Božič v Ljubljana!

Christmas in Ljubljana!

Happy December! During the entire month of december in Slovenia they celebrate every night downtown at the outdoor Christmas markets with little stands that serve food and Hot Wine! It's a great time to be in Europe filled with holiday cheer! The city center is also decorated with extraordinary christmas lights! So lately we have been very busy with all the holiday festivities and hockey games!

The weekend of December 14-16, Kevin and his team had two home games which was super nice to have him home all weekend long! They also won those 2 home games! Friday's game was a shutout and Sunday's game was a close one but they won in the last 3 minutes 4-3! Kevin got a goal and an assist on Sunday's game! :)

Last Tuesday we had a team Christmas dinner, which was very good at the restaurant Rožna Hiša located in Ljubljana. I didn't have my phone on me for this event so I was unable to take pictures and Kevin lost his phone the night before :(They served delicious bread and beef soup and mushroom soup for the first course. Then a mixed salad. Then a platter of food with schnitzel, beef in mushrooms and gravy, some kind of tenderloin, fried potato wedges, potatoes in tomato sauce, cooked mixed veggies, and a traditional Slovenian dish that is a soft pastry of layers filled with cheese. Then for dessert, which was my favorite part, was a warm chocolate brownie in a red berry sauce topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. and a tiny side cup of cold yogurt topped with strawberry syrup! It was amazing! I also got a cappuccino, Kevin got an expresso, which was very good as well! All the Slovenian girlfriends drink red wine Refošk (Traditional slovenian wine. I really like it!) and they put Fanta orange pop in it. I've seen a lot of people do this before in Europe but have never tried it personally and one of them offered me to try it and it was actually very good! Tastes like sangria!

This last weekend's game on Friday was cancelled because it was suppose to be an outdoor game but the outdoor rink is not ready yet! When it is though it looks like its gonna be really cool! So excited! So on Friday we just ended up going out downtown a bit for the Christmas Markets and on Sunday Kevin had an away game in Hungary, which they won 4-2! yay! Kevin got an assist! They go back to Hungary tomorrow for another game! Hope its another win! Go Olimpija!

Today we have another Christmas dinner with the team downtown!

Here are pictures taken over our month of December here in Ljubljana!

Lots of Snow in the beginning of the month! Too bad its not a White Christmas!

Christmas Cards I sent to loved ones at home! Miss you all so much!

Milka Chocolate Advent Calendar!

Our Landlord and his sons have been building snowmen!

Pretty impressive snow bear! 

Happy December! Ljubljana Christmas Markets!

You are my shooting star!

The Ljubljana Christmas lights look like outer space! Maybe they were getting ready for the end!

O Christmas Tree!

Slovenian Christmas Traditions: The holiday season begins with St. Nicholas Day on December 6th. St. Nicholas is accompanied by devils that reprimand bad children. St. Nicholas passes out small gifts of candies and fruit to the good children.

A special bread (Portnjak) is made at this time. The bread is covered with a cloth and is placed on the table, however it is not eaten until the feast of the three kings on January 6th. Then it is distributed to the children.

There is a corner of the house which is called "God's corner" It is here that the father will place the Nativity scene. On Christmas Eve the family gathers around the Nativity scene to pray. Each room of the house is blessed with Holy Water and the barns and the out buildings are also blessed.

The family attends midnight mass along with other villagers they process to the church caring lighted torches singing Christmas carols. The Festival of the Three Kings marks the end of the Christmas season. On this day Children carrying lighted stars singing carols from house to house.

Peace, love, and joy at Christmas and always.

Home is where ever I am with you!

Hot Wine!

The markets are full every night all december no matter what the weather! Why don't we do this kind of stuff back home?

The castle is picturesque!

Snow!

More hot wine!

<3

When we were walking home the snow was coming down really hard!

Kevin and I stopped at Atlantis on a cold winter day! Atlantis offers pools, hot tubs, lazy river, and steam rooms! Only 12 Euro for both of us for 2 hours!

The guys had a couple days off last week! Hanging out with our hockey family! Plus just figured out my iphone takes panoramic shots!

The sunset was so pretty driving home from the gym one day I had to stop and take pictures!

Colorful sky and beautiful mountains!

I love the lacey tree over the golden horizon!

Along the horizon!

My Christmas decorations! Keeping it festive!

Nuzzling in the car!

Lips! Arts & Crafts! are my fave! Pinterest inspired!

Christmas Eve dinner! Delicious!

Plaid Shirts and a kitty on Christmas Eve! A little fuzzy!

