Der Rheinfall

Saturday Jared and I headed to the largest waterfall (by volume) in Europe. It's the Rheinfall near the border of Germany on the Rhein River. We took ~46 min. train ride to a quiet town and discovered another little part of Switzerland at the suggestion of a friend.

In the spring/summer season you can go up on top of that rock in the middle of the falls. It took a lot of convincing to prevent Jared from rock hopping his way to it.

What started out as a normal self portrait...

Turned into me using the rapid fire function on my camera. Part way through I just started laughing.

I didn't know there could be another variation of the gender sign on the WC.

One of the toilets in the men's WC was "defekt"

The town near the Rheinfall.

For Johnny and Hudson

My first instinct was to go, "Look Johnny and Hudson, a digger?" Well, I was pushing a sleeping girl so that didn't work. I so I took a photo and video for my two darling nephews in honor of them.

A Fabulous Find

I totally scored with friends here in Zürich. Yesterday I met up with Megan (the cutest pregnant girl) Julie, (who attacks life and swiss ski lifts with me) and Tanya, (we're so happy to have her back from holiday in the states.) Yesterday I met up with them and their kids (they each have a 3 yr. old boy.) We went to the natural history museum and let the boys run around while we quickly chatted away 3 hrs. YUP!

P.S. Nice pose Tanya, you look HOT!

P.S.S. Sorry about cutting off your heads Megan and Julie! You bother still look GREAT!

A week of food!

I got these cute little espresso cups for our MarieBelle (thick) Hocho. (as EmCox would say.)

Vegetable stew. Parsnips, zucchini, celery root, potatoes, squash, green onions, parsley, and some other random stuff.


Homemade baked French Fries!

Jared liked them:)

We ate them in one sitting!

My friend Tanya told me about this ingenius device. It's great for measuring sticky stuff like, peanutbutter, honey and molasses. It just pushes it right out. I got it in the states while I was home for Christmas, and the funny thing is that I didn't notice until later that it's made in Switzerland. Imagine that!?!?! She like myself LOVES kitchen gadgets!

Hamburgers German style. I had been craving hamburgers for a while. The ground beef here doesn't have enough fat to cook for a hamburger and one of my German friends mentioned this. Ground beef, one egg, green onions, bread crumbs. Mass all together and season.

I brought some relish from home. That perfected the meal!

I was in heaven, and scarfed it down in less that 3 mins.

Blended sun-dried tomatoes mixed with spinach and a bit of cream pasta.

Poached Pears in Puffed pastry.

Drizzled with chocolate....umm...I'm going to have to try this one again since the pastry drooped:(

Skiing in Switzerland!

Yesterday I went skiing with Julie, her husband and one of their sons. It was pretty hilarious. Not to mention the adventure it took to get there. First of all, I love Julie's casual approach to life. She's just a wonderful and super fun person. The most hilarious part was she and I getting on the chair lift thingie. The first time it took about 10 attempts. It's this upside-down "T" bar and you just kind of lean back while it extends from the cable above until the slack gives out and it pulls you up the hill, while your skis are on the ground and you're trying to balance and hold on for dear life. You place it right where your bottom and legs meet. So, the first time we went separately and just held on with our arms. Which is really tiring. We're both sore. The 2nd time we thought we'd attempt it like other people, together. Well, we couldn't quite get it, fell over delirious with laughter while the subsequent ones would swing by and hit us in the head.

The 3rd try it only took ~ 3 times. However, while we were going up the hill we almost fell over, laughing and holding on for dear life we made it. After that it was all good. Until I went on it with Jason her husband (snow boarder.) My final attempt was me, on my back getting dragged by one leg. They had to stop the so called "lift" machine.

Here is someone getting off the "lift" with ease.

This is how we got up the mountain. My Dad would have loved it.

So amazing. This is the real deal. Not just some photo in a calender. These are the Swiss Alps.

These towns were just so beautiful. I love how the mountains just shoot up from the lake.

We couldn't figure out what this means. Maybe, "Don't fall down head first."

Julie and I had a lot of fun:) Hee hee!

Double click below for more beautiful photos.

Hot Husband!

This is what Jared wore to work yesterday! He is just so good looking. I love his pose here too.

A Day in Bonstetten

Yesterday I went out to Bonstetten (which is west on the other side of the hill of Zürich) to hang out with Julie and Megan. I made homemade wheat bread and we ate sandwiches and Julie's homemade cinnamon rolls and chilled while the kids ran around.

Here's Julie starting a movie that we watched.

Megan is so cute pregnant.

This is Julie's dog Saffron. I love that name, the color of her hair.

This is Jonah, Julie's boy. I love this kid. He is hilarious. Especially when he runs around with his shirt off all tattoo ridden.

