Hot Tea and Head Cold

Yesterday we had a nice day off to wander around and enjoy seeing the town, rather than frantically trying to get things done. The apartment hunt starts tomorrow. My throat was a little sore when I woke up yesterday morning, but a nice pot of hot tea at Kasia's shop and more great conversations eased the soreness for a few hours. However, once we got home, I used Skype to call my dad and then my mom and sister and, as I hadn't talked to them in about a week and a half, proceeded to talk for at least one and a half hours, at which point my throat was too raw to go on.

When I woke up this morning, my head was stuffed and my throat aching, so I stayed in bed and played sick until dinner time. For dinner, we headed to San Marco's and it was wonderful. We had a mixed greens salad with carrots and beets and corn and marinated leeks and endive, followed by Spaghetti Carbonara for me - it was enough to make a girl swoon! Bacon, cream, cheese, and egg to hold the whole mess together - heaven on noodles. After dinner, drinks and coffee and dessert - this concoction of hazelnut, pistachio, and caramel gelato with crunchy nougat-like morsels and whipped cream worth moving across the world for! It was certainly the tastiest meal I've had here yet, and that's saying something - all our food has been good so far. Now its time for online apartment hunting and, soon enough, passing out. Bon soir!

Jet-set or jet lag?

Well, we finally arrived in Switzerland. Today is the first day we've had off to relax in about two weeks. Whew! I'm still too tired for a nice, coherent blog post, so here are some random lists.

Fun facts about our flight:

• It took us 35 minutes at the United counter to check in, pay for checking a 5th bag (never again) and explain to the woman at the counter that Mr K had a job and was allowed into the country
  
• We had the two middle seats in the very last row of the plane
• The guy next to me read the Economist, followed by People magazine...
• Mr K slept about 4 hours on the flight - I slept none
• We watched Shrek 3

Fun facts about our stay in Bern:

• By the time our cab got to the hotel from the airport, it smelled like his car was going to explode - possibly from all our luggage
• Our hotel was way swanky
• All the TV was in German
• There were ELEPHANTS outside our hotel when we came back form walking around - they were having a Middle Eastern festival
• I slept 13 hours the first night - more than the three previous days combined

Fun facts about our stay in Fribourg:

• Hooray! I got the meet the author of http://kasiamorgiana.blogspot.com/
• Mr K and I walked over 24,000 steps our first day in fribourg - or over 10 miles... or over 16 km...
• I have a creepy blister
• Mr K had a work function and I accidentally slept through the approved dinner time....
• Trains = cool and scary; buses = confusing and scary
• Fribourg is really really beautiful and the weather is amazing

Thats all for now - time to wake up Mr K and find some food!

Small drawstring bag

Small drawstring bag
Originally uploaded by hellomizk

This past weekend, we took the last of our things to store to my parents house and passed my happy little car off to its next car-momma. My mom and I went clothing and yarn shopping (she's learning to crochet). I made this little bag over a few hours on Saturday and Sunday for one of my mom's friends who put together a sweet little "airplane survival pack" for us before we fly out this time next week. After I finished the little bag, I left the extra yarn for my mom's little yarn stash and came home with only 4 more balls of yarn than we left with. Hopefully I can make a couple more little gifts before we go since my luggage is looking awfully full right now!

Grrrrrrrrraw!

Grrrrrrrrraw!
Originally uploaded by hellomizk

The news finally arrived - work permit is done and we fly out of Virginia on the 17th of September and arrive in Geneva on the 18th of September. We're staying in Bern our first two days and will arrive in Fribourg on the 20th (apparently the hotels in Fribourg are all booked on the 19th - Kasia, do you know why?). So excited! All I have left on my to-do list is some legal paperwork, get carpet put in our house, get the painting in our house finished and hand it over sell!

Looks like we're moving a mummy...

Mummy?
Originally uploaded by hellomizk

Well, the movers have come and taken away pretty much everything we own and we're still not exactly sure when we're leaving. We've heard our visas have been approved at the local level and are moving along, so hopefully that whole process will be done in the next 7-10 days. We think we'll be moving the third week or so of September.

In other news, I've switched the thread crochet temporarily - it fits more easily in a tightly packed suitcase!

Tiny Post #2

Chinese food fortune cookie message: "You will soon be crossing the great waters."


We hope!

Random things I'm wondering while cooking chili

Hello to those of you who live in Switzerland - I have some questions. As I stood in my kitchen, making Cincinnati Chili and listening to Ladytron, I started thinking about my typical meals and that led me to wonder about Switzerland. If you have a second, please comment and fill me in! What is a typical breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Which meal is the biggest meal of the day? Do most people cook or eat out? I absolutely love to cook and am looking forward to all the new foods I can try and all the fresh foods we can eat.

I do my grocery shopping at a big big big grocery that is about two blocks from our house. I walk and pick up groceries about every other day, but most people around here drive and buy groceries once a week or so. Most people also eat out very frequently - we used to eat out two to three times a week, but we've cut down on that - too fattening! I try to plan out a menu for the full week on Sunday or Monday, leaving one day empty for leftovers and going out. I started planning the menu out in advance because when you buy fresh herbs around here, you get a big bundle of them - way too much for one meal. If I have a meal one day that calls for fresh basil or something, I know I need to find at least once more meal that also calls for it, or it doesn't get used! We have a farmer's market near the house every Sunday during the summer so thats when I stock up on yummy farm produce and fresh breads - the tomatoes from the grocery store taste like sand and water. Yuck!

For breakfast, my husband is a huge fan of breakfast cereal. In fact, before we met, I'm pretty sure that's what he ate for most meals! I like toast and fruit and eggs. Eggs are one of my favorite foods ever and I'm happy to eat them at any meal. For lunch, my husband goes out to eat and I usually have salad or leftover dinner from the night before or a frozen entree (blech!).

Anyway, thats it for food-related posting right now. Have fun!