A Georgia Girl in Germany

Tick tock ... tick: Extra second added to 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Those eager to put 2008 behind them will have to hold their good-byes for just a moment this New Year's Eve. ... ... ... [[see the full article here]]


Hmmm... a whole extra SECOND. Considering that the extra second will be added to the atomic clocks around the world at 12:59:59 a.m. on Jan. 1 here in Germany, I think I’ll sleep an extra second ... or maybe two since I really enjoy my sleep!

On second thought (no pun intended), since I don’t have an atomic clock sitting at my bedside, I think I’ll just ignore the extra second, turn off my alarm clock entirely for tomorrow, and let my internal clock awaken me (if the kids don’t get around to it first).

Happy New Year!

Labels: Pam's thoughts

MacKenzie really enjoys cooking, so she and Nana picked out a few new recipes to try when Nana and Papa were here over Thanksgiving. This one turned out real well, so I thought I’d share it.

To start things off, here’s the recipe:
1 egg
2 15-oz containers ricotta cheese
1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
½ cup chopped fresh parsley or 2 Tbsp dried parsley
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 10-oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 12-oz box jumbo shells, cooked 15 min and drained
3 cups pasta sauce

First, cook the shells so they’ll be ready when the spinach-cheese mixture is ready.

Then, in a medium bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the ricotta, mozzarella, ¾ cup Parmesan, parsley, basil, salt and pepper. Mix. Stir in the spinach.

Nana likes making her own pasta sauce. Not bad for a farm girl from South Georgia who married into an Italian family! {grin} MacKenzie was really getting into it by simultaneously stirring the shells in one pot and the tomato sauce in the other. What talent!

Spread ½ cup sauce in an 11- x 7-inch baking dish. When the shells are cooked and drained, spoon about 2 Tbsp of the spinach-cheese mixture into each shell.

Arrange the shells in the baking dish.

MacKenzie enjoyed licking the sauce off her fingers. Nana’s homemade pasta sauce sure is good!



Top with remaining sauce, sprinkling remaining Parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 350-degrees F for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Enjoy!

Granny Mary would be so proud!!

Labels: Cooking, MacKenzie, Nana and Papa

Zachary once didn’t care for eggs, but has recently decided he likes omelets. Papa is the omelet-master, so he and Zachary cooked up omelets for breakfast one morning.

Shortly after Nana and Papa returned home, we received a package with a small omelet pan -- specifically for Zachary to make his own omelets. Yes, he’s already put it to good use (he likes that we’ve had leftover ham in the refrigerator) several times.

MacKenzie even had to get in on the action by making her own scrambled eggs this past weekend. She’s not quite ready to try adding ham, cheese, mushrooms and/or tomatoes to create an omelet though. I’m sure she’ll come around soon enough.

Back to the photos ... Papa had to add the finishing touch to his omelet creation: salsa. Zachary thought it was delicious!

Labels: Cooking, Nana and Papa, Zachary

Shortly before the Christmas break, Zachary had to complete a “sequence project” for his Language Arts class. Essentially, he had to describe something with at least 10 steps. At first he wasn’t sure what to do his project on, but he finally decided to explain how to make his favorite meal (OK, so he spent THREE WEEKS “thinking” about the project before putting it together in three days!). For those of you who have seen me bring this in to work for lunch as leftovers and have asked me how to make it, here’s Zachary’s explanation.

How to make a Broccoli Calzone (A.K.A., broccoli bread)
By: Zachary Cook

If you are hungry, want something Italian, and don’t want pasta, then try making broccoli bread. Broccoli bread is a type of large calzone with broccoli, tomatoes, pepperoni, and a couple types of cheese. With this dinner, you can make four to five servings. You can even save it for another day for lunch or if you just don’t feel like cooking.

Step One: Gather all of the needed supplies.

First, you will need to gather all of the ingredients to make dinner. Some things you might have to go out and buy from the commissary, although you might already have some items on the list. The ingredients you might need to buy are:
-one loaf of frozen bread dough,
-four to six oz. of provolone cheese,
-a pack of pepperoni, or if you want healthier results, turkey pepperoni, (70% less fat),
-up to a pound of broccoli (you will need at least 10 oz.),
-eight oz. of mozzarella cheese,
-and two medium tomatoes

Step Two: Rising the bread.

