Christmas Break in Africa with Kelsey

All three of us are headed to Kigali Rwanda in two days to spend jus under three weeks with Kelsey! Kelsey has been a long time friend of a family and is like a sister to us. She has been a teacher in a kindergarten classroom the past two years. We are very excited to be able to bring lots of things from home to Kelsey and her roommate and to see Kelsey's life there. We have lots of adventures planned for while we are there!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season where ever they are celebrating!

Grad School Woes

Turns out that a famous saying is true.

"Nothing worth having comes easy."

Dessert:
It was my turn to bring snack to class on Monday. I made everything with a pumpkin theme!

First: No-Bake Pumpkin Cookie Dough Bars

I love the idea of not baking and cookie dough! However these were not as delicious as my expectation lead me to believe. But I will try them again when I am not limited to a dorm size food processor. They would be best served right to the table, because they don't stay firm very long after coming out of the fridge or after thawing.

Second: Pumpkin Pie Chocolate Granola Bars

FAVORITE! These easy to make granola bars were delicious and nutritious. I added some extra dried fruit too. The chocolate and pumpkin go great together

Dinner:
My days have been super long the past few weeks. When I get home from work and classes the last thing I want to do is cook. It's also what gets neglected when I have homework to finish. This morning I hastily put together this soup recipe and let it sit in the crock pot all day. Came home to a wonderful smelling apartment and hot soup!

I added potatoes and substituted veggie chicken, next time I'm adding black beans!

Next week I'm going to attempt zucchini parmesan!

The tough get going!

The demands of graduate school hit me last week. Between class demands, work hours and a tad bit of social life... I was swamped. Needless to say, I have only been able to make one recipe since my previous blog.  But I have decided to hunker down and make ends meet!

Southwestern Quinoa and Black Bean Casserole

This delicious casserole has been quite filling! I enjoy that it has lots of protein in it and that it was an already vegetarian friendly recipe. I definitely suggest cooking in a large pan, and that the beans are a squishy and a little like refried beans before you add the quinoa on top.

Enjoy!

SMAART Goals

Goal: Make a healthy recipe or two each week
Goal: Post unsuccessful and successful cooking attempts bi-weekly


Recipe #1:
Crockpot Bell Pepper Soup

When looking for a recipe to start with I chose this recipe because it had simple ingredients, would be good for left-overs later in the week, and used a crockpot! I modified the recipe to be vegetarian by using Morningstar veggie crumbles instead of beef and vegetable broth instead of beef broth. The soup was fantastic over rice! I highly recommend!

Recipe #2
Refried Beans


Jake gave me a gallon bag of kidney beans last harvest. Since another harvest season is upon us, i figured I should use up last years bag in preparation for another yield. I love refried beans and have frequently use canned beans in my dinners. Making my own refried beans was a simply choice. I recommend this recipe and pureeing the beans before adding them to the onions! After the batch was done I froze most in an ice cube tray. Now I can defrost small portions for making burritos!


Recipe #3
Honey Oat Granola Bars


Yum Yum Yumm! Endless variety! Instead of buying granola bars at the store I decided to try my hand at homemade! I added dried cherries and cranberries and substituted some applesauce for butter. The bars took way longer in the oven than directions estimated, I cooked them for 30 minutes and they still aren't "brown and bubbly." They still taste and smell delicious. After they cooled, I cut into bars and stored in fridge until snacktime!

Amsterdam...the last hooray!

I am currently on the ferry from France to London! My journey is coming to a close. I have been so fortunate to have had this opportunity to travel and experience so much!

I spent the past two days in Amsterdam in the Netherlands! It was a good two last days and a fun city! 

The city is full of canals and bridges. 

Chocolate pancake for dinner with a strongbow cider! The two on the left are my crazy Australian friends! Gotta love them!

In Dam Square in the heart of the city.

The second day we did a bike tour of the city!

Next stop was tour of Heineken brewery! We were helpful to a presenter at tasting so we got too! 

The view from the rooftop balcony was great!

I tried to buy this delicious cheese to bring home to share but I can't get it into the states so sorry family! I tried!

Afternoon snack was fritz! Which is French fries in a cone with sauce on top! I got ketchup!

We ended the night with a river cruise! Above is Casey and Emma from Australia, your guide Kirstin, me and Sarah from Canada!

Today we stopped in Bruge in Belgium for a tour and lunch! I got a Nutella waffle!

I am headed to London now! Two hour bus ride to the city! Then a friend of mine from high school is meeting me and we are grabbing dinner and she is letting me crash at her apartment! Then tomorrow I have a few hours in the city before my flight home:)

I'm almost back in the mitten!

