As you are all eager to read all about my Indian sojourn I thought it best to do a brief catch up entry to cover a couple of weeks. In essence not a huge amount has happened since Ma and Pa departed these fair shores (even a landlocked country can have shores can't it?). It has been just mostly normal day to day stuff. I know, boring! How does that lend itself to any witty repartee?
There were of course a couple of highlights.
Highlight Number One
Firstly we had some friends over for dinner (Vicki and Alfred) which meant cooking for more than two people. This meant of course choosing the menu and making sure all the decor and decorations were just so....not sure what poor S thought!
Well the night was a lovely success and so much so that I forgot to take any photos. So you will just have to make do with a short menu run down:
Starter: Champagne, the best way to start, continue and end a meal!
Real starter: French onion soup with sherry and Gruyere. This was actually a MasterChef recipe I found and it was excellent and perfect for a cold night. Of course you have to love chopping at least two kilograms of onions to make this.
Main course: Weiner schnitzel (home made breadcrumbs of course) with smashed potatoes and a cucumber salad (S made the salad). I managed to get them to be beautifully golden brown and the veal was extremely tender. The potatoes, were, well, potatoes but the salad was refreshing and a perfect (and traditional) accompaniment.
Dessert: Creme brulee which was supposed to have cardamom in it. It is tough to find Asian spices in Switzerland and S tried but we then ended up with kokuma. I now need to find recipes with kokuma!
Wines: Delightful range of French whites and Australian reds.
Also did the good dinner party thing and cleaned up after the guests left. This meant a very relaxed sleep in on Sunday - praise the Lord!
Highlight Number Two
My routine on every second Tuesday is to explore another town/city in Switzerland. As most of you know I like order and routine and am not restricted to this second Tuesday regime (really I am not. I say this as I touch each hot plate twice to make sure it is off and six returns to the front door to ensure it is locked). It happens to coincide with a Hildi day - our cleaning lady who likes to sing and chat to herself. I don't think she is channelling demons but just enjoys her own company.
So this particular Tuesday took me to Baden (not Baden Baden which is in Germany) but the Swiss version which is obviously not so nice as they did not name it twice. It is a town which has a number of natural thermal springs (Bad = bath) and was a favourite spot for Romans in ye olden days.
The pictures on the Baden website made it look wonderful but in reality I found it to be a little run down with a number of boarded up buildings - not very Swiss at all. Even the main thermal bath was closed but it was suggested to use one of the ones in a hotel which was available to the public. Which is what I did. I enjoyed a little sauna, a little steam and also a little ice in the cold room - a real weenie shrinker that one!
After that little bit of local culture it was time for more and I headed off to the Villa Langmatt Museum which was the former home of the founders of the engineering company ABB. The house is filled with works of impressionists (don't we all have Monet's, Gaugin's, Siseley's and Van Gogh's hanging in our homes). It was an incredible collection and to top it off, almost no people! Who loves a crowd anyway.
I then had a wander through the cobble stoned streets and did a spot of shopping, well I bought more Nespresso pods!
Highlight Number Three
It was time for another airline geek fest. This time I did not have to travel to the USA as it was right here in Zurich. I even managed to convince S that this was a suitable way to spend time on a Sunday. He is very forgiving or just wants to keep me quiet.
It was a pretty good fair actually with the usual range of models and memorabilia. I was surprised by the number of catering trolleys that were available but resisted the urge (big PHEW from S) as I have one from the big QF in storage in Melbourne. That said, I couldn't resist a little catering box from SWISS. It has become a storage unit in the study and is mostly filled with airline amenity kits.
The next instalment will be our Indian adventure. I bet you can't wait but those of you on Facebook have already had a sneak peak at some of the photos. The words will, as always, tell so much more!
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