On May 31st, my dude and I decided to embark on the Whole30 Challenge to see if it would help me get my blood sugar under control as I was recently diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. He didn't have to do it with me, but wanted to show support, and I can't thank him enough. On the days I was weak, he was strong, and vise versa and it's helped us get "over the hump" so that now we're both committed to changing our lifestyles to eating much cleaner going forward.
To date, I have lost 10 pounds, and all my oral allergies to certain types of nuts, raw vegetables, and all pitted fruits has gone away. I no longer eat any dairy, nor do I eat any grain-based foods like bread and pasta. While my husband still enjoys potatoes, I have also cut those from my diet, save the occasional plain sweet potato when we go to the steakhouse (as healthy sides are limited). I've learned to enjoy a salad with nothing but some vinegar, olive oil and a little salt and pepper.
Now we didn't impose this on our youngest daughter, as she is still growing and has no symptoms that come from years of bad eating, but I don't cook her unique dinners. She eats with us. However, she gets a little shredded cheese on her eggs, still drinks milk, and enjoys lemonade when she's hot. I have noticed though that she has started paying much more attention to what she eats on a regular basis. She's been cooking during the day, making treats and such, and is using her own "Eat Like a Dinosaur" cookbook which is a kids' Paleo book, and she's enjoying learning how to cook with healthier ingredients than usual, so I'm super proud. She is following our example without being made to and it's encouraging to see her becoming so aware of her own nutrition at such a young age.
The point of this blog is basically to just bring awareness to everyone regarding the importance of clean, healthy eating and how our children benefit from being led by example. They learn from us - how to live, how to treat others, and how to treat themselves. If we set a healthy example, and put that expectation on ourselves, then they'll do the same. Everyone benefits.
Food for thought. :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Thursday, June 16, 2016
News from 'Nam
I'm excited to share that I got news from the sponsor regarding my daughter's group in Vietnam!
Turns out they flew to Saigon and got to visit the Mekong Delta. There they went mud fishing, enjoyed some yummy food, and even got to see a floating market. I had to Google that - super cool stuff! They then went to a Vietnamese orphanage and interacted with the children there. They sang songs, played soccer, and other games with them. Knowing my girl the way I do, I'm sure that was probably her favorite part. Although I don't doubt she was a little sad to have to leave them there. They'll be there until Sunday - by which time I'm sure she'll have grown quite attached!
I can't wait to get another update, which I'll totally share as soon as I get it. I'm so proud and excited for her! She's been anticipating this trip for quite some time now and it's cool to see that she's finally getting to experience it. Her life is so cool.
As a mother, you always want better for your kids than what you had, and I feel like despite the fact that she and her sister have been raised by two parents who live on opposite sides of the planet, their lives have been pretty fabulous. I carried a lot of guilt around for many years over the fact that her dad and I didn't last, and that they've had to spend their childhoods missing one of us, but through many conversations with them - and their father - I've come to embrace that we made the best of the situation and in some ways, they've been able to live pretty interesting lives as a result.
Now my daughter is living in Switzerland, going to an international high school, and at this moment, is learning about Vietnam first hand. How cool is that?! I love hearing about her adventures. Maybe one of these days, I'll help her write her memoirs. I'm sure I'm not he only one who'd enjoy reading about her travels and experiences, living vicariously through her.
Turns out they flew to Saigon and got to visit the Mekong Delta. There they went mud fishing, enjoyed some yummy food, and even got to see a floating market. I had to Google that - super cool stuff! They then went to a Vietnamese orphanage and interacted with the children there. They sang songs, played soccer, and other games with them. Knowing my girl the way I do, I'm sure that was probably her favorite part. Although I don't doubt she was a little sad to have to leave them there. They'll be there until Sunday - by which time I'm sure she'll have grown quite attached!
I can't wait to get another update, which I'll totally share as soon as I get it. I'm so proud and excited for her! She's been anticipating this trip for quite some time now and it's cool to see that she's finally getting to experience it. Her life is so cool.
As a mother, you always want better for your kids than what you had, and I feel like despite the fact that she and her sister have been raised by two parents who live on opposite sides of the planet, their lives have been pretty fabulous. I carried a lot of guilt around for many years over the fact that her dad and I didn't last, and that they've had to spend their childhoods missing one of us, but through many conversations with them - and their father - I've come to embrace that we made the best of the situation and in some ways, they've been able to live pretty interesting lives as a result.
Now my daughter is living in Switzerland, going to an international high school, and at this moment, is learning about Vietnam first hand. How cool is that?! I love hearing about her adventures. Maybe one of these days, I'll help her write her memoirs. I'm sure I'm not he only one who'd enjoy reading about her travels and experiences, living vicariously through her.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
If You Can't Say Something Nice ...
