HomeRoamers

So there you have it!

2009-09-08T16:59:00.001+02:00

I read a post the other day on one of my favorite sites, Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. Sara is the one selling that amazing renovated Minnie Winnie that I’m longing for, remember? So anyway, I wanted to post something similar here and I finally have a few minutes when I’m not baking bread, making jewelry, or trying unsuccessfully to sew a skirt for my little niece. From The Simple Woman’s Daybook:

Outside my window... the bright sun is heating my pool.
I am thinking... that I need to try that recipe for Vietnamese coffee ice cream.
I am thankful for... my family.
From the kitchen... leftovers from “pantry night” last night – cheesy quinoa casserole with broccoli and spinach, and chocolate banana bread pudding.
I am wearing... my only pair of shorts and a cotton tank top, both purchased in Sweden.
I am creating... more pieces for my jewelry store.
I am going... to Sam’s swimming lessons today.
I am reading... Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.
I am hoping... that Sara is happy in high school.
I am hearing... my Roomba is it “vacuums” my kitchen.
Around the house...everything’s in its place after a Saturday of organizing.
One of my favorite things...is cooking for my family.
A few plans for the rest of the week: make more jewelry, work on my skirt pattern, and figure out how to turn my artisan boule bread into a sandwich loaf.

My jewelry store is now open!

2009-09-04T16:24:00.001+02:00

As most of you know, I’ve been working on selling my jewelry online. I’ve been making jewelry for about five years but this is the first time that I’ve decided to sell it on Etsy, so I am eager to see what kind of results I get. I’m still trying to get all of my pieces photographed and listed on the site, but there are plenty to see with lots of photographs of each one, and something for every budget.

Head over to www.nexusjewelry.com to check out the store, and don’t forget to follow Nexus Jewelry on Facebook for 15% off your first order!

What a bad time to be without $8k

2009-08-30T23:05:00.001+02:00

I’ve been following the blog Walk Slowly, Live Wildly for a long time since I discovered their amazing RV restorations. Not only have these people renovated 3 diesel RVs to run on veggie oil, but the work is very well done and the interior decor is fantastic. So I almost fell down today when I saw that they are actually selling their latest RV, a 21 foot Minnie Winnie. You’ve got to see this thing – it’s great. Click here for more information and tons of pictures of this amazing RV and for more about Sara and her family.

Pizza with Noprah balls, zucchini, and plums – what?!

2009-08-30T18:23:00.001+02:00

So as I was sitting down to write this post about pizza, I had lofty plans to follow it with the beautiful pictures we shot last night as we were cooking. I didn’t realize at the time that pizza, especially rustic homemade pizza, pretty much looks like the dog’s dinner when photographed without a food stylist, lights, and lots of re-shoots. Oh, and then there’s the whole using-something-else-that-looks-good-on-camera-as-a-substitute-for-the-actual-food thing, which, although it’s fun to think about (is that really milk on that cereal or did they use glue again??), isn’t my thing.

What I did accomplish, though, is making a very good homemade pizza entirely from scratch. We used the bread dough that we call the Plan B dough (a faster and less exciting white dough than our favorite one) and instead of using a pizza stone (who has one?!) I inverted my largest cast iron skillet and let it heat up for 30 minutes in a 450 degree oven. This is the same principle as baking bread in a pre-heated dutch oven, although not as effective because the skillet doesn’t have a lid. Neither does a pizza stone, so it must be the only way to go – still working on how to get that one to work. Anyway, as the skillet was heating up I mixed up a quick batch of pizza sauce from a can of ground tomatoes, some garlic, some fresh basil, salt, pepper, and a little bit of sugar to balance the acidity. I rolled and hand stretched the dough to form hideous excuses for circles, dusted the skillet with corn meal to prevent sticking, and precariously positioned the dough “round” onto the pan. I couldn’t figure out how to move a pre-dressed crust from the counter to the pan, so on went the naked crust and I quickly assembled the pizza with the rack pulled out halfway, doing a little acrobatic thing so I didn’t burn my legs on the open oven door.

Success! We had a plain cheese pizza for the kids (I used an Asiago and cheddar blend which Sara called the most delicious cheese blend ever) and a meatball and red onion pizza for us, using some of the Noprah** meatballs we made last week and froze. Overall I’d give the pizza an A- as we still need to perfect the thickness of the dough so our tastes, but not at all bad for a dinner for four that cost about $1.50 in total.

**Noprah meatballs – About 4 years ago I read an article about a restaurant in Montecito, California that made turkey meatballs that Oprah feel in love with and ate every day for lunch for the entire summer. The key to the meatballs was raisins. I adapted the recipe and ended up with a turkey and pork meatball that includes 3 key ingredients: fennel seed, grated zucchini, and a puree of dried plums. The fennel balances spicy red pepper flakes, and the zucchini and plums provide lots of moisture and a touch of sweetness. Try adding these key ingredients to your current meatball recipe to see what I’m talking about, and don’t forget lots of hot red pepper flakes! (OK, OK, they’re prunes. Yes, prunes…which are the same thing as dried plums you know, and just sound so much more appealing…and yes, they’re in a jar…and yes, it’s in an un usual section of the grocery store. OK, fine, they’re baby food prunes. So shoot me.)

Waiting to exhale…

2009-08-27T22:13:00.001+02:00

So just when you thought you’ve finally gotten rid of me, I’m here to say no such luck. I am actually very busy right now getting ready for the re-launch of my jewelry business, so I haven’t had much time to check in and let you all know what it’s like to be home. In a word – great. The most amazing part of our trip is that the adventures didn’t stop once we got home. Every day we’re changing and adding to our routine to incorporate some of the European ways of life. Yes, we’re riding our bikes much more these days (that is a saga in itself for another day!) but my favorite new skill is bread making. We actually make 100% of our bread from scratch now. Yes, 100%. That means all of it. My favorite is the artisan boule, but we also have a honey wheat recipe that’s quite good as well and even easier than the white. So I guess what I’m saying is that I haven’t been here as much as I’ve wanted to, but in between baking bread like a maniac and the jewelry business I don’t have much time. I will try hard, though. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Gotta love this…

2009-08-20T16:48:00.001+02:00

So I’ve been a tiny bit worried that this year Sara could get into some trouble at camp this year, especially now that she’s 14. The kids in her group are as old as 17, and I was no angel when I was that age. When I checked the camp pictures this morning, I had quite a shock. Look!

Howdeeeeeeee!

Why all the way to Bemidji, Minnesota?

2009-08-13T17:35:00.001+02:00

Ok, so here’s the whole deal. Sara became interested in studying Swedish when she was 12, relatively out of the blue. We’re not of Swedish descent, and although my great-grandmother had a Swedish-themed room in her home, we didn’t really know anything about Sweden except for Ikea. Nor did we care, to be honest. So when Sara suddenly decides that Sweden is the new utopia and starts to teach herself the language and study the culture, we were just waiting for her to grow out of her latest phase. Pretty soon, though, when Sam started picking up a few phrases of Swedish from Sara’s constant Swedish enthusiasm, we realized that Sara wasn’t just kidding around. Jon found Concordia Language Villages, a summer camp in Minnesota that offers foreign language immersion programs for kids. The camp is part of Concordia College, a well-respected liberal arts school known for its language programs, and the camp had a Swedish program! The camp had an excellent reputation, and my mother was quick to point out that Chelsea Clinton was a graduate, so it couldn’t be too crappy, right? So off she went.

My Mom and I flew out to Minnesota last year to attend Family Day at the camp and to see just what all the fuss was about. I was actually speechless at the end of the presentation (which as you know almost never, ever happens) in which the counselors and students demonstrated what they’d been doing by singing, dancing, and even acting out a little skit. The energy of the staff was infectious and the kids were totally caught up in it. It was really remarkable. I would have been happy with that, but wait, there’s more! Each language program (there are 15) has its own self-contained area that is designed to look like that country. The kids sleep in little cabins that are very typical to Sweden (yep, we know this now) and eat authentic Swedish food (Sara said that last year’s food was the best food she’s ever eaten in her life). Lots of the counselors are native speakers, and many other counselors and staff are former campers themselves. This is big time. This is not your old Camp Sunrise or Camp Moon River or wherever it was that you got sent when you were a kid. There’s no archery, no bug juice, and certainly no shitty arts and crafts out of popsicle sticks. These kids have language lessons, learn about cultural traditions like Midsommar, and find out why traditionally yellow pea soup and pancakes were eaten on Thursday night. As they eat them on Thursday night. They have sailing lessons after which many kids can sail their own boat but can’t tell you any of the terms in English, and the kids use real Swedish currency at the camp store.

OK, so I sort of like it there, you’re getting that by now. After Sara’s experience last summer, we decided to try home exchange so that she could see what Sweden is really like, and put into practice some of what she learned. It truly was her camp experience that set our home exchange plans into motion, and for that we’re all grateful. I can’t say enough (obviously) about the quality of Concordia Language Villages, and neither can Sara. Before she left, she told us that she will get an after school job when she’s 16 so that she can save up enough money to send Sam to camp when he’s 7. If that generosity of spirit were the only thing to have come out of Sara’s experience at camp, it would be cheap at twice the price, as my father would say.

If you’re still reading this (congratulations on staying with it) and want to see what I’m talking about, click here to see the camp and learn about Sara’s first day!

I bet you say that to all the girls…

2009-08-13T16:55:00.001+02:00

Just wanted to share a picture of our amazing Sara at Concordia Language Villages Swedish language camp this summer. Although she can’t phone us during camp, the camp posts pictures online so we can see what the kids are doing while they’re there in Minnesota. Yes, Minnesota! This year she is in a very small group for language lessons, with only 3 other students. The caption reads Martin och Gustava jobbar tillsammans med sina duktiga elever – Martin and Gustava teach their very good students. Hmmm. Does this mean that her Swedish skills really are as good as we think they are? We’ll have to wait until she writes to us…um, she gets home…to find out.

Home sweet home…

2009-08-12T03:42:00.001+02:00

Okay, you’ve busted me, I’ve been home for a little over a week now. But wait! I’ve been busy restoring my house to its former state. I really haven’t been relaxing by the pool with a good book, or sleeping late in my incredibly comfortable bed. Of course not. My kitchen was a complete disaster, but nothing a little cleaning wouldn’t fix. So now that we’re home, I’ve been very eager to get back into cooking with my own equipment, and today I made a fabulous loaf of bread that was so easy (and it was my first attempt at bread-making so I was so surprised!!). Anyway, I’ve been missing making my jewelry and have had lots of interest lately, so stay tuned for updates on how to buy my designs and place orders for custom pieces.

I am really grateful for my wonderful husband and kids, and am so glad to have shared our 6 month adventure with these amazing people. Thanks to the rest of our families for supporting us on our adventure when they thought we were crazy, and for sending us packages of soap when we couldn’t find the right kind. I also want to thank my very special Mom and Dad Carroll for taking care of our dog Sunny when things weren’t so easy back in Orion. I love you all. Stay tuned for more adventures, a little closer to home this time.

