Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Switzerland Report - Day 12


|| Aug 8 ||

Findings: Liechtenstein

Food: Another amazing Hildegaard lunch, 3 schnapps varieties in 3 minutes: cumin, oak, and the woman's variety, Our dinner with Andreas

Photos: Courtesy of Andreas via "Save as..." from Facebook

Emma, Chris, Johanna, and I took the train to Liechtenstein for an overnight stay with our Liechtensteiner relatives. Our first stop was Hildegaard's house where, as usual, Hildegaard prepared a lovely meal. (A note to those out there who have eaten my meals: Hildegaard created the recipe for the Liechtenstein potato salad I make.) Today she prepared a three course lunch and invited a number of our relatives.

After lunch Emma and I went with our cousin Andreas for a two stop family tour. We visited Tante Hermina first. Emma's German has gotten really good and I'm so relieved that finally one of us can communicate with her because just look at her, don't you want to know everything!!



At least two of our relatives, Kurt and Norbert, are dedicated schnapps makers. Our second stop was Kurt's house where we imbibed three giests in three minutes. We didn't have much time but wanted to sample as much as we could. He offered three flavors created from this year's cherry crop: cumin, oak, and the woman's variety, which I think was some sort of fruit.



Next we headed to Andreas's house for dinner. He made us pasta with red sauce and tuna (I'd never have thought of that) and it was great. I've added it to my weekday dinner list and it is excellent with a little bit of cream. Andreas invited the younger cousin crowd over for after dinner drinks. We sat outside at a giant, dark wood picnic table and took turns playing cats cradle with Johanna and chatting. Norbert sent over some vacuum packed schnapps to take home and you can see them on the table in this photo of Chris and Andreas. I wish we had more, they went in a flash, and I've got some friends over here who want to be on the mailing list when new vats are bottled.



I had the WORST allergies with all this greenery in Switzerland and Liechtenstein (I need concrete to breathe) and I was starting to look like the Augsburg Airline stewardess by the time we headed home. My allergies were so bad that Emma had to perform emergency acupuncture and I fell asleep.

5 comments:

  1. OK - just in case anyone is concerned that I walk around with acupuncture needles in my pocket I gave Anne acupressure, not acupuncture. The big toe is the spot for the nose.

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  2. Thanks for the compliments ;-)
    Anne, I'll send you the pictures on DVD with your documents, so you don't need to "steal" them from FB anymore...
    Andreas

    PS The Schnaps maker is Kurt. Marco & Michael are his sons...

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  3. I somehow miss the "Emma Vamp" picture...

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  4. I miss the Andreas and his pile of watermelon rinds picture...

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  5. Sounds like a good time!

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