Cake bites, the lollipop lady and other happenings....

So I've been experimenting with new recipes lately- in a good way. Not the kind that get you on a show because your cooking is so bad that your family is desperate to get you help (see reality show: Worst Cooks in America).

Here's my latest creation:

Chocolate Cake Bites. I learned how to make them from a 4 minute clip on youtube- and several other online articles. They turned out great (excluding the colored frosting, I should have used colored chocolate).

They were originally for a dinner party last night, but I ran out of time. I don't know if it was a great substitute for bringing chocolate, but we did bring an appetizer out of the Biggest Loser cookbook.


I've been on this treat kick for the last week or so. People love to talk about food and so I've been telling a few friends about my adventures in this place we call the kitchen. I was talking to Vanessa who said that our other friend Heather was also a lollipop lady. This is was my vision of what a lollipop lady does:

I thought, "How cool is that?! I could be the next Willy Wonka."  So when I was talking on the phone to Heather yesterday, I asked her to teach me how to make lollipops and other candies. Heather had no idea what I was referring to. It took a few minutes, but we figured it out. There was a bit of confusion between American English and Irish English. This is a lollipop lady here in Ireland:

The other half of this house has been keeping himself busy as well. He's in the full swing of getting his papers finished up. The Trinity library in Dublin has become his local hotspot of choice. He left with the other scholars a few hours ago to kick of the Mitchell Scholar's graduation weekend. Their first pit stop will be Limerick tonight and the weekend will end on Monday with the ring ceremony at Farmleigh.  I'm so proud of him for all of his hard work this year!

A reason to celebrate....

Today was Teresa's last exam of her Bachelor's degree. She's excited and we are excited for her. Clearly this is cause for celebration. The get together with everyone is on Thursday, but why put off celebrating today? 

So for the creative lady, I made a creative dessert: Colorburst cupcakes! (Okay- It was a win/win. I've been wanting to make them). 

I found these on a website my friend Crystal sent me: http://www.ourbestbites.com/. Creative cooking for those of us who haven't quite mastered the Martha Stewart or domestic goddess status yet. 

They didn't turn out exactly as I hoped because of the colors. Maynooth lacks a variety of food coloring. So I was working with the colors of red and green. The obstacle was to make sure they didn't look like Christmas or tie dye. I ended up with the colors peach, red, green, light green, and white/plain. 

I think she will love them! Thankfully she appreciates effort over perfection. 

Congrats Teresa!

Generational Gap- Sleepless in Seattle or Grey's Anatomy?

I recently joined Curves- and I love it. The people who work there are really nice (even if they are paid to be nice) but the people who work out there are also really friendly.

When I meet someone, as soon as I start talking, it's clear that I'm not from these parts. So one of the most common questions that I get is, "Where are you from?" I have a crafted answer for this.

See, if I say Washington State, most people still think it's Washington DC. So I keep it simple, "I'm from Seattle- up in the Pacific Northwest." There are two responses. And both are pretty predictable depending on the age group that you are talking to.

If the person that you are talking to is about 30 years old +, the answer is:
"Oh I love Seattle! I saw Sleepless in Seattle with your man Tom Hanks"

If the person you are talking to is under 30 years old, the answer is:
"Oh it looks amazing. That's Grey's Anatomy right with your man Patrick Dempsy?!"

*Note: the phrase "your man" is a very Irish phrase. The relation of that person to you can be very close to you or incredibly vague. This man can be an acquaintance, close friend, tour guide, actor from a show set in your hometown, etc. I've never actually heard it used in terms of a female relation, only for the relationships of men to you.

In other news, we had a great day to day. This past week was Youngjun's birthday (another one of the George Mitchell Scholars). We invited him and the other guys out for a lunch and pie (he didn't want cake). Teresa and I make chicken and beef shiska bobs, rice, and the pretty princess strawberries minus the food coloring and sprinkles. It was after all a birthday get together for a guy. They turned out pretty good I think. Then Betty Crocker and teamed up and I made up my first peach pie. It actually turned out really good. I was nervous because it would have really stunk for it to not have turned out. Its not like a cake that you can scrape a bit off and make sure it tastes good prior to frosting it. There was a fail safe involved- I was serving it to guys who think everything I cook is amazing even if I don't agree. They make me feel like a real chef sometimes.

Have you ever had those moments where you do something that takes a lot of work and then you get told that you do a really good job at it? It makes you feel like you want to do it again. Then you realize that, "yes, I am good at this, but this is a lot of work!" Who gets more out of it? You, who get's that warm and fuzzy feeling OR them, who get to benefit?  In this case, I do feel like it's a win/win situation. So I'll probably keep cooking for them.

My ode to apartment living

We have had good fortune in living in a great apartment for the area we live in. We feel really blessed to have ended up in a nice place after an email exchange, a couple of photos and then crossing our fingers and signing a lease before we ever arrived in the country. It has (mostly) everything we need- even a drying line in the backyard, between two trees, to help make up for the single unit washer/kinda pathetic dryer we have. How many apartments in the States come with that amazing amenity, right?! (For some context, we are located on the bottom floor).

