Meet the Fokkers - Pre Christmas 2006

Pardon the reference. Having both of our sets of parents together with us is truly a great experience...but I still laugh at these movies to think how bad it could have been. Brings great holiday cheer.

Meet the Parents // Meine Braut, ihr Vater und ich
Meet the Fockers // Meine Frau, Ihre Schwiegereltern und ich

On the 10th of December, my parents began their almost 3 week German Christmas vacation. They had originally wanted to come in order to celebrate Eva's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary.

As luck would have it, as my parents completed the planning and when they realized that it was so close to Christmas, we talked them into staying a bit longer so they could celebrate Christmas with us as well.

Here's my folks on the day they arrived. We wanted to keep them active to keep them awake...so we headed to a Christmas market in Hattingen and had some obligatory mulled red wine (Glühwein) and some sausages.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

In the tradition of my family, I travelled deep into the Bavarian Forest to pick out the best christmas tree that could fit in our apartment. I spent hours finding that perfect tree - absent from any tarnish or blemishes. I cut it down using my trusty Swiss Army knife and carried it on my shoulders for miles through feet of snow back to our car to bring back home to my pregnant wife as a trophy of my efforts and a symbol of my love...

... or maybe I just drove the 400 meters to the lot selling trees and brought it back. Regardless, I think I found a good one, and we had fun putting on the lights and ornaments. With the Christmas music playing on the stereo, we were definitely getting in the 'Christmas Spirit'.

While we were decorating the tree, our 'art' arrived. As a 'Thank You' for buying the condo, the builder gave us art. The artist actually came by and we discussed a bit what we were looking for. She then made for us a custom piece of art that goes perfectly with our condo.

We were a bit giddy of getting real 'art'...since both Eva and I are basically artistically inept.

If you like what you see, please visit the Andrea Zimmermann's website.

Above is our Nativity Scene that we got last Christmas as a gift from Eva's family. The figures are hand carved from the Bavarian Forest.
Gould Family photo 2006. We wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

The Wishbone

After waiting a week or two, I got to introduce Eva to yet another American Tradition: the pulling of the wishbone. After carefully letting the wishbone dry out, I explained the rules...leaving out the strategy of "the pull" in hopes that I could win somehow. After all, I had years of experience.





Despite my efforts, the result was as follows:

The middle part was literally hanging by a thread of skin. Eva won and got to make her wish. So much for strategy and experience!

I can't say that I've ever seen a wishbone break like this...I guess I didn't let it dry out long enough.

Thanksgiving 2006

Well, Thanksgiving 2006 started out innocent enough. We wanted to invite a few friends over for an American celebration - Gould style. We sent out handwritten invitations to 10 friends...now the work could begin.


Unlike previous Thanksgivings, we were in our new place and had enough room for 10 people + Eva and I. I also wanted a larger turkey than the 12 pounder I got the last time. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one large enough in the store, and ended up ordering one from a turkey farm close to Erlangen.

When I told Eva that I ordered an 8 kilo turkey (about 19 pounds), she thought I was crazy and told me it would never fit in our oven. My mom even went to the grocery store in Borger and measured (with a tape measure) the dimensions of a 19 pound bird (in a small town like Borger, this will get you some funny looks).

At the end of the day, the turkey was 10 kilos (about 22 pounds). It barely fit in the oven.

We had to do some rearranging to get it to fit in the fridge. With all of the other food we needed for the feast, it was tight in the fridge. If it were a bit colder outside, we could have stored the other items in the garage.

I really don't like cleaning turkeys. It is a pretty gross task. Having a fresh turkey that was slaughtered only two days prior sounds pretty cool in theory (and it did taste really fresh), until you have to cut out the heart of the bird. Thankfully, it didn't bleed all over the place.

Anytime you are in a foreign country, you have to improvise with ingredients from time to time. I couldn't find molasses and just used extra sugar for the sweet potatoes. (After a heated discussion with our guests after the fact, I know now where to find something like molasses).

Even in a sausage loving country like Germany, I couldn't find any Italian sausage for the stuffing (kinda like Jimmy Dean)...so I did what any good German would do and used bratwurst!

