fondue left overs...

what to do with cheese fondue left overs? we had a wonderful cheese fondue dinner last night, though 3 people didn't show up to eat, so we ended up with a pan of left over melted yummy cheese. what a sad occasion, as we were all stuffed and could not eat one more bite of cheese coated bred.
so there we go, it's mid morning and my thoughts are circling around that pan of cheese...


the solution, at least for half the cheese was, to make quiche for lunch, with plain cauliflower as a side,


and an apple tart to top the savory part of the meal.
it turned out great and even the kids loved the intensely, strong smelly quiche.

a snowy day

there are no snow days in switzerland...
not that we got snowed in, that would have been great and welcomed by everyone!
but it just steadily snows and got really cold over night. i love the days with snow, the days the kids run outside and play with the wonderful white. naomi ran very happily to kindergarten with high hopes to play out doors with all her friends.



amos has the afternoon off and decided to try again to do "strick trick". sitting in the office with me, enjoying the the cozy corner...

the hair

the hair of our little girl is growing long and still pretty blond!

one small change

the one small change initiative has been on my mind a lot...
i have been thinking and pondering how to approach the laundry detergent question and because of some light bulbs giving up, i started to do some researching for energy saving light bulbs...

now here we go, there were 3 bulbs which died over the past few weeks, we replaced those with cfl bulbs in our bathroom and the boys reading lamp as well as one of the hal-way spots. there are still some regular bulbs in our stash and i will use them up too. it seems like a sensible thing to not through out old but still working stuff. o, and by the way, switzerland as well as the eu has a put a regulation into place last year in september. the EP environment committee has approved the plan, under which incandescent bulbs are to be gradually phased out from September 2009 to 2012. so i guess i'm just about doing the mainstream thing...

now the laundry detergent...
i'm not there yet, but read a lot and was surprised that the biggest impact is not what kind of detergent is being used. the biggest impact has the dosage one uses for washing. and to my surprise, lots of people wash "clean" cloth...
the action items now are:
1. making sure we wash only dirty cloths
2. cut the measuring cup at the correct level of needed detergent (those little measuring cups are of course bigger as needed)
3. we will buy total from migros, it got the climat top label (if it would have been just for me and my family, we would have switched to held, but it's not just me there are 8 other adults involved in our laundry process, i will keep the detergent a topic and who knows if we will be able to make the switch at some point...)
o yes and here a quick link for my american friends....

beautyful

a sick boy's breakfast

we have a sick boy in the house, swollen glands and fever...
no it is not mumps, at least i don't think so as of one day with the still quiet a live boy. he didn't go to school, which was nice for a change, he wanted to do things... so i have to assume that he is not too sick. but still having to rest his body.
i was bringing him breakfast to the bed side, he loved it.


and lots of tea mauve leaf tea with honey.

thea in the kitchen 5

having a toddler cruising around my legs is often fun and thea is a big helper when we have to put our groceries away after shopping.
it's very helpful to have some helping hands, after shopping for 14 people...
living in community is fun and exciting and involves "schlepping" of lots and lots of groceries into the kitchen...

thea in the kitchen 4

of course there is eating going on in the kitchen too...

oh those toasty boots!

i would love to win a pair of ugg's and i'm sure you too...

thea in the kitchen 3

the milk bottle cupboard...
lots and lots to do with empty milk bottles and crates!

thea in the kitchen 2

in lot's of our meals i use onions and garlic, be it risotto, spinach, collard greens, any tip of stew, tomato sauce, sauteed carrots, salad dressing, all kinds of casseroles....
this has the implication, of me mincing onions and garlic almost every day once if not twice. i don't mind and i realized quickly thea doesn't mind either. she loves to help me, the skins of both sorts of roots is lending itself perfectly to be peeled by her little fingers!
there is one moment though when things turned to a not so sunny face, biting into a garlic is not a very delicious act. of course i was telling her, that she certainly would not like the taste, and of course that's not worth anything, trying herself helped, though.

thea in the kitchen 1

she loves it with all her strength! the cupboard with the plastic containers is definitely one of her favorites in our kitchen.

there will be more photos of thea in the kitchen, she has become a good helper and i wanted to give her some air time for her seemingly never ending energy.

outdoors and in three

quickly this morning, the boys had to bring the green compost bin to the street side, as it is recycling and trash pick up.


and then off to school it's just five to eight and still twilight...


we got mail, and what kind of mail, "happy mid january"! thank you j for the creative gift, each family member got something special, can you figure out who got what?
this was definitely the best indoor moment yesterday right after lunch, when the mailman rung the doorbell!

outdoors and in two

the snow is melting, but i'm still struck by the bright red...


playing with mittens, hats, scarfs and what ever else is to find, thea know's where to find those "toys"

outdoors and in one

it has been snowing and it's one wonderful world out there, this a peak into our garden behind the house.
we love it, though naomi is not yet satisfied, she is still hoping for one big snow storm. a so called blizzard...
she remembers the once we had in the past years living in boston.
but the lowlands of switzerland are not blizzard land, sorry naomi. i know how she feels. i absolutely enjoyed the evenings, the days and nights when it was snowing and howling around the house and then in the when all was still again, a wonderful miraculous white world. half a yard or so, and then even better the snow drifts! big jumps and the kids were gone...


