Faschingsdienstag (Fat Tuesday)

Is always 46 days before Easter Sunday.  With Easter being so late in April, Fasching Dienstag falls this year on March 8th.  In Munich, there are parades, and dressing up is not only accepted, but celebrated!  People take the day off, there is beer flowing early and a good time had by all of the normally buttoned up Muenchners.   Here is a post that I did last year with some good pictures as illustration!

I am so glad that we should be back in Munich for the festivities!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mom!

Happy birthday to my wonderful, beautiful Mother!  This picture of us was taken (possibly) in the Summer of 1968.  It is my favorite picture of the two of us. Look how gorgeous she is!

Have a wonderful birthday, my dear mommie-although I am farther away than normal, you are in the forefront of my thoughts today on your day.

Tic Tacs

An interesting thing about Tic Tacs in Germany...the Tic Tacs aren't colored, the packaging is!

Going to the land Downunder...

The Hub and I are on another adventure right now, this time as you can see, to Australia.  We will be gone a while, so I have left a few posts in the hopper to be delivered while I am away.

I have spent the day cleaning (I can't stand coming home to a dirty house-gotta also have clean sheets when I return!) packing (which I loathe) and charging up the camera, ipod and Kindle.  It's a long flight, after all!

I hope to have a lot of pictures and adventures to share with you when we get back!

Munich Graffiti, part Zwei

oooh, there have been a bunch of new graffiti slicks that have gone up in the days since I posted this.

I like that fact that these are left on electrical boxes, parking fee stands and NOT buildings.  It seems like the street artists here have a little more compassion for the buildings, some of them only having been rebuilt in the 50's after the bombings here during the war. 
 
A few of the new ones I have found lately that have struck my fancy:

 

 

 

Anyone know what is up with the monkey?  I see it all over town!  I will have to do some research and get back with you!

On the Tram

 

First, sorry about the picture quality for this post, but I had to take it on the sly...I was on the tram the other day and found myself across from this couple.  They looked like puzzle pieces to me.  They just fit.  And I love that they are all bundled and dressed up.  Where were they off to?  To visit family maybe?  To a doctor's appointment?  How long have they been together, I wondered.  Long enough that the man is asleep on the tram and the woman doesn't seem to mind or notice!  He was so comfortable in the knowledge that she was there to make sure that they found their right stop that he took a little cat-nap.  

She did, by the way, alert him to the approach of their stop and they linked arms and made their way off together.  Adorable.  This is my Valentine to all of you.  Hopefully the Hub and I will be making our way in the world together when we are their ages, and you and yours will too.

Week three of cooking at home

The Hub was out of town for meetings this week, starting in London and then off-site meetings that were local but also involved over-night stays.  I decided to stay at home this week, as his meeting involved only one over-night stay in London.  For me, that's like eating only one chip out of the bag!  Impossible!  And, expensive.  We are going on a big trip this month...more about that to come, and I also wanted to save our money for that.

So, I have only cooked once this week at home so far...when he is out of town I tend to eat pudding or popcorn for dinner...so bad, I know.  This week I cooked Spicy honey mustard pork loin for dinner with potatoes and carrots on the side, cooked at the last step of the recipe when I added them to the roasting pan and they cooked while absorbing all of the spicy honey and pork goodness.  Instead of pepper for the spicy part of this recipe, I used a meat seasoning that rounded out the flavors really nicely and was delicious with the vegetables.  So good and so easy.  Pork is really accessible here, so this recipe is a keeper.

Fahrschule

 

Yesterday I was waiting for the tram at Karlsplatz and this one came by, going the other way.  I have seen Fahrschule signs on cars before-it's Driving School!  It's good to know that even the tram drivers go to school and get practice on the tracks before they start picking up passengers.  The tram was empty except the driver/student and a few instructors.