Baking like crazy

We are having my in-laws over for a barbeque tomorrow night. So today I baked a Zebracake (german recipe here),

 a chocolate cake with the Pioneer Woman's frosting
(so delish: here) and a Fress-mich-dumm Kuchen ( a similar recipe is here at my fellow paraguayan blogger: Betty)

I'm also making a simple Bonnie Butter cake with mini chocolate chips just for us to enjoy for the weekend.

If you realize that I baked all of this with a broken oven door (I have to put a chair up against the door, so that it stays closed while baking), I might get a pat on the back:)

At the beginning of each year, we put the names of my parent-in-laws, my sisters- and brothers-in-laws and our own all into a hat, and everyone picks a name. I picked my MIL's name, so I am hosting her birthday party for the rest of the family this Sunday. It sounds complicated, but it's actually fun.


Ann from over here sent me an email yesterday, telling me that I was the first in place to receive her heart-shaped-rock. Ann has this great idea... read it yourself:


Last summer we started The Heart-Shaped Rock Project. The "little gem" got lost in a house along the way, so... due to lovely requests... I'm going to start it again. And we have a first few stops lined up!
Next week I will be mailing our little gem to Brenda "The Chaco Girl" in Paraguay. How cool, right?

So, I'll be waiting for a package in the mail soon! I hope to have a camera by then to take a pic of me and the cute rock:)

Have a great weekend, everyone! Love ya!

Have you ever been bored enough...

to do this:

I have to admit they are very cute, but I'd hate work so hard on something, just so that it lands broken in the crack of the sofa someday.

Check out the website here.

I was at the local craft show yesterday. I saw a lot of nice things, but it just made me miss my sewing machine even more. I hope it will be ready soon.

On Monday night I had a wonderful 4-way chat with all of my sisters at the same time. We laughed so hard!!! My sisters are special, because they don't really have to be my friends, they chose to be them!

I love Dani the most, because she's the oldest, tallest, has great kids, great kitchen skills and a love for all animals.

I also love Caroline the most, because she lives the closest to me, she babysits my kids, she gives me hugs, cookies and advice, whenever I need them.

And I love Andrea the most, because she's younger than I am, she's naturally blonde, totally dedicated to telling people the Good News with her remarkable language skills, and also an ace in the kitchen!

Today we celebrate friendship day in Paraguay, I'm grateful to the friends that I picked and also to the friends God picked for me!

Feliz Día de Amistad a todos mis amiga/os en Blogland!

Meet me for the seventh edition...

I'm back for Meet Me on Monday. I couldn't participate last week, because we headed out to Asuncion, bright and early last Monday.

Right now, I'm in bed with a very sore throut and general icky-ness. The power just went out, so I'll have to post this a little later, but at least I can type in the dark:)

Java has some great new questions for us to answer and I'm looking forward to bloghopping later on to see what you all wrote.

Questions:

1. What one food could you eat every single day?

Chocolate, or doesn't that count as food? I also love stir-fry and anything with chicken, broccoli and green tossed salads with a creamy dressing.

2.  Do you wear glasses or contacts?

I have glasses that I sometimes use, but I've noticed that my eyes have gotten better over the last years.

3. What kind of cell phone do you have?

I have a Nokia 6300, but it's starting to act up. I've been dreaming about an Iphone for months, but you can't get them that easy down here in Paraguay.

4. What did you have for dinner last night?

A homemade roll with a slice of sausage, a cup of coffee and a piece of Sigrid's Carrot Cake. (Delish!)

5. What is your favorite candy?

Anything with chocolate. But also Sweet Tarts, Twisters, the minty kind of Livesavers, grape and cherry Tootsie Pops! (Can't get any of that here either, except for chocolate!)

I was writing about Skip-bo last week and was wondering, if anyone has that or other card games they don't need anymore, and would like to send them to me:) I don't have it yet, and can't find it in out book store.

Well, I hope you all have a productive week! It's back to routine for us, as the girls went back to school this morning after a 2 1/2 week vacation. I wanted to get so much done today, but have only managed to send the girls to school (with a breakfast and a snack:), make breakfast for Marv and me, put 1 load of laundry into my new washing machine. (My old one broke down right before we left, and we had to get a new one on Thursday, I love it!)

New Blog Layout

Bear with me while I try to get my blog cleaned up and choose a layout that I like and that reads well.

Just came back from a delightful evening playing skip-bo with some great ladies:)

Our husbands are practicing for a volleyball tournament, so we get together and play some cards. The kids watch a dvd or drive us crazy, whatever:) But we always have a lot of fun!

Good night, friends!

