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!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
Paint and ink and paint and ink
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?
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?
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Tiny Post #4
A public note to whomever googled "mummy corn dog" to find my blog:
That completely made my day - if that's my legacy, I can live with it! ;-) Thanks for the laugh!
Sincerely,
Miz K
That completely made my day - if that's my legacy, I can live with it! ;-) Thanks for the laugh!
Sincerely,
Miz K
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Chomp
Today I went for a little walk to get some fresh air and practice taking pictures some more. I wandered down to the river and took a variety of crunchy old breads that we forgot to eat with me. The bread here is tasty but we've noticed that if you buy a loaf, you pretty much better plan on finishing it in 24 hours tops - or plan to share it with birds, because it takes a beak to crunch the crusts the next day.
When I got to the river, a bunch of mallard-y looking ducks were hanging around. I laid an IKEA bag on the ground so I would have something to sit on, since it's been drizzly all day. As soon as I was comfortably settled and had the camera ready, I started feeding the ducks. I had two rolls and a bun and I now realize I should have brought way more bread because tons and tons of ducks showed up. Several of the ducks would stand right next to me, not more than six inches away, and take the bread right from my hand. Neat! Things got exciting when the swans showed up. Two big swans.
How big were the swans? Well, I was sitting on the ground and the swan who walked up to me and stood on my boots looked down at me when he stretched out his neck. Them's good eatin', I bet. Anyway, this swan stood right next to my feet and swung his long neck until his face was about a foot from mine - and growled at me. Growled. And then hissed. I couldn't stand up because of the way I was sitting and the fact the swan was standing between my feet, so I put the toe of my boot on his chest and gently pushed him back. He didn't like that. He stretched his neck out and hissed again. In a last desperate measure, I threw a roll at his head and shut my eyes. When I didn't get attacked, I opened one eye to see the swan blissfully attempting to swallow the entire roll without doing whatever it is swans do in lieu of chewing. Once he finished his roll, he seemed satisfied and walked away, allowing me to continue feeding the duckies and, soon, the pigeons. The rain picked up and I decided to head back home.
On a totally unrelated note, I present to you:
Sauce for ham - a variation
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp flour
1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup cane sugar
1 tbsp molasseses
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup apricot jelly
1/4 tsp prepared horseradish
Melt butter and stir in flour. Add remaining ingredients except horseradish and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in horseradish to taste. Serve with ham! (Tasty on ham sandwiches the next day, too)
Still need a goofy name for my sauce. "ApriHorse"? "RadiCot"? "HorsieCot"? "Spicy Horsey Fruity Goo?"
When I got to the river, a bunch of mallard-y looking ducks were hanging around. I laid an IKEA bag on the ground so I would have something to sit on, since it's been drizzly all day. As soon as I was comfortably settled and had the camera ready, I started feeding the ducks. I had two rolls and a bun and I now realize I should have brought way more bread because tons and tons of ducks showed up. Several of the ducks would stand right next to me, not more than six inches away, and take the bread right from my hand. Neat! Things got exciting when the swans showed up. Two big swans.
How big were the swans? Well, I was sitting on the ground and the swan who walked up to me and stood on my boots looked down at me when he stretched out his neck. Them's good eatin', I bet. Anyway, this swan stood right next to my feet and swung his long neck until his face was about a foot from mine - and growled at me. Growled. And then hissed. I couldn't stand up because of the way I was sitting and the fact the swan was standing between my feet, so I put the toe of my boot on his chest and gently pushed him back. He didn't like that. He stretched his neck out and hissed again. In a last desperate measure, I threw a roll at his head and shut my eyes. When I didn't get attacked, I opened one eye to see the swan blissfully attempting to swallow the entire roll without doing whatever it is swans do in lieu of chewing. Once he finished his roll, he seemed satisfied and walked away, allowing me to continue feeding the duckies and, soon, the pigeons. The rain picked up and I decided to head back home.
On a totally unrelated note, I present to you:
Sauce for ham - a variation
1/4 cup butter
1 tbsp flour
1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup cane sugar
1 tbsp molasseses
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup apricot jelly
1/4 tsp prepared horseradish
Melt butter and stir in flour. Add remaining ingredients except horseradish and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in horseradish to taste. Serve with ham! (Tasty on ham sandwiches the next day, too)
Still need a goofy name for my sauce. "ApriHorse"? "RadiCot"? "HorsieCot"? "Spicy Horsey Fruity Goo?"
