The Upholstering Job

We have got two settees, which each of us brought into the marriage. The one from me was designed by the late Hannes Wettstein and it is one of my most esteemed possessions. I remember bringing a sample of the hardwood floor along to the shop to get the perfectly matching covers. Well, after about 12 years, said covers became a bit threadbare and something had to be done.

The first attempt was to go to the shop where I bought it. Apparently, the couch is no longer being produced but the fabric for the cover is still available. The shop was happy to provide an offer within a few weeks: 16'000$

That was slightly hard to swallow, not only considering that this was more than twice of what the couch cost in the first place...

Luckily there are alternatives like the upholstering shop in the village I was born and bred. They did it for a tenth of that price and even suggested a bolder fabric which now also matches with the painting above.

We are very happy with the new look.

Location:The Upholstering Job

Cucumber Salad

It is close to bed time and this is usually the time I am brushing my teeth, floss and so on... and the time I am reflecting on the day that just passed. Well, looking back on today I have to admit that I have not achieved much for my caring employer. Never mind. Though the thing I can truly be proud of is that cucumber salad I came up with as side for the slice of tuna Toño made for dinner.


I was torn between crème fraîche and yoghurt as base for the dressing and luckily sided for the latter. It was refreshing and went perfectly well with the tuna as well.

I mixed a plain yoghurt with some apple vinegar and seasoned with sea salt and black and red pepper. Before adding the dressing to the pitted, quartered and finely sliced cucumber, I sprinkled them with chopped dill.

Dinner was served with a Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner Veltliner Tradition 2010.

Eiertütsch

Eiertütsch is a good old Swiss Easter tradition. A kind of an affair of honour. It's about breaking each other's eggs. The challenged can choose the type of weapon - that is, if he prefers to go for little egg's endian versus little egg's endian of big versus big. The loser usually has the right to regain his honour by asking for a return match with the other endians. We are very passionate about this. Well as passionate as Swiss can get.

"Let's go to Bethlehem"

Yes, this year, Toño got us a shepherd for our Nativity scene. It's the one carrying the lamb:



Read more about the Nativity scene tradition at our residence.

Cookie Bitching 2011

Yes, I've baked the exact same cookies as I always do. Plenty of them :)

Wir sind dann mal weg...

I'm about to leave the office... finally holidays :) We'll be in Berlin, where we plan to meet Martin on Monday for a Potsdam tour.

Sonntag

Marting does it all the time, so for once I may do so as well... this was this Sunday's lunch:



Later, when the champagne has worn off, one might find us at the lido Mythenquai, before we'll had to see Race Horse Company's Petit Mal at the Theater Spektakel:

Das Auto

Toño just bought a car. It's a Polo Comfortline 1.4 L, 4 cylinder petrol, 85 PS, 7-speed DSG

Raw Passion!

I would never have thought that a book I bought based on a review in The Economist would be a page turner bursting with passion, like it happened with It’s All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels by Robert Penn.



And as nice side effect, I learned a lot about my favourite ride, like how it was invented and the side effects of this process on economy and society. Robert Penn is a great storyteller. Lance Armstrong was so wrong with the title of his book.

Summer mood has arrived...

... because I got the matching t-shirt for my summer book :)

5 on the Fifth - Blur

This month's 5 on the fifth theme is Blur. Here some blurry stuff I encountered here in México:

A fish in a shopping centre.


An artist's paint mixing board.


A frock, my niece did not want to wear (I can't blame her).


Death can cause a blur of tears.


Anything but blurry: Pacifico Clara.

Sobre El Jorullo

Close to La Huacana is México's second youngest volcano of named El Jorullo. Although only a half an hour drive away, Toño and his sister have never been there.

El Jorullo was born on September 29, 1759, and had been active for 15 years. It a cinder cone volcano, which lies in a remote yet beautiful landscape. The drive goes through groves of elegant palmas real, the local variant of sabal mexicana. The farmers only harvest the top to leaves to make hats and brooms.

The head of the local environment protection agency was so kind to give us a tour. It is a half an hour hike to the crater, but the view up there is worth every step.



