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Super fresh sushi in Breckenheim!

We don’t get a lot of local mail, but I still check the mailbox every day. Most of the time, when we do get something in the mail, it’s a free newspaper, sales papers, or a takeout menu. The other day, we got a menu from a very local outfit called Tam’s Kitchen. (ETA in 2025: Tam’s Kitchen has since moved locations to Eltville, and it appears that now Tam only does catering and private events.)

Tam’s Kitchen specializes in sushi. It just so happened that I was in the mood for sushi a couple of nights ago. I told Bill about it. He surmised that the place only does delivery and, based on what he read in the brochure, it appears that “Tam” mainly does catering and is originally from Vietnam. He finished culinary school in 1978, and doesn’t offer dine in service.

I have no idea how long Tam’s Kitchen has been in Breckenheim. We’ve been here for about 18 months, and we didn’t know about it until a couple of days ago. And last night we ordered, and BOY was it a treat! We got Bento Box #3 and chicken skewers. The chicken skewers were fresh and tender, covered in a sweet soy glaze. But the sushi was insane! The salmon was so fresh it practically melted.

Neatly packaged…
The chicken skewers and seaweed salad.
The brochure that started it all.

This isn’t much of a post, and I apologize for that. I probably should have taken a picture of the sushi after we plated it, but it was so good that I couldn’t wait. We will definitely have to order from them again, next time the craving for sushi hits. No more grocery store sushi for us! At least for as long as we’re living in this town!

By the way… on the off chance anyone from Breckenheim is reading this, orders over 15 euros are delivered free. For orders beyond Breckenheim, the minimum is 50 euros for free delivery. Last night’s order, which was enough for Bill and me, we spent about 25 euros. I wish we’d bought more, but I’m sure we will in the future!

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A few more scenes around the ‘hood…

As we’re still not doing any traveling, I took a few more pictures from our neighborhood recently. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I went anywhere. It might have been when we went to the Globus last month. This is hell on travel writing, although now that I’m within striking distance of finishing my updates, I may soon be back to writing things of substance.

My guess is that I’ll write about our experiences so far. I have a wealth of them, thanks to so many years spent living abroad. I notice what I wrote in the spring of 2014 is not all that exciting, since we weren’t traveling much then. There were a few places in Texas I would have liked to have seen before we moved, though.

Anyway, our neighbors are being good about practicing their distancing. Several have posted signs on their door expressing their commitment to following instructions and staying inside. Bill says that masks are now required on the military installations, but frankly, I don’t think the homemade ones are worth a damn. They aren’t made to block viruses and I fear many people will not launder them. But I guess they make people feel better.

Here are some scenes in my neighborhood…

  • Everything will be good. We stay at home.
  • I don’t know if these were free for the taking, or what?
  • The local hangout’s COVID-19 statement.
  • Our pretty church.
  • And a stattment from them…
  • One of the historic buildings in Breckenheim.
  • Trees are blooming…
  • Making me wheeze.
  • But pretty soon, the field will be full of life.
  • These also make me wheeze. I’ve never understood why some people have cigarette and gumball machines outside their homes here. In just my short route, I pass three of these…

Arran and I had a nice walk today. We passed a couple of happy looking kids on their bikes. I hope things will get more normal soon… but this isn’t too bad. At least we have a nice garden and landlords who practice social distancing, too.

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Homemade ravioli!

We had beautiful weather yesterday. It would have been so great if we could have gone out and enjoyed lunch somewhere nice. Unfortunately, like the rest of the world, we are locked down thanks to the coronavirus. My husband, Bill, decided to make some homemade ravioli with garlic sauce, which we enjoyed with too much wine from France and Armenia.

Some time ago, I bought him an electric pasta roller, a drying rack, and pasta stamps. In the States, we have a pasta roller that is hand cranked, but we didn’t bring it with us. I think when we finally go back to the USA, I’ll replace it with an electric roller. It’s worth the extra money. Here are some photos.