Once you have the ingredients, you will need to preheat the oven to 200°F or about 100°C, turn it off when it reaches that temperature, put the bread dough in a pan, boil some water, then pour the water into another pan, and set them both in the oven so that the dough can rise. WARNING! If you don’t put the dough in the oven around noon, it will not rise enough in time for baking the calzone that night.

Step Three: Rolling the dough.

When you’re ready to begin cooking, pour some flour on the counter or a cookie sheet sized rolling board, get a rolling pin and flatten the dough. Next, roll out the dough to about the size of a cookie sheet.

Step Four: Preparing the fillings.

The next thing you will have to do is boil the broccoli. The broccoli takes the longest. While the broccoli is boiling, you should start cutting the pepperoni into quarters. You should cut the provolone into half-inch slices. Then dice the tomatoes.



{{Nana was helping Zachary, and she simply couldn’t let the extra tomato juice go to waste! Yes, this is a common sight when Nana is around tomatoes!}}

Step Five: Applying the fillings.

Once you have all of the ingredients ready, you will need to put them on the flattened dough, leaving an inch on all edges. Before you do this though, you will need to preheat the oven to 350°F or 175°C You will need to place the different fillings in a specific order in the middle of the dough. The order that you place them in from bottom to top is:

1. provolone cheese
2. pepperoni
3. broccoli
4. tomatoes
5. mozzarella

If you want to add other fillings, you may, but the cheeses must always stay first and last.

Step Six: Folding the dough.

When you fold up the dough, you must make sure that the edges overlap. First, you will need to fold the long edges over the toppings so that they overlap, almost like a flattish burrito. Once you do that, you will have to fold the empty ends of the “burrito” in toward the middle. *NOTE* Do not fold any parts that have fillings in them.

Step Seven: Flipping the calzone.

Once all of the previous steps are completed, you will need to get out a 10 by 15 inch cookie sheet, spray it with cooking spray, and place it upside down over the bread dough. Then, grab everything and flip it over. Now you should have a nice, smooth lump of uncooked broccoli bread.

Step Eight: Baking.

After the calzone is ready to go in the oven, cut three slanted one-inch holes in the top of the calzone. Make sure that the holes are at least one inch from each other. When the oven is at the temperature that you set it to, and the calzone is ready to bake, place it in the oven and let it bake for half an hour. After the half hour, take it out of the oven (with oven mitts).

Step Nine: Cutting the calzone.

Once the calzone is out of the oven, slice it into two- to three-inch slices and place onto plates to serve.

Step Ten: Eating the calzone.

Eat. Devour. Digest. Enjoy. Oh, and use a knife to cut your bites.

The End

Labels: Cooking, Nana and Papa, Zachary

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was nice to keep things quiet and simple, staying at home this year. I made a few last-minute trips to the commissary and post office Wednesday before we headed out for Christmas Eve church service. When we returned home, we baked up a few batches of cookies for Santa. I love this photo of Benjamin munching on a freshly-baked cookie while watching the next batch cook. Notice that he only has one sock on?

The kids were each allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Usually I’m on the ball and pre-select which gifts they get to open ahead of time ... usually with a similar theme such as slippers or pajamas. Not so this year ... partly because Mom volunteered to help wrap most of my gifts to the kids when they visited a few weeks ago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT complaining one bit. It just meant that I didn’t know what was wrapped in what packages, and therefore was just as surprised when the kids opened their gifts. Fortunately, I had pretty good ideas as to what was inside each of the gifts they picked out (after I vetoed Zachary’s first pick -- his largest gift under the tree!).

Each of the kids wrote their annual note for Santa to leave out with his snacks. Zachary folded his up into a self-contained envelope. I think he just wanted to see if Santa could (1) open it and (2) refold it after replying. How sneaky! He knows that these envelopes completely stump me! Fortunately, Santa is much more talented than I am! He even told Santa, “Benjamin was good all year; when he wasn’t being a devil.” I don’t think any of them wanted to see Benjamin get more coal in his stocking this year (although Benjamin had a positive attitude about it, and was ready to save any newly-acquired coal to use as a snowman’s buttons).

MacKenzie wrote a short novella to Santa. Actually, she wrote two drafts, updating and perfecting each version until she copied her third and final version onto Christmas stationery. Look at the detail she included in the note! She even asked for “Benjamin to play games correctly, nicely, and not [cheat], Zachary to be nicer and play with me, and Mommy just not as strict but still strict.” Such honesty!