Friday, November 30, 2007
Ta da!
Earlier today I was rereading one of my favorite books about food by food critic Jeffrey Steingarten. In one of the articles he had an excessively long and detailed recipe for a Gratin Dauphinoise that makes me positively drool every time I read it. Today, as I reread the recipe for the tenth or eleventh time, I thought, "Why not." It's Friday and I have nothing overwhelming pressing to do, though I probably should have hit the Post to pay rent, but that can wait until tomorrow. I made a list of ingredients and hit the grocery.
When I was younger, we got Potatoes au Gratin in a box - it was delicious and one of the foods I begged for. It never occurred to me that there was any other way to make them before I read Steingarten's article. I've always been a pretty good eater, but it wasn't until I spent several years working in restaurants that I really got into food.
This recipe was easily one of the most detailed I have ever read - it was two full pages long. When Mr K walked in the kitchen and saw me, ruler in hand, measuring my potato slice, I thought he was going to hit the floor laughing. Following the directions in the book exactly, I sliced potatoes to 1/8 inch on my mandolin slicer and buttered my casserole dish. Four tablespoons of butter, one cup of tasty swiss milk, one and a half cups of heavy cream - swoon. I lightly crushed a garlic clove and added it to the milk along with a bit of nutmeg and salt and pepper. I brought the milk to boil once, let it cool, and then boiled again before pouring gently over my potato slices. Before the milk was poured, however, I had to tile my potato slices exactly as described, even going so far as to "throw away the small end slices" as the book instructed. This mix baked, covered for several minutes, during which time I boiled, cooled, and boiled again the heavy cream. So many steps!
I think this could be one of the more complicated things I've cooked to date and it was wonderful. Next time I would probably give it another five minutes in the oven, but as you can see from the picture, the top browned perfectly and the cream and butter oozed out from between the thin potato slices. With this we had ham and a cold bean salad. All in all I was very impressed and no, there isn't any left.
Between intense cooking today and finishing my 50k words last night - the novel isn't done, but NaNoWriMo is - I'm utterly exhausted right now. It's just a bit past 7:30 in the evening and I think I could fall asleep right now. Mr K is playing Playstation as we finally got the doodad to plug it in.
I'm off to eat the last three gooey potato slices and try to stay awake!
When I was younger, we got Potatoes au Gratin in a box - it was delicious and one of the foods I begged for. It never occurred to me that there was any other way to make them before I read Steingarten's article. I've always been a pretty good eater, but it wasn't until I spent several years working in restaurants that I really got into food.
This recipe was easily one of the most detailed I have ever read - it was two full pages long. When Mr K walked in the kitchen and saw me, ruler in hand, measuring my potato slice, I thought he was going to hit the floor laughing. Following the directions in the book exactly, I sliced potatoes to 1/8 inch on my mandolin slicer and buttered my casserole dish. Four tablespoons of butter, one cup of tasty swiss milk, one and a half cups of heavy cream - swoon. I lightly crushed a garlic clove and added it to the milk along with a bit of nutmeg and salt and pepper. I brought the milk to boil once, let it cool, and then boiled again before pouring gently over my potato slices. Before the milk was poured, however, I had to tile my potato slices exactly as described, even going so far as to "throw away the small end slices" as the book instructed. This mix baked, covered for several minutes, during which time I boiled, cooled, and boiled again the heavy cream. So many steps!
I think this could be one of the more complicated things I've cooked to date and it was wonderful. Next time I would probably give it another five minutes in the oven, but as you can see from the picture, the top browned perfectly and the cream and butter oozed out from between the thin potato slices. With this we had ham and a cold bean salad. All in all I was very impressed and no, there isn't any left.
Between intense cooking today and finishing my 50k words last night - the novel isn't done, but NaNoWriMo is - I'm utterly exhausted right now. It's just a bit past 7:30 in the evening and I think I could fall asleep right now. Mr K is playing Playstation as we finally got the doodad to plug it in.
I'm off to eat the last three gooey potato slices and try to stay awake!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Gulp!
