The days of our lives...

Well, first off, thanks for the update on the 10 year reunion Renners! It sounds like we missed a bunch and you are right, the blog would have been superb! And Josh, we’ll see about that gift.

So, last weekend we went out on Friday night with Jake and Sally Carter (the family Ag sits for). We went out in their town, Remich, which was a great time! The town is small and quaint and we hit up a few bars (and the kabob joint) before the night’s end. Sally and Jake are just a very chill awesome couple to hang out with and we always have fun when we get together.

Saturday was a bit rough to say the least, but I managed to get a run in and then headed to work. That night Ag and I crowded around to computer and watched the OSU and Michigan game over a few brews and some tasty grilled chicken and veggies. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

On Sunday morning, we got up and drove out to Hahn, Germany to pick one of our friends up at the airport. Abby Crossen is one of our good friends from Chicago who was in Barcelona for work….so she squeezed in a few extra days to come see us. (Thanks Abs!) Abby was flying in on the forbidden (but deliciously cheap) RyanAir….

We got her without any problems and we were on the way back to Lux by 11am. One of Abby’s first comments to us was, “The people on that flight have no idea what a line is! Everyone cuts!”. As we have said before, RyanAir brings out the animal instincts inside of you!

On the way back from Hahn to Lux there are a few random German restaurants/hotels just sitting in the countryside, and we always say “Wouldn’t it be nice to stop there sometime…” So, today was the day. We opted to stop at one of the places for lunch. It was a tasty meal of brats, sauerkraut, pork, cabbage, etc. The waitress, after having taken my plate from me after the meal and noticing that I had basically licked it clean, said, “Did you like everything?” “No, I hated it!” I replied. She honestly looked offended until she noticed I was laughing. Really, really good to say the least.

We rolled out of there and were home around 1pm. Ag and Abby then went to meet our friend Laura at The Culinary World Cup. Basically, Lux holds this tournament every four years and twenty-five national teams, eleven military teams, scores of regional and private teams and four hundred individuals compete in it! The whole purpose of the event is to assess the chefs’ and pastry chefs’ performances.

There was a wine and bread “wing”, a chocolate “wing” and then the main center event. Inside the main room there was a huge ice mountain with stuffed polar bears and fish all around the bottom as if there was a stream running below the mountain. There was a “lazy susan” type river that had veggie and fruit trays floating by. The pork and cows were hung for display, cheeses were available for tasting, there was a pig pen with pigs running around, a “fountain” of ham (hocks of ham with water spouting up through it), etc.

There were walls set up and different countries were put to the test to cook their best cuisines. Judges were walking around with clip boards, reviewing, asking questions, etc. Sounded very similar to a version of “Iron Chef“. Food and creations were on display all over as well. From what I heard, it was nuts! (Unfortunately, I was working….)

After that event, Ag and Abby went into the city center and walked around for a bit. I got home that night to the smell of a delicious meal cooking and homemade caramel popcorn. Yummy stuff!!

On Monday, I had to work all day but Ag and Abby slept in and then caught the train to Trier. They spent most of the day there walking around and shopping. Again, that night I came home to another really good meal.

Tuesday morning Abby left and the rest of the week was pretty low key for us. We went to ‘Maybe Not Bob’s’ restaurant for Thanksgiving with our friend Ryan. The meal was tasty but there wasn’t any pumpkin pie! Then we went for dinner and drinks on Friday night with our good friends, Laura and Robbie. After dinner, we went to see the new James Bond movie. It was perfect…action, guns, cars, dumb plot, easy to follow, cheesy romantic lines, Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, Bond girls….what more could a guy ask for? Saturday we had our other friends Robert and Alexandra over for dinner. Ag cooked up some beef stroganoff and we drank some good wine. Good times, good times!!

Tomorrow I leave for Orlando (EY new Manager training) and Ag is going to Amsterdam instead of skiing in France. She and Annette Cooper (see previous Amsterdam blogs) were supposed to go skiing in Val Thorne, but, long story short, there was a change in plans and Ag is now headed up to the Netherlands to hang out with Annette. I get back on Saturday and we are heading to Heidelberg, Germany for the Christmas Markets. Heidelberg was one of the only German cities not destroyed in WWII, so it’s meant to be really old and nice. And the German Christmas Markets are like a fantasy land, honestly. So it should be fun and we’ll update you all on those adventures at a later date!