Benjamin did well with his letter too. He wrote the first two sentences, then had me write the third (long) sentence before he signed his name. He’s using his fingers here to leave a space between two words. He usually only uses two fingers to measure the space between words, but was adamant that he wanted to use four fingers this time. The little puppy beside him was the gift he had just opened minutes earlier. Zachary and MacKenzie were trying to convince him to name the puppy “Rascal,” but he keeps insisting that her name is “Benji.” Yes, it’s a girl dog, and, yes, her name is Benji.

They all worked together to set out Santa’s goodies: three cookies, five carrots for the reindeer, a cup of milk and a cup of eggnog. I love it when they get along so well. I suppose having a common goal and purpose really helps keeps things running smoothly.

The last thing they did before heading upstairs to bed was to check Santa’s progress online. They watched him travel from Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey and into northern and central Africa before they called it a night. Zachary had his geography textbook out so they could see how close each of the countries was to Germany. Fortunately for them, Santa visited Eastern Europe then diverted to Africa before heading to Central Europe! Benjamin came down a short while after they all turned in for the night (more like only 5 minutes later) to ask me why I wasn’t taking my shower and getting in bed yet. Geez! I still had to tidy up the kitchen a bit. By then Santa was in Italy, and Benjamin quickly asked, “Is that close to Germany?” When I told him it was very close to Germany, he high-tailed it back to bed! I was soon upstairs in bed with him (it was his turn to sleep in my bed).

Christmas morning seemed to arrive much too early ... except for Zachary, who claimed he awoke at 4:30 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep. I asked him if he got out of bed and peaked downstairs, and he quickly, and sincerely, replied, “No! I lost your trust last week for doing something I shouldn’t have, so I want to earn your trust back. I’m not going to do anything I shouldn’t now!” When 7 a.m. rolled around (the appointed time that they were allowed to wake up each other -- and me), he first woke up MacKenzie, then came to get Benjamin and me. Benjamin didn’t want to wake up, even after Zachary and I gently rubbed his back for a good minute or two. The first words out of his mouth were, “I didn’t sleep long enough.” But, within a minute or so, he realized there were presents waiting for him downstairs.

I love this wrapping paper from Nana! It is so appropriate! Even the boys got a kick out of the paper and agreed that it matched their general behavior.

I didn’t take many photos of them ripping into their stockings or presents, but did get a kick out of watching Benjamin sit on the stairs to open a few presents. Apparently, as we were coming to the end of presents, there wasn’t enough room left on the floor in front of the tree for his liking. After he opened this present (“Oh, it’s clothes,” he said as he quickly stood up to get another box), he moved up three more steps to open his next gift.

We had a very wonderful day. The kids are getting to be pros at tackling Christmas. They took everything out of their stockings one-by-one, yet without dawdling. Since they know we don’t open presents from under the tree until after breakfast, they each quickly ate a single donut then proclaimed they were full and planted themselves in front of the tree. The last gift was unwrapped by 8:40 a.m., and the playing began. They played DS and Gameboy games, set up their profiles on the new Wii and Wii Fit (thanks to Santa!), watched a movie and selected a few games to play as a family. I’m still surprised that we’ve made it three full days without a single significant argument or disagreement! Wow! That was not the case just a few days before Christmas (I was beginning to doubt the sanity of my decision to stay home this past week with them, but am thankful that I did now ... it gave me the opportunity to gradually get everything ready for the big day and not be overwhelmed by doing so after work each day).

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is looking forward to a wonderful new year!

Labels: Benjamin, Christmas, MacKenzie, Zachary

Benjamin was very excited when he came home the last week of school with a new ornament that he’d made for our tree. Hmmm, it looks an awful lot like half of an egg carton to me!

Benjamin had to find the perfect spot for it. Fortunately, it’s so large that the only open space left was on the back of the tree. He carefully maneuvered himself behind the tree and found an opening right at his eye level.

Yup, we have half an egg carton resting on our tree. Merry Christmas!

Labels: Benjamin, Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope this letter finds each and every one of you healthy, happy and enjoying the holiday season. We’re enjoying a bonus assignment here in Germany -- after moving two hours north to Ramstein where we’ll be for three more years. I was excited about our assignment to Stuttgart, and am even more excited about our bonus time here. Plus, we’re back on an Air Force base, so I can get “re-blued” after three years at an Army post (it made me really appreciate the Air Force)! However, Stuttgart had a small military community, so we knew quite a few people there, whereas Ramstein is MUCH larger so I’m not feeling quite as in-the-know as I did there. Oh well. It gives us more time in Europe to travel, explore and enjoy...and host any visitors who’d like to trek across the Atlantic. Once again, it’s time for our annual holiday quiz. As a reminder, there is more than one answer for each person...but not every answer is necessarily true (I think I stumped several folks who actually thought I had run a marathon after reading last year’s quiz).