There has been so much going on lately that makes me want to rant, I feel like I can't talk at all anymore because I don't want to feed into the negativity. Between this current joke of a presidential race that's going on, the things that have been happening in Florida this past week (when it rains it pours in Orlando!), and all the hate flying around all the time, I'm exhausted. I try to avoid it altogether, but it's nearly impossible.
To make matters worse, I'm teaching summer school in the district I teach in (which thankfully is not the one my children go to), and the culture in this district is so self-destructive and self-inhibiting, it's a wonder the kids have gotten as far as junior high. I've only been teaching one year, but I'm already fighting being discouraged. It's all just SO different from how I was raised. I look back and feel like a total slacker because I'm just now starting my career - and I still maintained A's and B's all through school! We have TONS of kids who fail multiple classes and it's as if they don't even care. I don't get it!
So every day, I am finding myself going home with my shoulders slumped, eagerly crawling onto my couch to disappear into some computer game or another episode of Game of Thrones (I'm playing catch up as I only just started watching it). I wish I had access to the Goblin King who could just take me away to some fancy masquerade ball in the clouds, and all this reality would fall away. It's too heavy and dark.
Or maybe I just need to change my perspective. I need to try harder to "raise my vibration" and be the change I want to see, I guess. It's just really difficult to maintain that day after day when it feels like everything else is fighting against it.
To make matters worse, I'm teaching summer school in the district I teach in (which thankfully is not the one my children go to), and the culture in this district is so self-destructive and self-inhibiting, it's a wonder the kids have gotten as far as junior high. I've only been teaching one year, but I'm already fighting being discouraged. It's all just SO different from how I was raised. I look back and feel like a total slacker because I'm just now starting my career - and I still maintained A's and B's all through school! We have TONS of kids who fail multiple classes and it's as if they don't even care. I don't get it!
So every day, I am finding myself going home with my shoulders slumped, eagerly crawling onto my couch to disappear into some computer game or another episode of Game of Thrones (I'm playing catch up as I only just started watching it). I wish I had access to the Goblin King who could just take me away to some fancy masquerade ball in the clouds, and all this reality would fall away. It's too heavy and dark.
Or maybe I just need to change my perspective. I need to try harder to "raise my vibration" and be the change I want to see, I guess. It's just really difficult to maintain that day after day when it feels like everything else is fighting against it.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
My Return to Writing
So I've decided to resume writing this blog, even if no one is reading it. Why? Because I need to write! I have a journal, but I never carry it with me and frankly, I don't write as much when I'm handwriting because I'm lazy. There it is. That's why I don't write more.
But typing? I'm a whiz at typing. I type way faster than I write and it's easier to read! Now I have to pick something to write about. I'll start with something I think about all the time - my daughters.
It's been a while since I really sat down and put to paper how crazy in love I am with being a mother - and especially to the incredibly awesome daughters I have. All three of them are so strong and unique and capable of ruling the world. I can't take credit because I honestly don't know what I'm doing when it comes to "adulting", but somehow they've managed to all be very interesting people with lots of promise in their futures. All three of them are A students. All three of them love to read. All three of them have dreams and goals and actually have plans as to how they're going to get there. It's insane!
Right this minute, my oldest daughter is in Vietnam with her international school on a world service project. Seriously! She got there yesterday and the group has a blog of their own set up, but they've only posted one thing and it was that they were at the gate at the airport. I don't care! What's going on in Nam??!! I can't wait for her to come home so I can hear all about what her adventure was like. She's such a cool kid. She's an example to everyone around her when it comes to self discipline, working hard and how to be a loving person. She's not perfect - she's also a teenager who's still learning how life works, but she's a very "put together" teenager who has accomplished much more in he 16 years than I had at that age!
My middle daughter is coming into her own when it comes to her grades and time management. She's like her mother when it comes to having the "lazy bone" and doesn't like early mornings or things that are difficult - but this past school year, she really hopped to and got it done. She managed straight A's throughout the school year while also participating in several extra-curricular activities including gymnastics, track and cross-country. She also worked really hard in theatre, which is something I think she's going to stick with when she gets to Europe for high school.
Then there's my youngest and she's just as Alpha as the first one. Today, she's actually going to setting up a lemonade stand with a friend of hers, and they're going to sell lemonade and water bottles by the neighborhood pool. She's been planning this since before school let out and used all her own money for the start-up costs. She loves math, so this was right up her alley. Only ten years old and already she's starting up her first business! I can't wait to see how it goes for them this afternoon. If she sells all her inventory, she'll have made almost $50. Not bad scratch for a soon-to-be fifth grader!
That's all I have for now. I look forward to getting back into the habit of writing a little bit every day. I'm trying to get in the right mindset for when I start back on my book I started last year, but was unable to finish due to my shift in career choices. I've been reading more and more now, and it's spurring me on to want to write again. I hope to gain more followers on here as time goes on. Feel free to leave questions you might have in the comments, and I'll answer them. It'll give me more to write about!