No moon over Liseberg

2009-07-30T13:04:00.001+02:00

Yesterday we continued our tradition of meeting up with people we haven’t seen in 20 years (remember my Spanish sister and LisafromAfrica?). When Jon was a teenager, his family hosted an exchange student from Norway for a year. Although Jon’s parents have stayed in touch with the family, Jon and Eirik haven’t maintained their relationship (sound familiar??) until now. Eirik, his wife Janne, and their children Philippa and Sina drove from Oslo to Gothenburg yesterday and we spent the day with them at Liseberg amusement park. You might remember Sara’s wardrobe malfunction during our previous visit to Liseberg – if not, you can check that out here. This time we were much better behaved, and had lots of time to catch up with Eirik and see what he’s been doing since high school. He’s done quite well for himself, with a smart and funny wife, 2 gorgeous girls, a job he loves as Assistant Editor-In-Chief of a newspaper’s online division, and a new house in Oslo 3 minutes away from his parents and in-laws. Not bad. We like to think that his time in Orion with Jon’s family set him up for such success, but I guess his own parents had something to do it with it too. Probably. They must have. We’ve been so lucky to have rekindled these relationships, and are looking forward to spending more time with Eirik and his family in the future.

Swedish grandparents

2009-07-29T13:24:00.003+02:00

This past weekend we were pleased to have Roland and Kerstin as our guests for dinner at “our” house. I decided to make them a typical meal for our family, although I’m not sure how representative it is of how Americans eat. My sister eats like we do, so I guess it counts! The kitchen in this house is separate from the living room, so I wasn’t really able to chat while everyone tried to keep the crostini away from Kerstin’s dog Max.

Luckily I’d made most of the dinner in advance, and only had to cook the pork while they were here. I made an herb and garlic-stuffed pork tenderloin (well, Jon actually prepared the tenderloins for me that morning using herbs from the garden) that I braised with fresh apples and served with an apple cognac reduction. We have pork tenderloin quite a bit at home, and it was fun that they had served us pork as well, Swedish style, so we could compare. I also made a summer wheat berry salad – a new favorite that I discovered in Sweden and adapted for our tastes – and minted peas. We had cheesecake brownies from my beloved David Lebovitz (his recipe is here) that I changed a bit as well. You can’t get chocolate chips in Sweden, so I left them out (David said it was OK), doubled the brownie part, and added a shot of espresso (I didn’t tell him about the espresso, shhhh). In retrospect, I should have skipped one of the eggs too, since the 4th egg made them a bit too custardy without the addition of the chocolate chips. If you make them the way I did, lose the last egg.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time with the kids’ new Swedish grandparents, and are hopeful that they will take us up on the offer to come visit in Florida.

Roland and Kerstin sing the Swedish song – or try to! – to Sara and Sam.

A 5 year old’s perspective on home exchanging…

2009-07-27T12:06:00.001+02:00

Sam wanted to write a guest blog for me, so I sat down and asked him a few questions about home exchanging. Ever try to get a 5 year old to write an essay?

What’s the best part about home exchanging? The house and the car.

What place was your favorite? Holland, because of the chicken pen, because I could walk in it and get the chicken out.

Did you ever get the chicken out? Oh, it just walks out.

Did you ever touch the chicken? Yes!

Was it yucky? No, it wasn’t yucky, it was friendly. The chicken just ran out of its cage whenever I came up to it.

Do you remember some of the famous places we’ve visited? Um, the car and plane museum.

How about in France? Well, the Eiffel Tower. Oh and that restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, it was in the leg.

Which place had the best weather? Holland and Sweden because they were warm.

Tell me about Norway. Norway was the best place because I could go into the igloo.

The igloo? The one in the circle, the roundabout. I know it doesn’t have a sign. I could fall down in the snow.

Was it always snowing in Norway? Yes, but not always.

What did you do in Norway when it wasn’t snowing? I just hanged around. You know about the net? It was the coolest because I could slide down.

Did you ever take a train? Yes!

Where did you go on the train? To the Olympics.

Do you mean Lillehammer? Uh huh. We went down the hill. In a snow mobile.

You mean a sled? Yes, I had brakes and I fell out a few times but it didn’t hurt me.

Were you scared? Yes.

Do you remember any of the pets you took care of? Jet, the cat, he was fun and playful.

Any others? Mira, the cat. I’m going to sing a song. Cat Scratch, catty cat, cat scratch, cat scratch. Boom!

So you can’t remember too much about Norway anymore? Well we builded a dam, I needed to get some huge rocks. I had an idea but we couldn’t use mine idea. We had to have a bungee cord to hook up on the logs, and then we’d hook it and we would sail out. We would put it on the other side of the dam and we would sail out to that area.

Wow! Where would we go? To the sea. We would have food.

Did anyone visit you during your home exchange? Yes, Roland. And Kerstin. Max the dog. Martin and Tina. Auntie and Allie and Uncle John, and Lisa.

Did anyone visit Sara? Grace.

Did anyone visit us in Holland? Grandma.

Do you like doing home exchanges? Yes.

What’s the best part? The Legos.

Knackered!

2009-07-23T17:03:00.001+02:00

I’m exhausted. I’m not just sleepy, tired, or even bushed. I’m exhausted in the sense that there’s nothing left. I’ve been fighting this feeling but as we round the corner toward home I’m realizing that home exchanging for 6 months really isn’t the same as living at home for 6 months. No kidding, I know, I know. At first it was just different, not harder. Most things take an extra level of effort (you know, the language barriers and cultural differences really do get in the way sometimes), and it has begun to take its toll on me. Now the differences just make it harder, and we’re all feeling the pressure. For me, the most challenging part about such a long home exchange is not having any time alone. OK, I lied. It’s not having any time away from Jon and the kids. Before you start writing mean comments to me about how I’m a bad mother, remember that autonomy is a good thing. The kids need other playmates. Jon and I are extremely compatible but sometimes we like to talk to someone else. Just for a minute. So yes, I’m glad to be going home soon, and yes, I am excited for future home exchanges. Just not right away – I need some time to ignore my family first.

Over the river and through the woods…

2009-07-22T20:02:00.001+02:00

So the other day on his blog, Jon wrote about the visit to our friend Roland’s summer stuga (click here to catch up), and asked me to talk about the amazing dinner we had. Our hosts Roland and Kerstin served us a traditional Swedish meal with multiple courses, complete with the customary drink that accompanies each course. We started with matjesill (see above), served with boiled potatoes, sour cream, and chives. Sill is the Swedish word for herring, and this is a specially-seasoned type of herring typically served for Midsummer parties. I was surprised that the herring is cold and the potatoes are hot, but the combination is entirely delicious. Jon and I had seconds and then thirds. Really.

To be totally honest, I hadn’t cared for the fish served at breakfast which I thought had been herring, so I was worried that this would be awful. Apparently the Swedes thought we’d hate it, too. Turns out the breakfast was anchovies, sort of like the boquerones (fried anchovies) we’d had in Spain. There are about 25 thousand bones in one of those bad boys, and they were so disgusting to chew. Crunchy and prickly on my tongue. But anyway, this was the good fish, and it came with a shot of flavored vodka that Roland had made. He’d infused plain vodka with special herbs and spices and then let it steep for a week in preparation for our traditional meal, even giving Sara a glass. It tasted like dirt engulfed in flames.

Next came a glass of beer while Roland grilled the pork and we made room on the table for round two. They’d told me that the pork came from the local farmer we’d driven by that afternoon. Since I’m mostly vegetarian, I wasn’t too interested in dinner’s back story, so I might have had two glasses of beer. When the pork was ready they passed around huge bowls of green salad and a potato salad made with apples that Jon said reminded him of his childhood. Roland ducked back to the grill at least one more time to refill the serving platter, and we drank wine and ate lots of potato salad. You know, you start to feel kind of full after eating about 10 potatoes.

Nobody had said Uncle yet, so again we cleared and re-set the table for round three: dessert. Kerstin brought out a cake covered in whipped cream and fresh raspberries that Roland had picked early that morning. We had strong Swedish coffee and Roland poured cordials, asking me if I wanted the kind for the men (Remy Martin) or the one for the women (not Remy Martin). When I said men, he told me he’d been sure of it. How had he known I grew up on that stuff? You know, Q-R-S-T-U-VSOP. Anyway, Jon wasn’t quite able to refuse the Remy, and when nobody was looking he stealthily poured it into the plant. Just kidding, there wasn’t a plant, but he did pour it into his coffee. When Kerstin and her friend Agnette were in the kitchen,the men snuck me some of the drink for the women, which it turns out was a Swedish version of Robitussin. Not good.

We had a wonderful evening with Roland and his friends, and were honored that they had gone to such lengths to show us a true Swedish good time. We’ve invited them to our (!!) house for dinner this week, and then to our real house for a visit to Florida. It’s been such a pleasure to meet Roland, and we hope to stay in touch with him long after we leave Sweden. If I can have Spanish sister, it’s only fair that the kids get a Swedish grandfather, right?

I heart you, blogs, coffee, and Jen Ramos

2009-07-21T11:34:00.001+02:00

I wanted to share the great artwork of Jennifer Ramos of MadeByGirl. I had seen her stuff before and really love her blog print (above) which, incidentally, would look great in my bedroom. I spent some time looking through her work, and her personalized ABC typography print is fantastic. Look!

So now I have a few new items on my ever increasing shopping list for the house, but these prints are truly irresistible. A blue one for Sam’s room, a Christmas gift for my niece Allie, and this would make an excellent gift for a new baby (no, Mom, I’m not pregnant). I like the idea of giving one as a wedding preset, with the venue name or the honeymoon location. Belcourt Castle, Bermuda, St.Lucia, Montreal. The possibilities baffle me! You know you want to buy one…I mean two.

Even babies love blogs...

2009-07-20T11:47:00.002+02:00

Check out my talented niece Allie reading this blog!

Is this table palatable?

2009-07-15T16:25:00.001+02:00

Jon and I have been talking lately about updating our outdoor space when we get home so that we can enjoy our pool and lanai area more. We have a great grill and want to figure out better seating and some shade options for outdoor dining. I am still mulling over what do do about a daybed (click here for my ideas) but I really like the idea of a large, inexpensive table that could double as a coffee table and play table for Sam. I found this one over at Bodie and Fou and although Jon isn’t really a fan of this look, I think it would be a fun project…and practically free. We’d just get a pallet from Home Depot for free, buy some casters and a can or two of waterproof, outdoor spray paint. Just sand, spray, and spin. What do you think?

Oats, Peas, Barley Grow…

2009-07-15T15:05:00.001+02:00

Today on Re-Nest I saw a link to this story about a community garden in my old home town of Providence, RI. Aside from being captivated by the beautiful images of photographer Lucas Foglia, I was also thinking that if we still lived in Providence, this would be a great volunteer opportunity for my kids. Surely my sister would be into it – she inherited the green thumb from our mother. I am so bad with plants that once they gave me a houseplant with a care tag that read Microwave for 30 seconds until totally dead. What a couple of comedians. Click here to read the article via Good Magazine, and here to learn more about the Southside Community Land Trust in Providence, RI.

image: Lucas Foglia

‘Tis a gift to be simple

2009-07-14T11:45:00.001+02:00

Sometimes the things I learn aren’t at all what I was expecting. Such is the case with this 6 month home exchange. Sure, I thought I’d learn a bit about myself but never realized how much I would want to change once we got home. It started in Norway, where life was much slower and simpler, and I had to re-learn my love for cooking. I didn’t have a choice – there were only a few restaurants and we couldn’t afford to go to them, anyway. I made tons of soups, stews, and started baking desserts almost every night. Did I mention I love to eat? I also realized how much I enjoy being outdoors, and that I want my exercise the old fashioned way – from fun. I just don’t like working out, but I will hike for hours and be very happy.

