Hoags in Europe - Athens

Before leaving Brussels, two of Brian's friend joined us, Justin and DJ. Both are fellow Marines with Brian and live in San Diego. Matt and DJ were groomsmen together in Brian's wedding so they knew each other but I'd never met either. And what's pretty incredible is how the six of us got along the whole time and how much fun it was to be in a group traveling. Not that I expected to fight with anyone, but traveling can be stressful and is an opportune time to get tired and cranky and be easily annoyed. And with six different personalities and six different opinions on what to do and when it could get frustrating. But I can happily report that we didn't experience any of that nonsense!

We arrived around dinner time and this little place was just down the street from our hotel. It was a great find, we scored gyros for only 2 euros each. And they were delicious and filling!

See? Don't they look delicious? And yes those are french fries in there. We ate here twice. Tasty and cheap, yes please!

Our hotel. Looks fun, hip and modern, and it was. The only downside is those colored lights shine right into your room while you're trying to sleep so you really have to make sure the blinds are shut with no openings.

We took our 2 euro gyros and enjoyed them on the hotel's rooftop bar. AND it was incredible. Looking out at the lights of the city, including the Acropolis was a memory that I will not soon forget.

When checking in we were told to forget about US times and embrace Greek times, meaning the dance clubs and partying begins at 2 am and doesn't end until dawn. I'm pretty sure these strobe lights are where the parties were at.

I wish you could tell better from our pictures what a striking view this was, but nighttime pictures are hard to get without a tripod or a steady hand (and the beers we enjoyed from the bar didn't help with that!).

The next day we had a long list of places to visit since we only had a day and a half to explore the city. We got an early start to try to beat the heat and literally walked ALL day. Jen and I went to Athens together during our year abroad as part of the school's Christmas tour  and had seen all the main attractions already, so we let the boys determine what sights to see. It was nice to be there in the summer when a coat wasn't required, but it was almost too hot. We drank a lot of water and lathered on a lot of sunscreen and embraced the sweat!

Beautiful blue skies and impressive columns still standing after all these years!

Gotta take a handful of self portraits on every trip we take.

Athens is a very sprawling city. Some guy from NYC tried to tell us it was the biggest city he'd ever seen. I'm pretty sure that isn't what he meant, maybe just seemed bigger because you can see the city go on and on compared to NYC's tall buildings that are packed in there.

Watching a performance in an old theater. Okay, so there wasn't actually a performance but it felt good to rest our legs a little!

Impressive, right?

Back again after 9 years. Can't believe it was THAT long ago that we were studying abroad. We had so much fun reflecting back on all our travels together and making new memories after all these years. How fortunate are we to have married two best friends!?

Just ignore that ugly construction back there.

There we go, that's a better angle.

Our trip was in mid-June, right around the peak of strikes and riots going on in Greece. We weren't afraid of being in danger while there, but we were nervous about potential travel difficulties like buses, trains and taxis being on strike. We were really fortunate because our time in Athens was sandwiched between two weeks that were much more "eventful." We checked out the activity around the Parliament and it was pretty quiet. Still people camping out and plenty of signs though.

 

 

The Parliament building.

DJ was our fearless leader, mapping out our tour and making sure we didn't get lost, or getting us un-lost when we did!

And here are a few more pictures to show you Athens through our eyes. It really is a gorgeous city. Hard to comprehend how old everything is and the fact that its still standing! We were blessed with such a beautiful day that the blue sky sure makes these pictures shine.

The only disappointment in Athens was that the Olympic stadium was closed to the public as they were setting up for the 2011 Special Olympics. I really wish Matt had a chance to see it. Perhaps that means we need to go back!

Hoags in Europe - Brussels Part 2

Of course, you can't go to Brussels and only sight-see, there is some important eating and drinking to be done too!

Belgium waffles! Now we didn't actually get them form that van but that shows how they were literally everywhere. And of course, Belgium waffles are well known for a reason, they are delicious! They're baked with sugar in them so they are sweet and more of a treat than waffles you have in the US.

French fries, oh the french fries. Contrary to what the name implies, Brussels is THE place to get french fries. They are double fried for a little extra crunch and often served with mayo. And dangerously good! As you can see from the line, this is one of the two most popular places to get them in Brussels (and conveniently located right around the corner from Brian and Jen's place).

