at a funny angle (which sometimes happens when hand random people your camera) but I love it.

Annika is not only a chef – she’s a photographer. She took the photo above to showcase her work!

Chef Banani’s Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

Adapted from a recipe by Smitten Kitchen

My love for Paris grows with each visit. I am not sure I could ever get bored there; it is a city made up of so many little cities and neighborhoods – each one so different than the others. At times it feels grand and sophisticated and bustling. Then a quick metro ride and it feels intimate and quaint and friendly. It is a city made for strolling, and eating, and talking. And for taking pictures – lots and lots of pictures. Because, above all, Paris is beautiful. The art is beautiful, the architecture is beautiful, the food is beautiful, the clothes are beautiful – even the people are beautiful.

There are more pictures in this post than you probably care to look at, and yet there are more I would still like to edit, and even more I would have liked to have taken. I am so glad that my Mom, and my Grandma, and my Aunt Annette wanted to come and make this trip to Paris; I wouldn’t have gone again if they hadn’t have come, and those 4 days in the city were some of the best I’ve spent in Europe.

I’ll bore myself if I talk about it anymore, so here’s the extra concise version of our trip to go along with all the pictures*:

Day One: Train ride into the city, boat tour on the Seine, metro ride to Montmarte, walk up to the cathedral, dinner at Le Moulin de Galette, get lost and walk through the red light district after I explicitly promised my Grandma that we wouldn’t

Day Two: Morning trip to the open-air market, lunch in the sun at Luxembourg gardens, shopping, and Notre Dame Cathedral. The highlight of the trip, and possibly my time in Europe, was dinner with my Grandma’s cousin’s daughter. Sheila welcomed us into her home and treated us like family. She served us a beautiful 4 course meal and we got to ask her every question we’ve ever had about really living in Europe. Her family was wonderful, the food was incredible, and it was so, so, so fun to see what it is really like to live in France. After dinner they drove us back to our apartment and we got a nighttime driving tour of the city. I hope it is not the last time our paths cross – we left feeling as though we had known each other forever! I called Brad right away after our dinner and told him that someday we would live in France (seriously – 8 weeks of vacation a year AND all that good food!)

Day Three and Four: It’s my birthday! Ice cream on Isle St. Louis, climb to the top of the Arc du Triomphe, buy lunch on Rue Cler and eat it in front of the Eifel Tower, walk back to the metro via Trocodero, and finish with a birthday dinner with a waiter who was Lumiere in the flesh.  The next morning pack up, try to avoid getting pick pocketed by gypsies while Annette is shopping, and then spend the rest of our day in the Orsay Museum before taking the train back home. Whew!

Once we got home we unpacked, washed some clothes, packed again, and left the next morning for Switzerland. Stay tuned!

*Both the photography and the editing on all these pictures are a joint effort between me and my Mom. Some are hers, some are mine, she’s edited some of mine, I’ve edited some of hers. You get the idea. They’re ours.

But by the time we put the kids to bed and did our dishes on Christmas, I was feeling a bit down. And exhausted. And we spent a long time talking to our families on Skype, which was wonderful, but I missed them and wished we could be with them. And I laid on Brad’s shoulder in bed and cried for a little while, then felt ashamed that I was crying on Christmas when I had so much to be thankful for.

The next morning we got up and the girls were in a terrible mood. Lucy was crying and screaming so hard I even tried to put her back to bed. Against our better judgement, we decided to go ahead with our plans to drive two hours to go to one more (after)Christmas Market in Strasbourg, France. I am so glad we did.

We put a movie on for the girls in the back seat of the van, and as Brad and I sat in the front and talked while he drove we noticed how quiet it was. When our girls are awake our house is loud and crazy – really loud. Once they go to bed, we always have something to do – dishes, application essays, work, editing, projects, laundry, etc… We were so happy to be just sitting together and talking while our kids were quiet we joked that maybe we should just drive around all day. Our drive there was one of the best dates we’ve had in a while.

Even though the day started out rough, our girls were exceptionally well behaved once we were there. It was early in the afternoon, the market wasn’t too crowded, and the weather was nice. There was a giant Christmas tree, hundreds of food stands with pretzels, candies, cookies, and crepes, hot spiced apple cider, a beautiful city, and a carousel ride for the girls. We didn’t buy anything besides food, but just being together in the city was perfect.

As a bonus, we stumbled on a ice skating rink. For 2 Euro we rented Annika some ice skates and spent an hour on a children’s rink with her. Our little Annika, who is generally afraid of everything is apparently growing up. She was excited to try ice skating and jumped right on the ice without needing any persuasion on coercing. Even when she fell she got right back up, licked the ice off her sleeve, and kept going. I was a proud mom that day.

