Christmas In Switzy

More of our Christmas, here.

The little things help

I am realll happy about two {random and happen to be food products} things right now. One is that you can buy hard boiled eggs at the grocery store here which is great because I just really had been putting off making them myself. Two that because my sister Natalie, bless her, sent packets of Ranch seasoning we were able to eat taco salad one of my favorite meals. Also, eat veggies and other salads with Ranch...which I had been missing. Now, if only I could make Catalina dressing out of a packet.

Sure happy about this.

Ps. I only have one more {Hidden Valley} packet and will be needing more...so...

Let's Catch You Up...

Back in November we went to Jachen's work Christmas dinner. It was at a restaurant in a nearby town to where Jachen works. Jachen heard it would be a real great dinner so we decided to go. Well, dinner turned out to be Fondue Chinoise. Which is meat fondue. You stick think slices of meat into hot hot broth and you talk while waiting for it to cook and then eat. I did NOT like it. As you can see on my plate, I ate little meat. I think after those three pieces I managed to swallow 3 more tiny pieces. I already don't really like the flavor of meat here and in the States we don't really eat warm thin sliced meat. So not only is the flavor of meat not my favorite, but the texture is too different for me. Luckily, there were fries. Another part of the meal is lots of different sauces. I put some on my plate, and I ended up not liking any of them. {I am also kinda a picky eater} The bad flavor of meat mixed with bad sauce, yuck. Jachen didn't eat much of it either, it's not his favorite meal. The Swiss, besides Jachen, ate a ton of meat. Dinner took a couple HOURS to finish, people finally stopped eating! Then came dessert forever later and then it turned out to be a bust too. The only thing I liked was the cinnamon ice cream and spiced pears. The spaghetti noodle looking dessert is called Vermicelles which is made of Chestnut cream and it was not tasty and a weird grainy texture. We were just expecting an amazing meal, that is why we went...ha...so we were a bit bummed and then the whole dinner seemed to drag on and on. Honestly, I am not a huge fan of Swiss food so I probably wouldn't have liked much of anything they feed us.

In other news....we sold the bunk bed in the "guest" room! There Jachen is taking it apart so the family who bought it can take it home with them. Since we are moving we will not be needing that. Really and obviously we haven't used it at all anyway. We sold it on a website called Ricardo that is like unto Craigslist. We keep trying to sell that ugly green couch, but like us no one else wants it. So we will end up having to pay to have it taken away. Turns out, you can pay a sum of money to the nearby{down the mountain} second hand store and they will come pick up furniture you don't want and we have a few pieces to give them.

Also, we/Jachen borrowed his grandmothers work out bike while she has been gone on a cruise. I would love to use it, but we can't get the seat to lower and I can barely reach to do a full circle. Bummer. His grandma said we could have the bike, but we won't have room in the new apartment. I have always wanted to own a work out machine that I could place in front of a TV. ha. Ideal.

Doesn't Jachen look pretty dapper in those big frames glasses? He likes them too. Bonus. He is considering a pair like these in the future.

Lots of baby time. I get videos after videos of Henry and sometimes mr. Xander even makes an appearance in them. Those boys are a hoot! Too bad Skype is so grainy.

Snow. It came and almost went. Tuesday was nice and snowy all day, then it was practically gone yesterday, Wednesday and today even more so. But, it will come again. It didn't snow where Jachen works, down there on a lower elevation. They typically get less snow so I look forward to that when we move...down to that lower elevation.

Our poor framed picture of Christ slid right off that fireplace and shattered. So sad, it was so lovely framed. I should have secured it better...it was just leaning against the wall. Yes, this is note worthy.

Switzy actually has a great looking Christmas. Inside shop windows is Christmas. Lovely Christmas lights line Swiss architecture and street overheads. In almost every city, town or village there is a Christmas market. It is great. Soon we will be attending our village's Advent nights. Every night the village meets and then walk to a home who opens their window to a Christmas window display. Sounds neat. Soon I will post what our own Christmas looks like.

I am happy to be back to updating!
Ps. If you don't read my All Things Lovely blog you missed that I was without my computer for over 2 weeks do to a malfunctioning charger. But I am back!

Eventful weekend

Our weekend was great. Thanks to my ipod for helping preserve the memory.

We drooled over chocolate as our noses pressed against the windows

We ate a delicious meat/pork, lettuce and yummy spicy sauce sandwhich

We also ate mac&cheese the Swiss version, yum

We happened upon the first day of Christmas decorations on sale at the nearby thrift store, yess. We loaded up a box of some good decorations

We went to a candy store and picked up some American candy and soda, ROOT BEER!