That's the best picture of the fries I have. Because like fatties we had to eat the fries as fast as possible and couldn't be bothered to take a picture.

BEER! Everyone knows you can't go to Brussels without sampling Belgium beer.  My favorite was a Kriek, a beer made with cherries so its got a good fruity tang to it. Since we've been back I've been craving it and pick some up at specialty drink stores/bars every chance I get.

 

Matt drinking a Oval

Chimay - easy to find in the US too.

This was actually an Irish drink that was so interesting I had to try it. Called a Black Velveteen, it was half Guinness and half cider. Not my favorite but not bad either.

Last but not least, CHOCOLATE. Thanks to my sweet tooth, this was my favorite Belgian food. We brought a ton back with us, and still haven't finished it all (I just took this picture today!). The chocolate is so tasty that one or two bites is enough to satisfy you so a little bit goes a long way.

And I forgot to include this picture in my first Brussels post. One of the most well known sites to see is this little guy, Manneken Pis. He's always dressed up in different costumes made just for him and it was by far the most crowded places we visited in the city.

Next stop: Athens!

Hoags in Europe - Brussels

After a day (night in Brussels time) of travel, Matt and I landed in Brussels, Belgium. After shuffling through customs like half asleep zombies, we were greeted by our good friend Brian (read his blog here and check out his fun t-shirt company here).

In an attempt to fight off jet lag, we opted to take the walking tour of Brussels led by our gracious hosts, Brian and Jen. The tour was chalk full of fun facts and trivia about Brussels, much of which I sadly forgot already. But we walked and walked and walked, which was perfect in fighting off thoughts of sleeping, but did earn the tour the nickname, The Death March of Brussels.

This conversation probably went like this:
Brian: (rattling off some fact)
Jen: That's a new one! Where did you learn that?
Brian: Rick Steve
Jen: Really? When did you read Rick Steve?
The back story: Literally right before we walked out the door for the tour, Brian was reading Rick Steve's walking tour of Brussels. And proof that he is quite smart, just like that, he worked new facts from good old Rick into our tour of the city.

No big deal, just a typical street in Europe with an impressive historic building in the background.

Yep, that's my husband, the dancing queen. <3

Can you say GOOFball?

Work it Matt, work it.

Pretty impressive city backdrop.

With Brian and Jen.
Proof that we (Matt) can smile nice for the camera.

Clearly we are having fun on our first day in Europe!

Stay tuned for more about our time in Brussels. But before I sign off, I have to prove that I did absorb a little bit of the knowledge Brian shared with us during our tour. Did you know that some people believe that the hoof placement in a statue with a man on a horse indicates how that person died and/or survived battle? I fact checked this, where else but trusty Wikipedia and learned that there isn't much evidence to support this theory and its mostly held true of American history. But interesting nonetheless, right?

Here's what Wikipedia says about the hoof placement symbolism:

A popular belief in the United States is that if the horse is rampant (both front legs in the air), the rider died in battle; one front leg up means the rider was wounded in battle or died of battle wounds; and if all four hooves are on the ground, the rider died outside battle. However, there is little evidence to support this belief.

Do the Mashed Potato!

Mashed potatoes are my favorite food. I love them so much that I could make up a giant batch and sit with a spoon and eat the entire pan full--if only they weren't packed full of butter, cream, cheese, etc. So when I saw a recipe that used mashed potatoes as frosting, I couldn't resist.

Conveniently Gina's Skinny Recipes shows up in my Google Reader feed so I don't have to go hunting for a recipe, it just appears in front of me. When I saw the Skinny Meatloaf Cupcakes a few weeks back, I immediately put it on the menu for the following week.

The results are in and they were GOOD. Now, don't even try to compare my food presentation to the pictures on the original recipe. While I love the look of piped mashed potato frosting, I went with the glob method because I'm just not that fancy.

Shhhh. Don't tell anyone, but those are instant mashed potatoes because I'm lazy.

 I also love that these could be made in advance and then reheated in the oven. They'd be easy to prepare and share if you're providing food for a family with a new baby, death in the family, etc.

