Santa Claus in Strasbourg

He's here!
And there!
And everywhere!

(As per the bottom photo:
light-up Santa hats are everywhere in the shops.
I have even seen people wearing them, too.)

Basic and Comfortable

I have nicknamed where I am staying "the monastery."
Actually, if I could have designed a place just for me,
this would be About Perfect.
It is pretty quiet,
clean,
has a reasonably comfy bed,
is warm,
has a desk with a locked cupboard for my stuff,
a closet with a few hangers for my clothes,
an en-suite bathroom
cheap wifi,
and breakfast.
Okay, so the breakfast is pretty basic.
Who needs fancy when there is REAL FRENCH BREAD??
Best of all,
it is within the university budget
AND
it is 4 streets away from the cathedral,
the shops,
the Christmas markets,
and the tram.
I could wish the towels were a little less sandpapery,
but I am extremely happy here.

Christmas Markets in Alsace

Arriving Sunday late in the afternoon, after finally finding my lodging,
it was already growing dusk.
So, jet lagged and needing a break before starting work,
I decided to take a few hours to explore the Christmas markets.
My rule was:
hand held photographs only for this first night
(I will return with a tripod on later evenings)
and window shop- unless there's something I knew I really wanted.
Like a 'gauffre avec nutella'- a chocolate waffle-
at one of the many refreshment booths.
This booth is part of the cathedral market set:

The plaza in front of the cathedral's west doors:

The display-only lights at the base of the "grand sapin,"
the 50 foot plus tall Christmas tree
at the edge of the Place Kleber,
one of Strasbourg's largest open spaces in the city center
(a few years ago in the summer time they held the Tour de France
opening at the Place Kleber).

The whole town is lit up--
streets and streets with lights and garlands.
Often real garlands.
I can smell the pine.
It's gorgeous!

Brownie Report

The brownies were a failure.
Sigh.
I think that melting butter & powdered sugar together altered the texture too much.
They came out very, very gooey-- and I know how long my brownie recipe should take, in my oven, in my stoneware pan.
Baked fudge, anyone?

Pepper Lights

I quite like my tree,
even if it is a bit like a spindly Charlie Brown type tree
(and several spots have lights burnt out on it),
but I really LOVE my red pepper lights.
They make me so happy.
They are a couple of different shades of red,
since I bought the various strings at different times/stores,
but they remind me of Arizona,
where I hope to retire one day.

Making Insomnia Productive

I woke up some time between 3 and 4 am,
and I could not get back to sleep.
I lay in bed thinking of the mess my house was in,
and all the tasks I needed to do:
laundry,
dishes,
dustmop floor,
scrub bathrooms,
tidy up.
The list played over and over in my head like a bad record
and finally I decided since I wasn't sleeping anyway
to get up and get some of these things done.

Now, I do have downstairs neighbors
and it would not be kind therefore to start the washing machine,
but I figured I could load the dishwasher pretty quietly
and tidy up the kitchen a bit.
Pretty soon the sink was clear,
the counters wiped off,
everything put neatly back in cupboards and pantry,
even the empty soda bottles filled with water for emergency storage
and ready to take down to the garage.
Then I opened the fridge and started cleaning that out.
I found 3 bottles of salsa,
3 of mayonnaise,
and 2 of ketchup.
I don't even eat ketchup,
but my dad likes it on his scrambled eggs (shudder)
so my parents keep bringing ketchup to my house.
I also noticed that I still had tons of frosting
left over from my post-Thanksgiving cookie party.
Normally I would frost graham crackers,
but not only am I out of graham crackers
(and didn't feel like going to the store),
this was a LOT of frosting.
So I decided to make brownies.
First, the frosting got squeezed out of its piping bags into a kettle:

It looks just like play dough!
(It's basic buttercream: butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, a little milk,
but went grainy with sitting out for several hours/
warming up in plastic bags held in kids' hands.)
Next, add some baking chocolate squares:

After it all melted
(and looked much more like brownie batter)
I added eggs, flour, and a pinch of salt.
At least I hope I remembered the salt...
Then it went into a pan and is now baking in the oven.
I hope they turn out.
I will take them to work with me,
where they will probably be eaten uncritically
by passing students, if not by faculty.
The only downside to all of this is that my sink is now full of kettles again:

Christmas Lights

I visited Temple Square last night with my sister and her family.
The moon was full and so beautiful among the lights.