Interview with Jack - Age 3

Disclaimer : You may only really understand this if you have actually lived with a 3 year old boy. If you are having trouble deciphering the words - call Rory - she is great at interpreting for us!

On location at Starbucks, around 7:30am, before he got loaded on a blueberry muffin and carrot juice.

Name: Jack Wise

Age: Thwee (holding up 4 fingers)

School?
Maaawwwm! I'n goin to pwecool in Thepthemmer. (not exactly sitting still)

Fav. Food
Daddy is the bess Chef in the hoe worl. I eat everything Daddy cook. When I'm big, I will cook like Daddy. (are we grasping the theme here?)

Fav. passtime
I like going to 'feelgruppe' (spielgruppe - play group) an I like goin with Daddy to the Badi (area of lake where kids can swim). An Maawm, I love my scooter too.

Who do you love?
Rwowe, Daddy, Mona, Granny, Unlce Thane, Sylvia, Keewa, Waemonn, Tom, Twaywee, Sami, Gabi and the kids, grandpa Terry, But Granny Lu and Grandad are dead in the gwound but I thill wuv them. Oh, an I wuv ice cream an gummi bears.

Who would you most like to meet and why?
Jesus. ? Cause he is everywhere, in France, in Thwiterland, in Ithaly, an Granny said he is in Irewand too. (See former blog to explain his obsession with Jesus)


Why so many scratches over your right eye?
Well, first I fell when Daddy took me ice scaking, essept we neva skated, just had the skates on an I fell on the gwound. Then I had to get the 6 stitches. Then, in Ithlay I fall outta bed and have a black eye, and then at home when I jumped fwom the black couch to the red couch I fell on the gwound and gotta a scwatch on my same eye. Next time I move my head to the other eye.

Anything you would like your fans to know?
Yeth. I can speak my wods muth better now. I can talk dust like Wroree now :-)

Viva Italia (Final)

Well, although I said I was spreading out the blog on Italy to 3 parts - I decided that the Italians themselves deserved a bit of due diligence.
As we have been living in Switzerland for almost a year now and the best word I can come up with describe the people here is 'sterile'. It is the cleanest, safest place we have ever been and most likely ever will be. The people just do not have a social bone in their body. There is no passion in the food and no laughter in their souls.

When we took this little jaunt to Italy, Ron and I were feeling like a change was imminent. We have not made any friends since we moved here (not from the want of trying) and we felt like perhaps we had lost our touch. We started to question the friendships we had back in the US and wondered if that was ever 'real'. I still hear the echoing laughter of Mary Sue sitting at the bar in Rondo's................I know it was real. I think for a short time, Ron and I have forgotten who we were and how we like to be with people. It was this lovely trip to Italy that jolted us back to reality and made us realise that perhaps we are just in the wrong town.

The first few days in Piemonte, I noticed that the Italian men were behaving a little strange towards the children. Keep in mind, Jack is still having his way with both male and female. All he has to do is climb up on someones lap and they are putty in his hands. But, what I noticed was that these men, wanted to interact with the kids. Play with them, give them toys, tease them feed them, hug them, love them. At first I freaked out (in my own head - not out loud) thinking 'get your hands of my kids slime ball' but it was the most genuine affection I have ever witnessed. This happened everywhere we went. As soon as you went to a grocery store, they would hold the kids hands, giving them sweets or fruit or bread or just attention. They never made preference over one or the other - just loved them. The cooks in the restaurants came to our tables to feed them their dinners and play with them afterwards so we had some moments of peace to enjoy our food. This still amazes me. As we were leaving Italy we stopped at a gas station and the 'full service' guy that ran this place raced into his store and got them some candy - he (for a man this is amazing) must have noticed my look of 'shit, more sugar to make the ride home more fun' and came back a few minutes later with 'sugarless suckers' for them.
As we bundled the kids into the car and headed back home we heard a tearful little Jack state those words that have now changed our world ' Mom, Thwitherland doth not make me berry happy'.....................I cried for most of the 4 hour ride home.

Stay tuned, the winds of change are here,

Signing off for today,

WiseMona

Summer Reading - Imagine I have the time to read!