*GC*
But typing? I'm a whiz at typing. I type way faster than I write and it's easier to read! Now I have to pick something to write about. I'll start with something I think about all the time - my daughters.
It's been a while since I really sat down and put to paper how crazy in love I am with being a mother - and especially to the incredibly awesome daughters I have. All three of them are so strong and unique and capable of ruling the world. I can't take credit because I honestly don't know what I'm doing when it comes to "adulting", but somehow they've managed to all be very interesting people with lots of promise in their futures. All three of them are A students. All three of them love to read. All three of them have dreams and goals and actually have plans as to how they're going to get there. It's insane!
Right this minute, my oldest daughter is in Vietnam with her international school on a world service project. Seriously! She got there yesterday and the group has a blog of their own set up, but they've only posted one thing and it was that they were at the gate at the airport. I don't care! What's going on in Nam??!! I can't wait for her to come home so I can hear all about what her adventure was like. She's such a cool kid. She's an example to everyone around her when it comes to self discipline, working hard and how to be a loving person. She's not perfect - she's also a teenager who's still learning how life works, but she's a very "put together" teenager who has accomplished much more in he 16 years than I had at that age!
My middle daughter is coming into her own when it comes to her grades and time management. She's like her mother when it comes to having the "lazy bone" and doesn't like early mornings or things that are difficult - but this past school year, she really hopped to and got it done. She managed straight A's throughout the school year while also participating in several extra-curricular activities including gymnastics, track and cross-country. She also worked really hard in theatre, which is something I think she's going to stick with when she gets to Europe for high school.
Then there's my youngest and she's just as Alpha as the first one. Today, she's actually going to setting up a lemonade stand with a friend of hers, and they're going to sell lemonade and water bottles by the neighborhood pool. She's been planning this since before school let out and used all her own money for the start-up costs. She loves math, so this was right up her alley. Only ten years old and already she's starting up her first business! I can't wait to see how it goes for them this afternoon. If she sells all her inventory, she'll have made almost $50. Not bad scratch for a soon-to-be fifth grader!
That's all I have for now. I look forward to getting back into the habit of writing a little bit every day. I'm trying to get in the right mindset for when I start back on my book I started last year, but was unable to finish due to my shift in career choices. I've been reading more and more now, and it's spurring me on to want to write again. I hope to gain more followers on here as time goes on. Feel free to leave questions you might have in the comments, and I'll answer them. It'll give me more to write about!
*GC*
Friday, September 19, 2014
Cards on the Brain
Most of you know I'm a tarot card collector. I enjoy reading, but above all else, I'm a collector. I realized something today regarding my decks that sort of made me laugh ... and think. I happen to be a big fan of things that make me both laugh and think, so I thought maybe some of you would, too.
I realized today that my feelings about certain decks are very much tied to different states of mind or aspects of my personality that they appeal to. I guess I so often hear the phrase "being in tune with" your tarot decks and I never tied it back to that connection most people have to all sorts of meaningful inanimate objects in our lives. People get very attached to certain things for various reasons such as a 'charm' from someone who made it through a war and back. When I am going through and looking at my decks, each one influences or stimulates a different vibe in my brain.
I noticed it when I got my new Zombie Tarot. It's a very tongue in cheek deck and I love the sense of humor of the creator. It's the part of me that giggles and nudges the person next to me to join in. I guess of known on a certain level that I have this type of connection with my decks, but I never committed any structured thought to it. Now I'm sitting here pondering it and I feel like a little light bulb just stuttered and then lit up over my head!
For someone like me who has multiple decks, when reading for ourselves, our deck choice depends on our mood at the time. I have dark, shadowy decks and silly, whimsical decks. I have traditional, reproduction decks and I have themed decks for when I may just be in an "Alice" mood. My Zombie Tarot will definitely be for when I'm feeling silly ... and maybe a little mischievous.
I'd love to see my brain under a brain scan when I'm going through my decks. I'd just like to see in what ways it effects the energy flow in there. It's fascinating to me how colors, shapes and symbols influence our emotions, our thought patterns and our perspective on things. In truth, that's what makes tarot work ... those connections.
Here is where I would love to see the science on this. Sadly I'm not a neuro-anything, so I have no idea how to even approach that study. I hypothesize that when we lay down cards with the intention of understanding reality more clearly, our unconscious mind focuses on what we need to see with our conscious mind, enabling us to see beyond or in a more all-encompassing manner. There could be any number of combinations out there on the table, but the message - that "thing" we're supposed to be getting insight for - is going to be the same. The cards are a tool to tie the part of our brain we know about to the part of our brain that we don't.
I feel like I'm sucking the mysterious hoodoo-ness out of tarot, but this is my blog, so I write what I want. It always goes back to science for me and while I know not everything in the universe is explainable yet, I don't think that means it will stay that way. We are always discovering new things and disproving old thought systems. I love tarot because of it's (in my opinion) inexplicable ability to work the way I believe it does. I think there's definitely something metaphysical going on there, and I think it's worthy of some looking into.
