The Adventures of Swiss Family Willis

Before we arrived in Switzerland we read the statistics for chocolate consumption and found that the Swiss topped the world with and average of 12 kilos per person per year!  Well, the latest surveys say that the consumption has increased to 12.4 kilos.  According to this article, in this time of economic crisis, the Swiss aren’t cutting down on chocolate!  Well, it is supposed to be a stress relief, right?!

I really don’t know where the Swiss put the all the chocolate they eat.  They all seem so slim and I am always that only one in the chocolate eisle at the supermarket filling up my trolley.  Actually, when I speak to the Swiss they can’t imagine that they eat over 12 kilos a year.  Where does it go?  Someone must be eating it?

Perhaps the Swiss chocolate companies just make up these figures to make you feel like you have to keep up with the rest of the Swiss.  You know, peer pressure! Haha!

The Swiss schools have two weeks ‘Sport Ferien’ in February where most kids seem to go skiing or do something sporty in the mountains with their families.  Pretty cool huh?! Since we have done our skiing /snow / sporty thing in the mountains already, we had two weeks hanging close to home with no Spielgruppe or Muki Treff or much else on.  It has been pretty fun but I am glad everything is back to ‘normal’ this week.

Here are a few photos of what the boys and I have been up to.  Including a lot of train riding, sliding down slides, a trip to Zurich zoo, a trip to children’s playland called ‘Trampolino‘ (thanks for the tip, Cornelia!).  You wouldn’t believe that there were probably a hundred or more kids there by the photos, it was CRAZY fun.  We also made homemade pizza - Italian styles with the thin base and, man, it was the best pizza ever! At the zoo we saw a brand new baby hippo and a rhinosaur (Toby was sure it was a rhinosaur and not a rhinoceros!).  Toby was really keen to meet a chameleon and we found one at the rainforest enclosure at the zoo.  We didn’t manage a photo though, cos my camera fogged up in the damp air.  The rainforest reminded me much of what the Neuseeland summer is like - sticky and humid!  And with all the beautiful fern trees and palms - I felt right at home!

I made some of this delicious drink myself.  Hey and it wasn’t even that hard!  I wonder if the alcohol boils out while cooking it?  It might be good to know in case I have to drive somewhere after drinking a few cups full.  Oh, wait - we don’t have a car!  Sweet, i might have some more!  Oh, and you can add a bit of port (100mls or so) makes it even nicer…

Glühwein - Hot Mulled Wine

Ingredients

• 1 bottle of dry red wine (750 ml)
• one lemon
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 3 cloves
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• some cardamom (or ginger)

Directions
Heat the red wine in a pot (don’t boil). Cut the lemon into slices and add to the wine. Then add the cinnamon, cloves, sugar and a little cardamom (to taste). Heat everything for about 5 minutes - do not boil - and let stand for about an hour. Before serving, reheat and strain. Serve in prewarmed glasses or mugs.  Enjoy.

I have just finished watching this movie - Slumdog Millionaire by director Danny Boyle (who also brought us Trainspotting, The Beach A Life Less Ordinary, 28 Days Later…), .  It is incredible.  I have watched my share of movies and I have to say, this is amongst one of the best I have seen.  It is set in India - a place close to my heart.  Although the movie is mostly entertaining, it does touch on some deeper issues and it doesn’t approach them gently or subtly.  These are issues that I have seen in action in India - where the guardians of children cut limbs off their kids so that they will get more money begging.   Seen the beauty of the Taj Mahal and the ugly slums & deep poverty right outside the gate.  It is a strangely beautiful country with beautiful people.  I must go there again!

Here are a couple of comments from critics:

A blast of raw, colourful energy elevates this gritty tale into one of the most enjoyable films of the year. And the fact that it also highlights some striking cultural issues makes it one of the most important as well.  (Rich Cline)

At times, it feels somewhat schematic and overloaded. But the spirit of the thing — both the narrative and the filmmaking — is undeniable. (Shawn Levy)

Visually dazzling and emotionally resonant, Slumdog Millionaire is a film that’s both entertaining and powerful. (Rotten tomatoes)

Go watch it if you can and want.  I mean, you don’t have to!  Just if you want and have the time!

Ok, have you seen how all the chocolate brands seem to have a ‘chilli’ chocolate one in there somewhere?  I have tried the Frey Dark Chocolate & Chilli and wasn’t too excited about it, in spite of my love of spicy foods.

Daniel saw Lindt advertising their latest addition to their chocolate range - Grenadine & Chilli - and mentioned he reckoned it sounded nice.  The other day, when I was in Coop, I bought it for him (CHF $3.75).   When he opened it up the other night, I hadn’t intended to try some but he convinced me.  And man, am I glad.  It is so so good.  This baby has fruity liquid grenadine on chocolate mousse and somewhere in there is a bit of chilliness.  And of course dark chocolate with 70% cocoa.  I am a HUGE dark chocolate fan.

The chilli is just enough to tickle your tongue but not too much to make your eyes water.  And it isn’t too sweet so easy to eat the entire block (yip, thats what we did and now I need to go and update our chocolate index).

They have some other interesting flavours in this HOT range including Mango & Cayenne which is next on our list to try.  On the Lindt Germany website there are some weird flavours I haven’t seen here - Maracuja & Jalapeno, Papaya & Chilli.  Also Blueberry & Lavender, Lime & Green Pepper.

I used to swear by Frey chocolate (Migro brand) perhaps because my Dad always ate their stuff, cos he used to work for them (as taste tester / quality control!) and so I felt loyal somehow.  But after trying all the different Swiss brands I am thinking Lindt is definitely one of the best.

