Words and Pictures

It's been a very very busy past few weeks here and I'm worn out! The last week in November I managed to finish my novel for National Novel Writing Month. Much to my own surprise, this year my novel actually had an ending. In the six or so years I've participated in this exercise in insanity, this is the first time I've finished a story and not just written the requisite number of words! Now I'll take a few weeks off from it and in January I'll pull it back out again and see if there's anything at all salvageable about it - I'm not overly optimistic.

When I wasn't writing, I've been frantically trying to finish some cards and paintings for a nearby Christmas Market where one of my friends had a stall that she was kind enough to share a corner of. I sold a few cards and I don't know what else - I'll find out tomorrow, though I expect just the cards, which is still very exciting for me. I've never sold anything before. Early next year I think Mr K and I are considering opening a small shop on Etsy to sell prints of paintings and photos. I know my little doodles aren't exactly high art but I think they would be fun for brightening up kids rooms - we'll see!

Once the Christmas market work was done, it was time to start stocking up on the remainder of Christmas gifts we still needed to pick up and to finish a few small projects. Mr K and I stayed up way too late last night finishing up two of them - it was nearly three by the time we got to bed.

More fun this week - Wednesday is the last jiu jitsu class of the year. Thursday I get a haircut that, in my excitement to make an appointment entirely in French, I neglected to notice was at 8 in the morning. Friday is our jiu jitsu class dinner and Saturday is last minute shopping and packing before we fly out on Sunday. Too much to do!

And I'm going to sleep!

Oooooooo it's Thanksgiving time and everybody's feeling fine!

So says the singing card my parents sent us - and it's true!

Yesterday was a big day for me - my very first time cooking the traditional Thanksgiving meal all by myself. We invited nine of our Swiss friends for dinner, so I was cooking for eleven, which is also the most people I've ever cooked for at once. Add the size of a Thanksgiving meal and the number of people involved and I think I'm done cooking for the next couple days!

I split my grocery shopping over three days to keep my grocery-toting manageable. I ordered my turkey breast in French with a little bit of guidance from a friend. I borrowed one table, four chairs, three plates, four wine glasses, and one hour of baking time from Steph and Dani.

And then the cooking... I started at 10 in the morning on Sunday and finished at 7:15 Sunday night - just in time to eat around 7:30! Here's our menu and links to a few of the recipes I used.


Spinach Salad
with Cranberries and Nuts

Turkey-Bacon Roulade
Stuffed with Chestnut-Apple Stuffing

Cranberry Sauce with Red Wine and Lemon

Ham
with Apricot Horseradish Jezebel Sauce

Macaroni and Cheese
With Cheddar and Gruyere

Honey-Glazed Carrots

Traditional Green Bean Casserole
Topped with Fried Onion Strings

Sweet Potato Casserole
with Marshmallow Topping

Mashed Potatoes
with Butter and Cream

Pumpkin Pie
with Vanilla Whipped Cream

Joining up to demolish this massive pile of food were our neighbors, Monsieur et Madame Favre, Dani and Steph, Olivier and Celia and Danae, and Mr K's awesome co-worker Nipun (of shoe-swappin' IKEA-hikin' fame). We put a good dent in the food, completely finishing off 2 pounds (1 kilo) of ham and 3 pounds (1.5 kilos) of turkey. Mr K and I were lucky enough to end up with leftovers of all the side dishes, meaning I get the next couple days off from cooking! (Our guests are probably not aware of the fact that thanksgiving food always tastes better the next day when you eat it right from the storage container while standing in the kitchen... if they did, I imagine they would be over here right now!)We sent everyone home with some pumpkin pie and then, early this morning headed to Bern for the ONION MARKET...

But that post will have to wait for another day!

Also coming up this week "Son of Thanksgiving" - starring a boatload of Bern-dwelling-Barbers and even more turkey! Stay tuned.

Destructocats

Attack kittens
Originally uploaded by hellomizk

So I've been slacking off on the blog posts, but it isn't because I haven't been writing this month - oh no. I've written a ton this month - just not things that any human is ever going to read ... that's right (I originally typed 'write' - my brain is fried), it's time for NaNoWriMo once more!

NaNoWriMo, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is National Novel Writing Month - this uniquely American invention (who else would think a novel could be written in thirty days, right?) takes place every November and this is the fifth or so year I've participated.