Ok ... geek out ending ... now.
I realized today that my feelings about certain decks are very much tied to different states of mind or aspects of my personality that they appeal to. I guess I so often hear the phrase "being in tune with" your tarot decks and I never tied it back to that connection most people have to all sorts of meaningful inanimate objects in our lives. People get very attached to certain things for various reasons such as a 'charm' from someone who made it through a war and back. When I am going through and looking at my decks, each one influences or stimulates a different vibe in my brain.
I noticed it when I got my new Zombie Tarot. It's a very tongue in cheek deck and I love the sense of humor of the creator. It's the part of me that giggles and nudges the person next to me to join in. I guess of known on a certain level that I have this type of connection with my decks, but I never committed any structured thought to it. Now I'm sitting here pondering it and I feel like a little light bulb just stuttered and then lit up over my head!
For someone like me who has multiple decks, when reading for ourselves, our deck choice depends on our mood at the time. I have dark, shadowy decks and silly, whimsical decks. I have traditional, reproduction decks and I have themed decks for when I may just be in an "Alice" mood. My Zombie Tarot will definitely be for when I'm feeling silly ... and maybe a little mischievous.
I'd love to see my brain under a brain scan when I'm going through my decks. I'd just like to see in what ways it effects the energy flow in there. It's fascinating to me how colors, shapes and symbols influence our emotions, our thought patterns and our perspective on things. In truth, that's what makes tarot work ... those connections.
Here is where I would love to see the science on this. Sadly I'm not a neuro-anything, so I have no idea how to even approach that study. I hypothesize that when we lay down cards with the intention of understanding reality more clearly, our unconscious mind focuses on what we need to see with our conscious mind, enabling us to see beyond or in a more all-encompassing manner. There could be any number of combinations out there on the table, but the message - that "thing" we're supposed to be getting insight for - is going to be the same. The cards are a tool to tie the part of our brain we know about to the part of our brain that we don't.
I feel like I'm sucking the mysterious hoodoo-ness out of tarot, but this is my blog, so I write what I want. It always goes back to science for me and while I know not everything in the universe is explainable yet, I don't think that means it will stay that way. We are always discovering new things and disproving old thought systems. I love tarot because of it's (in my opinion) inexplicable ability to work the way I believe it does. I think there's definitely something metaphysical going on there, and I think it's worthy of some looking into.
Ok ... geek out ending ... now.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Nom Nom Nom
I promised I'd write again about the food, so there we go!
I love Swiss food. My figure hates Swiss food. I went thinking I might shed a few pounds as I knew there would be copious amounts of walking (which there was). I was mistaken. I failed to factor in the cuisine that I would be enjoying while visiting the Land of Chocolate and Cheese and managed to come home with a "Swiss inch" added to my waistline. It's all good ... I'm on it, but oh MAN ... the food is KILLA!
My first food experience in Switzerland involved regular groceries, so let's start there. Naturally, the prices were higher than I'm used to, but I expected as much. The grocery stores there are pretty similar to ours here, except for a few things:
Eggs - They're on the shelf! They don't store their eggs in cold storage there. And they come in packages of 10, not by the dozen like ours.
Milk - Ok ... wt..?! There was some milk in cold storage, but it seemed that the standard was the milk stored on the SHELF. On the shelf?! It just doesn't seem right. I'm a serious dairy lover, so for me, that was mildly traumatizing.
Pancake Mix - This can be tricky to find.
Oraginc = "Bio" ... if you want the 'good stuff', look for "bio" on the label and be prepared for about the same rate of inflation on the price, if not more.
Water - Beware the carbonated water! The packaging looks like everything else and it's in greater abundance, it seems, than the regular water. I discovered the prevalence of "gasse" in the "wasser" the hard way. I bought a 6-pack of what I assumed was harmless, bottled water as I know and love it. My heart dropped, however, when I cracked it open and heard the spritz escape. My face contorted when I took that first ice cold gulp (which I had been anticipating before; dreading at this point) and BAM! Sharp, spikey little fizz bubbles stabbing into the soft, thirsty flesh in the back of my throat leaving a HORRIBLE off-kilter taste that left me feeling very disappointed. Be sure to look for/order water with "no gas".
Bacon = Good luck with that. It's not the same as it is here. It's just not.
Mayonnaise & Ketchup = Came in a tube. I swear it looked like space food. The packaging is actually a great idea because it's much easier to get it all out, but as an American with no experience outside my own country, where mayo comes in upside-down bottles. Which now that I think about it, is much stranger than tubes.
So the grocery stores were pretty interesting. There are two big ones there - Migros and CoOp. It's like comparing Kroger to HEB, I guess. Except that I never found the "crunchy section". They don't really have those there.
