Food and Family: The End of Our Trip

A rainy day after a restful weekend feels like the right time to finish up this story!

When I last left you, we were heading away from the concert... but what were we heading towards, at 10:30 PM with a full tank of gas? My parents house in Pennsylvania, of course!

Our final big surprise of the trip was going to see my mom and dad... but it would only be a surprise for mom. Right before the trip, dad sent me an entertaining email about his latest weaponry purchase - as if he knew we planned to bang on the door at midnight in a matter of days or something! In addition to the growing arsenal, mom and dad also acquired a new dog that week - a ferocious beast named "Casey" - a bloodthirsty cocker spaniel of doom. Deciding it isn't smart to sneak up on the retired Army guy and his flesh-rending attack dog, we gave dad a heads-up as to our arrival but insisted he didn't tell mom.

After the concert, we made good time, stopping only once to get Burger King kids meals at 11:45 at night because...well, because we COULD. Still driving, we polished off our burgers, though we ignored the soggy fries and lame Pokemon toys. At 12:07 exactly we pulled up in front of the house and approached the front door, hoping dad was still awake - he was. He let us in and we hid in the kitchen while he went to wake up mom, telling her she had to come downstairs.

Walking down the stairs in the middle of the night, I think she probably feared that the dog had just had one of those new-dog-explosions that only women can clean up, but I digress...

So, we're hiding in the kitchen as mom come shuffling in, all bundled up in her robe. We popped our heads around the corner and she looked at us, blinked a couple times, and just started laughing. Our surprise was a success - she had no idea! She swooped at us with great big hugs and all our laughter apparently excited the attack dog, who proceeded to liberally drench my fantastic new Dansko sandals in puppy piddle - sigh.

Soon enough my shoes were cleaned back up and we were all gathered around the bar in the kitchen, sipping beers and iced tea and eating chips and salsa while mom tried to come to terms with the fact that we were really really there. We all stayed up until almost two in the morning at which point we were all near collapse. At some point, Mr K and my dad had graciously dragged all our luggage in from the car and all I had to do was collapse in bed.

My mom said the next morning she woke up three or four times in the night, convinced it was a dream. She would then get out of bed and peek out her door to see if the guest room door really was closed, signifying guests inside. So cute!

The next day we got up and had breakfast. Mom and I dropped the dog off for a long overdue haircut and fang-sharpening, as his prettiness hadn't been properly attended to at the pound. From the dog salon, we headed to the airport to pick up Mr K and dad, who had been returning the parents' rental car. All together once more, we headed to the mall to run some errands and stopped at Olive Garden for a brief, but really surprisingly tasty lunch. Oh, the big salad. Mmmmmm.

By the time we finished with errands, it was time to head home - we had to get the dog and some groceries. At the grocery store, I grabbed all the ingredients I needed for the meal I planned to cook for mom and dad, all the while giggling over the variety of breakfast cereal and relative cheapness of meat. For dinner, I cooked two Indian dishes - a spicy cilantro and onion chicken and also curried chickpeas. We ate a late dinner around 8:45 PM and all settled back to watch what may be the greatest TV show ever created - "Wipeout".

Soon it was bedtime as we were flying out the next day. It was sad that our visit was so short, but on the other hand, it was beyond wonderful to get to visit at all and to surprise my mom!

The next morning we got up, had breakfast, packed our stuff in to the car and headed to Baltimore. Our flight was delayed by an hour but soon we were in Newark and boarding our flight back to Geneva. We had two of the three seats in a middle row and we watched in trepidation as each person boarded, hoping silently that they wouldn't join our row. This worked out, except we forgot to also hope the woman with the two crazed children with overly-active kicking legs wouldn't be seated in the row behind us. Or that the couple with the crying toddler wouldn't sit in the row next to ours. As we sat, waiting for our delayed takeoff, the kid behind Mr K entertained himself by slamming the tray table up and down as his delightful mother read Cosmo. Fortunately for all involved, as soon as the plane took off, both kids promptly passed out and stayed that way until we landed. Not so for the crying-kid-couple. The father spent the whole flight asleep as the mother walked up and down the aisles with the poor little girl. As long as her mom walked, she was quiet, but the minute they stopped, she screamed and screamed... which meant the mom spent five straight hours just walking the plane.

