Zug and Zugerberg

Finally, the sun came out for the first time since we got here. Yay! Zug is wonderful in any weather but the spirits do rise when sunshine is streaming through the curtains. To celebrate, we decided we could get an important errand done before the weekend crowds at the store -- the chocolate purchase. And while we didn't come close to the record of 14 pounds of chocolate returning to Atlanta, it was a sizable dent in my credit card. I guess I could login to AmEx to see what I actually spent but I think I'd rather leave it in nebulous swiss francs. After the critical things were handled, we walked back along the lake enjoying the morning.

After lunch of -- you guessed it, turkey sandwiches -- we decided to take advantage of the fine weather and go up to the Zugerberg. I hadn't been since the first time I came to Switzerland of maybe ten years ago. That visit was in the spring, so there was snow on the ground up on the mountain. No snow today, just miles of walking trails that were being enjoyed by couples, friends, and families. It takes about 20 minutes to get up there, so I imagine it's a regular occurrence for the locals (I know if would be for me). Beautiful views.

Finished the day out with a visit to the restaurant at the Hotel-Ochsen. Usually, we have the dining room to ourselves in the evening but it being Friday night, it was packed. We all had the seasonal local dish of "rotel" fish, which they translate as a char but I would more characterize as a white fish. In any event, we had it three ways -- poached, sauteed in butter and herbs, and fried. The last was supposed to come with a green curry sauce and asian vegetables but it didn't. In any event, it was delicious and light and the Ochsen's hospitality cannot be beat.

Turkey 2012

A few notes while I can recall. This year's Aklin turkey was the largest ever, clocking in at 5.5 kilos. That's 12 lbs for you American types. Aklin's birds are local, never frozen, and beautiful -- but you take what they can get from their local sources. In any event, when I took the bird out today it was lovely -- beautiful, plump legs and thighs (mmm...dark meat) and reasonable breast size, unlike the butterball's back home. They had done an excellent job of plucking the bird, so little was required of me other than slathering it up with butter, thyme, sage, and pepper. After perusing a number of recipes -- and doing a lot of metric conversion -- I finally basically followed Alton Brown's recipe minus the brining. The big difference is no basting. Instead, you put the turkey in at a high temperature to brown and then lower the temperature without opening the oven. The concept is to maintain an even open temperature without the ups and downs associated with opening the oven door. Given that Nan's oven is small and not quick to heat, I thought this method might prove appropriate and it was. I put the turkey in at 500 F for half an hour, then lowered the temp to 350 for two more hours. Took it out and it was very good -- dark meat perfect, white nice, too. This will definitely be my method of choice from now on! Here are some photos.

We picked up our quasi-annual tradition of spending Thanksgiving with Nan in Zug again this year. As in years past, we flew out Sunday afternoon, which gives you a civilized amount of time to do laundry, pack, and otherwise get prepared. Leaving on a Saturday is possible but you don't enter the plane in a relaxed state.

The journey over couldn't have gone smoother. We had a seasoned flight crew who knew what they were doing and clearly enjoyed each others company. What a comparison from our flight home last year where the flight crew really made our home journey unpleasant. The food was excellent -- beef short rib and cod -- and we got a little bit of sleep. Arriving at 7:30 into the Zurich airport, we were buying our train tickets in the bahnhof by 8:10am. Caught the 8:47am to Zug and there meeting Nan by 9:30am.

Took it easy that first day, including a couple of naps, and delicious Aklin sauerkraut and pork for dinner. Next day, the weather was cold and damp and we decided against trying to get above the clouds because we would have had to get to 9,000 meters; instead, we went to the Golden Dragon for lunch, which was delicious. Best Chinese food I've had in some time.

The afternoon brought some shopping and then a little nap before heading downstairs to visit with Ferdi and Susie in what has become another annual tradition. Between a little Suisse-Deutsch, a little English and plenty of good will, we had a convivial hour discussing family, fall foliage, and recent events, including Hurricane Sandy, which they had followed on tv.

Tuesday evening we made a reservation at a new-to-us restaurant, Zum Kaiser Franz, which featured Austrian cuisine. The dining room was pleasantly detailed, albeit a little loud. The service was excellent with the owner, wearing an Austrian-style jacket, coming through multiple times over the course of the evening to assure that everything was good. Definitely a new find in the Zug restaurant scene.