The normal response to having to write a 50,000 word novel in one month is to spend as much time as possible procrastinating and taking part in non-writing activities that have suddenly become pressing. For me, this meant breaking out my sewing machine I bought a few months ago but never got around to opening since the instructions are in a variety of non-English languages. Finally the other night I couldn't bear to look at my laptop anymore, so I figured it was a good time. To get myself and my machine warmed up, I started a couple stupid sock creatures inspired by the book of the same name.

In addition to mutilating some perfectly good socks, I also destroyed a pair of old jeans that are way too big for me now and turned them into a pretty okay jean skirt! I was actually able to wear it out and all the seams lay nice and flat - what an accomplishment! I'm eager to stock up on sewing stuff while we're back in the US over Christmas as Fribourg doesn't have much in the way of fabric and what you can find is, as expected, expensive.

Anyway, this is probably enough procrastinating for me - I have another 30,000 words to write this month!

P.S. Cats eat stupid sock creatures.....

Martina Topley-Bird

Have I mentioned how much I love it that I can walk to concerts here? No more driving 40 minutes, paying 15$ to park and then having to drive home - nope. The local concert venue is only a 15 minute walk away.

Tonight Steph and I went to see Martina Topley-Bird (previously of Tricky-associated fame) play and it was one of the better concerts I've ever been to. She came out on stage dressed in a glittering pink strapless prom dress - very Barbie-chic. Throughout the night she chatted with the crowd (small venue - maybe 150 people - I don't estimate well) in French and English and also gushed about Obama on multiple occasions, at one point dedicating the song "Phoenix" to him.

She played several songs from both of her albums, including Carnies, Valentine, Baby Blue, Poison, Da da da da, Too Tough To Die, as well as a cover of Kate Bush's "Army Dreamers".

After the show, she stayed around to chat and sign CDs. I was amazed at how sweet and approachable she was - not what I expected at all. I wish I could go see her show in Geneva tonight as well!

MORE excitement!

The excitement continues...

So on Saturday we decided to see if it was possible to get to IKEA without a car - it is. It is not, however, easy to get to IKEA without a car - oh no. Mr K figured out our route online and we printed off our itinerary of train, regional train, bus and set out for Bern. Before leaving, we grabbed sandwiches and cokes - this was to prove to be very smart move as we were going to be needing those calories later.

Our on-train entertainment was listening to a couple American students chatting - and this was the first time in at least 6 months I've heard someone use the phrase, "And so I was like, whatever, you know."

We got to Bern in good time and, after a couple minutes' worth of confused wandering, we found the track for the little regional train - which would be leaving in 25 minutes. Rather than standing around, we went off to find the hot pretzel counter where we bought and rapidly consumed a giant buttered pretzel. Just like it sounds, this was a big salted pretzel that was sliced in half and spread with mounds of fresh, cool butter - it was heaven! Our tanks full once again, we headed back to the gate just as our tiny train pulled up. We took our seats and, in ten minutes, were on our way back out of Bern.

The fun started when we got to the little village where we were supposed to catch the bus to IKEA only to discover the next bus wouldn't arrive for another two hours. We checked the little map and saw IKEA was only four bus stops away. Mr K and his coworker popped into the grocery for cold drinks and directions and then we set out.

The girl at the grocery said something like "Go right, go left, go through the forest and you're there - you do have a car, don't you?"

We walked and walked, passing cows and green fields on both sides. We were pretty convinced we were going the wrong way, but it was a beautiful day and we had nothing else planned, so we just enjoyed the walk. This was the first place we've walked here without sidewalks, so we stuck to the side of the road.
Here you can see our route from the regional train station...

We finally arrived at the forest and, just a matter of minutes later, at IKEA. We arrived at 3:45 only to find they close at 5:00 on Saturday. No matter - at least we made it! We rushed madly through IKEA, and while Mr K and his buddy stood in line, I made the obligatory hot dog run since the hot dogs were easily 50% of our desire to go in the first place... I don't know why, but they just taste better after the stress of IKEA-shopping. We headed back out and caught the bus back to the regional train station, then caught the regional train four minutes later. Upon arriving in Fribourg, we picked up Chinese for dinner (ugh too much food) and swore to never eat again as we munch and sorted through our loot.

All in all, it was a really enjoyable day and the walk was probably the best part.