Winter Vacation

This week was the second and last week of the girls vacation. We had to go to the capital for Brianna's check-up, so we made a family trip out of it. We had a lot of fun while driving there, except for the ever-present question: Are we there yet?

We went to the Expo first thing, because the weather was still a little warmer than the past days and then we didn't have to drive back and forth as much. We saw a lot of stands with doodads and whatnots. (I wasn't paying attention:) We saw some cattle and some horses.

We liked going to different shopping malls and supermarkets. The Casa Rica is always worth going to. I found some fresh raspberries there. (Andrea, don't compare them to BC-berries, these are a poor excuse, but welcome anyway) I baked some Raspberry Streusel Muffins this afternoon with them. They're yummy!

Neues Rezeptbuch im Chaco Paraguay

Nach monatelanger Arbeit ist es endlich so weit, dass wir unser Buch präsentieren und zum Verkauf anbieten wollen.

(Foto: eigenes)

Wie es zu dem Buch kam: Meine Freundin und Dorfsmitbewohnerin Carola Esau und ich hatten mit einigen Frauen aus unseren Dörfern vor ein paar Jahren das Rezeptbuch zusammengestellt: "Aus unseren Küchen". Wir hatten viel Spass (und Mühe) damit und dachten uns so, das könnten wir allein auch hinkriegen. Wir hatten noch viele Lieblingsrezepte, die wir gerne mit andere teilen wollten.

Wie es zu diesem Titel kam: In der Facebook Seite: Was kochst/backst du heute? stellte ich die Gruppenteilnehmer vor der Herausforderung, ein Titel für unser Buch einzuschicken. Da kamen viele schöne Namen zusammen. Carola und ich haben lange diskutiert und überlegt. So entschlossen wir uns zu dem Titelvorschlag von Diana Hartman de Dyck aus Neuland: "Das Chaco Familienkochbuch"

Was ist in diesem Buch drin: Es sind relativ einfache Rezepte drin, und auch einige für etwas Erfahrenere. Die verschiedene Kapitel lauten:

• Beilagen
• Brot
• Dips
• Mahlzeiten
• Mennonitsch Essen
• Snacks (kleine Mahlzeiten)
• Suppen und Gemüse
• Süßgebäck
• Dann gibt ein noch einen Kapitel mit wertvolle Haushaltstipps.

Unter Beilagen findet man z.B. Aufläufe und Nudelsalate.

(Foto: Taste of Home)

Brote haben wir nur ein paar, aber die sind echt lecker!

Dips nennt man eine Art Soße, in der man Gemüse, Chips oder ähnliches eintauchen kann. Oder man verwendet diese als Brotaufstrich.

(Foto: internet)

Bei Mahlzeiten findet man eine Vielzahl von Gerichten um tägliche Langeweile am Mittagstisch vorzubeugen. Z.B. Aufgerollte Lasagne mit Salami, General Tsao's Hähnchen (Hähnchenbrustfleisch mit pikanter-süss/saurer Soße) oder Pasta Mexicana.

(Foto: internet)

In dem Kapital Mennonitisch Essen geben wir euch die altbekannte und beliebte Rezepte von Borscht, Zwieback, Gloms Koke, Pluschki, Sauer eingelegte Rindszunge, Verenike und andere.

(Foto: eigenes)

Snacks sind beliebte Kleinigkeiten die ideal sind als Mitbringsel, zum Geburtstagskaffee oder auch als kleine Mahlzeit. Da sind Brötchen mit Wurstfüllung, Gefüllte Pfannkuchen oder auch Panchos am Stiel.

(Foto: internet)

Im Kapitel Suppen und Gemüse gibts für kalte Tage einige Suppenvorschläge so wie: Kartoffel und Speck Suppe. Und auch allerei Gemüserezepte: Junges Zelot und das Gegenteil davon: Mädchen Salat:)

Süssgebäck ist das umfangreichste Kapitel, da wir einfach alle gern etwas Süsses essen. Einige davon sind: Holstein Kekse, Marmorkuchen, Schokoladenfinger, Schokoladen Engelstorte und viele andere mehr.

(Foto: Taste of Home)

Im letzten Kapitel sind auch viele hilfreiche Tipps für den Haushalt aufgeführt. Auch sind einige Tabellen mit hilfreiche Angaben zu Rezepte.

Wir hoffen euch gefällt unser Buch. Wir hatten viel Spass beim Zusammenstellen und uns fallen jetzt schon mehr Rezepte ein, die wir hätten hineinfügen sollen.