We also made this recipe since Clementine's are in season. Well I didn't do it right. I'm going to have it make it again. I didn't really follow the directions. That happens often.

Recipe: Clementine Clafoutis

Butter as needed

1/2 cup flour, more for dusting pan

3 eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Pinch salt

3/4 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup milk

5 to 15 clementines, peeled and sectioned, about 3 cups

Powdered sugar.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a gratin dish, about 9 by 5 by 2 inches, or a 10-inch round deep pie plate or porcelain dish, by smearing it with butter, just a teaspoon or so. Dust it with flour, rotating pan so flour sticks to all the butter; invert dish to get rid of excess.

2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs until frothy. Add granulated sugar and salt and whisk until combined. Add cream and milk and whisk until smooth. Add 1/2 cup flour and stir just to combine.

3. Layer clementine sections in dish; they should come just about to the top. Pour batter over fruit to as close to top of dish as you dare; you may have a little leftover batter, depending on size of your dish. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until clafoutis is nicely browned on top and a knife inserted into it comes out clean. Sift some powdered sugar over it and serve warm or at room temperature. Clafoutis does not keep; serve within a couple of hours of making it.

Something wonderful

Once upon a time ago I played the cello. I was introduced to Yo-Yo Ma's beautiful playing at a very young age. For the first time I got to see/hear him play live. It was exquisite. He played as if the cello were a part of him. At the end of his playing a woman came out and gave him flowers. He turned around and gave them to some random lady in he audience. I was far away in the cheap seats but I bet she was blushing:)

The program.

Chocolate and Carrot/Orange

On Sunday we had a birthday dessert party for Jared. I made super duper chocolate cake and a carrot/orange cake.

Jared got all 30 candles blown out. I put them close together for him so his wish could come true.

Mostly Zooglers came over (Zürich Googlers) and our new friend Fabian from church.

In all we had people from Germany, Poland, Scotland, Holland, France and America! No native Swiss could make it:(

A birthday dinner request!

Jared requested crépes with spinach, ham and feta in them for his birthday. We ate on the cloth I bought to make a skirt but substituted it for a tablecloth until I get around to making it into a skirt.

I surprised him with Rice Krispie Treats. I discovered marshmellows here. The treats are already gone. (They're hiding in the oven here because I wanted to surprise him after dinner.)

The real desserts come tomorrow for his birthday dessert party!

Happy Birthday Jared!!!!!

Christmas without the originals

I didn't get to see my original family this Christmas. They went to Chicago (where Jared and I had a 6 hr. delayed layover) to spend Christmas at my Aunts house.

Isn't my mother beautiful?

Here's the only sibling that I resemble. My older brother Jeremy.

Stylin' Sam and I really don't look alike. I always wish I had his hair color though.

Cookies Part 17.

What we have here is a successful batch of cookies. I added oatmeal, a bit more flour and less butter. They are nice and plump. The only problem with these is there are so many chocolate chips in this batch and not enough dough to contain them.

Here they are just out of the oven.



They usually flatten after that...but not these cookies. They pulled through. Thanks guys.

Another reason why I hate making cookies is because I hate doing batches, especially when I only have one pan. So, the last batch that went in was just one big cookie. It disappeared soon after it came out of the oven...there's only one suspect.

Apparently someone is aware!

These messages were printed on the boxes of cigarettes in the Duty-Free shop in the Zürich airport.

Bangs

I got bored today so I cut my bangs. 4 reasons why I shouldn't have bangs.

1. I have crazy cowlick which make my bangs go in all sorts of directions.
2. I wear hats here because it's cold and my hair will look funny when I take them off.
3. Now I have to do my hair. I hate doing my hair. I'm a wash and go kind of girl...when it comes to hair. When it comes to make-up...well...I'm an artist and just love color.
4. I part my hair on the side. Always have, always will. Sometimes it creates a problem for short bangs.

A side note about my color: So, I've decided to stick with this color and let it grow out. I know it's not the right color but I really don't like dying my hair. It's bothersome and I think a waste of money and time. Yes, I will have dark roots because my hair grows in darker and lightens up. Yes, it does look greenish is fluorescent light. I just try to avoid fluorescent lights.

It's a Miracle

This is really something to boast about. Last week I beat Jared at two games. Now, seeing that Jared is a genius and wins at EVERYTHING, this is a huge accomplishment. Well, I don't know if it was just because he was feeling under the weather or what but I beat him at P.I.G. and SCRABBLE. We played Scrabble on the way home from the U.S. and I could have beat him due to his lack of sleep but I did. I finished before he did and he had to subtract his remaining letters.

Sledding...kind of

Jared pulls the boys on the sled in N.J.