  • We started with cremant on the patio…
  • Making the filling.
  • Filling the pasta.
  • Drying the tagliatelle.
  • Flattening the dough.
  • Finished raviolis.
  • And the final product! He made a garlic sauce.
  • Salud!

It’s really a privilege to get to live in another country, even if Germany isn’t that different than America is. As I’ve been updating my travel blog, I’ve realized just how much fun we’ve had over here since 2014. Really, we’ve had fun our whole marriage, but our latest Euro stint started almost 6 years ago. Time really flies, especially when you’ve had as much fun as we have.

Since we can’t do any traveling or eating in restaurants right now, maybe I’ll write some posts about some of our best memories. I do hope we’ll be able to add to them before too much time passes, but I’m also very grateful that if I have to be a shut in, I can be one with my husband. He’s my best friend. And I’m happy to be with him wherever we are… I got myself a real keeper.

Wine helps, too… but I think it’s time I embraced drinking more water before my liver fails. Bill sopped up the rest of the garlic sauce with homemade bread. You can take the man out of Arkansas…

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The bed’s too big without Bill.

Sigh… Bill left a few days ago for his latest TDY. It’s only been since Monday, but it’s the third or fourth TDY he’s done since the New Year. You’d think after 17 years, I’d be used to this, but I hate it when he leaves town. I’m kind of a loner and usually end up spending a lot of quality time watching TV.

This morning, I finally decided to take my car out of the garage. It’s been ages since I last drove anywhere, and given that I almost hit the house as I was backing out of our little garage, my lack of practice really shows. Our house, like a lot of German houses, has a very small garage that fits the Mini Cooper perfectly. But backing in and out of it is a bit tricky.

We live very close to the Rewe, so I could actually walk there, but I knew I needed to pick up a few things. Also, I had a crapload of empty plastic bottles to deposit. I drink a lot of water, especially when Bill isn’t around. When he’s not home, I try to stay off booze. This week, I’ve had a bottle of wine and a couple of beers. So you can imagine, I went through a lot of mineral water with gas this week!

Now… ordinarily, this trip to the store wouldn’t be a big deal, except our Rewe was recently renovated because we got a brand new drink market. The construction workers spent all last year turning what used to be a field into a lovely new drink store, and they freed up lots of space that used to be taken up by drinks for the older grocery store. The work was done in early December, and yet I still hadn’t been in there. Let me just say, I was really pleasantly surprised at how nice the store is now. It’s a huge improvement. They have a much larger meat counter, a cheese counter, and a much bigger frozen foods section. There are more aisles and the crappy beer selection they used to have is greatly expanded in the drink market.

I took a few photos after I found the bottle depository, which is now in the drink market. I got 5,25 euros off my order, y’all! The bottle depository is also a hell of a lot nicer. It doesn’t mess up as much as the old one did and you can even get directions in languages other than German.

Drink market
Germans are serious about their drinks…
Cannabis shot!
Fancy!
I know this isn’t exciting to most people, but it is to me!

Germans are pretty serious about recycling, so everyone brings back their bottles for a “Pfand”. That’s the money you deposit for each bottle. I remember, as a kid, I used to collect glass bottles and turn them in for money. Then we moved to redneck Gloucester, Virginia, where everybody just took their trash to the dump. Here in Germany, you have to separate everything into different bins and I’m back to turning in bottles for cash.

I noticed that the store was stocked with pasta, toilet paper, and detergents. All week, I’ve heard that Germans have been panic buying everything– especially pasta, face masks, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer (and just a note from your friendly MPH– washing your hands is a better solution). Germans have a funny term for this type of purchasing– Hamsterkäufen. Yes, it’s akin to the fuzzy rodents known as hamsters, who are known for packing their cheeks full of food. In some places, Germans are likewise buying out stores because of the Coronavirus. But maybe they’re not so panicked in our neighborhood.

