The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Songbird76]

Looks like you had a great mini vacation. I remember when my family went to Germany in the early 90’s they would charge you for every roll you got. Guess they don’t do that anymore. The food and especially those desserts look so delicious.

They can't charge you for food you didn't order. It's the same with drinks...no free refills over here, so you have to call a waiter over if you want another drink. They won't come and ask you if you want another when your glass is empty, because that's seen as pushy, like "Buy more! Spend more money here!" They can't just bring you more and then tell you that you have to pay for it. But since we asked at the Italian place, I thought they'd put some sort of a charge on it for the second basket, but they didn't.

 

[93boomer]

View attachment 492491

Ok this bit was interesting: There is this little bit of mosaic work that they found. It's hard to see, it is a swastika, and it was made long before WWII, but the swastika was a pagan symbol before the Nazis used it. It's just part of the original structure of the castle.
View attachment 492492

Views from up on the mountain
View attachment 492493View attachment 492494View attachment 492495

Model of what the castle used to look like
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A couple more of the ruins
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When we got done here the plan was to drive north to Roermond for an early dinner at a restaurant we like that we don't have in our area, then further North to Arcen to the castle gardens, which were open late just the one night, and then on home.
We got to Roermond pretty early, got A to McDonalds, and then we went to Wagamama. We weren't really hungry, so we opted not to get an appetizer...the gyoza are good, especially the fried ones, but we just didn't have the appetite. It was soooo hot that day. E and I each gotthe Soba terriyaki with steak.

View attachment 492500

Normally we would pick two things and share, but last time we tried this and the ramen and liked this better, so we both decided to get our own this time. M got Katsu Chicken Curry, which was soooo good....think I will get that next time. Last time he got the spicy version and he loved it, but it was too hot out for really spicy, and I can't do spicy, so I didn't try his last time, but I got a bit this time and it was delicious. I didn't get a picture though.

We were full, so we opted not to get dessert. They didn't have what M wanted anyway. At the one in Amsterdam, they had a lemongrass sorbet that he loved and wanted to get again. I had a sesame salted caramel thing last time that turned out to be ice cream, and I was disappointed because I was expecting some gooey caramel thing....there was no mention of ice cream on the menu. But they didn't have that in Roermond, either. They did have the Belgian chocolate mousse, which was the star last time, but we didn't have room this time, so we skipped it.

We drove north....got about 10 miles from Acen and M says "How badly do you girls want to see the gardens?" which translates to "Can't we just go home? I don't want to do this." It HAD been a long day and E had said earlier that her feet were killing her and she couldn't walk anymore. So I left it up to her if she was up to it or not. She knew it wasn't A's thing and could hear that M would prefer to go home, so she kind of hestitantly said she'd kind of like to see it, but she didn't want to make them do something they didn't want to. A was pushing to go straight home, M commented that he'd take us "if we really wanted to see it", but he wasn't really interested. So E said we could skip it and we just went home.

Love these little places! Sorry about the bad meals but glad you had some awesome meals to make up for them. Looks like a lovely trip!!

 

[Figgy1]

View attachment 492491

Ok this bit was interesting: There is this little bit of mosaic work that they found. It's hard to see, it is a swastika, and it was made long before WWII, but the swastika was a pagan symbol before the Nazis used it. It's just part of the original structure of the castle.
View attachment 492492

Views from up on the mountain
View attachment 492493View attachment 492494View attachment 492495

Model of what the castle used to look like
View attachment 492496View attachment 492497

A couple more of the ruins
View attachment 492498View attachment 492499

When we got done here the plan was to drive north to Roermond for an early dinner at a restaurant we like that we don't have in our area, then further North to Arcen to the castle gardens, which were open late just the one night, and then on home.
We got to Roermond pretty early, got A to McDonalds, and then we went to Wagamama. We weren't really hungry, so we opted not to get an appetizer...the gyoza are good, especially the fried ones, but we just didn't have the appetite. It was soooo hot that day. E and I each gotthe Soba terriyaki with steak.

View attachment 492500

Normally we would pick two things and share, but last time we tried this and the ramen and liked this better, so we both decided to get our own this time. M got Katsu Chicken Curry, which was soooo good....think I will get that next time. Last time he got the spicy version and he loved it, but it was too hot out for really spicy, and I can't do spicy, so I didn't try his last time, but I got a bit this time and it was delicious. I didn't get a picture though.

We were full, so we opted not to get dessert. They didn't have what M wanted anyway. At the one in Amsterdam, they had a lemongrass sorbet that he loved and wanted to get again. I had a sesame salted caramel thing last time that turned out to be ice cream, and I was disappointed because I was expecting some gooey caramel thing....there was no mention of ice cream on the menu. But they didn't have that in Roermond, either. They did have the Belgian chocolate mousse, which was the star last time, but we didn't have room this time, so we skipped it.