Soon enough we landed in Geneva, grabbed our luggage, zipped through the "nothing to declare" line and caught our train back home. We arrived to an only slightly disheveled house (the cats like to knock the dining room chairs all over the place) and two very happy kitties.

As I close this adventure, I'm going to leave you with a couple highlights from the trip that didn't seem to fit anywhere else:

• Great quote #1: Two girls in line in Newark compare passports. One points out her Italy stamp. the other frowns and asks when their tour went through Italy. Girl one responds, "On the train from London to France, remember?"
• Great quote #2: As we pass a group of college age kids, one girls loudly proclaims, "I got a ham sammich, if you want it!"
• Great quote #3: At the end of the agricultural scan, we're waiting for our baggage as a rude woman on her cell phone ignores her approaching bag, stating, "I'm having a doozy of a time getting to my kids." After you've slept 4 hours in twenty, "doozy" is seriously about the funniest word ever.
• Leaving the airport, we pass a guy in a concert tee shirt with long hair. He's dragging a couple pieces of bright pink little girl luggage. Just as I point him out to Mr K, he notices us and see Mr K's tee shirt and shouts out "MISFITS!" while making funny hand horns. We were still giggling about "doozy" at this point and that completely sent us over the edge.

And that's it!

So close, yet so far - VEVEY

After three or more snow-free weeks, I finally feel I can safely say... spring has arrived! It's been in the low 60s and upper 50s during the day and the 40s at night... I know to people in Atlanta, this might not sound like spring, but after the snows of the past few months, it certainly feels like it here.

We spent the past Saturday recovering from a particularly grueling jiu jitsu class on Friday night. By Sunday, we were walking again and eager to get out and get some fresh air. We dressed, ate sandwiches and headed to the train station. An hour and 6 minutes later, we were in Vevey, a small town on Lake Geneva.

One of Mr K's coworkers lives in Vevey and was kind enough to walk us around and show us the sites. His drive to work is about 40 minutes, which seems like such a long time after living here for a while and I wondered if it was worth it to live so far from work. About fifteen minutes later, I wasn't wondering anymore - Vevey is gorgeous. We spent a couple hours walking along the lake (with about a thousand other people - it seems that everyone was out to enjoy the weather yesterday!) Mr K and I got a sandwich to split as we walked and he and his coworker both sipped cold beers bought from a lake-side stand. Looking across the lake, you could just make out the snow-covered mountains peeking out of the haze.

Another thing you saw when looking out at the lake was a 25 foot tall fork standing off the shore. The fork was created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Nestle's food museum and was only supposed to be a temporary piece. It was installed, left for about a year, taken down and given to a cutlery factory. Ten years later, it was reinstalled. This time, a petition was passed to keep the fork and it now appears to have a permanent home in the lake.

In addition to the giant fork, Vevey is home to a camera museum and a game museum - unfortunately we went for our visit on a Sunday and both were closed. We're hoping to go back for another visit in mid-May when our next guests arrive. Near the game museum, our tour guide led us up a tower and through a really really tiny door to get a nice view over the town and the lake.

We walked for a couple more hours and then stopped at our friend's apartment for some coffee and water and food talk. He just got back from a couple weeks in the US and brought back a sack of loot for us - hurrah for new books and dvds and slash-proof camera strap and weirdo little flashlight (guess who requested what.....) As it was time for us to head back to Fribourg, we took one more short walk to see the Nestle corporate headquarters (HUGE) and a last view of the lake. As we walked back, we passed several kids playing on a skateboard ramp with their razor scooters (as some grizzled older "kids" with skateboards sat off to the side and sipped their beers). I marveled at the lack of a guardrail or fence or barrier of any kind between the ramp and the lake - it makes you wonder how many scooters and skateboards "accidentally" end up in the shallow water at the edge of the lake if only to give their owners an excuse to splash in and fish them out....

