{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

washed too hot::cut up in the middle

a few months ago i washed my beloved gray sweater to warm.... it shrunk substantially and i really could not wear it anymore.
but then i remembered the trick from a past accident here.

i could not find a ribbon or band suitable from my stack but was remembering the project just on time when i was in the city. i got strong felted gray band and quickly zigg zagged it onto the cut open sweater, there we go, i love it and will treasure it for the time being.


photos by joel

on the mountain::in the hut

photos by joel and text by my guest bloggers e & e, enjoy the impressions from their three day trip to one of the highest destinations in switzerland!


The "ice claws" that we had to strap to our boots


Hiking across the monte rosa glacier; we had to find ways
around those crevasses


A view of the hut


Looking out of the windows


the inside of the hut is beautifully designed and constructed. lots of wood as a real mountain hut must be.


Climbing on the rocks


We saw the Matterhorn from the path.

at the end of day::sunbeams for me

it has been raining a few days in a row, but usually at the end of the day, some strong sun beams are dancing until sun down. it was good that we have had those days, they were so needed, every plant and people too have gotten hot and wilting in the summers heat of the past 2 weeks.
we have spent some moments out in the rain, enjoying the cool wet, and there has been lots of reading going on in the house, the kids cozening up on the couch in the living room with their harry potters...
i have been able to do some mending, lots of tears in pants and holes in socks...
and sometimes just sitting down with a friend. putting my feet up and sipping a cup of tea...

sunday dessert::berrie tart

summer sundays at home, they can't be without home made desserts! if we lazzy around the house on sundays in the summer, i have to bake something sweet and yummy. so here we go


the pate brisee turned out good, but i left it a bit long in the oven...
a bit dark, but never mind it will be delicious anyway


the shell got a chocolate coating, this prevents from a soggy tart crust


o yes and it turned out soooo yummy, we all loved it and it was gone within the blink of an eye

{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

sommerzeit::reisezeit

seit drei wochen sind immer wieder gaeste aus amerika bei uns und wir nehmen uns drum die freiheit etwas rumzureisen....
vor 10 tagen waren wir am rheinfall auch im wasser, da es im moment ja wirklich sommerlich heiss ist.
am vergangenen sonntag auf dem zuerichsee...


super wetter, um den wind und das wasser aus naechster naehe zu erleben, hier unsere sicht zurueck auf zuerich


der raddampfer "stadt rapperswil" war unseres, ein maechtiges schiff und es gab viel zu staunnen


nicht nur elias, auch ich bin immer wieder von neuem beeindruckt von den riesigen maschinen die wir da sehen und hoehren koennen auf so einem schiff


auf dem heimweg in der S bahn, klimatisiert und schnell nach hause. bahnfahren in der schweiz ist einfach, schnell und angenehm, wir alle sind begeistert vom oeffentlichen verkehr im kanton zuerich.

ein weiteres mal unterwegs waren wir gestern, mit l besuchten wir die stadt luzern. die reuss hat es uns angetan und auch der zytturm den wir bestiegen haben um die aussicht auf die stadt zu geniessen. (da ich beide maedchen mit dabei hatte mochte ich nicht auch noch die kamera mitschleppen...)
der vierwaldstaettersee so inmitten der berge, ich glaub eines der besten orte fuer unsere auslaendischen gaeste... naomi wollte zweimal ueber die kapellbruecke laufen, ihr wunsch war uns befehl, naechstes mal werde ich die buben auch mitnehmen, geschichte erleben in der schweiz!

peaches on sale::there must be marmalade

i noticed yesterday at the grocery store, that spanish peaches are on sale....
the next thought was marmalade, there must be peach marmalade recipes out there. i went straight home to find some interesting ones, the one with carrots caught my eye and then there was one with kiwi, this was it!
i quickly went over to the grocer again and got a big bag of peaches and kiwis, carrots were in my basement as well as the needed sugar, oranges and lemons.


