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June 5

Confidential for Laura.

I was planning on posting on "active driving" that's required on Swiss roads. But, Laura's in the middle of an eleven day trip to the US, so I figured she'd like some pictures from while we're gone. This is for you, honey!

Sunday happened to be my birthday and Swiss Fathers Day. The boys made Fathers Day presents at school (once again, thanks Haut Lac!) and while I thought we should delay until Laura came home, both boys wanted to celebrate on Sunday. It was fun for them to go digging in their school bags and pull out cards and presents for me. I later realized that the reason Calvin was so set on celebrating is because he wanted to give me his present (chocolate hearts) so that he could eat them!

Anyway, after breakfast and Fathers Day presents, we drove down to the Pully park/marina/pool complex to do three things:

• Ride on a Lake Geneva steamer
• Ride on the little kiddie-train in the park (kids)
• Ride bikes around the park

First, the steamer. I was a little annoyed at the start of this because I couldn't find Elliot's Jr. card, which meant instead of riding free, it would cost us CHF 42 (about $45) to take him. It didn't set me in a great mood, but I decided this was a special occasion, so let's do it!

Then, I got annoyed all over again when it was one of the new diesel boats instead of the super-full-of-character 100-year-old paddle wheel steamer that the schedule promised. Then, I looked at the schedule more closely and realized that while the route is filled by a steamer there's a footnote at the bottom of the schedule that says, essentially, "except when it's not." Thanks, guys!

In spite of the annoyances, soon we were riding on the deck of the boat, and it was a beautiful day. A rain squall came up and we ducked inside to eat lunch in the dining room. This was a mostly pleasant experience, but when I asked for a coffee to finish up, the waitress didn't return for 45 minutes! Then, I asked her to skip the coffee and just bring the bill. It never came. After one hour and nine minutes, I gave up, wrote a note on what I'd ordered with the cost, and left the money on the table. It's a good thing I didn't decide to try to collect the bill shortly before our stop! Over an hour, can you believe it? Needless to say, the boys were going a little bonkers sitting around the table by this time. It was good to get back to the park and expend energy biking. 

Pictures follow.

Boys having fun on the boat.

A brief moment of rest in between runs up and down the deck.

Smile, please!

Lavaux wine growing region. Hard to believe we live here.

Lake, terraces, vineyards and mountains.

Cully, an adorable little town on the lake. Next year we'll go to the Jazz Festival.

Mr. Calvin.

Action shot of Elliot.

Concentration.

Mr. Cool. You can't quite tell, but every time he sees me taking a picture of
him on his bike, he puffs up with pride.

We bought this bike for Calvin on Saturday. It's his first time on a real
bike. Laura will be thrilled when she gets to see this in person.

Still figuring out how this works....

Taking a break.

Daddy, did you see _______?

Our younger son is easily distracted.

Brothers on bikes. Sorry it's out of focus, but it's the only picture I got with
them both in the same frame.

Completely unrelated to this post: it is pouring rain here right now, the hardest I've seen yet in Switzerland. 60 degrees and rainy yesterday, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile it's sunny and 103 degrees in Minnesota!

Sport Day

Two weeks ago, Calvin's class had a Sport Day, and last Wednesday, Elliot's did, too. Yes, that's "Sport Day," not "Sports Day." For further information, check out the last post.

Anyway, there's not a lot to discuss, but I thought we'd post some pictures so you could see the boys in action!

Sport Day #1: Calvin

Our super-fast Motor Mouse runs in the Shuttle Race.

He's a fast runner but lost a lot of time on the pick-ups!

Just finished Over Under. He was quite fast at this one!

Space Hopper. Not Calvin's best event.

Long Jump. He did great on 2 of 3 jumps. Of course the one jump that I properly timed
the shot was the one where he landed right on top of the crocodile....

Medal winner! Miraculously, all five of the teams tied with the exact same
number of points! What an amazing coincidence!

