Roaming along the Route des Vins

This weekend we made plans to take a visit out to Munster, France and journey along the Alsace Route des Vins. I didn't really know what we were in for - Rob made all the plans to rent a car, got directions and info from friends at work as to where to go and what to check out. we scooped up the car early on Saturday (it was a VW golf - ha ha ha!!!), and headed out on our way. It was a bit overcast when we headed out but the weather held up! Rob had burned a copy of our wedding CD so we had lots of good tunes to listen to on the way to Munster!

We got to Munster around 10:30 or so and found a little cafe to have some breakfast. Mmmmmmmmm!!! we both had coffee (french is much better than Swiss - not as dark!) and shared two crepes. One was stuffed with ham, cheese (Munster cheese I guess?), onions and peppers. It was fantastic! the other was stuffed with Nutella! MMMMMM!! what a way to start the day! Next, we roamed around the small town a bit. By this time, most stores had closed for the afternoon break (most closed from 12-2:30 or so) so we peeked in the windows. We also found the town farmer's market and got some goodies! We got some spices for Italian cooking, some sugared ginger (ooowww! strong!), two little pumpkins (the woman told us to cut off the tops and bake them with creme fresche) and a little wheel of the stinkiest cheese I have ever ever met!!! Then we walked around a bit more - people were starting to pack up so we were getting ready to go - and some old French farmer flagged us down. he had a HUGE pumpkin so we went over to chat. I'm not 100% sure of all that he said to Rob but I know that we ended up with a 3 euro bottle of "apple wine" (my theory is that it is moonshine) and a hilarious conversation about Switzerland, Germany, Canada and the U.S., all kind of jumbled in french German and all LOUD AS COULD BE. The guy must have come straight out of the farm to the market - all kind of grubby and dirty but hilarious. The last thing he said to us was that he did not like our president. Ha ha ha ha! I really wish I had taken a photo of him. it was just too funny. First visitor - beware - he told us to chill the apple wine shine for 40 days so we'll serve it to our first guests!

After this, we got back on the road to move along the route des vins. wow - it was gorgeous driving through the countryside. We saw nothing but hillsides covered in vineyards. (we learned in Tuscany that hills are ideal for grape growing as the water runs down and produces an ideal dry climate for the grapes.) Among the hills and vineyards are small villages nestled inside. The ones that we visited seemed to be very small with some shops and restaurants and a church or two. Absolutely gorgeous.

Before we stopped at our next place, we hit a roadside apple farm. we did not pick the apples off the trees but we did pick them out of enormous bins! (see photos on snapfish http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=53680066/a=6122351_6122351/t_=6122351
The place had samples of each of the apples you could try and they were delicious! we bought 2 large bags of two of our favorites as well as some perfect apple juice and some cherry juice that has yet to be sampled. it was great!

Also along the way, we stopped at a couple of "caves" where you could taste wine and carry it out. At the first one, we tried a Riesling and a Guwurztramer - both sweet, white wines. we preferred the Riesling so snagged a bottle of that. At the next cave, people were buying wine in boxes upon boxes!!! we had some time to sample a couple of wines while waiting for those in front of us to check out. So we tried a delicous pinot blanc and a pinot noir as well. And took some with us!

We also stopped in a vineyard in the Turckheim area and got out to walk through the rows of wine. It was simply breathtaking! By this point, most of the grapes had been harvested and the leaves were turning vibrant gold and amber colors. we tried a few of the grapes too! and took some video pictures of the peaceful vineyards and the tiny towns within them. We took many pictures but they just don't show how amazing it was.

we stopped in a small town called Riquewihr (ricky weere?) and had some adventures there. all the buildings in the town were in the Alsace style and there many little outdoor cafes. we stopped at had lunch at one that I think was enchanted with Santa's elves. (see snapfish photos.) we had some wonderful escargot, flankucken (a local pizza specialty) and a salad with warm chevre and endives. YUM!!!! I really liked this ricky town and would like to take
some of our guests there perhaps! It was charming.

We stopped at one more little town before leaving the routes des vins called Ribeauville. It was bigger than ricky but not as neat. Although there was a torture chamber there that would have been good to check out in about a week!

On the way home, we had our most American experience to date. We stopped at some mega complex near colmar, off the autobahn. We could see the complex from the highway - rising up out of nothingness - it reminded me of white marsh. We found our way to this mega store called "cora" which must mean "super wal-mart" in French. holy cow it was huge!!! we did some serious damage in there - the prices were MUCH less than anything in Basel. We got two different packs of excellent Belgian beer for less than 5 euro each! and we got fresh fish, salmon, ground porc & veal, veggies, so many goodies! It was kind of disappointing to see something so Wal-mart in the midst of the french countryside - but quite a relief to the wallet! (And also the mega store had a Sephora outside the front of it - so how cool is that??!!)