I bought some colored tape for hanging art on the wall

Isn't that a cute heart deer wall hanging? It's perfect

More lovely fires, toasty

Like my new wreath made of twigs? Perfection. Great for Fall and Christmas decor

Ate Spaghetti dinner every night, yum

Braided three scarves together, but then opted out of wearing it to Stake Conference & look at that yellow skin I got in that picture 

Sunday evening we went to a concert at a local church. There were three performances/groups. The first was a brass band made of kids, a Yodeling group from the area and then a bigger brass band of adults. It was a great evening and we enjoyed the performances. I especially enjoyed Swiss Yodeling. Jachen didn't, he had heard far too much Yodeling in his lifetime. Sorry the photos are so bad of the concert they had some major spotlights going on on the stage.

A Raclette lunch

Last Sunday we ate lunch next door at the Grosseltern{Grandparents} and they prepared Raclette for us. Raclette is a Swiss meal that is a very social meal that can last for hours. Raclette is the name of a certain cheese used to eat for this meal. While you wait for your cheese to melt, you talk hence the social part. I didn't take a picture of it, but you put a piece of Raclette cheese on the mini pan that you put on the bottom row{under the skillet/grill that the bacon is on} then you wait for it to melt and then either just eat the melted cheese alone or you pour it on top of mini potatoes. Either way you remove the melted cheese onto your plate and then put a new piece of cheese on the pan. You can also put some garlic powder, paprika powder or some herbs specific for this dish on top of the cheese before melting it. I like putting garlic powder on. Yum. The meal is also eaten with mini pickles, baby corn and they eat those baby onion things with them too. Don't know the name, I don't eat those. It is a simple meal, but fun and delicious. You fill up your belly fast though. I had this dish last October for the first time when I was visiting and we had it for Jachen's grandfathers birthday celebration. The whole family sat around the table and we had two Raclette dishes going, those Swiss love their cheese.

We own a Raclette grill so if you come visit us in Switzy then we will have Raclette!

Don't Sign Me Up

What the?

You can sleep/drink/sit/be nakey in HAY???

You can apparently hangout like animals at that resort. Weird.

Pricey Paint

Ouch. 

Luckily there is the 3,90 version, but still that is a 

lot for a little thing of paint. 

Now, I have a bigger variety of colors to choose

from. I just have to save money now.

Great start to November

A few months ago I saw a flyer for an art exhibit that would be in November. I hung onto that flyer and today was finally the start of the art exhibit/show. It was nice to see that artists in Switzerland are also very diverse and unique looking...you can tell which were the artists. One lady had curly curly hot pink hair and one lady had many braids in her hair and then a funny hat on. There was some great art in there and we enjoyed walking around looking at each piece.
After the exhibit we walked around town, saw some funny looking chickens and bunnies, saw beautiful Fall leaves, had my ring cleaned, went into a library...a very small library, picked up some crafts, I drooled over yarn and then we headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things{tomorrow we are eating Raclette for lunch, YUM, at Jachen's grandparents and they asked us to bring baby pickels and baby corn}.
Now, we are indoors enjoying some Saturday free time and soon will be eating pizza and fruit smoothies for dinner. Delicious.
Tomorrow like I said, we will eat at the Grosseltern{Grandparents} and then Jachen's grandma will teach us how to make a really yummy apple treat. I hope to take pictures.

Big fun at the grocery store

I can't get over how awesome this system of getting fruit and veggies here{this side of the world} is. If there was a system like this somewhere in the States I wouldn't know about it. I wish though. This system is for the fruits and veggies you buy by weight. You just stick your produce on the scale, type in designated produce number and then voila your ticket/sticker pops out. So great.

The produce number is in the black oval.

Sticker, how fun.

We also enjoyed the likes of this big old school cell phone we found. I have never seen one like this. It is huge closed and huge opened. PS Jachen called that his "old person face".

Big and crazy old school, but I guess there are some people with bad vision.

Sometimes the highlight of our week is going to the grocery store and it is great.

Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkins, Candy & More

We had a glorious packed weekend, more photos and details over here. 

I wouldn't mind another 5 day weekend, that sure was nice.

More of us...

A little update on some October happenings...
Watching conference is a little tricky over on this side of the world. Growing up I never thought about how other parts of the world don't watch it at the same time as us.We still have a few talks to watch and we watch them for FHE.
Cute nails, huh?
Jachen reading during Sunday School...and obviously I am on my Ipod in class.
Jachen was asked to fill in twice to teach at Institute and I went along. There is always dinner served before Institute starts and both times we were there we ate delicious homemade pumpkin soup.
We went to check out the holiday decorations at Ikea and pick up another fleece blanket and holiday scented candles. There were Christmas trees in rooms. It finally clicked as to why there were so many Christmas decorations already all over town, but then at Ikea I realized it is because Christmas is their next holiday...whereas in the USA there is still Halloween and Thanksgiving going on.
That is the yummy pumpkin soup and the lovely wheat bread I dipped in it.

I can't believe Halloween is tomorrow and that the day after that is the first day of November! Crazy.

Luzern We Went

I would/could post the whole lot of pictures and info over here too, but I will spare you the
double take. So go HERE to see the rest of our marvelous day in Luzern.

