door deco::carried away

coming home after the weekend away i encountered our front door. anew i fell in love with the play full wax paper "taet tat" ornaments.... (i got them at kaufkaffee)
i got a bit carried away in looking at them, but also feel like that's ok. once in a while it does do well to just enjoy details of "my home"

weekending::cow pageant

we spend the weekend in the country, the town i grew up in and the place i have been familiar with. lots changed and much stayed the same. now it's our older boy who get's to show the calf of his cousin's choosing. together they parade the calf in the ring and recite a little poem.
lots of brown cows, lots of edelweis-shirt wearing folks. and of course some very serious farmes showing their best cows!

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

once more canning::mushrooms

our grocer had mushrooms on sale.... i know it's kind'a cheap to not having to head out into nature and collect the fruits of a moist late summer!


cleaning and boiling the mushrooms in salt water for a short 8-10 minutes, meanwhile sterilizing the jars.




filling the cooked mushrooms into the jars together with vinegar and joel and some rosemarie, thyme and peppercorns.
i lightly closed the lids and put them back into the water-bath to get them an other 25 minutes of sterilizing. tightening the lid and let them cool.
we will see how long they might be able to sit in the cupboard until i can not resist any longer!
a nice description of how to can here.

getting acquanted::with the kunsthaus

i was at the kunsthaus zurich yesterday morning and enjoyed it together with thea.
it was the first time since we moved back to switzerland and the first time too, for just thea and me to enjoy art together without any of the other kids in tow...
we went to see the "riesenkraeuter und monsterbaeume" by w. kolbe. a collection of drawings and prints. as in the past years, my experience with kids at the museum, they do pay attention and like to search for things. this time it was cows, many prints and drawings showed cows and thea liked to point them out. this kept her attention and i was able to enjoy the lines and forms on paper too.

keeping in the check::the chicken have "red mite's"

for a while now elias was telling us about the little "bugs" he finds on his body. so we had to start looking and find out where they come from and what they are and do...
it didn't take long for joel to find out about the "dermanyssus gallinae"


some more research showed that this is very common and especially during the summer month normal with chickens. though we wanted to keep these critters in check and that meant cleaning and treating the chicken coop as well as the chickens with kieselguhr, here some more info in german.... and that's were we got it.


joel was able to order a bag of the "dust" with an applicator, the chicken didn't mind at all. they are used to elias picking them up and holding them.


we love our ladies and want' them to be comfortable and healthy. the cooler weather is approaching quickly and with it the mites will disappear, we hope.

the rabbits::goodbye

as good by parties usually are, lots of fun but there is that tiny bit of sadness there. just very present. this past week we said goodbye to t the guy who has been in the community the longest and has impressed his character upon our time with him too. so we had to prepare a very special goodbye dinner for him!
joel had the idea of putting a rabbit on the grill, and o yes i liked that one. i have never done this before, but it didn't seem to hard to do.


starting out with an order for two rabbits at the local butcher, which joel picked up on wednesday. i ended up with bigger animals as i expected, but never the less marinating them 24h ahead with lots of olive oil, rosemary, ground black pepper, oregano and then just taking a look into the fridge and finding a rather old jar with cranberry sauce...


of course elias had to help, he loves the adventure of "real grilling and cooking"...
the middle boy was running away with tearing eyes, he could not understand how we can do this to a rabbit. i had to take moment and stay with him, console him and explain it in many details why and how and all the where about. but that's ok, i don't mind, i do understand and respect that he didn't want to see or taste the meat/"dead animal". though i have to say, i feel like it is important to see the animal as a whole, to be connected with the animal you are eating. our society doesn't often get the opportunity to do so and that's why all the meat lovers eat without caring! huge amounts of meats....


as we had the meat over the hot coal, i frequently put some olive oil and once in a while beer over it. the meat stayed very moist, which is a bit of a challenge with rabbit and it took about 50 minutes over the hot coal for the two 5lb rabbits to be done.
it was a good dinner, with whole rice and ratatouille, yummy!

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

from apples::to marmalade

a good morning.
i was sitting at the kitchen table, pairing apples, all of them little sour and wormy fruits....
the kids in school, just thea climbing on the bench and consuming one apple after the other, she really liked them a lot. and there was our friend m having breakfast and starting his day.
it was such a good thing to be working and talking with a friend, about the going on's in our life's, in our community house and the weather of course!


after pairing and cooking the apples with some water. i put them through a "passevite", in english you call this a food mill.


for marmalade (jam or jelly) i use 1.5kg fruit and 1kg sugar or "gelierzucker", known as gelling sugar in english.
o yes and then i wanted to add something to the plain apples, so i soaked raisins in rum. and half of my marmalade is no a speciality...




when i was standing in the store to buy labels for my preserves i was just in the mood to get round labels. ha! i like change and doing things just a bit different as in the past.

sunny morning::the ballon was flying

our friend t has a passion for geeky stuff!
yup, this time he was working for many months on a high altitude balloon. there was lots to program his gps, his celly, the camera. as you can see, those things finely had to fit into the magic box. the balloon was expected to get up, about 100'000ft high! just thinking about this got my head spinning.


