Treats From the Rhine Party

We started our July 4th weekend with a Treats from the Rhine Party on Saturday night, July 3rd. While vacationing along the Rhine River and visiting 5 different countries I wanted to buy little gifts for all those people who help me with my dance classes throughout the year. However, by the 4th day of the trip we all realized that things were very expensive and it wouldn't be possible. So, I decided to buy all kinds of edible goodies along the river, brought them home and we had a party.

As folks started to arrive, the BIG draw was the new Cuckcoo Clock!
If you double click on any picture it enlarges it so you can see it clearer.

Angie ooohhhed and aaaahhhhed (kissing up to Bob) and Alvin and Patsy enjoyed watching Bob move the hands around to the hour so the clock would do it's thing....windows light up, woodchopper chops wood, water wheel spins, 4 couples dance and on and on. Oh yea, the cuckcoo makes his noise to. Lucky for me it shuts off at night!

This would be the reason for the 16 day vacation down the Rhine River. We had it shipped to us 2 days before the end of the trip. Six days after arriving home, it arrived.....a lot bigger then we thought.

After putting the Brockwurst on to grill, I set up the dining room and kitchen tables for the goodies.

I decided that if I set up stations around the house it might alleviate everyone gathering in one spot at the same time.

This was the dessert corner

To the left you can see the 3 flavors of Chocolate Likor (peppermint, cherry & orange). Then we had ice cream so you could pour the Chocolate Likor (liquor) or the heated German Brandy (which we forgot we had) on top. Bob actually surprised me by bringing home half a German Chocolate Cake today from the Amish stand at the Farmer's Market. There was Stroopwafels from the Netherlands.....thin waffle looking treats filled with caramel.....you heat them and they soften up.ummmm good. In the Netherlands the make BIG ones, almost like a huge cookie, sit it on top of a steaming hot cup of cocoa or coffee and the caramel softens and drips down while you eat it......Vonderful! Angie brought my favorite coconut/pineapple weight watcher's cake....which I had to freeze because I couldn't stay out of the leftovers. We had 7 flavors of Belgium chocolates so they went in the other room. At the end I brought out the 'designer gummie logs' from Germany. One end was black licorice the other end was white peppermint. Sounded nasty to Bob & I when we went in the store, but after tasting about 12 kinds, we bought this one.....perfect end to a fun night.

Mary Louise brought a delicious banana pudding dessert....she doesn't like chocolate and was afraid there wouldn't be anything for her to eat. It looked so pretty I hated to cut it.....but then BOB arrived in the kitchen and asked "what's the hold up with the banana thing?"

The Beverage Corner

From Iced Tea & Bottled Water to French & German wines to German Beer and German Brandy we finished it off with 3 flavors (I tried them all.....more then once, I hate to admit) of German Chocolate Likor from the Imhoff-Schokoladen Chocolate Museum in Cologne, Germany.

Angie and Bob enjoying the German Beer & French Wine


This picture is a little blurry.....I took it after a 'few' shots of chocolate liquor. I sure hope Dr. Vince doesn't read this blog. I'll hear it from him for sure, the next visit. Now, if you double click on this picture and look really close, you'll notice that I am not the ONLY ONE feeling the Chocolate Liquor kick it.......we had way too much fun tasting the 3 flavors over and over trying to decide which tasted best, or which was strongest, or which was darkest. Any excuse to try 'just one more'.

Phyllis trying to decide what to try next! She was on her good behavior and 'tasted' things. Not like some of us (and you all know who you are) trying to eat everything we could possibly get our hands on. Well, except Patsy, she helped me DRINK!

Phyllis and Alvin were checking out the 3 types of cheeses (2 of them brought home with us), 2 types of brockwurst with 2 types of French mustard, a veggie tray and 7 flavors of Belgium Chocolate Bars to choose from at this table. I was worried I might have alot of the brockwurst left over....didn't happen. It was the first thing to go, so we just kept cooking it til it was all gone. Whooopppeee! I HATE finding space for leftovers.

Most folks headed out after about 3 hours because several had to work on Sunday. Bob and Alvin sat in the family room and talked while Phyllis, Angie & I did a quick clean up and played 2 or was it 3 quick games of Sequence. Hopefully a good time was had by all. I know I had fun getting ready for the party!