Samberton Farms' Swiss Adventure

easter snow trip photoset 2 while the snow had melted long ago...

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 11:40:00 +0200

easter snow trip photoset 2

while the snow had melted long ago at our home level, we decided that we wanted to head to the snow for easter weekend. some of the upper swiss alp ranges were still covered and malachi loves the snow so. it was a beautiful train ride, up twisting mountain paths with ancient rock railway bridges and snowy cliffs to the side. arosa is a ski resort, famous for having good snow even when the rest of europe has already melted and it didn’t disappoint. it snowed most days we were there for at least part of the day, covering malachi’s thick fur in soft snowflakes on our short walks around the city. malachi is moving pretty slow these days, but he gets so excited about snow! tail wagging, munching on the bits in his path. crunching on snow with his face in the snowdrifts as we walk. and then he needs a nap, that’s a lot of adventure for a very old yellow dog and we leave him to sleep in the warm motel room while we head out to play. we went on walks around the beautiful frozen lake, explored the town, and went sledding! a ride up the ski lift and then down as fast as gravity can take us on little wooden sleds. sam says she always wants to live in a place with real winter. uh oh.

easter trip to the snow photoset 1

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:05:42 +0200

easter trip to the snow photoset 1

This was one of our favorite walks when we were in Rotkreuz, a...

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 09:26:35 +0200

This was one of our favorite walks when we were in Rotkreuz, a lovely little 1mi loop out a part of the Wanderweg & around a pond.

Kahlua! Or at least something like it. You can find Kahlua in...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:51:00 +0200

Kahlua!

Or at least something like it.

You can find Kahlua in Switzerland, but instead of costing around 15USD, it’s more like 33-35USD. And I just have a problem with that. But as it turns out, you can make a pretty decent approximation of it at home, with stuff you probably already have. And it’s dead easy, with little hands-on time.

I started with this recipe, but scaled it way down - this is an experiment, after all. The first batch I made was ok, but it didn’t taste much like Kahlua. It didn’t have the right consistency or flavor profile. It was thin, just like coffee, not the slightly syrupy viscosity of Kahlua, and it just tasted like sweet, slightly alcoholic coffee. Which, don’t get me wrong, is not a bad thing, and it still made a tasty White Russian (which Amber & I took to calling a ‘White Czechoslovakian’ as it wasn’t quite Russian… and doesn’t technically exist anymore… or something), but I didn’t feel like I’d nailed it yet. I could do better.

Upon further interweb research, I found that many people think that it develops in flavor if you let it age for two weeks or more after making it. Ok, I can dig that. I also took into consideration that a few people boil down the coffee & sugar a bit to thicken it up.

So here’s what happend: 150g brown sugar + 40g raw sugar (I didn’t want to open a new bag of brown sugar so I made up the difference with raw) went into about 600mL freshly brewed coffee, and I slowly brought that to a boil over pretty low heat, let it boil just for a few minutes then turned off the heat & let it cool. Once cool I mixed in 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla* and about 210mL vodka**, and poured the mix into two clean Eichhof Bügelbräu bottles (400mL capacity each).

And down into the cellar they went. To wait patiently…

2-week taste test results: it’s pretty delicious. Even the original batch, while still a bit thin & one dimensional, improved greatly after a few weeks of aging. But this second batch beats it. It’s deep & sweet & slightly syrupy & rich & altogether quite tasty. I’d have to taste it side by side to say for sure, but I think I might even like it better than the real Kahlua. It has an edge & a real, present coffee flavor that I think Kahlua seems to lack. Kahlua is all soft edges & approachability, and I think it lacks the muscle of a real, good cup of coffee. And I think this homemade version has that. I’m looking forward to using it in some delicious desert-in-a-glass White Russians.

Bottom line - it’s cheap, easy, fun, tasty, and gratifying. It’s just cooler to make your own stuff. Win.

*I would love to try making it with fresh vanilla beans

**Unfortunately you can’t get grain alcohol (such as everclear) here, but if I end up continuing to make this I may try to bring a bottle over from the states, as I think using a higher proof alcohol would make a better, more concentrated product

winter is ending the snow is melting in all but the highest...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:20:40 +0200

winter is ending

the snow is melting in all but the highest mountains

bulbs are pushing up shoots, blooms opening

trees are budding & greenery is returning

tiny baby sheep are showing up in the groups in the fields

i’m looking forward to the spring

from what it has already shown, it promises to be - like every season we’ve seen here so far - beautiful

but i will miss the winter

i have loved living in the snow

i loved the way it blanketed everything, the resulting stark, monochromatic landscape

the feathery snowflakes flurrying around as they fell, the fluffy powder as it piled up

i loved the cold

the way everything felt quieter, softer

there really is something magical about it…

…goodbye, winter, i will miss you…

…til next year

"In the feeble light between the drawn-in houses of a winter village, you can hear the breathing of..."

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 11:41:28 +0200

“In the feeble light between the drawn-in houses of a winter village, you can hear the...

st patty’s day goodness - a couple irish coffees &...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:01:00 +0200

hot air balloons over Pilatus

one for me

and one for amber

the spread

wee little cupcake

nom

st patty’s day goodness - a couple irish coffees & some mini car bomb cupcakes. and hot air balloons!

California in late Jan/early Feb and my first trip back to see...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:03:35 +0200

quality time with Trixy-loo

beach time w/ the sister

California sunsets - hard to beat

nerds

mmmmmmoustache

hey, this bottle is squishy!

wooly

yeehaw

let's ride

just another wild night

California in late Jan/early Feb

and my first trip back to see my family since we moved here.