Four and a half hours to go...

This farm raised, free range turkey was great! It had a huge layer of fat on the neck section and tons of dark...signs of a slowly raised turkey. It also produced a lot of juice, which was almost overflowing from the pan.

When I was taking the bird out of the oven, all I could think of was how embarassing it would be if I dropped the thing on the floor.

Eva and I posing with the turkey...

Eva did a great job setting the table and making a very festive Thanksgiving atmosphere.

At this point, everyone is thinking: 'Rob, hurry up and take the picture...we want to eat!'

We had a great time with our friends and our German version of Thanksgiving. While some things are different, the basics and the important things (friends and thanks) remain the same.

Next time I need to make some more sweet potatoes, more gravy, and get a bigger turkey (just kidding).

Also in good Thanksgiving tradition, for the following week, we ate turkey sandwiches, turkey leftovers, turkey soup...

Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes

For Thanksgiving this year, I made sweet potatoes from scratch. A few folks asked for the recipe, so I thought I would post it so that others could use it as well. The recipe comes from Williams-Sonoma.

On their homepage, they have a 'recipes' section. I have a few of their cookbooks and can definitely recommend their modern takes on many classics.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Burbon and Molasses

Ingredients (Makes 4-6 Servings)

• 6 small yams, about 3 lbs (1.5 kg)
• 4 tablespoons (2oz / 60 g) unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons light unsulfured molasses (Zukerrübensirup)
• 3 tablespoons bourbon (but more doesn't hurt)
• salt and pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice (Piment/Gewürz)
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (Muskatnuß)

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).

Prick each yam several times with a fork. Place the yams directly on an oven rack and bake until tender when pierced with a small knife, about 45 minutes.

Cut the yams in half lengthwise. Scoop the flesh into a large saucepan and discard the skins. Add the butter, sugar, molasses, bourbon, salt, pepper, allspice, and nutmeg. Mash with a potato masher until smooth. Rewarm the yams over low heat, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Transfer the yams to a bowl and serve at once.

Enjoy! Let me know if the recipe works out well for you.

Speaking Swedish Part II

With less than 3 months to go, we knew we needed to start preparing the kid's room. Much of the typical kids furniture takes a few months to be delivered...and with Christmas around the corner, we had to get going.

But first, we had to move our closets that were in the child's room (for a year and a half, this room was our 'walk in closet') into our room. For any of you that have IKEA closets, you know that it is not trivial or quick to take these things apart. Nor is it recommended to move them whole.

We ended up, with the help of our neighbors, carrying the closets whole from one room to another - through the windows because they wouldn't fit through the doors and our room.


After we crossed that hurdle, I got to start putting together the sliding doors. I knew I was in trouble when I looked at the directions: over 100 screws and over 70 pounds per door. To give you an idea of the size, the doors were over 7 feet tall and almost 4.5 feet wide.


At the end of the project, we were happy with the results. Hanging these doors was challenging in itself, but it is now finished.

It seems like it should be easy: move 3 meters of closets and hang some sliding doors. All in all, I think it took 3 complete Saturdays to do everything.

But, our kid's room is now ready for the furniture....

 

Soccer or Football?

A few weeks ago, I found myself on a two day business trip to Manchester to continue some negotiations. The downside was that the trip was only for two days, insuring long work hours and leaving little time to see Manchester (I've never been to the UK) .

The upside was that the salesguy got tickets for a Champions League game: ManU vs. Copenhagen.


Heilman and a British colleague helped me out with the British vernacular:
Boots not cleats
Football not soccer
Match not game
Pitch not field
...and a warning not to look danish or I'd get 'my wanker arse beaten to a bloody pulp'.

...oh, the English.

The seats were unbelievable. We were right at midfield four rows up. Ironically enough, since many stadiums in the UK are having issues at drunkenness in the stadium (and the brawls that follow), alcohol is banned in the stadium.

Does this bring back any memories for the CU alums?


Due to our seating, we had a great chance to see the magic of Ronaldo. His footwork and ball control is simply amazing - especially up close.

What a difference a year makes...

