22 and 28

In Germany you throw your own birthday party, and while I realize it's a cultural norm here, if you've grown up having your family and friends throw you a party, it's pretty depressing to suddenly think you have to throw your own party. You have to invite people, clean the house, prep the food, clean up afterwards, etc. Where's the fun in that? Most Americans will tell you stress like that is not what they want on their birthday!

*I'm not usually a carnation-person, but something about the pink and purple blooms appealed to me in a retro kind of way
- probably knowing they'd go in the deco glassware.

So Stefan and I threw a mini-party for Hillary. She and her husband are here via his Fulbright Scholarship and are expecting their first child this year. Stefan and I spiffed up the green glass given to me by my grandmother, added lots of pink, Hillary's favorite color, and enjoyed a strawberry-banana concoction with puff pastry and lemon sorbet.Afterwards we went down to the Lahn (river) and rented a paddleboat and Andrew (and sometimes Stefan) paddled us up and down the river for awhile. Good times!











Yesterday we also celebrated another friend's birthday. Salome turned 28 and she and her husband hosted a fantastic 4 course meal. Although she's Spanish, she's married to a German - so I don't know how they do birthdays in Spain, but she hosted her own party here. Her husband made tons of burritos and she made one of the best soups I've ever had: Mexican mushroom cream soup. She said the recipe called for something like 48 cloves of garlic and 26 chilis! It was quite the meal.