CHANGING SEASONS

There is a crispness in the air, the leaves are changing colour and falling fast and Summer is definitely over.

I opened the shutters on Monday to be greeted to this site.  Seven run away horses.  Only in the Alps.  I think the farmer was in shock, he arrived with in five minutes and all was fine again.  Don't know what spooked them but they were certainly spooked.

 

And then on Tuesday.......................SNOW.  Boy was that a shock even to the locals, too early you could hear them all saying.  So pretty though.  Anyway now it's all melted and been replaced with...............RAIN.  Uuuuuggggghhhhhhh

 



But of course with rain comes.................mushrooms.  We've been picking them to try and identify them.  Failing that of course you can always go to the pharmacy as they know all the ones you can eat and can't.  We haven't eaten any think I prefer to buy the shop ones.  Safety first.

There are few puffballs in there - MORTALE.

NINE

Well Samuel has turned 9.  We've a week of celebrating, presents, birthday cake and a trip to Swiss Vapeur Parc on the weekend. 

Lots of Pressies

 



 

Cupcakes for school 

Our gift to Samuel.  It also turns to a ping pong table and air hockey.



Surprise

 

 

So we gave Samuel a choice of a birthday party or a trip to Swiss Vapeur.  He of course chose the Swiss Vapeur park so we set of on Sunday.  Located in Switzerland it's quiet a drive and with traffic took 2 and a half hours.  We stopped in Evian for lunch on the way.

 



It's a really nice town, Evian that is, and you can see Lausanne on the other side.  Yes it is the town where the Evian water comes from and yes the kids did get wet in the water fountains - and yes I did blow a fuse. Then it was on to Bouveret for the trains.

The park is designed for kids and adults, they have nine trains and you sit on the trains and go around the park.  Each ride is about 15 minutes long.  We only managed 4 trains.  There were so many people but you don't notice because everything just runs so smoothly, not like real stations.  These are dotted around the park.  You line up then there is an announcement and in comes the train.  Fantastic.

 



 The Amtrack was the kids favourite as it was the fastest.

 I love the drivers head popping out the top.



Lots of bells and whistles go off when a train passes to warn pedestrians and there are also booms that drop down.

There are three steam trains.  I loved the noise and the smell.  Smells like matches.

The birthday boy's favourite part of the day was getting to drive the boat on the lake.

Your knees suffer a bit after a while as they are tucked under your chin most of the time.

And of course the whole town is in miniature so you get to walk around and enjoy all the other little things going on.........

And I think I've outdone the photo allowance for this page so I'll leave it there for today.  It was such a great day, I think Samuel will remember it for a quiet a while.  I hope anyway.

A TWO CAR FAMILY

So we've finally got our act together, after contemplating about weather to cash in our fairly new car and buy a more luxurious and spacious family car we decided to chuck the idea out of the window and buy a second hand 4x4 for Manu who panics every time a snow flake decends from the sky.  So now he will definitely make it work which is up a steep hill usually on roads that haven't been cleared by 7 in the morning.  And I now have my freedom.  FREEDOM.

LAST WEEK, RASPBERRIES AND LA MONTAGNETTE

My parents left in August after a sweltering summer here, and my dad requested a fondue for his last meal here before going back to a Cape Town winter.  Quiet odd for the locals to eat a fondue in mid-summer but it is the traditional dish here and delicious never the less.

It gets stringy

 

During the week we went for a little walk around Les Saisses and collected an amazing amount of wild raspberries.  Samuel made a tart with bananas and raspberries for dinner and it was excellent.

 

 

 

It's really easy and really delicious.  I made it with a bought sable pastry base but you can use a shortcrust pastry, bake it blind for 20 minutes first though and then here is the recipe............

 

 

BROWN BUTTER RASPBERRY TART

 

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Flour

1/2 cup butter

360g raspberries, but we used a banana and a small bowl of raspberries, you could use blueberries too

 

- Melt Butter in a saucepan until it browns slightly

- Whisk eggs and sugar together in a separate bowl

- Add flour and whisk till smooth

- Add Melted butter to mixture pouring slowly and whisking constantly

- Arrange fruit on the baked pastry base and pour over the batter

- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes on 180C.

 

Enjoy.

 

On Sunday we went to La Montangnette with my friend Caro.  It's a 30 minute walk all up hill so a glass of rose went down well plus a nice lunch in the sunshine.  Mainly a winter restaurant because it's slap bang in the middle of the ski slopes in the summer it's a great location for the kids to get in a spot of fishing on the lake. 

 

Caro's Dessert

 



 

Manu's dessert notice the difference - yip it didn't touch sides

 

 

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