What goes up, must come down

After a CRAZY, busy 2 weeks traveling in Europe, we have returned, safe and sound. However, after forcibly altering our internal clocks to skip 9 hours of our lives, we are now painfully yanking those hours back to where they belong. While the trip was completely worth it, jet lag sucks. The first day back I was fine, but in the last day or two I've definitely been getting sleepy at seemingly random times.

So, to wrap up an excellent trip, here are some of the things we did and did not miss :-)

Fantastic things that we miss already:
-the food! (though there was junky food to be had, by and large we ate quite well)
-the sub-100 degree temperatures
-cool nights
-eating somewhere new every night
-lovely hotel owners-people who didn't guess that we were American (one French vendor thought we looked French!!)
-simple, cheap trains to get you to where you wanted to be, instead of flying everywhere-a walking culture, where sidewalks are often more full than streets
-Alps
-street food (crepes, calzones, falafel, etc.)
-"secret" tiny, friendly, towns in the Swiss Alps :-)
-not being on a schedule
-simple airline security (no shoe removal necessary!)
-meals that literally only involve bread, cheese, wine and fruit
-greenery!
-water!
-meals that consist solely of dessert-cow bells-stumbling upon seemingly random parades of tall puppet-like items (we dubbed this la plaza de las personas grandes)
Things we were happy to come home to: -our own dogs (lots of dogs in Europe, but not ours!)
-the same bed every night
-cooking
-free toilets (this should be a fundamental human right, people!)
-all the water we want at restaurants for FREE
-consistent internet connections
-understanding what people are saying (the French grandma serving continental breakfast scared me!)-using more than 5 sets of clothes
-dryness (as opposed to humidity)
-driving
-air conditioning (not an assumption in many places in Europe)
-spending a WHOLE lot less money!

[Steve/Darla/Ben, if I missed anything, please add it via the comments section.]

One of my goals during the trip was to learn 5 new words a day in the local language, so here is a sampling:

London:
peckish=hungry
jug of water=pitcher (I knew the meaning, it's just now how we use the word "jug" to refer to something on the table)
peg=clothespin
armill=bracelet
trolley=cart (a la grocery cart)

Paris:
soldes=sale
gratuite=free
tour=tower
vous ete ici=you are here
ou est Steve=where is Steve (he tended to wander off)

Gimmelwald, Switzerland:
bach=river or creek
bio=organic
suppe=soup
see=lake
feure=fire

Venice:
saldi=sale
ingresso=entrance
casino=small house
d'ove il Steve=where is Steve
panna montata=whipped cream (rhymes with Hannah Montana, and is super fun to say with an Italian accent)

Barcelona (Catalonian Spanish):
benvenguts=welcome
rebaixes=sale
donde esta Steve=where is Steve
sortida=exit
gofres=waffles

(By the way, we honestly didn't do that much actual shopping, it's just that the word "sale" was on every single store window we passed.)

Having completed our European Sampler Platter (which was definitely what it felt like), I would say that 3 nights was about an ideal amount of time for us to get a good feel for a place. When we were only in a place 2 nights, it definitely felt like we were barely running through the place. However, now, we can all say where we might want to spend more time, and/or see next time. Personally, I'd love to go back and spend a week in Paris, and I'd like to spend more time in Italy (though I think I've seen most of what I want to see in Venice). I loved the food and the sights in Paris, and would love to see more of the surrounding area. If I went back for any length of time, I'd probably take a cooking class there. In Italy, I LOVED the language! I'd love to learn it. It sounds so cool :-) And now, good bye, in all 5 languages we took a dip in:

Cheers!
Bon voyage!
Auf wiedersehen!
Arrivaderci!
Adios!

Great Gaudi!

[Note: Sorry for the delay on this post! We're home and now I finally have time to think and wrap up some loose ends.]

As we flew into Barcelona from Venice, there were many architectural landmarks pocking the cityscape. Over the course of the next several days, we had a fantastic time discovering them. We also had a spectacular time enjoying the food of Barcelona, including excellent seafood and tapas bars.During our first evening in Barcelona, we rambled Las Ramblas, a wide street with a large market-type area in the center with everything from tacky tourist things to pet birds for sale to flowers. Off to one side is the famous Boqueria meat and produce market, where we saw lots of fresh seafood and meat, gorgeous fruit stands, and fantastic arrays of olives (see Ben trying to decide?), nuts and dried fruits as well. However, since both of these places are so famous, they are also QUITE crowded. (Our hotel was just a block or two from the Boqueria, but it was far enough away to be quiet.) Once we got to the end of the Ramblas, we were basically at Barcelona's harbor and we spent a bit of time examining the boats in slips, including the racing sailboats in town for a regatta.

