Concerts and Meat

Last night Greg and I went to a concert here in Gijon. Philip Glass is a minimalist modernist composer. What in the world does that mean? I had no idea, but apparently he writes symphonic type music but it's only played with a few instruments. Last night there was a piano, cello, and percussion. I didn't know what I was in for, but it was awesome. The cellist was fantastic! And her arms looked amazing I think I might have to start playing a pretend cello or something. It was cool to have an American do a concert here, and even better he talked in English... =)

After the concert we went out to dinner (we had reservations at 10:30... they eat so late!) at a restaurant that used to be a sidra factory (sidra is the famous cider from Asturias). We always joke about how all of the food here is "digestive." They eat so much of that Activia yogurt and fiber cookies, but it's because they don't eat vegetables. We ordered a Parrillada, which is a big platter of meat grilled together over the fire. Es muy deliciosa! There was sausage, pork ribs, beef ribs, ham, steak... oh it was so good!! The picture below isn't the Parrillada that we ate, but it's a good example of one. And then I had flan for dessert.. yum. It was a very Spanish evening, Greg and I didn't get home until 1:30, and I was lucky enough to translate the sermon at church today.. needless to say it didn't make much sense, I don't function so well without a lot of sleep. =)

Lola loves cows

On our hike this past Wednesday we encountered lots of livestock. My dogs and their best friend Barley (a beagle) decided it is their responsibility to protect us from these weird looking creatures. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera... but if you can just imagine a trail that is so muddy your feet sink into the ground and that gross sucking sound as you try to pull your boots out, that was our wonderful walk....and to be honest, I'm not sure if it was just mud. Gross. Not to mention falling into some bramble-I've got battle scars. But anyway, the best part was while we're walking along we hear some hooves start pounding the ground and see 3 cows bolting across their field and a teeny tiny Lola chasing them. It was awesome.

goats on the mountain

a beautiful waterfall

Greg had off work yesterday, so we went hiking on a different route. And even in the car Lola could sense there were cows, she watched out the window for the entire hour checking to see if there were any cows. It was a beautiful hike, we were walking in a gorge and the rock overhangs were dripping water, there were waterfalls, and we even saw some goats running along the mountain side. We had to leash Lola when we were close to some fields that were filled with cows and their adorable babies, but that didn't stop her from dreaming about chasing them, it was awesome.

isn't she adorable?

Semana Santa

"Young Life brings the good news of Jesus Christ into the lives of adolescents with an approach that is respectful of who kids are and hopeful about who they can be"

Greg and I have both been involved in Young Life throughout our lives, and both met Christ through our leaders and camps. And after high school Greg felt called to lead Young Life, which he did in Chicago and in Newark. This week many students in Europe have off for what we would call Spring Break, and in Spain it's Semana Santa. We were invited to join Young Life on a trip to Poland, and we accepted so we're headed there tonight. We will be working with high school kids from U.S military bases who are going on a mission trip to Poland for their spring breaks. We'll be spending time in English classes at a school near Katowice, Poland. And we will also be rebuilding a playground at an elementary school. We're really excited to connect with some students and spend the week getting to know them and sharing the good news of Jesus. So if you think about us, please pray that we would connect with the students (the U.S ones) during small groups, etc. And also that we would be able to share the gospel with the Polish students as well. I'll be sure to put up pictures and fill you in on our trip when we get back!

Weekend getaway =)

We just got home from a weekend visiting Bilbao and Pamplona (where the running of the bulls is), and it was so much fun! We had to leave our puppies for the first time... there were no tears, thank goodness, i love those dogs! And of course on Friday morning Goyo ate a tea bag - so I was hoping it would pass before he got to the dog kennel, I wonder what they would have thought.. haha. But all is well in dog country, and they're both fine.

Anyway, Carolyn is a coworker of Greg's and is living in Spain for about 3 months, she has a friend who lives in Pamplona so we decided we'd take a weekend trip to go visit. We stopped in Bilbao overnight (about 3 hours east of Gijon), and it's actually in the Basque country, and the language there is crazy, there were so many z's and u's and k's. I had no idea what we were getting into but it was awesome! About 20 years ago it was considered the ugliest city in the north, and they've done a lot of work to it, and it shows-it was beautiful!! They even have a Guggenheim museum, which are also found in: Venice, Berlin, and New York. And the weather was fantastic, we had a wonderful time visiting the museum and walking through the city.

A view of Bilbao's river walk, from a pedestrian bridge (you can see part of the Guggenheim in the backround):

The oh-so-cool Guggenheim museum:

Are we still in Spain? What in the world is this language...!

Saturday night we drove to Pamplona and met up with Carolyn's friend Roberto and his girlfriend Helena. Carolyn and Roberto volunteered together in Thailand a few years ago. Anyway-we took a quick tour of the city, it's pretty small, and watched the end of a sport they play there, it's called Pala and it's almost like Raquetball, wall ball, and tennis all got smashed together. Then we ate a very Spanish dinner (super late, I could barely keep my eyes open!). Sunday we took a tour of the city in the daylight, and it's really cool. It's a medieval town and so it's surrounded by these huge walls, and they've put in an elevator that takes you up into the town through the wall, it's pretty neat. We walked along the path where the running of the bulls takes place, and we had coffee in the plaza where Ernest Hemingway would stay when he visited the city.

