Peanut butter bread - yum!

Erik took the kids to Trunk-or-Treat last night. The kids can walk around to different decorated car trunks and get candy. It's really all about candy this time of year.

Trunk or Treat

Since we returned from our French adventure, I've decided we need to eat less preservatives. One place we can easily cut out is bread. I've been making our sandwich bread. Homemade bread tastes better and has no preservatives.

Over the past few weeks I've made honey wheat bread (multiple times), brioche, croissants, pumpkin bread, banana bread, chocolate bread, and peanut butter sandwich bread.

The peanut butter bread was a great find on pinterest. It is AMAZING! I love sandwich bread and peanut butter - how much better can you get than peanut butter in your bread. So I made a peanut butter and nutella sandwich using peanut butter bread. Yup. That's heaven right there.

Here is the recipe I used:

1 1/4 cups water 

3 cups bread flour 

1/4 cup brown sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup peanut butter 

1 tblsp active dry yeast

It is from: http://dukesandduchesses.com/2013/09/peanut-butter-bread-for-the-bread-machine

Unfortunately Erik didn't like it that much so I have a decision to make. Keep him or keep the bread. I'm not sure which I'll choose.

46 points on Quiddler today.

Travel

Our trip was really the trip of a lifetime. We saw so much and really could have spent another week (month?) in Paris. I loved it so much. I've listed my top 20 favorite sites.

Versailles

Notre Dame at night

The Eiffel tower in the rain

On the Arc de Triomphe

1. Eiffel Tower - more beautiful than I thought it would be
2. Bike tour - riding bikes at night through the streets of Paris was wonderful
3. Notre Dame - Beautiful yet creepy (ie gargoyles)
4. Saint Chappelle - 1100 stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible
5. Rue Cler Market - fresh fruit, baked goods, cheese, whatever you want!
6. Versailles - ornate! The Hall of Mirrors is beautiful
7. Boulangeries / Patisseries - Yum
8. Creperies - Yum squared
9. Boat ride on the Seine river - It rained and I still thought it was picturesque
10. St. Sulpice - gorgeous church and even though the mass was in French, I knew what was going on
11. Sacre Coeur - 300 steps to the top and the view was worth it
12. Luxembourg Gardens - Lots of flowers and fountains 
13. Louvre - The sculptures were the best part of the Louvre
14. Arc de Triomphe - A nice view from the top, and you can see all the roads leading out from the Arc
15. Orsay Museum - Impressive Impressionist art
16. Champs Elysees walk - Lots of cutting edge stores and delicous food
17. Shakespeare and Book Company - a fun little book shop
18. Invalides - Napolean's tomb. Much bigger than I thought it would be
19. Latin Quarter - Shops, souvenir places, creperies, and fun cafes
20. Deportation Memorial - for the French victims of the holocaust

After our trip to France I wasted no time coming up with lists of other places I want to go. 

Here is a list of places I would like to take the kids to:

1. Washington DC
2. Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
3. Sacramento and Los Angeles, CA
4. Maine (esp Acadia National Park)
5. Colorado
6. Yellowstone National Park
7. New York City
8. Mammoth Cave, KY
9. Redwood National Park, CA
10. Niagara Falls
11. Biltmore Estate
12. Mackinac Island
13. Grand Canyon
14. Cape Cod
15. Blue Ridge Mountains, TN

Is there any place I'm missing? Should I take my kids somewhere else (besides Minnesota but we've already been there)

Places I want to visit that I have not been to (not including 48 states)

1. Germany
2. Greece
3. New Zealand
4. Hawaii
5. Israel
6. Alaska
7. Spain
8. Austria
9. Sweden
10. Scotland
11. Australia
12. Iceland
13. Newfoundland/Quebec
14. Denmark
15. Russia
16. Great wall of China and Hong Kong
17. Egypt
18. Morocco
19. Poland
20. Netherlands

This is my bucket list. Someday I'd like to visit all of these places!

I love Paris

Our trip to Paris was tres bien (very good) since I don't know how to say awesome in French.

I posted many of our pictures on facebook, but here is a rundown on what we did.

Oct. 1: Our plane left at 1pm for Paris. We went with Duane and Joy, with whom we also went to Rome. Joy is 21 weeks pregnant and was a trooper with all the walking we did!
Oct. 2: We arrived in Paris at 9:40am. We rented an apartment from Slim (who was excellent!!) and he met us outside of the apartment at noon. We were on the second floor of a windy staircase. The apartment was cozy and we were living alongside real Parisians. That was amazing. Our apartment was next to an open air market on Rue Cler. Here you can find anything you need (cheese, bread, fish, vegetables, fruit). We went to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysees the first evening.
Oct. 3: Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle. Saint Chappelle has 1100 stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible - beautiful. That evening we went on a night bike ride through Paris that included a cruise on the River Seine. The bike ride was the highlight. I loved it! I'm looking at all the cities that Fat Tire Bike tours offers bike rides to pick my next vacation.
Oct 4: Sacre Coeur and Montmartre. This area seemed less safe since there were several thieves and pickpockets but the church was beautiful. Next was the Louvre and the Orsay Museum. 
Oct. 5: Happy Birthday Duane. We celebrated by going to Versailles. We packed a picnic and Duane packed a bottle of wine. While we were eating crepes a buckeye fell on Duane's head. We were sitting under a buckeye tree at Versailles!! So we got someone to take a picture of the four of us doing OHIO. This evening was Nuit Blanche in Paris. That meant parties until 7am. We walked around and saw people dancing and art displays then we got home around 1:30am. No all night parties for us!
Oct. 6: Mass at St. Sulpice then we took a stroll around Luxembourg gardens. We ate some macarons, went to a book store and just had a relaxing time. At 5pm we rode the Eiffel tower to the top for spectacular views. Then we went to the Latin Quarter for dinner. This was a lively place with lots of shops, creperies, and good French food.
Oct. 7: Au Revoir Pairs!

My thoughts on Paris, France.

I love this city. I could live here. Erik and I talked about renting an apartment for a month and just living here with the kids. I wish the kids could have experienced this culture too. We actually felt pretty safe except for the Sacre Coeur/ Montmartre area. I loved walking around and seeing the city and the people. Paris is clean, easy to navigate (the metro system was straightforward), and so much delicious food!

My thoughts on the people.

They were much nicer than their reputation. We tried (terribly) to speak French but so many people spoke English. Everyone was friendly.

My thoughts on the food. 

We had a lot of picnics (or take away food) since it is easy and we can go wherever we want to eat. We also ate at several outdoor cafes. These are all over in Paris and I loved them. We could sit at one for hours. I think the locals do this!

Escargot - Much yummier than I thought. Duane is always daring (he ordered foie gras while we were there). He ordered snails which horrified Erik and Joy. I actually thought they were delicious! Erik and Joy did try them reluctantly.

Fromage - I thought the cheese would be amazing but it was all stinky. Even muenster which I really like was stinky. I was disappointed in the stinky cheese

Pain au chocolat - Chocolate croissants. They were buttery and perfect. This is normal breakfast for Parisians. A croissant and a hot drink like coffee, tea, or chocolate.

Crepes - My favorite! I loved the nutella crepes and would stuff myself with them after I was already full. Yes they were that good.

Macarons - light yet somehow rich. They came in a variety of flavors and were so beautiful.

Chocolat Viennoise - This makes starbucks look like gas station hot chocolate. I have no idea how they made this hot chocolate but it was unbelievable.

We had an amazing trip and I'm ready to go back. I love Paris every moment. Every moment of the year!