Baking with Mirabelle Plums.

Last night I baked a Mirabelle Plum and Cognac Clafoutis with the plums Ariana and Daddy picked from the tree in our backyard! It turned out delicious! We served it slightly warm, dusted with powdered sugar and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. It was kind of like a cobbler.

These sweet little plums come from the Lorraine region of France (which isn't far from us) here in Germany. They are good to eat by themselves (my husband really likes them) but they are also good to bake with.

Mirabelle Plum and Cognac Clafoutis Recipe

3 large eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespons softened butter

about 1.5 cups of stoned mirabelle plums, cut in half

1/4 cup cognac or brandy

30g (1 oz) flaked almonds

powdered sugar and vanilla ice cream to serve.

1. Beat the eggs, cream, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl.  

2. Add flour, mix well and then beat briskly with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute.  

3. If time allows, set aside to rest for 1 hour at room temperature. In the meantime, macerate the mirabelle halves in the brandy.

4. Preheat oven to 425F (220C) and melt butter in a pie dish.  Spread the mirabelle halves evenly over the base of the buttered dish and carefully pour the batter over the fruit.  Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 10 minutes. 

5. Sprinkle with almonds and move your rack down 1 notch and reduce the oven temperature to 350F (175C) and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. 

Serve slightly warm with powdered sugar. Scoop of ice cream is optional but very yummy!

Orignal recipe found here.

We Love Kiwi Crate!

I posted about how much we love Kiwi Crate over on The Shopping Mama the other day.

Kiwi Crate is a great monthly craft box subscription for your kids. Ariana has been getting them for several months now and we really get excited when that little green box arrives in the mail.

For this box, one of the activities was a watercolor "under the sea" animals craft. The other was a sailboat and there was even a bonus activity! I made a list of 10 things I love about Kiwi Crate and shared it with TSM readers. I thought I would share my two favorite things about Kiwi Crate here too.

Top 2 things I really love about Kiwi Crate are:

1. A new box is delivered to my door monthly!
2. It encourages curiosity and creativity!

To read the 8 other things I love about kiwi crate, be sure to check out my Kiwi Crate review post.

Do you do Kiwi Crate? Would your child like something like this?

It makes a great gift too!

Wittlich Pig Festival

Last weekend we went to the Wittlich Pig Festival. It's held every year in the village of Wittlich in Germany. 

According to a legend, the town of Wittlich was a walled fortress. One night the guard lost the pin to secure the gate to the city. When he couldn't find it, he locked the door with a carrot. During the night a pig came along and ate the carrot, the gate opened and an army came in and ransacked the city. The angry townspeople herded together the pigs and roasted them. Since then, the town of Wittlich has been known as the town of the pig burners and every year they have a festival. 

Ariana wasn't so sure about seeing a whole pig being roasted over the spit. 

While we were waiting in line for our pork sandwiches we enjoyed the live band on stage in the marktplatz.

 Our tickets for our sandwiches and Ariana and Daddy waiting in line. She wasn't thrilled about waiting.

Finally our delicious sandwiches with amazing German mustard! Eating under a tent with pretty lights and glass bottles of coke, yum!

We stumbled upon a street performer who was making giant bubbles and he called Ariana up to help. She did a great job until she saw how big the bubbles were getting and then she just wanted to chase them around and pop them!

Enjoying riding the carnival rides!

Our little animal lover, adored the pony ride!

Nutella and strawberry crepes for Mommy and Daddy and cotton candy for Ariana.

More fun rides. Bumper cars are her favorite!

With her prizes. Play makeup and a punkrocker mohawk wig. 

I also hit my 37 week mark that day. It was such a fun day and such a great carnival especially great for kids with lots of games and rides! The food was yummy too! Love those pig burners!

Currently: August

Eating the last of the black cherries I bought the other day.

Preparing for my 36 week OB appointment coming up this week.

Loving these cooler 70 degree days. It beats 100 degree heat anytime, especially during a summer pregnancy.

Tidying up the guest room for my mom's upcoming visit post-baby.

Sewing another craft for Little Mister's nursery.

Anxious for the school year to start. Ariana is going into German Immersion Kindergarten this year.

Planning quick and easy meals I can have on hand once the baby arrives.

Wishing I had a house elf to some cleaning around here.

Swimming with Ariana at the base pool.

Sleeping uncomfortably most nights.

Learning to use the new printer I got for my birthday this week and hoping it helps with keeping me up to date with printing photos.

Happy to have celebrated my 29th (and 1st) birthday in Germany. The other 2 I was lucky enough to be with family in Florida.

Waiting on my new carseat for Little Mister to arrive in the mail. It's the last of the baby items!

Undecided on a baby name still. Yesterday was the 8th, now it's officially less than a month left until my due date!

Backyard Butterflies

It took long enough for summer to get into full swing here in Germany. And now that it's finally here our backyard has been full of butterflies. Ariana has learned to gently catch them and put them in her bug box to study and observe.

The other afternoon she had up to 5 butterflies in her box that she caught all by herself. 

Of course for me it was the perfect time to break out my macro and take some shots. After a little while we set them free but boy did she have fun catching and watching them!

These were taken with my Nikon D7000 and Nikkor 105mm/f2.8G macro lens.

We discovered that macro shots of a butterfly makes them look kind of alien in the face.

 I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get their eyes more in focus no matter how I angled the camera, what aperture I used or where I focused. 

Fellow photographers, any tips?

The little yellow one was my favorite to photograph.
Ariana had such a good time playing outside. So happy I'm getting this quality summertime fun with my girlie!