Our guide refused to take any money for his services, he just asked us, to promote a trip to the volcano. Hence, by writing this, I'm paying of our debt.

Location:18°58′19″N 101°43′05″W

The place where I cut both my feet and still have to be grateful for

Under this romantic chute Toño learned to swim (Toño is the one embarking on a dive):




Sadly, littering is an issue all over the globe and so it happened that I cut both my feet with broken beer bottles in this water right below the same chute today.

However, if Toño had not been pushed into the water here by an uncle, who happens to be the closest in that picture, and thus learned to swim we might never had met at the the pool in Zürich.

Location:La Huacana, Mexico

Dealing with Cutlery or the Lack Thereof

I am not talking about the basic differences of dealing with cutlery by Americans and Europeans. Others wrote about that conclusively (read about). I am talking about my intercultural competence being constantly challenged by the lack of basic cutlery here in México. At home in cosily boring Switzerland my cutlery concerns are being restricted to occasionally having to eat with a knife, of which the handle is not hollow (and thus not well balanced). Here in México I'm hardly given the opportunity of a knife at all. If so, I'm not even expecting a sharpened one anymore. What one can expect is a spoon or a fork at best. If you address this subject with Mexicans they point out that the tortilla acts as spoon in their culture. Fair enough, but I still find it rather challenging to eat bone-rich meat with just a fragile plastic spoon and a floppy tortilla.

Location:Morelos Sur,La Huacana,Mexico

Piñata

Our children's birthdays in Switzerland are lacking some serious entertainment. Unlike in México, we do them without a piñata getting some serious beating.




The piñata is filled with candies, fruits and nuts. It's an entertaining way to make children work for their incentives.

Location:La Huacana,Mexico

Vida Rural

We had to get up early to see Toño's uncle Arturo milk his cows and to have a look at his maguey plantation.




It looks a bit like Japanese Kinbaku, but it keeps the cow calm and allows milking without a big installation on the field.




Sadly the prices for agave are rock bottom, and there is no point in harvesting them (to make tequila). In one or two years, the plants will blossom. This will be the grace period for the prices to recover, or a big investment will go down the drain.

It was hot out there in the country side, I continuously showered in my own sweat.

Location:Morelos Sur,La Huacana,Mexico

Agua Caliente

It is hot in La Huacana (above 40°C/100°F). However, there are three places to get water on your body:
* the river (more like a creek at this time of year)
* Las Albercas with tiny pools in the town
* Acua Caliente, the thermal springs outside the town

We went for the latter, because it's best option if you want to swim instead of just splashing around.




It's Mexican pesos, not gringo dollars.


Location: 18°51'7" N, 101°47'42" W

Pollo al Cuñete

We've reached La Huacana, where we can enjoy the fine cooking by Toño's sister Chilo. The first lunch she served us today was Pollo al Cuñete with pineapple, almonds and dried plums.




Start with a chopped pineapple, dried plums, a bit of water and a bit of white balsamic vinegar. Blend the mixture and pass through a sieve. Fry the chopped chicken in olive oil complemented with a bit of butter. Season every piece with salt and pepper while frying and add some pressed garlic after turning them over. Put the chicken pieces with the sauce in a casserole, add some plums, peeled almonds, a couple of chilli jalapeño, some sugar, peppercorns, marjoram and bay leafs. Put the casserole with a lid on into the oven for 1 hours and 20 minutes at 200C/390F. Remove the lid after 50 minutes.

Yes, I did ask for a second servings.

PS: If you have no peeled almonds, put the unpeeled ones in boiling water. The skin should go off in no time.

Location:Morelos Norte,La Huacana,Mexico

Absent with Leave

We are embarking to Mexico for almost 3 weeks for visiting Toño's family. We in this case is with my sister Marlene and my niece Susanne. 3 family intense weeks this will be... ¡Hasta luego en México!

Buff Urs

I don't know if the strength workouts finally stared to show some effects, but this Monday while drying off my back at the gym, I tore apart my towel...



It was my favourite towel, because, as old towel do, it absorbed pretty well. I got it in 1983 for my confirmation. So it might had been a tiny bit threadbare...