Sport Day #2: Elliot

Do you think Elliot is skinny? Check out that left leg!

Long jump.

Sticking the landing!

Elliot was very careful on Over Under. Not fast, but he didn't lose his ball!

Rocket Throw. Point where you're aiming...

...follow through...

...release!

To those who remember him best, doesn't this runner look remarkably like Bob Cooley?!
Elliot does his best impression of his maternal grandfather....long and lanky.

Elliot tied for first in bowling!

Brother imitates brother. Space Hopper is also not Elliot's best event....

Elliot's class post-races.

Check out those mountains. We're not in Minnesota anymore!

The Camera

• Hey, why are there so many more, better pictures of Elliot's Sport Day? Simple! Because we like him better! Hahahahahahaha. Haha. Ha. ...excuse me? Oh, you're right, that's a spectacularly unfunny joke.
• Okay, here's the real answer: We lost our camera in Salzburg, so we used a cruddy old camera that Calvin's been using since Christmas* to take the pictures of his Sport Day. Then, the next week, two days before Elliot's Sport Day, I dropped entirely too much money on a new digital SLR camera at a department store here. It was expensive, but it's the best toy ever! (And, the continuous shooting mode was remarkably useful for Sport Day!) As you can see, we may finally be able to take pictures that do Switzerland justice! Stay tuned to future updates to see if we can follow through with our commitments....

*Actually, this makes me think of a potentially good topic for another post! Post some of the pictures that Elliot and Calvin have taken on their cameras. Switzerland/Johnson life through the eyes of a 6 year old and a 4 year old.

$#*! my sons (will) say

With apologies to a certain Twitter feed, although when it comes down to it, this post doesn't really bear much of a resemblance....

I've written about the boys' school before. Haut Lac is a fairly unique school. It doesn't quite follow the English system (for that, head down the road toward Montreux and take a right into St. George's, with Harry Potter-esque uniforms and all), nor is it really a typical international school system. But, it has a lot of English teachers, and hews closest to the English style. This is really going to ruin the boys' American English skills.*

• They're already saying they'll do something "straight away" when they're going to do it with some urgency.

• What do the the Brits have against articles? 
• Here's a sample sentence from Elliot's most recent "Reading is Fun" book: "People who have been injured are taken to hospital in the ambulance." 
• Maybe it's not the absence of articles that's a problem, but the lack of consistency. Shouldn't it be either "People who have been injured are taken to a hospital in the ambulance," or "People who have been injured are taken to hospital in the ambulance?" 
• Another example: Under the British scheme, when the kids grow up, they will go to university, not to a university....

• Photo quiz: What's this?

• No, it's not a ladybug, it's a ladybird. You know, because of the beak and feathers and all....

• Photo quiz #2: What do you call the green part of the uniform that the boys are wearing in this photo?

• A lot of you may have gotten this right. It's not a sweatshirt, it's a jumper. Actually, the Brits may have something here. Sweatshirt is a kind of gross word/description when you think about it!

• Brilliant! Okay, I always thought this was the British way of saying "great!" But, I've come to believe it means something more along the lines of "okay, that will do" or "that's acceptable" or "it meets my needs." I guess it's been watered down over the years? In that case, it's no worse than how we Americans have utterly ruined the definition of the word "awesome."

• Mum. Okay, this one is really cute. The kids have not taken to calling Laura "mum" yet, however.

• Brits don't play sports, they play Sport.

• Of course, you all know cookies are biscuits.

Well, there's more, but that will do for now. The boys haven't picked up everything. They are mostly amused by the term ladybird, although Calvin sometimes uses it interchangeably with ladybug now. They do say straight away, jumper and sport. Not brilliant or mum. They day they stop using articles will be the end of me.

* We've been reading the How to Train Your Dragon books in which the protagonist speaks the dragon language called Dragonese. Ever since then, Elliot has taken to calling British English "Britishese" and American English "Americanese."

English Muffins!

There are good things and bad things about adapting to the food that's available in Switzerland.