With that said- this place is not without its, shall we say, quirks.

Quirk #1: 
I know for a fact we have neighbors to the right of us. Even though I have never actually seen them, I know this for two reasons.
A) The dad sings Karaoke EVERY day like his life depends on it. Also, in order to optimize his air intake, or something, he opens every window and door to their apartment while doing said action. He's also not biased in his song choices either. He can sing them in some asian language as well as English. It also appears that his favorites include the best of the 1980's. (Think Patrick Swayze, Olivia Newton John, Michael Jackson, & Madonna).  And everyone thinks the parties are at the dorms- they don't know what they are missing out on.
B) The second reason I know we have neighbors there is because their little girl almost ran me over with her bike.

Quirk #2:
I have become protective of my drying line. That's right- laugh all you like. But it's happened.
Technically we are not supposed to have it. But everyone has one, so like most rules around here, the rule is not enforced. I clean the drying line, I make sure it's up tight, etc.
So when new neighbors moved in on the other side, they started using it to put up their laundry. Really, I'm fine sharing it. Especially since there really isn't room for them to put another one up.
There has really only been a couple of times where we have needed to put up laundry at the same time. Here's where my beef really is. When you pull your laundry down- take the clothes line pins with you. Otherwise, I have to pull their pins down, then re-pin them to the edge of the line, which is hopefully space I don't need. I've already asked one of the girls and she was great about it. But I'm pretty sure I will have to ask the others as we go along. Cross your fingers for me. It's NBD, but I feel like I'm not exactly making friends with the new kids on the block either.

Quirk #3: 
It's more of an international community here. Overall, I give it an A+. Here are some different things that stand out about it though....
A) We play "What's that smell"-If you leave your door or window open about dinner time, for better or worse, you will always get a whiff of different foods being cooked. (You also get the smoke unfortunately).

B) I assume a lot. It's a habit unfortunately. For instance, two buildings away is the grocery store. There is a man named Asheem that works there and also lives in our apartments. We have become "hello, how's it going" friends with him. He looks middle eastern to me- so I thought he was from the Middle East (I knew he had moved to Ireland from somewhere else). The other day, we see him outside the store, he smiles, waves and tells us how happy he is Osama Bin Landen is dead. After he leaves, I was telling Steven how I was wondering what Asheem's reaction would be. Steven looked at me and was like, "you know he's French right?"

C) You can't always communicate with people- because their English may not be so good. There's a nice  family at the end who are always out in the back. I'm pretty sure their Polish. Their son speaks English well enough, but I don't think the Dad, Mom, Grandpa, or uncle understand a word I say. We live by the "smile and wave" way of communication. Steven and I have tried to stop and have a short conversation, but it doesn't really make any sense to them it seems like. So it's smile, wave, and a short hello to which they always respond with a head nod and a smile.

Quirk #4:
Last one for now... Do you ever get that feeling that someone is looking in your window? Well, that actually happens to us.
We live on the bottom floor, which is convenient. However, it's the 4th door from the end so a lot of people pass it to go to the gate (the back door is so much easier than the front door).  When people walk past the doors, they feel the need to look in to everyones apartments. I feel like we're in a "Eye Spy" book.
Also, the little girl who used to live next door (she wasn't more than 4 years old) sometimes confused our door with her door when she was done playing. So if it wasn't locked, she sometimes came in.

I'm know we're not the only ones with good stories. We would love to hear yours! We hope that you are all doing well.

I think I need a party....

Because I really want to make these.....

Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbsp powdered sugar
1-2 drops of red food coloring
12 strawberries, tops and bottoms slightly trimmed

Directions:
Combine cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, food coloring in a bowl. About 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
Scoop out the top of each strawberry (with a melon scooper)
Fill a ziplock bag with cream cheese and snip off the corner. Squeeze air out of the bag and seal shut.
Pipe the cream cheese filling from the bag in the strawberry. Swirl to finish off.
Serve immediately.

*If you beat me to making them, let me know how they are!

In other news.....

Today I have my Irish oral and written exams. Cross your fingers and say a little prayer for me. We'll see how much I've actually learned. :)

Happy Easter everyone!

Life has been great as usual. Here's what we have been up to:

We had a stint with the school program in Caen, France to see the beaches of Normandy and to learn more about WWII & the D-Day landings:

In the background- you can see the left over pieces
from the landing bridges they made to get the gear to the beaches

Not normal hills- these are from aerial and naval bombardments

In Caen, France

Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

Steven in Caen. This is his smile when
I've taken too many picts of him :)

We crawled in and around a lot of different bunkers, went to beaches, museums, and cemeteries. Overall it was a fantastic trip!

Next came NewGrange. It's not too far from where we live- just over in County Meath. It's a prehistoric site that they date back to between 3100 BC - 2900BC. It was originally a burial tomb. There are several in the area, but this was the largest.  It is completely dark year around except during the summer solstice when the sun aligns with the roof-box. During the solstice, it lights up inside.

http://www.lookaroundireland.com/newgrange/passageway.htm

We have also had a few visitors recently. First was Steven's 5th grade teacher, Starr, and her husband Leon. We had a great time with them! Steven did his first walking tour of Dublin since we've arrived with them. I feel like we've toured everywhere but Dublin before then.