Let's start with this one. My dear friend Carmen gave me this book last year before we took flight to Switzerland and as she handed it over (after she had first read it) she gave me a look that said, this is you! Read this one Mona, you need to read it. Oh Carmen - How I wish I had read that book a year ago. It truly was a great story. I got sucked in from the start and did not want to put it down until finished. I was highly suspicious about the 'pray' chapters as I am just not all that religious, but this was done well and gave me the spiritual pick me up I needed. (trust Carmen to know this was what I needed).
I do not think that she wrote very well when it comes to the food. She seems like she is a foodie when you read the book, but she did not describe the food as I would have. Elizabeth Gilbert has a very nice style of writing. Just very 'here is exactly what is on my mind today and what happens etc' - not a heavy read. perfect for a summer holiday tote bag and of course the nice glass of wine close by. I can mail my copy to you if you want to read it.
Yes - I read this book. OK. so a little heavier than the first one, this too was a gift from my Canadian food friend Christine Elizabeth Smart. She gave me this 2 years ago when I went to visit her in paradise - otherwise known as Victoria, BC. I promised her I would read it and even though it took me a little bit longer than expected, I am glad I swam through it. It is a story about the Great American Food Revolution. I loved David Kamps sense of humor and believe it or not, this book made me 'hungry' so that can only mean his food writing skills are pretty good. He had some really interesting footnotes too for those that need 'learning, or facts' in a good read. All in all, I enjoyed it, but I cannot say I would have called it a page turner and I am pretty sure there was more napping and wine drinking to distract me with this one.
C'est la vie............
And, of course we must finish with the heaviest read. Edward Behr is a favorite of both Ron and mines and were were only too happy to pack this in our holiday bags. Ron is finishing up the book as we speak and I have read most of it. It is a revised edition of his 1992 book and addresses the raw materials of good food, salt and pepper to salmon, ham, mustard, beef, apples, vanilla, cream, coffee. It is a heavy read and although Ron has sailed through it swimmingly I will happily tell you I had to dig out my food thesaurus several times as it gets quite wordy. However, it is written so well and filled with such interesting facts - I would almost call it a page turner.
Happy reading food lovers,

Signing off for today,

WiseMona

Viva Italia (Part 3) Food, Wine, Love

This is where it gets a little saucy. I do not need to tell you what a fantastic Chef Ron is, because most of you out there know that and I am sure miss tasting his daily creations. I, on the other hand thank my lucky stars on a daily basis that the talent this man has is bestowed on me with pleasure. This was not our first and certainly not our last time in Italy together and to remind you all (and possibly nauseate you a little) even with unruly wayward children in tow with us, Italy is truly still the place for lovers.

It felt like the moment we crossed the Swiss border heading into the beautiful lake Como district that we were drawn closer to each other with the warmth and hospitality showered upon us.

Ron, who truly has always loved his own version of Italian style of cooking almost tripped over himself the first afternoon as we stumbled upon this very cool winery http://www.vicara.it/ . We spent our first lazy afternoon drinking wine with the wine maker of this place and the kids entertained themselves on the property climbing trees (falling out of trees) and drinking the 'oh so fine' grape juice they received. As luck would have it, the winemaker had just finished doing a competition tasting with the officials from Gamberro Rosso 2008 Wine Guide so we go to sip and savor just about everything they had on offer. He was also good friends with Pio Cesare and suggested we stop by there for a few drops of vino during our stay in Piemonte. (OK, twist my arm). We loaded up a few cases of this very well priced wine and headed back to the villa.

Again I have to thank my good friend Tom Tom navigation system for sticking with us throughout this trip. Those little villages in Italy are worth driving through (stay away from the excellent toll roads if time allows) because the towns need the revenue.

When we got back to the villa, we strolled to the local butchers to get some meat to grill and trust me folks, if you have never ventured into an Italian butcher shop to buy some meat then put this on your list of things to do before you die. First of all - it is quite possibly the cleanest place you will ever step foot into (they are all this way, we became a little obsessed with butcher shops whilst on holidays) - and keep in mind we live in Sterile Swiss Land. So, inside the counter, was this robust butcher, red and white pin stripe apron waiting to take care of us. First, he greeted us warmly, then came out from behind his counter to feed the children some meat snack - no idea what he gave them, but of course they ate it and loved it.

In this immaculate display case we discovered so much more than meat and 'went to town' . The children begged and begged and begged Ron to buy the whole rabbit they saw there (eyeballs and all). Jack was really disappointed that we did not get this to grill out and asked several times throughout the duration of the trip if we could 'get a bunny for dinner?'. The only reason we did not get it, was because it was HUGE and we would have been eating rabbit for a week.