As the fall is widing down, I wanted to take a look back at the progress my lawn has made over the past year. It has certainly been a struggle, but with some love and attention (and some fertilizer and water), the lawn has really progressed in the last year.

Below are some before and after pics...the left pictures were taken in July 05 the the pictures on the right were taken today.


The weather has certainly played a part, especially the Indian Summer we've had to date. This week, it has been extraordinarily warm - almost in the 70's with lots of sunshine and enough rain to keep the grass happy.


Next weekend I've got to plant the 200+ tulips that I bought a few weeks ago. Tulips will always remind me of the Pearl Street Mall in April, and I'm hoping to have a mini version soon. 

Midnight Mountainbiking

On Thursday night, Eva had a girl's night out...so I took the opportunity to do something that I'm not allowed to do: ride at night.

Well, it's not that I'm not allowed to, it's just that Eva thinks that it is a bit dangerous.



Rene's got a super special bike light that is as bright as a car light. So, armed with our Camelbacks and Rene's light, we headed into the forest for a nice ride of about an hour. It was really cool, quite, and peaceful. We stayed on the main paths and didn't get into any hairy, technical stuff. There were no accidents.

As irony would have it, when I was coming home from a mtb ride tonight, I had a great endo (caused partially by the speed I was riding and the blowout my rear tire had) while riding on a sidewalk...oh...how the bones hurt. I ended up running the last 5km home. 

And the stork came by and delivered ...

... a happy and healthy baby...

bike! A bike from Storck, that is.

After gawking for almost hours at various bikes, Eva got tired of me talking about a new bike, and convinced me to quit talking and to buy the damn thing.

I'll definitely use it more than a new TV - I've already logged in over 150 hours on my bike this year, and I love riding in the area. It is very peaceful, beautiful, with little traffic.


In a similar fashion as my first bike, I had this one made. I got to spec all the parts that I wanted and the bike shop was very reasonable and helpful. For me, the important part was 3 cranks up front for the mountains for our trips in the Alps.

The biggest difference is that it is an aluminum frame compared to my steel frame Torelli. The Torelli was a great bike, and steel offers many advantages, but it is definitely heavier. I'm not a gram freak. After all, if I wanted to reduce a few grams from my bike, I could just give up drinking beer for a while.

The new bike is a lot more responsive and extremely stiff as compared to steel. But, she has been a blast to ride.

Here are the specs:
Storck vision light frame
Storck Stiletto Race carbon fork
Campy Veloce 3x10 components
Mavic Ksyrium Equipe wheels 

Turnin' 30

As if it wasn't bad enough for Andre that he was turning 30.

It all started out easy enough...throw a party with 50 of your best friends. Have plenty of great food and beer. Then your friends want to celebrate in their own special way - with a few games.

Then you find yourself wearing a white t-shirt and an adult diaper.


... then they stick you in a wheelchair...


... and put up an obstacle course for you to navigate through...making you drink each time you touch an obstacle...


... and the obstacles are 'people bridges' that seem to constantly move.

Happy Birthday Andre.


Here's Eva and the Ischen (without Babsi). This was Eva's first time back in Hattingen being 'obviously pregnant', and everyone wanted to know how she was doing, and all of the ins and outs of being pregnant. 

1:36 and 100,000

This is how the crazy idea starts: it's for a good cause.

On the day of German Reunification, the 3rd of October, I entered a half marathon whose proceeds would go to charity. While I was in good shape, mostly to all of the riding I had been doing, it had been months since I had put in a run over 10 miles.

What the hell, I thought. If I can run 8-10 without any issue and if I can ride for 2-3 hours, the half marathon would be easy...

...plus the T-Shirt was really cool. Definitely worth the price of admission.

Unfortunately, the weather was really rainy. It rained the whole day...not exactly optimal marathon weather.


I'm a bit hard to spot, but I'm the one wearing the orange shirt.

Here I am close to the finish. Naively, I was thinking that I'd jut put in the 13.1 miles and get in a good, solid training run. But, after that starting gun went off, my competitiveness really got the better of me. I felt great the first 7 or so miles, and I was pacing relatively well.