In Zurich, we ate at a couple of different places. I discovered quickly that my favorite Swiss dish is something called "rosti". It's basically a big salad plate sized hash brown covered in perfectly melty cheeses and various other toppings. I had it twice. Once was what seemed like a handmade hash brown covered in bacon and cheese. The second one was at a smaller cafe-type place and the hash brown seemed pre-made (possibly frozen at one point) but also had delicious cheeses melted on it over fat slices of tomato. They were both delicious - but I preferred the hand-made one.
One day we went to Lucerne and happened upon a WONDERFUL little kiosk (Dock 14) where they had a local beer, Eichof, that was DELISH! They were the most reasonably priced foods I'd come across since visiting Switzerland, so I was excited to see what they had to offer. And they came through! Hot dogs for the girls and a tasty little Greek salad for me. They also had a yummy fruit soda for the girls and of course, I enjoyed that Swiss craft beer.
You can't go to Switzerland without having fondue! My ex and his wife took us all to dinner one evening at a fondue restaurant in Zurich and it was quite an experience. I love fondue, but I have to say - it's important to eat lots of produce either before or after that meal as it has a way of really slowing down certain processes. That shizz is HEAVY in the guts! I totally plan on eating that again some day though ... fo' sho'.
Beverages were interesting. Apple soda seems to be a "thing" there - perhaps somewhat like what apple ales are here, but alcohol free. Nothing is served with ice unless you ask for it. Water is not complimentary. You have to pay for water and in restaurants, it was typically served chilled in a glass bottle ... "mineral water". That was crazy! You couldn't just get a glass of ice water from the "tap". I saw breath-taking spring waterfalls pouring forth from the mountains and I'm looking at them thinking, "can't y'all just tap that stuff right there and BAGOOSH ... free water?!"
Vending machines were also a trip. They were at all the train stations and most of them were all the same. The first or second day I was there, I noticed one drink that was in an orange container and stuck out from all the others - but more so for the big, green pot leaf on it than for the obnoxious color. I was like, "no way"! Cannibis tea. No shizzle. I had to buy it. I put my 2.5CHF in the machine and voila! It even had a label I could read! Who knew?! Black tea, lemon flavoring and hemp flavoring. Of course. It tasted like Lipton with Lemon and didn't mellow me out at all. What a let down. :( However, it was still entertaining to see the birth control test on the shelf above the tea, flanked by a pack of cheap cigarettes and some jerky treats referred to simply as "Party Sticks". You can find all kinds of crazy things in a Swiss vending machine!
And of course, last but not least, was the CHOCOLATE! Ermagerd the chocolate. We found the Sprungli shop down in the Zurich train station tunnels that was like stepping into Wonka's pretty little gift shop. They have these French macarons, Luxemburgerli, that we just couldn't get enough of. I had them three times during my visit, but the most eaten in a sitting was like 5 or 6 of these things one night when we had my middle daughter's going home dinner. It was the night before we left and my ex brought home a huge box full of them that we passed around and around the table, each time each person taking just one out. He got a little bit of everything ... and they were ALL divine! My oldest is working to perfect making these (which is REALLY HARD) and I can't wait for her to figure it out because they're EXPENSIVE to buy! But so worth every single rappen.
So that's my food experience in a nutshell, so to speak. I am a huge fan of Swiss food and loved the challenge of figuring out/discovering the grocery stores. I'm a bit of a grocery store geek and I guess I've been a mom for so long, there's something about the prospect of exploring a new grocery store that is incredibly entertaining for me. I don't know ... call me crazy. Everyone else does.
I love Swiss food. My figure hates Swiss food. I went thinking I might shed a few pounds as I knew there would be copious amounts of walking (which there was). I was mistaken. I failed to factor in the cuisine that I would be enjoying while visiting the Land of Chocolate and Cheese and managed to come home with a "Swiss inch" added to my waistline. It's all good ... I'm on it, but oh MAN ... the food is KILLA!
My first food experience in Switzerland involved regular groceries, so let's start there. Naturally, the prices were higher than I'm used to, but I expected as much. The grocery stores there are pretty similar to ours here, except for a few things:
Eggs - They're on the shelf! They don't store their eggs in cold storage there. And they come in packages of 10, not by the dozen like ours.
Milk - Ok ... wt..?! There was some milk in cold storage, but it seemed that the standard was the milk stored on the SHELF. On the shelf?! It just doesn't seem right. I'm a serious dairy lover, so for me, that was mildly traumatizing.
Pancake Mix - This can be tricky to find.
Oraginc = "Bio" ... if you want the 'good stuff', look for "bio" on the label and be prepared for about the same rate of inflation on the price, if not more.