I picked up a few items I needed, along with a new rubber chicken for Arran. The cashier got a kick out of the toy and gave it a few squeaks before ringing it up. Arran was delighted to have a new plaything to destroy. He went freakin’ nuts with “crazy dog” when I gave it to him. But I think my most exciting score was sushi. Our new improved Rewe has sushi now! That will be a welcome change from the chicken I’ve been eating all week.

I think we’ll get through the next few days, while Bill visits his long lost younger daughter in Utah. They haven’t seen each other since 2004. There’s a long, painful, convoluted story as to why they’ve been apart for 15 years. I’ve written about it a lot in my original blog. I like to keep this one relatively tame whenever possible. Anyway, I suspect there will be an exciting reunion. He’ll meet his son-in-law and grandchildren. I’ll sit at home and eat sushi from the new and improved Rewe.

I suppose I could get braver and drive somewhere else further afield, but I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day. Besides, Arran went nuts when I left for the store, and I was only gone for about 30 minutes or so. I’ll wash the sheets, do some more writing, and maybe even record a song. I love it when I’m a busy bee.

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British style Trivial Pursuit and a surprise “visit” from my mom…

We had big plans to try a new restaurant yesterday, but the weather was icky and I didn’t feel like wandering around in the cold and wind. That gave us the perfect opportunity to try out the new 40th anniversary edition Trivial Pursuit game I bought from Amazon.de. I ordered it when Bill’s mom was visiting us last month, but we never got around to trying it until yesterday afternoon. Over wine and Steely Dan, we played the game, quickly realizing that it was a British version, which made it a bit more challenging. We got lots of British culture, sports, and government questions. I’m not complaining, though. It made the game more interesting.

New fangled board, with a “jewel” for the center.

At home in storage, we have the original game that came out in the 80s. Bill was always very good at Trivial Pursuit. He says his ex wife complained that he cheated, he was so good at it. Fortunately, Bill and I are evenly matched. I won yesterday’s game, but it was close.

Ta da! I was the blue pie. Maybe we’ll play again today while Bill cooks a Sunday roast. We adopted the Sunday roast tradition from our Hebridean Island cruises.

After we were finished playing our board game, I took a look at Facebook and noticed a long, lost, familiar face… There was my mom, featured on the Facebook page for the assisted living place where she’s lived for the past ten years. She looks great, standing next to an exquisite counted cross stitch project she recently finished. My mom is super talented with keyboards, knitting needles, and other needles. I inherited her musical gifts, but not her talent for making beautiful works of art with needles, beads, and thread.

She’s amazing! I am so proud of her for this!

After my dad retired from the Air Force, my parents ran their own business out of our home. Mom sold knitting and needlework supplies, and she taught countless people her crafts. Dad sold art and framed pictures for people. Mom was also a church organist for about fifty years. Unlike most kids, whose parents worked out of the home and forced them to be “latchkey”, both of my parents were always home. I didn’t always appreciate that about them, but now I know I was lucky in that I got to spend a lot more time with both of them than my sisters did.

I tried to cross stitch when I was a kid, but I was terrible at it. I don’t have the patience to sit still for that long. I don’t have the dexterity to use a needle and thread. I have always hated sewing, even with a machine. I couldn’t make straight seams to save my life. My mom, by contrast, does just about everything with a needle except crochet. She told me it was because when she was growing up, her mother crocheted (and I have inherited one of the afghans Grandma Elliott made), but didn’t knit. A neighbor offered to teach my mom how to knit. Mom said yes to that because the neighbor had a TV. She and the neighbor would watch TV while they knitted together. I never learned any stitching skills, although one of my sisters has followed in my mom’s artsy footsteps. She knits and cross stitches and all that. Meanwhile, I’m the most musical of her progeny.

I did appreciate the yarn my mom sold. As a child and teenager, I showed horses, and that required me to braid manes and tails. Either yarn or rubber bands are required for braiding manes and tails, so I always had my pick of the best colors and highest quality yarns at the barn!

Mom’s yarn came in handy at the barn… I was 16 years old in this photo. I miss these days.

