Cheese anyone?

So now you have probably noticed that we have a running list on the sidebar of our blog. These are only our ratings and some of the types of cheeses have numerous ages that you can buy but we only know the name. So our rating is on the type we tasted and maybe later we will find we like another age of a certain cheese.

Our ongoing cheese pallet. While in Europe Spencer suggested we try a variety of the numerous cheeses available. He did this while on his mission and loved the variety. So we are going to start a list of all the new cheeses we have tried.

Our Rating Scale 0-5
0-gross, 3-good, 5- superb

Gouda-3,  Very mild and creamy. We like this one.

Emmentaler-2,  Mild variety but a little dry.

Camembert-0,  A variety that you spread.  Strong flavor that we don't care for.

The next cheeses our neighbor picked up a selection for us.

Rotwein- 1, This one was really bland. Not our preference.

Most- 4, We think this is the same kind we got at a farmer's market that we forgot to ask the name of. A moderate strength flavor, creamy. We liked this one too.

Kräuter Märle-  5, A moderate flavor, creamy and had an added herb flavor. Very tasty.

Allgäuer- Rahm Torte (soft cheese that you spread)- 4, A moderate flavor,  very tasty on toast.

Alprosa- 4, mild, soft and creamy. We like this one.

Weißbier-,1 kind of flavorless in our opinion

Schweitzer Kräute Maxe- 5, medium herb flavor, creamy. This one is one of our favorites so far.

Berg Käse- 3, medium flavor but dry

Wild Blumen Käse- 4, moderate strength , good flavor , very creamy, very pretty outside (wild flower blooms crushed into the wax).

Chili Käse- 4, Moderate strength, good flavor, very creamy, not spicy. We liked this one, it was a lot better than we expected.

“Cheddar” Käse- 2 Very weak flavor, creamy but bland. This is one of their ideas of an American cheddar cheese.

Bockshorn Klee- 2, okay cheese but strong flavored corns in it that were okay but not our favorite.

Pfeffer Rebell- 2- okay cheese but we didn’t care for the pepper corns in it.

Bergkräuter Rebell- 5, Had almost a pizza flavor to it, very creamy. We really liked this one.

Urtaler (Old Valley)- 3-not as creamy or as much flavor, okay but kind of bland.

Museum Humpis-Quartier 3/31/2011

The Schmid family told us about this museum so we took a tour today. It is one of the largest historical museusms in this area. It comprises seven buildings built from 1375 to 1503 representing merchant family living quarters, occupations and trade and history of trade in the area. This museum is still a work in progress and has many new areas opening up this year.

 Center area that shows some original parts of the buildings.

 Same center area. Can see the walkways and stairs going to the higher levels that are not clear but only clouded. You can see through as you walk. It messes with your equilibrium or at least mine.

 Elise exploring everything she can and of course not wanting to explore in the direction we need to go.

 Spencer by a display.

 Periodically Elise decided she needed to listen.

 Elise and me trying to share so I could do more than read the German plaques.

 One of the rooms. Elise liked to be able to look out these windows at the city.

 Chair in previous room.

 Carvings on the ceiling.

 Elise loved to walk around and look at the displays. Often she pointed and talked like she knew just what they were all about.

 Elise had to make sure that the platform here was safe to run on and that stepping up and down would work fine too. I think she played in this area for at least 10 minutes.

 These stairs are only attached on the left side. They were another spot that kind of messed with your equilibrium especially when the wall is glass.

 Very steep stairs up into a loft.

The same kind of stairs up into the kitchen area. The original stairs and only way to the kitchen. How would you like to climb them every time you went to or from the kitchen?

Quality Time

 Elise has a book called Goodnight Little Bear. The little bear rides on his daddy's shoulders to bed but then hides up there and his dad is trying to find him. Elise has decided that while this book is being read she should be on shoulders like little bear.

 A goodnight story would be incomplete without a bedtime snack as well. Here Spencer and Elise are sharing some buttered bread with their story.

 We decided to have an afternoon treat but Elise liked her spot better. I love how she always crosses her legs. She has done that since before birth.

 Elise had been awake less than five minutes when she said she wanted juice and went to the cupboard to bring it to us.

 Elise wanted Nutella but no bread. There was very little left in the bottle so we let her have at it.

What a cute chocolate monkey!

Our walk to Bad Waldsee 3/28/2011

Bad Waldsee is the town that we usually go to to get groceries. It is about a 3 km away by car. We knew there was a foot path that either follows the highway or one that is about 4 km long that goes through the hills. We decided to check it out. It was a beautiful walk and we were in the trees most of the time. It reminded me of hiking in the mountains at home.

Along our walk.

The trail was a lot like this most of the way.

Looking down through the trees.

A view of Bad Waldsee city from the other side of the lake.

The other route home along a foot path by the main highway. Shorter but not nearly as pretty.

 We were gone for about 3 hours. We walked to Bad Waldsee, around the lake and town and then home again.

The new addition to our house 3/27/2011

Sorry for those who have already heard this story. So Sunday on our way home from church we gained an addition to our house. We were most of the way home, we had turned onto our side street and a car passed us and slowed way down then kept going and pulled into a driveway up the road. The lady came out to get her paper and when we got close to her she asked us if we had a stroller. Spencer said not yet because we had just decided that Elise is getting big and a stroller might be a needed investment to make it easier to get around. The lady then asked if we had very far to get home. Spencer told her that we were almost home and we just had to go up the hill. The lady asked if we wanted a stroller and it seemed like she meant to borrow. Spencer said that we were really fine and then she said that we could have it she didn't want any money for it, it was an extra and we could either use it and return it or we could keep it. She said that she knows kids can get really heavy and that if we wanted it to take it. She was talking to me with this last part and Spencer said that he had to act as translator because I didn't understand everything yet. She was very insistent that he ask me and let me decide. Spencer was glad for this out. I said we were okay but then Spencer told me the part about we could keep it and it was an extra. You could see that the lady really wanted to give it so I said thank you a stroller would be nice. She practically ran to the back of the house to get it. We laughed all the way home, its just not how you usually acquire things. It was very nice of her and the stroller has come in very handy. When we were almost home Spencer looks around and says, "a car would sure be handy". We both laughed and I told him not to push his luck. All I can say is that we must be doing something right or someone is praying in our behalf. We are definitely blessed but then again we always have been.

Our church "building" 3/27/2011

View just inside the front door. The chapel is straight in, the relief society room, priesthood room and office are on the right side of the hall and the nursery and primary room are on the left side of the hall and the kitchen and bathroom are down a small hall to the left.

Spencer and Elise just outside the door into the church. It is in a big office building and we are one area on the third floor.

Elevator and stairs to take us up to church.

Outside of our church building.

Street view of the church building. The bottom, right side of the sign has the name of the church on it.

My best helper 3/26/2011

I was making pancakes and Elise was determined that I needed help with every part;

 measuring,

 making sure mom was beating the eggs right,

 dumping the ingredients in the bowl,

and stirring everything together. With her around all our food should be perfect!

Our walk to Reute

Especially the days that Spencer has school we can't go very far away and paying to travel doesn't make much sense unless you can spend most of the day going but I love that there are a lot of places to walk to. Even though it is just mostly seeing the small towns around us and the countryside it is fun to be out with my family and there is always pretty scenery.
Reute is a small town to the Northwest we go through by bus to get to Bad Waldsee or church but it is only about a 3 km walk. We decided it was to nice to stay inside and so we went exploring.

 On top of the stairs of the monastery in Reute looking out over the city of Reute.

 Looking towards Gaisbeuren.

Reute city

My girl is always doing something new and adorable

Hopefully I don't post to many pictures but I think when you have kids and they are always doing such cute things it is hard to resist.

 I'm not sure what my little acrobat was trying to accomplish but she was sure trying hard to sit on that shelf and keep her feet in the air.

 Next stunt. She has taken to the stink bug look, sometimes just standing in that position and sometimes walking around.

 My family playing peek-a-boo. It gets kind of challenging in our apartment. There aren't that many places to hide but it is amazing how creative you start to get. Elise found Spencer behind the couch and then wanted to hide with him. I think it is a good place for both of them :).

 I tried a new hair do today. She just looks so much bigger when you can do more with her hair. It is kind of fun to be able to try more things now. She is also sitting on the arm of the couch. She has decided that it makes a very good "spot" for Elise.

 Elise posing with her good buddy the pig.

 A better side view of her hair while she hops around on the couch being her silly self.

 We decided to make play dough today and Elise so wanted to help. She is carefully holding the pot and stirring so she doesn't touch anywhere that might be hot. We have always added cream of tartar to our play dough to keep it soft and fresh longer but I tried to use what I was told was cream of tartar here and at first the play dough worked perfectly and we shared it with the other two neighbor kids but then within a day it went all gooey and runny. I looked into Weinstein (the name for cream of tartar here) and found that it is most often  mixed with baking powder and isn't pure. So we are going to have to try again and just leave this ingredient out. I'm sure Elise won't mind cooking more often to have fresh play dough around.

Elise in her spot by the window telling me about everything she could see.

Exploring a new trail 3/24/2011

So I told you there were a couple of roads by our house and we walked along one but not very far because it was windy and Elise was walking so we decided to try another road with her in the backpack so we could go a bit faster and farther.

 We actually walked into town to the bank first so this is a view from the bottom road just after we left town. That is the hill we live on. If you look close you can see a crane in the picture. That marks our house. The older son is building a house on the farm and they always have these cranes when doing construction. So it makes it easy for us to find home when we are out.

 My family as we were walking down the road. We took the bottom road that headed to the South of us and made a big look around through some of the small towns around us just to see the countryside. Our loop took us about an hour and a half.

 Pictures along the way!

 Pictures along the way!

 Nice, big flat fields to farm. Anybody jealous? I can think of a couple of individuals specifically.

 More pictures along the way!

 I thought it was very pretty how the church sits up on a hill and just kind of jumps out at you as you come close to town. This is the same church that I took a picture of on our Sunday walk only then it was from a lot farther away.

We still haven't figured out what these stands are for completely and we keep forgetting to ask. They are all around on the edges of fields. We guess that they are for watching for vermin to keep them out of their fields. We think Blake needs to build one. It would be a good job for Peter and just think of all the trouble it would keep him out of :).