“I am crazy” - that is what Noah says when he looks at the photos of him.  We have so many photos of our crazy wee boy.  He loves pulling ‘crazy’ faces, has an obsession with trying on everyone elses accessories - snowshoes, sunglasses, hats, earrings etc.

And he has no fear it seems (except of balloons?!).  On the train he will often wander around meeting the other passengers or sharing raisins with a random kid (eating off the floor together!).  On the train back from Zermatt he entertained the entire carriage.  The other passengers made barriers with their arms down the eisle and Noah would have to walk up and down and say the magic word to open the barrier arms.

He has a need for speed too.  And loves going as fast as possible on sledges, scooters or in cars!  “Baaaastar Mama, Bastar, Go Go Go” he yells to me (I know, it sounds a bit dodgy but he means to say “faster”)

Here are some “crazy” photos of him:

Daniel and I were itching to do a bit of exercise as the cold winter days have kept us inside more than we like.  Daniel suggested we do a bike ride - along one of the hundreds of awesome bike trails through this country.  We didn’t do anything too grand but thought an easy ride out to Schloss Lenzburg would be fun.  It is just under 15 kilometres one way so nothing too energetic.

So we wrapped us and the kids up warmly for it was a mere 3°C (quite warm compared to the -3°C we had been having!).  The castles in Switzerland are closed over the winter period but still able to go and have a wander around it.  My parents got married at this beautiful castle which is much more attractive in summer time.  But the boys love exploring and we had never seen Lenzburg altstadt either.

It was interesting to see all the castle-like stuff - drawbridges, canons, spyholes.  And tonnes of sea-shells can be found in the rock that the castle is built on - how did that get there?!

Noah and Toby loved climbing the hill up to the castle.. no, wait, they hated it…  but they loved going back down.  Actually Noah was determined to sledge down and didn’t understand why we couldn’t (I had to give it a go to show him the importance of the presence of snow and a sledge in the act of sledging!).

Anyway, feeling pretty tired now.  Might go to bed!

On our way home from Bettmeralp we did a we detour via Zermatt to see how our friend, the Matterhorn, was holding out in the cold winter.  We had seen the Matterhorn each day from the distance on Bettmeralp.  Miriam’s parents had been to Zermatt and had loved it so Miriam was keen to check it out too.

It wasn’t too different to summer time except all the skiiers and snow and it was pretty chilly!  The tourist shops were lacking all the cool summer t-shirts I remember too.  The ride up in the train is pretty slow but worth it for the views.  The frozen waterfalls were incredible!  We had to take a winter time picture to compare with the summer time photos when we were there with Missie and Simon in July.

Here are two photos, taken one in winter and one in summer from the same bridge in Zermatt - so you can compare for yourself!

So we recently spent a week in Bettmeralp (Google Maps shows it in summer, which is not cool. Zoom out to get an idea of where is is. The resort also has it’s own website.), as you may know, and I tried my hand at a bit of snowboarding.

There’s limited photographic evidence due to a) me going by myself most of the time, and b) I don’t have a nice long telephoto to stick on the front of my Canon.

We arrived on the Saturday and I went across the road to the ski school and booked a 1-hour private lesson for the next morning. My colleague Alain lent me his board and boots, which was totally awesome, and thanks to some decent sports shop sales, I was kitted out.

I met Patrick, my instructor, at the learner’s slope the next morning and got cracking. Had a wee muck around at the bottom, and I quickly got back the feel from the day-and-half I did on Ruapehu about 18 months ago.
We hopped on the T-bar and made it to the top. I had been told that the T-bar was the worst part of snowboarding (only a chair-lift and a platter (platters suck) on Happy Valley at Whakapapa), but if you know what you’re doing and relax, it’s sweet as. The next hour went fast, as I learned the toe-side and heel-side positions for traversing, and the turns. Took a few tumbles, but got the hang of it fairly quickly.

After my lesson I did a few more runs by myself without bailing and had pretty much mastered the learning slope.

I managed to get back on the slopes a few times throughout the remainder of the week and found that as I gained confidence I started to crash more, but that was cool; it’s all part of the fun! I got in a full day’s boarding on the Friday, and managed to get down most of the blue slopes on the mountain and thoroughly enjoyed it.

And here’s the sole item of evidence for your verification:

I’m really keen to get back on the board, so I’ve been looking at some rail and snow deals (Jessica writes about these) and there are some massive resorts around; St Moritz has over 350km of pisten with 56 lifts. Crazy! So I’ll have to disappear for a couple of long weekends sometime soon

This has to be one of the most amazing walks I have done.  I have skied this track a few years ago and this time Daniel, my friend Miriam and I decided to walk it with the kids and sledge in tow.  The views are spectacular - with endless snowcapped mountains and the Matterhorn in the distance.

We walked from Bettmeralp to Riederalp and then took the gondala up to Moosfluh.  Then we walked along the ridge from Moosfluh to Riederfurka. We followed the mighty Aletsch glacier which the photos do no justice to show its vastness!  We stopped for a beer and pommes frites at the outdoor cafe in Riederfurka and soaked in some of the sun.  There was a random ‘castle’ to admire, kind of looks somewhat out of place but beautiful none-the-less.  Then we continued down the sometimes steep and icy path to Riederalp stopping only for some sledging and photos on the way!  Daniel and I no longer laugh at the Swiss going everywhere with their two ’sticks’ or hiking poles.  It would have been quite handy to have some when walking over some icy bits in the track.  Although, I am not sure if these ’sticks’ are really needed in central Zurich (yes, I have seen them in action on Bahnhofstrasse!)

Toby spent the first part of the 3+ hour walk being pulled along on the sledge but then found that walking by himself through snow (up to his waist!) and breaking all the icicles on the way was much more fun.  Noah spent most of his time riding on my back in the wonderful ergo but enjoying sliding down the hills on the sledge.