Tag Archives: 2013

Bacon Strips and Bacon Strips and Bacon Strips

Really America? Deep fried snickers wrapped in bacon? Triple patty cheeseburgers with slices of bacon? Panera Bread serving a simple salmon croissant sandwich to include a slice of bacon. Oy… America…our society is already in such an extreme obese state and now we have this brilliant idea to top everything off with a bit of bacon. Eek… I’m curious, what are your honest feelings or thoughts on this?

I can’t fib to you, we have been no exception to the rule with our food intake. To be frank with you all, we’ve gained collectively around five to ten pounds since landing back on our US soil. Everything has revolved around food on our trip. I felt like we barely would be finished with one meal and we’d be planning or chatting about our next. Truly the American way, right?

I wish I could tell you that we stuffed our little bellies to pure bliss, however while yes we did stuff our bellies, we honestly didn’t find the same satisfaction or fulfillment that we thought we’d have afterwards. Food now tasted much more rich, sweet, salty, all around different.

Poor Mr. B ate a Wendy’s cheeseburger on the way home from our flight arrival into the airport. The first thing out of his mouth was that it tasted like eating a stick of butter. I never did get a burger from Wendy’s while I was home so I really couldn’t concur or deny his thoughts.

Has the food really changed this much over the past two years? Or, is it us that has changed so much in our taste and diets while living abroad? Whatever the case, the best meals to us were our good old fashion families home cooked meals. Our central Pennsylvania Dutch and polish cuisine roots. Yes, pork and sauerkraut, chicken corn soup, chicken and waffles, pittsburgh chicken cheesesteak salads, raisin filled cookies, shoofly pie, sweet lebanon bologna sandwiches, hot lettuce, whoopie-pies, fresh beef burgers from my families livestock, soupies, capicola ham, Troutmans ham spread, dry beef gravy, and ice-cold birch beer. Mmmm Mmmm!

Prepare yourself for the following… these are just a few fun food photos we  got to savor  while home.

Thanks Brad for the blog title inspiration from your tee.

2013

How did you spend your New Year’s Eve? Did you take time to stop and reflect on your past years triumphs and downfalls? Did you take sometime to remember the promises you made and may not have had time to fulfill? Did you catch the countdown in time square on TV? Snag a sweet midnight kiss from someone special? Set your new year resolution? Say out with the old and in with the new? Eat your good luck meal? If you said yes to these all, go you!

We bees have set our resolutions, took time to reflect on our prior years triumphs and downfalls, said out with the old in with the new, and ate our good luck pork and sauerkraut meal too. Unfortunately, we both crashed due to jet-lag before the countdown began, and only I made it up and out of bed to the kitchen moments before midnight to toast the new year. I shared hugs and kisses with my family and had to sneak a little peck on the man of my dreams lips.

I have a feeling about 2013. It’s going to be a year of growth and changes, all and all a really good one! So many fun and exciting things to come all of our way. All to include engagements, births, and marriages, oh my!

Cheers to you and the new year, 2013!

We are so goofy!

Home For The Holidays

You know, I’ve been humming that Christmas tune in my head all week…I think you know the one…

“Oh there’s no place like home For the holidays, ‘cause no matter how far away you roam, if you want to be happy in a million ways, For the holidays, you can’t beat home, sweet home .”

Really, besides the Grinch, who doubts the lyrics of a Christmas tune anyways?

To think just a few short days ago, I was sitting on the plane becoming so overwhelmed with these crazy persons thoughts about going home for the holidays. Feeling guilty and anxious already about making sure everyone has around the same time to spend with us before even stepping foot back onto US soil. EEK! Can you relate?

Thankfully that anxiety subsided somewhere in the air over what I’m guessing was the state of Washington.

I’m happy to report, We Bees are having such a wonderful trip back home! So much delicious home-cooked food and time spent with people we love so dearly.

For now, I’ll leave you with a few pictures from our merry little Christmas!

Typically we all attend Christmas Eve service but due to the road conditions we thought it would be best to stick close to home.

Christmas Eve with the traditional snack attack fest, this year held at my mothers house.I couldn’t believe the wonderful spread of snacks that she put out for us. Shrimp, spicy cheeses and ring bologna, cookies, and middleswarth chips.   I loved watching my niece and nephew. They seriously sprouted by like weeds! I am sure I have mentioned this before in a past blog post, children always put time into perspective for me.

Followed by opening gifts at the in-laws. Any occasion to involve gifts my sweet sister in-law gets super excited and cannot wait to tear into them, hence gift opening on Christmas eve. It always makes me giggle because her brother is exactly the same! He also is the type to get super excited to give me a gift, what a pair these two.

The traditional Christmas Day breakfast with the in-laws, dry beef and gravy.

Last but certainly not least, the traditional Christmas Day dinner with the other set of grandparents and my family.

Poor Mr. B has been incredibly jet lagged. I guess I better follow suit too.

Heimbach’s Country Store

When we Bees lived in the area we always picked up candies and lunch meats from Heimbach’s country store. Nothing fancy here folks, just a quaint little country store packed with all sorts of fun foods and trinkets. We had to stop in when we near it, just for a stroll to reminisce. Clearly we are all about nostalgia here folks. Okay, okay, we ended up buying candy for the plane too. We couldn’t pass up the multi-colored black licorice candy and gummy bears.

Feel free to check out the photos. We didn’t even know they still made candy cigarettes anymore…