T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… the cheesy pretzel. First, Zurich’s version:A dry, almost stale pretzel which has been sliced opened, buttered, and filled with a couple of cold slices of cheese (which, as you’ll notice, are nowhere near pretzel-shaped, leaving one with many bites that include only cheese or buttered cheese). And now the … Read more
When we weren’t pulling our hair out trying to plan travel this weekend, we were off enjoying some lovely winter-like activities. Zurich is a fabulous place to be in the winter, assuming you like, um, winter. I am sorry we will be leaving before the real winter starts, but at least we are getting a … Read more
They spread it on sandwiches by the gallon. They slather it on pretzels by the kilo. But apparently, the Swiss are just not consuming enough butter. Their butter levels have become so dangerously low, in fact, that the Swiss Butter Council* has decided to intervene. To increase local butter awareness, the SBC has implemented an … Read more
Last night we crossed another item off the things-we-should-do-in-Switzerland-but-haven’t-gotten-around-to-yet list: dining in the dark. Apparently dark restaurants are becoming quite trendy these days, but Zurich’s Blinde Kuh (German for ‘Blind Cow’) was the very first of them. I found myself giddily excited while anticipating the evening, something which almost never happens to me. We arrived … Read more
I don’t want to alarm anyone, but there seems to be a trend towards non-traditional vegetable afoot around Zurich’s farmers’ markets. Purple asparagus, yellow zucchini, purple green beans (which I guess would just be called purple beans?)… these Swiss farmers are out of control. I love going to the farmers markets in Zurich and finding … Read more
You just have to make it yourself. I went to El Maiz (a Mexican shop in Zurich) and stocked up on some basic Mexican ingredients: black beans, corn tortillas, jalapeños, queso blanco, and red and green salsa. Last night I made spinach and mushroom enchiladas, black bean salsa, and fresh guacamole. Scott whipped up some … Read more
First off, for those of you who haven’t yet had the pleasure, allow me to introduce you to the wonderful pastry delight that is the cannoli. These Sicilian delicacies consist of a deep-fried pastry shell filled with ricotta-based creamy deliciousness. Traditionally there are little pieces of candied citron involved, and a dusting of powdered sugar, … Read more
OK, I promise, just a few more posts and we’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled blogging about the fabulous expat life in Zurich. But I still have a little bit of my trip to the southern US to make fun of share with you. As usual on my trips to the US, Mexican food was … Read more
And… I’m back in the southern US this week. Do you think they use little tiny little milking machines to make the rat cheese? Boiled peanuts (or berl’d p-nuts, spelled phonetically). They’re boiled for a long, long time in brine, and are soft and salty. Okra! Mmmmm. People from other parts of the US tend … Read more
American grocery stores are totally overwhelming – so many food-like substances that we don’t have in Switzerland! It’s really fun to explore, but sometime I’m a little, um, disturbed by what I find. Here are some products I’ve discovered in the past couple days that I don’t think existed last time I was in this … Read more