one short moment of summer

Our summer vacation, well summer you can not call it as the weather as been more than lousy, but nonetheless, this season is coming to a close. It has been one busy busy season for me---in addition to my great job, I assisted in 3 moves! WoW! I learned with each move and slowly becoming an expert!

Yesterday we were granted a day of 90° F weather! It was awesome--we finally got to use our little pool! The water was freezing, but after a day of working on the last move it sure did the trick.

It is quiet now in Berlin, 2 friends are now in their new homes, one in San Francisco the others in Munich. We miss them terribly and pray for a reunion soon. My husband returned to work this morning and my son returns to school next Monday....fall and my favorite holiday are creeping up on me fast!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Sunflowers

Hello Everyone!
 as many of you know, it does not take much to inspire me!  And this week it was no different, the inspiration  bug bit me when  I found some green material in my friend´s basement! My friend Liz moved to Munich and I have been helping purge, pack, and clean! WOW, what a job, but that is a story for another blog post(once I have recovered!)

The green material got me thinking about sunflowers! And so I got busy trying to play catch up with my brain!!! Out came the black dishes, the new black cloth napkins, the sunflowers, and for a change the stemware aquired on a cruise taken long long ago with my parents! And before I knew what was happening, the tablescape for this weeks Tablescape Thursday entry was nearly complete! Just missing the final touch....and thanks to my cricut, I was able to create that final touch!

Gotta love my Cricut! I was able to create these cute flowers for each tablesetting

the yellow charges come from IKEA, for that matter so do the black plates!

Will the cat, looks on  from afar!

one can do so much with colored sand!

the glasses come from a NCL Cruise we took with my parents!

I hope this Thursday finds you healthy and happy! See you all real soon. Perhaps this Sunday here at An American in Berlin for New Recipe Sunday?

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Oma´s 90th Birthday Table!

On August 01, 2012 my mother in law turned the big 90!!!! Amazing, don´t you think? I truly had a blast planning this party for her. As many of you know, I am by no means best buddies with my mother in law, but I felt it was my duty to organize a blowout bash for her, certainly at 90 she deserved a party! Back in February we thought we would lose her, turns out she was over medicated. Thankfully the nurses requested that she go into the hospital to have her meds checked(smart nurses!). We are forever grateful to them for making that call, as after a 3 week stay, we had Oma back! She is so with it, goes for long walks, goes to the store herself, eats in the dining room and and and and!

Cupcakes

Cake Pops!

gold charges on loan from my friend Jeanne, the dishes were on loan from the retirement home

Beautiful flowers---thanks to my girlfriend Magda!

The Buffet Table

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Strawberry Cake

Happy Birthday Oma! 

How cool is it be 90!

I had all the planning for my mother in laws 90th birthday set......except the cake. I just could not decide what kind of cake to make. I knew the typical american cake would not be quite what oma was looking for, so, just a few days before the party, my girlfriend Petra Düwel shared a recipe with me...said it was the best ever and so I tried it! And yes this is one of the best cakes I have ever had. Not the easiest cake to slice, but it is sooooooooo good that you do not mind it not looking pretty once sliced! The best--no baking required!

Strawberry-Cream Cheese Cake

Ingredients:

140 grams Butter
200 grams butter cookies
300 grams cream cheese
100 grams powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons Milk
100 grams almonds
600 grams strawberries
500 grams cream
1 pkg vanilla sugar
1 Tablespoon Sugar

Directions:

1. Melt butter and crush the butter cookies. Mix well. Spread on the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan.
2. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and milk. Spread on top of buttercookie/butter mixture.
3. Grind the almonds and spread on top of cream cheese mixture and chill cake.
4. Slice strawberries and whip the cream.
5. Distribute the strawberries on the cake and cover with whipped cream---chill for 8 hours (believe me you really need to do this!)
6 Decorate with a few strawberries and serve

Happy New Recipe Sunday!

Holy First Communion

This past April, my godson Marco received his first holy communion in Varrelbusch Germany. it was a small group of children, so thankfully mass did not last too long! My girlfriend Petra,

 Marco´s Mom did a wonderful job of creating a fitting tablescape.

Happy Tablescape Thursday Everyone!

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