The elevator that takes you up through the wall:

A statue commemorating the running of the bulls:

My puppies are all grown up!

Last Tuesday I surprised Greg by taking the dogs to the groomers to get their first hair cuts. Schnauzers have a very particular cut, and I was super nervous because I loved their fluffy puppy hair, but it was getting ridiculously long and hard to take care of. But it was a success and they look adorable!!! They don't sit still for pictures, so here's the best I could do.

Before: Greg has Lola and I'm holding Goyo

Lola after her haircut

Isn't he handsome?! This one is Goyo.

And my dogs love vegetables, so they sit at my feet while I chop hoping for something to snack on, Greg thinks they're weird.

baking and birthdays

The last week and a half I've been baking everything in sight and I've discovered some amazing new recipes. I mentioned the blog Bakerella before, and I love her, but anyway-for Valentine's day she made cookie sandwiches from a cake mix filled with cream cheese icing... we had a few people over for Mexican (I made flautas... they were amazing) and I tried out these cookies with a boxed white cake mix, and they were such a hit! I even took pictures, but I need to load them onto the computer. If you've had oreo cakesters.. these were the same, but only cost me $2 to make.

Refrigeration in Spain isn't as advanced as what I'm used to back home, and when you mix in the lack of preservatives-food goes bad very quickly at the Schmeers. Unfortunately I can't blame the fridge, but I ruined a pound of strawberries last week but still wanted to use what I could salvage from them (I'm on a new kick to try really hard not to let our food spoil). And I made strawberry scones, they were fabulous! My mom made some great scones this summer and I've been meaning to try to make them, I attempted one night for Greg and I and ended up with a huge mess all over the oven, I'm not sure what went wrong. But these were fantastic, and they kept for 2 days! Goodthingscatered.blogspot.com is where I found the recipe and I'll post it later this week. It was so easy... the trick is in the butter.

And my last accomplishment was homemade brownies, I've tried a few different recipes and they just do not cut it. We brought some Duncan Hines box mixes with us from home, and I don't know what secret ingredient they have in those mixes, but nothing beats the boxed mix. But I've finally found a decent recipe. Tineke and Charles are great friends of ours (they're from Holland) and they have 3 kids. Charles had to fly to Holland this weekend because he just found out his dad is really sick, and Tineke was stuck with hosting a sleepover birthday party for her 10 year old son and 9 of his friends! She asked Greg and I to help out, and of course we said yes, we had no idea how much fun we'd have! She's a planner, so the party was planned out to the minute. And Greg and I had a blast playing games with all the kids and keeping them entertained, and we got a free dinner out of the deal! And Tineke was the holder of the secret awesome brownie recipe, who she got from our American friend Amber.

It's almost too simple.. give it a try!

Brownie Pie

1 c. white sugar

1 c. butter or margarine melted

2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)

3 eggs

6 tbsp. flour

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix sugar, cocoa powder, and butter in bowl.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each egg.

Add flour and vanilla extract, again-mix well.

Grease and flour a 9 inch pie plate (this step is surprisingly important!).

Bake for 30 minutes, or until edges pull away from pan and toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool for at least 5 minutes and cut into wedges.

Enjoy!

Always something new to try

From my last blog, you probably noticed that I'm really excited to try new things. Yesterday I went cross-country skiing! I hate the winter. My dad and brothers love it, and go skiing multiple times a year out west, but I've always been more partial to anything that involves warm weather and the sun. But I got dragged into cross-country skiing and I absolutely loved it! Not to mention you don't have to pay to use the trails at the ski resort... talk about a cheap sport! We rented skis in the morning and drove over to the trail, where some REALLY awesome cross-country skiers were making their rounds. At first I was terrified and barely stood up in time for me to fall over. With the help of Tineke I got up and headed around the small practice track. At most ski resorts they make two lines on the trail that you can ski in if you're new to the sport (almost like a train track). I made it half way down a hill before I realized I was terrified and fell over. But after that fall, I decided I wasn't going to be scared and I was going to just do it (thank you Nike for the inspiration). And I did! No more falling (until we got on the real trail, talk about some wipe-outs.. but only 2!)

I'm sad it's the end of the season, I would have loved to go more often, my arms are super sore today, but it feels great! I had a fun day in the sun and beautiful mountains and got a great workout! I left my camera in the car on accident, but I'll post a picture when Jodie sends me some.

I also tried a new recipe last night, I made my own caesar salad dressing last night! The anchovies made me a little nervous but it was great, and surprisingly simple. I've been reading a bunch of new blogs (1.makingahouseahome.blogspot.com-great tips on recipes, etc; 2. bakerella.blogspot.com-mouthwatering, if you love to bake you HAVE to check out her recipes; and 3. thepioneerwoman.com/cooking). I also made homemade croutons, way better than store bought! I added chicken to make it a meal, and Greg even ate 2 bowls!