Ham and Tortilla Ranch Stacks

Chase had a play date today. I'm always concerned about play date food. Do you go for the gold and make cupcakes with a pound of frosting, or do you play it safe with veggies and fruit? Our boys are always famished after school so I chose something with a little kick to it! 

I decided to use tortillas and ham. I used a cookie cutter and made a flower design to create the stacked mini sandwiches. I then layered the sandwiches tortilla, ham, tortilla, cream cheese ranch spread, tortilla, ham, tortilla. Here is the recipe for the cream cheese ranch spread

8 oz cream cheese

1 t parsley

1 t chives 

1/4 t to 1/2 t worcestershire sauce

1/2 t garlic powder 

Salt and Pepper to taste 

Mix all ingredients together and chill for 1 hour. 

I topped them off with a diced red pepper on top! The kids loved them!! 

Nightmare at Legoland

What a CRAZY weekend this turned out to be!  Soooo, as soon as we settled in to our room, we ran out to the theme park. We quickly noticed Chase was a little less "Chase-like."  No loud screaming, no singing "I gotta hangover," or running around pillaging his surroundings.  SMH and I thought maybe all the lego-like activity had his brain on overload and he had forgotten to terrorize all the lovely German people.  But alas, our hypothesis was wrong, and, by nightfall, the little bugger had a scorching fever!! So, like the WELL PREPARED parents that we are (insert sarcasm), we had forgotten to pack any tylenol or advil to sooth a fever.  Upon a quick inspection, there were no meds at Legoland either-UGH.  We decide a trip into town may be prudent since, at this point, Chase had begun talking jibberish and speaking in a weird british accent.  SMH jets into the tiny town next to Legoland with no luck.  These Americans had NO CLUE that it is quite possible to go to a town where no local Pharmacies are open.  Panicked, SMH rushes to the local hospital. The intern takes pity on us and gave us one dose of Advil.  Morning arrived, and the fever had returned with a vengeance.  We rush him to the hospital, but to our horror, this is only an ADULT hospital. Apparently, in Germany, hospitals only treat certain ages of people, and our little munchkin needed to be seen at a Kinder Klinik. The closest one we could find was in Ulm Germany, about a 30 minute drive away. OMG-Are you kidding me right now???  Sweet JESUS!! So, we all pile into our car, and rush to Ulm, where we spend the next thirty minutes going down one way streets until we finally find the University Kinder Klinik.  The poor lady at the check-in was flabbergasted when she found out we were Americans and didn't use national health insurance. She wandered around the office for about 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do with us. Finally, we signed some forms and we were off to the emergency room. I will say the service we received at the Klinik was top notch and they insisted Chase come back the following day for a check-up.  We also found out that there is one Pharmacy that remains open every day within a certain distance. There is a list that you can find (of course we had NO CLUE about this) on the doors of the local pharmacy.  Oh, and for all you Americans out there, our two day emergency room bill in Ulm was 90 Euros.  No, that's not a mistake. 

Kayserberg France

A lovely Jewel in the Alsace region of France.  Chase's Pre-K teacher suggested we stop by this adorable little medieval town and I have to admit, it was the highlight of our trip for me!! It is about a 15 minute drive from Colmar and if you have the time, I would highly suggest taking the time to visit. There are some lovely shops with regional pottery and antiques, as well as some charming restaurants.  Kayserberg Castle sits atop a hill and if you are up for it, you can climb to the top and enjoy the view.  

Grant and Chase spent a good amount of time whining when we arrived, quickly realizing there was no amusement park, or child-like entertainment. Their moods quickly improved when we promised a hike up to the top of the castle however.  It's always a balance for these little dudes. I don't really blame them. Walking around old historic towns probably isn't high on the "kid fun" list, but they are getting quite used to it now. I've also given them the lecture, "When they are 20, they will be happy that I have snapped a million pictures of them smiling in front of  this Medieval statute and this 15th Century whatever." 

Getting ready to hike up the hill to the top of the castle!

 Here are some beautiful pictures of the this lovely little town!! 

Sexy Paper

Yes, Yes, you heard me right, the French even like their toilet paper to look good!! I'm not sure something like this would go over in the States, but here in downtown Paree, the paper was flying off the shelves!! I had to beat back the people just to get a quick snapshot of the advertising and paper for you!! I know I laughed for a good fifteen minutes over hot pink toilet paper!! But, hey, why not wipe  in Style!!  Maybe they have special designer paper holders for the "sexy paper." Dying...laughing...

Ketchup Dilemma

I never realized how MUCH ketchup Americans consume until I moved to France.  I don’t know about everyone's children, but mine have a love affair with ketchup that is like no other. And, our local American Fast Food joints and restaurants were happy to oblige our family obsession by providing oodles and oodles of ketchup bottles, packages, in amounts that could fill up a small car. My kids smear it on basically anything that can be held or dipped….but here, in old Paree, ketchup is a bit of a rarity. True, they have the French Fries, but ketchup, not so much.  For whatever reason, when Ketchup is requested, instead of coming in bulk, it comes in a miniscule little package that you couldn’t even smear on one fry. 

 When the waiter hands the requested packet to my unsuspecting children, their faces fill with horror as they quickly realize that they hold in their hands enough ketchup to put on the tip of a toothbrush, and not necessarily on a hamburger.  Soooo, as with  many other things, these Americans will have to get used to being ketchup deprived!!

I'd Like That Hamburger Charred Please.......

I don’t know if many of you knew this, (I know I certainly didn’t know) THE FRENCH LOVE RAW MEAT.  Oh, you say laughingly to yourself, “Eileen just means they like to eat their meats rare.” No-THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEAN. I mean they love raw, uncooked, greasy and nasty raw meat.  Now listen, I’m not criticizing, hell, if I had grown up eating raw hamburger meat, maybe I would love it too, but I didn’t and I don’t and there’s my story.  So of course, on the evenings I don’t feel like whipping up some gourmet meal, we will venture down to our local Brassiere.  The boys usually order a hamburger when we are out because I think it reminds them of home and it looks much better than the pâte and boiled fish selections on the menu. GREAT TRAVEL TIP- If you “just” order a hamburger, prepare for it to come out raw.  If you order a hamburger well done, this is what you get. 

So, for most Americans, you will be ordering meat WELL DONE, or in French “bien cuit.”  ENJOY!

Hello My Name is Eileen