Parallel lives

I got a really great birthday present this year from D. She invited me to Bern to visit the Paul Klee museum and to have dinner with her family. In Switzerland, hardly anyone invites people to dinner, so needless to say, it as quite an honor.

So, Sunday afternoon I took the train down to Bern and headed to the Paul Klee museum. I didn't know a whole lot about Paul Klee before, but he's a very cool artist. We were inspired by his painting called Vorhaben/Intentions. It reminded us of our lives and our work.

D's mother worked hard to think of the perfect "Swiss" meal for her visitor--I learned that D's father is a locomotive driver for the SBB. He loves model trains, just like my dad! Wow! They told me about the trip they made to the US 30 years ago pre-D--similar to some of the trips we took when I was growing up. Parallel lives, hmmm.

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.

Ah, the market!!

The farmer's market--a feast for the eyes and the palate. And yet, a danger to the wallet...

This is one of the best things about living in the 'Kon--I mean, practically at my doorstep, twice a week, there's a big market selling fresh produce, meat, cheese, flowers and plants, simply gorgeous! The produce, especially in summer, is only a bit more expensive than in Migros or Coop (and you know that more of that money is going to the farmers, rather than the Swiss mini-corporate giants).

The problem is all the stands selling Greek and Italian specialties. I spent CHF 7.50 on 1/3 kg of tiny delicious Sicilian tomatoes. I spent CHF 20 on two different types of cheese, and another CHF 20 on some olives and hummus. It's all amazing, but what am I going to eat for the rest of the week?

Lesson of the Day: Never go to the market hungry, or with a CHF100 bill in your pocket.