Another journey by train

Sunday morning found us up, if not at 'em, bright and early. We were heading to Chateau D'Oex (pronounced roughly 'SHA-toe Dey'... of course...grumble grumble French grumble) for the International Festival of Balloons. Our trip began with a crowded bus ride from Fribourg to Bulle. From Bulle, we caught our first train of the day to Montbovon and from there we squeezed onto train #2 to Chateau D'Oex. When I say squeezed, I mean it - Mr K, myself, and another friend were all shoved in a doorway, holding on and praying the door of this considerably-older-model train wouldn't pop open from the combined pressure of three Americans.

Just under two hours after leaving Fribourg, we arrived at our destination. The sky was perfectly clear and the air cold, but not bitterly so. We were comfortably bundled up in our snow clothing though I would soon come to regret forgetting my sunglasses. The crowd was spread out over a snowy hillside with a perfect view of the balloon ground. We arrived in time for the "special shapes" category of balloons, which included three different chickens, a guy with a kilt, a turtle, some tiny remote-controlled balloons and a few other entries. Superchicken, pictured at the top of this entry, was my favorite even though he got stuck in the trees halfway up the mountain and spent the rest of the day glowering over someone's chalet.

After a couple hours of craning our necks and squinting at the glare off the snow, we went in search of the Swiss version of Fair Food - a hot dog crammed in a baguette and some salty salty frites. We wandered back to our spot on the hill, where I spilled ketchup and mustard all down my swanky wool scarf. The program promised displays of paragliding, parachuting and wingsuits after the "special shapes" balloons. I should add that the mention of "wingsuits" was the sole factor that got us up and out of bed that morning.

And so we waited, me fidgeting with my scarf as the faint scent of mustard floated on the air around me. Two in the afternoon came and went. Then it was three. No wingsuits. No wingsuits. We waited a few more minutes as balloons for passenger rides were inflated before we decided wingsuits were just not going to happen. I toyed briefly with the idea of taking a balloon ride myself - until I saw that it would be around $750 for Mr K and I both to go for a couple hours. I was feeling cheap an Mr K isn't so fond of heights anyway, so instead we headed back to the train station to make our three part trip home.

As a final note, you have to check out Mr K's amazing shot of a very photogenic family watching the balloons. Just look at that! The kids, the coordinating snow gear, the coordinating DOG. Amazing.

Part Two: Northern Ireland

Why yes, I am a slacker when it comes to updating sometimes. My parents are still here visiting, and between cooking and walking and visiting, I've been having too much fun to keep up with my little bloggie like I should.

So from Ireland, we headed to Northern Ireland for two days. We stayed at another bed and breakfast. There was nothing hugely wrong with this one, but it was just really blah. The house was completely uninteresting as was the breakfast. It seemed like every radiator in the house was topped by a sachet of potpourri and I found the smell overpowering but no one else noticed, so I might just have an overly sensitive nose. It wasn't an unpleasant place to stay, rather it was just unremarkable.

Our first big touristy goal was a tour of the Bushmills Distillery which was really interesting. The inside of the building smelled phenomenal - like whiskey and wood and fresh air - Yankee Candles needs to take a trip our there and work on a candle because it would be a great scent for at home.

We had a little lunch and headed out to see the Giant's Causeway. The weather was crisp and clear and the mist from the water made rainbows in every direction. Mr K took a ton of pictures. At one point, in order to get a better view, Mr K and my dad went scurrying up the rock, which went fine until my dad managed to descend a bit quicker than he had originally planned, sustaining some interesting scrapes and bruises in the process. We got him on the bus and back up the hill and into the car and headed back to the B&B to relax and get band-aids and aspirin. On the way back, we stopped to take a break since it was a pretty long drive and Mr K and I stumbled on some really cool old ruins. We walked around for about 20 minutes and then piled back into the car.