Germany!

On Thursday July 5 we traveled from Venice to Munich! I ate all three meals in a different country! Breakfast was in Venice, lunch was in Austria amongst the alps and dinner was at Hofbrauhaus in Munich!

When we got to Munich we dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed to explore. We saw parts of the main area of Munich before heading to dinner. Here are some shots from dinner at the Hofbrauhaus.

I got spaetzle noodles and they were delicious! It was the German take on Mac and geese!

We also got giant pretzels!

The next day we headed to a castle in the Rhine valley in northern Germany! The views on the way there were again beautiful! When we got to the small town we stayed in we got a demonstration at the coo coo clock shop and the beer stein store. These are things that Germany are famous for.

Next was a river cruise on the seine river. 

 It was a relaxing way to see all the castles, churches and towns along the river!  After the cruise we headed to a castle where we stayed for the night. Our room was on the third floor up a steep set of spiral stairs! 

The view from the castle was beautiful! We could see down the river and the towns below.

We had a chill night playing cards on the open patio and sharing stories with each other. This morning I got up extra early to watch the sunrise. It was kind of behind a mountain but the sky was beautiful!

Today I am headed to Amsterdam! This is our last stop of the tour. I am excited for Amsterdam but also excited to be home and see all my family and friends soon!! 

Gondola ride in Venice!

This post will be mostly pictures from my time in Venice, Italy! 

We stopped in Verona on the way to Venice and saw Juliet's balcony and the oldest colosseum in Italy.

Juliet's balcony

It is good luck to touch her right breast.

We arrived at our hotel late afternoon just in time to get a swim in before dinner.

The pool at our hotel.

There was a pool party that night around the pool. There was live music from a local band. It was a fun night!

The next day we explore Venice!

I was so happy to eat pizza!

We took a gondola ride in the afternoon! It was a fun way to see the city!

 

It was a fun day of exploring Venice! It was very warm but I didn't get sunburned:) Today we are headed to Munich, Germany! The drive there is very scenic through northern Italy! So many vineyards and mountains.

I hope all is well where you are!

Snow in the Swiss Alps!

We arrived in the small town of lauterbrunnen in a valley in the Swiss alps on Sunday night. The drive there was  absolutely beautiful with mountains in all directions. We passed a big lake, the water looked so refreshing! We settled into our cabin room once we got to our hostel. The picture below is the view from our bedroom window! It was a hard view to beat!

Topdeck has a chef group at the hostel we stayed at so they cooked for us while we were in Switzerland. We had cheese fondue for dinner the first night! We dipped bread in the cheese. This was my first time having cheese fondue and I loved it!

Meet my friends/roommates Emma and Casey! They are from Australia just outside Sydney. They are so much fun to hang out with and see Europe with! I have been working on my Australian accent haha they enjoyed the fondue also!

We explored the town and enjoyed the scenery.

It is crazy to think people live amongst the mountains! What a life!

Monday morning we headed to the train station in town to catch a train to jungfrau. This is known as the top of Europe and has beautiful views!

The sun was shining and the mountains were gorgeous! We ate lunch at the top of the look out tower at 3571 meters! 

There was an area with activities and we were able to walk in the snow! The snow was icy wet snow but it was still nice to be cold! I was wearing sperrys so not the greatest snow shoes but oh well. Emma and Casey went zip lining while I decided to relax in the comfy chairs they ha up there. Just taking in the views and experience I was having. I ended up dozing off and taking a little nap.

When we got back to the bottom of the valley we headed to the cafe in town to grab a brownie and use wifi. I then received some amazing news!!

My best friend Emily got engaged!!!! I am beyond happy for her and chris and was smiling so much!!! Her fiancé Chris asked her in the cutest way on MSU campus! I am so happy for these two and can't wait to celebrate when I return home! Congratulations Emily and Chris!

Today I am headed to Venice! We made a pit stop in the town where Romeo and Juliet was originated and saw Juliet's balcony!

The hotel we are staying at in Venice has a pool so I am really excited to swim! Tomorrow we are doing a walking tour of Venice and a gondola ride! 

Paris

Day two was a free day in Paris! The day started with breakfast at the hotel. They had chocolate filled crossoints, toast with jam, yogurt and Nutella! It was delicious and a very good break from Ginger Hotel breakfast. Our bus dropped us off at the louvre museum at nine. I explored by foot in the morning with Erica, Hilary and Seohae. Hilary is from Australia and the other two are from South Korea. It was fun to talk with them throughout the day and learn about their culture and life. 

