!!Snow!!

It actually snowed here last night - I did not sign up for this!

[Please pay no attention to the "yard," it's embarrassing, I know.]

Although it quickly melted, it was fun to wake up to this earlier. I think.

Gnocchi with Brown Butter Sauce

Ever since our stay in Italy, I've been dreaming about the food. Italians really do make the most amazing meals and I wanted to see if I could make some gnocchi. I attempted to make this recipe last weekend. It.was.awful. I don't know why the recipe says to boil the gnocchi for 4 minutes after they rise to the top of the boiling water - that's about 3 minutes too long. The result? One big mushy mess. And not edible.

So, I let one week pass and decided to try it again since I had a huge bag of potatoes. This time, I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen - although I still microwaved the pototoes and used a potato ricer, as the first recipe above suggests. 12 minutes in the micro versus 45 in the oven sounds much better to me.

I topped the gnocchi with a sage brown butter sauce, melting a stick (!!) of butter and adding some sage, salt and pepper, with nutmeg. After boiling the gnocchi, I put them in the pan with the sauce - it browned the gnocchi which I thought made it better.

I heated up some chicken sausage for protein (the stuff at the top of the plate) and voila:





It looks like one, big, brown mess, but it was a hit!

A Heartbeat Away From Being President (!!)

Whatever your political affliation may be, this interview is just frightening. This woman could potentially be ruling the free world in the upcoming years? The gibberish makes no sense whatsoever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbg6hF0nShQ

On another note, can I just say that I love Tina Fey? Love.

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/

And I promise these will be the first and last of the political entries...I just want to make sure I have all videos on file for future viewing.

One Year Ago

To think this is what we were doing exactly one year ago:

(see, the ring does fit!)

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day or perfect year. Happy anniversary!

Sausage Fingers...

...are what happen when your hands get attacked by fire ants. Not good!

Warning: crappy photos ahead. It's the best I could do without having Photoshop.












My fingers are so swollen I can no longer put on my wedding rings.:(





Reason # 7482947389274932 why I want to go back to California. And I haven't even shared photos of my mosquito-ridden legs.

Although I suppose I should be grateful my hands don't look like this (another warning: graphic image).

Still in denial

One month later, and our cars have gone from this:



To this:



(No, these aren't our real plates. I don't feel like taking out the camera.)

I think it's the cowboy that puts it over the edge?

We have made quite a dent in the home improvement projects but the house needs to be cleaned in order to properly document. Not sure when this will actually happen, please don't hold your breath.

The Alamo

No, not that Alamo, the Alamo movie theater that is apparently a Texas staple. We actually ventured out of our little bubble last night and went to check out the new Will Ferrell flick, Step Brothers last night. And because I'm lame and never have a camera, words will have to suffice - there aren't even decent pictures to steal from the web.

While the movie was your typical Will Ferrell fare, this is not the point. The Alamo is awesome, I don't know why this concept is not more popular. You enter the theater, find a seat, and write down your food and drink order. A server comes by, takes your order and you have food and drinks while you watch a movie. Genius, I say. The extensive menu is pretty decent and includes a huge beer/wine selection - bonus. I had the Turkey & Red Pepper Sub, Steven ordered the Grilled Chicken Club, and we shared a pitcher of Hefeweizen.

Although there is a steady stream of servers running around during the movie, it wasn't overly obnoxious in my opinion. Steven had mentioned, however, that he wouldn't want to watch a serious movie at the Alamo since he was distracted. I guess we won't be seeing many serious movies in the near future?

RIP, Pink Razr

You've served me well over the past 2.5 years (scratches and all) but with your recent shenanigans, I've had to retire you. I did not appreciate the random numbers being dialed without my consent, nor did I enjoy the keypad not working at all. Not sure if you were punishing me for moving you out of California into this horrific Texan heat, but I get it.


May you have better times elsewhere, hopefully you can aid a nice person who needs you more than me - after you get fixed, of course.


Sadly, I cannot afford your posh cousin the iphone at the moment so I've had to settle for your step-sister, the MOTO (yes, in purple. don't mock).