We drove north....got about 10 miles from Acen and M says "How badly do you girls want to see the gardens?" which translates to "Can't we just go home? I don't want to do this." It HAD been a long day and E had said earlier that her feet were killing her and she couldn't walk anymore. So I left it up to her if she was up to it or not. She knew it wasn't A's thing and could hear that M would prefer to go home, so she kind of hestitantly said she'd kind of like to see it, but she didn't want to make them do something they didn't want to. A was pushing to go straight home, M commented that he'd take us "if we really wanted to see it", but he wasn't really interested. So E said we could skip it and we just went home.

Thank you for sharing! Happy Hogwarts vibes Can't believe you wound up at the arches

 

[Songbird76]

Those are my future houses. Up next to the river. Tudor style.

It's a gorgeous setting, no doubt, but man....the stairs leading up to some! I'm sure there had to be drive ways somewhere, but not visible...if they aren't accessible by car, that's a big NOPE for me.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Word of caution. Might not apply to him, but back in 2015 when I went to Europe for a month. I ate everything I could get my hands on and on the 7 day trans-Atlantic cruise with all that food (prepaid) I went crazy. I weighed myself when I returned and I was at the lowest weight that I had been since the 90's. I didn't consciously think directly about it but I think that in that short time I changed my habits and lost weight in spite of myself. I think that was just not thinking about it. I rationalized that I lost weight and hadn't even tried that my metabolism might have changed and it would just continue to melt off. I made one mistake though. I forgot that I had kiddingly referred to our trip as the European Death March. I forgot all about that massive amounts of walking I did during that time. I stopped the walking and probably consumed a little more then I had pre-trip and the pounds just packed on. Now I've had to lose it all over again. It can be a long, long process. I hope that he doesn't have the brain dead reaction I had.

A good word of warning sir. But he hasn’t been lulled into complacency he has started his regular exercise routine already. Me, I plan to start tomorrow it is too lovely of a day not to be in my hammock.

 

[Songbird76]

Thank you for sharing! Happy Hogwarts vibes Can't believe you wound up at the arches

I assume you are referring to the golden arches? We always end up there for A. He won't eat much else. He's picky, even about the kind of fries he eats. When we go on vacation, everyone gets food they like. So we go to McDonalds for him, then we go and get real food. The one time we got food ourselves was after the dinner in Monschau, and the only thing we got was dessert.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

My college roommate would wait for me to leave, then find my stash and eat it all. I had a bag of reeses mini peanut butter cups, came home and all but one were gone, so I bought more and hid them. She found them, ate them all. But then she'd buy stuff and tell me that she knew exactly how much she had and if any was missing, heads would roll.

Never had a problem with any dorm mates or any of the housemates I had. We all respected each other’s stuff and sometimes chipped in a shared things equally. Although one of my roommates once used one of my fry pans and didn’t wash it once, I waited her out but I needed to use it so I washed it. Only happened once and she came in and saw me using it and apologized for not washing it without me saying anything. I don’t think I could have put up with a roommate ate would steal my stuff, even food.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I assume you are referring to the golden arches? We always end up there for A. He won't eat much else. He's picky, even about the kind of fries he eats. When we go on vacation, everyone gets food they like. So we go to McDonalds for him, then we go and get real food. The one time we got food ourselves was after the dinner in Monschau, and the only thing we got was dessert.

I know you said A usually gets his McDonalds before you eat but I’m curious if he ever tries bites of the rest of your food at the other restaurant? Just wondering because I think you said before that trying new foods/things was part of his plan at school.

 

[John park hopper]

Remember Disney food has zero calories!!

As well as zero nutrition

 

[Songbird76]

I know you said A usually gets his McDonalds before you eat but I’m curious if he ever tries bites of the rest of your food at the other restaurant? Just wondering because I think you said before that trying new foods/things was part of his plan at school.

