Why I am not a good blogger...

And I knew this would happen once I had been "off Facebook" for long enough. I would get frustrated with the blog. No real comments. No better connection with people. Not worth it? I mean, I suppose I don't have to see many people's Donald Trump support posts or "why Hillary Clinton in the anti-Christ" posts. I suppose that is helping me out in the long run. But, I realized the reason why my blog is not "popular" even among my friends. I'm not posting controversial things. None of the "Why Europe is SO much Better than the US" posts. or "Why the Republican Party is Certifiably Crazy."  Or what if I wrote about my experience as a Mom... "I Let my Kids Watch A Lot of TV and I Don't Care What You Say" or "Your Kids Should Already Recognize Letters" and "Why My Kids Don't Speak German." I'm sure that'd generate a lot of traffic or comments. It's funny, but you'd think after 36 years I would have learned to be at peace with not getting what I want from people. :) And really, I'm mostly just journaling our time here, so I really shouldn't expect to get anything out of it other than a record...

And with that... here's what we did this weekend. We've had a fairly regular tradition of going out to eat with Montanna's coworkers a few Fridays a month. Usually we go to the same place (good food, good place, if it ain't broken, don't fix it, am I right?) but this time we decided to try something different. Because we always bring along our young kiddos, we were looking for a family friendly place, and we found a great Ethiopian restaurant called Safari. Not having much experience with the food, we opted for a platter that had several different dishes on it, and we asked for it to be spicy. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. On the way home, Montanna and I were trying to pinpoint exactly what was so good about it, and I think we narrowed it down to being hearty (like a stick-to-your-ribs meal) and how satisfying it is to eat with your hands. I'm not sure it's the best place to eat during very warm weather (although each dish came with a tiny salad garnish that was AMAZING, so if I could get that on a hot day, I'd be happy).

Our platter for 3. The rolled up things were the bread we used in place of silverware.

 On the platter were stewed lamb, beef, and some chicken legs. Also a variety of what appeared to be lentils (kind of a mushy lentil?) which were very well flavored especially when mixed with meat, and some stewed potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. Also, eggs.

Flames below the Gored Gored.

I also took a picture of our friend's dinner because it was presented in such a cool fashion. We had dessert; mango topped with yogurt and cinnamon. We had coffee as well. The coffee had a distinct flavor (lemongrass?) and it was served with popcorn, which the kids adored. As is the case with most restaurants in Europe, there was no kid menu (though kid menus are fairly standard in tourist areas), and I anticipated that Phoebe wouldn't be interested or able to eat there, so we brought her food. It's a good thing, because they seemed to prepare most everything with ghee (which is dairy). So, they munched on "jam sandwiches" (sunbutter & jelly), apples, chicken, and marshmallows. Yum.

On Saturday we decided to check out Olsbrücken's Torch Hike. So the story is that every year, the villagers light torches and hike up to the Schutzhenhaus and burn away winter with a big bonfire. There are brats and drinks for sale. We thought that sounded like fun.

Obligatory "before" picture

Eerie procession

Umm, how handsome is my husband in this pic??

Lesson learned: when torches are involved, someone's face is going to be obscured.

I really enjoyed it. Apparently there was an Eisbar set up, which sounded pretty cool, but being pregnant, I didn't enjoy anything stronger than a coke. I also didn't bring my camera because I figured the pictures wouldn't be good. Well, lesson learned there too. Next year we're definitely bringing the "good" camera. The hike, although it was super short, really wore me out. This pregnancy is kicking my butt, but I'm savoring every minute of it.

Here's a video of the timber going up in flames. Sorry about my silly laughing.