We got home & made dinner with the salmon & some basil past we had gotten.

Sunday was wonderful too! We had a great run along a little offshoot of the Rhien up along the Germany border. Then a wonderful lunch of some of the goodies from the Cora store - including smoked salmon! mmmmm!! and for dinner we made gravy with veal & pork meatballs. I could go on and on but I have written enough for today!

Hope you are enjoying the adventures along with me!

The Job

Good morning everyone!!

hope it is a lovely day on the east coast and clear today after that mess of rain yesterday. I am just logging on after another bout with my nemesis - the espresso machine. Just when I think I have it figured it out, something goes wacky! But it is getting better. My coffee is not awful today! That is the one thing that I miss so far - some of you have been asking what I miss. Coffee to go!!! I miss my run into royal farms to mix some flavas together or running into Dunkin Donuts to grab some vanilla spice (and a sesame bagel with veggie cream cheese!). There is no "coffee to go" here in Europe - anywhere that I have seen. Even at the Starbucks, you sit down with your mug, relax and enjoy! It's actually a very good concept. Just takes some getting used to!)

The week is going well!! On Monday, Robs and I cooked up some delicious chicken burritos! There is not "mexican spice pack" at the Migros so we improvised with our own spices! And - we made fresh guac from an avocado with some olive oil & seasoning - yum! and some re-fried, warmed up with garlic & onion - the best of all!!

Yesterday, I went to "dePost" and asked the man to mail my letters in German! wahooo! I am catching on! I have a little book of cheat phrases (thanks Katie!) that is a huge help to me!

Also, yesterday I heard from the guy at the radio show. It's called "The English Show" and it's the only show of its kind in all of Switzerland. Pretty cool, huh? It's run out of a building over by that cool university area that Rob showed me on Sunday. Anyway- he invited me to come down for the show (it is broadcast on Tuesdays from 6:30-8pm) to see what I thought. So I rolled down last night to check it out. It was great! The people are very cool! Matt, my main contact, is actually from Jers - "warren county" he said - not too far from P-burg! And there is a British woman Melissa, an Irish guy, Andrew who is the producer and a couple of others that pitch in here & there. I sat behind the board while Andrew ran the show. It was flashing me back to my JC days on the sound & lighting crew - haaa!! I'm such a dork! Anyway, the guest of the week was a local band. Actually a team of two that write and record music pretty much just for their friends. Pretty neat! The show basically brings in a guest or two and otherwise provides news and information on local events in the Basel area to do and see. I really enjoyed it! My role is going to be more behind the scenes - I think I am going to be writing reviews and posting them to the web and trying to enhance the web in other ways - but they let me give a shout out at the end of the show last night. haa! Sundai Valcich hitting the airwaves! Anyway - I am excited about being able to contribute and keeping some sort of marketing going on while I am here. The people seem great too.

Last night, post broadcast review, I came home to my hub. He had gotten "a little chicken" (you know - those pre-cooked chickens they have) and we had some yummy salads with chicken and watch the Chapelle Show. I think it's funny that they show that over here - kind of seems like a US-focused humor to me - but it was funny as ever. They broadcast it in English and run German subtitles so I was learning some new words last night ;)

In other news, Rob and I booked our airfare to London on Thanksgiving day. We are going straight to the source for our thanks! Actually we are going to a Gomez show and to visit Rob and Leslie. It should be so fun! I am very excited!!! Rob's boss is encouraging him to take some time off to fit within the allocated hours so it is working out for some weekend trips! We are also peeking at Paris. wahoooooo!!

Okay friends! All is well here - miss and love you. Will talk soon.

Fun Fall Weekend

Rob and I had a very fun fall weekend this weekend! Saturday was great. we woke up and headed down to the fresh market where we got so many goodies. One of our first stops was to the cheese guy - we got chevre with black pepper and chevre with herbs - it is soft goat cheese coated in the herbs/pepper. so good!!! we also got some fresh veggies - plum tomatten and more zucchini!! and some apples, pairs and figs. We went to the Italian guy and got fresh parm- the woman cut it from a huge wheel of parm that was sitting out - bigger than a cake! - and some delicious mushrooms, artischoken and olives with pumpkin!! the cart has all kinds of goodies for antipast. among them are many different flavors of olives - we had to go for the pumpkin one! and we also got some pumpkin ravs at another stand. homemade of course! all of the homemade past looks so delicious - lots of tortellini and ravs stuffed with fresh goodness. mmm!!! we saw lots of cute pumpkins & gourds and picked some up to decorate our place for fall - along with some sunflowers and pansies!