Wednesday am, Nan had a hair appointment, so we walked the 2km along the lake to Obervill. Weather was cold and dank and the fog hung low in the hills. No views of Pilatus or Rigi yet. Shopping in the afternoon has us well prepared for tomorrow. Again, we have a oven challenging bird, weighing in at about eleven pounds. He'll just fit. :-)

Moss Beach, California

I had a work retreat to complete the beta draft of the Learning Space Rating System that a group of us has been working on for a couple of years now. The biweekly phone calls were not advancing the project so we decided to hunker down in a conference room with no distractions and just pound it out. Colleague Rich from Stanford found the ideal place -- the Seal Cove Inn in Moss Beach, CA. Nice, quiet inn with a beautiful garden and within easy walking distance of the coast and a small private meeting room. For two days we hunkered down in small groups over our laptops open to Google docs and we really made a lot of progress. Amazing what can happen we you work for 12 hours a day!

But that's not to say we didn't have fun as well. First of all, it's a great group and we entered the exercise with gusto. It didn't hurt that Rich had planned trips to wonderful local restaurants for lunch and dinner. And the first night, he and Ronnie opened their lovely home to us all and we enjoyed grilled swordfish and asparagus over some nice wine and even nicer conversation. The restaurants featured included great Italian at Mezza Luna, amazing Peruvian at La Costanera, awesome sandwiches from Gherkins, and fresh fish sandwiches at Ketch Joanne. YUM!

After the group wrapped up, Alan joined me and we had one day on the coast to ourselves. Grabbing sandwiches in Pescadero, we headed south and ended up at Ana Nuevo State Park, home of elephant seals and sea lions. Lunch was tasty but the views were even tastier -- it was a beautiful, clear day with crystal clear skies. The ocean was so blue -- almost like Key West.

We got a permit and hiked out to see the elephant seals. Right now, the females are finishing their annual molt and the juvenile males were starting to arrive for theirs. Two very informed docents gladly answered our questions -- turns out that 95% of elephant seals don't make it past their first year, largely because they fail to thrive. They are easily lost in the mix and can be crushed or fail to find their mothers and thus get sustenance. For their part, the mothers are not eating the entire month they are raising their babies and themselves lose a significant portion of body mass since they aren't eating. At some point, the mothers determine that it's time to go, they enter estrus and are impregnated with the next baby. Basically, a female elephant seal spends her entire adult life either pregnant or nursing. But it might be better than the males -- many of them never get to mate at all.

Walking the two miles out, the last part in the sand, was definitely tiring and the bright sun and wind contributed to our exercise satiation -- and our hunger. Headed back to the lovely Seal Cove Inn for a shower and a glass of wine on our little porch. After a bit of searching, we located the perfect restaurant for our last dinner -- Cafe Gibraltar. We both had fish, prepared in a mediterranean style. Family-owned, friendly service, lovely food. :-)

At this point, we were so valuing our time together in this tranquil setting. We hadn't watched TV, barely checked the news, minimal email, and lots of conversation, the kind it takes a couple of days to relax into.

However, all good things come to an end and we head back to ATL in the am. The re-entry has already been brutal -- in search of game four of the Stanley Cup finals, we crossed the street to Houlihan's. Happy hour was in progress and the bar was packed; we scored two pretty good seats in front of one of the two screens showing the Kings-Devils game. A decent game and the beer was good but it was a raucous environment, not at all what we had come from. Oh well, at least Jersey won, sending the series back to Newark and to a weekend game.

Italy catches up with one

Remember Alan's famous drive down the Via Fluongo? Well, so did the Italian police. This week, they sent two traffic tickets for $50 each for driving in, er, places you shouldn't drive. HaHa! At least, Mrs C's other two guest drivers also got tickets.