so here we go, for the one with carrots i didn't need to peel the peaches, easy just cutting


the same with the carrots, no peeling, just cutting, cooking and pureeing


the colour looks grate, the consistency too, it tastes a bit of carrot, but really not a whole lot. i'm happy we will see tomorrow what the rest of the family will say!
--
1kg peaches
1kg carrots
5dl orange juice (freshly squeezed)
1kg sugar



the other kind needed a bit more attention in regards to the peeling of peaches as well as the kiwis


this one has big junks of fruit in it and the kiwi fell a bit too much apart. we will see, i'm inclined to try this one again, just for looks, as the taste is just wonderful. i love the sour taste the kiwi adds to the peach.
--
1kg peaches
1kg kiwi
2tbsp lemon juice
1kg sugar

wanting to eat sushi::the boys prepared it

it was mid morning once last week, originally we wanted to head out early to go to the science park.... though elias didn't feel well so we decided to stick around the house. which i have to say was perfect for my plans, as i had to do laundry and this way it was easy to just do it. the other way i would have had to squeeze it here and there. for a moment the kids felt like they were cheated but some how we came up with the idea of sushi for lunch.
next thing i knew, they were thinking about the shopping list for their lunch preparations...
soon the rice cooker was in motion and lots of slicing was underway. cucumbers, carrots, avocado, salmon and of course some eggs had to be boiled and sliced too. good thing our friend e knew what he was doing, he instructed amos and elias on the tasks to be done and kept them on track.




i felt so spoiled, just having to sit down and enjoy a good sushi lunch, even soy sauce was on the table...

10 things::i love

::the miracle how tomatoes grow and grow and bear fruit. this year i'm carrying water, every day 15liters, up on the balcony, three flights of stairs!

::my new set of knitting needles (there will be more about these)

::hanging laundry in the sun


::watching wild bees enjoy the lavender even more than i do


::what's on my needles at the moment (more to be said)

::summer with its lighting and thunder

::going to the weekly market in town. with my bike and trailer (thea loves this one a lot too)

::the fact that joel gets every wednesday afternoon off! and he spends the time with us, swimming at the creek, celebrating my dad's birthday, playing games with elias and amos. thank you J


::the sight of one of my favorite plants

::reading about our summer vacation destination. we will be visiting our friends in romania and look so much forward those two weeks in august.

::that i got a load of fabrics, which my friend brought me straight from america! i'm so thrilled about it, as i do miss what i was able to get there and just have not found the right places in switzerland...

{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

gone for a couple days

blue sky and sunny, summer is perfect...
it's good to take a little brake from the city...
will be back on friday...

a light summer dinner::birchermüesli

it has been rather hot here and we have been grilling a lot, i got a bit tired of it and so decided to prepare a very typical swiss summer dish, birchermüesli.
i know it's not popular in a lot of places around the globe but i grew up with it and love it.
yogurt-milk-oats-fruit, those are the basic ingredients for it and everything fresh. as of right now we have had it mostly with strawberries, and apples are being used all the time (as they store nicely). this past week red currents came on the market so we got some and now enjoy the slightly sour taste of them in our birchermüesli. this time i had nectarines and pears in our fruit bowl.
it's best to soak the oats with the yogurt and milk for at least 1h, then add the fruit and squeeze a lemon over everything. i also like to add a bit vanilla sugar or essence for taste.
it is served with a fresh loaf of bread and butter! yummy, so refreshing after a hot summer day.

enjoying::lots of water

the rheinfalls are the largest plain waterfalls in europe and it took us just a 40 minutes train ride to get there.
it is a wonderful place, just above the falls is the castle "schloss laufen" where we started our tour.




a short walk along the banks of the rhein was a good spot to swim or just dangle the feet a bit in the cool water. the weather was hot (37 Celsius) and the cool water was just so inviting that we could not resist. the boys and joel jumped from the bridge. first it took them a moment to go but after the first time, they were just jumping one time after another.

{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

math::muffins

once more our baker has come into action this afternoon. this time amos is baking for his class...
as his birthday is during summer vacation, he insisted on bringing muffins at the last day of class, which is tomorrow. very enthusiastic about bringing his birthday muffins for the morning snack he started the process of tripling the recipe...



and at the end it all turned out well, a wonderful smell was testing all of us...
yes we had to resist the temptation, amos was very clear about it. and we did not try him ;)

thrifting::for crafting

over the weekend at my friends was a thrifty opportunity...
of course we quickly had to walk through the piles of stuff and things
i could not resist those yellow and orange stripes, and even less the cute yellow print.


a couple of sleeveless tops, we will see how they will be developed into something wearable.


this was to cool to pass by without getting it. it found it's new home next to the tip writer and i'm sure it will soon be put to the test by the kids.


and a little bag with buttons, never too many buttons in the house, so i grabbed the bag. those five looked cool on our red garden table. though there would be many more fun looking, and lots of just every day ones.