Then we carried everything back and went back out for a run. i was thinking of everyone running the marathon as we did our 6 mile run around the river. (hope it went well for those of you that ran!!) we went down to a dam that allows the big boats to come through and around on the other side of the river. it was perfect fall running weather! i was pretty tuckered out after 6 miles but it was a great run!! we had some lunch (leftover past & chicken with some egg - runny for robs, hard boiled for me) then went back out to finish the grocery shopping at the grocery store. we got some wonderful bread there (it was still warm when we picked it up)and some veal (it's a staple here!) and chicken and fish and other goodies.

Came back to the crib and had some wine & watched some simpsons DVDs. then rob cooked up the fish (he's the inhouse chef on the weekends!) with some artischoken and lemon and past. de-licious! and we watched pirates of the Caribbean and also had some tiramisu ice cream :) it was a great day!!!

Yesterday, we hung around the house in the morning. One of my projects is trying to bring the basil plant back to life (we'll see how that goes!) so we had some plant time in the morning. had a good lunch - chicken with the plum tomats, artichokes and these wonderful little pasts that look like grubs and then went to take a walk. the day turned from overcast to nice! we walked over the bridge and into a part of town i had not seen yet. Rob said there is a college in that part - it seemed artsy and cool! we saw this great restaurant - tapas! It is right on the water on the otherside of the river with lots of big windows. hardwood floors and little tables - it looks like a US restaurant to me! It was closed but we will be headed back there to sample soon!

We continued our walk back to our side of the river. since it had gotten nice out, there were tons of people outside enjoying the day. there are a few little restaurants with outdoor seating right on the river. we stopped and had a beer and coffee (not one for each!) and enjoyed the beautiful day and all the activity. we saw a couple at the restuarant getting huge ice cream sundaes - one for each! so we will be back to sample those one day too!!!

we came home and relaxed in the place. we watched a couple of family guys and then some football! (reverse order from normal!) Rob was able to rig up some yahoo sports action to watch any of the 1pm (7pm for us) games. the ravens feed was pretty inconsistent so we watched the eagles (shout out to the Philly peeps!). It was a good game but unfortunately both the bird teams lost. boo hoo - maybe next week. while we watched, we had an app of fresh mozz, the olives with pumpkin and the tomatoes tossed with olive oil and with some delicious fresh bread we had gotten warm at teh grocery store. Dinner was veal cutlets with sauteed zuchs, mushrooms and the pumpkin ravs. the pumpkin ravs were delicious but rob and i agreed that they wold be better as desert than with dinner! we saved most of them to experiment with this week!

Today we woke up to some very good news - Mets won! yeah! and jets won! so at least rob's teams did well last night! Also, Carol, one of Katie's good friends and now my friend!, is in Heidelberg, Germany randomly for work. it's about a 2.5 hour train ride from here and I am going to try to go visit her today or tomorrow!! I've been waiting to go to Heidelberg with robs - that is where he lived right before he moved to bmore! I'm going to see if i can swing it - it would be good to have a little adventure and see Carol!

That's it for now. Enjoy and talk soon!

The week rolls on

Guten Tag Fruends!
My first week in Switzerland is moving right along! I've been busy!! haa! it's true!

Tuesday went well. It was another sunny day! I took a walk around to drop off the recycling - at a little park - and also try to recycle the empty beer bottles. only i went to the wrong store. when i held up the empties, the lady said something? I translate it to "nope, soddie!". Then i held up the phone charger card (to put more minutes on the cell phone) and I'm not sure what she said but it was probably something along the lines of "you're loco". so off i went to continue my day. i picked up some schwein pieces (more pork) for dinner. and some other veggies and some chocolate. :D can't miss out on that Swiss way of life! Oh! and some popcorn!! how could i forget that? I came home & did some laundry and ironing and stuff. haaa! actually it wasn't too bad - most of this stuff is that hard when you have actual time to do it. I make it fun by putting on the radio or listening to rhapsody online so I can play all my faves. Tuesday night, Rob and i went for a run along the rheine. it is so beautiful there! there were tons of people out enjoying the nice weather. it was dusk when we ran. my favorite time of day and it was gorgeous. I am going to take photos of the river this week to share.

