BJP/Germany Klinik Trip/Recipe

I am so behind with my Bead Journal Project, where I'm suppose to create a piece a month, but it’s really okay. I finished my 3^rd bracelet for the year and will start my 4^th shortly, as I've taken beads with me on this trip. In my BJP blog, I wrote that I was skipping a month to catch up and then would go back to fill in the missed pieces, but I realized that I’m not actually journaling, where my bead embroidery is telling a story each month, as I've done in past years. This year I am using a different material for the center focus and working with color, so it doesn’t matter if this one is March or May. As long as I complete 12 pieces, I will feel I have fulfilled what I started out to do this year. The central focal pieces for my first two bracelets were fused glass and then pearls.

This piece’s focal point is porcelain, a Chinese pottery shard I actually bought in China.

I took my color scheme of blues and white (with a touch of gold) directly from the shard (obviously). I used pearls, Swarovski crystals and glass beads, with a plastic button as the clasp. I finished this piece a few days ago, but I was so busy getting ready for our trip to Germany, as I'm going to the Bio-Med Klinik for hyperthemia treatment, that I didn’t have a chance to write and upload the photo, which I took the night before we left on Thursday. 

Our flight was uneventful, the best kind; it's an 8 1/2 hour flight to Dusseldorf, and unfortunately the seats on AirBerlin are so close that Art was really cramped and uncomfortable. For me, as I'm so much shorter, it wasn't a problem. However, neither of us slept well or long on the flight. The important thing is that we arrived safely, if tired. We got our car and headed South to Heidelberg. We stopped in Koln (Cologne) to visit the Cathedral, which was well worth the stop, had lunch, and then we were both so tired, we rented a room, day rate, at the Hilton near the Cathedral, and slept for 2-3 hours; back in the car and we completed the drive to Heidelberg, another 2 1/4 hours.

It’s Sunday today and I'll be admitted to the Klinik tomorrow. We've been staying with a friend in Heildelberg, about 1 1/2 hr from the Klinik, as we wanted a few days to get rid of Jet Lag. Andrea works at the Heildelberg Schloss, which is a must see on any trip to Germany, if you are any where in the area; we went yesterday and took the tour of the castle. Today, while Andrea has been at work, we went to the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim, less than a 1/2 hour away. It's an auto and plane museum, including farming equipment and tanks, as well as clothes and accessories from the early to mid 1900s. Verrrrrrrrrry interesting. Some of the old cars are ones we had never seen before, and all were in perfect condition! We would have gone to some gardens we were looking forward to seeing, but it's been cold and pouring all day. Maybe we'll still get the chance, as I believe we'll have time for sightseeing between treatments, but having no schedule at this point makes planning difficult. Just another challenge.

Okay - now for my Smothered Onion Pasta recipe, which I think I've written before. But if you didn't keep it, it's worth a second telling. 

Ingredients:

2-3 large onions, thinly sliced

6 Tbsp olive oil

salt

pepper

1/4 C white wine (or organic vegetable broth which also works well)

hand full of chopped parsley

12 oz to 1 lb of pasta, can use gluten-free

Parmesan cheese, if you eat dairy

Directions:

1. Put the oil in a deep saute pan over a very low flame (a 1-2 on an electric stove).
2. Put in the onions and cover. Cook for 45 minutes.
3. Start the water for the pasta & cook it according the directions on the package. Try to time it so the pasta is cooked when the sauce is finished. Better for the saute to wait for the pasta then vice versa.
4. Uncover the pan and raise the flame to medium. Salt and pepper the onions and stir. Don't worry if the onions have thrown off a lot of liquid. Cook until the onions are golden, about 10 more minutes.
5. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the wine or vegetable broth. Cook until the alcohol has evaporated, or, if using the vegetable broth, for 5 more minutes.
6. Add the parsley, stir, and take it off the heat.
7. If the pasta is finished, add the sauce and sprinkle on the cheese if using cheese. I serve the cheese on the side, as not everyone likes dairy. This is just as tasty without the cheese.

The original recipe was from a Marcella Hazan cookbook. This is one of my family's favorite dishes and it's so easy. Enjoy!!!!!