peter cooked!

peter cooked!
Originally uploaded by js_hale

grilled halibut with papa mango salsa and steamed artichoke!

Gutentach!

Peter, Jacob and I are back from Germany - we were there for a wedding, a good friend of Peter's who is from the town of Bremen. This was taken in one of the oldest wine cellars in Germany - they actually have wine that was bottled in 1648. Some of the oldest bottles are stored behind the doors pictured here. A tour of the cellar was part of the wedding festivities, along with sampling real bratwurst. We have all these pictures of Jacob asleep at various sites in Germany. We joked that he'll have to go back one day to all the places that he visited as an infant.

After Bremen, we traveled to the Mosel region (not Iraq) for more wine sampling. We opted for the countryside, figuring it would be easier with a baby (which was true) and more relaxing. Peter bought Rick Steves' guide, which helped us decide where to stay & what to do. The highlight was Burg Eltz which is listed as one of Steves' must-sees. That and the restaurant at the place we were staying was FRICKIN' AMAZING - the meal (my Mother's Day treat) was not cheap, but it was a worthy splurge. Nothing German about the menu - damn fine French-inspired cuisine. The hotel was a cute B&B, but like most places the walls were super-thin. I was extremely glad that Peter had decided to lug the laptop with us because the place had wireless, and I downloaded some delightful white noise off iTunes - I highly recommend it. Only cost 6 bucks and worked like a charm.

I am very happy too b/c I finally figured out how to save my photos from my phone onto my computer - WOOOO!! It was a whole ordeal, installing software, the software not working, trying to make it work, not happening...I finally figured out a back-door way to get the photos and I couldn't be more pleased with myself. AND the baby is sleeping, Peter's making dinner...life is GOOD!

Germany

In our rush to get packed and go, we forgot USB connectors and such to upload photos - and since my phone is a CDMA and Germany is all GSM, I can't automatically upload from my phone like I normally do. We'll catch up when we get home. 

I had forgotten how great the food is in Germany, especially the bread!! Big mounds of fresh, dense peasant breads every morning for breakfast. . . makes me swear up & down that I'll go to the local bakery at least twice a week when I get home, instead of merely subsisting on grossly inadequate loaves of store-bought poo that we normally eat. :) 

We are in the Mosel wine region for the next 2 days, just taking it easy. Cochem is a medieval town from which we are basing our operations - it's kitschy and touristy, but small-scale and charming - a lot like St. Augustine, but older.  It's raining, so we're planning on visiting wine cellars today and saving the castle hikes for tomorrow - fingers crossed that the weather is better tomorrow. Peter is chomping at the bit to "storm the castle."