In Holland I discovered my love for biking, and getting my bike up to Dutch standards is first on my list for when we return. No more driving the car to the grocery store that’s a mile away – how ridiculous. Here in Sweden I reconnected with my old friend LisafromAfrica who confirmed everything I’d been thinking. Yes, we can bake our own bread (she does) and sure, it’s easy to grow herbs and vegetables in our own garden (well, they have a gardener, so I took this one with a grain of salt). We should teach our kids to use what we have, not what we would like to have – for us this means joining a CSA and getting locally grown, seasonal produce. I’m done with my fancy, huge, difficult-to-clean toaster oven, and am replacing it with a sturdy toaster that fits bagels for Jon. I’d even been too busy to read to my kids (I know, this one is bad), and I recently dove back in thanks to Kindle books on Jon’s iPod. Surprisingly, I really miss yoga, so that is also going to be a priority for me, too. This has definitely been an inspiring trip. There is no time like now to live in the present.

Ooh ooh, that smell…

2009-07-13T14:30:00.001+02:00

It’s too bad you can’t smell my fingers. Hey! That’s not what I mean. My hands actually smell like fresh herbs that Jon and I picked from our exchange garden and turned into an herb and garlic stuffing for tonight’s pork tenderloin. It struck me as rather hilarious that the herbs we found outside were parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Oh, and chives, but that doesn’t fit into the song. As were were washing and chopping, I realized that I’d been too busy back in the States and hadn’t been able to slow down enough to appreciate the small things that make me happy. The smell of fresh herbs on my skin is something I remember my mother teaching me about when I was Sam’s age, and it still makes me feel relaxed and centered. I must have passed it down to my kids without realizing it, as I just dug Sam’s old sprig of lavender out of my purse yesterday. He’d found it when we went to Styrsö and had rubbed on all of our hands and arms to make lavender perfume. One thing that’s been blaringly obvious on this home exchange is that I need to slow down. Life really is too short to spend it in a blur.

Morötter Kakan

2009-07-10T20:22:00.001+02:00

When LisafromAfrica was here earlier this week, we ate lunch at Cafeva on the adorable, cobblestoned Haga Nygata in Gothenburg. They are one of many small cafes on Haga Nygata that offer a dagens lunch – a few different specials of the day for competitive price, sometimes with a soft drink or coffee. We chose Cafeva because of the interesting choices – feta and spinach quiche, vegetable lasagne, and spicy vegetarian Thai soup are just a few, and the food was excellent. I was determined to try the delicious-smelling carrot cake that was baking (and not ready!) while we were there, so we returned the next day and it was so good that Sara asked for the recipe. To my surprise, they handed her their recipe book and let her copy it down. In Swedish. Here is my version, adapted from theirs. Enjoy! (This recipe yields 2 cakes).

Morötter Kakan, adapted from Cafeva in Gothenburg

For the cakes:

6 eggs

2½ cups granulated sugar

3 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp baking soda

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp good quality vanilla extract, such as Nielsen Massey

9¾ ounces vegetable oil

3¾ cups grated, peeled carrots

For the frosting:

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese at room temperature

7 tbsp butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp good quality vanilla extract, such as Nielsen Massey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line 2 Bundt pans with parchment or wax paper, and grease the paper (or spray with non-stick spray).
In a mixing bowl, cream together the eggs and granulated sugar.
Add the dry ingredients and fold them into the egg/sugar mixture. Don’t stir, or the cake will be tough.
Add the grated carrot and fold it into the mixture. Don’t stir!
Pour batter into the 2 prepared pans and bake for approximately 45 minutes, until the top is set and a tester comes out dry.
Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whip together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth and blended. Note: this works best in an electric mixer on high speed using a whisk attachment
Once the cakes are cool, top with frosting.

Who doesn’t want a safari condo??

2009-07-10T15:33:00.001+02:00

By now you know about my love for all things mini, especially mini houses and campers, so I had to show you the cool Alto 1713 from Safari Condo (don’t you just adore that name?) that I just discovered. It’s bigger than the SylvanSport (which you can read about here) but still under 2,000 pounds so it’s towable by a normal car. My car. The Alto has a king sized bed plus an additional twin bed, a small but efficient kitchen, and a private toilet. Aside from its cool retractable roof, there are some optional features that turn this bad boy into the ultimate, well, safari condo. We can add the additional pullman bed for Sam, the extra screened room, and the of course bike rack. With the 2 optional solar panels we’d be styling. At around $20K, this is a great option to have if we ever decide to downsize. We could live in it – could you?

I couldn’t be that old!

2009-07-08T16:09:00.001+02:00

Today we drove my friend LisafromAfrica back to the airport. She had been in the UK to complete her PhD (!!) in Public Health and decided she could swing a quick trip to Gothenburg to see me. It’s been 17 years, after all. The last time we saw each other, I was still working at the restaurant where we’d met, and she was in the States visiting her parents. We’d had dinner with my boyfriend at the time, and she told us how she had decided to stay in Zimbabwe after her year-long volunteer contract had ended because she loved the work and, well, she had met someone. Cut to now, and we’ve done a lot! Between us we have 9 years of graduate school, 2 husbands, 4 children, 2 step children, 3 major career changes, 24 chickens, 2 belly scars, 3 swimming pools, 81 years of life experience, and a hell of a lot of good stories. We talked as fast as we could, barely stopping to eat, and have vowed not to let another 17 years pass before we see each other again. Yet another perk of home exchanging.

Google Maps, Google Earth, Google rugs?

2009-07-08T14:51:00.001+02:00

Quick! What’s this a picture of?

If you said it’s a satellite view of my neighborhood from Google Maps, you’d be…wrong. A suburb seen from the sky via Google Earth? Nope.

It’s a rug.

Actually, it’s part of a 6-tile rug kit from Flor, called – wait for it – Be My Neighbor. For $149, you get the 6 tiles to create a seamless landscape made from plush cropped velvet. Buy 2 or 3 more kits and go crazy. Won’t you please, won’t you please?

Come on baby make it Styrsö good…

2009-07-08T14:28:00.001+02:00

While my friend LisafromAfrica was visiting us all the way from Zimbabwe, we took a trip out to the archipelago island of Styrsö. At first glance it seemed that no cars were allowed on the small island, and that the only modes of transport were bikes, mopeds, and golf carts. We saw many people on motorized (!!) versions of my beloved bakfiets, mostly older gents hauling building supplies and the like. The majority of the mopeds were standard issue – people didn’t get too creative with them – but I did find one that cracked me up. Check it out:

I just can’t get into this one. Maybe it’s the motorized aspect, maybe it’s the DIY-ish pallet box for cargo, I don’t know. What do you think: yay or nay?

Oh beautiful for…

2009-07-04T12:25:00.001+02:00

Happy 4th of July, everyone.

image: fg-a.com

1191 views!

2009-07-03T20:47:00.001+02:00

As of today, there have been 1191 views of our listing on HomeExchange.com (click here to check it out)!! I’m sure that some of those clicks have been from family and friends, and even from us when we edit our listing, but it’s safe to say that at least a few hundred people have seen it. It’s even possible that 1,000 people have seen it. One thousand people. That’s pretty cool.

Now that we’ve been living in someone else’s house for 5 months, we’re all getting a bit homesick, especially Jon and Sara. They both live with this underlying uneasiness that something could break, spill, or get busted up somehow, so they never manage to totally relax. Sam and I don’t think about it too much, so we’re less stressed and, consequently, less homesick. If it happens, we’ll fix it…but I don’t dwell on it. I think what I miss the most is the comfort and ease of my own language, or even my second language. It’s hard when I can’t keep up. I am glad that we’re headed back to our real home, but you know what? I have lots of stamina for home exchange and could stay traveling for many more months. I would just have to bring along my new pool.

Sara meets Sara

2009-07-02T21:07:00.001+02:00

The other day we went for a walk with my sister and her family and decided to look for the yaks that lived nearby. Well they weren’t in fact yaks (who the hell knows what a yak looks like, anyway?!), but rather Highland cattle that live in a nature preserve a few minutes away from our place. Luckily we ran across a woman tending the cattle who could answer some of our questions, but she didn’t speak any English and Sara became our translator. We leaned that these cattle came from Scotland with the woman’s grandfather, and that there are 2 newborns, 9 weeks and 11 weeks old! The kids loved to watch the woman give them a drink by spraying water in their mouths with a squirt bottle. It was so cool to watch Sara speak Swedish with the woman and then translate for us – very impressive! The best part was that there is even a cow named Sara. I wonder if she is better behaved than my Sara. Hmmm.

Mmm, mmm, good!

2009-06-30T11:21:00.001+02:00

I can think of plenty of people in my family who would love some of this stuff – you know who you are!

image: inewidea.com/

First time ever!

2009-06-29T12:06:00.001+02:00

My adorable niece Allie is going to be able to tell her grandchildren that the very first time she went to the beach was in Gothenburg, Sweden. How cool is that? There is a fantastic picture of the family Wrenn over on Jon’s blog, along with the story of how they spent their first jet-lagged night tormented by our rude neighbors. Welcome to Sweden, guys!

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

2009-06-29T12:05:00.001+02:00

Weird, huh?

2009-06-27T11:39:00.001+02:00

Tonight at 6:30 I am going to the train station to pick up my sister Beth Wrenn and her family for their much anticipated, albeit short, visit to Europe. Because Beth and I both have husbands named Jon (he’s actually a John), we’ve been unable to lose the habit of referring to Beth’s John as Johnwrenn. It must be me. When Sara was little, I worked with a group of people with multiple Johns, and one of my favorites was a guy named John Bivens. He became Johnbivens to Sara, a frequent visitor, who never called him anything else. My sister worked there too, so she’s also an early adopter of this naming convention. So anyway, Beth and Johnwrenn wanted to be sure that our exchange house would have some of baby gear they need for their daughter Allie who’s 18 months old. I checked with our exchangers before we left to make sure they had a crib and car seat (they do), and it turns out that their little boy is also 18 months old. In fact, he and Allie are exactly the same age. They were born on the same day, in the same year. The exact same day. Weird, huh?

I can’t help myself…

2009-06-25T23:52:00.001+02:00

All this silly talk about these idiots is starting to get to me. I really have lost it, I think. I might have even started to obsess. Check it out:

Well-a well-a well-a huh…

2009-06-25T16:56:00.001+02:00

I love pools and adore the ocean, but I really don’t love swimming. I like to get in the water to cool off, not to swim all around like some kind of crazy person. Now that we’re having regular summer weather here in Sweden – or at least what passes for summer in Scandinavia – we had to get a small inflatable pool for Sam. It has taken 4 days of sitting outside for the water to warm to acceptable levels, even for Sam, and today was the first day that I even considered getting in. A baby pool is right up my alley – not much commitment is required and it lasts until I get bored with it and move on to something more interesting. Usually that’s the day that it sprouts it’s second leak, the day that I consider it tainted and pronounce it ready for the trash. One leak is manageable, unnoticeable even when it’s in the side wall, but two leaks are just too much to handle. Then the pool starts to stress me out and I can’t enjoy it anymore. Who wants to lean against the side of the pool when it could collapse at that very moment? And nobody wants to sit in a baby pool with non-functional side walls, having to sit up straight like a schoolmarm…come on, that’s just ridiculous. So we’re on day 5 of our new Swedish pool and to date it’s been a smashing success, so much so that the kids spent the rest of the afternoon lying down and trying on my sunglasses. Ah, summer.