It was a beautiful day. People were complaining about the heat but I was loving it because It was much cooler and not as humid as chennai. It was warm and sunny and I wasn't sweating! 

I experienced the bad side of Paris when I was approached by two guys who wanted me to sign their petition because I speak English. They each grabbed one of my arms and were right on me. I knew that they were bad news and kind of spun to get them off of me. I walked away to join the other girls. I felt for my front pocket of my shorts to grab my phone and take a picture and realized my phone was gone! The guys had taken it out of my pocket in the commotion of trying to get me to sign their petition. My heart stopped and I was like shoot!! The guys were lingering about fifty feet from me so I ran over to them and harshly demanded my phone back. They laughed and wanted me to sign their petition paper. I refused to sign and demanded my phone back. After laughing with each other they gave me my phone back. I was relieved to get it back but nervous that they took it so easily and without me noticing. The rest of the day I didn't put it in my pocket and was even more careful. The whole event shook me up a little. But we continued on our day and exploring Paris! Here are some picture collages from my day.

Around one in the afternoon Hilary and I went on a boat ride on the seine river. The river goes through Paris by a lot of the major sites. I met a mother and daughter from Las Vegas on the boat. It was nice to talk to another American. 

After the boat tour I got a Nutella crepe! It was the most delicious crepe I've ever had! Hilary and I sat under the Eiffel Tower and enjoyed our creeps. 

In the afternoon I went on a bike tour of Paris. It was nice to be back on a bike and a relaxing way to see Paris. Our tour guide was from Nevada but has been living in Paris for two years with her French husband, what a life?! 

We had a picnic dinner in the park by the Eiffel Tower. There was really good cheese and crackers with dinner! The view of the Eiffel Tower never got old.

After dinner a group of us ventured to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We climbed the stairs to the first floor. Just as we arrived the sun was about to set. So we hurried to the second floor to watch it. I felt like I was racing the sun haha but the sunset was beautiful! 

We then got in line to take the lift to the very top! The view of the city from the top was beautiful! Everything was lit up!

It was a fun filled day in paris. It is still unreal to me that I am back in Europe! I am loving it though! Today we are headed to a town in the Swiss alps in Switzerland! The views from the bus driving in have already been beautiful so I am excited to arrive. 

Traveling and arriving in Paris

I am in Paris!!! I had such a great day! The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind though!

 My day started yesterday in chennai when I went to breakfast at ten. Bob Tim and myself went to the beach. We went to the same beach we went to our first weekend in chennai. The waves were too big to swim which was a bummer but napping and listening to the waves crash in was good enough for me. It was so peaceful just laying and listening. We stayed there for a few hour before heading back to Ginger Hotel.

I finished packing and we grabbed dinner. Our plan was to order Pizza Hut but they said it would take an hour and a half to deliver it due to the rain. I didn't want it to come after I left for the airport so we ate at the Ginger Restaraunt. I had plain omelet and two parathas. The parathas at the ginger are my favorite Indian food I had while in India so I was glad to have one more before heading to Europe.

After dinner I headed to the airport! Everything with my travels ran smoothly. I took a taxi to the chennai airport, checked in, got through immigration and security and found my gate with time to spare. The flight to Frankfurt was ten hours. I tried to sleep most of it because that was all the sleep I was going to get. I ended up getting a couple hours. Once in Frankfurt I had to get my second boarding pass printed. After a small tour of the airport I figured it out and was off to Paris! Once I landed in Paris, I found my bag and headed to the metro. I waited in the wrong ticket line for twenty minutes oops! But I got my ticket and even met a kid from MSU! The metro was nothing compared to the craziness on the Delhi metro.

Once I dropped my bags at the hotel I went in search of food. I tried three different restaurants but all were only serving beer. Although a beer sounded good I really needed food. I found a little grocery store an got an apple, banana and some crackers!

When I got back to the hotel I met my group. The group consists of 48 people! A majority of them are from Australia. I haven't met another American yet. We soon headed on a city lights your of Paris! I already love this city! Here are some highlights from the tour.

Sacre Couer - the lower left photo is with my roommates. The two on the left are Australian and the one on the right is from South Africa. They are all great and very nice!

Eiffel Tower

I am excited to see everything in the daylight tomorrow! We have a free day. I am hoping to find someone at breakfast that wants to do similar things as me. I am doing a bike tour in the afternoon which I am very excited for! 

But I'm off to bed after two long days! I hope you are having a fabulous day!