day 155 (19 days to go)

wow ben over a week since i last posted. its been an exciting week so i'm gonna try to cover everything.

last friday evening. the dinner with andrea went fabulously. we had steak with mashed potatoes and carrots and cresants. the steaks were perfect. i covered them in a mixtures of taco seasoning italian herbs and garlic powder. then lemon juiced them and wraped them in aluminum foil with a lemon slice on top. then put them in the oven and baked/broiled them (not sure which( ovens here can heat from top or bottom i had it set for both top and bottom and had the shelf all the way up. so probably both baked and broiled)) mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. i bought the cresants pre made at the store and put them in the micro wave for a short time. every thing was perfect.

saterday. i relaxed and helped andrea get ready for her families visit. (mostly decorating)

sunday i don't think i did much but that was a week ago so i'm not sure what i did. andreas family came.

monday i got a call from andrea, who wanted to make the same thing we had on friday for her family on christmas. she had bought pork (not steak but should still work) but could not find taco seasoning at the store (its hard to find. i found it by chance. its in a tiny half shelf mexican section with taco seasoning, tortillas (expensive 2 euro for 8) and taco sauce) so i brought over some and the italian seasoning mix (which i had made from several different herbs) and garlic powder. then i got looped into taking a city tour with the family via strassen bahn. after going to the office i decided to stay back and practice piano.

christmas day i was gonna stay home and plan my trip the next day. but i got a call in the evening. from andrea, she said her father really wanted me to eat dinner with them and it wasn't right that i spend christmas alone. so i came over and had porrk and mashed potatoes and carrots with them. had some great conversations. then i excussed myself and came home and packed and did all the last minute stuff i had to to do for the italy trip the next day.

i wrote out blogs for each day on my palm pilot during the italy trip. then i came back and found out i can't connect it to my computer to transfer them so i have to type them all out.