Carb Bonanza and Planet Explorations

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Life has been uneventful and I was too lazy to post last night so here we are :]  I hope you all have had a great week and spent some time remembering 9/11 and all the soldiers that have fought for us!

On a lighter note, I'd like you to take a look into our cupboard:

Looks like 4 or 5 bags of pasta along with 2 boxes....can you tell what the husband likes to eat EVERY night? :D You may also notice 4 bags of flour on the top shelf...those would be allllll miiiiine.  Don't worry; I don't eat straight-up flour like I would brown sugar (maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon mixed in?)

This weekend Ty and his team had a "friendly tournament" as I think it's called; I could be making that up, though.  They won on Saturday by 2 points to a last second shot.  Tyrel had gotten the steal that lead to Voo's possession of the ball.  He said they probably should have won by more since they were up by 18 or 20 at one time but they just got tired and let them back into the game.  Sunday they played one of the best teams in their league (we'll be seeing them again this year) and lost by a small 4 points.  He said they were actually up by 8 at half time.  We'll get them next time!

Here are some pictures I snagged off of the team website of Ty in action!!

Monday they only had practice in the morning so we took the afternoon to go to Carrefour Planet next to Liege (a bigger town close by).  The ride was probably about 25 minutes long and it was nice to get out and see something!  Carrefour Planet is AMAZING.  It really is like Wal-Mart over here!  Katie Simien has been telling me about the one she frequented in Spain; unfortunately, ours is a bit of a ride away.  But this really has everything.  It has a big multimedia area, bathroom supplies, home goods, deli, bakery, butcher, etc.... The store is really huge and bigger than a Wal-Mart, but I think it's just more spread out and not as crammed.  Here are some pictures of it.  Isn't it sad how excited I get about grocery stores over here?

Driving up...I was getting a little excited.

Carrefour Planet!  They actually call it a "hypermarket" over here.  The super-marts are smaller than what we'd consider a supermarket.  

Sorry if these pictures aren't great; I still feel really weird taking pictures inside a grocery store haha

Books, magazines, etc 

Media center of the store.  I think Ty might end up buying some video games here. 

Cooking stuff!  Sorry for the blurry pictures.  Ty says I take too many pictures so I was trying to be discreet :D

Oh the good ole' American section in the store.  Oreos, Diet Coke, and Marshmallows...do you think that sums up the USA?  I'm a little mad they don't have peanut butter on this shelf.  Now THAT is American haha

I will definitely try to take more pictures later.  I got in shopping mode and forgot about my camera; you know that food of mine is important!

Tyrel pretty much knew how to get to the store since they had driven by it going to their games over the weekend.  BUUUT we might have had some trouble getting out of there if it wasn't for my GPS.  Before we left we bought maps off of Garmin for Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.  But for some reason when I got over here it wasn't working and it only showed the really big main highways.  This kind of made me mad since we spent $80 on maps that wouldn't even help us out.  We needed to know the little roads in towns!  I thought this wasn't right and got online to the Garmin website and logged in.  Turns out we didn't load the maps right :s  But I got it all figured out and we have all the streets!  It made me pretty excited that we'll be able to navigate ourselves better and that we didn't waste any money on worthless maps.  Definitely a great investment now that we have the properly loaded.  

Don't forget we love talking to you all, so once again here's my skype: j10menard

Here's Ty munching on some Paprika Lays talking to Wayne and Katie:

Paprika chips here are like barbecue chips in the US.  They taste pretty similar and Ty seems to love them.  Notice his long hair?  He's not too sure if he wants to mess with barbers and translations over here, yet.  I may end up having to get the clippers out :s SCARY! I know I'll probably wait until I go home to visit to get my hair cut.  I can get away with it easily, but after working in a salon it's really hard for me to go more than 2 months without cutting my hair and it's been since May for me.  Sick.  Maybe Ty will learn how to cut.....now THAT is scary :]

Since I posted my Nutella Rolls last week...I thought you needed an update on my baking.  Here are the glorious CINNAMON ROLLS.  I love cinnamon rolls soooo much; my poor roommates can attest to that.  I went through a phase last year and I think I made homemade cinnamon rolls at least twice a week (along with the normal cookies and cupcakes).  I am a sugar-loving fool.  

Proof that they DID indeed start out homemade.  Unfortunately, I was too excited and in the baking mode to take more pictures throughout all the steps.

But here's the finished project...after I had eaten one.  I may have drizzled leftover butter and cream on top of them while they were rising.  Oopsies.  The smell of cinnamon and bread baking is too hard to resist.  After chocolate, cinnamon is probably one of my favorite things.  It's so comforting and reminds me of home and holidays.  

So if you come to visit, I'll make you cinnamon rolls!  They are sooo good.  I think the ones I make are sweet and tasty enough that they don't need frosting.  Of course, a little glaze doesn't hurt anyone, but it's not necessary.  

Tomorrow, Ty has another friendly game in France.  It's going to be at least a 4-hour drive for them.  I definitely wish I could go but I'll pass on the road trip.  I'm planning on making some baked-potato soup and homemade bread.  That'll keep me busy and give me something to do :]

I'll try to update again soon with information on Ty's games!  Have a great day :]

Lots of love.