We were all hungry, but dad wasn't feeling so hot, so we skipped finding a restaurant for dinner - which worked for me as we got KFC to go instead! I haven't had KFC in over a year and it was a pleasantly unhealthy treat. Back at the B&B we had a little KFC picnic, spreading our wealth of chicken fingers, popcorn chicken, french fries, coleslaw, baked beans, beer, and cookies all out on a fluffy white towel. After eating everyone got some sleep in preparation for our trip to Scotland the following morning...

First in a series : Ireland

Well, hello!

We're back from our vacation after many adventures - some good and some bad, but all exciting! I'll be breaking this up into a number of smaller posts for ease of reading for you and typing for me.

We started our vacation in Trim, outside of Dublin, at a beautiful B&B called Highland House. This was to be the beginning of a downward-slope of B&B quality, but we'll get to more on that later.

Mom and dad met us at the airport in Dublin, where we all piled in the car and marveled at the mis-placed steering wheel and pedals - crazy stuff! At first the GPS unit the car came with wasn't working, but a couple changes to the wires set everything right and we were soon on our way.

The B&B was just perfect! Mr K managed to contract my cold while at the airport in Geneva and was feeling pretty bad by the time we arrived in Dublin. The beautifully-accented owner of the B&B welcomed us inside and, when she heard Mr K was ill, gave him a pat on the arm and said she would be right back with a warm whiskey - it was delicious. Thus fortified, we headed out to walk into town and see what there was to eat. We found a promising-looking Indian restaurant and, since Mr K and I have been craving good Indian for months, mom and dad went along with it despite an unfamiliarity with Indian cuisine. The restaurant was beautiful and the food really, really tasty. We had butter chicken, chicken korma, chicken tikka masala, and tandoori chicken washed down with Cobra beers. The woman working the door seemed to be new (maybe to this restaurant, possibly to the whole concept of restaurants and food in general). This led to one of the funnier experiences of our trip. Mr K ordered a second beer from her and, looking confused, she went off to find one. When she came back to our table, she set down a glass, poured half the beer - and then, taking the still half-full bottle with her, wandered off. That beer didn't end up on our check, so no harm done I suppose.

The next morning we woke up and had a tasty Irish Breakfast before crossing the street to explore Trim Castle. The weather was perfect and we were all happily full from breakfast. We walked around for about an hour and a half before catching the bus into Dublin.

We walked around Dublin for a few hours, doing a little shopping and a lot of people watching. I was beyond overjoyed to find whole stores of books in English, but I was good and only picked up a couple. We had a nice lunch and walked some more, before heading back. All told, we walked just about six miles on our first day - not too bad! For dinner, we had sandwiches and soups before heading back to go to sleep before 10 PM - a trend we continued for the duration of the trip.

From here we headed to Northern Ireland - come back soon for more stories!

Catch-up Bloggin' - Saturday

Alphorns
Originally uploaded by Arsmor

Bonjour, y'all! I'm a few days behind here, so let's try and catch up a bit!

On Saturday, Mr K and I headed to Lucerne to join what turned out to be about 349,998 other people to enjoy the Yodeling Festival, which takes place once every three years. The weather was beautiful and sunny, if a bit warm. This was our first trip to Lucerne as well - we'll have to make a return trip during a non-festival weekend to see what else there is to see.

The train ride took around an hour and a half - plenty of time to enjoy our tasty mozzarella sandwiches and the scenery. The train got busier as we went along, with several people in their yodeling garb boarding at each stop. The train was packed by the time it arrived at the station - but that was just the beginning. The station itself was chaos and it just got more and more crowded as we got out into the festival area.

A large portion of the crowd was dressed up, which was really fun to see. Some of the women had the cutest little flat straw hats that I just loved, so when I found a stall selling them, naturally I had to have one of my own. A quick glance at the 200 CHF price tag took care of that problem and instead we had a couple cold drinks and relaxed in the shade.

