Frühstücksbrettchen

Yeah, try pronouncing that one my non-germanophone friends!

It's sushi night at our house (the overwhelmed feeling from the last post is still there and between getting work done and a post-vaccinations fussy baby, we're having sushi...). Anyways, sushi means we pull out our most German of all our kitchenware: the Fruehstuecksbrettchen! I tried to find something like a cultural history of the Fruehstuecksbrettchen, but nothing to be found, not even a wikipedia entry... 

What I was able to find are numerous websites selling Fruehstuecksbrettchen, in both traditional and funky designs. For those of you who are still unsure what exactly a Fruehstuecksbrettchen is, well, it's usually made out of wood, it very thin and often melamine coated. There are more rustic ones that are thick wood slabs as well. Ours were a gift last Christmas and are antique ones made out of porcelain.

And they make fantastic sushi plates:

Does anyone have more information on this very German piece of kitchenware? Any stories about your favourite Fruehstuecksbrettchen? Please share them with everyone in the comments section!

New year thoughts and new hairdo

It's the end of the holiday season and we are enjoying our last weekend before our regular routine begins again. When I think about the upcoming weeks I get a bit frightened: I have work to do both at the university and at home and it just sometimes seems overwhelming when looked at before actually beginning. I know that once I'm into it, it will all fall into place and go well, but looking at a mountain from the valley can be daunting...

We really enjoyed the holidays, it was a very special time for our family, with lots of time for one another and lots of snow outside - it is snowing again outside if you can believe it. Somewhere I read that a total of 88 cm fell onto Vancouver over the Christmas holidays, I think that is pretty much what we shoveled outside...

These weeks have given me new insight into Liam's perception of a balanced diet: 

Me: "You can't eat only cookies."

Liam: "I'm not eating only cookies, I'm eating chocolate, too!"

Needless to say we're back to broccoli and soy beans, too! :)

Another thing that's been great: I have connected with some friends that I had lost touch with. It's really nice when the season brings us together and we exchange emails and catch up on what's been happening in our lives. 

And I finally got my hair cut! Yes, I know, it was time to cut my hair back in May, but my haircut in May was great when compared to August and then December. Let's put it this way, I had hair, but no haircut! Anyways, my hair is short again. And what an adventure it was: When I first moved to Vancouver almost 10 years ago I had to get my hair cut, so I went into this salon nearby and got the best haircut ever, but vowed to never go there again, the guy was crazy! Talented, but the stuff he was talking about drove me nuts. He was matter-of-fact, grabbed my head, and cut my hair to match my face and actually put my curly hair into a haircut that survived the first hair wash at home. He was also too expensive for my modest budget. And although the cut was great I never went again and endured many haircuts with complimentary green tea clutched in my hand and a result that would make me cry when I got home (but hey, at least they made be feel special with that organic green tea while I was there!). Then I found someone who cut my hair really well, but she moved too far away...

So, no haircut for over a year, and I was passing by that salon from 10 years ago almost every day. So I decided to go again - nothing had changed. The guy is still crazy and very very talented. He has a heart of gold and doesn't have to make you feel special with a cup of organic wildberry-vanilla-green tea infusion. He knows that the show is all about him, he is after all the one cutting your hair and you feel special not when sitting in that chair, but when you come home and then every time you look at that haircut. He was matter-of-fact, grabbed my head, and cut my hair to match my face and actually put y curly hair into a haircut that survived the first hair wash at home. He also complemented me on my hair: no gray yet at my age (ouch!). And yes, he is still too expensive for my modest budget. 

But this time I will not wait 10 years before I go back, maybe this time only 10 weeks!

Happy New Year 2009 everyone!!

Enjoy this classic New Year's movie.

More posts in 2009 :)

Merry Christmas!

Lots of snow...

A beautiful big tree...

Happy Anouk...

Liam unwrapping the Faraway Tree people...

Christmas magic

A beautiful night! Merry Christmas everyone!

Getting ready for Christmas!

The house is getting very ready for Christmas! Nisser are dancing on the cupboards and hanging out in every corner of the house...

The bell for Christkind is hanging in the doorway to the Christmas room (aka living room!).

Nisser knitting: 

...and playing with the cat: 

Decorations on the fireplace mantle:

We brought in the Christmas Tree and put in the lights, we will decorate it with Liam tomorrow morning. And then Christkind will come, and the nisser - it will be a Danish-German-Canadian Christmas collaboration to make it the best Christmas ever for Liam!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

...or not. I think we have enough snow. A light dusting on Christmas Eve totally qualifies for a White Christmas, no need for 30 cm!! But, there is no choice in the matter.

And as I nurse my muscle aches from shoveling snow yesterday I look out into this winter wonderland, it is beautiful, no doubt. And snow does seem to bring the neighbourhood together. The Greek family across the street lent me their snow shovel, and the next door neighbours offered their shovel as well. I guess I was a very sad sight trying to shovel through the snow with a garden shovel.

Even the upstairs neighbours dropped off a card thanking us for shoveling the path (- and our relationship hasn't been characterized by warm and fuzzy feelings in the past!). There was no way of getting out the door without shoveling, the bottom three steps were buried in snow and the backdoor stairs were covered in a sheet of ice. Yikes!

So, don't let the smile on my face while shoveling fool you, this was a lot of work. No wonder people have heart attacks when shoveling snow. Anyways, this bout of exercise really proved that I am utterly out of shape, which will have to change in the new year. 

Well, it looks like I will have plenty of opportunity to get into shape shoveling more snow; I just checked the Environment Canada website: Snowfall Warning for Metro Vancouver, 10 to 20 cm of snow expected between this afternoon and tomorrow evening.

We'd better get all of our last minute Christmas preparations done before the next Snowmageddon hits (that terms was coined by the CBC, not me!)

No soother please!

I just have to share our extensive soother collection. We have tried every soother available, in every texture, shape, size and colour. Textured silicone, like mommy's nipple - well, the marketing pitch does not convince the experts... That one got spit out just like the organic latex soother from Denmark, the regular NUK orthodontic, the extra small one, the berry shaped one... 

Nobody can say we didn't try, but Anouk prefers her two fingers. Even the little trick of putting the soother around those two fingers did not fool her:

 

All we can hope now is that she either won't suck on her fingers too much or that she'll outgrow it very quickly or maybe in a moment of luck she does discover the comforts of a soother.

But I'm not holding my breath and seriously thinking about a savings account for future orthodontist bills....