Grandma Oma's World

Yesterday, my grand daughter, Gabriella, wanted pasta for lunch. So, we decided to make our own homemade pasta. Here is how we did it: 2 cups flour 2 eggs 2 Tbs oil 1 Tbs salt 2-3 Tbs water Mix everything up and knead until it is smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. The dough should be somewhat hard. If it is, too soft just add more flour and keep kneading. When it is smooth and elastic, make a ball and place it under a bowl for about 30 minutes. Than take it out and with a rolling pin role it to about 2/8 of an inch, really thin. Slice it in wide long sheets and than stack the sheets on top of each other with flour in between and slice it into noodles. Boil these noodles for 2-3 minutes and Voila - they are ready to eat with any sauce or just butter.

What a wonderful service! Today, as I was drinking my second cup of coffee I heard a ring on my computer. I clicked on the answer button and got connected to my sister, Maria, who lives in Serbia. We spoke and saw each other for about 30 minutes. The images were really good and our voices sounded as if we were in the same room. My sister just came home from a spa where she was recovering from a triple bypass surgery. I saw and spoke with my nephews, Tibi and Zsolt.I was walking with my computer around and showing her my sleeping grand daughter, Brianna, the living room, kitchen and the things I was getting ready to cook. Now, isn't life wonderful?

My birthday party was fantastic, one of the best in a long time. My daughter and her husband invited 14 of their friends and they all brought me quilting fabrics. All the fabrics are absolutely fantastic - batiks and fabulous Japanese prints. I can hardly wait to use them in a quilt. For the party we had a ton of appetizers like baked brie, stuffed grape leaves, puff pastry rolls, cheese, crackers, ham and Parmesan slices and grapes, than we had the lasagna diner with garlic bread and great salad and finally we had the three birthday cakes. Each cake was brought out separately with a set of candles and each time they sang me the happy birthday song. I had the opportunity to make three wishes. Now, isn't that great? How many of us have this opportunity to make three wishes with three cakes? Here the pictures of the Walnut Torte and the Dobos torte. The Raspberry torte was eaten before I had a chance to take a picture. Everything was just unbelievable and wonderful and I am ...

Sunday will be my 69th birthday. As custom dictates, birthdays are celebrated with birthday cakes. I know that my family loves me very much because they ordered, not one but, three birthday cakes: a Dobos Torte, a Walnut Torte and a Raspberry Whipped Cream Torte. With a lot of help, I am making all three. My family will add the candles. More pictures will follow.

My two month stint as a grand parent to a 3 year old and a 3 month old baby in Buffalo, NY, is challenging, rewarding and very, very tiring, but I would not trade it for anything. I came to Buffalo, NY with the idea that I would be a very organized grand parent, that in my spare time while the children are napping I would be quilting, than in the evenings I would play bridge and work out in the gym, and on the weekends I would be site seeing (after all Niagara Falls is only 15 minutes away, and Toronto 90 minutes). Looks like a good plan right? Well, my plan is working out – sort of: 1. I have learned to diversify and expand on my fashion sense: I realized that the baby’s spit-up does not much any of my clothes so I have the pleasure to change my outfits 2-3x daily. (Did my children ever spit-up when they were babies?) 2. Daily exercise and fitness activities: I get to work on upper body strength by delightfully carrying a 18lb baby in a 19lb car seat (daughter spent the extra $...