Starr & Leon Klube where it used to be part of the port.
The lines on the ground represent the eels that used to be in the port.

Next was Andrea, Steven's sister, who came to visit the end of March. We had a great time with her! Steven was able take her out to the west coast to see all of the places out there. We've been out there before, but it would have been fun for me now that I have a little Irish on me. (They mostly speak Irish in parts of the West Coast).

We put her to work the first day she arrived. We had a Primary Activity at church a few hours after she arrived. I'm pretty sure she was in charge of teaching kids to wash dishes. It seems like she enjoyed them though!

We were also able to take her to London. We really enjoyed it. Our friend Luke let us crash at his place in the Soho district. We were able to take her to her first Broadway shows- Blood Brothers (I would highly recommend it) as well as Phantom of the Opera.

On the walking tour, in London, on the parade grounds

On the pedal taxi's after a show

(PS Drea- sorry it took me so long to blog about you. You are def worth blogging about :)

Next comes our trip last week to Maastricht, The Netherlands. The pronunciation of which is still up in the air between Steven and I. This was part of his one week long course for the semester and it was on the History of Fortifications- which Maastricht has a long history of. Again, there was a lot of walking in, around, on, and thru tunnels and walls.

We really enjoyed this trip although the days were packed from sun up to sun down. It didn't hurt that it was in the mid-80's the whole time either! Steven and I have lost our vitamin D deficient looks (thankfully)!

The Class

Steven and Stephen M. in Belgium-
there are a couple of hundred
Belgian soldiers buried here.

Lunch the last day at the Chateau Neecanne.
That's right we went a Chateau and Steven is
wearing a Bodybuilding.com t-shirt!
Our whole group was underdressed though.

By far my favorite thing to go visit was the caves next to the old NATO bunkers. They belonged to Jesuits up until recently and date back quite a long time. There is speculation that the caves go back farther than the Roman empire.  If you only have a couple of hours- it's the best way to visit Europe. The Jesuits would go in and carve different things from around Europe, folktales, animals, cultures, etc. We were in there just over an hour and did not see nearly everything.

Represents the Syrian empire in BC times

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

There's a fountain and pool down there

Yesterday was Easter. We had a great time! Steven, Teresa and myself cooked for the good part of Saturday. I made my first ham from scratch. It was a success! After church, we had Kyle and YJ from Steven's program join us. We had a great time and even had a chance to end it with an addicting round of Monopoly Deal. 

Easter spread in a dorm size fridge.
I actually was able to fit another cake in there too!

Steven making his No Bake Cheesecake

The spread!

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

That's pretty much what this blog is- it's a lot packed into a little space and you can't help but say it really fast. Kind of like trying to catch up on your journal writing. I tried to include a lot of pictures to keep it interesting. So here it goes:

1) February we traveled to Berlin with Teresa. It was awesome despite the frost bite weather. Seriously, you should visit there just maybe rethink the winter time frame. Favorite thing besides the yummy pastries- the sculptures.

Brandenburger Tor/ Brandenburg Gate- Berlin

Sauchsenhausen Concentration Camp

Doors to the camp

Where we ate breakfast. They had fantastic food!

Berlin's Holocaust Memorial

Teresa on the walking tour

If he's cold, you KNOW it really is that cold!

2) We also had a chance to do some hiking/nature walking (it depends on who you talk to) over Valentines at Gleann Dá Loch. It was very quiet so it was nice to walk around with the waterfalls and birds that were just beginning to come out for spring time.  We saw several mountain goats out on the cliffs as well. 

3) Steven made it up to Belfast the end of February for the Mitchell Scholarship for the mid year retreat. They took a great tour and even had a kid throw an egg at their van. The tour guide told them that if it had been 20 years ago it probably would have been a brick- not an egg. They also met with people who were active during in The Troubles- I'm not really sure how to phrase that. By this, I mean that the group had the chance to sit down with two men who now are in an open forum but during The Troubles, were clearly on different sides and trying to kill the other. One was Jackie McDonald and Jim (I don't have his last name just yet). Google them... you know you want to. 

4) Next came Brussels. This was a great trip also set up by the Mitchell Scholarship program. We had the opportunity to learn a lot about the EU and it's inner workings. We met with several groups who work directly supporting the EU, we had a tour of the Parliament building, discussion with IBEC (along with many other meetings). And we had time the last evening to walk around the city. We made it to the Belgian waffles- they were great. But I think I still prefer the homemade stuff. 

Our trip was really made great because of the family that we stayed with, The McBean family. We had a great time getting to know them in the time we spent with them- especially playing a few rounds of Monopoly Deal. 

Fagen, Sarah, Ryan, Me, Steven, Ibrahim, Deirdre and Paul

So there are a few more things to write about... but they are going to need to be on the next post (cue the suspense) :) We hope things are going great for everyone!