All in all, we spent a good five hours walking around, listening to the yodeling and people-watching. Five hours in the heat left us pretty tired, so we grabbed some gyros from a stand near the train station and caught the next ride back to Fribourg to nurse our sunburns. Halfway through the day, we found the sunscreen girls - a few girls with giant bottles of sunscreen who would give you a palmful of free lotion but didn't volunteer to apply it for you (maybe our French just isn't good enough yet) - but by that point we had both gotten a bit of pink to our faces, arms, and necks (yee haw) and were past the point suncreen would help and our only choice was to get out of the sun.

Sounds interesting? Next festival in is 2011 in Interlaken!

Hamster Dance

Woman in Window
Originally uploaded by Arsmor

Hamst...er...Amsterdam - yeah!

So we just got back from our long weekend in Amsterdam to celebrate both of our birthdays and our second anniversary (and the first anniversary we've been together for - last year Mr K was here in Fribourg, scouting out our new home) and a long-long weekend it was, too.

It was nice to travel, but Amsterdam didn't quite live up to the hype - I read that it was one of the most scenic cities in Europe, but I don't consider streets lined with multiple Argentinian steakhouses and neon signs scenic!

Stuff we liked about Amsterdam:
* pancakes with ham and cheese
* Van Deek art supply store
* cheese souffle snack from weird little automats at Febo
* hanging out in the parks and painting
* Wok to Walk Chinese takeout (I liked it - Mr K isn't so into the Chinese food)
*walking walking walking

Stuff we weren't as impressed with:
* neon neon neon
* tourists as far as the eye can see - so crowded
* the canal water looked pretty icky
* most of the food was expensive and not-so-good
* the lights in our hotel room would shut themselves off every 20 minutes or so and then come back on five minutes later
* not nearly as many cats as in Switzerland

Stuff we have no reviews of (because I know you're wondering...):
* workers of the Red Light District "service industry"
* that special "coffee" that draws all the tourists in the first place

Overall: Amsterdam reminded me a lot of New Orleans without the cheap and tasty cajun food and live music. We enjoyed having time off but were definitely ready to get back to beautiful green and peaceful Switzerland.

Four, five days for the big canal

Gone to Amsterdam - be back on Tuesday. We're traveling laptop-free!

In other cool news, my dad started a blog - go leave a comment!

Busy as a bee in springtime...

Flowers
Originally uploaded by hellomizk

I know I've been doing poorly with the blogging, but when my dad pointed it out I promised I would try and do better... and that was almost a week ago. I do have an excuse though... at least for the past 5 or so days - I have a guest! One of my buddies from Virginia came to visit so we've been keeping very busy and walking walking walking everyday.

A couple days ago we took the train to Montreux where we walked along Lake Geneva and then went to see the Chateau de Chillon. We walked a little over 6 miles that day and were both sore and tired by the time we got home. I tried jiu jitsu that night but was just too tired and out of sorts - I ended up sitting about half of the class out. Ah well - at least I tried... or something.

Yesterday we went to Zürich for the day and walked through what is easily the biggest art museum I have ever seen - the Kunsthaus. We saw Picassos, Kandinskys, Renoirs, Monets, Van Goghs, etc etc etc. Very impressive - we will definitely be taking Mama C! We managed to clock yet another 6 miles of walking before finally getting home.

Today we went to the thermal baths in Charmey and then for a delicious cheese fondue. I'm near collapse right now - whether from exhaustion or relaxation, I'm not sure.

More later!

P.S. I would be inclined to blog more if I got more comments mom and dad - hint hint. ;)

Back from Prague!

Group Portrait
Originally uploaded by mrphrtq

It's quarter to midnight here and we arrived back home at two in the morning this morning, so I'll cover Prague in a series of posts - a little now and a little later.

The excitement began at the Basel airport. After arriving at the airport, we checked in and were outside our gate, enjoying a nice snack - and the male part of our group was getting started on the beer in anticipation of the days to come - when we were rudely interrupted by a curt announcement that our flight was canceled. Eeek! We gulped down our snacks and beer and reported to the gate. The attendant helped us uncheck (unCzech - ha! Get it?) our bags... and then rechecked them before being boarded on a bus to Zurich. Once in Zurich we checked in again and re-re-re-checked our bags before heading to the gate. The second flight worked out and lasted a little under one and a half hours. By around 8 in the evening (we arrived at the airport around 1 in the afternoon), we were checked into the great little hotel Kasia found for us and ready to commence with the eating! Things number one to love about Prague: tasty, cheap, abundant food and beer. Meat and 'taters for days!

