Sunday, May 30, 2010

Birthday Card

Friend Yolande and her partner Willem celebrated their 60th and 55th birthdays  together last Saturday and we joined in the fun. I made this card for them having used the image (drawn by Willem)  of their invitation.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Bicycle Card

Here is a card I made for daughter Joyce and son-in-law Frank and family. They surprised me with a brand new bicycle!! Why??..........for babysitting the kids and because we are going to take the oldest one Quincy (10) with us to USA for 6 weeks.
Need a bicycle too? Take your grandkid(s) on a vacation with you and....who knows.......LOL

And here is my new bike:
Thank you Frank, Joyce, Quincy and Owen!!!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Banana Bread with Cinnamon Crumble Topping

What to do with over-ripe bananas????  You make a banana bread! I've tried several recipes but this is one of my favorite. The honey and cinnamon crumble topping make it a bit different than the classic version. It's really closer to cake than bread.  Made this banana bread for my friend Hafeda.



Ingredients:

· 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
· 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
· 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium)
· 2 large eggs
· 1/2 cup vegetable oil
· 1/4 cup honey
· 1/4 cup water
· 2 1/2 tablespoons  brown sugar


Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 9x5x3-inch cake pan.
Mix together: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and baking soda  in medium bowl. Whisk next 5 ingredients in large bowl until smooth.
Add dry ingredients; stir to blend.
Transfer  to pan.

Mix 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar and sprinkle over batter.

Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Cool bread in pan 15 minutes.



Adapted from "Bon Appetit" September 2008

Monday, May 17, 2010

Four day weekend Germany

Last weekend we spent a long weekend in Germany. We rented a "Ferienwohnung" in Schönenberg-Kügelberg from a very warm and hospitable couple Ilona and Josef Schneider. They live in an old farmhouse which they have turned into 4 apartments. One of them as a vacation home where we stayed in.

One of the main purpose of going to Germany was to attend Volksmarches which are held on Saturday and Sunday. (If you don't know what aVolksmarch is, this link will explain it: http://www.ava.org/clubs/sstrider/what_are.htm)
The one on Saturday was organized by the Ramstein Roadrunners, an American-German Volksmarching club. It was a beautiful day to walk and the 20 km route we walked was one with beautiful views. Lots of yellow rapeseed fields.

Next day we went to Landsweiler-Reden but because it had rained all night and in the morning, the trails were very muddy.
Because the route went mainly through woods, we made our choice quick and choose for  the 10km. I don't mind walking through woods but not for 20 km over muddy trails. Also, I like a variety of views. The only interesting thing we saw on this walk was an ant hill. They were so busy at work!!

Poor lady-bug.......

When we were back in our apartment, Josef came by and brought us four pieces of delicious "Torte" (cake).
 Kaiserslautern was on our program for Monday.The weather was great to  take a stroll through the Japanese Garden. We were told that the end of May and June the garden will be at its most beautiful. We were a bit too early to find more flowers in bloom. http://www.japanischergarten.de/index_en.html#
Tuesday we left and the weather turned out a lot cooler. It was raining all the way back to Holland....

I can recommend this vacation apartment to anybody and have posted their website if interested: http://www.ferienwohnung-klingbachtal.de/

More pictures can be found here.