a latex balloon was filled with helium, it's diameter was just a bit over 2yards.


it was a spectacle, some neighbors showed up too, our kids were thrilled and so excited about this. t is great, he included as many of his friends as possible to get that balloon up into the air. and the weather was just perfect for this undertaking, a sunny, not too windy but clear morning!


there it goes, the red ball is the para-shoot for the "golden box". this was needed as the balloon was expected to pop and the box will then be falling down to earth with tons of photos, the gps will send the signal to t's celly and he (with all his friends) hunted the box down in the afternoon.
yes the balloon rose it's expected height of 100'000 ft (30'000m) and yes the box fell down. it landed unharmed (the para-shoot worked) in the middle of an alpine meadow.
here a few more photos

apples::from our trees

it's the first time that we can harvest fruit form our own trees. although that's not completely true, the trees belong to an older lady who asked us, if we wanted to harvest the fruit and keep it.
of course i could not say no! i had to jump onto that exciting adventure. it is not that easy though, as the care taker of the trees (and land) is the lady's brother in law and he is very old... you can see, it is not just fruit we will get, it is a whole story and with it people which we will somehow be taking care off a little bit. but that makes it even more special and isn't that exactly what life is! caring for each other, living relationships in our every day life.
it takes us about 10 minutes by car to visit the lovely spot where our 5 apple trees and one cherry tree is rooted. on a slope with a vineyard across the street, and the very exciting view of a medieval castle...




mid morning, still for a moment, what a landscape, and breath out again!


there is that castle, we heard voices, there must have been a few kids playing in the courtyard. we will be going to visit and inspect that place, maybe next time when the other three come along


it was once more eyeopening, toddler are such a great help to pay attention to little "lowly" things. in this case it was little autumn crocus flower, with it's latin name: "colchicum autumnale"


and there the so brightly shining red berries of the mountain ash. every year in late summer those berries are bringing some kind of magic into our world.
we will be back to this little spot of land a many more times this fall but i hope for many more years to come.

her favorite::the drawer

first i was fighting her off, i didn't want her to spill oil on her cloths! i didn't want to take the risk of having to clean up a vinegar spill on the kitchen floor! i didn't want to have her drink from the cooking wine! i didn't want to spend energy and time on having my eyes on her handling the glass bottles!

but as you see with your own eyes i caved. she loves that drawer with all the oils and vinegars, the different liquids i need in the kitchen for cooking delicious meals.
and i'm fine, now that i know it is not the world end when she drinks a big gulp of olive oil. the experience made me believe the glass bottle, holding the "balsamico de modena", is strong enough to slip out of her hands onto the tile floor and not brake (this happened at least a dozen times), i do not have to dive all across the kitchen to catch it...

i have been able to change and not be on edge about this drawer. and i'm thankful for it, it makes my life a lot easier and if an accident happens, there are rags, there is water and my hands will be able to clean quickly the mess produced unintentionally. and meanwhile, she learns so much it is all worth it.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

canning::marinated peppers

i could not resist the so good looking red peppers at our grocery store, in fact i had to buy a big bag of those red beauties. in my brains already seeing a few jars of marinated peppers on our kitchen counter!
a few years back we had the opportunity to bulk order peppers with the CSA, that's how i got started on canning peppers. it was a labor of love with those veggies... and now again a morning of work cut out for myself. back then i served the web and found a really good source on safe methods to preserve peppers, the university of california's division of agriculture and natural resources... here we go!


the peppers are all lined up with some water in the pan and shoved into the oven. i roasted them at high temperature. after that i set them aside in a big covered bowl for 15 minutes. pealing was a breeze after this proceeder.


we got the jars from the basement and of course they had to be stacked up. thea was totally into it and i just loved to watch her working on precision, she took them down and built them up again and again.
i love to have her see me work and getting involved herself. there is just so much learning going on, by allowing her to participate at her level in my work.


peppers all peeled and ready, in a second pot the vinegar, garlic, onions, spices and oil is being heated up to a rolling boil. this is the marinade it turns out bit different every time i do it. and that's ok, we love the fact of a little twist each time i get around to can peppers.


after filling the jars with peppers and the marinade, i carefully get rid of the air bubbles and loosely put the lid on the jars (the jars have been sterilized in the boiling water for a few minutes, including lids).
then i took the largest (widest) pot, put the filled glasses into the boiling water, up to the glas sholders) and let them sit on the stove top, boiling for 20 minutes.


oh yes, taking them out of the water and tightly closing the lids. you will year the lid pop inward as they cool. the vacuum is the essential part of sterilizing. if the vacuum is not "in the jar" the canned goods will spoil very quickly.
i'm happy with the result of a few small jars, they will be little gifts. and three bigger ones to consume in our house, very likely with polenta! this is a favorite of all in the house.

a chronology::veggie kebabs

we love to cook outdoors, we savor good food and we do have some "pyromaniacs" in our family.
a sunny afternoon, lots of veggies on hand as well as some grill cheese. what better can happen to it as to put it all on wooden skewers and put it over the fire.