Check back in a few hours for Prague - the food post!

Burritos at last!

Burritos!
Originally uploaded by mrphrtq

One of the highlights of our trip back was getting a chance to stuff ourselves with all the foods we've known and loved since we were old enough to know food could be loved.

Our Mexi-food-fest started shortly after we arrived at my sister's house and made a quick run for a Taco Bell snack to hold us over until dinner - we had been eating airline food for the previous 20-some hours and were starving. More than the food, though, Mr K was dying for a BDC - Big Diet Coke - the kind that comes in a plastic cup absolutely brimming with ice - a rare American delicacy. (I should take a moment to point out that Mr K had to settle for a BDP as Taco Bell serves Pepsi products only.) After a snack, showers, and getting settled in, my sister make Turkey Chimichangas for dinner - topped with islands of sour cream floating in an ocean of salsa. What a great combination!

The following week we went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant in Atlanta with several of my friends who I've missed so much! Apparently the restaurant had problems keeping its liquor license thanks to some naughty local college kids, but even without margaritas the meal was really really great.

Other than Mexican food, we snacked on a couple other American oddities: Waffle House and Krystal (both Southern US cultural icons in their own ways and both typically open 24 hours). I started blogging about Waffle House but as the entry got longer and longer, I realized Waffle House might actually deserve its own entry - I spent so much time there in college, I can't condense all the memories into one paragraph. We'll stick with a quick description of Krystal - fast food. What makes Krystal different is the tiny size of the food and the square burgers. Being American fast food, tiny food means it is meant to be ordered in larger quantities - a typical meal is 3 or 4 small square burgers. My favorite is the chili cheese pup - a tiny hot dog in a bun topped with chili and melted cheese - it nestles warmly in the palm of your hand and must be eaten hot and with a stack of napkins nearby. Mr K prefers the Krystal burgers - served in a little cardboard sleeve that hugs the burger tight. The square bun is steamed lightly and topped with pickle slices and mustard and the thinnest square burger patty ever. No ketchup, no mayo, no tomato, no lettuce. Mustard, pickle, bun, meat(ish.) Hard to describe but wonderful in the weirdest ways. (They have a funny website and pictures of the square food if you're that curious...)

Anyway I think I've rambled enough today - I'm making myself hungry. If you have a minute, I would love to see some confessions of your guilty-pleasure foods in the comment section!

Do they have cats there?

Loots!
Originally uploaded by hellomizk

That was the most entertaining question I was asked while we were visiting friends and family back in the US last week. "Do they have cats there?"

It will probably take a couple entries to get through all the fun things about our trip and I need Mr K to upload his photos for some things, so I'll start with what I have photographic evidence of - our shoppings! This is mainly my loots - Mr K also got several DVDs and Wii games and things of that nature.

The day after we arrived, we hit Best Buy - Mr K was beyond thrilled. Among the gems from that trip are Veronica Mars Season 3 and Ren and Stimpy on DVD! I also got Cooking Mama 2 for my little Nintendo DS and it is the funniest little game. A few days after the initial Best Buy trip, we had to return after Miz J showed us two episodes of Flight of the Conchords and we were completely hooked.

Another important stop - the grocery store. I got the giggles, standing in an aisle of canned goods bigger than my whole grocery here. I picked up random dry goods like taco seasoning that isn't all "weird and Swiss" (no offense to our local buddies) and onion soup mix for onion soup dip - trashy comfort snack. I found bizarre flavors of Jello and I stocked up on a few spices I was missing - namely Old Bay and Chipotle Chili as well as a big emergency back-up chili powder.

Next up - Borders! I was good and only got 3 new books but now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have grabbed a few more. I also picked up, of course, a ton of new cooking magazines.