The next two days were mainly spent taking in one of Barcelona's main draws, the Modernista architecture that Antoni Gaudi (among others) made famous in the early 1900's. Ben and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how Gaudi apparently designed nary a straight line in his life, and took the majority of his inspiration from the waves and swirls of nature in things like the nautilus, bones, honeycombs, etc. Additionally, he was excellent at using new designs to serve a purpose that was what we would now call green or repurposing or recycling, etc. This was clear in his use of recycled glass for mosaics, and creating items that collected and reused rain water. Some of his creations that we saw included Casa Mila (La Pedrera), Casa Batllo, Park Guell (next pic), and the very famous (and very unfinished after 100 years of work) La Sagrada Familia cathedral. (Since we were in Barcelona and some of us are Olympics fiends, we did have to check out the site of the 1992 Olympics, which was pretty cool, though somewhat unused now.)Finally, we had an excellent time in Barcelona discovering the true meaning of tapas bars :-) On Sunday afternoon (when apparently nothing is open in Barcelona-seems to be true most afternoons, actually), we stumbled upon a small bar/restaurant that was open. We (and when I saw we, I mean Darla with her excellent Spanish) asked for a few plates of typical Spanish tapas. (Tapas are basically small portions of food on toothpicks, appetizer-style.) She brought us a plate of small toasted bread rounds with a bit of tomato sauce and a small square of egg/potato bake toothpicked on top, plus a plate of meat, a plate of cheese, a plate of sausages, a plate of fried fish pieces, a plate of baked sweet potatoes, and continued on until we'd told her at least 2 or 3 times we had plenty (see below). We were thrilled to discover that it was very inexpensive (1.67 euro per plate!) and that she essentially gave us a few on the house. She definitely seemed to be enjoying bringing us all kinds of new food :-) (We were all the only ones there in the middle of the afternoon :-)) One other evening we hopped back and forth between a couple of excellent tapas bars (in which you sit at/near the bar and pick however many tapas you like, and at the end they just count the toothpicks). We decided that we'd definitely have to try a tapas party when we got home :-)

Watery (and sticky) Venice

While Switzerland was a cool 17 degrees during most days, Venice is a hot, humid, sticky 25 degrees. That's in Celsius for all of you across the pond :-) I actually don't know the actual temperature that it's been in Venice, but I do know that yesterday my knee caps were sweating. I often exaggerate, but in this case, I truly am not. The front. of my knees. were. sweating. Disgusting!!! Definitely 3 shower a day weather, which I know some of you are familiar with :-)

Anyway, while the weather has been less than comfortable, we've had a great time checking out all the ins and outs of Venice. While Ben was initially disgusted with the scores and scores of tourists and Steve was initially taken aback at the amount of graffiti that plaster's Venice's walls, it has since become quite the enjoyable haunt. Particularly enjoyable when one has multiple gelato/ice cream stops per day :-) (You gotta do something to beat the heat!)

There are incredible numbers of tourists at St. Mark's Square (see Steve in the Doge's Palace), but when we meandered away from the major tourist areas, we got to see a bit of what Venice is like to the remaining locals. (We weren't terribly afraid of being lost because, hey, it's an island. You can't get too lost! :-)) Additionally, since most tourists only come to Venice for a day and don't stay overnight, it is WAY more fun and local at night. One night we sat and listened to the various small musical ensembles playing on the piazza and watched older couples dance :-)

Last night, we decided we'd pay the extra and eat at the ultra-touristy restaurants right on the Grand Canal. It was totally worth it. Not only was the food great and the view spectacular, but since we were right on the water, there was a marvelous breeze blowing off the water that helped dry us out for the rest of the evening (which entailed more gelato :-)) And tonight we celebrated Steve's birthday...by continuing to eat good food and observe/take part in different cultures in Europe :-)

A few more Swiss Alps pix

At the top of the Schilthorn mountain.

Gimmelwald.

A steep descent.

A true mountain lake.

Nothing beats a day in the Alps!

After a LOOONG, crazy day yesterday, we hiked into Gimmelwald, Switzerland, our final destination of the day. It was a crazy journey filled with lots of trains and train stations. We started the day in Paris by walking to the bus stop and miraculously finding our way to the correct train in a gigantic train station that apparently services the entire rest of the continent. We spent a pleasant hour and a half in a nearly silent TGV (high-speed) train, which eventually deposited us in Dijon, France for a 4 hour layover. [This is already 3 modes of transport-walking, bus, train-and 1 leg of the journey.]