The boys!

Christmas morning! Santa came! ;)

Merry Christmas 2012!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family back home! We miss you and love you so much and wish we could be there to celebrate the holidays with you! <3

Slovenian Word of the Day:
Vesel Božič meaning Merry Christmas!

PEACE & LOVE,
Kevin & Amanda

Egg Strata!

So ever since I can remember my mom has always made this strata every Christmas morning! One of my favorite and most delicious family traditions! We all love it! Give it a try if you are looking for something to make this Christmas morning! :) Definitely missing home and the family this holiday! I made it for Kevin recently too and I think he really enjoyed it! Only problem was a lot of the ingredients are only available back home, so I had to get a little creative! But I think in the end it tasted very similar to my moms strata! My moms recipe is below! *The important thing to remember is that you must prepare this the night before, refrigerate all night, and bake Christmas morning!

Strata Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Roll Bob Evans Sausage browned & drained

7 eggs beaten

3 cups milk

2 Tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 bag frozen shredded hash browns (thawed)

10 slices bread (crust cut off and cubed)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 teaspoons basil

Directions:

1. Beat eggs, milk, salt, basil and flour in large bowl. 

2. Brown and drain sausage then add to mixture.

3. Cut 10 slices of bread into cubes (cut off crust) then add to mixture.

4. Thaw shredded hash browns and add to mixture.

5. Add the cheese to mixture.  

6. Put in 13" x 9" pan cover in foil.

7. Refrigerate overnight.  

8. Bake 350 degrees Fahrenheit about 1 hour or when knife comes out clean.

9. Enjoy with your family!
10. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Slovenian Word of the Day:
Jajce meaning Egg

PEACE & LOVE,
Kevin & Amanda

Casa Batlló, Barcelona!

I love this facade! Always dreamed of seeing it for myself and so happy I was able to! The detail and colors are so cool! Casa Batlló is a building restored by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in 1877 and remodelled in the years 1904–1906. The building is very skeletal looking and that was the intended purpose of the design! The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality.

It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in a prosperous district of Barcelona. This remarkable building like all of Guadi's work is classified as Modernisme or Art Nouveau. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. 

The goal to this design seems to be to avoid straight lines completely! The facade has three distinct sections which are harmoniously integrated. The top displays a trim with ceramic pieces that has attracted multiple interpretations. The central part, which reaches the last floor, is a multicolored section with protruding balconies. The lower ground floor with the main floor and two first-floor galleries are contained in a structure of Montjuïc sandstone with undulating lines.

Most of the facade is decorated with broken mosaic ceramic tiles that range from shades of orange to green and blue!

Above the central part of the facade is a smaller balcony, also iron, with a different exterior aesthetic, closer to a local type of lily. Two iron arms were installed here to support a pulley to raise and lower furniture. The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudi's home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon.

The facade of the main floor, made entirely in sandstone, and is supported by two columns. The design is complemented by joinery windows set with multicolored stained glass. In front of the large windows, as if they were pillars that support the complex stone structure, there are six fine columns that seem to simulate the bones of a limb, with an apparent central articulation; in fact, this is a floral decoration. The rounded shapes of the gaps and the lip-like edges carved into the stone surrounding them create a semblance of a fully open mouth, for which the Casa Batlló has been nicknamed the "house of yawns." The structure repeats on the first floor and in the design of two windows at the ends forming galleries, but on the large central window there are two balconies as described above.

Spanish Words of the Day:

Orgánico meaning Organic

Naranja meaning Orange

Verde meaning Green

Azul meaning Blue

PEACE & LOVE,
Kevin & Amanda

Kibuka Sushi, Barcelona!

Our final night in Barcelona we did some research and found the best Sushi place in the city! We love Sushi!

The Restaurant is located down some random alleyway! We would of never found it just walking around! 

Kibuka Sushi!

The 4 of us at dinner! The Sushi was so amazing! Good quality fish and rice which we always look for in good sushi!

On our way home from sushi we walked back to our hotel and saw really cool window displays! This was a high end fabric store!

There was an event going on at this Stella McCartney Boutique! Absolutely loved the bar setup in this VW Van! Very cute idea!

Catalan Doors!

I believed this was vignettes from students at an Art School!

The Louis Vuitton window displays!

Stopped by the Mac Store to check out the new IPad Mini!

Very cute seafood restaurant! The prices looked reasonable as well!

The Fountains at Plaça de Catalunya!

Make a wish!

Spanish Word of the Day:
Fuente meaning Fountain

PEACE & LOVE,
Kevin & Amanda