A college friend is visiting during her time off between business school and work, sort of the equivalent to my big Australia- California- Delaware- New York- Bonaire trip after taking the Bar Exam. She's traveling around Switzerland for a while before meeting her boyfriend for some touring around Ethiopia. It's difficult to imagine two countries with greater contrast: Switzerland, twice the size of New Jersey, median age of 40, population under 8 million, of which maybe 9 aren't rich and white. Ethiopia, twice the size of Texas, median age of 18, population over 70 million, definitely more than 9 non-white people who aren't rich. Both are landlocked, which means that there isn't much good scuba diving in either country. Not really a relevant fact for most people, but very important to know, in my book.
The stereotype for Ethiopia is a desert wasteland full of starving people that was always on the news some years ago, which, when we would go for Ethiopian food in college or law school, would invariably prompt comments to the effect of "Wait, they have food in Ethiopia?" The CIA describes Ethiopia's climate as "tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation," which basically means that they gets lots of rain and they have everything from deserts to plains to meadowlands to jungles. Learn something new every day.
My friend is going to Ethiopia partly because of its long and rich cultural history, and also for the food. She freely admits that she picks travel destination based on the food, and has ended up in Malaysia and Italy for the same reasons. While she's in Switzerland, she is also trying to get the full Swiss food experience, and is taking day trips to regions that are especially famous for their local cheese and sausages. (I say "especially" because all of Switzerland is known for cheese and sausage, so she's going for the highlights).
Here in Zurich, we've gone for dinner at two Swiss restaurants: one for sausage and rösti, and one for fondue and raclette. I'd never had raclette until now, having always opted for fondue. A few of my fellow expat friends also opted for raclette, since we've been here so long that it was getting to be a bit absurd that we hadn't had raclette yet. Although raclette is often served as a do-it-yourself project at the table, this restaurant served it already made. Since raclette is basically cheese that has been melted on a grill and eaten with potates and pickles, this meant that the waitress brought us individual plates with puddles of melted cheese on them, which somehow didn't really look like dinner. I decided that I prefer fondue, partly because I like fondue cheese better, and partly because melted cheese in a pot makes more sense to me than melted cheese on a plate.
We wanted to order dessert, and were all set to order the chocolate mousse, which is a specialty at this particular restaurant, when the waitress informed us that they don't serve chocolate mousse in the summertime. So, basically, they will bring you vats of boiling cheese (fondue), grilled cheese sandwiches without bread (raclette), sizzling pork sausages, and greasy potato pancakes (rösti), even though it's summertime, but cold chocolate mousse is considered wintertime fare.
A friend from my law firm in New York is getting here on Thursday, which Switzerland has off for the Ascension, and we may go to Zermatt to take pictures of the Matterhorn. Unless we get lazy. The weekend after that, we have a long weekend for Whit Monday, so I'm heading to Istanbul (was Constantinople). Gotta love the random Swiss holidays -- why celebrate things like presidents or veterans when you can celebrate, er, Whit? Some random religious thing I don't observe, but hey, it means I get to go to Turkey!
The stereotype for Ethiopia is a desert wasteland full of starving people that was always on the news some years ago, which, when we would go for Ethiopian food in college or law school, would invariably prompt comments to the effect of "Wait, they have food in Ethiopia?" The CIA describes Ethiopia's climate as "tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation," which basically means that they gets lots of rain and they have everything from deserts to plains to meadowlands to jungles. Learn something new every day.
My friend is going to Ethiopia partly because of its long and rich cultural history, and also for the food. She freely admits that she picks travel destination based on the food, and has ended up in Malaysia and Italy for the same reasons. While she's in Switzerland, she is also trying to get the full Swiss food experience, and is taking day trips to regions that are especially famous for their local cheese and sausages. (I say "especially" because all of Switzerland is known for cheese and sausage, so she's going for the highlights).
Here in Zurich, we've gone for dinner at two Swiss restaurants: one for sausage and rösti, and one for fondue and raclette. I'd never had raclette until now, having always opted for fondue. A few of my fellow expat friends also opted for raclette, since we've been here so long that it was getting to be a bit absurd that we hadn't had raclette yet. Although raclette is often served as a do-it-yourself project at the table, this restaurant served it already made. Since raclette is basically cheese that has been melted on a grill and eaten with potates and pickles, this meant that the waitress brought us individual plates with puddles of melted cheese on them, which somehow didn't really look like dinner. I decided that I prefer fondue, partly because I like fondue cheese better, and partly because melted cheese in a pot makes more sense to me than melted cheese on a plate.
We wanted to order dessert, and were all set to order the chocolate mousse, which is a specialty at this particular restaurant, when the waitress informed us that they don't serve chocolate mousse in the summertime. So, basically, they will bring you vats of boiling cheese (fondue), grilled cheese sandwiches without bread (raclette), sizzling pork sausages, and greasy potato pancakes (rösti), even though it's summertime, but cold chocolate mousse is considered wintertime fare.
A friend from my law firm in New York is getting here on Thursday, which Switzerland has off for the Ascension, and we may go to Zermatt to take pictures of the Matterhorn. Unless we get lazy. The weekend after that, we have a long weekend for Whit Monday, so I'm heading to Istanbul (was Constantinople). Gotta love the random Swiss holidays -- why celebrate things like presidents or veterans when you can celebrate, er, Whit? Some random religious thing I don't observe, but hey, it means I get to go to Turkey!
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