And your step-sister had better arrive tomorrow as promised. Not having a cell phone feels like I've lost a limb.

It's only 2 years, right?

Or that's what Steven promised me, we'd be back in California in 24 months. Or 730 days. Not that I'm counting or anything.

Our drive to our new home was interesting, to say the least. We had family friends who recently made the trek from SoCal to Austin and it took them 28 hours so at least we knew what to expect (sort of). It took us 29-ish hours, I will be happy to never do that drive again!

All of our precious belongings fit into this, a 26 foot Penske truck.

Steven drove the truck for most of the way while I followed behind in my car. His brother helped us along the way so we could take breaks. Thank god for XM radio, I don't know if I would have survived without it, especially since cell phone service was shotty at best for most of the drive through Texas. Don't even want to know what the radio selection is like.

Somewhere in Arizona - the lady in the gas station said it had been 116 degrees the day before:/

Meanwhile, crossing into New Mexico, we drove through this madness. It just started pouring with a crazy thunder storm.

This is just, um, interesting. I should get used to it since there are churches just about on every block in this state. They don't call the south "the Bible Belt" for nothing. The truck reads "Jesus Christ is Lord, Not a Swear Word."

Welcome to Texas! Just below the sign reads "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way." Um, we're from Southern California. Have you seen the 405 during rush hour? We don't drive "friendly."

I lost it about two hours from our destination...between the exhaustion and the stress, it was all very overwhelming. I have to remind myself that it's not California - it's normal for men to be wearing tight pants with cowboy boots/hats. It's normal to see a taxidermist office (is that what it's even called?). It's normal to be called ma'am, although I'm not sure if I'm going to get used to that one.

And our new, but temporary, home. It needs quite a bit of work, but a fresh coat of paint and some new carpet will make it 1,000 times better. I have to remind myself to breathe, eventually everything will be finished. Pictures of the inside will come later when things have actually been unpacked/painted/etc.

We have great neighbors, almost everyone came over to say hello the first day - the lady next door even came over with her 6 yr old son and gave us cold lemonade. So nice!

Now back to unpacking...

All good things must come to and end...

We're on our way home! Sitting in the Heathrow Airport at the moment, the dreaded Terminal 5, no less (crossing our fingers our luggage follows us). We've just spent about two weeks with Stephanie's family - first visiting her dad's relatives in Normandie, then off to Brittany to visit her mom's side. It was great to see familiar faces and have home-cooked meals again!

Our trip was everything we could ask for and so much more. It has been...exhausting yet exhilirating; so short yet so very long; frustrating yet eye-opening; stressful yet relaxing; travelled so far yet barely explored the rest of the world. We're excited to be coming home, yet dreading the thought of going back to reality. Sadly, we can't stay in la-la land forever.

We kept joking that we might just kill each other along the way but how many people can stand being around just one other person 24/7 for 4 months? But we've survived and have truly tested our marriage for the better. Not too bad for being newlyweds. ;)

Traveling truly gives you another perspective on life and the memories we'll keep forever can't be replaced.

**update**
We finally made it home and we have our luggage with us!

Amsterdam

The bad weather followed us from Brussels to Amsterdam and sadly it rained for almost the entire 4 days. Again, Steven had previously been to the city so he was familiar with almost everything except for the Anne Frank house - the line was too long each time he tried to visit.

The sun finally did show it's face one afternoon we rented our yellow bikes and rode around town, up and down the little streets and canals.















Bicycles are absolutely everywhere in Amsterdam, some of them even have nifty contraptions for carrying other people or large items.







And everyone has heard about the Red Light District in Amsterdam - it was just interesting to see the red curtains and lights mixed in with other restaurants, coffee shops, apartments, etc. No big deal, right?

