Ham & Prosecco Party

My ham and prosecco themed party has been one of my favorite evenings during this cold and sunless January. Remember my ham? The theme basically presented itself to me, so I gathered some of my girlfriends to feast with me. After lots of hammy ideas and silly ham-themed videos (hot ham water, Hamm and Buble) we finally came to the big day.

We decided to cube up the ham, barely half of it was more than enough, add some spaghetti sauce, and whatever spices I had on hand. I didn't feel like a prepared hostess (or an adult) when Kristi took over and asked if I had cheese or vegetables. Oops. It still turned out great. Perhaps a little salty as we underestimated how salted this bad boy was.

The mostly meat sauce was then poured over noddles. We also enjoyed a green salad, garlic green been salad, and some garlic smashed potatoes. It was unintentional that garlic was the second theme of the evening.  I tried a new recipes, and roasted garlic in the oven for the first time, and it slightly backfired. Well, more like exploded...in the oven. I'm still trying to figure out how to clean the oven. At least it was contained.

Another unplanned portion of the evening was when I had to made a run to the store (thankfully just around the corner) to buy more wine and some chocolate. I don't think I've ever had to leave my own party before, but it was well worth it.

Six gals and seven empty bottles later, we were enjoying many laughs, some tangents in German, and lots of needed girl talk time.

As parting gifts, each guest left with a slab of meat with the condition that they just had to take it home with them. After that, I didn't need to know if it was eaten or trashed.

Maybe I'll be lucky enough to win another one next Christmas!

My 2.992kg ham baby.

Final product...very hammy.

I needed help! Thanks, Kristi!

No space.

Great friends.

Doing Your Own Thing

image source

As I'm gearing up for the last year of my 20s, I think it's more important than ever to remind myself that everyone has different paths in life. There is no right or wrong.

I struggled with this concept in my early 20s, as I suspect many do. Up until you graduate high school, everyone makes similar choices and leads relatively similar lives. Even though you each might play a different instrument, learn a different language, join a different team, or enroll in various courses, most people's lives are relatively similar.

Where I come from, most everyone went on to college. That's where it started to get sticky. People studying business or nursing or English started to separate as they had different responsibilities and tasks and goals.

Once collage graduation started lurking around the corner, people's lives took serious turns from one another. Some went right on to complete a Master's degree. Some started a fancy job. Some married high school sweethearts and moved back home. Others moved overseas for various programs or experiences. You couldn't really compare yourself to others to know where you should be in life or what the logical next step would be.

There is no logical step. There's no looming target date by which to make those decisions.

I moved to to Vienna, Austria after college graduation and taught English for two years. I filled my passport with stamps and my life with great memories.

But when I returned home, most of my friends were graduating with second degrees and moving out on their own. Some even buying their own houses. Some were planning weddings.

Not me. I was two years behind. It was tough.

And now I'm living in Germany. I am so happy with my decision and know this is where I am supposed to be right now. But every now and then, in the very back of my head, I get concerned that I am falling behind again. Those friends with houses and engagement rings now have marriages and babies. And dogs. And more degrees. And nieces and nephews. And a clearer idea of how their lives will look in five or ten years?

But it's ok.

I think we all know that life doesn't always go according to plan -- sometimes it's better.

Smart Car, Distracted Driver

Starting last December, as I was waiting for my apartment construction to wrap up, a new (de)construction site appeared on my short walk to work. I was glad to see they were finally going to revamp the café that had closed and moved 200 meters down the street. Unfortunately, like most construction projects, there were no works in sight for the first month.

I tried to retrain myself to cross the street at a different point as you could no longer use the crosswalk -- and trust me, Germans use the crosswalks. The silly thing is that they set up a temporary crosswalk about 50 meters away from the actual crosswalk which is at a stoplight.

Most of the pedestrians seem to have smoothly transitioned into this temporary situation; however, the cars are really struggling. I have witnessed a near accident at least once a week. Some of these involved me.

The temporary crosswalk is confusing enough for the drivers, but it's the turn after the crosswalk that seems to cause problems. The cars are whipped around the corner without looking. I've been overly cautious along the whole road, which still didn't even almost prevent a collision.

A Smart car slammed on its brakes to avoid hitting me - but thankfully, I was one step ahead and didn't even make the step into the road. As a driver, I am always particularly on guard when driving in a construction zone, so it's frustrating to see others who are not.

The near-miss didn't really scare or startle me that much, aside from putting me that much more on guard, but it did make me ponder if being hit by a Smart car would cause as much bodily damage as a regular car. Probably.

At least the sun is rising earlier and setting later, which helps with visibility for both walkers and drivers. The bad news is that they have finally started work...and they literally knocked the entire building down. I even saw them crunch through the front glass windows. This will not be done any time soon. Or will the building down the street from the office.

