Updates and the Holidays

We just got back from a very nice trip home for the Holidays! We were able to see alot of family and friends (although not as much as we would have liked!) and had some nice relaxation and good old American food! This won't be long and I will write more later but we just wanted to say how great it was to see everyone and that we can't wait to see you again soon!
Also, I thougth I would include a quick update on my last post about the chocolate chip cookies and peppermint bark. It all seemed to be going so well at first. Then I baked some of the cookies....they smelled great and looked great but just didn't taste right. I think it had something to do with the dry brown sugar that I used! But if accomplished two of my objectives 1) a great smell to cover the deep fried curry smell and 2) cured some of my boredom! The only thing it didn't fix is my craving for a really good chocolate chip cookie! Next I started on the peppermint bark. I melted all of the chocolate (was even able to concoct a double boiler!!) and smashed all of the candy canes. It was only then that I realized that the candy canes were not peppermint! They tasted like the 'fruity' candy canes you can buy that are all different colors. So I was quite confused but at that point couldn't turn back! I made the not-really-pepperminty-peppermint-bark and let it cool. It ended up looking pretty good and tasted not too bad! I gave it to our friends at our "American Christmas" party we had before leaving and it seems like everyone liked it! But leave it to Germany to make a candy cane that looks like the original but isn't! Oh well... maybe next year!
I have included some pictures of my masterpiece!