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!