Water - Beware the carbonated water! The packaging looks like everything else and it's in greater abundance, it seems, than the regular water. I discovered the prevalence of "gasse" in the "wasser" the hard way. I bought a 6-pack of what I assumed was harmless, bottled water as I know and love it. My heart dropped, however, when I cracked it open and heard the spritz escape. My face contorted when I took that first ice cold gulp (which I had been anticipating before; dreading at this point) and BAM! Sharp, spikey little fizz bubbles stabbing into the soft, thirsty flesh in the back of my throat leaving a HORRIBLE off-kilter taste that left me feeling very disappointed. Be sure to look for/order water with "no gas".
Bacon = Good luck with that. It's not the same as it is here. It's just not.
Mayonnaise & Ketchup = Came in a tube. I swear it looked like space food. The packaging is actually a great idea because it's much easier to get it all out, but as an American with no experience outside my own country, where mayo comes in upside-down bottles. Which now that I think about it, is much stranger than tubes.
So the grocery stores were pretty interesting. There are two big ones there - Migros and CoOp. It's like comparing Kroger to HEB, I guess. Except that I never found the "crunchy section". They don't really have those there.
In Zurich, we ate at a couple of different places. I discovered quickly that my favorite Swiss dish is something called "rosti". It's basically a big salad plate sized hash brown covered in perfectly melty cheeses and various other toppings. I had it twice. Once was what seemed like a handmade hash brown covered in bacon and cheese. The second one was at a smaller cafe-type place and the hash brown seemed pre-made (possibly frozen at one point) but also had delicious cheeses melted on it over fat slices of tomato. They were both delicious - but I preferred the hand-made one.
One day we went to Lucerne and happened upon a WONDERFUL little kiosk (Dock 14) where they had a local beer, Eichof, that was DELISH! They were the most reasonably priced foods I'd come across since visiting Switzerland, so I was excited to see what they had to offer. And they came through! Hot dogs for the girls and a tasty little Greek salad for me. They also had a yummy fruit soda for the girls and of course, I enjoyed that Swiss craft beer.
You can't go to Switzerland without having fondue! My ex and his wife took us all to dinner one evening at a fondue restaurant in Zurich and it was quite an experience. I love fondue, but I have to say - it's important to eat lots of produce either before or after that meal as it has a way of really slowing down certain processes. That shizz is HEAVY in the guts! I totally plan on eating that again some day though ... fo' sho'.
Beverages were interesting. Apple soda seems to be a "thing" there - perhaps somewhat like what apple ales are here, but alcohol free. Nothing is served with ice unless you ask for it. Water is not complimentary. You have to pay for water and in restaurants, it was typically served chilled in a glass bottle ... "mineral water". That was crazy! You couldn't just get a glass of ice water from the "tap". I saw breath-taking spring waterfalls pouring forth from the mountains and I'm looking at them thinking, "can't y'all just tap that stuff right there and BAGOOSH ... free water?!"
Vending machines were also a trip. They were at all the train stations and most of them were all the same. The first or second day I was there, I noticed one drink that was in an orange container and stuck out from all the others - but more so for the big, green pot leaf on it than for the obnoxious color. I was like, "no way"! Cannibis tea. No shizzle. I had to buy it. I put my 2.5CHF in the machine and voila! It even had a label I could read! Who knew?! Black tea, lemon flavoring and hemp flavoring. Of course. It tasted like Lipton with Lemon and didn't mellow me out at all. What a let down. :( However, it was still entertaining to see the birth control test on the shelf above the tea, flanked by a pack of cheap cigarettes and some jerky treats referred to simply as "Party Sticks". You can find all kinds of crazy things in a Swiss vending machine!
And of course, last but not least, was the CHOCOLATE! Ermagerd the chocolate. We found the Sprungli shop down in the Zurich train station tunnels that was like stepping into Wonka's pretty little gift shop. They have these French macarons, Luxemburgerli, that we just couldn't get enough of. I had them three times during my visit, but the most eaten in a sitting was like 5 or 6 of these things one night when we had my middle daughter's going home dinner. It was the night before we left and my ex brought home a huge box full of them that we passed around and around the table, each time each person taking just one out. He got a little bit of everything ... and they were ALL divine! My oldest is working to perfect making these (which is REALLY HARD) and I can't wait for her to figure it out because they're EXPENSIVE to buy! But so worth every single rappen.
So that's my food experience in a nutshell, so to speak. I am a huge fan of Swiss food and loved the challenge of figuring out/discovering the grocery stores. I'm a bit of a grocery store geek and I guess I've been a mom for so long, there's something about the prospect of exploring a new grocery store that is incredibly entertaining for me. I don't know ... call me crazy. Everyone else does.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Little Boxes on a Hillside ...
I always think of that song when I reflect on my visit to Switzerland.
So it's the post you've all been waiting for, I know. There are so many funny things I noticed when I was in Switzerland, I'm honestly not sure where to start. So I guess I'll do my best to do this in order.
