Baked Asparagus with Schnitzel and Ham

Baked Asparagus with Schnitzel and Ham

It's asparagus season. And that means, my husband's favorite white vegetable must always be present on our table, almost every week. I think this time, he noticed that we were not too enthusiastic about going with him on a ride to the asparagus farms to buy them freshly-picked. That means, he also noticed we were not too enthusiastic about eating asparagus weekly. But asparagus is his favorite, and it is only sold fresh for a limited time!

Therefore, he tends to cook more with asparagus in the menu when during asparagus season. Sadly, the rest of the family are getting bored so he took to finding ways to make asparagus eating more interesting for the rest of the family.

Just like this recipe: Baked Asparagus with Schnitzel and Ham.

First Harvest 2013

We really thought we would not be harvesting anything this year. It was too wet and the snails have mostly taken over. My husband was very frustrated. Imagine, hours of hardwork and cash (we had to buy some seeds and some plants), all gone!

But then, the sun shined. And my husband decided to harvest what survived, the mini radish.

The first harvest, radish.

The radish was followed by the cherries, coming from one of our four cherry trees. They were picked by the girls, who enjoyed their tree climbing expeditions.

Freshly-picked cherries

Happy 2nd Birthday, Rikki!

The birthday dog

Mama, you know what, my friend said they don't celebrate the birthday of their dog. Why do we celebrate Rikki's birthday? That was IC during this morning's walk to school.

I told her we celebrate Rikki's birthday because it's fun. That simple.

Now IC wants to invite her friend's dog for Rikki's birthday party. Now, that would be chaos :-)

And now, she's two!

Not a puppy anymore.

That's Rikki on the day we have decided to bring her home.

Inside our car, going home.
A few weeks later, we had to sell the old car to buy a bigger one because Rikki  needed more space :)

Happy, Happy!

Happy Father's Day, Tatay and Happy Birthday, Nanay!


Happy Father's Day (Germany celebrated Father's Day  last month) to my dearest Tatay.
He who built a business from scratch.
He who gave up his dream of going abroad to start a family.
He who fell in love with our seamstress mother and decided to stay and maintain the business together.
He who joined politics (barangay level), who became the oldest candidate during the last election. (He didn't win, but hey, it's how he fought that matters.)
He who jogged regularly to loose weight, loose his tummy and regulate his sugar level.
He who declared being happy is more important than money.
He who has a strong faith.
He who loves sweets.
He who loves us.
Happy Father's Day, Tatay!

60

My husband turned 60 today.
He was not enthusiastic greeting this day.
I guess, it's the round thing :-)

And his mood didn't miss the girls.

With her gift, MC gave Papa a short note:

Lieber Papa
alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
60 Jahre ist nicht zu alt.
Und die anderen können sagen was sie wollen!!! :-)

(Dear Papa, happy birthday. 60 years old is not to old. And the other people can say what they want!! :-D)

We all agree. It's not how old you are, but how much you enjoyed life :-)

The early morning candle blowing highlight.

So, I guess we would be celebrating tonight. And then tomorrow, and then on Friday, and then on Saturday, and then.... you know, just enjoying life.

Dear Papa, thanks for your patience in waiting for girls who doesn't have anything to wear. Thanks for driving us all over despite your wife having her own driver's licence. Thanks for cooking for us even though we sometimes complain on what you serve.

We love you!

44

I am 44 years old.

My birthday fell on a Sunday. I was allowed to sleep late, despite my husband giving me a birthday kiss and the dog giving a few licks. A few minutes after 10 a.m., I was getting impatient, and hungry, too. But I was asked to wait until someone come to fetch me. I decided to read....

My birthday cake, erm, my laugenstange (pretzel stick).

After an hour, IC was given the honor to escort me to breakfast. Instead of a birthday cake, I got a freshly-baked laugenstange with candles. Sweet. There's a wide spread of breakfast items, amazing.

But my family have more surprises for me.

My husband and IC drove to our favorite asparagus farm to buy a bundle of fresh asparagus and boxes of freshly-picked strawberries. Asparagus is my husband's favorite and strawberries are loved by my girls and yes, it's my birthday but am already happy I got a laugenstange for breakfast :-)

Asparagus soup

Then dinner is ready. First came asparagus soup with sekt mixed with maracuja orange and a peach cake with candles. I baked the cake for my family and they placed the candles.

Kids' Day at the Local Country Fair

It's been six years since we started celebrating our traditional kids' day. What is our kids' day? It means the girls would have the 'honor' of choosing of what we would do during the first Sunday of the month. Now, this does not mean that the girls would be deprived of their favorite activities the rest of the month, but, you know, declaring that day as a special day for them; and naming it for them, made that day you know, extra sweet.

In fact, most of their friends who heard about our kids' day have begged their parents to have one, but I have yet to hear of one family who agreed to declare a kids' day. So yes, my girls are very proud to have a kids' day, aren't we such good parents? :-D

Now, the girls choose the activity during kids' day and you would be surprised because not all of them includes going out, in fact, there are times we would spend it at home, baking, etc. Though admittedly, we do spend most times checking out country fairs and festivals. That's why it's really fun going back to old posts because now, they have moved on to other exciting rides (except their food selection remains the same: cotton candy, french fries, etc.)

This time, a friend of MC came with us. Because the girls are supposed to be old enough and it is kids' day after all, we told them they could go around the festival grounds alone, we would be sure to find them. Actually, that's the reason why we asked them to wear bright colored shirts, too.

The girls rode this water rollercoaster with their Papa last year.
They enjoyed the ride but MC hurt herself  during the deep plunge so she avoided it this year.

Yes, that's the cotton candy shop!

Never-ending sweets, my favorite is the sugar-coated almonds though.

We skipped the giant wheel behind the curry wurst booth because  it's just a waste of money, said the girls.

Hiking at Dilsberg Town and Castle in Photos

The girls have a two week school break and we have plans, lots of plans. We didn't count on the weather not cooperating though.

Good thing the sun shined last Thursday, when Germany was celebrating Corpus Christi. We decided to go for a hike and a mini picnic. With our backpacks filled with snacks and drinks and whatever items deemed necessary especially for our dog, we seized the day and drove to Dilsberg castle and town on a mountain over the River Neckar in Neckargemünd.

Welcome to Dilsberg

MC was telling IC that the area in those three windows under the clock were the rooms used by the boys when they stayed there for a few days last year during a school outing.

The youth hostel is located at the right side