Oh, construction.

Advent Calendars (in January)

I love Advent calendars. As a child, I always had one filled with chocolate. I figured everyone had one, but I later learned that wasn't always the case. Sometimes we wouldn't get them until a few days into December which was always fun because we could eat right through the current day.

The last two years I did not have a calendar. Perhaps because I would have had to buy it myself? Partly. But really it was because I spent more than half of December in America and it seemed silly to travel with it. Instead, I decided to splurge on a nice box of chocolate instead so I could make it until my flight date.

However, I was happily surprised to receive one at work! One of our vendors sent chocolate-filled calendars. It was the greatest and cutest idea. The art was an original illustration. The chocolate was not top quality, but it was still chocolate. I only sporadically ate a few pieces before I left and promptly forgot it existed.

Until this week. I've been eating my way through Advent (not in order!) during the third week of January. It seems perfectly acceptable in my opinion.

P.S. What I really love are the homemade Advent calendars people make for themselves with lots of little treats. Perhaps next year.

Breadbox

What is no bigger than a breadbox and no smaller than a breadbox? You guessed it! A breadbox. My life was forever changed when I came face to face with a breadbox in my real life. Until now it had always been something I knew existed but was mostly used as spacial reference. Not only did I see one, but I actually touched it and even ate some bread out of it.

I know a friend mentioned earlier that I should get one since I was not able to get through an entire loaf before standard molding effects took over. My bread desires seem to come and go in phases, but I definitely do eat more bread in Germany than in America. There are so many better-tasting, healthier, and fresher bread options here.

I think I'm back on the bread wagon.

Wax on My Pants

I have survived, just barely, my first full work week of the new year. I hope you have too. Although my week started with a cold and almost waterless shower, I did manage to not press snooze when my alarm went off each morning. Even though my apartment, and I, smelled a little bit like onions and vanilla this week, at least most of the paint smell is gone from my bathroom. I managed to get caught up on laundry, and hand wash a very dirty scarf, only to sit in a pile of wax while wearing my freshly air-dried jeggings. And even though it is the middle of winter, I managed to kill a handful of fruit flies, while still succumbing to some sort of itchy bug bite on my bottom. Awkward.

Despite this, I had a productive work week, saw good friends, ate some tasty food, had an amazing yoga session, and planned and organized my 2013 calendar.

I'm ready for my weekend, but I can't wait for the next new week to start.

American Beds and Showers

During my trip home, a few things surprised me. One of them was that, aside from people and pets, what I missed most was my bed and shower. Even more than my favorite foods and stores and beloved car. I'll revisit my other thoughts later, but for now: beds and showers.

Perhaps like everything else in America, it's because they are "bigger and better"? Mostly it caught me off guard. I had no idea how much I was missing my queen mattress from Costco (mattresses are just around the corner from the caskets...) along with my pillows. Plus, the height. No box springs over here. Jetlag aside, I slept deeply and soundly in my American  bed. Familiarity? Not sure. I'm rather familiar with my current German bed which is by no means awful.

On the shower front, I'm hesitant to say I felt cleaner...but I think I did. Plus, my parents did some remodeling while I away and I felt like I was in a hotel. Let's just say it was a rude-awakening when my first full week back in Germany started with a new less-than-desirable energy-efficient shower-head and cold water.

I just need to find a way to combine the best parts of Germany and the US.

Ham on my desk.

After a whirlwind "visit" at home and an 11-hour celebration to ring in the new year, I was eager to get back to work and in my routine. I wasn't sure if anyone else would be the office, but I was happily surprised to be greeted by a few co-workers.

However, I was slightly confused when I was greeted by a 3 kg (6.6 pounds) salted ham sitting on my desk. It wasn't just a ham though (with cutting board and bag, mind you), there was also a bottle of Prosecco, some chocolates, and a little note pad and pen set.

*This is not my desk.

I missed the excitement, but all of the gifts received by our office were carefully divided into various categories (mostly food, alcohol, and other) and raffled off amongst our small group of eight.

My second thought was to save the ham for Easter until I saw the March 3 expiration date (it must be really, really salted since it just sits out...). Naturally, my first thought was, "how on earth am I going to cook this?!?" It smells really good though. I might have to have a ham party. Or make hot ham water (Arrested Development, anyone?).

Also, I was hesitant to accept a ride home from my kind colleague, but was really glad that I did. Just walking up the stairs with my loot was enough for one day. I need to ease myself back in my Europeans walking ways.

Happy 2013!

Happy New Year! I apologize if you've been checking in over the last few weeks as I certainly was not. I'm excited to get some words down for you to read and for me to remember. The last month has come and gone extremely quickly, so I will try to recap a bit while moving forward.

2012 was a fantastic year for me, but I have a feeling 2013 will be equally as wonderful.