Monday, November 19, 2007
the two weekends that passed
| two weeks have passed since my last entry, my lazy bones are just getting the best of me, because of the early snowfall here (record in 55 yrs!) - but it snowed around 3x here down in vevey, while i'm assuming almost everyday in places in a bit higher altitude in the last two weeks. besides, it's just so nice to stay in bed and keep warm - after all the chores are done. so, where were we in the weekends of the freezing weather? well, of course we have to keep safe, keep warm and stay... in our jackets! :p apparently, the cold weather got us in the mood to go out to explore and play. :) last, last weekend, we spent the day in the old town of fribourg. we just went around town, to see their old Cathedral de Saint Nicholas, the drive entering the old town was just amazing, the whole town looked like a painting, the gloomy skies set the mood, too! here's a shot from the bridge, the kids are in the car since it was just too cold! more photos here. After the strolling, we went to where we really planned to be, an overnight MER. :)   Labels: at home, holidays, swiss life |
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
and the countdown begins...
as of today,it's now only ... 47 days til christmas! but my countdown below will be counting down realtime. hehehe  Get Myspace Christmas Countdown |
Saturday, November 3, 2007
chestnuts roasting...
 ... in the oven. and it tastes as good as the ones from the street vendors and stalls in the malls. yummy! but there's just one thing missing - that hypnotizing and tantalyzing aroma that, everytime - as in everytime it reaches my nostrils will automatically take me to the stall to buy 300 grams worth of it, so share with the family, of course! it's not cheap, mind you... so, when someone sent me an email on how to cook it at home, the same day i went to the groceries and bought 400 grams of it. it is just sooo easy - so i'm sharing the method of cooking with you guys, as well... here goes: "Preheat your oven to 210 C. Make a cut across the round side of each to keep them from exploding, and arrange them either on a rack or on a cookie sheet. Roast them until the skins have pulled back from the cuts and the nutmeats have softened (exactly how long will depend upon the chestnuts, but at least 15-20 minutes). Remove the nuts from the oven, make a mound of them in an old towel, wrap them up, squeeze them hard -- they should crackle -- and let them sit for a few minutes." enjoy it while it's hot (but not too hot, of course!) - only a little over 7 weeks to go 'til christmas!  Labels: holidays, in the kitchen, swiss life |
Friday, November 2, 2007
costume night
 since DH is not at all into the halloween hype, precisely because of the origin of the celebration, i decided to just dress up the boys in costumes just so when the trick-or-treaters knock and ask for goodies Franco won't feel out of place - especially since he will be the one to hand over the candies. well, i did actually manage to convince DH to go to chillon castle where there was a programme called "la nuit de la crypte" where children are invited to be in their costumes and tour the old castle, and there were story telling, magic shows, etc....a little bit creepy because of the venue, but that's actually the whole point of it! but apparently, we were really not meant to go there, since DH has a meeting at 5:30 for an hour and he got home at 7pm which was already too late. so, here's the pirate and mickey mouse on halloween... but i think next time, i'll dress them up as angels instead. of course, the PA should be in the picture, as well!  Labels: scrapping, swiss life, the boys |
Thursday, November 1, 2007
birthday cake number three
 , i was requested to do two more birthday cakes, the second one i made was another chocolate cake but was a round one, i wasn't able to take a picture, i forgot about that! and the latest is this one, a vanilla and chocolate layered cake. i managed to take photos of the cake sans the decors yet, while it was sitting on the fridge. i made the cake from flour to icing, but i can't take credit for the decor because i was not really confident on doing that yet. the finishing touches were done by calvin's big sis and her friends... so here's my latest masterpiece, for calvin's 2nd birthday!  ... despite the challenge of having almost zero sense of taste due to bad colds, i was able to pull it off! hubby had to be my taste tester (which wasn't very reassuring, actually! :p) here's the finished product:  and the verdict? - parang propeyshunal (daw)!!! yahoo! :p - of course that was hubby's opinion, but that's the most honest (or biased ba?) one i can get! hehehehe  Labels: friends, in the kitchen, swiss life |