France! Alps! Snow! some pics from our weekend there in a little...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:36:58 +0200

France! Alps! Snow!

some pics from our weekend there in a little village called Sixt-fer-à-Cheval at the end of January.

Snowshoeing & waterfalls, and knitting & games…

and Amber clearly likes rolling around in the snow.

as usual

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:02:00 +0200

we’ve got some catching up to do… surprised? probably not. at least this guy...

I am in love with this city and the occasional facebook post...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:17:00 +0100

I am in love with this city and the occasional facebook post isn’t cutting it. I need to write love letters, sonnets, about what it feels like to walk around when it is -10 degrees and sunny, about how softly the snow falls in the morning and the way the ice cracks on the frozen lake into a thousand beautiful reflections. And so, my first blog post. Each day this city takes my breath away. Sometimes literally because it is so cold but more often because there is beauty in each and every detail, in ways this California girl has never experienced before. I cannot believe how incredibly beautiful it is in every season here. The summer was green and warm, days spent riding our bikes to the lake and swimming in clear cool water. Fall a blaze of red and gold with walks through the leaves and thunderstorms. And now this white blanket that covers everything, blunting all the edges and welcoming a new kind of quiet. I am in love and I want everyone to know, to feel, to share.

Halloweenie! Halloween is my favorite holiday. Which this year...

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:30:05 +0100

emo, moustache, & clowny face

greeky, moustache, & clowny face

Halloweenie!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. Which this year is sort of too bad because Switzerland could really care less about it. No witches, no spiders, no goblins or ghouls, no skeletons, no mummies, no draculas, no coffins, no gravestones, no creepy things of any kind to be found. But, hey - you make do, right? So even though people here don’t dress up or even celebrate Halloween, we went for it. We went to the farmer’s market on Saturday & got the tiniest little pumpkins you’ve ever seen, then spent some time at the thrift store throwing together our costumes, and came home & watched The Nightmare Before Christmas & carved our teeny tiny pumpkins. For Halloween night we found an “expat Halloween night” at a local bar that often hosts “expat (something) nights”. But, disappointingly, if not unsurprisingly, we were the only ones who were actually dressed up (i.e., didn’t just put on some kitty ears or a red cape & call it good). So we spent the night drinking moderately-priced-by-Swiss-standards (read: expensive) drinks & sharing a table with a group of long-haired Swiss metal kids in black Motorhead & Opeth t-shirts.

Needless to say, we didn’t get any trick or treaters either.

Also in October, we spent a day in Bern, Switzerland’s...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:43:44 +0100

parliament building

the river

the child eater fountain

the zytglogge

in old town

mens clothing store, appropriately named

Also in October, we spent a day in Bern, Switzerland’s capitol city. What a BEAUTIFUL city. And the views were outstanding this time of year with all the fall foliage. Really really amazing.

I know, I know, I’ve got a few posts to catch up...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:05:00 +0100

coat of arms

the chateau

the village

on the train

I know, I know, I’ve got a few posts to catch up on…

Last month on my birthday we hopped on the train for a day in Gruyères. It’s a beautiful little medieval town up on a hill in the west of Switzerland, in the French region very near the French border. And yes, it’s where the cheese comes from, and yes, that’s why I wanted to go there. The town itself is tiny and there really isn’t much there except the castle and, somewhat oddly, the HR Giger Museum & bar, but it is stunningly beautiful. And the meringues with double cream were ridiculously decadent and delicious.

This is what we look at outside our windows to the southwest....

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 18:30:38 +0200

This is what we look at outside our windows to the southwest. (Once the inside of the apartment is less like a warehouse & more like a for-living-in house I’ll post some pictures of the inside too… it’s pretty sweet.)

frustration, sadness, comedy, joy - apartment hunting in a foreign land

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:05:00 +0200

I will never again complain about apartment hunting in California. (Sure, it took us 6 months to buy...

A little off the back in getting this posted, but two weekends...

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:45:00 +0200

the dragon rises out of the mist

on a boat

up up up

happy cows

on a clear day this is an epic view

the lineup

this is seriously switzerland, folks

nom nom

hike-in chapel

A little off the back in getting this posted, but two weekends ago we took a little trip up to the top of Pilatus, the jagged edges of which jut up above Luzern to the south, and which is our new view out of our new apartment’s kitchen window.

It was a rainy, foggy day - not totally ideal for this kind of outing, but still beautiful. Even though the views were sort of nonexistent, all the fog lent a sort of otherworldly, dreamlike feel to the whole trip, which I quite enjoyed.

First a boat took us across Lake Lucerne to Alpnachstad, then from there up up up the steepest cog railway in the world all the way to the top, 2,128m. Then down a few gondolas back to the bottom & a short bus ride back into Luzern.

One of the best parts was finally getting to see & hear some alphorns & an awesome Swiss horn & accordion band.

com•mu•ni•ca•tion (n)

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:02:00 +0200

I feel that the conversations (I’m using that word very loosely) that I have with people here...

Beautiful day out there. View off the balcony the other day.

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 17:49:00 +0200

Beautiful day out there. View off the balcony the other day.

These little poop bag stations are all over, even on a trail in...

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:52:11 +0200

These little poop bag stations are all over, even on a trail in the middle of nowhere, it’s awesome. Thanks Switzerland!