Friday, September 10, 2010

Kitchen Witches




My new Kitchen Witch. For centuries Norwegians and Germans have hung similar witches in their kitchen. The theory is that the Kitchen Witch has the power to keep roasts from burning, pots from boiling over, and sauces from spilling.

She comes with her own Broom and the price was right. She was only .50 cent Euro.

I think she and Alan will get along just fine in our German Kitchen!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Labor Day 2010 - Ludwigs Palace


Ludwigsburg Palace a tour in pictures. A great day spent touring the palace of King Frederick in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Apple Pie!!















For this recipe you will need:
1 Mixing Bowl
Rolling pin
Knife
Measuring spoons
Measuring Cups
Fork to mix the Dough
Cutting Board
9 inch Pie Pan (smaller is ok, but not bigger)















Preheat Oven to 425
First Step: Mixing the Pie Crust Ingredients
(I used a Betty Crocker Oil Pastry Recipe)

Mix in a large bowl:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
I teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup Oil

STIR until pieces are the size of small peas. Then add water a tablespoon at a time
(up to 3-4 tablespoons). Mixing until flour is moistened and dough almost
cleans the side of the bowl.



Gather dough together and press into a ball.Divide the dough into two pieces. Now between two pieces of wax paper roll out one ball of dough.










Roll pastry 2 inches larger than inverted pie pan. Peel off top paper. Place pastry paper side up in pan. Peel off remaining paper. Ease pastry loosely into pan.

Note I didn’t bring a pie pan to Germany with me.....so I made mine in a cake pan and it seems to have turned out great!







Filling for 9 inch Pie
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of Salt
6 cups thinly slided peeled apples (6 apples)
2 tablespoon butter








Stir together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt; mix with apples.














Dump into pastry lined pie pan, dot with butter.














Cover with top pie crust AND cut slits in it.
















Cover edges with foil strips to prevent over browning.













Bake first 25 minutes with foil strips and then remove.













Serve warm with Vanilla Ice Cream!!


Friday, September 3, 2010

Purple Car Wobble


So today I found out what the wobble was on Purple car....I took her over to the POV Inspection station for a courtesy safety inspection. They put her up on a rack and gave her the once over (all free of charge!). What they found was a bad ball joint on her front right side. Her symptoms (or my description there of) matched this diagnosis according to Alan. So we have scheduled her for ball joint surgery on 15 September. If all goes well she will be up and running again very soon! With that, a new clamp for her exhaust pipe and the new battery I put in last week she will make someone a great around the town car!