Venezia, Italy

After Florence, Stephen joined us and we spent a couple days in Venice. Here are some pictures from the trip! You better visit Venice soon, it is slowly sinking!

Murano Blown Glass Factory

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving again this year....even if we did celebrate a little late on Saturday! We wanted our friends to be able to come and Thursday is not a holiday in Germany,  which is mildly shocking considering just about every other day is...see post here for more about that!

I went with a more modern eclectic table setting this year that sprung off my new 9.00 Euro teal Ikea tablecloth. It was on sale and I couldn't resist the stripes and the material is nice and durable. The mustard color is actually really pretty too...maybe next time! 

GLÄNTA tablecloth from Ikea

A while back I visited a local park and picked up some large bark pieces and decided to incorporate those in as well. I dried them in the oven and then added some gold paint to lighten the wood and add some interest. With candles we had and some orange lanterns (real branches given to me by our landlord) I think it turned out okay.

This year I simplified the menu a little, but it was less stressful and to tell you the truth Germans have no idea what you normally eat on thanksgiving so they didn't miss the sweat potatoes or green bean casserole. I decided on a new spanjer favorite "roasted broccoli" and then just stuck to the classics including homemade cranberry sauce  which is really easy to make and tastes way better than the canned version. We used Alton Brown's brining and turkey cooking recipe thanks to my parents suggestion and it turned out great! I think an improvement from last year and a lot shorter cooking time.

Stephen did the honors of cutting our little bird to pieces

and we finished the night off watching Men In Black 3. It was a fun night of friends, family, and lots of eating! Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving! 

Natzweiler-Struthof

For Kristy's birthday, Stephen and I decided to take her to a historical sight about 1.5 hours from us in the French mountains. She is a big history buff, so we thought she would "enjoy," if that is even possible, seeing a concentration camp. I had never been to see the camp either so it was a bonus for me to get to tag along.

Here is some information about the Camp:

— Information from wikipedia:

"Natzweiler-Struthof was a German concentration camp located in the Vosges Mountains close to the Alsatian village of Natzwiller (German Natzweiler) in France, about 50 km south west from the city of Strasbourg. It was the only concentration camp established by the Nazis on present-day French territory."  

 — Information from Stuthof Website:  http://www.struthof.fr/en/home/

On 21 April 1941, near the village of Struthof, the Nazis opened a concentration camp, KL-Natzweiler.

The central camp, the only concentration camp in France, was located in the then annexed Alsace département. Its annexes, scattered over the 2 sides of the Rhine, made up a network of nearly 70 camps, more or less large. Of the nearly 52,000 detainees of KL-Natzeiler, about 35,000 did not go through the central camp.

A labour camp supporting the Nazi war industry, it was also used for medical experiments by Nazi professors from the Reich University of Strasbourg.

On 23 November 1944, the Allies discovered the site evacuated by the Nazis since September. Some deportees from the camp annexes had their sufferings prolonged in the spring of 1945 on the "Death Marches".

From 1941 to 1945, the KL-Natzweiler was one of the most murderous camps of the Nazi system. Nearly 22,000 deportees died there.

“I learned how to stand pain that would have been unbearable for a human being in normal circumstances, but I also learned how to savour tiny pleasures: a ray of sunshine, light playing on the mountain, a few instants of peaceful sleep, a hint of bad meat at the bottom of my bowl, a civilised conversation with an old comrade...”   —  Jean LEGER

This was a holding cell they would put prisoners in. 

Your hands will bleed,

Your feet will bleed

You suffer, the mountain hits you

On your tired back, your bruised arms

On your gasping chest

On your clear head.

You will fall! But energy, the will to live

For a child, for a mother,

For a woman or your God

You will stand back up, grit your teeth,

You will start walking again.

— Léon BOUTBIEN

Le Gourou, témoignage de déportation au KL-Natzweiler

Monument built to memorialize the area.

A Star in the Making

Classic 80's, what could be better?! I discovered the ever-so-delightful 16 Candles while in high school and it has always held a special place in my heart. I have probably watched it a good 20 times and have made Stephen sit through a couple of those....good husband award! 

I am not sure why I loved the movie so much. It could be the cute older boy, the grandma that sounds exactly like my grandma, the hilarious Chinese student....or most likely that someone else had to wear a back brace just like me!

Joan Cusack in 16 Candles

This is no joke people, I really had to wear an almost identical back brace as Joan Cusack's character in 16 Candles. Yes, it went all the way up to my chin and let's just say had a similiar effect when trying to bend over...it was impossible. I had the pleasure of residing in it for 3 years and well, it did not help the cool factor...especially when you add in the glasses, braces, and broken foot. Looking back, I am surprised I had any friends in 6th grade. Luckily, that phase of life is over and I have lived to tell the tell. 

