Jagerschnitzel... Mmmmm

We took Catkim to the Bavarian Chef tonight. It's a great, authentic German restaurant, owned and operated by an authentic German, who serves gargantuan portions of fantastic Deutschland cuisine. It's a little out of our price range for ordinary dining, but for a special occasion, it's a real treat. Catkim hadn't been before. I know we've taken a couple of the kids there on their birthdays, and the ones who've been all claim it's their favorite restaurant. The special occasion tonight? Well, Catkim will be returning to popsicleland in a few days, and we wanted to treat her to something special before she left. And thanks to G'ma and G'pa, we had a gift certificate that we've been too busy to use up until now. It's an hour's drive over the Blue Ridge, but well worth the trip. So now, I'm sitting here at home in the La-Z-Boy chair, totally satiated and chock full of three kinds of German sausage, a huge platterfull of Jagerschnitzel smothered in bacon and cream sauce, glazed carrots with apples, green stringbeans, whipped German potatoes, creamed corn, warm pumpernickel bread, and traditional German Chocolate cake. I also had a taste of Catkim's Swiss Chickenschnitzel and sampled her Black Forest cake. Mmmm. Debbie had her stuffed portobello and glazed duck. Wunderbar. Like the other kids, Catkim made the comment, "This place has just become my new favorite restaurant of all time!" Speaking of popsicleland... Catkim has been checking the weather in Fairbanks, and believe it or not, it's now a lot warmer there than here. In Fairbanks, it had been near 50-below-zero a week ago, but it was 45 degrees above zero yesterday, 21 tonight, -- while here in Weyers Cave, it's 11 at the moment, and going down to 4 tonight. It is cold! And the high tomorrow is forecast to be only 15, and the low tomorrow night is predicted to be 2! The house is nice and toasty warm, however. Although the heat pump doesn't operate well once it gets below 25 outside, the compressor turns off and the heat strips light up (and the electric meter starts a small cyclone) and it keeps the house quite comfortable. We usually turn the thermostat down a tad at night, so we are using the booster heaters (those small electric oil-filled radiator jobs) in the bedrooms. We'll be putting an extra blanket on the bed tonight, too. We'll probably leave the bedroom door open so the cat can come in and snuggle -- she enjoys curling up between our knees on top of the blankets, and she helps keep us warm, too.