Our very own Jack'O'Lantern!

Rachel is proud to be the recipient of 4 chf cumulative from the tooth fairy so far since we moved to Switzerland. Mom has been trusted with pulling the last 3 teeth. I always tell her that she must have a lot of trust in me as I would never have let my Mom or Dad pull my teeth. So we laugh right now at our little jack'o lantern.

News for the week: Managed to get thru it! There were cupcakes and cornbread to make for Worldfest at school, a Halloween party to organize (I was responsible for activities & getting decor. up - will seek MORE help next time) and a pie to bake for the Harvest/Thanksgiving dinner at church. I am as busy in Switzerland as I was in the US! How does this happen? I obviously suffer from the volunteer syndrome that plagues many mothers. But - my children will thank me right? NOT! By the way Mom, thank you for the cupcakes I do remember you made for 2nd grade - 30 odd years better late than never.
Worldfest - An interesting and taste-tantalizing experience at school. Many of the 40 countries represented by the school population had food/product booths (fantastic foods - Italian, Greek, Sth American, Indian, Asian, American, Middle Eastern, Australian, UK, Scotland, Russian, etc.............) and entertainment as well. Never had I been to a school function where there were South American Carnivale Dancers, Indian dancers, Roy Orbison/Bob Dylan (songs by Amer. Music teachers), Wine & Scotch tasting and Inflatable Slides/houses all in one place - Very interesting. I won the American - taste of Home raffle so will be picking up my load of such goodies as Choc. chip cookies, baking powder, Bisquik, cake mixes, Maple syrup (the fake kind - they only sell the real stuff here!), many other misc. and the most coveted by all middle age school kids - Twizzlers and Skittle flavored Bubble Gum. I think I could auction those off and feed my family for a month!
There are always small challenges to face - esp. when trying to help with all these activities. There is NO canned frosting - I have made 3 batches of buttercream frosting in the last month from scratch. There is no Marie Callendars cornbread mix so I made that from scratch for the first time (should I be embarassed). But the baking challenge culminated when I went to make the Apple Pie. I usually use good old Crisco for the crust - they have no Crisco here. But they do have pig lard, rindbuerre (meat butter?) and a vegetable oil something that has the consistency of semi-solid bacon grease. Sooooooo - I improvised and made a new crust recipe and substituted butter for shortening - IT WORKED - key is unsalted butter(harder to find salted butter here period). The crust tasted great! Yeah! I was not embarassed by my pie. And it is the little successes that keep you from getting discouraged by the small challenges. I pray I don't sound too pathetic - former CPA turned HausFrau! Hee Hee