Give 'em a try and let me know what you think. I just love the cupcake meatloaf concept and I'm sure you could adapt it to any meatloaf recipe.

Hoags in Europe

We're back! This was our first trip to Europe together and now that we've done it, we can't wait to do it again. Before we even boarded our flight home, Matt and I were plotting our return trip--hopefully next Spring for at least three weeks.

Thanks to my year abroad, I've done pretty extensive travel throughout Europe. But it's such a different experience to do it now that we're real adults. No more camping or hostels for this girl! But of course, I didn't do away with my backpack or steer clear of the street food we ate all the time as students. I was all over the two euro gyros in Athens!

And this wasn't Matt's first trip to Europe either, but he did leave with a little bit of apprehension about traveling in foreign countries. And I definitely don't blame him. When you take away the comfort of a common language and cultural norms and combine that with a reduced field of vision, everything becomes more stressful. But good news: he was much more comfortable traveling than he expected and has no apprehension about a return trip! We got pretty good navigating streets, crowds and airports as a team, after we worked out a few kinks here and there of course.

So what I'm saying is: the trip was amazing! We couldn't have asked for better company to travel with, we saw most everything we hoped to see, we fell in love with Santorini and made it home in one piece (slightly depressed that vacation is now behind us, but still in one piece).

Stay tuned for pictures and more specific details about our vacay.

Oh, and I should say that having a pup to come to makes the end of a vacation so much better. We were so excited to see our little Bounce man on Monday morning. And while we were away he filled in for me at work and made his very first TV appearance. It's worth watching, I swear! Bounce actually gets a fair amount of air time and proved that he can be a well-behaved dog (amazing, I know!).

 

A hop, skip and jump across the pond

It’s mid-June. And that means Matt and I are headed to Brussels and Greece in a few days!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned on here that we booked this trip. In February Matt and I were talking vacation plans and we had decided months earlier that this year would be a small vacation year since I haven’t accrued much vacation time in my new job and we took two big trips last year. But then I got the travel bug. Probably not hard to believe, but Matt was easily convinced that we should throw caution to the wind and book a bigger trip. Our good friends Brian and Jen moved to Brussels, Belgium last summer so it was an easy decision to go visit them in their new home.

And since we are going all that way we wanted to tag on another European destination. We toyed around with Switzerland, Italy and Greece, ultimately deciding on Greece. So we’ll spend ten days in Europe, fly into Brussels then to Athens where we will spend a few days and then end our trip in beautiful Santorini.

Ahh. This is the patio of the place we are staying at with Brian, Jen and their friend, DJ. To say I’m excited would be a vast understatement. Can’t wait for the break from reality and to experience new cities and cultures with the hubs. I promise to post pictures and anecdotes when we return. 

Come on over!

Well it's about time, but we finally got patio furniture so we can truly enjoy the wonderful weather we have in Sacramento. When we moved here last summer we were super excited about our backyard and the lack of humidity (remember we came from hot, humid Knoxville, TN). So the first thing we bought was a BBQ. In fact, I was so excited about the grill that I ordered it online during our cross country drive so it would arrive as soon as we got into town. We bought a Weber soley because I was obsessed with their commercials. Proof that marketing does work!




Did you watch it? We got the one that the cute old lady and the red head were dancing in front of. And yes, we have as much fun grilling as they do in the video. And now we can have even more because we now have outdoor dining furniture!

Last summer we searched and searched and couldn't find any outdoor furniture we liked for less than $1,000. We thought it was because it was late in the summer so there were slim pickings in the stores. Then this spring we started shopping around again and still didn't love anything in our price range. Turns out we are just picky. But we finally settled on a set and are thrilled with it. The table is exactly what we pictured. And while we didn't think we wanted wicker chairs, the ones we got look pretty sharp and are actually very comfortable.

Bounce is keeping an eye on the new dining set.

Ugh. Can't get this picture to turn upright. Please just tilt your head to the left to view properly.

So now we're ready for guests. This was a much needed addition to our home here because our kitchen table is crammed in a corner and can only seat three people. We foresee using this practically all year with the cool breeze we get on hot summer evenings, the long Summer nights and almost year-round sunshine we have in good old Sacto.