I haven’t seen my mom in person since the summer of 2015. I’d love it if she came to visit us again, especially since we live in a new city and have a better house for hosting guests. But flying across the Atlantic is tough on her, despite the fact that she’s aging so well. I’m long overdue for a trip home, anyway. It’s been five years since I was last in the States. Bill’s contract is coming up for renewal again this year. We’ll see if we stay or go. If we go, I’ll visit Mom when we get back to the States. If we don’t, it may be time to plan a visit to the USA before it’s too late. Bill needs to go see his dad, his daughter, and his grandchildren, too.

We were thinking we might go out today, but the weather is similarly yucky. Maybe we’ll play another game of Trivial Pursuit over more wine and conversation. Or maybe I’ll finish my latest jigsaw puzzle… we’ll see.

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Homestyle fun…

Wow… it’s been about two weeks since I last posted. That must be a new record for me. I have been thinking about writing a new post, but frankly we haven’t done anything that interesting. I don’t like to bore people if I can avoid it. I probably do anyway.

The weather has been rainy and yucky, so we’ve stayed home and broken in the fireplace. Our landlord was kind enough to gift us with some firewood and the temperatures have made staying home preferable to going out on the town. The fireplace in this house is super nice! It’s great to live in a place where we can enjoy a fire fueled by wood rather than propane.

I do have some pictures from the last couple of weeks. We went to the wine stand last weekend. It may be the last one for 2019. I also noticed the field of flowers near where I walk Arran has been cut down. I managed to get a picture of it the day before it was mowed. We wondered if anyone would visit us on Halloween, which seems to be catching on here in Germany. No one rang the bell, which suits me fine. Now I have more chocolate.

I’m also going to be accompanying Bill to Poland in a couple of weeks, mainly because he has to work there and it’s our 17th wedding anniversary. I was hoping we could drive so we could stop by Dariusz Milinski’s art gallery and buy a couple of paintings. Alas, Bill’s company has dictated that we must fly.

So… here are some pictures, for those who are interested. We will probably go out for lunch today. I don’t know where yet.

  • I liked the way they decorated the tables… I avoided the ones with mushrooms on them.
  • A good natured German guy say with us and I managed to tell him in German that my wine was too sweet. I know… so impressive for having been here for five years!
  • I avoided the red wine. We will serve no wine before its time.
  • Last Saturday we had pizza for lunch…
  • And we were surprised when the Pizza Hawaii had egg on it. This was quite controversial on my Facebook page.
  • Sigh… I love fires.
  • If you look closely…
  • you can see one of the three mallards…
  • in the stream that flows through our village. These ducks were very shy and didn’t want me to see them. Two males and a female.
  • Two days after I took this picture, the field was mowed. 🙁
  • Bill builds another fire for his bride.
  • Teamwork! It took many hours to complete this 300 piece puzzle. Wish we brought our pub table.
  • And we rediscovered Yahtzee.
  • This was my first one of three in the first game. After that, my luck went to shit.

Hopefully, I’ll have more to write about as winter approaches. Poland in November and France in December ought to give me some new material… and we’ll see where we wind up today on our quest for lunch.

Also… I don’t know how much longer I can stand having just one dog. Arran is loving the attention he’s been getting as the only dog, but I need another dog to lavish affection on and motivate me to go outside. It’s hard to bring another animal into the family, but I know so many need homes… and I have the time and heart for it. So maybe after Christmas, we’ll see if we can convince someone to let us adopt another pooch. Maybe… I’m torn between wanting another one and not wanting the extra responsibility. I really miss Zane, though. He was my baby.

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Sometimes Sundays at home are best…

The weather looked grim yesterday morning, so Bill and I decided to stay home. He bought a three pound rib roast that he planned to cook for dinner. Hebridean Island Cruises has gotten us in the habit of having “Sunday roast”, since they do that every Sunday on the ship.