indoors it's warm and cozy, we enjoy the little flowers grandma got for naomi's birthday. flowers in winter, little pink daisies they make a bleak foggy day happy in no time.

curtains for the 6 year old

naomi wished curtains for her bedroom. and that's definitely a wish i loved to hear.
we were in the city last friday and stopped at a curtain place just before it closed. in the back corner of the store was some shelf space reserved for "scraps" i love those corners and it didn't take long to find what we wanted.
we got four pieces of fabric, light blue and plum. good quality day curtain fabric. it's more gauze like and i loved it right away.


in one evening i was able to get all the gliders on. and yesterday morning, when naomi was in kindergarten i took the opportunity and did the hems (with the 'new' machine from my mom).


there were some wonderfully knit curtains from my mother in law to find in one of my boxes (from the move)
as well as an idea found in soulemama's book "the creative family".


i wanted some playful and changeable curtain for naomi. something which can be rearranged often and in many ways. there were already two metal rods up mounted on the sealing, so i just had to come up with things to hang on gliders...


the different "objects" can be moved back and forth, except the knit curtains, they are fix in their places.


of course now there have to be more of those garlands...
with lot's of enthusiasm is naomi now at work to add to her window dressing.
it seems like she loves it and i like the idea, that she can add and change and switch.

6th birthday

what a great pastry grosi made for her grand daughter! so yummy, puff pastry sheets with vanilla creme and of course pink icing! we all loved it and did not stop until it was all eaten. the candles needed two blows by naomi.


o and the presents...
a big token toward a new bicycle, this will be used in a couple months, when the snow is all gone (it has been snowing for the past three days and looks like it will snow a few more).
and can you see the the surprised and happy look on naomi's face upon the unveiling of a big stash of hello kitty tissues! of course something her mama would not buy, we are a fabric handkerchief family...
tomorrow a few more photos, i was able to finish a little room improvement project for my girl...

by the way do you notice that yellow dress naomi is wearing? it's one my older cousin owned and ran around 32 years ago. for some reason my mom kept it and naomi's older cousin piked it out of a stash of dresses a few years ago and now it's being passed down the row. it makes me happy to see old things being in fashion again.

one small change

through solemama's blog i stumbled upon hipmountainmama's blog and the whole challenge of "one small change". it has been very interesting to see what folks are changing in their lives, i love to read through the list and blogs of changes...

we live car less, we use water saving shower heads. we compost organic matter, recycle what ever is possible, paying bills paperless, "upcycling" cloths, hang our laundry, use cloth diapers and mostly second hand cloths. we try to buy local (this is relatively easy in switzerland, compare to the US).
though the laundry detergent is not at all eco friendly, this is a bit tricky, as we live in community. we share our household with 8 other adults and i have to figure out how we can shop eco friendly laundry detergent.
some of the folks seem to be in love with fabric softeners, they want the scented detergent and they also don't want to spend more money on detergents. but i will do some research and figure out what compromises we can make and hope to be able to feel good about the planned change. we all use the same washer and buy detergent in bulk, but it really should be a "safe" detergent if you ask me, let's get started...
and i'm sure there are many more small changes we could make in our every day life to aid to cure our planet!

vacation days 3

the first two should have been posted yesterday...
sorry i totally forgot them in my file.



i love both of these photos, it's so much amos and it brings his personality out like not many other photos. he is our entertainer, he loves to make people laugh, he enjoys himself so much if everyone starts to listen and watch him, he is language savvy and comes up with quotes and knowledge from how knows where.
we love having him in our family, life is never boring with him around.




in contrast to our people person amos, elias loves the solitude! yes when ever possible out there in the woods or as here in the snow! he also had a good time on vacation, it snowed and he got to build ramps for sledding and just plain shoveling for the good reason to serve other people, and of course earn money....


this the view from the south facing windows of my parents, what an intriguing shadow this tree has. i just love to be on vacation. no haste to go or be anywhere else, just be and enjoy! (this last photo is by joel)

vacation days 2

at my parents there is a wooden tub in the back yard!
of course the kids love it. from the beginning of splitting wood with the hatchet, firing the stove up a few hours prior to bathing and then of course jumping into the warm water is the best. and doing so at night even better!
for new years eve all of the kids got to light some sparklers. everyone was excited though i think it was me who was just taken by the moment. standing still, watching, enjoying the moment, hoping it would last for ever.


and even more fun... you can imagine it was just a blast joel's entertainment cracked all of us up. and together with the kids, munching on the last bit of chirstmas cookies, makes for a very cheerful, happy round.

vacation days 1

it's best to be at my parents and enjoy a good meal together. this time it was rainbow trout, i love it but rarely prepare it myself. thank you ma.


we prepared jar lanterns with, very simple and enjoyable. ma and the kids made them. winding wire around the to of an empty jar with a tea light.


perfect for an evening walk, as the night comes early around this time of year...


and here we are, grilling sausaces, drinking tea on the last evening of the year


and of course fire sticks and whistling. what would we do without joel playing a few tunes for us. it has become so much a way of celebrating and being together.

but there will be more, we had such fun last week!