Sorry, long introduction, I will get to the point. So you may not know this, but my super talented younger brother Scott moved to Chicago last year after graduating and now works with my kindred spirit and back brace inspirer (I think I just invented that word): Joan Cusack. Small world! 

Joan opened an art and collectables store called "Judy Maxwell Home" and hired Scott to run the business. Last January I visited Scott and got to meet Joan in person. She is just as hilarious as you would imagine and super down to earth. 

Picture off Judy Maxwells Home Facebook Page

Anyways, to make a long story short, Joan Cusack is the sister of John Cusack who recently got a Star on the Hollywood walk of Fame. My brother Scott wrote Joan's speech for the event and she actually read it. Sadly on this video you only hear the end of it....but it is really funny I have to say. Here is the whole speech that was posted in the LATimes.com:


"I'd like to introduce the most thoughtful kind and majestic human being I've ever met, a perfect soul sent here by the angels to grace us with thought-provoking characters and unmatched comedic timing. Ladies and gentlemen, two-time Academy Award nominee and the person who should really be receiving a star today ....."Joan Cusack!" 

Way to go Scott...star in the making!

  (ps. if you are reading this....when you make it big, I am expecting some form of payment for all those lessons and dress up games I forced you to play when we were young...they are really paying off now!)

If you are ever in Chicago be sure to check out Judy Maxwell Home and give my brother a big hug! 

We haven't looked back!

1st Spanjer Christmas...in February

I know it is a little late for christmas, but I wanted everyone to see our first christmas together in Germany. Unfortunately, I left my camera here on our trip to the States...hence, christmas in February. 

We did our best to decorate our little apartment and hang our stockings over the mantel, I mean radiator! Our stockings were extra warm on christmas morning!

We also received this smoking Santa  Weinachtsman from our landlords, it puffs out scented smoke. 

I made our first christmas skirt with inspiration from pinterest.....so addicting. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out and am glad that I can mark that project off for many years to come.

You may recognize some of the material from the lazy-boy....trying to get rid of scraps!

I was unaware that the advent wreath is such a huge tradition here, but it is. I was invited to make one with a friends family and must say it is a fun tradition. We got to light a candle every sunday leading up to Christmas and the greenery we used made the house smell wonderful.

Now to the good stuff, Christmas Day! We tried to start some Spanjer traditions, but it is extra hard when your husband is a pastor and has to work on Sunday. So we settled for a taco dinner after the christmas eve service (don't be too horrified....that tradition might not stick) and then started christmas around 1pm on Sunday. It was a bit anti-climatic but we did the best we could.

First we opened our stockings and then ate a "breakfast-lunch" so it seemed like christmas morning.

Can you tell who's wrapping is who's? Boys and their camo!

It was a great 4 hour celebration (we had to take all our decorations down that night before we headed to America the next morning) and did just the trick. I am looking forward to next year. 

Our first Thanksgiving

I will save you the details of how hard it was to find all the ingedients and move straight to the main event.

The Turkey: We managed to find a 12 pound turkey in a nearby city and thankfully it fit in our oven...it is very small in case you were wondering. It was a true eye opener for me having to clean it out and seperate the skin from the meat to season (I read that on the internet since I had no idea how to cook a turkey). I rubbed herb butter in between and added some salt to the skin to make it crispy. Please let me know if there is a better way to do this. 

"Oh help me please, my hand is in a turkey!"

After hours of cooking and a near drop of the turkey, it was finished. We let it rest and then Stephen got to carving.

The first Spanjer turkey...."can you tell I have been in that sweat box of a kitchen for a awhile?"

I decided to make all the traditional dishes (at least traditional to my family), and am pretty pleased with the outcome.

We had sweet potato casserole....this was probably my least favorite dish, but not too bad. The topping lacked a little sweetness, but it was one of our friend's favorite dishes. I guess I tend to have a sweet tooth.

I made the traditional southern dish, Green Bean Casserole and it turned out great. We unfortunately don't have the fried onion things to put on top, but Ritz crackers were not a bad substitute.

The stuffing was not too bad either, bread, cornbread, veggies...you get the idea.

Since you cannot buy the cranberry sauce over here I had to make it from scratch. It was actually incredibly easy and turned out way better than the can version. The recipe I used called for fresh cranberries, orange juice, and brown sugar. It was one of my favorites from the meal.

Traditional mashed potatoes...not much to say about them.

 And the ever fattening, yet delicious, deviled eggs!

We had four friends over and ate until we could not fit another bite.

 Well there you have it, an American Thanksgiving in Germany. Hope you all had a nice holiday as well!