Rosti and tidyness

Food! Maria is a great cook, and she continues to make fabulous Swiss food.
Today, she cooked for a group of people who meet every other Wednesday to break bread together. The menu was cole slaw, goulash and rice, quark and quince puree, and wine supplied by a deceased member of the group, who put the wine in her will. Maria made me mushrooms and spinach with garlic in place of the goulash. There were 2 women in the group who spoke English, and one had had a private english lesson that morning, so was happy to converse with me. We connected, as she has Lyme's disease, which I know a bit about. I complimented another woman on her cardigan, and she told me she got it at a second hand shop in Zurich, so we were off on a shared interest.

Dinner was rosti, another famous swiss dish. You take cold potatoes, shred them, heat them up very slowly in butter in a cast iron frypan, inverting them with a plate in order to brown the top, and place a layer of cheese ( in this case, leftover raclette cheese) on top to melt. It was served topped with a fried egg. It was delicious, and crusty brown around the edges. I will definitely work on making this at home.

I went for a walk in the morning, trying different paths, and finding the library which was closed. This afternoon Josef and I took a 90 minute walk along a trail to the next village. We took a train and a bus to get home, and the transport only took us about 15 minutes. The swiss countryside is so neat, and shows evidence of much prunning and clipping. Nothing is left to grow without maintenance, and there is no bare earth showing anywhere, except in private gardens between plants. All the paths seem to be paved. There is a new law that all dogs must go to school, and are never off leash. I wondered about cats, as we saw several roaming this afternoon.

I did visit the library when it was open, and the librarian very kindly allowed  me to borrow 2 books, even though I had no card and was a visitor. That shows trust! I was really missing reading, and there is nothing in English that I could find until the library. Now I can read and do sudoku, and let Josef and Maria have time without me.

Tomorrow we are going on a day trip to the top of one of the highest, snow covered mountains, by bus, train and maybe even funicular. The adventures continue.

Darlene