This was a beautiful location to have to kill some time! It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day (the previous days were all fairly cloudy, which the pictures probably gave away). So, since we had time, we stopped at the tourist office next door to the train station, grabbed a map (much to Ben's delight) and started exploring Dijon. We found a curious cathedral, beautiful Botanical gardens, and excellent little shops to supplement our lunch, which we'd gathered from local Parisian shops. Ben even found a bottle of local wine (since we were in the region of Burgundy) for us to enjoy. We ate our lunch in a shady park, explored some more, kicked back in another park, and finally got on our next train.

The rest of our trip was a blur of trains and train stations, which went as follows. From Dijon, train to Lausanne, Switzerland; from Lausanne, train to Bern; from Bern, train to Interlacken; from Interlaken, train to Lautebrunnen; from Lautebrunnen, cable car to Stechelberg; from Stechelberg, train to Murren; from Murren, we walked 30 minutes to Gimmelwald. More direct routes DO exist, but because a series of circumstances that we were confused about, this was the route we ended up having to take. But, it worked :-) However, the last several trips were all couched in unbelievable beautiful scenery, in the middle of which we are now residing.

Today, we took a cable car to the top of the Schilthorn, a 10,000 ft peak in the Alps, where one of the Bond movies was actually filmed (the restaurant at the top was the bad guy's evil lair :-)). We had amazing views and pictures. Afterward, we took the cable car down one more town, and then hiked the rest of the way back down to Gimmelwald. This sounds like it might be easy, only going down, but our legs are definitely tired!
For a quick introduction to Gimmelwald, it is a tiny town of a little over a 100, nestled in the Alps. It is almost entirely a farming community, and all the buildings are made completely of wood (walls, ceiling, everything). Everywhere you go, you can hear cows mooing and their cow bells ringing. There are a few B&Bs, but that's about it. Today we bought Alpcheese. We couldn't go till later in the evening when the farmer was home from making hay, and then we rang his home doorbell. He put his boots on, came out, and let us into the cheese hut. It was very cool :-) Anyway, that's just a bit about our time in Switzerland. One more full day here, and then on Wednesday morning, it's on to Venice!

Ah Paris, you had me at pain chocolat

[Sorry, some of you may have read this already, but I had misposted it, so I fixed it now.]

When we got to Paris on Thursday, for some of us, (Darla mainly), this was the first experience having NO understanding of the language, which tends to be rather unnerving. After straightening out some confusion with train tickets for the next leg of the trip, we tracked down our hotel. After a quick scamper up the 6 spiral flights of stairs, (more of a winded, sweaty, stomping up the stairs), we dumped our stuff and prepared for a day in Paris! It was at this point that it became blatantly clear that 2 years of mandatory language study (like Ben's French) are apparently worthless. No idea how to pronounce words, letters, nothing. Oh well.

First and foremost we went to get Paris Museum passes, in order to avoid lines and save money. Since we happened to wander past it first, we checked out Sainte-Chapelle, an AMAZING set of stained glass windows in a small chapel that tell the story of the entire bible up to Jesus death. After grabbing a quick sandwich for lunch, we wandered up to the Champs-Elysses, past the Louvre (I know, I know, we're uncultured. None of us are particularly interested in that era of art) and enjoyed a respite sitting by a fountain in the Tuileries gardens.
As we wandered our way to the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Elysee, it was clear that there had been some large event there, which was being cleaned up (bleachers, streets blocked off, etc.) and then realized that the Tour de France had just ended at that location, days earlier. After window shopping at the high end places (like the flagship Louis Vuitton store), we climbed a never-ending spiral staircase to the top of the Arc, which had beautiful views of the city and the Eiffel Tower. When we came down, we watched in amazement as nobody was killed in the crazy traffic circle around the Arc, in which 12 streets all come into one gigantic, insane traffic circle.