More mini houses to love

2009-06-25T10:03:00.001+02:00

Of course you already know hat I’m a fan of all things mini (as discussed here, here, here, and here ). I especially love the efficiency that goes into small space design, and can spend hours in the little houses inside my local Ikea. Go, you’ll see. I’ve been in love with the Tumbleweed Tiny Houses forever, but they’re out of my budget. So when I saw these amazing Sweetwater Bungalows over at Apartment Therapy, I immediately thought of my sister. She definitely could use one of these bad boys in her back yard, maybe even two. They are basically tents that get built atop a platform and become little cabins which can then be customized for the purpose and the climate (yes, heat, electric, and indoor plumbing are possible!!). The price runs around $25/square foot, which is very, very cheap, but doesn’t include the platform of shipping. So, you’re talking less than $10,000 for any of the 3 models, upgraded a bit, and shipped to you. Consider what you can do: an art studio, a guest room, a playhouse, a pool cabana, a writer’s retreat, a massage/facials studio…the possibilities are endless! They use that as their slogan, so it must be true!

Images 1, 2 from tinyhouseblog.com, 3,4,5 from apartmenttherapy.com

Still mad? Who me??

2009-06-24T19:38:00.001+02:00

I was just thinking a little more about Sara and graffiti. Doesn’t this make you think of her, too?

image from michael.jr’s Flikr

How do you say “Oops!” in Swedish??

2009-06-24T19:27:00.001+02:00

Today Sara took me to the mall in downtown Gothenburg for a girls’ day. Sara and Grace, our visitor from Florida, had taken the bus many time so this was Sara’s turn to teach me the route. As we were waiting for the bus to arrive, I noticed that some idiots had tagged the interior walls of the bus stop with gold graffiti. In English. With the F word and something even worse. So there I am, waiting for the bus, when it hits me. My daughter has the same initials of the person who wrote this graffiti. Her friend Grace has the same initials of the other person. Yep, busted. We know what Sara will be cleaning tomorrow – too bad Grace has already gone home.

Old Dutch, new Benjamins?

2009-06-24T11:57:00.001+02:00

Have you enjoyed reading about our adventures in home exchange? Do you look forward to new postings and adorable pictures from abroad? Do you smirk – even laugh sometimes – at our European misadventures? And how! (Sorry, I’ve been devouring the show Mad Men and my 1950’s slang is in full effect).

Good news!

I am now accepting donations!

Just click the Donate button on the top left of this page to get started, or click here.

If you enjoy HomeRoamers, you could be really swell and support my Batavus bicycle fund. I’ve set my sights on the least expensive model from Batavus, the Old Dutch, and you can now support me with just a click of your mouse. I hope to be made in the shade really soon.

My dear Batavus, how I miss you…

2009-06-23T17:58:00.001+02:00

OK, so you know how I love the European design aesthetic and I’m especially enamored with the love of cycling and cycle accessories. I’ve been trying to find a bicycle in the States that somehow comes close to my beloved Batavus Personal bike that I used while in Holland. It’s a true Dutch work bike, and is the most comfortable bike I’ve ever ridden by a huge margin. Plus, with a couple of accessories it can easily become our family station wagon. The cheapest price I’ve found for my Batavus is around $1100, not including a few hundred for delivery, so that’s out. Way out. So I am looking for the full upright seating style of the Batavus, along with the easy step-through, and a heavy duty frame that can hold my favorite passenger and our groceries. In the meantime, I’ve been looking around for something similar and although there are now lots of choices for beach cruise bikes in the US, they are really not the same as Dutch bikes so I’m a bit stymied. My maximum budget – maximum!! – is $500, including accessories, so I’m really looking for something of quality in the $300 range. So far I like a few of the Trek Cruiser models (click here if you’re curious) or this Raleigh or maybe I can find a used one from the bike shop. But I am definitely not compromising on the accessories. Check it out:

News from Norway

2009-06-19T11:02:00.001+02:00

So we’ve stayed in touch with our exchange partners from Norway (click here for some back story), as the guys really developed a good friendship while we were exchanging. Sounds strange, but they chatted just about every day and found a mutual interest in cultural observations. Anyway, last night Jon got a message from him. Apparently there is a new house being built next to theirs, and the builders are blasting some rocks to clear the home site. Their daughter had wanted to go outside to play, but her Dad said no, he hadn’t remembered hearing the all clear signal. All was definitely not clear. The builders set off a final blast that sent huge pieces of rock – boulders – into their yard and into the neighbors’ yards, missing their car by mere centimeters. Look:

Those big ass rocks that look like landscaping are actually the “debris” from the blast. Holy crap!

But wait a second…that’s not the car that we were using, the one with 468,000,000,000,000 kilometers on it, built in 1927 or thereabouts. That looks like our car that they were using at our house, the brand new 2009 we bought before our exchange. Did they steal it???

Not funny!

2009-06-17T12:16:00.001+02:00

You know how much I love the Dutch bicycle culture and all of the cool ways that Dutch families without cars transport their children, pets, and gear. I am a huge fan of the bakfiets (cargo bikes) and I especially love the clever ways people adapt them for their needs. But this is taking it a bit too far.

image: http://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl/

Ice, Ice, baby…

2009-06-17T11:45:00.001+02:00

It seems that the one hot day we’ve had here in Gothenburg was a bit out of the ordinary, and the weather’s been cool to very cool (OK, it was cold, but I like to sound rugged). So when the temps peaked at 16 degrees yesterday, I was ready to go to the beach. Oh, that’s 60 degrees Fahrenheit for those of you playing along at home. We packed a picnic lunch and headed to our favorite beach in Hovås where there were a few families, but mostly teenagers happy to be done with school and not caring much about anything else. Sam loves the big rocks that remind him of Norway and doesn’t care that there really isn’t much sand to play on. The water would have been great were it not for the whipping wind, but I could lie in a grassy crevice on the rock and be shielded enough for some sunning. The beautiful scenery reminds me a bit of coastal Maine or even Norway, and I am happy just to sit and watch the water flow by.

They’re not all 6 foot tall models? Really?

2009-06-15T12:43:00.001+02:00

I had imagined that all the women in Sweden would be blond, 6 feet tall, skinny, and gorgeous. They would all look like Elsa Sylvan (yeah, that’s her in the picture). Well, after spending a day at Liseberg amusement park, I’m no longer so worried about getting into my bathing suit. You know those carnival games where you try to hit a target and win a huge stuffed animal? Well in Sweden, you don’t win stuffed animals, you win…get this…enormous candy bars! People were carrying around giant Toblerone bars and Sara’s favorite Kex bars, and I thought it was so weird. These ultra-skinny Swedes surely aren’t going to be eating all this chocolate…are they?

image: theworldsbestever.com

How not to ride a Dalahest

2009-06-15T12:02:00.001+02:00

On Sunday we took Sam and the girls to Gothenburg’s Liseberg amusement park. It was great that the entrance fee didn’t include the ride pass, so Jon and I only had to pay a few dollars to get in (more money for beer!). Just kidding. So toward the end of the day, we found this gigantic dalahest that Sara of course wanted to climb. Except she couldn’t get up. At all. After multiple tries. And onlookers were laughing. And pointing. It’s not that tall, so it wasn’t unreasonable that we adopted the U Like It, U Climb It policy and didn’t give her a boost. Or get down on all fours next to it and make like a step stool. So after about 5 minutes (yes, really) of trying to get on, she finally managed it, but not before a Swedish family had a pretty good view of London, France, and all of the arrondissements. Good thing the Swedes love to travel.

Ode to WCW

2009-06-11T14:26:00.001+02:00

This is just to say that I have eaten a large lunch that I made for myself, which you probably wanted a bite of. Forgive me, it was delicious; but now I must nap.

Isn’t the internet grand?

2009-06-10T20:36:00.002+02:00

Remember that singer James O’Reilly that I loved so much in Copenhagen? And when I say loved, I mean in a musical way, not in a romantic way, although he is good looking and if I were 20 years younger…well, you get the idea. Ha. Anyway, I found him on Facebook, and then went to his website where he has a bunch of original tracks. I really, really like this guy and I am telling you, he is going to be big. Maybe even huge.

Check out James and Giovanni (yes, the same Giovanni from Copenhagen) covering Wonderwall by Oasis. That's some amazing busking (look it up).

Hippo Birdie Two Ewes

2009-06-10T15:22:00.001+02:00

Miss Sara is 14 years old today!! Despite all the trials and tribulations of raising a daughter, I wouldn’t change a thing. Happy birthday to my wonderful daughter.

In case you missed what Sara has been up to this year, click here for a review of her adventures in Europe while attending Florida Virtual School.

Wonderful Copenhagen

2009-06-10T11:16:00.002+02:00

We spent a fun day sightseeing in the lovely (but freezing!) city of Copenhagen and I was thrilled to see tons and tons of my favorite bicycles (click here if you’ve forgotten), especially around the entrance of Tivoli Gardens amusement park that dates back to the 1890’s. After the requisite ice cream cones, we walked along the famous Strøget and window shopped and then stumbled onto an amazing street performer who was singing and playing guitar. He drew this huge crowd and was really great, so I wanted to buy one of the CDs that were in front by the donation box. Well, it seems that this guy was just the friend of the real singer and guitarist, and he was playing alone while the real guy took a break. He wasn’t even on the CDs, and he just stole the show right out from under his poor friend Giovanni. Poor bastard. Anyway, you should check out Giovanni here and wait for his buddy James O’Reilly from Dublin to be the breakout artist of 2010. You read it here first.

The people in Copenhagen are just gorgeous, especially the men. They have beautiful, chiseled features and such an easy sense of style.

See what I mean??

Check out a few more pictures from our fun day in wonderful Copenhagen.

Watch a short clip of Giovanni and James playing:

Soon we will be Graced

2009-06-05T14:33:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow we are leaving for Copenhagen where we’ll be spending the night in order to collect Sara’s best friend Grace from the airport. International flights typically arrive early in the morning, and the train from here takes 3 hours, so we can’t get a morning train early enough to make it. Oh, well, it gives us an excuse to spend some time in what is supposed to be a very enticing city. Anyway, our little mermaid Sara is very excited to see Grace, and she’s been a guest of ours before when we rented a condo in Cape San Blas, Florida last summer. The girls enjoy their independence, and here they can make use of the vast public transportation system that will take them into downtown Gothenburg as well as to the local shopping mall, and we’re working on fixing the bikes to fit us better. Once we find the tools we need (who knew it would be so hard to find the right size Alan wrench here in Ikea Heaven??), there will be 2 bikes that the girls can use to ride to any of the beautiful local beaches. So, I’ve set up an extra bed in the (extremely) small bedroom Sara uses, and am washing the duvet and making a shopping list of Grace’s favorite treats. I’ll be ready - but Sara still isn’t! She hasn’t finished 3 of her classes and unless she gets the work done by tomorrow morning, she’ll be doing school work while we go hang out in Gothenburg with Grace. Hurry up, Sara – we really will leave you at home!

Sweet Sverige!

