40!

I turned 40 this year and Ethan decided that this is a very good reason to throw a party. I'm not one for celebrations that feature me in any way but he did a fantastic job! Jeannie sent beautiful flowers since she couldn't join us. I have some very sweet and fun friends here in Vienna and was thrilled to see so many of them make time to get together. We laughed a lot, had good food and stayed up way too late. I feel like one very lucky woman!

christmas eve breakfast.

I found this recipe on dashandbella

BAKED BAGUETTE FRENCH TOAST

serves 4

You can soak this overnight but the texture will be more like a soufflé. If you do it 30 minutes before baking, it's a bit crunchier. But both techniques work well. You want the baguette to be stale but not as hard a a rock. You could save scraps in the freezer for a few weeks until you have enough for this dish. 

ingredients:

1 baguette, a bit stale

3 tablespoons butter

3 eggs

2 cups whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest

pinch of kosher salt

3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

powdered sugar for the top

directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Trim 1/2 inch off of each end of the baguette and feed scraps to the dog. Slice baguette in half. Cut into serving-size pieces (4-5" long). Place bread cut-side up in an ovenproof dish and butter the top of each piece. Don't overlap the bread.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggs. Add milk, vanilla extract, orange juice/zest, and salt. Whisk until foamy. Pour over bread. Flip the pieces around every 10 minutes or so to make sure both sides are soaking up the liquid . Leave in the liquid for about 30 minutes total. You want the bread to be wet but not soggy and falling apart. When you bake it, the bread should be resting in a small pool of the liquid but not drowning in it. You might need to pour off a few tablespoons of the liquid if the bread doesn't soak most of it up.

Make sure all pieces are cut-side up. Sprinkle turbinado sugar all over the top. Bake until the bread is puffed up and golden (30-40 minutes). You might need to throw it under the broiler for optimum crispy crunchy caramelized beauty. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and eat right away (but it does reheat nicely).

little things in december.

My other pregnancy craving. I made Ethan pick up Vietnamese summer rolls one late night and then bought all the ingredients.

little and BIG things in october.

October was good to us! So many house guests, sunny days and great activities but most important: We found out we are expecting! I am due with our fourth child on June 21st and we could not be more excited! Having another child is something that has occupied our  minds and hearts for quite some time but the last two years were full of physical challenges and it feels like a miracle that we are given this chance one more time. The kids are thrilled and can't wait to find out the gender. Everyone is kind of hoping for a boy :-) but either way this baby will be loved and adored by our family!

he is 15!

 Happy Birthday to this most amazing boy that makes us laugh every day! He is responsible, kind, diligent, fun, passionate, a great (at times annoying) big brother and altogether awesome. We are so lucky to be his family!

 His birthday fell on a Saturday this year and he had his Frederick and Constantin over for a waffle breakfast and some ps4.

 favorite food for lunch.

 

and miro at the albertina before heading to church to go to stake conference.

daphne.

 Daphne visited us and we saw EVERYTHING! She was such a great house guest, did crafts with Lovis and was altogether a pleasure to have around! She left the morning of her birthday and we ahd a little celebration!