Finally, we decided it was time to examine the Eiffel Tower in detail. When we got there, we decided to eat a lovely French supper overlooking the Eiffel Tower until twlight fell, and watch the tower light up and then climb it. In actuality, the sun doesn't set in Paris until like 10:00 PM, so we had things like goat cheese, quiche, and duck for supper overlooking the tower, and then realized itwas going to be at LEAST another hour and a half before it got dark. Hence, we just decided to start climbing, which ended up being cool, because we were on it right at sunset. We could only climb up to the 2nd floor, but it was amazing, nonetheless, especially lit up at night. The best part was that it lit up and had flashing strobe lights at the top of every hour, which was absolutely breath-taking from outside the tower, as the whole thing basically appeared to be sparkling. Even though it was packed with tourists and people selling crap, it was absolutely, 100% worth it :-) [In case you're wondering about my post title, pain chocolat is literally bread and chocolate but it's actually a layer of chocolate rolled into a fresh croissant- it's amazing!]

Lots of new experiences!

Here we are, taking it all in in Europe. We landed without creating any international incidents in London and then proceeded to see a good portion of the classic landmarks. The first day, we met a cousin of my dad's at a pizza place and had a marvelous time. It turns out that uncoordination runs in the larger family as a whole! Then we headed out on a walk on the south bank of the Thames to see the London Eye, Big Ben, and the houses of Parliament, which are amazingly complex. This was definitely a great, "Pinch me, I'm in Europe!" moment :-)The next day, we were up earlyish to enjoy a full English breakfast at St. Athans Hotel where we were staying. This turned out to include coffea/tea/hot chocolate, toast/jam, beans, bacon, eggs, sausage, and stewed tomatoes. Darla loved it! Next we headed to the Tower of London so the boys could ooh and ahh over the moats, drawbridges, etc. After tracking down a cell phone store for the boys to get European SIM cards so we could avoid roaming charges, we walked (that's the theme of our lives so far) to the Tate Modern where we appreciated lots of 20th century art and sculpture, including Picasso, Warhol, etc.

Since we knew that London had obviously been blitzed during WWII, but essentially knew nothing about that side of history, we went to the Cabinet War Rooms, part of the Imperial War Museum. This was a fascinating underground bunker where the brains of the British war, Winston Churchill mapped, planned, and strategized. Most of it has been recreated to look exactly as it did in August 1945, when the lights were shut off for the first time in five years. (There were also the obligatory somewhat scary mannequins that always scare me.)

Finally, after a quick look at 10 Downing Street (home of the Prime Minister) we met at Trafalgar Square (crowds of people, hordes of pigeons :-)), we checked out the scene at Covent Garden, a quaint shopping/theater section of town. After poking about for a bit, we found a yummy Indian restaurant and enjoyed. To cap the day off, we went to a pub near our hotel and

tried pints on tap. We crashed at the hotel and packed up for our trip to Paris the next day. While it was a crazy busy pace, we saw a good amount, and fully enjoyed the experience :-)

Off on a wing and a prayer!

You may notice the old blog has a spruced up appearance, because very soon, we will be winging our way to Europe! We leave on Tuesday evening and are SO excited. Our travel partners (and guest bloggers, though they don't know it yet ;-)) are Steve and Darla Schrock. [The first picture is us trying to find cheap plane tickets, and the second is Steve and Darla dressed as each other for Halloween :-).]


Half the fun is waiting and planning :-) We decided that even though we'd definitely take a free trip to Europe leaving the next day, it would still be a little disappointing, because you wouldn't have the waiting excitement :-) While this is not an ideal time to be leaving the country (weak dollar, I'm job hunting, Darla and I are/were students, etc.), we had been talking about taking this trip for EVER. So, we decided last summer that now is the time. If we don't do it now, who knows how many other reasons we'll come up with for not going.

So, after much planning (through all things Rick Steves -public radio/TV travel guru), discussion, and homemade ice cream, we are getting the final details ready for our adventure. One of those details includes letting our friends and family know they can follow our journey through Europe with 1) the itinerary below, 2) this blog (where I'm thinking we'll rotate who posts each day), and 3) our pictures on Steve's Picasa album. [You will need to have a free Google OR Gmail account to view them though... Sorry.] We'll likely post 1 or 2 photo highlights from the day on the blog as well.

So here we go!

Schrock-Shetler European Sampler Platter Itinerary

July 13 (Tues) - Depart PHX at 7:25 PM, British Air
July 14 (Wed) - Arrive London 1:10 pm local
July 15 (Thurs) - London
July 16 (Fri) - London-->Paris
July 17 (Sat) - Paris
July 18 (Sun) - Paris-->Interlaken, Switzerland-->Gimmelwald, Switzerland
July 19 (Mon) - Gimmelwald, Switzerland
July 20 (Tues) - Gimmelwald, Switzerland
July 21 (Wed) -Gimmelwald, Switzerland-->Interlaken, Switzerland-->Venice
July 22 (Thurs) - Venice
July 23 (Fri) - Venice
July 24 (Sat) - Venice-->Barcelona
July 25 (Sun) - Barcelona
July 26 (Mon) - Barcelona
July 27 (Tues) - Depart Barcelona 11AM, British Air Flight 479 to London. Depart London 2:35 PM on British Air 289, arrive at PHX 5:10 PM.