Last stop of interest: art supply shopping! I got plenty of watercolor paper, since I've been running through it pretty quickly recently. Also got some crazy new paper called "Yupo" that I have never heard of - it says it is good for watercolor, but has the texture of a really smooth bristol - I'm interested to try it out. I also got a box of cakes of my favorite brand of watercolor - opaque instead of the transparent I use now.

In upcoming entries I'll babble about:

• Seeing friends and family again (including my lil bitty niece)
• Food, of course (I'm looking at you, FT in Bern...)
• Western Sizzlin' (now I'm looking at Mr K)
• Visiting my old college
  
• Visiting my old place-of-employment-during-college

Post-link-including note: When I added the links of the pictures of Best Buy and Borders I was blown away again by how huge they are. To any non-US types reading this, Best Buy is all electronics, dvds, and cds. Borders is a massive bookstore.

L'Escalade!

Badges
Originally uploaded by hellomizk

We have had quite the weekend!

On Friday night we went to Mr K's annual work Christmas party, only this time it was in CH and not VA. The food was wonderful - we had truffle ravioli and I hit a new personal milestone- I ate a fishy food and didn't hate it! Before the pasta was served we had salad with thin slices of smoked salmon on it and, having fortified myself with a couple glasses of wine, I decided to brave the fish. I speared a minuscule sliver on my fork, wrinkled up my nose, and nibbled the corner off - before enthusiastically eating the whole thing and chasing it with the rest of the salad. Who knew! I'm going to pick up some smoked salmon from the grocery tomorrow and continue to experiment with it...

On Saturday we met up with one of Mr K's visiting coworkers to spend the day in Geneva and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves visiting the city for the first time during one of their biggest festival weekends of the year!

"L'Escalade, or Fête de l'Escalade (from escalade, the act of scaling defensive walls) is an annual festival held in December in Geneva, Switzerland, celebrating the defeat of the surprise attack by troops sent by Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy during the night of 11–12 December 1602. The celebrations and other commemorative activities are usually held on 11 December or the closest weekend." Thanks, Wikipedia!

Before we made it to the center of the festivities, we stopped to grab some nice hot street vendor food to tide us over for a couple hours. I had the most wonderful tamale - it was just perfect. Chris had a ham and cheese panini and we had CHURROS for dessert! After this snacking, we went wandering around and found ourselves surrounded by cannons, kids in costumes, adults in "historical garb" (costumes), guns, vin chaud, more cannons, and pigeons. Part of one street was blocked off and filled with snow and people were skiing down it.

Mr K posted several pictures on his blog as well - go check them out!

Paint and ink and paint and ink

Illustration Friday - Excess
Originally uploaded by hellomizk

So now that my novel is the correct length (if not technically 'done') and now that we have an apartment and now that we have furniture, I officially have practically no more excuses for not participating in Illustration Friday again. I'll be posting these on the other blog - one per week except when I forget - but I thought I would drop a little 'heads-up' in this blog as well.

In other news, hurrah for Friday! Tonight is Mr K's office Christmas party so we get free dinner and I don't even have to cook it. Tomorrow I think we're going to Geneva for a day trip to do some exploring so we should have some more pictures on Flickr soon. One of Mr K's coworkers arrived yesterday and was kind enough to bring us corn syrup for Mr K's brittle-making and brown sugar (not brown-colored, which is the only kind they have here...) for my cooking so I foresee much sugaryness in our futures!

In food news (my favorite kind) I just whipped up a big old pot of cream of broccoli soup - and I didn't open a single can to make it! Just 1.5 kg of broccoli (3 pounds-ish) and onion and lemon juice and olive oil and cream and cream and cream. Very tasty. Since dinner tonight is provided and we'll probably go out tomorrow, I think I'm going to freeze it for Sunday or Monday dinner - and I better freeze it soon before I eat it all myself!


EDIT: Tonight when we got back form Mr K's office party, there were heavily armed riot police blocking the train station. We have no idea why. We heard gunshot-type sounds that could have been fireworks and we followed the crowds of teenagers, but we still have no idea what happened. Crazy, huh?