The butcher sold us a small carefully wrapped (in cheesecloth) package of little home made agnellotti's (teeny tiny little ravioli) made by his daughter. They took all of a few milliseconds to cook and if you think you do not like ravioli (like me) then this too should be added to 'things to eat before I die' list. They barely existed in your mouth for a second before disintegrating on your tongue. Always filled with something differently delicious (so you would not get bored) and Rory has decided that she will never eat another ravioli as long as she is alive unless it is the little agnellotti's from Treville. (love that girl).

I could write a book on all the wineries we dropped in on whilst in Piemonte. We were less than one hour from that adorable little town - you may have heard of - Barolo?? Yes, we spent a long time there wondering just why on earth you could possibly ever want to take the road anywhere else. But, one other winery pops into my mind as I sit here and type and and that was http://www.danilospinoglio.it/ - the reason I bring this one up is because it was an experience (non verbal) most memorable. The wine maker (again, we were just lucky on the timing) showed us a shady spot under the trees to park the car with precious sleeping children and then he brought us all the wine we could drink. He spoke not a word of English, and we no Italian. He was interrupted a few times to assist his neighbors as they came to fill up their 'cucina vino brocche' kitchen wine jugs ?? We learned a lot that afternoon. In a country like Italy, there is really no language barrier with foreigners like us. If you speak the language of love, food and wine, you can in a very easy way communicate with the locals. I cannot explain how - it just is.

Que Bella.....................

Signing off for today,

WiseMona

Viva Italia (Part 2) Kids

Mom, can we see Jesus? This question has been asked so many times since our first trip to Strasbourg, France, several months ago. As we are such heathens and the kids have had limited exposure to the church, they are both a little obsessed with Jesus right now. So, when in Rome (ha ha) we just had to check out a few churches. Imagine our surprise when we found a black Jesus in the small catholic church in Casale, Monferratto. They were both so impressed and slightly terrified at the same time. This photo below has been labeled 'Mom still feeling guilty'. See, what happened the night before was apparently Jack fell out of bed. I say this 'ho hummingly' because this is not an unusual occurrence for our son. He is not the most graceful of children carrying around those huge boats we call his feet. So, he falls out of bed, whimpers, I run in, pick him up, put him right back to bed and he goes right back to sleep. End of story, UNTIL the following morning when we noticed a small (?) bump on his eye.............................so, as Daddy had a golf game scheduled that morning, I did the best I could do in easing the pain. I took him for breakfast to the local gelateria. The pain melted away. What a trooper!

Beach Babies, Beach Babies, sing me a song..............................as we were only an hour from the beach, we decided to drive to the Italian Riviera for a few days of splash filled fun. This was Jacks first time in the ocean and he just loved it. The surf kicked up quite a bit and he got swallowed up several times by huge waves but surprise, surprise - he just kept going back for more! To be truthful, Ron and I have never been beach bums. We took the kids there because we knew they would like it. I have to tell you for those of you dreaming of how nice this would be to go on vacation - in my humble opinion, it was not all that. It was what we gently called 'seaside hell' - a bunch of gorgeous little towns along the coast, very close to Nice/Monte Carlo and just destroyed with touristy stores and touristy hotels (with atrocious service). The rich tourists with fancy cars paraded all over the place may like that scene, but we were only to happy to drive back over the mountain to the wine country where the people were real and the food was sumptuous.

All in all, we find ourselves do things that the kids will enjoy but have decided to stick to what we truly love and the reality is that the kids will enjoy it too. They have already had so many unbelievable experiences at this stage of their young lives so we are done feeling like we need to expose them to the world. The have the travel bug!

Signing off for today,

WiseMona

Viva Italia (Part 1) Traveling in Europe with Kids

Hello Fellow Food Lovers,

I have been struggling with the way I wanted to report on our trip to Italy and after the first few attempts I have decided to break it up into 3 parts. This is the first one, and Part 2 & 3 will follow shortly.

July 11th, 2008 we loaded up a couple of suitcases and headed south. We had decided late on Thursday evening to 'take a break' from it all and of course the Chef was just itching to get to drinking some if Italy's finest wines. We were fortunate enough to find accommodation for a week in the lovely Piemonte region, very close to the Italian Riviera in a tiny town called Treville. We stayed at this lovely place called Villa Mimma http://www.villamimma.com/ and it was just what the doctor ordered. No telephones, no laptops just a lot of really amazing food and wine for one blissful week. The drive there was calm and uneventful. We had my new best friend with us to help navigate the way Tom Tom. This makes things considerably easier on ones life and marriage especially when your husband actually listens to the nice lady :-)

As we woke the children early Friday morning to load them into the car, they both protested by immediately falling right back to sleep for at least 2 of the four hour trip. Once we arrived, we were greeted as old friends into this lovely home. They had stocked our fridge for us with all the essentials like butter, ham, eggs, cheese all from the butcher down the street, a loaf of bread a few bottles of the local wine. They had this huge courtyard with great big old pine trees where Ron and I spent most of our time, napping, reading eating and a little drinking too. The children were with us for the most part, but as the grounds were surrounded by a huge wall and gates, we sometimes did not see them for a few hours at a time and the weird thing was, neither of us worried too much. (See photo of Jack with black eye in next blog).