I arrived at the airport around mid-day and my ex-husband and oldest daughter met me and my youngest there. We took our luggage to the car and I noticed immediately when entering the parking garage that I seemed to have fallen into the pages of a certain Jonathan Swift novel. I could have sworn that there must have been a sticker on the chassis of every single car that said, "Made in Lilliput". There were no trucks at all and very few "family" vehicles. It was mostly SmartCars and small sporty looking rigs. I was tempted to try to pull one backwards just to see if it would shoot forward - like a toy. It was fascinating! I never thought of my own car as a land yacht (Dodge Charger) but it turns out, I'm driving a gigantic whale of a car by European standards.
Next came the roads. Upon leaving the airport, things were pretty standard. Turns out only the English drive on the wrong side of the road, but the color-coding with the stripes is different there. I felt like we were going the wrong way on a one way road at first. That was a little stressful ... or so I thought. Once we got to the village my ex and his family lived in, my hands were gripping my seat for dear life. Not only because my ex-husband drives like he's on fire, but because the roads are SO SMALL. Now I tried to keep in mind that I was in a physics defying machine that from the outside looked incredibly small, but from the inside seemed to be quite adequate, but we're talking glorified sidewalks here. In fact, people commonly part their cars halfway on the sidewalk. There are SIGNS showing people how to park with a wheel up on the sidewalk! I'm thinking, as small as the roads were, SCREW THE SIDEWALK ... just get your go-cart out of the street, kids! That was kind of cool yet scary.
When I arrived at their house, I was expecting this mansion. The girls always talked about how they lived on the "third floor". Turns out, the house they lived in - which was a pretty standard type of house in that area - is built straight up and down. Now don't get me wrong - it's still a big house considering the world I have entered into. I am still on the watch for members of the Lollipop Guild. Everything in Switzerland seems smaller than average. But then again, I'm a greedy American with a giant car, so my perception is clearly off. There are in total, FOUR floors. Starting from the bottom, there is a basement made up of the laundry room, a wine cellar and a storage room - all pretty small. The second, or Main Floor, is where you enter the house and it consists of a foyer, the kitchen, the dining room and the living room - again all pretty modest in size. The third floor is the family bedrooms, of which there were three as well as a shared bathroom in the hallway. Finally the top floor, or Attic, has another bedroom (now my oldest daughter's), a bathroom and a common area where there are two spare beds - used by my middle daughter and the au pair (or whatever guests might come visit). The home accommodates several people, but only if those people are capable of climbing copious amounts of stairs.
Appliances. Now I need to preface this a little late by saying that this is the ONLY house I was in while visiting Switzerland, so this could be a singular experience, but I doubt it. I would love feedback from someone else who's been there to add to this. However, knowing my ex-husband and the fact that he was also raised in Texas where everything is bigger, I would think that if larger models were available, he'd have opted for those. All of their appliances are small. SHOCKER! I know ... at this point you totally didn't see that coming, right? The fridge is not much bigger than the one we keep our beer in. There are 5, now 6, people in that family and they have to work out of a fridge with no ice maker and very limited space. I realized quickly that they grocery shop regularly and I also noticed that they don't eat a whole lot of fresh produce. When I go grocery shopping here in the States, I load up. My veggie drawer alone gets filled to capacity not counting the mushrooms, tomatoes, and usually romaine lettuce that doesn't make it into the crisper drawer until about 3 days later (if it's not already been consumed). This can't happen there. It's the same with the washer and dryer. I had to wash clothes while I was there and was baffled at how my ex's wife stays on top of the laundry. I swear that poor woman has to do twice as many loads as I do because you can only fit like two pairs of jeans, three shirts and a pair and a half of socks in there. Gotta do sheets? Hope you have all day because you can only wash about a sheet and a pillow case in there at one time. Maybe a washrag if you're feeling brave. Now they did have a trunk freezer in the storage room, as well as another cupboard, so that's where they stashed most of their extra food, but I'm still trying to work out the produce situation. Good thing there's a store right up the road from their house.
The last thing that I noticed quickly upon arriving in Switzerland (really Europe in general) is the money. They love their coins. After less than 24 hours in the country, I sound like Captain Jack Sparrow himself after a successful heist. I can't even tell you how many times I sat down to use the facilities only to watch as my financial resources spilled forth from my pockets, clinking and clanking all around my feet. They don't give you "notes" until you get up to 10CHF. That was discouraging as I rarely had that much at one time in my pocket. The only thing BIG about Switzerland is the price tags on stuff. So I quickly broke the 50s, 20s and 10s that I managed to scare up. Those went quick. Then I was left with 3 pounds of change that I would later put into a vending machine for a drink I didn't really want that much, just to speed up my gait so I could get up the hill from the train station.
Aaaah ... the trains. I'll save that for another post ... ;-)
So it's the post you've all been waiting for, I know. There are so many funny things I noticed when I was in Switzerland, I'm honestly not sure where to start. So I guess I'll do my best to do this in order.