We needed a few things from AAFES (our military exchange), so Bill went out to get what we needed… new toothbrushes (although mine wound up being defective), toilet paper, board games, and puzzles. He came home with all of that, as well as six bottles of wine from the French vintner who was hawking his wares at the Wiesbaden PX yesterday.

When he got home, I turned on some music and we put together the puzzle he found…

This 300 piece puzzle took a couple of hours to put together… AAFES didn’t have much of a selection.

We drank plenty of wine, though none of it was the wine Bill bought from the French guy. I loved that he got a wooden crate.

These will be nice as the weather gets colder.

And then, while the roast was cooking, we played a game of old school Scrabble. I play Words With Friends all the time, but I hadn’t played regular Scrabble in many years. Neither had Bill.

I won by a lot, though…

Finally, we had dinner, which was delicious. The commissary doesn’t always have the best meat, but we like them for some things because unlike the Germans, American butchers don’t cut off all the fat which results in more juiciness and flavor. Bill also made Yorkshire pudding for the first time. It turned out very well.

I know… I should be eating a salad. I wanted prime rib earlier in the week and was surprised Bill could find one. They aren’t always available.

All in all, it was a very nice Sunday. Yes, I like to go out and see Germany when I can, but when the weather is grim, cold, and wet, sometimes it’s nice to stay in and bond in our nest.

Arran likes it when we stay home, too… He’s eating up being the only dog.

I’m grateful I can hang out with Bill, and he actually enjoys my company. I know a lot of women whose husbands would rather hang out with their guy friends or worse, their girlfriends… Bill is a good family man and a great cook, to boot. We’re both very blessed to have each other. I hope we’ll have many more years to hang out and bond on rainy Sunday afternoons.

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One week down…

I’ve been quiet on this blog since last week, mainly because I’ve had pretty much next to nothing to write about.  I guess I could have written about last weekend’s wind storm, which blew dangerous winds across Germany and other parts of Europe for several days, but I’m not sure what I would have had to say about it.  I mean, I pretty much holed up in the house for that.

By Tuesday, the winds had died down.  My dogs badly needed a walk, so I took them for a quick one on Tuesday morning.  When I got home, I was confronted with a notice that the GSL delivery guy had tried to drop off a bottle of butterscotch liqueur I ordered from Amazon.  Naturally, he showed up during the 30 minutes all week that I wasn’t in the house.  Murphy’s Law was at work!  To get the liqueur, I’d have to drive to a kiosk in Bierstadt, an area with which I am still sadly unfamiliar, and present my passport and the notice slip within 8 working days.  I suppose I could do it, but I don’t really want to.  The liqueur cost about 15 euros and I’ve been on the wagon all week anyway, so I think I’ll just let them return it.  I’d call them to attempt a redelivery, but I didn’t see that option listed, which, to me, is a real con to using GSL for shipping.  Seriously… I could go and get the liqueur, but what if I couldn’t?  What if I had no way to get to the kiosk?  Seems to me, they should at least attempt one redelivery.

One thing I tend to do when Bill isn’t home is regress to childhood eating habits.  Before I was married, I used to make nice meals for myself in my kitchen.  Now, when Bill is TDY, it’s all I can do to just get through the meal.  So I tend to eat a lot of soups and sandwiches.  This time, I’ve been especially bad.  I actually ordered Kraft Macaroni & Cheese from Amazon.de (rather than going to the commissary to get it).  I was kind of curious to see if it had changed since my college days, which was when I tended to eat it, or a generic equivalent, the most often.  As you can see… it’s the same stuff.  It tastes the same.  And yes, I make better mac & cheese from scratch, but for some reason, this chemically laden crap is, oddly, a comfort.

I bought five boxes because they came in a set.  Once they’re gone, I’ll probably not try it again for another twenty years or so…  If I’m still alive and have teeth.  This stuff is definitely kid friendly and I don’t mind it when I’m feeling like a baby.  I may have to make some from scratch later, now that I’ve learned how to use the oven.  