Thats all for now - not very exciting I know. Here are a few photos of the villa and surrounding areas.

Signing off for today,

WiseMona

Oh say can you see....................Starbucks!

Hello fellow food lovers!

I was awoken early on July 4th to one of my most favorite sounds. It was the sound of a 5 year old girl tumbling out of her bunk bed and tiptoeing into my room ever so careful, to make sure she did not wake the 'stinky boys'. She leans over my face and whispers those words only a mother like me loves to hear ' mom, wanna sneak out to Starbucks?'...........................

I catapult out of bed (quietly) and together we sneak out for our 'girl time'. As luck would have it, Zurich has a few Starbucks dotted around the city (14 stores I think). Ironically, there just happens to be one less than a block from our front door.

For the first few months it took me by surprise that Starbucks can thrive in a city like this (main competitor is Nespresso http://www.nespresso.com/ because everywhere you go - and I do mean everywhere, serves up the most amazing delicious coffee. They grind the beans, they foam the milk, they warm your cup. OK, the service leaves a little to be desired.
After this weeks big news I have been wondering if we, on this side of the pond, are going to see a reduction in the number of stores or has Starbucks expanded a little 'smarter and slower' across the European continent?

As I have been living here almost a year now, I have come to understand 'what' Starbucks is to locals. It is a gathering place. It is the place (with universal branding) you can say to anyone in the City or outskirts, 'lets meet at Starbucks on Bahnhof Strasse'. No need to give directions, or explain how to find it. They treat you exactly the same way here as they do in the US. Coffee is great, service is friendly and they do not bother you if you are sitting there all day tapping into their very generous free WiFi.

So, my little girl and I spent a lazy 4th of July morning basking in the early morning Zurich sun, drinking coffee and talking about American politics and her new school.
She ate a sprinkle donut to show her patriotism, but switched 1/2 way through to the 'Berliner' pastry we had bought for the boys.

The simplest things in life like a coffee at Starbucks will evoke memories for both of us for a very long time to come and I sure am glad that when little Rory summons me to drag my weary bones out of bed for some one on one time with her at our local coffee house, that they only word I know is absolutely!

Signing off for today,

WiseMona

Throw down that gauntlet!

Lucky Me! I have some really great girlfriends. What makes us so unique is that we are polar opposites. One can only imagine what this leads to during an election year. OK, I am at a disadvantage right now because there happens to be more than 3,000 miles between me and my girls but with the magic of email, one of my dear friends knowingly tossed the gauntlet right into the flames today with an email she sent to a select few sharing how 'wonderful' Senators McCain's wife is. For me - carrying a brand new US passport and also quite liberal, I will carefully read this information and asses if I want to store it for judgement day (or not). Some of the others will react by throwing their laptops into the pool rather than assess the commentary, and the rest of the girls will open a nice bottle of wine, sit back and watch the fireworks! That my friends, is what makes this so much fun!

This will be my first year having the privilege to vote for a US president. I plan to enjoy this presidential election (albeit across the pond) to the nth degree because I have been lucky enough to befriend some of the most passionate and politically charged women in America (and Canada).

My only regret is that Hilary did not hang in there and make it THREE to choose from. Now that would have been reason to fly 'home' to my girls in November!

In my humble opinion I think we have already won, because we have each other. As far as the election goes.......... WE ALL WANT THE SAME THING!
A country that is economically thriving, a country that is not at war, safe neighborhoods and excellent schools for our children and grandchildren.
What we all have (and what bonds us) is love and wisdom. My friends have selflessly shared their wisdom with me from the moment I befriended them. They have taught me that the best means achieve the best ends. Every day we have to make decisions in our personal, financial, family, work, and community lives and even though we can do it alone, I am humbled by the fact that I always have those wisdom sharing friends of mine just a 'send' button away!

Stay tuned..................only 4 1/2 months to go!

Signing off for today,

WiseMona
(PS -I love you girls)