March 29, 2009
"Sunday Fondue & A Flask (and a Volcano!)"
Well, the rain stopped, and I can't complain because the first two week's weather here in the wonderland of Switzerland has been perfect, particularly considering the alternative my family has been facing back home with snow, more snow, wind, oh, and the volcano, Mt. Redoubt erupting every hour on the hour it seemed at times. Everyone is fine, but flights have been cancelling, and everyone is trying to guess which way the ash will blow next.
My Twittering here on SwissFix actually started when I was looking for up to the minute reports on Mt. Redoubt back home and I found that the Alaska Volcano Obervatory was using Twitter for updates on the status. I figured it was time to find out what this whole Twitter thing is all about...something new, what next?! In my business though, its better to jump in and figure it out, staying with the evolutions of Internet technology, to at least keep pace with my customers! Twitter is already up and running for Kenai Riverfront as well, go to www.twitter.com/kenairiverfront for updates on the river thawing and soon up to the minute fishing and weather reports. Alli, Jilli, and Cindy are all Twittering away now too...what a world! Now I just have to get them to start Twittering in German to help their language training along!
Anyway, it was a good day for Fondue again, and while I couldn't do it like Urs the other night (the Käserei or Cheese Shops are closed on Sundays along with 99% of all other stores, excepting a Kiosk or mini Grocery in the Hauptbahnof-main train station in Bern), BUT I did happen to have an instant package or two of instant fondue in my cupboard, and Urs did say Fondue is best when it's cold, and it was indeed cold, and I was certainly not at my nationally-mandated cheese quota for the day. You see, the Swiss consume some 22 kilograms which converts from metric to nearly 50 pounds of cheese per year, and I only have three months to accomplish that goal in!
I heated the fondue in it's foil pouch, getting it good and melty, while I cut up some bread cubes and steamed some fresh asparagus. I've been eating on this one huge bunch of aspargus for a week now, and I still have four spears, preserved nicely upright in a glass of water like our British friend Allison Wilson taught us in Florida. Hi Allison! It works great with Swiss Aspargus too! I don't have a proper fondue pot with a candle or gel fuel heat source yet, so I just put the cheese in a glass stemmed desert dish, making do, but the problem is then half way through the fondue (if you indeed intend to consume the whole thing in one sitting like me) you have to reheat the fondue in a saute pan, using a wooden spoon to perform the critical figure-eight pattern stirring to ensure it stays in the proper consistency.
To wash down the fondue, white wine is usually the order of the day. Urs & Sandra said to never drink cold water with fondue, so I didn't, imagining it would cause the cheese to do awful things in my stomach lest I dare. Instead, since I had no wine, and had made my Sunday afternoon excercise walk into a beer run to the Altes Tram Depot (old tram depot) the only brewery in Bern where you can take a fresh flask of beer home with you like we do in Soldotna at Doug & Amy's Kenai River Brewing Company, I enjoyed a fresh glass of the best beer I'd had in days. Yeah, I got lost in the city again, so what!! There's a new discovery around each corner, and eventually I find my way home again and again.
The stuff in the can just doesn't seem to cut it, even here in Switzerland. And, check out this cool flask, which someday I hope to fill back home with some Honeymoon Hef, Northern Lights brew, or Skilak Scottish ale. As it turns out, this 2 liter flask is by far cheaper than buying beer in a can or bottle anyway, so I might have to fill it more than once...but not until I have my dear one to share it with! As they say, it's really not much fun to drink alone, and Skype does a good job, but doesn't quite cut it!
Here are some pics from the walk I got "lost" on, through old town (like 700+ years old town) and down by the river Aare, which circles old town almost like a moat, a means of protecting the city hundreds of years ago.
The picture below is just for my dear wife Cinderella, Kiss & Hug from Bern, where as you can see I'm following your strict dietary guidelines by eating my oatmeal regularly!