Wednesday was another nice day. I am afraid I am jinxing myself but the weather has been great! I finally finished going through all the emails from the past month! reading them at least - and i did some stuff around the house. I am hoping to hear from the radio station this week. the contact emailed me back and said he thought they'd be able to use my writing skills! No word from him in the morning though so I took my ipod and went out for a walk along the river. another picture perfect day. I was so happy walking along and listening to my tunes. ipods are the best! After the walk, I was craving a Coke. Those of you that know me well, know how much I love coke. I didn't want to be the American tourist who had to have her coke, but I was! I got a bottle in the correct store for the beer bottles! the plastic coke bottle also required a deposit - .50 just like the beer bottles! I took the cokie home and it was sooooo goood!! the secret formula is the same!

So then I did some ironing & listening to rhapsody. Then it was time to get my act together to go meet rob and some of his friends from work for a drink. i took the little tram down to meet rob and then his friends jens and markus met us. both very nice guys. They are both German but they spoke very good English. we went to some new Irish bar (haa - isn't that funny? Americans, Germans in the Irish bar in Switzerland!). anyway - we had some of Guinness and "crisps" (potato chips). Then we went for Italian (no I did not have my fill of it in Italia!). robs had some crazy roll thing with procuit and cheese. I did not love it. but I did love the pizza that i got with "Artischock", priscuit, and schwarz oliven. and also the bread with olive oil. the bread in Switzerland is MUCH better than the Italian bread. shocking but true!!!

So far today has been pretty low key but I did get to talk to both Russell and Joy so that made my day. I called joy at 6:30 her time - teds - i am proud of you for being so alert at that time of day!! and Russell on IM, just about immediately after i got off the phone with joy so that was wonderful!

okay - off to get some stuff done & work on uploading those honeymoon photos!!

ciao for now!

First Day

Today is Oct. 10th and my 2nd day chillin in Basel, Switzerland. I came over to Europe a couple of weeks ago with my new wonderful hubby Rob (or Robs as I like to call him) and we spent the past couple of weeks on a mediterrean cruise for our honeymoon. we started with 3 days in Roma, then the beautiful cruise and ended in Nice, France. C'est manific! (probably not spelled correctly)

So we came back on Sunday night (the flight from Nice was 45 minutes - yeah!!!) and yesterday was my first day getting acclimated while Rob went to work. The morning was great - clear blue skies and lots of sunshine -- which can be very rare in Basel! i started the day by trying to find a cool radio station to listen to like I do back home in Bmore in the mornings. I found a station that plays a diverse range of music (much like wtmd in Bmore), and also much like tmd in bmore, most of the songs were in english! yeah!!!! turns out they even have a program called "the english show" that airs on tuesday nights and has info on things - going on in Basel - all in English - wahoooo!!! i am going to see if I can get involved somehow.

the rest of my day was good! i spent a lot of time going through emails and then journeyed out around 2:30 (or 14:30 here!) for my first swiss grocery store visit on my own. I forgot to bring my own bag to the store but luckily my wonderful hub called me just after I got in to remind me how to say "tasche" (prounounced "tasha") so i could ask for one at checkout. he's so great!! so i roamed around the store and I think I was okay i think! Everything is written in German, French and Italian (the 3 languages spoken in Schweiz) so the old French from high school/college helped me out a little bit with some things. i did order a pork loin or "schweinefleisch filet" from the butcher. kind of a cop out since I didn't have to do any metric conversion but hey- it was my first day!! my only other hiccup was when i went to pay for my salad lunch and the man behind the counter was asking me something and I had no idea what it was! luckily he did a hand motion for a drink so i could figure it out. note to self - the german word for drink is "gertrank."

So i came home with my groceries - a short walk in the beautiful sunshine - and everything was fine. i had some of my little salat (had eggs, olives, smoked salmon and some kind of pea/carrot/mayo mixture) and played on the computer a bit more. For dinner, i cooked (yikes - scary when the hub is such a good cook) but i made the pork loin with olive oil, fresh rosemary from Rob's herb garden and some basic s&p (thanks Jenny & Rusty for the italian cookbook for the shower gift!). I also made a kind of sauce with the mushrooms and chicken broth I had gotten in leiu of the fig sauce in the cook book - one thing at a time you know??!! Plus some salad and some past and some fresh kase (cheese) and brot (bread - potato bread with nuts (nusse)) that I had gotten. All in all, pretty good and I don't think I poisoned the hub so it is all good!!!

our evening concluded with some Mets highlights - on to the next round of the playoffs!!! and some Grey's Anatomy reruns. And check this out - Robs figured out how to change the language on the tv from German to English (or French). it doesn't work for all shows (booo Sex in the City) but it did work for Gray's. it's last season's but no compliants here.

So here I am on day two, having thoroughly survived day one and excited for the adventures ahead. I am going to go for a walk today to drop off the recylcling (you have to bring it to a designated location) and run some other errands.

Hope you enjoyed my chat from day one. Ciao for now!
msv