Food on Friday: Easter sugar cookies

  

I hope you are enjoying your Good Friday and that you have big (or not so big, but relaxing) plans for this weekend.  I have a four days off and am planning/hoping to enjoy every minute of them.  

I just wanted to pop in really quickly today to share with you some cute Easter sugar cookies I made today. When I saw the adorable bunny and tulip cookie cutters, I couldn't resist!  

I used this Martha recipe and they turned out well (just be sure that you really refrigerate them long enough before attempting to cut them out).  

Happy Easter and have a fantastic few days!

Life lately

Right to left, top to bottom: 

1. An evening walk at the castle  2. Girls brunch  3. Springtime pansies  4.  Project 111   5. Easter decor hung from a tree (a German Easter tradition)  6. A cloudy day in my neighborhood  7. Constant traveling for work--thank goodness for coffee!   8.  Fun thrift store finds (speaking of, do you know this song? I am obsessed!)  9.  Late winter snow walk   10. A sunny day in downtown Nuremberg  11. A little spring update (if only the weather would follow!)   12.  The most awesome mustard wall  13.  Got this from my mom--he's the best  14. Pretty bright roses

Finding beauty

Some mornings even your breakfast is beautiful.  That's the cozy life.

Project 111 update

Katharinenruine - No. 51

Katharinenruine - No. 51

Ellenbogengässchen - No. 26 ( a.k.a. literally the most uninteresting place in Nürnberg)

Sebalduskirche - No. 88

Sebalduskirche - No. 88

Kunstautomat Sterngasse - No. 56

Ehekarussell (or Marriage Carousel) - No. 25  (creepy, no?) 

Jacobsplatz - No.46 (top) and Straße der Menschenrechte - No. 95 (bottom)

Straße der Menschenrechte - No. 95

Literaturhaus - No. 61

Trommelwirbel Waschsalon und Cafe - No. 100 (a.k.a. the coolest place in Nürnberg)

Trommelwirbel Waschsalon und Cafe - No. 100

Trommelwirbel Waschsalon und Cafe - No. 100

Food on Friday: Homemade crunchy müsli

As you may have figured out by now, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  (If you need proof, it's here, here, here, and here.)  I eat it every day, no matter how late I wake up or how little we have in the pantry and fridge.  On Saturdays and Sundays, I enjoy taking it slowly, lighting candles and savoring my big cup of coffee.  During the week, I'm just as satisfied with a slice of peanut butter, banana and honey toast or a big bowl of cereal.  

It's finding a cereal that's nutritious and satisfying that doesn't cost and arm and a leg here that is challenging.  It's been quite a while since I have bought cereal in the United States, but imagine this is even more true there than it is here.  It's impossible to find something that isn't loaded with sugar and contains enough stuff to actually keep you full until lunchtime.  

Enter homemade crunchy müsli (or granola, as we Americans call it)!  This stuff is seriously fabulous and the best part is that you have all the control.  

I loaded mine with oats, nuts and seeds then toasted it to a rich golden brown and tossed in some shredded coconut and dried fruit.  Peter and I tasted it this morning and it may just be my favorite cereal I have ever had!  (It didn't hurt that the sun was shining and that Peter and I were actually in the same place for breakfast for once.)

Here's how to make your own: 

Follow Aran Goyoaga's recipe for Basic Granola here.  

(The best part about this recipe is that she provides metric measurements for all my German friends, too!)

Add in your choice of 'fun stuff'.  I chose sesame, flax, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, as well as almond slivers.  Then, after my oats, seeds and nuts baked, I added the coconut and mixed dried fruit, so that there was a little of everything in there!  Yum!

Wouldn't this make the most beautiful hostess gift when you visit a friend for the weekend?  I think so  Just put it in a pretty jar and maybe take it with some gourmet coffee.

In the end, it is so delicious, the empty bowl looks like this!  Have a fantastic weekend everyone! 

Up in the air

Sometimes you simply see things in life that  take your breath away, make you feel wonder and bring you a sense of undeniable and, often, unexplainable joy.  

This Sunday, it was these hot-air balloons. 

We noticed them just as they were starting to float over the tops of the houses behind our apartment building.  One after the other, they rose into the sky, making intermittent roaring sounds over our city as they released their flames and powered their flight.  At times we counted eight or nine drifting through the bright blue sky. They seemed to pop against the blue and it was the sweetest relief after weeks and weeks (and weeks) of nothing but gray. 

I watched these balloons for a half hour or so, wide-eyed and wondrous like a little girl and then happily went on with my day feeling like I had witnessed one of life's mini miracles.