French Chocolate Mousse!

In our District of eight missionaries (not counting us), there are three Frenchmen, who all love to cook. They all get together for a "District Lunch" each Tuesday before District Meeting. We come after their lunch for the regular meeting, since we are pretty busy with preparations for Institute later that night. Usually we go do our shopping while they are all in the kitchen. This last Tuesday, as we came in after the lunch, Elder Requillart said, "I made some chocolate mousse for dessert. Would you like some?" What a great question! Chocolate Mousse made by a Frenchman? I don't need to be asked twice. It was, of course, delicious. I pestered Elder Requillart for the recipe, and yesterday, he finally brought it to me. Here it is. (If you can't make it out, let me know and I will help you decipher the handwriting. It IS written in English. But see the following post for more clarity.)

And the directions....

Elder Requillart's companion loves to draw, so he provided this pictorial accompaniment on the back of the recipe his companion wrote up. Elder Zepp is German, and I loved that he wrote "Kiss the Cook" on the apron!

Swiss Army Chocolate

A young man who has been visiting Institute the last few weeks is currently serving full-time in the Swiss Army. It is all he can do to get here on time from work, and he comes in his fatigues, since he doesn't even have time to change. Last week he came with a full case (48 bars) of Swiss Army-issue chocolate bars. I don't know how he got them, and I'm not going to ask! But I've never seen what they look like, and I bet you haven't either. They are 50-gram bars of milk chocolate with corn flakes in them for "crispies."And it goes without saying that they are very good! And they disappeared rapidly.

Frosty Trees

We've had some really cold and foggy nights. When that happens, the fog freezes on the trees. The trees on the right are usually a dark green. Shortly after I took this picture, the sun melted all the frost, and it fell like rain on the ground.

The Old Steam Tram

A few times a year, they take the Steam Tram out of the Tram Museum, which is next to our apartment. This time it was to give rides with St. Nicolas for the children of Bern. We can hear it in our apartment, even with the windows closed. Nothing else makes the sound it does. So I ran out on our balcony in my slippers and got a picture of it "warming up." When it takes off, brown/black smoke comes out of the front chimney besides the steam out of the steam pipe. It makes quite a sight chugging down the street! Unfortunately, I couldn't get my shoes on fast enough to get you a picture of that.

A "Drive-Up" Pharmacy in Old Town Bern???

As we went in to the big Migros grocery store, on Marktgasse in the middle of the old city, I saw what passes for a "Drive-Up" pharmacy there, and had to take pictures! It is just a big round window in the middle of the large passageway between the street and the grocery store, with a hole in the middle to talk through and pass things through. This is the "Dr. Noyer Apothek," and there is a sign over the window, pointing it out, and a red button to push for service. See if you can figure it out from the pictures below.

 

This is the window from the front. The street is to the left, the store is to the right.

 

This is the view toward the street, about 30' away. See the sign hanging from the ceiling?

And this is the view into the grocery store. There is even a convenient bench for waiting!

 

My Thanksgiving Contribution

We were invited to the Roemer's for Thanksgiving. This is the fourth year in a row we have been there. My assignment was pretty easy this time--just two apple pies. Here they are before going in the oven. They were so pretty, I just had to take a picture.

When the Sun Shines

The sun is so low in the sky that even when it is out, which isn't often, it only shines on our balcony a few hours a day. Neighboring buildings block it the rest of the time. But when the sun manages to peek through the buildings and shine on the maple tree out back, we know it is there, and it is really pretty!

Our Trusty Steed

We've been asked to blog more on this mission, so here you go. We had a little over five months at home after our second mission to Switzerland. We had a great time visiting all of our children at least twice, plus other trips here and there. All together, we traveled 15,000 miles and slept in 20 different beds. This was the wonderful car that took us everywhere we wanted and needed to go, in comfort and in good time.

The Last Good-bye

This is our last view of Robert, Danielle, Jarrett and Liesl who came to the airport to see us off. We were all trying to be very brave. A few minutes later, we were swallowed up by the security checkpoint, which was an adventure, as always. After that, we were in the capable hands of Swiss International Airlines, and landed in Zurich 11 hours later. And we were officially off on our third mission to Bern, Switzerland.

The View out of our Window

Our first week in Switzerland, we stayed at the Temple Hostel. Our room was very small, and the bathroom was tiny, but we were on the third floor and our view was truly out of this world! The Hostel can sleep 152, in rooms that sleep from 2 to 6. There is a common kitchen in the basement, and an eating room with baskets lining two of the walls to keep food in, and refrigerator cases lining the other wall for people to use. Being there a whole week, we saw the traditions that the families visiting from Italy and France had developed. Many had tablecloths to put on the table while they ate. One night, a couple made a huge pot of soup and insisted that everyone have some. It was a wonderful, peaceful place to stay.

Elder and Sister Vogt

This is the couple from Heidelberg, Germany who served a six-month mission at the Bern Center while we were home visiting and having fun. Sister Vogt loves to make desserts, and they both really like to sing. We visited them in the apartment to catch up on what had happened in the last six months. At the end of our visit, they sang a "good-bye" song in German. Even though I didn't understand all the words, I teared up as they sang. They worked so hard, and I know it was hard for them to leave. After the singing, I caught this picture of them with the iPhone when they didn't know it. It's hard to believe that Elder Vogt turned 76 the day they left Bern.

Good-bye, Elder and Sister Vogt

On Saturday, November 16, promptly at 10 AM as promised (remember, they are German) the Vogts were packed and ready to leave. This meant we could move into the apartment, which was also cleaned to German standards--not a speck of dirt to be found anywhere. We could certainly take lessons from them on how to move out!

Dessert Buffet

This was the "spread" Sister Vogt put out for the "dessert" after Institute classes. This would be a hard act to follow, for sure. She had a Schwarzwald Torte, a Hazelnut Torte, Tiramisu, cookies (all homemade), brownies, a mousse-like chocolate pudding, sausages baked in a pastry dough, and chips and pretzels. I'm tired after just typing it all! I'm sure glad the students don't come just for the food. But they were spoiled, for sure, while she was here.

First Snow

It was nice of the weather to wait until we were settled in to have the first snowfall. You can see the leaves are still on the maple tree. The snow didn't stay too long, but without any sunshine, it is still pretty cold during the day. Add a little breeze, and it is downright nippy!

The List

In case you are wondering what we have been doing our first week, here is a picture of the list we have been working on. Almost everything is checked off, and now I can check off one more thing!