2009-06-04T14:12:00.001+02:00

So Sara literally had tears in her eyes as our plane descended into Gothenburg Central airport. Tears, I tell you! It was amazing to think that for two years she has been so devoted to all things Swedish and we’re finally here. We were met at the airport by Roland, the father of our exchange guy, and he drove us to the house and gave us a thorough tour and overview of how everything works. He was delighted to learn that Sara was here to further her Swedish education, and told us the story about His Sarah, the exchange student he cared for many years ago who came from Ohio. Apparently he and his family took such pains to teach Swedish to His Sarah that she was the only one in her group to have actually learned the language while she was here. It can be tough, as so many Swedes speak English so well and want to practice, so he advised Sara to be steadfast and to tell everyone that she is trying to learn and prefers to speak Swedish. Either way, the two of them were chatting away in the car, and we were all quite impressed with Sara’s proficiency.

We went to the local bathing place near the house and found the water to be surprisingly warm, and Sam actually swam for about 30 minutes. The next day, Roland came back to drive us for a tour of the local attractions, which included a lovely nature preserve where we got to snuggle with a newborn foal (!!) and take a long walk through the woods. Roland also showed us a few of the local bad platser that we can bike to, including this cool spot with big climbing rocks and a sandy inlet for shallow swimming and a few docks to jump off. Sam keeps asking us to take us back there. But Momma, it’s PUBLIC! They have a SIGN! Ah, the simplicity of youth.

Vacation pictures are here!

2009-06-03T20:09:00.001+02:00

Don’t forget to click here for new HomeRoamers pictures from Barcelona, Madrid, Traben-Trarbach, and Gothenburg!

8 more than I could have hoped for or imagined…

2009-06-03T20:05:00.001+02:00

Yesterday was my 8th wedding anniversary. I had actually lost track of the date, and didn’t realize until Jon told me at about noon, which was a pretty cool surprise. I’m lucky to have a husband who doesn’t get upset over things like that – in fact, I am lucky to have Jon as my husband, period. Here are 8 reasons, one for each year.

Jon is my constant champion and never loses faith in me, even when I’ve lost faith in myself.
We speak without talking and still nobody understand me better.
Jon is a kind and loving father who puts our kids ahead of everything else.
He is wickedly funny and makes me laugh every day, many many times.
Jon is smart and interesting, and I love talking to him about everything and nothing.
He tells me the truth.
Jon has tremendous respect for his parents and for mine, and teaches our kids the value of family.
He loves me as much as I love him.

Mosel, seriously.

2009-06-03T16:33:00.001+02:00

We weren’t being idiots for the whole time. Seriously. Check it out:

Going a little crazy in Germany

2009-06-03T16:15:00.001+02:00

The cheapest way to get from Madrid to Gothenburg was on Ryan Air, and the only way to do it without having to sleep at the airport was to divide the trip into two parts and spend the night somewhere. We decided to stop over in Frankfurt, Germany, partly because it was the most cost effective way to go, and partly because we could have one day in a new country. Rather than staying next to the tiny Hahn airport, we did a bit of research and found a little village called Traben-Trarbach along the Mosel river that looked rather promising. It didn’t disappoint. Traben-Trarbach is nestled in a valley along the beautiful Mosel and decorated with Art Nouveau architecture (reminiscent of Ålesund, remember?) and quaint buildings from the Belle Époque. OK, I didn’t really know what architecture from the Belle Époque was, either, so I looked it up. Think gilded, fancy, and European looking. Our hotel, the Trabener-Hof, was really authentic and had fantastic, American-style hospitality that even surprised me: specially arranged beds for the kids, gummy bears on the pillows, lots of complimentary bottled water, personalized place cards at the breakfast table, you name it. We’ll definitely be going back to this special place when we have more time to spend there. We were expecting that German food wouldn’t be very good, but we had a delicious meal at a place recommended by the hotel and we ate ourselves silly. Here’s the proof, in case you thought I was exaggerating, which I never do, by the way.

Back from vacation, y’all!

2009-06-03T15:13:00.001+02:00

So do you like my Britney Spears impression? There is this really funny isolated vocal track of Britney live in concert, where she is lip synching so her live mic is turned down, and all these assholes on the web are arguing about how she can’t sing and whatever. I’d like to see any one of them star in a 2 hour, highly athletic dance show, or, even better, get off their computers for an hour and walk around the block, but that’s not the point. The funny part is at the end, when she is talking to the assistants. Did y’all see the sailors and all the Air Force people waivin? It was so beautiful, y’all. Anyway, I’m back now so you won’t have to miss out on my fascinating updates and anecdotes any more. Stay tuned, y’all!

My Spanish family!

2009-05-29T22:07:00.001+02:00

So I have another sister. Her name is Loluca and she has been in my life since she came on a student exchange to spend some time with my family when we were 16. As these things go, I didn’t do a very good job staying in touch with her, but my father was very dedicated to her and to keeping her and her family in his life. I wasn’t as conscientious, and I had a lot going on back then. My father never lost touch over the past 24 years, and spent many holidays in Europe with Loluca’s family. I never did. I heard about Loluca’s achievements from my father – her PhD, her jobs in various countries as an important scientist, her marriage, and, most recently, the birth of her son Diego. My father was at her wedding, and he had a photo of his Spanish grandson on his mantle. After my father died, it came as a huge surprise to me that I wanted to go to Spain and see Loluca and finally meet her parents. We had already planned our home exchange and would be in Scandinavia and Holland, but I decided to arrange the trip to Spain during our vacation. Out of the blue, I emailed Loluca and asked if she would like to get together. She was extremely gracious, giving up her home for us, and driving us all over Madrid with our huge backpacks. On our last night in Madrid, we to dinner at her parents’ home, the first time I had ever met them. It was a huge honor for me, and I was really emotional about it. Her mother doesn’t speak English, but we managed to talk in depth about my father and how he was very important to their whole family. Initially I was relieved to know that the relationship hadn’t all been in my father’s head, as others had been, especially toward the end of his life.

These were people who had a history with my father, years of caring about each other in a way that came much later in life for my father and me. I was instantly comfortable with these loving people whom my father adored, and I immediately understood why. Despite the cultural differences, and sometimes the language differences, my father had found true camaraderie with this family. Their home looked like my father’s home, filled with antiques of the same era and the same blue collectable china plates on the buffet. The dining room table was set with their Sunday best, as my father would say, just as he used to do for important guests. We had drinks on the huge balcony of their beautiful home and they offered us olives, cheese, and thinly sliced, buttery Spanish ham. I really knew I was home again when they served us exactly what my father would have made for dinner – homemade gazpacho soup (Mariano’s specialty), a tender roast of beef, sliced thin (Lola’s specialty), chicken breast for me, salad greens, and roasted vegetables. They even had the ice cream for dessert. You always have a home in Spain, Loluca’s mother whispered to me, in Spanish, as we hugged goodbye. You, too…I mean, thank you, and so do you, I said in my poor Spanish. But it didn’t matter that I made some mistakes with my grammar – we’re family, after all.

¡Hasta luego, polo shirts!

2009-05-26T23:23:00.001+02:00

We’ve spent a great few days relaxing in Barcelona and visiting some of the sights. It’s a beautiful city, and we enjoyed another open air bus tour like we did in Paris with Mom. Sure, it’s very touristy, but it’s the best way we can see what’s around and hey, we’re tourists. We managed to pack in a couple of good meals, one great meal, and even a ride on the Telefèric, Barcelona’s cable car (think Disney’s Sky Ride, not San Francisco). However, the best part of the trip for me was when Jon decided to finally do something for himself and treat himself to a few new outfits, Spanish style. Jon is so utilitarian and practical that he rarely spends money on himself, and even though he’s been wearing the same 3 shirts for the past 4 months, he’s reluctant to upgrade. He doesn’t even like those 3 shirts. I knew he wanted to get some summer clothes, and when we found the store Desigual I really had to push him to try a few things. He got a couple of good pieces from the amazing collection at Desigual, and then supplemented with some cheaper things from H & M. It was great to see Jon do something nice for himself for a change; he is always doing things for us and puts himself last. Even Sara noticed. Daddy never gets new clothes, he is always thinking about what everybody else needs, not what he needs. Wow. So now Jon has some new clothes with a cool European aesthetic, and he looks fantastic. Watch for him in his new…wait for it…manpris. Yes, I’m serious.

The Griswolds we’re not

2009-05-26T22:36:00.001+02:00

I haven’t had a lot of time to post lately, as we’ve been on our European vacation since leaving our exchange house in Gapinge, Holland. First we took a short cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines from Rotterdam, and stopped in the ports of Le Havre, France and Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK. We were surprised to realize that we had no interest whatsoever in Le Havre, which is French for Shit Hole, and we promptly returned to the ship for one of their delicious pina coladas with spiced rum and a poolside massage. Guernsey was a nice port, the largest of the Channel Islands, and I was thinking about my mother and how she used to tell me about the Guernsey and Jersey (another Channel island) cows when I was little. We had to tender to the port, and Sam loved that NCL used its actual lifeboats for the tender boats and the seas were rough, even better. The kids decided that Guernsey reminded them of Ålesund, and I knew at that very moment that this trip was so worth it.

I also had a few observations about taking an American cruise in Europe. It was worth the $18 for an unlimited soda card, even when I bought it on the 2nd day of the cruise. The bartenders tried to talk me out of it, not realizing that I’ve been jonesing for a Big Gulp with extra ice since February and I would have no trouble getting my money’s worth. There were very few North Americans on this particular cruise, and the staff seemed very happy to see us. Hence, we inferred that the other demographics were not as popular, and I could sort of see why. There’s a general feeling in the US that the people who take the short (and much less expensive) Bahamas cruises are not the most sophisticated of crowds, and we’ve found this to be true in Europe as well. These people pushed and shoved, careened into us multiple times at the buffet, and drank beer after beer while their children splashed loudly in the Adults Only hot tub. They were, in a word, uncouth. I had plenty of time to reflect on how well behaved our kids are, even when they are driving us crazy, and how easily they adapt to any situation. So far on this trip we’ve been on transatlantic flights, European flights, international trains, local trains, a cruise ship, local busses, taxis, charter busses, metros, tour busses, and bikes. I am proud to say that our kids take it all in stride, and Sam is still waiting for his chance to ride on a tuk tuk.

TTFN

2009-05-20T19:06:00.001+02:00

Dear Middelburg,

I’m really overjoyed to have found you again. It seems so strange that many years ago we knew each other, even if only briefly, and I’m embarrassed to admit that just can’t remember. It’s not your fault, there was so much going on in my life back then and my head was really spinning. So let’s just say that I’m in a better place now, more introspective and, above all, more grounded. That’s why I have to go. I have to be sure of what I want, I can’t just be impetuous even though you want me to. I just have to see what else it out there for me. So I’ll be back, I’m sure of it, I just don’t know when. I’m hopeful that you’ll still feel the same. Call me…

-XOXO

Dopes descend on Domburg

2009-05-19T16:41:00.001+02:00

As promised, today we returned to Domburg to check out the local beach in more detail and to have a birthday lunch for Sam. Amazingly, there were a bunch of families on the beach and kids were swimming, although the water temperature is only about 50° F. Seriously. So rather than take a swim, we took turns imitating the way that Sara poses for photos, and collected some tiny sand dollars to take back home.

The kids had ice cream cones before lunch (we call this opposite day and it seems to happen a lot around here!) and then went to pick out Sam’s birthday cake for tonight. I think we’re all going to have to do a cleanse one we get to Sweden. Really.