Das Rezeptbuch ist im Buchhandel Filadelfia und auch bei Carola Esau und Brenda Sawatzky, Fernheim für den Preis von 40.000.- Gs erhältlich. (Telefonnummern stelle ich sicherheitshalber nicht in mein Blog, man kann aber die Nummer im Telefonbuch finden!)

(To all of my english readers: Sorry, I had to post this in german only. A friend and I made a recipe book, that is written in german too. And I needed to write a german review for it, so that they can see what it's about)

I love sewing

I really do. But I have a problem... my sewing machine has been broken for so long, I almost forget what he looks like. If you wonder why my sewing machine is a he, it's because he's a Brother.

The sewing machine had been having problems a year after I bought him, but I had always got it fixed at a local place. My parents went to Asuncion a few weeks ago, and my Mom (you're the greatest!) took my "brother" to a shop there and explained what the problems were. We are going to Asuncion next week for Brianna's check up and I hope that we'll be able to pick up the machine on the same trip.



I was cleaning my closet today and found some books and magazines that I had completly forgotton about. My Mom had found an old sewing magazine at a yard sale and wanted to throw it away later, but I saved it and love looking through it. I'm scanning some pages of it for you to enjoy as well. It's Simplicity's Spring 1967 issue. So it's 4 years older than I am:)

I'm still trying to decide what will be the first thing I'll sew when I have him back... I have two new Burda magazines to pick from.

Any suggestions?

Next week Monday we'll be going to Asuncion until Wednesday. Brianna has a check-up (electroensefalograma) on Tuesday morning and we'll visit the Expo and eat real fast food:) (Always a highlight when you live so far from McDonald's)

Have a good Tuesday! See ya!

I'm almost too late...

for Meet me on Monday with Java on Never Growing Old. I hope someone is still around to read my answers on Monday, I'll try to prepare my post a little earlier next time.

(Sorry I don't have a lot of pictures in today, but blogger wouldn't let me download anymore than one)

She's got some great questions today, so check out my answers, her answers and anyone else's participating!


Questions:

1. What do your normally eat for breakfast?
A homemade roll (Zwieback) with peanut butter and strawberry jam and a cup of coffee.

2. What kind of vehicle do you drive?
I drive a Toyota Runner. And I love it:)

3. Have you ever met a famous person(s)?
When I was little, my dad took me to an evangelical meeting (do you call it that?) with Billy Grahman. I can't remember much, just that I think I had a blue coat on.:)

4. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Chocolate, of course. What other flavor is there:P

5. Which TV Channel do you watch the most?
We have a satellite dish that shows us brazilian tv. But I currently do not have a favorite station. I rather watch dvd's than tv.

Last week I tried out a new recipe, it's called Zebra Cake. It's super easy and tastes really good. Here's a picture:





If you want the recipe, let me know and I'll translate it from german and post it here sometime this week.

The girls are all home for winter vacation. Brianna finally feels better after having a very bad throat infection last week with a high fever. She and her bestest cousin Nicole went to my parents ranch this morning. They're staying there until Wednesday. They were soooo happy and excited:)

I hope you all have a great week and for my fellow Chaco-dwellers: kepp warm! There's a nasty wind blowing!

Meet me on Monday, week four

Like for the past few weeks, I'm joining Java here to get to know other bloggers, and let others get to know me better, one Monday at a time.

We've been quite busy the last few days/weeks following our soccer team in the World Cup. I'm glad they made it as far as they did!

I was also busy making the finishing touches on a recipe book, that a friend and I are making together. We hope it will be ready in a few weeks.:) Talking about food... thats part of the first question this monday:

Questions:

1. What is your favorite Fast Food Restaurant?

McDonald's! The closest fast food restaurant is 500 km (310 miles) from here, so I can only indulge in a BigMac once or twice a year!


2. If given a complete freedom to start afresh, what profession would you choose and why?

I've thought long and hard about this one, and I don't think there is anything I would rather do than what I'm doing now. Farmer/rancher's wife, mother of 3 wonderful duahgters and sewing and crafting my way through life. I was a receptionist/secretary for 4 years before I got married, and if I had to choose a profession, I'd choose that one again:) (I took this picture this morning when my husband and I checked on the cattle. We had 13 new calves in one week:)


3. Do you prefer your toilet paper to come over the roll or under the roll?

I think it looks more elegant, when it comes over the roll. BTW, if anyone needs crafting inspiration while in the bathroom, check out this link: Toilegami
(Thanks, Mirjam for the idea:)


4. What was your favorite tv show as a child?

Brady Bunch, Happy Days and the Dukes of Hazzard. (Wierd, eh?)


5. What is your favorite Summer drink?

Tereré

Thanks for joining me today! Have a great week!