Tag Archives: cake

customs, Hessen, Humor, Military

It was that time again… driver’s chores and informal newsy signs!

This morning, Bill had to take me on post to get a new driver’s “license”. Actually, it’s not a license; it’s a special permit given to Americans living in Germany, courtesy of the US military. My Texas driver’s license is my real license, but I also have to get a card from the military, which grants me the right to drive in Germany. When we go to other European countries, technically, we’re supposed to have an international driver’s permit.

I don’t know what we’re going to do if we stay here for much longer, because once my Texas license expires, I’ll have to renew it in person. And that will mean somehow establishing a residence there, when we live here… I think it might be time to trade the Texas license for a German one, or move back home. Or maybe do what a lot of contractors and their spouses do, and just drive on an expired license, which is risky, because it’s illegal. I remember back in 2015, there was a huge fiasco when German cops cracked down on American drivers with expired licenses. It did eventually get worked out, but this is a problem that a lot of folks like us eventually have to confront, if we stay in Germany.

Personally, I think we should just get German licenses. Since we have Texas licenses, we can just exchange them. But Bill worries about doing that, because anytime one does something official in Germany, it puts one on the government’s radar, and that could threaten our status as non German tax paying “temporary” residents. But I don’t see how getting a proper driver’s license is any worse than putting a child in a local school, which a lot of military folks do. I myself went to a British kindergarten, when my dad was serving his final years in the Air Force and we lived in England.

Anyway… today was the day to get a renewal, and due to Bill’s busy work schedule, we had to go today, which is a “walk-in” day. It’s lucky that we got there when we did, because there was a huge influx of people in the few minutes we waited. We were lucky enough to score chairs to sit on. While we were waiting, I was reminded of how much the military loves signs… and I couldn’t help but take a few photos of the ones posted in the building we visited to take care of today’s chore. I know I’ve written about this topic before, but I figured today was a good day for a reminder. Some of these signs are especially “newsy” (and some are reruns from the earlier post)!

Behold!

I actually wish I had this poster at home.
I was confused by this… but Bill explained it was a relic from the COVID era. It made me think of condoms.
I liked how the person who made this sign mentioned “common sense.” Yep, that can be lacking in some places.
I wonder how many people take this initiative to heart as they wash their hands.
A good reminder for public health.
Another newsy sign that made me guffaw.
Loose lips sink ships!
They are “totally understaffed”!
A rare multilingual sign. On the other side of the door, there is a sign that says “WOMAN”, as opposed to “WOMEN”.
Another newsy sign!

We saw the same guy who helped us the last time we renewed (in August 2019), but we were actually served by a different guy, who wore a Hawaiian shirt. Apparently, the office is “totally understaffed” right now… You can read all about it in the newsy sign requesting that people make appointments instead of walking in. We would have obliged, but Bill’s office is also “totally understaffed”. After filling out the paperwork, taking a quick eye test, and handing over $30 (up from $20 five years ago), we were all done. The line for licenses had gotten longer while we were taking care of business.

After we took care of renewing my USAREUR license, we headed back to the car, and I was reminded of how I’ve been in this system for most of my life. It occurred to me just how many military installations I’ve been on, due to the fact that my dad was a career Air Force officer, and my husband was a career Army officer, and now he works for the Army. It wasn’t my plan to be in this military life… but yet, here I am… a lifelong “dependent” (I refuse to refer to myself as a “dependa”, because that term is offensive.)

It also occurred to me how attracted I am to men in uniforms… There were quite a few handsome young guys standing in line, looking quite “hot” in their OCPs. The ladies also looked good. It made me miss the days when Bill wore a uniform to work every day. Hubba hubba!

I don’t even drive very often anymore, even though I have a car. I don’t see the point in going somewhere just for the hell of it. But I do need the legal license, because when we get back from our vacation, I have to take Charlie to the vet for a heartworm test, since he came from Kosovo. We want to make sure he wasn’t infested down there before we have him anesthetized for a much needed dental cleaning.

Yesterday, our neighbors brought over some cake for us, because that’s a tradition among some Germans on the first day of school. You make a cake, and share it with neighbors. I actually only heard of that tradition when this particular neighbor brought it up a couple of years ago. Anyway, it was nice of her! We had it for breakfast this morning.

Well… I think today, I will take care of a few routine chores, so I don’t have to worry about them tomorrow, before we jet off to Iceland. So ends today’s blog post! The next one will probably be written from an island in the northern Atlantic!

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Hessen, markets

Eating for the sake of educating…

Bill is taking a few days off work because he worked so many hours earlier this month. We had thought that maybe we might go somewhere for the weekend, but then decided against it, due to the big trip we have planned for next month. Yesterday happened to be the day of our weekly market in our village of Breckenheim, and Bill’s daughter, who lives in Utah and has never been abroad, had asked Bill about German sausages. Her mother had told her about them, but she couldn’t really picture them.

In the interest of educating Bill’s daughter about Brats (the non-human kind, anyway), we decided to go to the market to have sausages, since there are always Bratwursts available at the local events. I had originally intended to have a Bratwurst, too, but then I noticed the Middle Eastern Feinkost had what appeared to be a delicious falafel and hummus sandwich available. So I had that, instead of a Bratwurst, then enjoyed my very first “spaghetti Eis” for dessert. Spaghetti Eis is vanilla ice cream that looks like spaghetti and is served with strawberry sauce. I had never had it before yesterday. The ice cream truck had somewhat limited choices. 😉

We also brought home some other fresh goodies from the market, including a couple of pieces of different cakes that were made by local ladies. I look forward to trying those today.

Here is a video and a few photos of yesterday’s haul. We really had a great time, and the weather could not have been better! We love the weekly market, although we don’t always go, because by the time Bill gets home from work, it’s about over. It only runs from 1:00 until 6:00, and Bill usually gets home right after 5:00 PM. Noyzi is getting somewhat better at going to these events. It helped that the market isn’t as crowded in the early afternoon as the wine stands usually are. There is a wine stand tonight, and if we’re home, we’ll probably attend.

This sandwich was absolutely DELICIOUS. I still have most of it in the fridge.
The fish guy was arriving later.
So was the Metzgerei…
Red Wine Cake and Bienenstich…
We got some beautiful berries and local ham…
More Turkish treats, Manchego cheese for Bill, and big green olives…

And here’s a hastily produced video of our adventures… The food was so delicious yesterday! I probably should have enjoyed more of that than the wine… 😉

I hope that sandwich hasn’t disintegrated!

It looks like we have similarly nice weather in store for today. Maybe we’ll get out of the house and do something fun. Or maybe not… 😀

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President’s Day Weekend in Regensburg… Part 4

After our beer soused lunch, Bill and I made our way to Regensburg’s beautiful cathedral, Dom St. Peter.  This gothic cathedral is absolutely breathtaking.  It’s twin spires are easily spotted from anywhere in the city and made for a great landmark to getting back to our hotel.  Aside from that, it’s just a really amazing creation that dates back to the 1300s.  Neither being Catholic nor particularly religious, I mostly like to go into cathedrals to see the architecture and the invariably amazing pipe organs.  Bill, on the other hand, usually wells up with tears when he enters these incredibly intricate buildings erected in God’s honor.

Naturally, my pictures don’t do justice to the sheer awesomeness of Regensburg’s cathedral.  It truly is a mesmerizing place.

Two more shots of the outside, taken on Sunday when the sun was shining…

 

As we took our leave, Bill crossed himself like the good Catholic he used to be.  I spotted emotional tears in his eyes and suggested we go have coffee and cake.  We don’t usually do that, but again, the weather was pretty crappy.  Besides, I love pastries.  We went to a little konditorei across the street from our hotel.  They were doing a good business.  A prized table overlooking the street opened up just as we arrived and a very pleasant waitress invited us to take it.

 

We each had a slice of cheesecake with peaches.  I had an Irish coffee and Bill had regular coffee.  We watched the world go by from the window above the parking lot…

The outside of the konditorei.

 

One thing I love about German desserts is that they’re usually lighter and not as sweet as American desserts.  I know that probably doesn’t translate to fewer calories, though.

We went back to the hotel for a rest after our afternoon coffee and cake break.  And when I say rest, I mean rest…  We ended up drawing the blinds and taking a two or three hour nap.

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Birthday dinner… Cake and Steak!

Yesterday was my birthday.  My husband took me out to dinner to celebrate.  We went to the Southern Prime Steak House in Southern Pines, North Carolina.  We had been there a couple of times before and Bill had mentioned wanting to go there a couple of times last week.  This place specializes in dry aged steaks and that’s what we both enjoyed last night in the restaurant’s impressive wine library.

They had decorated our table with funfetti before we arrived…  I was enjoying a lovely glass of sparkling wine from the Napa Valley…

We started off with lobster rangoons, which were served with a spicy dipping sauce.  They were really delicious and perfect to start the meal with because I was hungry.  They also served some fantastic hot bread with a very light whipped honey butter.

Then we had salads.  I had a spinach salad with hard boiled quail eggs and a spicy red pepper, sherry, and bacon dressing.  Bill had a classic Caesar salad.  We probably should have switched salads because Bill liked mine better than the Caesar and I’m always game for Caesar salads.

Bill ordered a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape, to go with our steaks.  Mine was a perfect 12 ounce ribeye, served with green beans and cheesy grits.  Bill’s was an 8 ounce filet.  Those steaks were insanely good; they’d been dry aged for 28 days.  This restaurant has a grill that cooks them at 1400 degrees… or so they say.  If I hadn’t wanted grits, I could have had mashed potatoes or a baked potato.  I chose the grits because I can have potatoes any day.  I can have grits any day too, but I correctly surmised these grits would be outstanding… and they definitely were!

I look forward to lunch today…

 
I think I ate maybe half of this because I was saving room for dessert.  It was excellent… makes me sorry we didn’t visit this restaurant more often since we now have to move.

After dinner, they brought out the obligatory lava cake…

 

Lava cake time.  I actually don’t like lava cakes that much, but this one was really nice.  It was rich chocolate, moist, and not too sweet.  Bill and I shared it, then ordered some Key Lime Pie for later this weekend.  I don’t like lava cakes, not because I don’t like half baked chocolate stuff, but more because lava cakes are ubiquitous and kind of half-assed.  That doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy them when they are presented to me.

And then at the end of the meal, they took our picture.  I hate having my picture taken too, but they did a good one this time.  Bill looks like he’s staring at my boobs, but that’s because he always blinks when someone takes a photo with flash.

We’ve come a long way since 2002…  The photo below was taken of us the night Bill proposed, March 13, 2002.

I was having a good hair day that night.

It’s good to be 41, I guess.  And just to tie this to travel, look what SeaDream sent me…

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