Happy 5th birthday to Sam!

2009-05-19T16:17:00.001+02:00

Today is Sam’s 5th birthday. Jon and I can’t believe he is already 5, it seems like just the other day that we were bringing him home from the hospital. I spent a long time looking at old pictures of his first four years, and picked out a few choice ones to post here. Happy Birthday, Sam, and many happy returns, as my Dad would say.

Chemo, chemo, quite contrary…

2009-05-18T18:57:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow is my wonderful father-in-law Larry’s final chemotherapy treatment for Hodgkin’s disease! Jon has decided to rename May 19th, 2009 as Larry’s first birthday. It is actually Sam’s 5th birthday also, so we will be celebrating Sam getting older and Larry getting stronger. Jon has asked that people send him some thoughts about Larry so that he can post them on his blog tomorrow (click here for details), so please help him cheer Larry on!!

Stopping by castle on a windy morning…

2009-05-18T18:42:00.001+02:00

Today we finally had a chance to visit the beautiful Westhove Castle, located between the villages of Oostkapelle and Domburg. The castle dates back to the early 13th century and was partially destroyed and rebuilt in 1572 and again in 1948. Now it’s a Stayokay youth hostel, still surrounded by a moat, with a small museum (one room) that didn’t look too interesting. Very cool. We didn’t go inside because the whole interior is dedicated to the youth hostel, but we could see in a few windows and it looked like, well, a castle. Jon has a thing about castles so we really wanted to visit at least one on our trip so he could cross it off his list. Plus, castles are cool…don’t you like the Lego one I made for Sam?

After the castle visit, we continued driving to the village of Domburg which was so adorable. The whole village itself spans about 1 square kilometer, and its few main streets are filled with small shops and restaurants with patio dining for excellent people-watching. In summers Domburg is full of tourists who come for the beautiful beach, the seaside golf course, and the quaint resort town atmosphere. The famous Dutch artist Piet Mondrian often spent his summers at the Domburg sea and both he and James Whistler (of Whistler’s Mother fame) both painted several works depicting the coast.

So of course I am more than intrigued by this unusual town that has both a 13th century castle and a beach worthy of Whistler’s and Mondrian’s attention. I like it so much that we’re going back tomorrow morning. Maybe we’ll even paint a picture or two.

images: #1 is mine, the Whistler from artandpopularculture.com, the Mondrian from moma.org

Grandma in all her glory

2009-05-17T16:11:00.001+02:00

Well my Mom has been gone for only a day and we all miss her already. It wasn’t all fun and games, though, as I am sure she would tell you. She didn’t enjoy riding the bike we rented for her, the one she picked out (!!), because it was too far or too windy or too cold or, well, too different from sitting on the couch.

See what I mean? This picture is hilarious, and it’s even better when you click on it and enlarge it. I really shouldn’t talk, there have been more than enough unflattering shots of me posted on our photo site and on Jon’s blog. Mom and I also butted heads a bit in Paris, as she likes to try to speak her high school French, much to my chagrin (that’s a French word, get it?) Despite these few hiccups, we were very happy to share some of our time in Europe with my Mom, and the fun times definitely outweighed the bad. Here’s a look at some of what we did together.

Thanks for coming to visit us, Mom! We hope you had as much fun as we did.

Ghent came and went…

2009-05-17T15:31:00.001+02:00

…but Jon still had time for a few cool pictures. Enjoy!

Window shopping in Ghent…

2009-05-17T15:19:00.001+02:00

After dropping off Mom at the airport in Brussels, we decided to take a day trip to Ghent, Belgium which is known for its medieval architecture dating back to the 13th century. Unfortunately the weather was rainy and dreary, which made for a difficult day of sightseeing and we weren’t able to take a canal cruise as I’d hoped. We managed nonetheless to find lots of cool churches and buildings, and entertained ourselves by running around statues as fast as we could without falling off. Ah, Europe. We found some funky boutique shops mixed in among the more expensive and more common stores along the main shopping streets, and stopped at an authentic cafe for a delicious snack at their outdoor (and only slightly rainy) tables. Sam carried his take-away chocolate éclair in a little white box for about an hour until he finally broke down and stopped on the side of the street to eat it while Sara and I ducked into a shop (he is holding it in the picture below). I was sure to buy a couple of dark chocolates from the famous Daskalides chocolatier: I tried the coeur pamplemousse and the favorite and shared them both with Jon, who didn’t like the pamplemousse at all (I knew he wouldn’t). Sam had a scoop of ice cream, and Sara chose a milk chocolate flower. All of that for under €4 was a great deal! So after wandering around a bit and taking some pictures of the buildings, we decided to head back to the car since the weather was still overcast and gray. Unfortunately we weren’t exactly sure where we had parked, so we ended up making a few wrong turns and somehow got to a rather unusual part of town. They call it the Zuidkwartier which is basically the red light district. So there we are, walking around and lost, and we turn down this street that looks… well… odd. There are buildings with no signs, many with large bay windows, mostly with their curtains drawn. There is nobody walking on the street, and then Sara says Nice street. I look up and there is a woman in the bay window, dressed in skimpy lingerie, looking bored. Oh, shit, these are prostitutes, and Sara saw them! We walked a bit faster but I am sure that Sara managed to see into a few of these windows before we realized where we were and got out of there. I can see it now, Sara telling her friends about our trip to Ghent. Yeah, it was cool, we went shopping and then we walked around looking at prostitutes on display in windows. Yikes! I guess we should have known that something was up when we saw the statue in this picture (be sure to click to enlarge):

Burbs of New York?

2009-05-15T10:36:00.001+02:00

This morning we’re driving to the coastal town of Vlissingen which, in English, is called Flushing. There is a Flushing, New York which is 10 miles outside of the city in the borough of Queens, and the name still gives me pause. Help! My toilet won’t stop flushing! There is another local Flemish town called Hoboken, also the namesake of a New Jersey city just across the river from the city of New York. Obviously there is a lot of history of Flemish settlers in the north east United States, but what I think of when I consider Hoboken (actually part of Antwerp, Belgium) and Flushing are the funny names. Hoboken, NJ reminds me of hobos from the early 1900s, and Flushing is, well, you already know that one. Once again, this proves that I have a childish sense of humor and that I really need to go back to the 8th grade.

image: librarianwoes.wordpress.com

Parking shmarking

2009-05-14T18:27:00.001+02:00

I’ve got to say that as much as I love living in Europe, the parking situation is a real bitch. We had our first introduction to the European method in Norway, when we got a hefty fine (about $50 US) for not pre-paying the parking fee in the lot. (Read the back story here). We didn’t know – the sign was written in Norwegian and in the States we’re used to paying on the way out, not on the way in. They weren’t impressed with my nice letter asking them to please return my fifty bucks minus the parking fee, and their reason was that the parking signs are international. Sure, I’ll grant you that the big blue P is recognizable, but the rest of the machine posted at the exit from the lot (the exit!!) is just words. Words we couldn’t understand. As far as I know, there’s no international sign for pay first, then park here, except on weekends when it’s free, and don’t forget to print your little receipt and display it in your front window. In fact, there is nothing on the big sign except Norwegian text (!!) and the machine itself just has a couple arrows. Click the pictures for a closer look:

So really what they should have is a sign with a number 1, followed by a picture of coins, then a number 2 showing a receipt in the car window, then number 3 with the person walking away. Number 4 is obviously the same guy, pockets like elephant ears to show they’re empty, bending over and dropping his pants next to his car as he gets the royal treatment. You get the idea.

Of course now we are parking savvy and we’re sure to pre-pay and always look for the little machines before we leave the car. Here, though, it seems that the majority of the machines only allow one hour at a time. So, you want to drive instead of bike into the city to shop for weekly groceries, and you have to run like hell through the market to get back in time. Or, even more fun, you leave your half-filled cart and run back to get a new ticket for another hour. Today at lunch, Sara actually had to leave the table mid-baguette and walk back to our parking spots to feed the meter for us and our guests. And yes, I know this is how it works in big cities in the States, but come on! If you can pay for your parking with a credit card, you’d think you could request that 2nd hour. Just an idea.

image: nynerd.com

Syghtseeing in Paris…

2009-05-13T20:17:00.001+02:00

The ass of fallafel?

2009-05-13T15:33:00.001+02:00

One thing I really wanted to do while we were in Paris was go get a falafel from a place that I’d read about online. Many people have written about L’As du Fallafel, but when my boyfriend David Lebovitz wrote it up as #2 of his 10 Insanely Delicious Things not to be missed in Paris, I was sold. I used to eat falafel all the time when I lived in New York and Rhode Island, and I was intrigued – could this place in Paris really be the best falafel in the world? As fate would have it, I was looking on Google street view to find directions to our friends Marielle and Donough’s place, and there was L’As, right across the street from their building. Coincidence? I. Don’t. Think. So. Sunday afternoon couldn’t come quickly enough (L’As is Kosher and observes the Sabbath by closing Friday night and Saturday), and when we arrived there were 2 huge lines down Rue des Rosiers, one for take away and another for eat in. There was a guy managing the flow of customers by handing out tickets and fielding questions from hungry customers in rapid-fire French. I was quoted 30 minutes for a 5 top, but I knew enough to stay close and keep my eyes locked on Falafel Guy for my chance to secure my spot. You see, in Paris a 30 minute quote time for a table means nothing – it all depends on how much the guy likes you and if you can pass for someone other than an American. Luckily I can hold my own in French, we got our table in 8 minutes. It was amazing to watch the agile waiters fly around the restaurant, back and forth to the tables and then into the miniscule corner that served as the pass through. Attention! Chaud! These guys are pros – they zoomed around among a packed house with huge pita sandwiches stacked between their nimble fingers, never dropping a single drop of tahini or a ball of precious falafel. Amazing! I could watch a show like that all day, but after only 5 minutes our food arrived and it took all my attention. I had a deconstructed plate instead of a falafel sandwich, so I could really appreciate every flavor. There was a huge pile of bite-sized falafel balls, fresh hummus and tahini sauce, a cucumber salad and purple cabbage slaw, warm pita bread, and of course a generous portion of hot sauce. Yes, it is true, L’As du fallafel has terrific falafel and excellent service, but the name still makes me giggle. It means Ace of Falafel (and in French L’As is pronounced Laaah), but it still looks like The Ass of Falafel. Sorry, it does. After we ate everything in sight, I realized that I would soon be sporting my new look: the ass from falafel.

NB: If you want to laugh your ass off, buy The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz here.

Photos: Image #1 from newyork808’s Flikr, image #2 from Jon, image #3 from tvgourmetnews.com’s Flikr

Wednesday in the park with Sam…

2009-05-13T14:39:00.001+02:00

Today was the first day in a while that the winding wasn’t blowing wildly, so Jon, Sam, and I were anxious to get back on our bikes and ride around. Sara and Mom were still lounging in bed when we were ready to leave, so they stayed home and did their own thing. Ahem. We rode to Middelburg (no, I’m not over my crush) and went back to a small park we’d biked through a while back. Jon and I immediately started goofing around on all the playground equipment and I think we had a better time than Sam did!