...then the rain, cold, wind kicked in...

... and let's not forget to mention that I hadn't really trained to run sub 7 minute miles for that long...

Let's just say that I was happy to be finished. My right knee and foot are still pretty pissed at me.
I finished in 1:36. Considering that I didn't really train for this distance and considering that it was cool and wet (excuses, excuses), I'm really stoked about the time. It is still about 18 minutes slower than I could do out of high school...but for an old man, I'm stoked...

... here's to weekend warriors...where's my beer?

During the 1/2 marathon, I also passed a milestone in my training: I also burned my 100,000th calorie while running. At the risk of getting laughed at, I actually keep a pretty detailed training spreadsheet (shall I put it on Google Spreadsheet or make a database?), and year to date, I've ran over 150 hours and burned over 100,000 calories. The numbers are similar for riding. Stupid, huh? I need another hobby.

Speaking Swedish

For those of you that have never had the opportunity to experience the IKEA adventure, let me try to summarize it for you:

1) endless traffic and crowds
2) suffering through the maze of products
3) seeing tons of really cool stuff
4) spending hours 'designing' that perfect bookshelf or piece of furniture
5) searching through all of the self service bins to find that 'perfect' bookshelf
6) being amazed as to how they fit all that furniture in that little box
7) figuring out how to fit everything in your car (applies only to Germany where the cars are smaller)
8) ... then the fun begins with putting it all together
9) ... and before you know it, your complete Saturday is shot putting one shelf together

Yes, even though we have said a thousand times that we would never buy IKEA again, we keep on doing it. Namely, because the designs are so cool, because the quality is OK, and because the prices are good.

Putting it all together is the trick. Hilmar helped me out, and it still took over 8 hours to put these few simple items together and get them mounted on the wall.

But, at least the shelves in our foyer is finally finished!

So Süüüüüüß

We had a few folks over for dinner one evening as a sort of 'farewell BBQ' for two coworkers: Tobias and Ivan.

Tobias and his girlfriend gave us this bottle of champagne (good for mother's milk, so we hear) and little baby socks. This was our first 'pregnancy gift' and is all sooooo cute (the rough translation for 'so süß'.

 

Mirja and Thomas finally tie the knot

After our vacation, we had a short stopover at home in Erlangen to drive to 'Sunny Hamburg' (normally known for its 'not so sunny weather') to see Mirja and Thomas finally tie the knot.

I've known Mirja for quite a while. We met over 5 years ago when she landed in Atlanta for her short delegation with Siemens, and she rented a room in my condo. Through Mirja, I met Eva a few weeks later. The rest is history...

... but enough of my history...below are the bride and groom being escorted in a classic Mercedes.



Despite the bad reputation that Hamburg has for bad, rainy weather, the sun always seems to be shining when we visit.

Mirja's dad has been retired for a while, and he picked up gourmet cooking for a hobby...and let me tell you, he can cook!

He undertook quite a feat when he volunteered to make the 'appetizers' for his daughter's wedding. As if the stress wasn't enough preparing for your only daughter to get married, you take on the task to make appetizers, gourmet style, for 60 people.

The spread is below. Simply amazing! The 'appetizers' were quite Italian / Tuscan in nature - to match the pair's honeymoon destination - and were more than enough for a whole meal.

And no wedding is complete with out the wedding cake. The thing I really like about German wedding cakes is that they normally have a lot of marzipan (a sort of thick almond icing / confection). There are probably more people that dislike marzipan than those that like it, so there is always plenty for me ;-)

A few 'keywords' to bring back memories for the four of us: PCB, Motel 6, Stone Mountain and the BBQ thereafter, your 'Playmates', shaved legs, 'Can Thomas stay in your condo', forgetting the engagement ring, road trips, highly busy, Spyder convertibles, Waffle House, Southern Skillet, Starbucks, bagels, Alex in his tighty whities, German lessons, sunny Hamburg, and finally...friendship.

Thank you for the invitation and thank you most of all for the friendship.

P.S. We got the wedding CD in the mail and it is absolutely awesome! Thanks.