Super Summer Salad Dressing

Since it's summer, here in the super-crazy-beastly hot Valley of the Sun, I aim to make cool foods. (Also because my ridiculous gas oven pours heat out as if it were trying to boil me alive in my own house--and this before I even open the oven door.) Tonight, I decided to try a dressing recipe from a Taste of Home cookbook (always fantastic) that I got from my Grandma Harder for Christmas. If you are not familiar with Taste of Home, get familiar. I love these cookbooks.

Pretty much all of the salad dressings I prefer are mayonnaise-based. I have a GIANT ranch tooth and when I want to pretend I'm eating healthy, I have a salad with fruit on it and poppy seed dressing. (I'm not a big oil and vinegar type fan.) However, today, I discovered that there actually are some healthier, yummier salad dressings out there :-) This dressing made me eat more salad for dessert. Try it out!

[I'm writing this recipe as I made it, with other possible options.]

Stawberry Salad Dressing with Spinach Salad

6-8 large frozen strawberries, thawed
1/4 c. water
1 1/2 T. apple cider vinegar (or other sweet/mild vinegar)
1 T. honey
1 t. vegetable oil
1/2 t. soy sauce
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. dried thyme or 1/4 t. fresh thyme
1/8 t. pepper
1 bunch spinach or lettuce, chopped
1/3 c. sunflower seeds (or other chopped/roasted nuts)
1/2 c. dried cranberries (or other dried or fresh fruit)
Blend first 9 ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth. Combine salad ingredients and serve with dressing.

Yield: approx. 1 1/2 c. dressing

(By the way, you should also try this Rhubarb Cake with Vanilla Sauce recipe, that I made with rhubarb Grandma sent me :-))

Goat cheese makes everything better :-)

Things I love: cheese. It's fantastically salty and yummy and makes everything better. Things I don't love: cheese product (a.k.a Velveeta. I do harbor a guilty pleasure though for Cheez Whiz and cheez in a can :-)) As a kid, I'd spend hours reading on our greenish recliner eating Ritz crackers and Land O'Lakes cheese. My grandma still gives me Land O'Lakes cheese for Christmas (at my request!) My sister recently introduced me to the goodness of the tiny little soft cheese wheels, which accompanied me on many lunches to school. And my new favorite is goat cheese. Feta cheese it good and super tangy, but goat cheese is so smooth and just a little salty. On a recent trip to Vegas (see pic below), I had a FABULOUS pizza that I'm going to try this week with just thin crust, pizza sauce, sweet onion slices, a little bit of sausage and goat cheese. It was amazing!

Recently, I discovered that goat cheese, which is generally fairly expensive is definitely cheaper at Costco in bulk. So I got some and have been enjoying it in lots of fun recipes. This last week, I attempted a Goat Cheese Souffle with Thyme, which I thought was awesome. Ben informed me that he's pretty sure he doesn't like anything with cooked eggs (souffle, quiche, egg bake, etc.) Either way, I thought it was yummy (and pretty!). It's from my favorite "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" cookbook.

Goat Cheese Souffle with Thyme

Butter/2 T. Parmesan Cheese
1 1/4 c. milk or cream
1 bay leaf, several thyme sprigs, 2 thin onion slices
3 T. butter
3 T. flour
salt and pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
4 egg yolks
1 c. crumbled goat cheese (4 oz)
6 egg whitesseveral thyme sprigs (leaves only)

1. Preheat oven to 400. Butter a 2 qt dish and coat with Parmesan cheese. Heat the milk with the aromatics until it boils. Set it aside to steep for 15 minutes, then strain.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. When foamy, stir in the flour and cook over low heat for several minutes. Whisk in the milk all at once and stir for a minute or so as it thickens. Then add 3/4 t. salt, pepper, and cayenne. Remove from heat. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time until well blended, then stir in the cheese. Don't worry about getting it too smooth.
3. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form firm peaks, then stir a quarter of them into the base to lighten the mixture. Fold in the rest, transfer to the prepared dish, then put in the center of the oven and lower the heat to 375. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and just a bit wobbly in the center. Remove, scatter thyme over the top and serve immediately.