We have enjoyed some good eats around town, and I threw together a list of current memorable eats that expanded into a more general memories of good eats. I have a lot more, but these are my current top ten:

1. Vetters (downtown Heidelberg, Germany): swabian ravioli and apfelstrudel, Herr recommends the fleischpfanne and a local beer (ought to try the Vetters 33 at least once if you drink alcohol)
2. Dubliner (downtown Heidelberg): Irish; the Irish Stew (made with lamb) and shepherd’s pie, my brother would recommend the farmer’s burger (it has egg on it)
3. Hackteufel (downtown Heidelberg, Germany): Hokkaido Pumpkin Soup
4. Die Kartoffel (Ladenburg, Germany): any potato with sour cream (or the variations available) with the veal to cook on a hot slab of marble (it comes with cranberries, pear, and three sauces)
5. Fouquets (Champs Elysees, Paris, France): shepherd’s pie (Irish dish, go figure )
6. Food stand in Ueno Park (cherry blossom viewing in Tokyo, Japan): yakisoba noodles (fried noodles)
7. Havana (New Hope, New Jersey): Havana Club sandwich
8. Totogin (sushi conveyor belt bar, Nara, Japan): corn nigiri with butter sauce (I have never found this anywhere else!)
9. Babcock Hall Dairy Store (Madison, WI): chocolate chip cookie dough, pumpkin pie, and peppermint stick (standards and holiday specials are all fantastic) – life doesn’t get much better than this
10. Elephant Bar (Overland Park, KS): MisoYaki Fire Grilled Salmon

I also came up with my current list of favorite foods. This actually doesn’t change much, except when new foods are introduced, like rice balls in Japan.

1. frozen fruits (primarily blueberries and pineapple); fresh fruit when the mood strikes
2. sweet potato (oooh, candied yams!!)
3. onigiri! (rice balls, mostly plum and herb; and also just plain steamed rice)
4. peas and corn
5. hot chocolate
6. fresh strawberries covered in dark chocolate
7. shepherd’s pie
8. Irish (lamb) stew
9. ice cream (spaghetti eis!)
10. spiral pasta (usually with a tomato viniagrette and peas or even spiral Mac and Cheese!)

For those who know me well, the list of foods I do not like is much larger than what I like. Needless to say, although not on my top ten and not really a favorite of mine, I am obsessive compulsive when eating candy. Best to keep it away from me… sugar highs can be very scary.

We have had beautiful weather here, really gets one into the autumn spirit. I have been so entrenched in the new library system that I haven’t had much of a mind to do anything or really think in general. Luckily, the new system will be going live this week (OMG!), and then I can resume life again. Woohoo! I haven’t written in a while (the library owns my sooooooooul… okay, that was dramatic), so I will sum up life since August.

Herr and I enjoyed ourselves over Memorial weekend by going to Europa Park (I loved the rollercoaster that spinned like tea cups while going down hills) and used the open Monday to take another spa day in Baden Baden. We still haven’t made it to the public baths at Caracalla yet, so we MUST go back again. It is imperative. If you have seen them, you would understand. Sometime in the past few weeks we took a day trip up to Frankfurt for the Museum Uferfest as well. Otherwise life has been pretty normal. Not so many trips possible on my work schedule.

Last year I made my first big batches of soup and froze them for eating throughout the cold season. This year we’re doing it again (I say “we” because Herr is making most of them this year, I just don’t have time *sigh*). I have made my awesome sweet chili, Herr made our vegetarian corn chowder, and we have two more on the way: turkey wild rice and split pea soup. Yum yum! We scoop them into quart size baggies and freeze them for a rainy/snowy day. lol With the five quart sauce pan, I feel like a witch bubblin’ some sinister brew (often I can be heard cackling and saying “bubble, bubble, toil and trouble…” yay for MacBeth!). Hopefully these four soups are good for storing. Last year’s were a bit iffy.

So, the project that has consumed my life… a few details! I have made some huge modifications to the Web interface, but not nearly as many as I have planned. People will actually be able to check their My Account (gasp!) and place their own requests, use the Web catalog AND our online databases from home (no way!!), make reading wishlists and offer purchase suggestions, and oh so much more! Those were the easiest things though. While I found the project to be quite manageable and engaging, there was a lot of political drama that made the whole thing a nightmare. I spent waaaaay more hours than I should have trying to make it all work, so I really hope everyone likes what we were able to whip up. I’ll post links when it is up and running.

One brother is now in Korea and the other is scheduled for deployment to Iraq in spring. A lot of my colleagues at work have left as the library slowly closes. We just saw two more leave last week and one announced the acceptance of a new job back in the States. It has been emotionally hard, but that’s why we have Rock Band, Legos video games, and lots and lots of books.

All in all, we are looking forward to the autumn season and Halloween. Bought a few new “spooky” Blu-Rays and I have part of my costume (although no actual plans yet…). Can’t wait!