"Holy Oliebollen!"

After you have made chicken, sausage, shrimp gumbo and your last Greek yoghurt for 2014, what else can you do on the last day of the year?

Why make homemade Dutch Oliebollen! And not just one recipe, but two! 

I mixed up the batters, and I had Flip and the two J's to help me man the Fry Daddy. We had tried this a couple of years ago and knew this deep fat frying of these yeast balls/ beignets is best done out on the screened in back porch ( due to the frying smells). But when we began flipping "fat balls," the back porch temperature was already hanging around 7 degrees Celsius. Wrapped in old sweaters and outside gardening jackets, the three of us plus a jacketless pooch attacked first the traditional recipe in my MIL's copy of Het Haagse Kookboek and then one I found on the Internet (Recipe).

Results: 40+ yummy oliebollen!

And, yes, we sampled a few! 

Wouldn't you?

No "Best of 2014"

Most "end of the year" reviews are quite boring! 

There. I wrote it.

Even before blogging, I hated the year (rear) end reviews on television. What has been done is DONE! Not much we can do about it. 

Been there. Done that.

So if you are considering a year 2014 in review of your blog, you can be sure I won't read it. If I am following your blog, I've seen it. 

I enjoyed it the first time around, but no repeats, please. 

I despise "reruns."

Road Trip (In the Big City)

We are in the Big City. You know, the one with a neighborhood, swimming pool, kiddie park next to the dog poop place, and squirrels and possums and raccoons that have over populated the area. Actually, it sounds more exciting than out at Wetcreek.

Well, yesterday we took a city road trip. 

To avoid "cabin fever" we drove to a HUGE flea market. The weather was drizzling rain and progressively dipping to a chilling temp, but we took a walk along the open stalls of mostly similar goods. JUNK no one needs! Or even wants! I can imagine this could be a busy place in nice weather. But I've seen the acres of little stalls ( even if most weren't open), and we probably won't be coming back to check out the action.

After the Flea Market, we visited Aldi. No plastic bags, some food brands we had never heard of, and paying a quarter to "rent" a shopping cart. I am not really sure how popular this store is (only six customers in the store--we made up half of that!), but I would surely frequent it if there was one near Wetcreek. A gallon of milk for $1.99! And some German food items that we love, such as jarred red cabbage/apples and sauerkraut. So our shopping visit was a success.

Before returning to our son's home to watch the next episode of "House of Cards," we drove through an old suburban neighborhood with some lovely large homes (each on at least an acre of land). Then I saw it! A lovely derelict home in this neighborhood. Mercedes in the driveway! Christmas decorations on the fence gate. And I began to laugh. It was ludicrous that for at least 30 years no one had done anything to or with this home. I didn't look too much at the vehicle, but the wreath and Christmas lights had been up for years. And the white painted walls were green with mold! Soooo Saaaad! We could see into the backyard, and there were numerous dilapidated vehicles. I can only imagine what you would find inside the house. And how this neglect even came about.

Our "chauffeur" made another loop down another street in the area, and we drove by "The Adams Family" house. I kept waiting for someone really spooky to step out the front door.

These decrepid homes sprinkled among the lovely houses made me ready to jump right in and "flip" them. 

Not really, but this was incredible!

Sorry, no photos!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

We try to walk for at least 30 minutes every evening. That routine began three years ago, and temperature doesn't keep us inside in the recliners (nor does Flippy).

This is what our winter wonderland walk might look like today in southwest Louisiana.

Photo Source: Me

And this is what a winter wonderland walk looked like down our road in Zoeterwoude, The Netherlands.

Photo Source: ?

Whatever your weather is, 

Have a Merry Christmas 2014!

Has Facebook Become Grandma's Brag Book?

Warning: Last night I bragged about my great blog numbers, and tomorrow I may be crying about losing followers. Oh, well! Here goes--

How did Facebook become Grandma's Brag Book? 

Remember that little photograph album ( pocketbook size) that your grandma carried around in her cavernous purse? 

The one with photos of her children and their "sprouts" and sometimes even "sprouts of sprouts." 

The one that had your pictures from birth until whenever. 

The same one that contained the most embarrassing snapshots of you and your siblings and cousins and other near or distant relatives. 

You know the one that somehow always appeared when you were trying to impress a new boyfriend/girlfriend?

Well, now Grandma/Grandpa have Facebook instead of a brag book. And they have even convinced your parents and other relatives to cooperate in making photo submissions and commenting.

Next time you browse your family/friends on Facebook, just notice who is posting photos and making comments. 

And who is checking out "Grandma's FaceBook" anyway?

Winter Solstice--Shelfie #12

We have had Oma's cabinet in our home for at least 25 years. It is a beauty on its own, but I keep it "decorated." Here it is ready for Winter.

It won't be long before my daffodils in the yard are blooming. But here they are always on display. This service has original cardboard boxes and was a gift from the DAF factory many moons ago.

We even still have three DAF drinking glasses!

I think I've shown this Antiques Roadshow worthy Clarice Cliff saucer before.

And winter without Schloss Mespelbrunn [ built about 1430] saucer (Royal Bavaria 1977) would not be complete.

Above the cabinet is a thrifted oil painting of a Scheveningen fisherman's wife keeping busy until her husband returns from the sea.

Not Your Mega Blog

This evening around 6:20 p.m. my blog was visited by my 44,444th viewer Kate [Stitches, Scraps and Sparkles in the Sun blog--http://sssinthesun.blogspot.com] Drop by and give Kate's blog a visit. She is a busy stitching/homeschooling mom of two lovely daughters. And I believe that she has a stitching challenge for 2015.

Now for some bloggers, 44,444 views is peanuts. But as I have 48 registered followers, that is an astounding number of pageviews.

And recently I passed my 800th blogpost! Not bad in almost three years of blogging. Guess that makes up for that book that I never got around to writing.

And it all began with this: