Nostalgic reminiscences

12 Dec

12 December, 2023.

Where you were and who you were with last Christmas? How about Thanksgiving of 1986? What gifts did you give your teenage son in 1990?

For many years my mom, sister, and I would have an inevitable discussion. Were we at our cousin’s last year for Christmas or at our house? Did we give Derek Hot Wheels or Legos? What year did he get that Walkman?

In 1981, in an attempt to resolve arguments before they started, I started to chronicle the Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas season. Now, 42 years later, it seems brilliant. My recall is not what it used to be. I still remember the events; not always the details such as precise years.

I have written about memories at this time of year twice before (see Christmas Memories from 2017 and Christmas Cards & Cookies from 2021) so it may be a blog trend.

I read through my holiday journal this year and a few more things popped out at me as fun to share.

For 4 years, while I was single and living in Minnesota, I held a Christmas Open House for friends, co-workers (some were both friends and co-workers) with a few family members for good measure. It was always the Sunday before Christmas and several dozen people visited throughout the afternoon and evening. My Christmas Chronicles detailed my menus. Here’s an example.

  • Glogg, a deadly Swedish mulled wine
  • Cranberry Punch, non-alcoholic
  • Japanese Yakitori
  • Sombrero Dip (very 80s!)
  • Köttbullar  (aka, Swedish Meatballs, a family recipe from my grandma)
  • Terrine de Campagne
  • Empaniditas
  • Bond Ost and Herring (Swedish Christmas favorites)
  • Wontons
  • Curried Chicken Finger-Sandwiches
  • Swedish Julkaka (bread) and Various Cookies

I cooked for days. It was crazy and something I would do in my twenties and thirties that I would NOT do these days. I wish I had pictures of these buffets! This was BECP: Before Everyone had Cameras in Pockets.

Christmas in Omaha, 1984. Ric and I were newly engaged. Left to right, Audrey, Anna, and Ruby. Ric’s mom, my grandma of Swedish meatball fame, and my mom. Grandmas was 87 and it was the last Christmas she traveled.

Then there was the year 7-year-old Derek knocked over two bottles of wine just as we were leaving for dinner at my cousin’s, and it was the very wine I had bought for the occasion. Luckily there were alternate wines I was able to grab, but two bottles of wine lay broken on the basement floor. Yuck!

Another Thanksgiving (1984), just as Ric and I had decided to get married the following year, we got a Siamese kitten for Derek, who was then 9. My step-daughter contributed a name for this naughty kitty, Méchante. She was cherished and with us for many years.

There were some very cold Christmases. In 1983, my final Christmas in Minnesota as we were moving to Omaha (this is pre-Ric), as of December 26 at midnight we had experienced 108 hours below zero. One day the high was only -15 degrees F. The high! That year it was so cold that on the morning of our Christmas Open House I woke to frozen pipes and no functioning toilets. Luckily they thawed by party time.

Although not so cold, we have had weather problems in Oregon, too. In 2008, the snow came and came and came in a series of storms. We lived at about 800 feet and could not get our cars out. Mine was stuck in the driveway for 8 days over Christmas. Our friends could not get to us and our neighbors could not get to their planned festivities so we invited stranded neighbors for Christmas Eve. We remember that evening fondly. There were two magnums of great Australian wine at the start of the evening. There were no leftovers.

Another year – 1987 – both holidays were overshadowed by our move from Omaha to Portland. At Halloween we found our house. Over Thanksgiving weekend we selected furniture and window coverings. December 29 we moved in. Whew! Sadly, we missed the wedding of Rick and Jane.

My sister and I had not missed one Christmas since she was born (1960) until 1985. She went to California, no doubt tired of the Upper Midwest cold. I missed her terribly that year. It wasn’t the same without her. She was co-hostess of the Christmas Open House (mostly in name as she was most assuredly not a cook) for at least two years.

Derek loved The Nutcracker. We attended, at his request, four performances, until at the age of 11 he said it was enough. Many years we went to plays and concerts during Advent. At least until he grew into a disinterested teenager.

This is about the age that Derek fell in love with The Nutcracker. Same year he killed the wine.

There were holiday trips. 1996 Thanksgiving in Texas was a favorite. Our brother-in-law built a plywood cover over their lap pool so they could set up tables for about 2-dozen people and we dined outside. That year he also built a dormitory/bunkhouse for half-a-dozen young men and boys to sleep in so everyone had a bed on the ranch. Ric and I got the room with a shotgun over the door and a gigantic Texas cockroach for a target.

When we moved to Italy, we took advantage of being there for holiday trips to London, the Dolomites, and Switzerland. When you cannot celebrate in a traditional manner, go for different. The lights in London, a concert at Royal Albert Hall, snow-hiking in the Alps, 5-course dinners you don’t have to make yourself. Somehow we always remember that at the lovely lodge where we stayed in the Dolomites they had a “butter buffet” with about 8 kinds of butter. Every morning. We were the only Americans with many Germans and Italians for our fellow guests.

One favorite Thanksgiving of all time: Ric and I cooked for 12 Italian friends on Thanksgiving Day 2013. Truly memorable! Those kids are at university by now, maybe graduated.

I was often on the road for business in the 90s and in 1995 was headed to Buffalo, NY, for a meeting on a December Monday. Derek was at Fort Drum in the Army, so on the Friday before we met in New York City to spend a festive weekend. We had a ball: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Radio City Music Hall “Christmas Spectacular” complete with camels pooping on the stage, and the Rockettes. (They just danced.) We shopped, we ate, and we drank. Sunday at the airport our flights were in trouble: a huge lake effect snowstorm had moved in so my flight to Buffalo was cancelled and his to Syracuse delayed. I never made it to Buffalo for my meeting and Derek spent two days getting back to base as there were five feet of snow between Syracuse and the base near Watertown!

Some years Ric and I were alone in Portland. While Derek was in the Army, we spent two Christmases at a nice lodge on the Oregon Coast with our giant collie, Babe. Other years we had friends and family in large groups (I remember 13 at least once in our down-sized empty-nester condo) to dinner. Always uproariously fun with Trivial Pursuit competitions.

Jane Gray, aka Janie, at 12. She lived another 10 years.

Since we have returned from living in Italy we have spent many wonderful Christmases in Durango with Rick and Jane. Our fifth will be this year, again establishing great memories over shared meals and countless bottles of wine at high altitude. We’ve had snowy years and not-so-snowy years, big gatherings and small, cancelled flights and changes of itinerary, power outages and an intervening pandemic, of course. But we’ve always had a festive and memorable holiday.

Durango Christmas morning 2021. All fresh snow.

My brother has become the Master of making Swedish pancakes, aka plättar. Mom used to make them every year but I have not mastered the technique. A wonderful Christmas morning treat regardless of the weather.

In the end, these holidays embody time with loved ones and “home” wherever it may be. And that is what we remember. The events, the people, the problems, the victories. We forget most of the presents unless we wrote them down. (Though I’ll never forget getting my Barbie Dream House.)

As I wish you a festive and wonderful time during the year-end holidays I leave you with this lovely Italian saying:

Il Natale è un incontro con la memoria, ci porta a casa, inevitabilmente.

Christmas is an encounter with memory, it brings us home, inevitably

 – Lorenzo Marone

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Blog fodder.

13 Oct

13 October 2023.

I am ready to burn all the clothes I brought along. Two months of a capsul wardrobe makes me realize why I do not have the discipline for such minimalism at home. Still, we dutifully packed our clothes today for the last transfer before flying home and will deal with the decision of keep, toss, or donate next week.

As we wrap up two months of travel, I find myself with miscellany to impart. I jot down things I think will make a good blog then occasionally use it as fodder inspiration. 

No one topic stands out so perhaps a brief summary of crap I am thinking about things you might be interested in.

No bedbugs! We have escaped the Scourge of Europe 2023! Perhaps our long stay in Lauterbrunnen has been key. We have two nights near Zurich starting tomorrow but I am prepared to shine for the little rascals. I had what I think were bedbug bites in Florence in 1972. Do not care to repeat.

Weather irregularities. It has been warm and sunny almost the entire four weeks in Lauterbrunnen and actually dry for most of our stay. A blessing for certain versus last year (See More rainy day plans) but existentially frightening as we should be having days cool enough for a jacket even in the afternoon and nights so cold you need gloves in the morning. Instead, I wish I had packed a sundress and sandals for some days. (Many women are wearing them.)

Simply gorgeous weather, although sometimes you have to get above the clouds to find it. Here, at Alpine Tower, Meiringen, CH.

This is my favorite trip picture, hiking from Grütschalp to Mürren with the little mountain train that runs along the cliff and the Eiger and Mönch in the background. Another glorious day!

Long stays are the best. Settling in for four weeks in a favorite location is delightful. We have stayed in Lauterbrunnen and vicinity about 140 nights over the past 10 years. Why do we come back? We have a great time here. It is familiar, we love the apartment we have stayed in for most of those nights, we know what we are going to do while here yet we always find new places to explore and enjoy. Staying here requires little planning. We simply live and enjoy these incredible surroundings and the car-free lifestyle Europe affords. Maybe a little like people who have a lake cabin they spend the entire summer at. In my youth, I had friends whose families did that. It seemed narrow to me, to spend all of your vacation in the same place, yet here I am many decades on and I get it.

The view from our balcony at Ey Hus 6. The church in the background chimes the hour, 24 hours a day. You get used to it.

Paperless Travel. I used to pack along an inch-thick stack of confirmations, tickets, and related travel paperwork. I gave up hard copy books as soon as I got my first tablet (2011, I think) but still, there were all those printed documents. NO MORE. All of our passes and tickets are finally, as of this trip, on our phones. All confirmations saved only in email. I do bring a proper hiking map for the mountainous area we frequent, but that is it. The train conductors scan QR codes from our phones and we never have to visit a ticket machine.

Cooking while traveling. Anathema to some, but I like to cook while we are traveling. I get creative with what we can do with limited ingredients and locally available products. Each trip seems to embrace some consistent theme. This year we ate a lot of arugula salads (various preparations) and various pastas. I discovered a new-to-me balsamic chicken recipe and riffed a red-onion chutney to go with the chicken that will be a staple at home. Also, breakfast burritos. Switzerland finally has available some Mexican foods like guacamole, black beans, and tortillas. A few years ago, we started being able to get Asian products like coconut milk, Basmati rice, edamame, and Thai red curry paste. Years past we’ve had trends in chicken curry, chicken soup and pot pie, and giant salads featuring apples, spinach, blue cheese, and dried cranberries. It’s not all sausage and fondue when you cook at home.

Ethnic foods. Each year we find more and more non-Swiss options even in the villages of this small corner of Switzerland. Italian has been around for a bit but now there are two very good Italian places (not just pizza) we can get to by a short train ride which is a novel way to travel to dinner. We finally found a Thai place in Interlaken a few trips ago and the surge in Indian visitors has led to a number of Indian restaurants. Perhaps our favorite this trip was “discovering” a Lebanese restaurant in Interlaken.

Delicious Pad Thai at “sree manee Isaan Thai” in Interlaken.

Cows, cows, and more cows. We have seen cow parades more this year than any other: Little informal groups passing through town and tying up traffic. Large parades of 100 decked out in flowers. Scheduled parades with multiple stops to drop off cattle at various low altitude pastures when returning en masse from the high alps. Today there was a cow show in the church parking lot. Never have I ever imagined such an event. Of course there was beer, schnapps, and cake. Why not?

Just the tail end of a small cow parade coming through Lauterbrunnen as they veer off to their valley pasture.

Today’s Cow Show in a most picturesque location between the church and the waterfall. Each cow had a numbered tag on its forehead, secure with a headband of sorts. About 100 cows and a lot of mooing.

Off to Zug tomorrow. Who knows what fodder for the blog our final days will offer?

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Pizza Venerdi: On-the-road

23 Sep

23 September 2023.

Equinox greetings to you! Fall is upon us as the weather has cooled here in the Berner Oberland and the trees have just been touched with bits of yellow and gold promising a lovely display in the weeks to come. There has been ample rain so the trees are not stressed. I have great hopes for good color! 

But pizza is the topic today. We have revived the Pizza Venerdi (Pizza Friday) tradition of our days in Rome for the past five Fridays. While we are not in Italy, all five have been superior to the pizza we get near our home, but then the pizzaioli are from Italy and know what they are doing. 