Benjamin is a 5½-year-old Kindergartener at Ramstein Elementary School, is a very smart young man, and:
a. is on the verge of reading, sounding out words in books, on signs, in movie credits...and anywhere else
b. climbed 700 steps to the second level on the Eiffel Tower and running around to see all of Paris from there
c. was bound and determined to climb past the warning sign so he could climb to the TIP-TOP of the Zugspitze (at 9,718 feet above sea level is the highest peak in Germany)...I have no doubt he could have made the climb, I just didn’t like the possibility of falling more than 5,700 feet!
d. played t-ball and was invited to join the next-older league because of his natural running and sliding abilities
e. loved seeing and touring inside the “pinwheel houses” (windmills) in Zaanse Schans, Holland

MacKenzie is a 10½-year-old Junior Girl Scout, a 5th-grader at Ramstein Intermediate School, and:
a. had her hair stand straight-up when visiting the Kehlsteinhaus (aka the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s mountain-top retreat) as a lightening storm began rolling in...we made a quick dash for the building!
b. earned her Girl Scout Bronze Award after working on a “Brownie Stress-Busting Roundup” for younger scouts
c. enjoyed playing soccer another year, especially while playing offense (her preferred position) and goalie
d. was on the edge of her seat at the Blue Man Group performance, especially when one man walked across our armrests and stopped above her to stare at her for a few moments before continuing on his high-altitude trek
e. made her acting debut in the Youth Center-sponsored production of “Jingle Bells Jury” performing as the Innkeeper’s Wife during Young Jim Dandy’s trial to determine whether his Christmas Spirit is still alive

Zachary, is now a teenager(!), a 7th-grader at Ramstein Middle School, a First Class Boy Scout, and:
a. became an unofficial junior tour guide when we visited the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, explaining what he’d learned in school about the Frank family...I was very impressed with his level of knowledge and interest!
b. is doing well with his swimming lessons and progressing nicely through the various skill levels
c. is an avid bicyclist, logging 30 miles a day after school twice a week, and 50 miles a day on the weekends
d. after a tremendous growth spurt is now looking Pam in the eye, much to her dismay ... guess it’s in the genes!
e. still enjoys camping, including excursions this year to Garmisch, Heidelberg, Normandy (with 3,000 campers!) and Bastogne...including significant historical hikes at Normandy and Bastogne

Pam is now an Air Force lieutenant colonel, working in the Public Affairs office of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and:
a. is still on the go, with trips slated to Georgia, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic in 2009
b. enjoyed tagging along on Zachary’s Normandy camping trip, adding a few extra days to visit St. Meré-Eglise, Utah Beach, Point du Hoc, Mont Saint-Michel, Omaha Beach, Arromanches, the Bayeux Tapestry, and the Omaha-Normandy American Cemetery
c. worked hard and played hard on a 2-week trip to Israel, working long hours but making full use of her time off to tour Jerusalem, float in the Dead Sea, visit Masada, walk through Nazareth, circle the Sea of Galilee, visit the Golan Heights and stroll on the hillside where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount (a very MOVING experience!)
d. started tutoring others in journalism and photography, and showing them the basics of sharing their talents via the internet
e. is learning how to recycle in Germany -- separating among biodegradable, paper/cardboard, light refraction and “restmüll” (residual waste)...anyone living on the economy needs a PhD in recycling to figure it all out!

Our travels this year took us to Italy (again, we just can’t seem to stay away), Holland, France and Austria, as well as Garmisch, Oberammergau, Berchtesgaden, Lake Eibsee, Ulm, Bad Wimpfen and Stuttgart in Germany. And yes, we met our travel goals for 2008: Keukenhof Gardens, Paris and Normandy. Other than exploring the local sights around Ramstein, we’ll have to start traveling by air to tour more of Europe since we’ve done just about as much as we reasonably can within a day’s drive from home.

