Random Wednesday

Yesterday we were so jet lagged from the trip that we slept in past 10, which is unheard of. Gianna is always up at the crack of dawn. I also completely forgot to shower, bring Gianna's clothes back to school, pack a spoon for her lunch, and who knows what else. But today we are back to the old routine, Gianna was up with the roosters (pigeons), and business is as usual.

I bought a springform pan for Easter and it came with a free cake mix for shoko-sahne kuchen. The directions are in German and it called for sahne (cream). They have many kinds of sahne over here, so I picked two different kinds and mixed them together, figuring I would get the best of both varieties. The cake turned out well, although it remains uneaten until after dinner. Let's just say it looks like the picture on the box, so I hope it tastes good. German cake mixes do not have a reputation for being very tasty.

And finally, today Germany observes International Noise Awareness Day. A news article states some 13 million Germans are burdened by excess noise. That's pretty funny, because Frankfurt is one of the quietest cities I've ever been to. They cite traffic and schools as the biggest noise offenders and urge Germans to buy quiet "blue angel" tires. Germans have also become burdened by a few cases of swine flu brought here by holiday makers returning from Mexico. Several reports say Germany has banned travel to Mexico, but I'm not certain if this is truly the case or just some media hype. Germans are huge hypochondriacs, so it will be interesting to see how they handle a flu outbreak.