Photography, obviously, is not allowed near the windows so this is the best we could do. And, judging by what we saw in the middle of the day, it's probably best we couldn't take photos as it wasn't pretty. :/

We did manage to make it over to the Anne Frank Museum on our last day and toured the house where her and her family hid for so many years. It was difficult to understand how 8 people could live in such a small space and never leave, much less see the sun, but that is the power of the museum. Pictures were not allowed, although there isn't much to see inside as all of the furniture was removed by the Nazis and never replaced. There was one quote at the end of the museum we thought was moving:

"Anne Frank has become a symbol for the millions of Jews whose lives were cut short and whose potential was never realized. It is hard to fathom six million Jews being murdered by the Nazis, but Anne Frank has made it easier for people today to comprehend the concept of one Jew being killed six million times."

Brussels

We didn't have much time in Brussels after spending the entire day traveling from Prague. Let's just say the 5 hours in the Budapest airport lounge was not the most interesting;(

After checking into our hotel, we wandered down the alley with tons of restaurants all offering the same thing - moules frites (mussels and fries). Brussels isn't known for too many things, but moules frites and beer are two things so we weren't going to question it.

This is basically what moules frites looks like - a huge bowl of mussels and another huge bowl of fries are brought out and there you have it.

By the time we finished with dinner, it was well close to 11pm so we called it a day and went to sleep.

We woke up the next morning and walked through the Grand Place, the main square:

Then over to see the statue of the Manneken-Pis (aka the Pissing Boy):

And we had to try a Belgian waffle to compare and make sure it tasted ok. It tasted just fine, albeit quite messy when chocolate and whipped cream is added.

And staying with the food theme, we wanted to pick up a box of chocolates for Stephanie's aunt and uncle who we were visiting in a few days. There were so many chocolate stores, fortunately we asked the hotel for a recommendation and were not disappointed. We picked up a few pieces for us while we were at it.

With about an hour to spare before catching our train, we walked over to the Tintin museum. We didn't have enough time to go into the museum, but they had a big gift store that we checked out and this Deux Chevaux (literally translated meaning "two horses") in the courtyard of the museum. Stephanie's dad used to drive one when he was younger and it always reminds her of him.

We picked up our luggage from the hotel and barely made it to the train station before it started pouring rain.

Prague

A little behind on blogging, but better late than never.

We spent 5 nights in Prague, probably a few days too many but it was nice to take our time and walk the city. Since Steven had previously been to Prague, he played tour guide for Stephanie.

The main square:

On the hour, hoards of tourists gather in the main square to watch the astronomical clock on the Old Town Hall Tower - two small trap doors open above the clock and small figurines representing Christ and disciples go around in a circle. Not extremely impressive but considering it was constructed in the 15th century, we'll say it's noteworthy.

Goulash is a must in any central European country and Steven definitely had his fill, accompanied by typical dumplings.

We also enjoyed some hot chocolate and these cinnamon bun things - a welcomed treat since it was about 50 degrees outside. BRRRRRR!

After a few days of walking around the city, we figured we should take a day trip and explore another part of the Czech Republic. Karlovy Vary, a cute town known for its hot springs, was a short bus ride away and seemed like a good choice.

The town has about 20 mineral springs and everyone carries these funny-looking porcelain cups sipping mineral water. We each took a small sip with our hands and decided people were nuts for consuming such large quantities of something that tasted and smelled like rotten eggs. But it's a good marketing ploy and whoever thought of it is laughing all the way to the bank.

One of the small springs:

The largest spring:

The suckers, err, tourists, with their cups:

The Grand Pupp Hotel, located in Karlovy Vary, was used in the James Bond film, Casino Royale:



Another interesting tidbit...Karlovy translates to Karlsbad in German and the California city of Carlsbad is named after this city in the Czech Republic.

We ended our visit to Karlovy Vary with a traditional wafer - it looks, and tastes, like cardboard.

Back in Prague, we spent our last day visiting the famous Prague Castle. But first, we had to walk over the Charles Bridge. Fortunately, it's a pedestrian-only bridge - it would be a mess to try and maneuver around massive crowds with cars and trucks.

View of the castle in the background - please note it took 7 tries to take this picture.

We hiked to the top of the hill and finally arrived at the castle. Probably the most notable part of the castle is the cathedral so inside we went to admire the stained glass.

And we had to climb the 287 steps to the top to admire the view of the city:

We walked back down the steps and hobbled back to our hotel with our jelly legs.