We ate galettes (savory crepes) for dinner and danced around the giant Christmas tree before heading back home. I had been feeling so sad that I wasn’t with family this Christmas. Doing something I loved that I can only do in Europe was just what I needed. Having a whole day with Brad and seeing my girls smile all day was icing on the cake. It was a day I think I’ll remember for a long time.

Today I am thankful for cookies. Is that too lame? But, really, I am. That last two days have been foggy, and dark all day. So dark that while eating breakfast at 9:00 (long after the sun had come up) Annika asked if it was time to go to bed. I was puzzled. She responded with “Well, it’s dark outside! Is it bedtime?” Nothing cures the rainy/foggy/misty day blues like baking cookies. And then eating them. It warms up the house, everything smells good and the day went from cold and dark to warm and cozy – just like that.

We made both pumpkin oatmeal cookies and brown butter chocolate chip cookies. The oatmeal cookies were soft and chewy and full of fall spices. They are sort-of healthy, and you could sort-of, almost, but not really consider them breakfast cookies. The chocolate chip cookies may have me sold on brown butter. I’ve been seeing recipes calling for browned butter popping up, but had yet to try it. It’s pretty good stuff. It takes a bit more time, but if you really want to put your cookies over the top, give it a go. I was going to type the recipes out for you, but I’m too lazy for that. Here they are: Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies from the PickyCook and Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Little Red House.

P.S. It may or may not look like I stole this post from the little red house. I’m not going to lie. That post about the brown butter chocolate chip cookies was my inspiration for making cookies yesterday, but my gratitude is sincere. I guess I am also thankful for hundreds of food blogs to feed my love of trying new recipes.

A view of the market from our back patio- you could see it much better from the front, but I was taking pictures out back and just snapped this one.

We also noticed that some of the things we planted a few weeks ago were ready to harvest. Annika has been slowly eating our radishes, but we picked the rest of them yesterday.

and then roasted them with some rosemary (also from our garden.) I’ve never been a big fan of radishes, but roasted they were phenomenal! Roasting them brings out their natural sugars and makes them a little bit sweet. We immediately went to the store and bought three more bunches because we couldn’t wait to eat them again. I was also thinning my peas and before I threw away the little pea sprouts I remembered seeing a recipe online for pea tendrils. I’d never known that you could eat the actual pea plant, but I mixed them in with some of the lettuce we are growing. I could have eaten it without dressing – the pea tendrils were just a little bit sweet and crisp and were wonderful on their own. Is it just me, or does food you grow yourself taste so much better than anything you buy from a store? Brad made fruit smoothies to round out our lunch.

Radishes ready to go in the oven

Lest you think we are some kind of culinary snobs all the time, we grabbed some bratwurst from the stand outside our door for dinner and ate it while we went on another walk around the lake. Pea tendrils for lunch and glorified hot dogs for dinner — it all rounds out, right?

Roasted Radishes with Rosemary from Tartelette

1 bunch radishes
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 -2 sprigs rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 400F – 425F.
Wash and pat dry the radishes to remove fuzzy hairs and dirt.
Place the radishes in a 8×8-inch roasting pan (or other you prefer), drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast until they start getting golden on the edges. About 20-25 minutes. Enjoy warm or room temperature.

For my birthday my Mom got me a new cookbook, and I have been dying to try it out. Our bakery is literally around the corner from our house, and we visit it two or three (or four or five ….) times a week. When we went for a walk at my parents’ house Annika said “are we going to stop at the bakery?” Buying pretzels and butterzopf and loaves of dense German bread is a part of our life that I take for granted and Annika has always known. However, we’re only going to be here for another year or so and I know I won’t always be able to run around the corner for a loaf of great crusty bread, or pop in for a tart piled high with cream and berries whenever the urge strikes me. We definitely won’t be able to take day trips to France just to stock up on eclairs and baguettes. So, the thought of learning how to make artisan breads in only five minutes a day is extremely appealing. I love to cook, but baking has never been my strong suit. I am determined to master at least this method of baking and to eventually be able to bring a sample of what we know in Europe to our home in the United States.

Yesterday Annika and I set out to make our first loaf. We started with the most basic recipe – the French Boule. The method in this book is precise, but very simple and very quick. Annika loves to help in the kitchen, and this recipe was so easy she basically made it herself. I was almost giddy when we pulled the bread out of the oven and it crackled in the room temperature air. It wasn’t perfect; I think I used too much flour when I was handling it and so it was a bit more dense than it should have been, but it was far and above better than any bread I’ve ever made, and it tasted like something from one of our favorite bakeries. I have another 4 lbs or so of dough in the fridge and I can’t wait to try more. Up next – baguettes. We’ll keep you posted!

Annika "cloaking" the dough. You mix it and store it all in that tub you see in the back. No clean-up required!

Fresh out of the oven (We got a little carried away with our flour "dusting.")

Our finished products. Annika made her little one all on her own. And clearly my food photography/styling needs work.