Good things:

• The produce tastes really, really good.
• Less processed food = need to make more from scratch = better tasting and healthier
• Fewer preservatives = food doesn't last as long + longer distance from car to grocery store = more walking + better food and few processed snacks so not as much food = Laura and I have both lost more than 10 pounds since arriving in Switzerland

Bad things:

• More expensive
• Hard to know exactly what you're getting when products are labeled in only German/French/Italian (also means my grocery visits seem to run at least 2 hours)
• Missing some of our favorite foods. For Laura, this means Aunt Jemima syrup (seriously, Laura?) and English Muffins. 

In the US, Bays English Muffins were a breakfast staple for Laura. And, a fill-in for a missed dinner staple. And a random snack staple. It didn't seem like a big deal when we got here, but going on five months without them has been hard.

I tried making English Muffin bread in the bread machine. It was okay; it sort of collapsed and was therefore dense bread, and it turned moldy really fast. But, in any case, English Muffin bread just isn't the same as English Muffins. Yes, I know there are expat-focused groceries somewhere not too close to here, and they'd be sure to carry English Muffins, but I just haven't been able to work that one out.

But, last week, I stumbled across this blog recipe for English Muffins. And this weekend I decided to surprise Laura with some homemade English Muffins!

I have to admit, the recipe looked a bit daunting. Setting the batter aside for an hour and a half to let it rise. Scooping (free form!) onto the corn meal scattered griddle at "medium" heat (can you define that please?) and cooking for a variable amount of time? More details, please! When are they done? How is it that I won't be able to tell until 10 minutes after cooking? Well, this morning I decided to just dive in and try. 

Time for some photographic evidence.

First batch. Three have just been flipped and the rest are still on the first side.

Not too bad. The left one even looks sort of  like an English Muffin!

Half-way done and the first seven on the plate. I made the mistake of not drying them
on a rack at first so the ones touching the plate are soggy on the bottom.
(The big black box is our converter that drops the voltage down to 110V for our US-spec electric griddle.)

I have to say, they turned out pretty well! I made the first group too small, so they were quite thin and dropped down inside the toaster, but they tasted great! (Of course, that might be because we're five months removed from a taste comparison!)

So, what is one to do with fresh new English Muffins in Switzerland? Make Jared's favorite breakfast!

Mmmm, Eggs Benedict!

Happy wife!

Our kids don't like Eggs Benedict. But, it's amazing how  when you break it down
into the separate components, all of a sudden they love it....

Okay, obviously I told him to smile!

So, why did I find a recipe for English Muffins this week? Well, I was perusing Michael Ruhlman's cooking blog after he made quite a buzz for himself this week. I haven't tried this recipe, and I'll certainly not review with you my attempt, if any, to try it in the future, but I can tell you that I heartily endorse it. Bon appetit!

Okay, okay, we're back

Thank you to all the people who have just *reminded* me that I haven't posted since April 8! I know it's been a long time, but there are so many things now that have happened, I don't know where to start! I guess it will be with our breakfast this morning: we've been missing English Muffins so decided to make them from scratch. That post will take a while to put together, though (look later today), so in the meantime, here is a little something to tide you over:

Here are a few ideas of some of the entries that may be added in the future:

• Visitors!
• Cameron in February -- our first visitor from the USA!
• Mom and Dad over Easter break, including a trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, and Salzburg, Austria
• Alan visits from Paris!
• Billy and Catherine, our tour guides in Switzerland (car and GPS, respectively)
• Swiss food
• Made in Switzerland
• Organic and UHT?
• Lots of other possibilities here
• Swiss walks and hikes

I finally learn to appreciate Starbucks

There aren't a lot of Starbucks locations in Switzerland, but they occupy primo locations in the major cities. If you're walking out of a train station in a major Swiss city, plan to find a Starbucks occupying the corner of the nearest main square or tourist destination. Until now, I haven't found myself compelled to enter one. That changed today.

