Ritter Sport - Pfirsich-Maracuja Joghurt

I didn't have high expectations for the Pfirsich-Maracuja Joghurt (Peach / Passion Fruit / Yogurt) bar. For one it is white chocolate, so not really chocolate, and then it had fruit in it. So here goes nothing...

Unfortunately, this is not a bar I would ever personally get again. The peach and passion fruit flavors are very strong in it. I like peaches but have never cared for passion fruit much. But trying out new things is what life is all about, so I'm glad I tried it. Jody's mom did seem to like it and took the rest of it home, as this was the first bar I didn't want to finish.

Florian Cooks!

On Monday night, Florian made Schnitzel for us.  

First he breaded the meat....

And then he cooked it in a pan.

I made some noodles, salad, and strawberries to go with it.  It was fun to try something new, that Florian could share with us. 

Ritter Sport - Nugat

When I looked at the picture on the wrapper I expected something similar to a # Musketeers bar. Hard chocolate shell with whipped chocolate inside. This bar was not like that. The texture of the outer shell and the filling was very similar so there was not a lot of contrast.

However, this is one of my favorites so far. Good flavor, even with the hazel nuts in it, and very light.

Rocky Mountain National Park

On Saturday, we left the house early, and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park.  We drove up Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.  You can read about it, but basically it is famous because it is the highest paved road in the US.  It is typically open from Memorial day to Labor day (this year it opened late because of all the snow).

 

Part way up, they have a scenic area and a trail…but the trail was covered in snow…but that didn’t stop us:

 

Kevin and Florian had a short snowball fight :-)

 

 

After we stopped here, we kept driving, we had a little further to get to the top.  Here the clouds were just really low, it sorta looks like it was snowing, but it was not, just low low clouds, it was really neat. 

Getting closer to the top:

The highpoint on the road, right before we get to the visitor center: (12 204.7244 feet)

At the visitor center:

 

On our way back down the road as we headed towards Bear Lake, we saw a large herd of Elk

 

 

Then also in the park, we went to Bear Lake, it is a nice very short hike around the lake and beautiful scenery….we always stop at this same spot and take pictures with our kids….kind of funny…

As you start getting towards the top of the mountain the temperature really changes.   In the town of Estes Park, it was about 80 degrees (26C), at Bear Lake around 65 (18C), and at the top?  A cool 45 (7C)…  

After we finished in the park, we went to Estes Park, and had lunch and walked the town looking in all the little shops.   It was a good day, we finished just in time before the rain came.  

So sad.....tv :-(

Tuesday we had the TV on during dinner watching the news, we were cleaning up doing the dishes, and the TV just went black...so we are very sad....

The old TV in better days

Kevin thinks it might be a fuse or a capacitor on the power board in the display, so hopefully it can be repaired.

We moved it out, but of course it will be a little bit before we find a new one, so we put in my big monitor....but for some reason 24" looked bigger on my desk than in the entertainment center....

The one nice thing about modern computer displays is they use many of the same technologies as TVs (HDMI etc). So all Kevin had to do was plug in a couple of cables and it all worked, even if it is rather small the picture is nice and clear.

Kevin took the TV into town and we are lucky, they were able to fix it!  Yay!  So now we are back to the bigger screen!

Everyone's Favorite - Italian Nachos

We are lucky in that we have found a food that everyone in the family and all of our students have liked...Italian Nachos. What are Italian Nachos? Well they are a twist of Mexican Nachos. The idea is to use really thin pasta chips instead of corn chips, a white Italian sauce instead of nacho cheese, and then the normal add-ons of chicken or sausage, jalapenos, olives, onions, etc..

Jody has found that using wanton wrappers and then cutting them into triangles works best for the chips. She then fries them to get a light crispy chip.

It takes a lot of wantons to make a batch of chips

The white cheese sauce . Jody was very careful not to add spices to it since Florian doesn't care for spicy food.
Unfortunately, Florian would not even try the sauce and so he missed out of some of the flavors.

The finished product

This is something that we make by request because everyone likes it, even though it is a lot of work.

PS...Pauline, we know you have already requested this when you visit us again later this summer, we can make them again later in August.

Chocolate Bars - Vosges - Mo's Dark Bacon Bar

I was in Whole Foods the other day when we were in Ft. Collins and I always have to stop in the chocolate aisle. I was looking for the Black Salt Caramel bar from Vosges and they didn't have it. BTW, the Black Salt Caramel bar is one of my favorites. One of the Whole Foods people recommended that I try the Dark Bacon Bar. I had heard that bacon and chocolate was good, and Jody has also made candied bacon, so I decided to go with the recommendation.

Bacon and Chocolate?

The chocolate that Vosges uses is really awesome. Dark, but not to dark and hard, but not break your teeth hard. By mixing bacon, and I believe it is candied bacon, into the chocolate you get a unique taste. The salty, sweet is a good flavor and you can taste the bacon. Not everyone around here liked it, and I'm not sure I would go out of my way to get another one, but it was worth trying.

Brush Rodeo and Fireworks

Monday evening, we went back to Brush and attended the Rodeo.

Of course if you get a snowcone that is always good....here Kevin is trying to "steal" it.

The rodeo starts with the presentation of the flags and the national anthem.

There were many many events, bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, barrel racing, team roping, and below is steer wrestling...

We made sure that EVERYONE knew Florian was from Germany.  Here he met the rodeo clown, and the clown announced he was visiting, and the entire crowd applauded, it was very cool.  

After the rodeo, all the lights went out and we enjoyed a nice presentation of fireworks to top of Independence day.  It was a nice way to spend America's birthday.  We hope Florian learned a lot about rodeo, and enjoyed watching all the various events.

Brush 4th of July Parade

 The parade starts out with the presentation of the flag. 

 Why are the fireman in diapers?  I don't know, but it was funny...

It was really hot and the fireman were spraying people with water (at 100 - 105 F or  38-40 C), the water was very welcome...

Some kids had come prepared to try to get the fireman wet, I don't think the kids water guns were quite as effective as the big fire hose....

Many of the floats gave out candy and otter pops, again with the heat, this was very welcome....

Of course being in an agriculture area, there were a lot of tractors...

 Even Mickey had a tractor...

We decided the guy in the cow outfit (from one of our local stores) was certainly VERY hot...

It was a nice parade, but it was oh so hot, so we went home, and relaxed in the cool air conditioned house.