Tag Archives: kitchen

Hessen, holidays

Christmas 2025… one for the ages!

Happy Boxing Day, everybody. Bill has gone off to work today, and I’m sitting here tying up loose ends from our Christmas celebration. It was actually a pretty good day for us. The weather was appropriately bitterly cold, so we got to light a fire, which we kept going for most of the day. We got lots of cool stuff, mostly for the kitchen. I got a new banjo, which was a bucket list item for me, ever since I was a child. Bill says there’s more stuff coming; unfortunately, he ordered from a place that is shipping from China. 😬

Our morning started off with Eggs Benedict, excellent Peet’s Big Bang coffee, and orange juice…

Yum! Or… at least I think so!

Then, after I started our fire going and turned on some Christmas music, we sat down to open the presents. As usual, I bought most of them, so Bill did most of the unwrapping. I got lots of photos of that…

We got some cool Italian designed kitchen and dining gadgets, several new cookbooks featuring cuisine from Turkey, the Baltic countries, and the Caucasus countries, a new coffeemaker and a new blender, tarot cards, glasses and glass drinking straws, and a couple of Jungian books for Bill… I got him two new Alpa sweaters from Finland, and sweater soap, a new pen and Moleskine writing pad, a new bread knife, Chemex carafe, and mixing bowls, bags for the sous vide, food storage containers, and ginger jam… Charlie was there to supervise, while Noyzi stayed in his “room” upstairs.

This is a really interesting looking book about our favorite chocolatier!

And then came the most exciting gift of all…

Bill ordered a bluegrass banjo from Ireland. It came from McNeela, the same company that made the bodhran drum Bill got me last year at Christmas. I am very impressed with the quality. It was a lot heavier than I was expecting it to be, which is why Bill is holding it in the photo! I’ve always been fascinated by banjos, and have always wanted to learn how to play one… So we’ll see how it goes. I’m still working on my guitar(s), after all!

I had to do a little rearranging of my “studio” to accommodate the new banjo. And now I have space for two more instruments!

Below are a couple more photos of noteworthy Christmas gifts. I was particularly amused by the Eggsecutor, a handy device used to open boiled eggs. I loved the witty description of it on the box! Bill said it was kind of like a guillotine for eggs!

An amusing read!
I bought a set of these tumblers and glass straws from a German company.

All in all, it was a pleasant holiday celebration for us… and I managed to capture a few moments on video…

My laugh is annoying… sorry! Maybe my mother-in-law will watch this.

And then for dinner, Bill cooked duck legs, roasted potatoes, and green beans, fresh baked bread, Italian red wine, and brownies and ice cream for dessert…

Man… how did I get so lucky? My husband is an absolute KEEPER. He’s a great cook and bartender, and a wonderful lover and friend!

Below is a photo of this morning’s breakfast. Bill made the bread, and “eggsecuted” the egg with our new gadget! At the end of the above video, you can see how it works!

We’ve got one more week to go before this annus horribilus is finally over… But I am grateful that I get to spend this time with my dearest friend and husband, Bill, who always makes me smile and lets me live life in high style. 😘

I hope those of you who have taken the time to read this also had a great holiday! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

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anecdotes, housekeeping tips

My kitchen annex…

I haven’t taken any photos of our little kitchen because, frankly, it’s a bit of a mess and I didn’t feel like cleaning it just so I could get a few pictures.  But I did want to post a few photos of how we used one of the little rooms on the first floor.  We have two small rooms down there that aren’t really suitable for bedrooms unless you have very small kids.  I decided to turn one of them into a pantry.

I bought the refrigerator last week to supplement the small “dorm sized” one the landlords supplied.  It’s an AEG model and so far, I’m pretty pleased with it.  It’s a good size for two people and gives us a  better place to store all the things that take up too much space in a little fridge.  We put all the magnets we collected on our many trips on that fridge.  I caught one of the neighbor kids looking through the window at them.  ðŸ˜‰

 

The shelves I bought years ago at Rose’s.  They are very sturdy wood and fold out conveniently.  I usually use them for books, but we didn’t bring many books to Germany on account of our 5000 pound shipping limit.  They make a great place for my china and some dry goods, along with bakeware that doesn’t fit in the kitchen cabinets.  And you can also see the obligatory twenty pack crate of beer…

I bought this handy little cart from Amazon.de.  The top opens up so you can store stuff under it.  There are two drawers, room for wine storage, and space under the rack and drawers for other stuff.  The wheels make it easy to move.  Although this cart is pretty heavy, I think we’ll probably take it back to the States with us.

 

The vacuum is a Dirt Devil.  I’m not all that happy with it because it has a design flaw.  The on/off button is on the side of the machine, so if you accidentally run into the door or something, it shuts off.  Also, the head isn’t powered, so it’s not that great for carpet.  Luckily, we don’t have much carpet in this house.

Another shot of the shelves.

The other small room we’ve turned into the trash sorting room.  In Germany, you have to sort your trash by what it is.  It’s not just putting recyclables in a recycling bin.  It’s separating paper, plastics, metals, biodegradables, and residual trash.  That means having just one trash can isn’t feasible.  I don’t mind separating trash, I guess, though I really need to find a single trash can with several compartments in it.

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