This year we’re sticking close to home again for the holidays, looking forward to spending some down time together as a family. After our hectic post-move schedules juggling school, after-school classes, homework (yes, even for Benjamin!), Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, play practices, swim lessons (times three) and other odds-and-ends activities, we really need to relax and rejuvenate at home with each other before diving into 2009.

As always, remember that you are all welcome in our home if you decide to make a trek this way. We even have a guest bedroom in our house that is just waiting to be used. Our 2009 travel calendar is wide open, but I’m looking forward to filling it up...and welcoming any and all travel companions.

We hope you’re all doing well and looking forward to 2009. Take care, and please keep in touch!!

I’ll post the answer key in a few days so you can see how well you kept up with the Cook Clan in 2008. :-)

Labels: Benjamin, Christmas, MacKenzie, Zachary

Since our schedules were so hectic this year, and the best opportunity for the kiddos to talk with Santa was when Zachary was camping in Bastogne, Zachary decided before he left that he didn’t have to talk to the Big Guy. {Oh my!} I was a bit sad, but also relieved that it gave us flexibility with our visit to Santa.

Santa was waiting in the lobby outside where MacKenzie and her cast performed “Jingle Bells Jury,” so it was easy for us to get in line after the performance so she and Benjamin could have a chat. Yes, MacKenzie is still wearing her makeup from the play, hence her extra-rosy cheeks.

Benjamin was very animated when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, and MacKenzie patiently waited (and waited, and waited) while Benjamin explained that he wanted a Nintendo DS, games for the DS, games for his GameBoy and 100 Webkinzes. Whew!


When MacKenzie had a chance to speak, she asked for Webkinzes and a “real puppy” (no surprise there!).

I suppose they don’t have to wait much longer to see what the Big Guy delivers. I’m sure they will enjoy whatever it is, though.

Fast forward to our up-to-the-minute update:
We’re just about done with cleaning up from dinner, then will open one gift each, check Santa’s progress at http://www.noradsanta.org, leave out treats for Santa and crawl into bed for the night. The kids have each asked me if they can sleep on the couch so they can try, once again, to spy the Big Guy. My answer this year: NOPE. I think they’re all wondering how he’ll get inside tonight since we still haven’t found the “Santa Key” that Benjamin misplaced after Saint Nikolaus visited a few weeks ago. Hopefully they all fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly. Cross your fingers.

Good night to all.

Labels: Benjamin, Christmas, MacKenzie

MacKenzie tried out for a play back in early October, and made the cast. She was “the Innkeeper’s Wife” in the Youth Center’s performance of “Jingle Bells Jury.” The play centered upon the trial of “Jim Dandy” for his lack of Christmas Spirit, and called witnesses to prove that the Christmas Spirit is alive and well.

MacKenzie is sitting with “the Angel on top of the Christmas Tree” before the performance began. Obviously, she is getting good at making faces when she sees me come at her with the camera.

Zachary was camping in Bastogne that weekend, so Benjamin was my sole companion. He didn’t really care about the performance, especially since I let him bring his GameBoy so he’d remain quiet. It worked!

As expected, we couldn’t take photos during the performance, although I did get it on video. MacKenzie’s on the left here as the director thanked one of his assistants after the show.

MacKenzie performed very well, and spoke loudly enough that I could hear her in the back half of the audience. I’d say that she deserved a bouquet of flowers following such a superb performance!

Labels: Christmas, MacKenzie

Benjamin’s Kindergarten class combined with two other classes and put on a “Winter A-B-Cs” performance. It was cute to see how much hard work the 60-or-so 5- and 6-year-olds put into the performance.

They had cute rhymes, dances and comments throughout the performance. Benjamin’s line was for the letter “W:” “Waiting and wondering for wishes and good cheer. We’re so glad that wintertime is here.” He really got into it and spoke loudly when it was his turn.


Toward the end of the performance, he opted to sit for the songs.

As you can see, he was out of costume -- most everyone else was wearing white with dark pants. There were several notices about the program, but the only one that mentioned what to wear came home the day before the performance ... much too late for me to make note of it on our calendar. Oh well.

Labels: Benjamin, Christmas

Nana and Papa had a wonderful visit with us. They usually stay for one week, but stayed two this time ... and it still wasn’t quite long enough. The kids were sad to see them go, but waved and yelled "bye" to them as the C-5 carrying them home flew over our backyard.

Papa said they were sitting near the window and that he actually was able to find our neighborhood as they flew overhead! Good eyes!

Labels: Nana and Papa

Labels: Pam's thoughts