A couple of shots from one of the balconies, showing the mercurial skies after the windstorm.  The sun was finally making an appearance.  Our view is less enchanting in this house.

 

I have filled the time reading, and rebuilding my main blog, which I moved to a new address a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve also been watching movies.  Last night, I had a Richard Pryor double feature: The Toy, from 1982, which also starred Jackie Gleason and future porn star, Scott Schwartz, and Critical Condition, from 1987, with Rachel Ticotin, Bob Saget, and Joe Mantegna.  Both were pretty crappy films, although I made up for their crappiness by also watching Children of a Lesser God and Broadcast News, both of which starred William Hurt.

At about 4 o’clock yesterday, the doorbell rang.  I opened it to a man bearing flowers sent by my long suffering husband, Bill, who is enduring overnight work shifts at Grafenwoehr until March 26th.  I am fantasizing about our next “real” vacation that lasts over a weekend, requires airplane travel or even train travel, and doesn’t include our sweet, but demanding dogs.  This morning, I was awakened at 3:00am, 4:55am, and 6:30am by my pooches, who needed to go out to do their business and then demanded to eat.  Bill usually handles them in the wee hours of the morning, because he’s often awake anyway.  When he’s not here, the duty falls to me.

And yet, as wonderful as Bill is to have at home, he sends me flowers when he’s away…

 

Well, I’ll try to be productive over the next week.  Maybe I’ll come up with a list of travel tips or some other newsy topic that doesn’t actually require any travel.  Eleven days to go until this nightmare TDY is over and spring is here.

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Guinness cake and Celtic tunes…

I had some tentative plans to do something today, but the weather was absolutely shitty.  It’s been dark and cloudy all day and the fine folks at Weather.com were calling for snow.  At the very least, we were assured of cold, damp, misty weather.  So, although we certainly could have ventured out to a restaurant, my husband Bill and I decided to stay in, listen to Celtic music, drink beer, and bake.

I didn’t get Bill to put on his new County Donegal kilt… but I did get a photo of our family crests…  or mine, anyway.

I am a fan of the Dublin Airport.  I’ll be back in July.

Okay… so in fairness, Bill did the baking.  But he made a cake that I made first and, I must say, he did a good job of it.  We haven’t cut into it yet, but we’ve had enough of the crumbs to know it won’t disappoint after tonight’s dinner of lobster tails and champagne.  Yes, my husband knows how to take care of his lady… or as Lyle Lovett would put it, “She’s no lady, she’s my wife…”

I really wanted to play this at my wedding.  Maybe if we make it to twenty years?

Those of you who are curious about the recipe for Guinness cake can find the recipe linked to the New York Times’ Web site.  For everyone else, here are a few pictures.

Bill readies the supplies…

For the cake and for me…

Bill models the German apron I got him for Christmas.

If our kitchen weren’t so pathetically tiny, I’d think we were on a cooking show.

Sugar… two cups worth… and other necessities for the cake.

Next, Bill heats up a cup of Guinness.

 

And blends the sugar…

Adds the cocoa powder we purchased at a chocolatier in Ribeauville, France.

The batter is about ready to blend with the chocolate and beer.

All set…

The chocolate batter is ready for the oven, where it will bake for about 45 minutes…

The finished cake, ready for cooling.  It’s rich, chocolatey, and smells heavenly.

And… the finished product.  Some people like to add a little Bailey’s to the frosting.  I did when I made it, but Bill elected not to.  I once brought this cake to a picnic and a lot of people didn’t want their kids to eat it because it had beer in it.  But it’s one cup of rather weak beer…  It’s not going to get you or your kids drunk, I promise.  On the other hand, if you don’t want to eat it, that’s okay.  More for me!

 

This is a pretty easy recipe and it can be fun to bake it, especially since it only calls for about half a beer.  The rest is for you!  I am not posting the recipe here because I don’t want any goons to come after me for copyright infringement.  But if you want the recipe and don’t want to visit the New York Times Web site, just let me know.

http://www.singsnap.com/karaoke/e/b2997e6cb

No one will listen to this, but since I’ve been drinking…

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, y’all!