Pizza for two and a bottle of Italian wine on a pedestrian alley in Annecy, France.
I ragazzi (the guys) in the kitchen at Sapaudia, Annecy, France.
In Kandersteg we enjoyed pizza at the Chalet Hotel Adler. Third year we’ve had their pizza and it is excellent thanks to the Italian cooks. Our friends Gene and Cathy journeyed over from Lauterbrunnen to join us for pizza, beer, and a walk in the Kandersteg Valley on a very warm afternoon.
My son called this a crime against humanity. I discovered pizza with salmon when we lived in Italy and I get it whenever I am able. It’s best with Gorgonzola and arugula but the mascarpone, capers, and onions were nice, too. In Pontresina at Nostra Pizzeria.

Last night we welcomed our dear friends John & Janet to Lauterbrunnen and took them up the mountain by train to dinner in Wengen at Maya Caprice. A good time was had by all.

Pizza Maya from Maya Caprice. Spicy salami, Gorgonzola, and red onions. The crust was perfection!

We have three more times to celebrate Pizza Venerdi here in Switzerland. Stay tuned!

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Checking things off

8 Sep

8 September 2023.

Lists abound: grocery lists, packing lists, wish lists, Christmas lists. I live by lists. I do not keep a bucket list, however. No grand scheme of things-to-do-before-I-can’t-remember-them. 

Ric and I do, however, make note of places we’d like to return to, things we’d like to do in our favorite places, and places we might want to work into a future itinerary. This trip, we have checked off some places and things that have been on our minds for awhile. Inevitably, we’ve added some as well.

The Gasterntal has been on my list since 2021 when a fellow-traveler pointed it out as we descended from Sunnbüel. (See Another valley to discover.) Seeing the sparkling river flowing through a valley in a deep gorge, I was intrigued because it is only available a few months a year and is challenging to reach. In true Swiss fashion, there is a way to get there by public transport and one does not have to walk all the way in. Calling a few days in advance — once we knew the weather was forecast to be pleasant — I secured seats on the little shuttle bus. 

What a wild ride! Vehicles are allowed to enter the valley, by permit, only for 20 minutes each hour, and allowed to exit for a different 20 minute period each hour. The road, carved into the rock face, is truly one vehicle at-a-time. Our shuttle deposited us at Selden, the proverbial end-of-the-road. From here, the hiking was all downhill, although that is not always as easy as it sounds. This is, after all, a remote valley.

We called this Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. From left, two views of the road carved out of the cliff. There were a couple of tunnels, too. Far right, the end of the road, at least as far as the bus would carry us. The valley goes on and experts can hike on and up and over to other valleys and towns.

One of the most amazing attributes is how few people we encountered in our two-hour hike. A handful hiking up (including people who hiked over 11 km from Kandersteg!), a few bikes where the hiking trail merged with the main road, a couple of cars that paid the day-fee for entry. 

The valley is beautiful and peaceful with only the sound of the glacier fed Kander River. The rugged downhill trail has rocks and roots making for tricky footing but eventually gives way to the bottom of the glacial valley and a pleasant walk across pastureland at the end. We were welcomed by grazing cows and lively calves at the Hotel Waldhaus, a welcome site with full meal service and adult refreshments. 

It is hard to show the beauty. Here are a few trail scenes.

Arriving at Hotel Waldhaus. Might be fun to spend a night here. Hearty Swiss fare for post-hike: Brautwurst is not like anything Johnsonville makes. This is served with onion gravy. We didn’t eat much for dinner.

Cross that off the list. Done and dusted! We are unlikely to repeat it, as good as it was, but I highly recommend it. If you follow our Easy-Hiker scale, this is a “4” on our scale of 1-to-3. 

The challenging hike at Pontresina accomplished last week (see On the road again) was also a list item. Returning to Pontresina was a list item as well, our first visit in 2018 being inspiration for a repeat. (See Postcard from Switzerland.)   In fact, this year’s visit to Pontresina has inspired us to put it on the short list for a 2024 return. There’s lots more to explore in the area and being able to speak Italian is a big draw for me.

This trip we also checked off Appenzell (lovely to visit but likely only once), Mount Niesen (no hiking but incredible views), and we are on our way to Annecy, France, which has intrigued me for a few years but has been hard to work into our annual itinerary. Eating French cuisine is a huge draw as well as the alpine environment. 