Very rarely. We tried to encourage him to try new things, but when we got his diagnosis, we started with the classes for us to learn how to handle it, and one of the things we did was video him and our mentor would watch the videos and give us advice. She looked at videos of him eating and said she can tell by the way he eats that his mouth is really sensitive, which is why he makes an absolute mess when he eats, but also that food feels weird to him. If something is not exactly the same as it was last time, it scares him...he thinks there's something wrong with it. So like...a different brand of fries that is cut thicker, or chicken nuggets with a different breading....those things trigger his anxiety and he won't want to eat them. So we always offer him to try our stuff, but he very rarely does it. He will eat plain cooked pasta now, with just a bit of salt, but only a certain brand of fussili, no spaghetti or anything. We're working on it, but we don't ever force him, because experience says that doesn't work, that just makes it worse. And sometimes we make him wait to get his food until after we've eaten. We've told him we don't mind getting him food he likes, but it's not fair if we ALWAYS have to wait so that he never does....and if he really hates waiting, he'll have to try something new wherever we are to tide him over until we can get him something else. There may not always be a McD's (like Disney) and he'll have to settle for something else. That's how he discovered his love for Joffrey's donuts. He ate a LOT of those last summer.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Very rarely. We tried to encourage him to try new things, but when we got his diagnosis, we started with the classes for us to learn how to handle it, and one of the things we did was video him and our mentor would watch the videos and give us advice. She looked at videos of him eating and said she can tell by the way he eats that his mouth is really sensitive, which is why he makes an absolute mess when he eats, but also that food feels weird to him. If something is not exactly the same as it was last time, it scares him...he thinks there's something wrong with it. So like...a different brand of fries that is cut thicker, or chicken nuggets with a different breading....those things trigger his anxiety and he won't want to eat them. So we always offer him to try our stuff, but he very rarely does it. He will eat plain cooked pasta now, with just a bit of salt, but only a certain brand of fussili, no spaghetti or anything. We're working on it, but we don't ever force him, because experience says that doesn't work, that just makes it worse. And sometimes we make him wait to get his food until after we've eaten. We've told him we don't mind getting him food he likes, but it's not fair if we ALWAYS have to wait so that he never does....and if he really hates waiting, he'll have to try something new wherever we are to tide him over until we can get him something else. There may not always be a McD's (like Disney) and he'll have to settle for something else. That's how he discovered his love for Joffrey's donuts. He ate a LOT of those last summer.

Cool, I just didn’t know if he was getting a little more curious about different food as he was getting older. And a Joffrey’s donut sounds good. Hubs and split one last week at Animal Kingdom, I needed something to get my blood sugar back up quick. I thought a whole donut might be too much so hubs agreed to eat half. I totally should have gotten my own! Ha!

 

[donaldtoo]

T-storms started rollin’ through about 5:30a-ish. No beloved triple digits today... darn cold front...!!!!!

 

[MinnieM123]

As well as zero nutrition

That's what makes it tasty.

 

[donaldtoo]

It's sad. Lunches were stolen and signs had to be put up. Also, signs needed to go by the microwave, - Please cover your food when using the microwave. I thought only children needed to be told these things.

You’d think...?!
Not only do I cover my food when I nuke it, I also put a coupla’ paper towels on the bottom tray.
May seem like an overuse of paper, but, I’m probably gonna’ hafta’ use even more paper towels if it gets all over the inside of the micro.

 

[donaldtoo]

Not only that when I was working they had to put a sign up-- Please Wash Your Dishes --people would just leave them in the sink

This is one that actually had to be posted in our office kitchen several years ago. But, still, WTH...?!?!?!
I only bring food in prepackaged, disposable containers, or leftovers from home in stuff that can be chucked.
Our office already provides 2 different sized paper plates, 2 different sized paper bowls, and red Solo cups, along with plastic forks, spoons, and knives.
Who did these people think was gonna’ wash their dishes...the night gnome crew...?!!!!!?

 

[donaldtoo]

Looks like you may get some relief from the heat, tropical depression 14 is on track for TX possibly a cat 1 and tropical depression 13 looks to go into Mobil/Pensacola also as a cat 1 at the same time --crazy

Thanks, but, we need no relief from the heat, we relish it...!!!!!!!
Forecasts are all over the place, but, again, hurricanes that affect the Texas coast usually are only mild rain events for us by the the time they get to Central Texas.

 

[Gabe1]

Happy Farm Market Saturday! Later

We went to farm country this afternoon For Blueberry fest. We did the portion of with the open air market tables but skipped the flipside of corn and sunflower mazes etc

It is also where the kiosks for speciality foods were. We didn’t venture to that area of the farm. To many humans. It is a freak’n farm! No reason to squish all that stuff and guests into a small footprint. But we came back with boxes and Bushels of fruits and veggies, blueberry and also a strawberry rhubarb pie. Two loaf pans of blueberry lemon zest and a fresh peach bread Fun was had just saved ourselves from the Covid side of the farm.

 

[Gabe1]

 

[Rista1313]

Thanks, but, we need no relief from the heat, we relish it...!!!!!!!
Forecasts are all over the place, but, again, hurricanes that affect the Texas coast usually are only mild rain events for us by the the time they get to Central Texas.

We? Who's this we? You got a mouse in your pocket?

 

[Rista1313]

It's been a busy day.... as Saturdays always seem to be... got my oil changed, picked up donuts, went to bath & body works for their one day soap sale..... did laundry, went for some groceries...

Now I'm sitting here contemplating 34 more days until my Las Vegas trip.... I got my suitcases out already. Man it's gonna be a long month! LOL...

I'm an obsessive ex travel agent... always looking at what's going on, videos, blogs... etc... I can't stop!