Pizza, Book Reports, and Daily Happenings

So here's what's cookin' tonight: Homemade Motherflippin' Pizza. I got this recipe for the crust from a friend. Delicious. Germans, you'll easily find quark. Americans, I am not sure what the equivalent is there...anyone know? Its like a mixture between cream cheese and yogurt, or just a thicker version of yogurt. Very nice.

While perusing my daughter's book collection the morning, I came across a couple books worth mentioning.

The first is Hat Pia einen Pipimax? by Thierry Lenain and Delphine Durand. This is an awesome story of a little boy, Paul, who learns that girls actually aren't missing anything (in a penis sort of way), but rather they just have something else. The book starts with: "Früher war für Paul alles einfach. Erstens: Es gibt die Mit-Pipimax. Zweitens: Es gibt die Ohne-Pipimax. Drittens: Die Mit-Pipimax sind viel stärker als die Ohne-Pipimax. Und warum? - Weil sie einen Pipimax haben." (Everything was easy for Paul before. First, there were the With-Pipimaxes. Second, there were the Without-Pipimaxes. Third, the WithPipimaxes are much stronger than the Without-Pipimaxes. And why? Because they have Pipimaxes.) Paul is happy he belongs to the Mit-Pipimax group. He feels sorry for the Ohne-Pipimaxes who are missing something and can't do anything about it. But, one day, a new student comes to their classroom who kind of shakes things up a little. Her name is Pia, and Paul is sure that, since she is clearly an Ohne-Pipimax,she only plays with dolls and draws flowers. But much to his surprize, he discovers that during drawing time, she is drawing only mammoths. "Was ist denn das für eine Mädchen?" (What kind of girl is this?) Not only does she not draw flowers, she climbs trees, and plays soccer, and even rides bikes. This had poor Paul totally confused. He concludes then that Pia must have something other girls don't. She must be an Ohne-Pipimax mit Pipimax. He starts to follow her everywhere to catch a glimpse of her Pipimax and therefore confirm his theory. He finally gets his chance at the beach when they've run all the way down to the water and realize they forgot their swim clothes. He was shocked at what he saw. No Pipimax!! Du...du...du hast gar keinen Pipimax?!" (You don't have a Pipimax?!) he stammers. "Nö..., ich habe eine Pipimaus!" she replies. From then on, the world is different for Paul. It was no longer the Mit-Pipimaxes and Ohne-Pipimaxes. Now there were the Mit-Pipimaxes and the Mit-Pipimauses (mice?). "Tja..., den Mädchen fehlt also doch nichts!" (Girls aren't missing something afterall!) Boys and girls are equal, but different.

The second book that we find highly entertaining is Von Kleinen Maulwurf, der wissen wollte, wer ihm auf den Kopf Gemacht hat by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch. Brace yourself for this. Its a book about a little mole who, when he sticks his head out of his hole one day, is rather unfortunately shat upon. The book is about his quest to find out who did it on his head. Walking around, with a big pile of shit on his head, he asks every animal he comes in contact with: Hast du mir auf den Kopf gemacht?" (Did you do it on my head?) Each animal - a bird, horse, rabbit, goat, cow, pig - denies having done it and then proceeds to prove it by showing the poor mole (and readers) what their poop looks like (sound affects accompany, by the way). Eventually, he comes across two flies - the shit experts! He invites them to an inspection. "Halt schön still" (hold still), they command while checking. Then they announce that it came from a dog. So he finds the perpetrator, Hans Heinerich, der Metzgerhund, climbs on his head, poops, then disappears back into his mole hole. What goes around comes around.

So, if you're looking to purchase a good read for your child, I would check out one or both of those!

What else? Oh yeah, remember the illegal cigarette ring that I thought was actually a drug ring? Well, I almost saw one of them get busted today. I was heading to the supermarket and I hear that polizei-over-a-microphone thing coming from a polizei van. I look over and he is addressing this young girl walking down the street. She looks over at him like, "Are you talking to me?" but then kept walking very steadily and innocently. The police van followed her a little while, and then decided to take off. She crossed the street and as I was passing her in the crosswalk, I thought: poor girl, she's getting harrassed for nothing. But then I turned around and she had taken off running! Then, later this afternoon, I saw her on the corner again with the one of those other guys...I guess it didn't scare her enough. Light neighborhood drama.

In other news, I collected 40 more hearts at Kaisers and now have 3 müsli bowls. Wahoo!

And I got my hair did (think Missy Elliott) today. I'm not gonna tell you how much it cost (since my husband might have a heart attack), I'll just say that, for the same price, I could have eaten at a five star restaurant (twice...eek!). I am lookin' FAN-CY! Yes I am. Yep. Yes-sir-ee. Allrighty. Righty-o.

I bought some chocolates to bring to my relations when I see them soon. Problem is, instead of locking them in a safety deposit box, like I should have, I put them on the freakin' counter. So, now they are almost gone. No need to bake when you have a stack of assorted milka bars sittin' in the kitchen. I highly recommend the trauben-nuss (with raisins and hazelnuts), by the way.

Okay, time to do some other things.