Snow Tires

It's official...our snow tires are on! That means winter is peaking in and on it's way. The other evening when we were driving home from the grocery store we took the way home that is high up in the mountains. It was snowing up there and when we got lower to the elevation we live in it was still snowing! It was kinda fun even though soon I will be reminded how much I hate snow.

Olma

More photos and info of our experience at Olma this weekend. HERE.

Rainy Evening

Today's weather was rainy then sunny then rainy then sunny then rainy when we headed out for a drive. You can see the rest of the photos, here.

A Change of Plans

Jachen was needing a trim on the sides, just a bit. He gave me a size of clippers that just wasn't cutting much on the sides. So he hands me another one and it cut SOOO SHORT. I was freaking out. There was no way that was going to look right. Jachen kept trying to say it would be fine, but there is no way the long on top and short short on the sides was going to be okay. So I had to just shave the rest of his head. So what started out as a trim on the sides turned into a full on short shave.

Apparently when Jachen can blow dry his hair to look like this. Big and crazy.


See, the during picture, how the sides were short and the top still long? Not going to happen. Luckily he doesn't care much about his hair so he could careless I had to give him his summer haircut again. {Summer haircut here} I really need to get more hair cutting skills.

Update

The grocery store Migros, here in Switzerland, came out with this new drink. Pink Grapefruit. Oh me oh my. So delicious. Every time I buy one, it is already opened and going down my throat before we get to the car.

The Swiss love their Marching bands

I have NO idea what is going on here...but don't worry that was driving around. I almost didn't get my camera out in time before it passed us on the road.

This was our first trip grocery shopping in Germany. Our second trip looked a lot like that. We buy enough to last us a few weeks so we don't have to keep driving back and forth. Where we shop in Germany is about an hour away. We shop in Germany because there is a larger variety of food and better prices.

Look at that cabbage! Silly cabbage.

Jachen found this HUGE fan at the thrift store. I think we should have bought it and used it at church. It sure is hot in our church building.

I MADE STIR FRY. Yum. This is one of my favorite meals and one I have never attempted cooking. WHAT was I waiting for? It looked and tasted a lot better in real life than in these pictures. Even better was the leftovers for lunch the next day...I love cold stir fry.

I MADE SPAGHETTI PIE. Again, a meal I love, but never attempted before. It was quite the process, easy though. Jachen and I have been able to eat this for 3 dinners. Delicious every time. This is the meal I stuck in the oven while we went on our drive, that I mentioned, here.

Well that is my little update.

Our Backyard

You can find the rest of our enjoyable evening drive and photo shoot, over here.

AND....

I forgot to mention this in the previous blog post...but before we left the temple I decided to talk to an American group that were sitting and eating lunch. AND it turns out the girl there is the sister of the girl that is currently nannying for the family I worked for last year in Switzerland. This girl, Rachel has met that family several times and has heard all about me! Such a small world! AND her other sister nannied them last year and I met her when I went to visit the family I worked for back in October. Crazy! Her parents were there visiting from the States so I met them too. Rachel is the girl at the very end of the video I took of the temple.
What are the odds!

Update

This is a Durum. They are all over Switzerland sold at Kebab places. The first time I had one in May I didn't like it, but every Kebab place is different and uses a different sauce. A few weeks ago I wanted to try a Durum again because it's the cheapest "fast food" here and I wanted to give it another shot. So we tried the place closest to our home and loved this one.

Yay! Sauerkraut on a hot dog! Well I should say "hot dog" because they are not quite the same as an American style hot dog. Speaking of hot dogs, in college on one of my french tests there was a question asking what "hot dog" was in French. I thought it must have been a trick question, but no...it really was "hot dog" in French.

Jachen bought himself a soldering iron to work on some hobby stuff. He has set up a table in the living room so he can work on it and still be near me.

I received a package from my parents this week and inside there was a Mariners ball cap for Jachen. He sure is excited about that.

This past Saturday Jachen and I went to the Bern Temple with members from our ward. After our morning session we went to the Mormon Home store and LOOK WHAT I FOUND! A&W Root Beer! I have been craving Root Beer and there it has been waiting for me. It was pretty expensive, but it was a must. Oh, and it was French week at the temple so there were many French speaking Temple workers and people going in and out of the Temple. I sure love that language. Oh and it was really really sunny when we took those pictures together, so that is why my eyes are closed. 

Then we visited the spot at the Temple where Jachen proposed to me back in October, almost a year ago. He is pointing to the spot we stood and you can see how he is praising that I said "yes" to him then.

Home Teaching

Jachen and our Home Teachers Peter on the right and Roberto on the left{your right and left}. Jachen showing pictures of Seattle, Puget Sound, Kayaking, Dicks Burgers, Lynnwood and teaching Peter how to use Google Maps. We ended up talking so much about life in Seattle and looking things up on Google Maps that we didn't have time for a lesson. Oops. It was fun. Now you can see what our Home Teachers look like.