Overall, I wasn't a big Starbucks guy in the US. Generally, I found their coffee a bit over-roasted, maybe a little bitter in general. Not bad, but a little too forward for my taste. So, I would be more likely to stop by a Caribou, or Dunn Brothers, or even better, a local coffee shop. If I stopped at a coffee shop at all. I'm more of an at-home coffee brewer. Ten to twenty cents for a good cup of joe vs. two-plus dollars. So, here in Switzerland, I've been brewing at home, too.

Now, let me take you on a brief diversion. I would be remiss to neglect the fact that you can make excellent and easy espresso drinks here. Have any of you tried a Nespresso machine? We were fortunate to get one cheap from a home-bound expat. It's an incredible piece of equipment. If you want to make great espressos, cappuccinos, lattes, buy a Nespresso machine. It will set you back $300+, but after that you can have amazing espressos for fifty cents a cup.

The nifty Nespresso machine: provider of amazing
espresso-based drinks.When I took this, I didn't know the artist would be featured. When
I'm rich and famous this "self-portrait" could fetch millions!

But, back to our regularly scheduled programming: Sometimes I want some good old American-style drip brewed coffee. Our first purchase in Switzerland was a 220V drip-style coffee machine for about $40. Ah, now we're ready for good, cheap, standard fare coffee in the home, right? Not so fast!!! Where are you going to get the beans? Well, the grocery store has a whole aisle of coffee. Okay, most of it is already ground, but they sell by the bean, too. Laura and I like to mix decaf and normal beans for a "half-caf" experience. That's the first problem. Coop doesn't seem to sell decaf coffee, but I find decaf beans at Migros. Okay, that problem is solved. Now, for the regular coffee beans. This is where we ran into the obstacle.

The Swiss simply don't like bold flavors (except in their cheese, which may be occasion for another post). Read the labels on Swiss coffees, and you'll find they all describe their "mild" and "soft" flavor.Even the espresso and ristretto blends are soft and mild. The Swiss seem to think that variety comes in the finish -- look at the foam/head on top of the coffee. Is it creamy? Never mind that coffee doesn't finish this way in a basket brew or "American" style coffee pot. Also, where are the fruit/floral flavors vs. the spicy vs. the earthy chocolates etc. I can't taste them. Maybe I don't have the same refined palate that the Swiss have. They don't like spicy food, either, which is why Old El Paso has developed an extra mild salsa for Swiss palates, the mild is just too spicy. Or, chocolate: most Swiss eat milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate with its bitter after-effects. The Swiss don't seem to like anything too obtrusive. No harshness, no bitterness, except in their cheese and the finish of their lager beers (another Jared "not-favorite").

So, I'd resigned myself to drinking soft, unobtrusive, non-confrontational, tasteless coffee in the morning. (Again, unless I want to make myself a yummy Nespresso!) Then, I was talking to our friend Simon the other afternoon about how you can't find anything but bland Swiss beans around here, and he asked me a ridiculously simple question, "Why don't you buy some beans at Starbucks?" Um, I really am an idiot. This had never even occurred to me before!

Today, I bought beans at the Starbucks in Vevey (and a $4+ tall small black coffee to go. Four dollars?!) and immediately drove home to brew a cuppa. And, I have to say, I am in heaven! Now, it's not that my previous quibbles with Starbucks roasting have changed. It still seems a bit burnt, forward, maybe even "in your face," but I'll take that over an overly-refined, subdued, soft-almost-to-the-point-of-disappearing flavor of the Swiss beans any day. Being a bit too assertive can be better than being overly non-offensive.

So, anyway, I'm extremely happy. Today, I had a real cup of coffee!

Evidence of my first Swiss visit to Starbucks. I'm digging the new branding.
Obviously, the new cup sleeves haven't made it here yet.

P.S.  If you're visiting us and want to make a friend for life, you may want to stick a pound of Peace Coffee Guatemalan Dark Roast in your carry-on....