I arrived at the airport around mid-day and my ex-husband and oldest daughter met me and my youngest there. We took our luggage to the car and I noticed immediately when entering the parking garage that I seemed to have fallen into the pages of a certain Jonathan Swift novel. I could have sworn that there must have been a sticker on the chassis of every single car that said, "Made in Lilliput". There were no trucks at all and very few "family" vehicles. It was mostly SmartCars and small sporty looking rigs. I was tempted to try to pull one backwards just to see if it would shoot forward - like a toy. It was fascinating! I never thought of my own car as a land yacht (Dodge Charger) but it turns out, I'm driving a gigantic whale of a car by European standards.
Next came the roads. Upon leaving the airport, things were pretty standard. Turns out only the English drive on the wrong side of the road, but the color-coding with the stripes is different there. I felt like we were going the wrong way on a one way road at first. That was a little stressful ... or so I thought. Once we got to the village my ex and his family lived in, my hands were gripping my seat for dear life. Not only because my ex-husband drives like he's on fire, but because the roads are SO SMALL. Now I tried to keep in mind that I was in a physics defying machine that from the outside looked incredibly small, but from the inside seemed to be quite adequate, but we're talking glorified sidewalks here. In fact, people commonly part their cars halfway on the sidewalk. There are SIGNS showing people how to park with a wheel up on the sidewalk! I'm thinking, as small as the roads were, SCREW THE SIDEWALK ... just get your go-cart out of the street, kids! That was kind of cool yet scary.
When I arrived at their house, I was expecting this mansion. The girls always talked about how they lived on the "third floor". Turns out, the house they lived in - which was a pretty standard type of house in that area - is built straight up and down. Now don't get me wrong - it's still a big house considering the world I have entered into. I am still on the watch for members of the Lollipop Guild. Everything in Switzerland seems smaller than average. But then again, I'm a greedy American with a giant car, so my perception is clearly off. There are in total, FOUR floors. Starting from the bottom, there is a basement made up of the laundry room, a wine cellar and a storage room - all pretty small. The second, or Main Floor, is where you enter the house and it consists of a foyer, the kitchen, the dining room and the living room - again all pretty modest in size. The third floor is the family bedrooms, of which there were three as well as a shared bathroom in the hallway. Finally the top floor, or Attic, has another bedroom (now my oldest daughter's), a bathroom and a common area where there are two spare beds - used by my middle daughter and the au pair (or whatever guests might come visit). The home accommodates several people, but only if those people are capable of climbing copious amounts of stairs.
Appliances. Now I need to preface this a little late by saying that this is the ONLY house I was in while visiting Switzerland, so this could be a singular experience, but I doubt it. I would love feedback from someone else who's been there to add to this. However, knowing my ex-husband and the fact that he was also raised in Texas where everything is bigger, I would think that if larger models were available, he'd have opted for those. All of their appliances are small. SHOCKER! I know ... at this point you totally didn't see that coming, right? The fridge is not much bigger than the one we keep our beer in. There are 5, now 6, people in that family and they have to work out of a fridge with no ice maker and very limited space. I realized quickly that they grocery shop regularly and I also noticed that they don't eat a whole lot of fresh produce. When I go grocery shopping here in the States, I load up. My veggie drawer alone gets filled to capacity not counting the mushrooms, tomatoes, and usually romaine lettuce that doesn't make it into the crisper drawer until about 3 days later (if it's not already been consumed). This can't happen there. It's the same with the washer and dryer. I had to wash clothes while I was there and was baffled at how my ex's wife stays on top of the laundry. I swear that poor woman has to do twice as many loads as I do because you can only fit like two pairs of jeans, three shirts and a pair and a half of socks in there. Gotta do sheets? Hope you have all day because you can only wash about a sheet and a pillow case in there at one time. Maybe a washrag if you're feeling brave. Now they did have a trunk freezer in the storage room, as well as another cupboard, so that's where they stashed most of their extra food, but I'm still trying to work out the produce situation. Good thing there's a store right up the road from their house.
The last thing that I noticed quickly upon arriving in Switzerland (really Europe in general) is the money. They love their coins. After less than 24 hours in the country, I sound like Captain Jack Sparrow himself after a successful heist. I can't even tell you how many times I sat down to use the facilities only to watch as my financial resources spilled forth from my pockets, clinking and clanking all around my feet. They don't give you "notes" until you get up to 10CHF. That was discouraging as I rarely had that much at one time in my pocket. The only thing BIG about Switzerland is the price tags on stuff. So I quickly broke the 50s, 20s and 10s that I managed to scare up. Those went quick. Then I was left with 3 pounds of change that I would later put into a vending machine for a drink I didn't really want that much, just to speed up my gait so I could get up the hill from the train station.
Aaaah ... the trains. I'll save that for another post ... ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)