Sunday in the Snow

This weekend, Troy and I relaxed for what seems like the first time in a long time. We watched movies, made x-mas cookies with his family, and we also made some delicious meals. I cooked raspberry balsamic glazed chicken on Friday and Troy made stoofvlees (Flemish beef stew cooked with Belgian beer) on Saturday. He even made homemade frietjes and mayonnaise!

We've been finding ourselves missing Belgium a lot lately, so this was a special treat. Christmas is really a festive time of year there. Each town creates its own little Christmas market with food and hot drinks as well as crafts and even ice skating. Despite cold temps and gray days, people get outside and enjoy themselves.

Our plan today was to take advantage of Minnesota's snow and cold by getting out cross-country skiing. We have our own skis, but ironically, they are in storage in (the state of) Virginia. We found some cheap used ones at the Salvation Army for Troy. I was going to borrow Troy's old skis but the bindings of my borrowed skis didn't match the thrift store boots Troy found for me last week. But we didn't let that hold us back. Feeling a desperate need to get out into the woods, we went on a trudge through the snow instead. I'm glad we did. It was just what we needed. Snow and sunshine can be really invigorating! It was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

A Tasty Family Tradition

Last weekend my mom decided to make potica (pronounced po-teet-sah). This delicious but difficult to make dessert is very dear to our hearts. It's a traditional Slovenian treat that my grandmother always makes for Christmas, Easter and other special occasions. Like, for example, my sister's wedding reception.

Potica consists of a thinly rolled yeast dough and a sweet walnut spread. Though I love to cook, making potica is a daunting task, I've never attempted to make it from scratch myself. I was excited to be home to help my mom with the task.

The dough has risen!

The filling. Ground walnuts, spices and honey.

Mom rolling the dough out

Mom called in grandma (who won a ribbon for her potica at the state fair this past year) for the toughest part--stretching the dough. It's really tricky to stretch it out over the whole length of a table without tearing it, but grandma is an expert.

First you stretch the dough, then you spread the filling over it. Grandma says it's best to do the spreading by hand.

Three generations

The next step is to roll it all up. In case you didn't notice before, there is a bed sheet spread over the table. This makes the process of rolling much easier.

The finished product! Delicious!

One!

My little niece Ria Rain turned 1 on Monday. We celebrated with a small family gathering. I feel fortunate to have been here for it and for the last five months so that I can witness her little personality grow.

Ria loves her Tante Lissa. And I just melt when she smiles at me with her crinkled up nose or reaches up towards me so that I will pick her up.

Robot News

Troy leaves today for Miami. I am a little more than disappointed that I'm stuck in the cold and snow, but I'm excited for him. He will meet up with Steve and Aurie and he'll also be reunited with the robots. They will doing street performances for a festival of electronic music and art.

Also, for those of you who may not have heard, Expressive Machines Musical Instruments (EMMI) and Ear Duo just launched a fundraising campaign through Kickstarter to (hopefully) fund a new batch of robots. They've already got an East Coast and European tour planned, so we are crossing our fingers that the money comes in. So far it looks promising, in the first day they've already raised $1,225 of their $7,000 goal!

Check out this video to see what they have planned.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Giving Thanks

This was the first year in maybe a decade that Troy and I have been home to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families. Thanksgiving is always my favorite holiday because I absolutely love the food. And eating and being with loved ones is probably my favorite activity. Plus, Thanksgiving is not nearly as stressful as Christmas!

My mom's family Thanksgiving (accidentally cut out grandpa and Alice)

All the grandparents (plus mom) enjoying their pie

Rogers family Thanksgiving

Pie was a big part of the celebration this year. I'm not even going to tell you how many pieces I ate. Troy stayed up all night on Wednesday, making two pumpkin, one apple/honey/thyme, and one French silk pie. As you can see from the photos, we ate two Thanksgiving dinners, one at my folks' and one at Troy's. Grandma Jean brought pecan and pumpkin pie to my mom's and Cassie and Bre brought pumpkin and apple to the Rogers. Yum!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. I have to admit that it was a bit of a rough reality for us to return from Belgium. Troy and I essentially got to live out our dreams there for a while, he with music robots and me with journalism. And the picturesque, medieval city of Ghent provided us with an incredible amount of culture and fun.

We know that we both got to enjoy the experience of a lifetime there. And now that we are back and broke, we have the unconditional support and love of our families. And even though it's not always as fast as we like, with their help we are moving forward. Thanks moms, dads and siblings!

A Real Business Trip

This week I traveled to Charleston, West Virginia to meet some folks I've been working with/for in person. It was a bit exhausting since I had a 6:30 AM flight out of Duluth (which is an hour's drive from here) but it was nice to have a little getaway.

The people at this small marketing firm were very friendly and welcoming, I even got a hug from the director. West Virginians, like Minnesotans, tend to be friendly people. I had a really busy couple of days but they treated and fed me well and put me up at the Marriott. And I've got lots of work from them for the foreseeable future, which is a little overwhelming, but also great.

As an added bonus, I got to meet up with my friend Catherine (who I met in Charlottesville) for dinner. We had a terrific time catching up. She took me to a fun place called Tricky Fish that serves deep-fried veggie dogs. She's a vegetarian and says she dreams about these greasy dogs and tries to stop in to get one every time she makes it to Charleston. I had the mahi mahi tacos, which I think were equally delicious.

The whole business travel culture is interesting to me. I'm not sure I'd want to have a job where I was expected to regularly travel like this. Airports make me nervous and turbulence gives me a queasy stomach. When the guy sitting next to me on the plane asked why I was traveling, it felt strange to say "for business." The experience made this Minnesota Kid feel quite grown up.