This picture has nothing to do with Fribourg, I admit - I was just going through older photos today and came across it and it made me laugh.
Over the summer, Mr K and I went to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a nice vacation courtesy of his parents. My parents were there, too, for a conference my dad was teaching at, so the timing could not have been better. Mr K and I ended driving around and exploring one day and we found a pond - or maybe more of a small lake - full of life. Gray shapes moved under the surface of the water, looking far too big for the pond they lived in. These carp must have been well into the 3-5 foot long range and they loved cheese crackers. Lots of small turtles also dropped by for a snack but left when the alligators showed up. Yup, alligators. You can click on the picture to the right to see some more pictures Mr K took of the turtles, alligators, and several of me looking like a completely goofball on the beach - feel free to ignore those.
I find it funny to look at pictures of sleeveless shirts and flip-flops after coming in from a long walk in the chill outside. I can see snow on the mountains, and the weather keeps telling me to watch for more snow a bit closer to home.
Thanksgiving in Bern with Mr K's coworkers and family was really a lot of fun, though I really missed my family. Watch for a Thanksgiving-related post later on this week. Got a question about this fabulous American holiday? Leave it in comments and I'll expand on it for you in that post! Remind me to post recipe for tasty ham glaze!
I'm off to make some salsa! Ole!
Over the summer, Mr K and I went to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a nice vacation courtesy of his parents. My parents were there, too, for a conference my dad was teaching at, so the timing could not have been better. Mr K and I ended driving around and exploring one day and we found a pond - or maybe more of a small lake - full of life. Gray shapes moved under the surface of the water, looking far too big for the pond they lived in. These carp must have been well into the 3-5 foot long range and they loved cheese crackers. Lots of small turtles also dropped by for a snack but left when the alligators showed up. Yup, alligators. You can click on the picture to the right to see some more pictures Mr K took of the turtles, alligators, and several of me looking like a completely goofball on the beach - feel free to ignore those.
I find it funny to look at pictures of sleeveless shirts and flip-flops after coming in from a long walk in the chill outside. I can see snow on the mountains, and the weather keeps telling me to watch for more snow a bit closer to home.
Thanksgiving in Bern with Mr K's coworkers and family was really a lot of fun, though I really missed my family. Watch for a Thanksgiving-related post later on this week. Got a question about this fabulous American holiday? Leave it in comments and I'll expand on it for you in that post! Remind me to post recipe for tasty ham glaze!
I'm off to make some salsa! Ole!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Gobble gobble!
Happy Thanksgiving! Poor Mr K had to work today as Thanksgiving, as all of you not-natural-blonds know, is an American holiday and thus not celebrated here. We are having Kasia and Peter over for a little non-turkey dinner tonight and then going to the home of Mr K's coworker to have Thanksgiving tomorrow with said coworker's wife and kids and sundry other Americans imported for the holiday. I wish I could be home with my family for the holiday but maybe next year we can make the trip back.
So, in a country without Thanksgiving, you may be wondering how on earth anyone here knows when to start decorating for Christmas. The answer is.... late October. Yup, my first sighting of Christmas-related decorative goodness was before Halloween, which is also not much of a holiday here. Every day more stores put out more Christmas decor and suggestions for gifts, and things are starting to look very festive around here. The fact that we're expected to get more snow Sunday through Wednesday of next week also doesn't hurt! A nice thing about no Thanksgiving here... no Black Friday shopping... which is a bonus, considering we kind of live above a mall.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! I'm off to pick up lentils, hams, and other non-turkey items! Entertain me: vote in my new poll!
So, in a country without Thanksgiving, you may be wondering how on earth anyone here knows when to start decorating for Christmas. The answer is.... late October. Yup, my first sighting of Christmas-related decorative goodness was before Halloween, which is also not much of a holiday here. Every day more stores put out more Christmas decor and suggestions for gifts, and things are starting to look very festive around here. The fact that we're expected to get more snow Sunday through Wednesday of next week also doesn't hurt! A nice thing about no Thanksgiving here... no Black Friday shopping... which is a bonus, considering we kind of live above a mall.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! I'm off to pick up lentils, hams, and other non-turkey items! Entertain me: vote in my new poll!
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