 

 

  

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Sundays

Rainy Sundays staying in…

As regular readers might have guessed, Bill and I didn’t end up going anywhere yesterday.  I hate staying in on the weekend, since those are precious days I can spend enjoying Germany with Bill.  But the weather was pretty dismal yesterday and neither of us felt like going out in the rain.  I sat around and watched iTunes all day, while Bill made another batch of homemade dog food for the boys in our Instant Pot.

iTunes is a funny thing.  I started using it when we lived at Fort Belvoir about ten years ago.  Bill was deployed and I was always alone, so I did things to try to fill my time.  I discovered a lot of music during those days.

When we moved to Germany the first time, I used iTunes to keep up with the few TV shows I got hooked on while he was in Iraq.  I discovered a few new shows that were offered free of charge.  Sometimes I’d get hooked on them and end up buying the whole series.  We never bothered to get AFN and, though we did have German cable, we didn’t watch much of anything on it outside of CNN.  Instead, I’d watch Netflix– at those days, I’d wait weeks for DVDs to arrive in the mail.  I’d buy my own DVDs, too; I still have many I bought at the Stuttgart PX ten years ago.  Or I’d watch iTunes.

Now that we’re in Germany again, I’ve found that entertainment possibilities are endless.  Netflix is streamable now and the German version is pretty good.  Although it doesn’t have the selection the American version has, I’ve found there’s enough stuff in English to occupy me.  And when there’s not, I can always watch iTunes.  Yes, I end up paying more, but that’s not really a concern to me.  This time, we have plenty of money.  I’m not as frugal as I once had to be.

Yesterday, we binge watched Snapped, which is a show about women who go off the deep end and commit murder.  After watching all the true crime stories I could stomach, I switched to Lifetime’s movie about the making of Melrose Place.  I was surprisingly entertained by that film, not just because I was in my 20s when that show aired, but also because it was genuinely a pretty decent film.  The casting was really good and there were some snarky lines in it that would really appeal to anyone who was young in the early 90s.

Unfortunately, I find that I pay a price when I don’t venture out on the weekends.  Because I’m kind of a recluse, if I don’t go out on Saturday or Sunday, I tend to get a touch of cabin fever.  I suppose I could go out on my own and I probably would if we didn’t have our dogs.  I have found that lonely excursions don’t always amount to much more than wasted gas and buying crap I don’t really need.

This is about right for me when I venture out alone…

Luckily, this week we have a holiday and Bill and I will be going to France with the dogs.  We are going back to Ribeauville, to an apartment we’ve stayed at before.  I don’t usually like to use precious time going back to places we’ve been, but we were short on planning time and needed a place somewhat close because we won’t have the whole day to get to our destination.  Bill has to work part of Thursday before we leave.

I know the place we’re going is dog friendly and super easy and convenient to access.  I know I like Ribeauville and even if we don’t do a lot of new stuff, there’s enough there that we can enjoy a change of scenery and different food.  We know the dogs will be okay alone for awhile in the apartment we’re renting while we scout out new wines and cuisine and perhaps do some shopping.  Maybe we’ll even try a French spa.  The price was also right.  Three nights in a three bedroom apartment for less than $500.  Can’t beat it.

I do hope 2018 will be somewhat better for seeing Europe.  I desperately need to get to Berlin sometime and there are other places I want to see, once Bill has leave saved up.  It’s not so easy when you have dogs and don’t trust a lot of folks.

Next week, we will also be celebrating our 15th anniversary.  This year, because Bill is building up vacation time, we are staying local.  Bill found a new restaurant in Stuttgart that looks promising.  If he can get us a reservation, I will be reviewing it soon.

But for now, all I can say is that we stayed in yesterday because it was just too icky to go anywhere yesterday.  It’s just that time of year.

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