Bouffe entre amis

2009-05-12T15:11:00.001+02:00

So we all got to choose one thing to do in Paris, and mine was to get together with friends for dinner. The couple with us are my sister’s close friend Marielle and her new(!) husband Donough who currently live in the Marais district of Paris. Marielle and my sister have been friends for a long time, and when I planned a trip to Paris I thought it would be fun to get together and hopefully meet her husband whom she met while living in Dublin. They are a great couple, both very interesting people who share our interests in food and travelling, and they brought us to one of their favorite neighborhood restaurants where we had a fabulous meal. We met for drinks at their place, after I’d rudely invited myself over (come on, I wanted to see where they live!!), and they served us yummy champagne and Sam ate his weight in garlic-marinated green olives. Who knew? We then got to take a walk around the Marais and over to the Place des Vosges, a beautiful square with symmetrical architecture that’s just breathtaking. Donough told us that Victor Hugo used to live in one of the 35+ houses (some say 36, others say 39) and I did a bit more research when I got home. The Place des Vosges is the oldest square in Paris, dating back to 1604 when King Henry IV built a royal pavillion at the southern end of the square and then ordered the rest of the buildings to be constructed of the same design. There were lots of people sitting on benches, admiring the landscape and each other’s company, and Sam ran around chasing pigeons. When we got to the restaurant, Sam had blown off enough steam to sit for a leisurely dinner without incident, and he ate most of his dinner and all of his dessert. The restaurant was fantastic, a truly French place with a tiny kitchen and extremely welcoming owners/servers who knew Marielle and Donough and went to great lengths to make us feel welcome.

We all went with the 3 course prix fixe menu after being tempted by a taste of the delicious fresh pea soup that was quite impressive (it was a gorgeous green). I of course started with the pea soup, and for my main dish had a crispy skin sea bass over mushroom risotto and topped with a tomato and orange pepper relish. Jon skipped the soup, and had an entrecôte of beef with a shrimp and vegetable starter that was wrapped in phylo dough and tasted delicious (much better than it had sounded). Sam had a ricotta and serrano ham ravioli starter as his main dish, and they made a vegetarian platter for Sara, who was eating the fresh bread as though it was her last supper. I was too absorbed in my own food to notice what everyone else was eating, and there was lots of delicious red wine and great company. We finished with coffee and dessert and practically stumbled out onto the street. It was the best meal I’ve had in months, and, as my father used to say, was cheap at twice the price. I could definitely get used to this!

image: jean-louis schmidt

Eiffel Tower? Check!

2009-05-12T11:18:00.001+02:00

This weekend we went to Paris for Mother’s Day. How crazy is that? Actually, it wasn’t too crazy – I got a great deal on train tickets while we were in Norway, so we drove back to Brussels and got the 90 minute train to Paris. Sam made his pail list when we were in Norway (click here to check it out), and he has been talking about visiting the Eiffel Tower for months so he could do something on his list. We took an open-air tour bus around the city, and suddenly Sam leapt out of his seat: there it IS, Momma! So cute. So we waited in the long line to climb the tower, and we didn’t really mind the first 335 steps. Sam was so excited that he practically ran up the steps, and I was happy that my legs cooperated. We’d planned to walk up to the first level and then ride the rest of the way, but in typical French fashion it wasn’t so simple. As it turns out, the elevator is only available to people who buy an elevator ticket, and, you guessed it, we’d bought tickets for the stairs. Daddy, I want to ride on the elevator now! Yes, we were screwed. I found a Tower Guy who said that we could buy a supplement for elevator access (Yes!) but it is only available from the next level up (No!). So on we went, and after 668 stairs I was calling it the Awful Tower and promising myself that I’d do more exercise as soon as we got back to Holland. It had started to rain, just a light drizzle but enough to really cloud the view, so Sam was content to ride the elevator down and move on to our next adventure. Check out these pictures of our fun time!

Young love is fickle…

2009-05-07T15:05:00.001+02:00

So yes, it happened, and it happened rather quickly, too. Someone else turned my head. (Read the back story here). She is lovely and interesting, petite yet beautifully regal, and she leaves me wanting more. Her name is Serooskerke and although I’d passed her by a few times without much more than a glance, today she caught my eye and I can’t stop thinking about her. Alas, poor Middelburg…

Paarden me!

2009-05-07T14:48:00.001+02:00

So you know by now that Gapinge is a rural town of about 300 people, a bunch of horses, tons of sheep, dozens of chickens, and, well, you get the idea. So as we were biking back from the grocery store in neighboring Serooskerke this afternoon, I was glad I had the camera so I could grab a couple shots of my favorite local sign: push button to cross. Everybody knows these buttons: push to change the traffic light in your favor so you can cross the street. Around here, though, it’s not so simple. There are so many cyclists that the button is set up on a post that you bike up to, not walk up to, with a little picture of a guy on a bike. That’s cute and different, but what really cracks me up is for the people neither on foot nor on bikes. Check this one out!

My mother brought the wind and cold

2009-05-07T10:21:00.001+02:00

The weather has sucked ever since Mom got here. I’m not saying that it’s her fault entirely, but it sure is a big coincidence, don’t you think? We finally got Jon hooked up with a comfy bike that fit, got one for Mom for the 2 weeks, and had great plans for 3 generations of cycling through the Dutch countryside. Instead, we got in one short ride to Veere where we froze our asses off eating lunch en plein air and wishing for mittens. I don’t want to say that my mother cursed the weather so that she wouldn’t have to ride a bike, that would be rude, but let’s just say that the thought has crossed my mind a few hundred times. Just bring the warm weather back, Mom, you don’t have to ride the bike if you don’t want to…but we do!

My mother joins the fun

2009-05-05T17:53:00.001+02:00

On Sunday we picked up my mother from the airport in Brussels and brought her back to Gapinge for a 2 week visit. This is her first time in Holland, and we’re especially interested in how she finds the whole home exchange process. Will she feel weird in their house? Will she like Holland as much as we do? Will she think we are crazy? Will she finally understand why home exchange makes such good sense? It’s been only a few days and I’m not sure she has those answers yet, although I know that she does feel comfortable in the home of Piet and Lies, our Dutch exchangers. She has already posed for the obligatory photo in Middelburg, so we’re definitely on our way to a successful visit! This Sunday is Mother’s Day in the US, so we’re off to celebrate with a weekend in Paris. I’m pretty sure that will be a good time for everyone!

Virtual school, veritable success

2009-05-04T21:49:00.001+02:00

You might be wondering how we are able to spend 6 months traveling abroad with a daughter in middle school. We are lucky enough to have access to a totally online school for Sara, and it’s free for Florida residents. Technically, Sara is considered a home schooled student who participates in the Florida Virtual School curriculum, but this is a full-fledged middle and high-school program through which she is finishing the 8th grade. I am not home schooling her (yes, I would kill myself): she is like a little self-employed consultant, working alone on her laptop with the occasional conference call to her teacher. The teachers have been great, and very curious and encouraging to Sara when she talks about her time abroad. We didn’t know what to expect with the online experience, and have been pleasantly surprised along the way. Her teachers are as involved as they need to be without being intrusive, and Sara’s grades are better than they’ve ever been. We’re really grateful to have FLVS as an option to us, and they have a global school option for students outside of Florida who are interested in online education. Thanks, FLVS, we couldn’t have done it without you!

Here is some of what Sara has been learning during the “regular” school day.

And the winner is…

2009-05-04T14:59:00.001+02:00

After many hours of deliberation, I have finally narrowed it down to the 2 winning entries in the HomeRoamers Caption This! contest that made me laugh the hardest. Since I can’t decide which one I prefer, I am declaring a tie. The winning captions are:

Does this fence make my ass look fat? (submitted by John Moretti)

and

Dude: Ik ben een friggin paard. Net zoals u thuis. U hoeft niet mijn foto. Ga naar huis. (submitted by Steve S.)

You guys need to contact me with your addresses so I can send out your prizes!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and stay tuned for more contests and opportunities to win more prizes from Europe!

2009-05-02T10:33:00.001+02:00

A hearty Dank u to everyone who entered the first ever HomeRoamers Caption This! contest. It’s going to be tough to choose the winner with so many funny entries. Today I am going shopping in Middelburg to pick out the prize and will let you know the results very soon, so stay tuned!

Back to 8th grade…

2009-05-01T15:03:00.001+02:00

Today is a beautiful spring day. The sun is shining, the bird are chirping, and the neighborhood roosters woke me up at the lovely hour of 4:30 this morning. We decided to head to the beach and investigate. On the way there we passed through a little tourist town with shops selling kites and beach gear, and I heard German and French being spoken by other bikers as we passed them by. I saw families with skim boards and young girls in bikini tops and short shorts, holding the hands of their eager boyfriends – but wait, it’s April. Am I missing something?

When we walked up the path to the beach, I was surprised by how wide and vast the beach actually was. It must have been 3 or 4 times as wide as the beaches in Florida, maybe even 5, and there were lots of wind tents set up and families playing in the sand. I started thinking about swimming. Would it be possible without a towel? Can I really strip down and swim in my underwear? Would I want to ride my bike 8 km back to the house in wet clothes? All of these people are at the beach today, it must be nice for a quick swim. I eagerly put my feet in the water only to discover, you guessed it, that it was so freezing cold there was no way in hell I would be swimming in it! I’d been thinking that we were in the same latitude as, I don’t know, maybe Maryland, and I could imagine people swimming in Ocean City on a beautiful spring day. Why not, right? So I still wasn’t sure why the water was so cold until I got home and looked up exactly what our current latitude is. 52 degrees North. Same as Maryland? No way. New York? Not even close. Get this – it’s Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Doh! Sometimes I even embarrass myself.

Caption This! contest ends tomorrow…

2009-04-30T21:32:00.001+02:00

There is still one more day for you slackers out there to win the prize in my first ever HomeRoamers Caption This! contest. If you make me laugh the hardest, you will get a very cool prize all the way from Holland. Really. Click here for your last chance to enter!

Hoofd?

2009-04-30T20:58:00.001+02:00

Last week we biked over to the adorable neighboring town of Veere to try to get a table at De Peperboom, the restaurant that our exchangers had recommended. It was full, and we weren’t really dressed for a more upscale place anyway, so we settled on one of the more touristy places in the central square that we’d been to before. We’d found out from the waiter the last time that Veere is a popular tourist destination for wealthy Americans on the smaller yachts – he said yachts, not me – as well as for day trippers from the Benelux region. There were a shitload of Americans walking around last time we were there, I’m not kidding, so we wanted to keep a lower profile and try to blend in. Until we saw the menu, that is. I hadn’t seen the dinner menu last time, and was vaguely horrified to scan down to the center of the page to see this: Hoofd. Oh, hell no. What are the animals with hooves, anyway? Do sheep have hooves? What about cows, and yes, definitely horses have hooves. Wait a minute, aren’t they called cloven? I am already mostly vegetarian, never eating beef and occasionally some chicken or pork, so I was really not ready to be ordering from this section. Not possible. I settled on a warm goat cheese salad from the top of the page, and didn’t mention Hoofd to anyone. Can you imagine how relieved I was when I got home and looked up the word in the dictionary? It means mains, principals – you know, like Entrées. It was just the list of the main dishes, nothing to do with hooves or even animals. Go ahead, laugh at me…it is pretty funny.