Thanksgiving in Switzerland

Here we are, back in Zug, for what has become a tradition of making Thanksgiving dinner with Nan in Switzerland. It's actually quite a convenient time to travel abroad because few Americans are doing it and it's also a quiet week at work so taking the three days isn't a problem. And so we arrived Tuesday morning without incident, back to foggy, cold Zug. It's about 32 degrees fahrenheit and damp -- enough to put a chill in your bones. That hasn't stopped us from shopping for our dinner, though, and roasting in the oven is a turkey from Aklin (4.5 kg!) and there are brussel sprouts and romanesco (combo broccoli, cauliflower -- google it!) awaiting preparation. And I brought cornbread stuffing from the states, as well as cranberry sauce.

Actually, there are so many Americans in Zug now (Last night, we tried a new place, the Widder, and there were more American tables than Swiss) that there are quite a few turkeys for sale. That didn't used to be the case. In fact, the supplement to the morning paper had a recipe for Thanksgiving dinner!

There are certain challenges to making Thanksgiving dinner at Nan's, the largest being size. Her oven and dishes are suitable for cooking small amounts, not a 10 lb turkey. Absent a properly sized roasting pan, the turkey is sitting in the broiler pan. We put it breast side up for 10 minutes at 220 and then flipped it over to let the juices from the dark meat penetrate the breast. Hopefully, it will be good as there is a lot of it!

Zug is changing with new shops and lots of new buildings. There are cranes everywhere and the traffic is worse than ever. I took a long walk yesterday past Oberwill along the lake; that, at least, is unchanged.

Post-meal, I am happy to report it was a delicious dinner -- I first put the oven to 220 and then place the bird in breast side up for 10 minutes. Took it out, flipped the bird and lowered the oven to 170. Next time I might do 160 or take the meat out earlier. It went in at 2:30 and I took it out at 4:45. Rested for 20 minutes or so while we finished the sides and the gravy.

Things to bring to Zug next time:

turkey baster
poultry bag?
pine nuts (for brussel sprouts)
pumpkin for pie

The Solace of Peaceful Places

We have landed at Papelousu once again, the final time of 2011. It is truly amazing to now be watching the ferns we saw incipient in May now browning and crumbling to the ground. A brief summer season here in the NEK, to be sure.

On our way north, we stopped on Long Island to visit with the whole family, including representation from the European branch, Jean Felicien and Claude. We had a memorable dinner on Friday night with three generations of Cattiers all together, young and old. Then, over the weekend there were individual get togethers with sub-branches of the family. Memories new and old were shared and rejuvenated and it was truly a joyous, special opportunity to spend time together. I got to add some new things to Ancestry.com (anyone out there an expert) and need to do more. Always, there is more to do.

Sunday morning, we were up at 5am to head to JFK. The roads were empty and time to the airport quick. Once there, they have put into place a transit system that seamlessly takes you from the rental car to the terminals and then on into the city. All in all, our travel to BTV was easy and by a little after 10am we were in our rental Escape headed down the road feeling....tired. :-)

The clouds were low, promising a cold and -- maybe? -- snow. Yikes. We were happy, nonetheless, as cold never scared us and the scenery was so beautiful -- reds and golds and greens muted by the high humidity into a lovely maelstrom of color. Yay, back in Vermont!

And then we were on to favorite fall activities like stopping in Waterbury at Cold Hollow to pick up cider (OMG), cider doughnuts, and cider pumpkin pie. Oh yea, baby. Later on up the road, we hit up a favorite farm stand in Newport for the last Vermont corn, local brussel sprouts, wax beans, and lettuce. What with is up in the freezer at camp, we should be good to go!

We arrived at Camp in the rain -- but who cares, we were here. Ready to relax....Well, not quite. Sunday night was quite the comedy of...something.... After relaxing quite a bit in the afternoon in front of the fire (first of the season) and starting a puzzle, we went into the kitchen to enjoy some re-heated chicken soup Suzy had gotten at Cosco -- YUM. Really, really good and hearty, perfect for an evening meal. While we were eating, we got a phone call from home from our pet sitter who reported that she had smelled gas near our new gas dryer....Oh no. Long story short, we called the gas company, they came, confirmed it was the dryer and turned off that supply. In the meantime, however, while we were having those back and forth phone calls, we discovered that the fireplace in the living room was now sending serious amounts of smoke not up the chimney but into the rest of the house. Hmmm, first fire of the season revealing some problems.....

Dealt with that and then clearly, bed and a good long sleep were in order. And that's just what we did!