Atop the Niesen, “Switzerland’s pyramid.” From the left: The Niesen as seen from across Lake Thun near Interlaken last year; Lake Thun as seen from about 7800 feet on the Niesen; The Jungfrau Region mountains as seen from the restaurant terrace.

Still on the mental list: Hiking in Northumbria and the Isle of Wight, taking a night train between London and Edinburgh, and Midnight Trains from Paris to Venice, when it is launched.

Stay tuned!

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From the heights to the valleys

4 Sep

4 September 2023.

From the highest path we’ll hike this trip to the valley floor (still rather high by our flatlander/sea level standards), we’ve continued our treks to — and from — lunch. 

The other day (See: On the road again) we started our hike from Muottas Muragl, at over 8000 feet and ended at about 7600 feet. We gazed across at Piz Bernina and down at St. Moritz and the Val Roseg. An amazingly long funicular carried us up to Muottas Muragl, and a cold ride in a chairlift delivered us to Pontresina post lunch. Very cold. Windy. Rocking back-and-forth. A regular thrill-ride! 

The next two outings took us down to those gems and found us staring up at Muotta Muragl. 

The glittering lakes of St. Moritz and the tiny jewel of Laj da Staz (Lake Staz) far below us as we look down from the Panoramaweg.

The walk from St. Moritz to Laj da Staz did not require us to watch our feet nor use trekking sticks. A walk in the veritable park! It led us to a fine restaurant, only open 4 ½ hours each day, on the shores of the sparking alpine lake, Staz. Here we dined on quiche and sipped wine before taking a stroll in the woods following the pass between St. Moritz and a stop-on-request station for the little red train back to Pontresina. How civilized. Walking to-and-from lunch helped pay for the Cremeschnitte we shared for dessert.

This is Cremeschnitte. Just a light dessert.

The hotel is unique as it is only available for private bookings. They have 6 rooms and an event space so a group can rent it for a wedding, reunion, or other special event. 

Laj da Staz, a glittering alpine lake a 40 minute walk from the St.Moritz train station and the charming full-service hotel and restaurant which welcomed hikers with style. No eating off paper plates or drinking from plastic cups for us.

Friday we repeated an outing we took in 2018: A Pferdeomnibus (horse omnibus) up the Val Roseg to the Hotel Restaurant Roseg Gletscher.

Our view from on high shows the ribbon of river and a road leading through the Val Roseg. Although the road ends in 4 miles at a hotel, one can walk a path several miles to get very close to the glacier. We hiked back through the forest on the left.

Riding the “horse bus” is a riot. Three sturdy mares (the driver called them her Fräulein) pulled our carriage built for groups. All the passengers were Swiss except us, and they were in a party mood this sunny Saturday, packing along a couple of bottles of the Swiss white wine, Fendant, which they generously shared with us. Nothing like an aperitif en route in your horse-drawn omnibus. After an hour we arrived at the restaurant where we once again dined in style. (No trail side soggy sandwiches for us!) Liveried waitstaff, lovely preparations of the freshest foods, a solid wine list, and a dessert bar to die from for. We had the Fitness Teller or health plate, a grilled chicken breast on a bed of salad. A light option as we knew the desert bar was inevitable. Nüsstorte for me and a cake with fruit and cream for Ric.

This day’s hike was a path from lunch instead of a path to it. The horse omnibus traverses a gravel road that also supports bicycle traffic. Some walkers take it, as well, but the true hiking path is a forested trail running above and mostly out of sight of the road. We hiked almost two hours to reach Pontresina. The horse trek up the valley took about an hour. The path seems very gentle but was actually an overall descent of 745 feet. We let the horses do the hard work of walking uphill. 

Top left: View over the driver’s shoulder of the “girls.” Center top: Our convivial bus. Blankets not needed this fine day. Top right: View of the valley as we road the omnibus up.

Bottom left: View looking up the valley past the restaurant. Center bottom: Little blue alpine butterflies. The males take minerals from the mud and deliver them to the females during mating. Bottom right: Half of the dessert bar. There were at least 30 selections.

For better pictures of the horses and omnibus and more about the trip, see https://www.engadin-kutschen.ch/. 

The lower elevations around here are still higher than anything we have within hours of home. St. Moritz is at 6000 feet as is Pontresina. Now that we are used to this altitude, we are moving to lower elevations. Off to Kandersteg tomorrow. Stay-tuned!

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