Koninginnedag

2009-04-30T16:29:00.001+02:00

Today is Koninginnedag, Queen’s Day. The Dutch celebrate the queen’s birthday with street parties and festivals, and wear the color orange to symbolize national and royal pride. We biked into Middelburg this morning to check out what was happening, and saw may people riding bikes decked out with orange streamers, and a few people were wearing crazy hats. It sort of reminded me of the way college kids dress on St. Patrick’s Day in the States, except orange. It was a fun day to have lunch outside and people watch…our local revelers (these cyclists) were not as festive as the Amsterdamers shown in the stock picture above. But what really fascinated the kids – and I mean truly enthralled them – wasn’t a crazy costume or a dog wearing an orange crown. No, it was a urinal. Sure, it was a very odd looking portable urinal , one of many that had been set up in the central square for tonight’s festivities, but again, it’s just a urinal. Take my kids all over Europe and what do they point out to me over and over again? Yup, a big plastic urinal. Nice. Oh, and as it turns out, we’re relieved that we didn’t visit Amsterdam today as we’d originally debated. Queen Beatrix and her family were paying a customary visit to the neighboring city of Apeldoorn when and a car sped past her bus and crashed into a crowd of spectators. Sadly, 2 people were killed and a dozen more injured. You can read more on CNN’s international page here. So sad.

Photo credits: #1 thehollandring.com, #2 my wonderful husband Jon, #3 onlyinholland.com

2009-04-29T22:48:00.001+02:00

Check out lots of cool pictures from Holland here.

Could this be love?

2009-04-29T14:45:00.001+02:00

I don’t remember any of the time I spent in Middelburg when I was in college. Granted that was a few years ago (ahem), but you’d think that once I spent some time in the city it would come back to me. Yet, not so much. I don’t know how I could forget such a charming place - it is one of my favorite cities in the world now. Yes, I know it’s a little early to be falling in love and I don’t want to jinx it by saying anything to soon, but I could definitely see myself in a long-term relationship with her. She’s friendly, attractive, and full of surprises…and interesting enough that I won’t get bored too quickly. You know how I do that. I know that Jon likes her too, but he’s takes his time. He calls me a gun-jumper, and maybe I am, but I know what I like. So I’m going to take it slowly and keep an open mind, but this might be the real thing. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and I’ll let you know if she calls.

PS: Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see for yourself how alluring she is. Am I right???

Who screams first?

2009-04-28T17:03:00.001+02:00

While Sam had originally agreed to be the animal helper during our exchanges, Sara has quickly taken over and really loves the chicken. She is responsible for the chicken’s food, water, and now…cuddles!

Caption This! contest ending Friday May 1

2009-04-28T16:39:00.001+02:00

So just a quick reminder to those of you who haven’t entered the first ever HomeRoamers Caption This! contest, there is still time to enter. I am going to send an actual Dutch gift to the winner, so hurry up and get your entries in by clicking here.

In Bruges

2009-04-28T16:22:00.001+02:00

On Sunday we decided to go to Bruges, even though we still haven’t seen the movie. It’s not yet available for rent or purchase from iTunes, Netflix, or Amazon, so we’re out of luck. We decided to screw the movie and just go, although we weren’t sure what we were going to be doing. The city of Bruges is stunning; it’s a medieval city that some call Venice of the north, with architecture that is similar to that of Middelburg, the town we’re near. We had coffee at an outdoor table and watched the people, and I was surprised that the waiters were willing to speak French or English, too. I’d been told that the Dutch part of Belgium did not enjoy speaking French, but people seemed fine with it. We enjoyed a walk around the central square and finally stopped for dinner at a place noted in my guidebook. Sam has a bit of a cold, so he was wiped out and slept through the whole meal, and I have to say he didn’t miss too much.

The traditional Belgian beef stew that Jon ordered was nothing like the Carbonnade de boeuf flamande that my father used to make over and over again when I was a kid. This was more like beef in packaged gravy with a dash of dark ale thrown in for good measure. Not all was lost, however. I did discover a delicious blond ale called Brugse Zot, which apparently is the only beer actually brewed in Bruges. So this was my In Bruges – and it was better than any movie could be.

This is just to say…

2009-04-25T09:29:00.001+02:00

that life is indeed good.

Thanks to my niece Allie for modeling the sentiment! Isn’t she perfect?

Caption this picture to win a prize!

2009-04-24T21:17:00.001+02:00

I challenge you to caption this picture that Jon took on tonight’s walk. Put your captions in the comments, and the one that makes me laugh the hardest is the winner. I will send the winner an actual gift from Holland – for real. It won’t be anything expensive but it will be something cool (any it won’t be a windmill or a pair of clogs). Don’t forget to leave your email address so I can contact you when you win! Oh, and there have to be at least 5 entrants, so tell your friends!

Limb training?

2009-04-24T21:07:00.001+02:00

Many of the houses here have a funky landscaping feature that I’ve never seen before. People are making huge trellises in front of their houses by training the limbs of a certain kind of tree to grow straight across at a 90° angle from the trunk. They start out with anywhere from 3 to 8 trees, trellis trees I call them now, and plant them about about 4 feet apart. These trees stand at least as tall as the roof line, but without any branches. Then they use wire to make an actual trellis to serve as a guide for the branches when they begin to grow. The branches grow across from one trunk to another, and the final result is a sort of crosshatch pattern to decorate the front of your house. Do you get it yet? Look, let me show you. Here is what you start out with – click the pictures to enlarge them so you can really see what’s going on:

See how the branches have just begun to extend across to the next trunks? They are still quite thin and without much growth.

The branches are thicker and have begun to bloom on this house.

Here is a more mature look – and this one even wraps around the house on the left. How cute!

I think this is such a different and interesting way to landscape, but I’m not sure that it always works. I love the house in the 3rd picture above, but I’m not so sure about the others. What do you think?

A couple of goofs in the garden

2009-04-23T18:01:00.001+02:00

Jon loves it here. I can tell buy the constant delight on his face whenever we’re exploring…and he says cool a lot. So tonight when we were outside feeding the resident chicken, I snapped this cute picture of him.

And then, after being chided by Mr. Delight (above) for not being able to get a good picture of the chicken, I got one. In fact, I think I might even like it better than the picture of Jon. Ha!

de witte mosk

2009-04-23T15:50:00.001+02:00

We’ve just arrived at our exchange house in Gapinge, Holland and it’s full of surprises. You already know from reading Jon’s blog that we saw gorgeous views of the tulip fields that I told you about from the airplane (click here if you need to catch up). We were met at the airport by Piet and Lies, our exchangers, and they turned over their car to us and off we went. I had thought that we were going to be in the middle of nowhere, but it turns out that their house is in a little village, not out in the boondocks. It’s definitely rural compared to, say, Amsterdam, but just a quick drive into the much larger city of Middelburg. The most surprising thing about the house is the beautiful gardens that surround it everywhere – this is especially amazing to me since I have what my mother calls a black thumb. I can barely keep a house plant alive, there is no way I would ever be able to have gardens like these. There were a few surprises in the kitchen as well. Last night as I was cooking, I saw about 30 people go by on horseback, and maybe 50 people ride by on bikes. I’m not kidding! This is such a bike-friendly place that no wonder everyone rides, from the youngest babies on the front of their moms’ bikes to the littlest old ladies who surprise me with their agility. Take a look at the some more pictures of the house and the gardens…I’m going for a bike ride!

Martha on the road?

2009-04-20T19:42:00.001+02:00

So my sister is convinced that I’m off my rocker, and I love to prove her right. My newest fascination is with people who move out of their homes and into RVs as fulltimers, roaming around the country on biodiesel. Actually, many people have converted their RVs to to accept SVO (straight vegetable oil) and I’ve heard stores of one family driving coast to coast on SVO for only 16 bucks. So despite the obvious flaws with my latest idea, I still think it’s interesting enough to keep on the back burner until the kids get older (read: move out). In the meantime, I can start planning my RV refurb, at least in my mind, you know, like when I’m shaving my legs. We’re going to have bamboo floors and a king sized bed (the key to a happy marriage is, in fact, the king sized bed…write that down.) I can even incorporate one of my favorite Martha Stewart ideas, the Barbie Suitcase Office (minus the Pepto Pink). Check out this bad boy – I can totally picture it next to my little dinette in the RV, the one I buy to replace the hideous brown plaid one that will certainly come already installed. Sweet!

Top 10 things I will miss about Norway…

2009-04-20T14:01:00.001+02:00

10. Gas station lunch

9. Candy by the kilogram

8. Roundabouts

7. Nestle instant Latte

6. Mountains

5. Ålesund center

4. Emblem Skule

3. Kids’ freedom

2. This neighborhood

1. Norwegians

Into the tunnel of hate?

2009-04-20T11:15:00.001+02:00

Now that we’re wrapping up our Ålesund exchange, I realize that I haven’t posted anything about the tunnel from hell. By now you know that there are tunnels all over the place - it makes sense to drive through the mountains rather than around them. So when Tourist Bureau Lady suggested we visit the islands of Giske and Valderøy, we were excited for a close up view of the land we’d been seeing each time we visited downtown. The trip started off nicely, we ended up finding a beautiful church in the countryside, and then went up a winding road where we saw a great view of the water and mountains in the background. Let’s keep going! We’d already gone through one tunnel that was quite long (even Jon was starting to get edgy), but what the hell, we are here to see the sights, right?

The next tunnel was a disaster. It went on and on, until it was just ridiculously too long, and then just kept on going. Sam started to freak out because Sara kept asking if we are really under the ocean, and what would happen if the tunnel collapsed. Are we really driving on the bottom of the ocean? It was dark in there, and every once in a while Jon would make a slightly pained expression and tighten his hands on the steering wheel. I don’t like this tunnel, he would tell me, as a random car would come barreling past us from the other direction. It was endless. And it was underwater. Eventually we made it through unscathed, but it was bittersweet: we knew that we had to go back into the tunnel to get home. Swimming miles across a frigid fjord never looked so appealing.

Oh, and just so you don’t think I’m exaggerating (why I never!), here is a photo I took from the Ålesund observatory:

And here is a brochure image showing the tunnel so that you believe me!!

Representin!

2009-04-19T16:16:00.001+02:00

Check us out in our Ålesund gear.

Just when it couldn’t get any better…

2009-04-19T15:58:00.001+02:00

Our neighbor Per just came by and rang our bell. Seems he has season tickets for himself and one of his kids to the Ålesund fotball stadium, and he’s busy tonight, so guess who gets the tickets? Yes! Jon and Sam are heading out in about an hour to watch our local soccer team kick some serious ass. Jon is going to wear his Ålesund sweatshirt that we got him for his birthday, and Sara and I are going to have a girls’ night of watching movies. Go, Ålesund!

I love my family and…

2009-04-19T12:41:00.001+02:00

Now that we’re getting ready to got to Holland to our next exchange, I’ve been thinking about what’s really been working for us over here. Remember, we are packing with relative economy (read all about that here) and getting by on the minimum. Here’s what is putting the smile on my face:

downloading English-language books from Amazon Kindle to Jon’s iPod (no more bulky paperbacks in the backpacks!)
www.yogatoday.com – the closest to a real yoga class I’ve found online, and it’s free!
my 4 dollar ice trays
$40 VPN client software on my laptop so I can stream music, TV shows, and movies from the USA (the best $40 ever spent!)
Bridgedale socks- especially because I have 3 pairs
packing cubes from eBags – we each have our own color
Chapstick lip moisturizer with SPF 15 (I brought 4 of these)
my Etymotic 6i headphones – because they’re noise isolating instead of noise cancelling, they don’t require a battery, sound great, and fit in tiny case