Lenzerheide aka why haven't i done this before?

Went skiing in Lenzerheide this weekend, and stayed in a chalet arranged by T. The chalet was great--nice view, great location, fireplace! Met lots of nice mostly-Americans and Canadians, sledded, hiked, and did a little bit of skiing. But I wondered, why haven't I done this before?

Ghost walking thru Zürich

So what does a Halloween baby do on her birthday in Züri?

She gets all her friends to come with her on the Ghost Walk of Zürich!

It wasn't quite as spine-tingling as the tour I took in Plymouth, Mass., but it was really hilarious!

Cupcake Extravaganza!!!

A while back, I'd made some cupcakes (using a vegan recipe published a while back in the New York Times), and she thought she'd died and gone to heaven. More recently, D. passed her Cambridge English Proficiency Exam, and when I asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate, she said, "Cupcakes!!"

So last Thursday she, E, the newly-moved-in K, and I all set out to make three types of cupcakes: Vanilla Cupcakes with Orange Buttercream Icing, Vegan Cream-filled Devil's Food Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache, and Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. Five hours (and three bottles of champagne later) we had made and iced about 40 cupcakes, the only problem being that the red velvet recipe made about twice as many cupcakes as it should have, and I only have 12 silicone cupcake holders (I'm pathetic, I don't even have a muffin tin!!). We poured them into three or four of the paper liners, but they still flooded all over the place, so we had a few very ugly holders. But anyway, we had a great time, and we fed them to the people at work the next day.

S comes to Switzerland

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Originally uploaded by wahartung

My long lost friend S somehow found me and came for a visit. Fortunately for her, it was the week of the national holiday, August 1. We spent the first day of her visit eating Gipfelis, seeing all the sights in the old town, and doing some seriously needed catching-up, since we hadn't seen each other for about seven years. August 1 we spent a couple of hours walking from the Üetliberg to Felsenegg, on the way finding an incredibly charming tea hut with traditional Swiss sausages, apple juice, and tea. That evening, to celebrate August 1, we went all the way to Fallanden to see A, her Musikverein (as S and I were also musicians in another life) and enjoyed the traditional bonfires that dot the landscape. Of course, we couldn't believe all the children we saw playing with fireworks, nor the fact that the only safety measures taken for the big fire were just a couple of firemen with a small bucket of water. Finally, on her last day, we watched the Simpsons movie and eventually met up with J and Notorius Dorius for a chat. It was a great visit and great to finally see S again!

Independence Day!!!

My friend T had a really amazing 4th of July party yesterday. Even though it was raining and cold, but it didn't matter--it was the first 4th of July party I'd been to since 2001! Chicken wings, margaritas, brownies, an amazing pecan pie (actually, it was Kentucky Derby pie, which is of course all the better)...it was as much like home as a cold rainy Zurich day could be!

I brought along, of course, my (Swiss) friend D, along with her good friend (and my future roommate) K. D was impressed how un-patriotic we all were--complaining about the government, the war. And they both had a great time. E raved about how cool D is and asked if it would be possible to have two favorite Swiss people, D and K!