Note to self: Occasionally review your Notes To Self; especially the recent ones!
I went to the local Migros Fish & Co. store today knowing that I was going to have to speak German and try to interpret responses in Swiss-German.
Did I wear a white shirt? Noooooooooooooooooooooo!
Did I sweat? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss!
A torrent of sweat ran down the small of my back as I attempted to interpret phrases that I eventually took to mean "...would you like this fish scaled and gutted?" and "...how will you be preparing this fish?" I think I did pretty well even though everything in Swiss-Germn pretty much sounds like "...squoli squonk" to me! To make matters worse, the lady had bad teeth, and...I couldn't stop staring at them. VERY distracting! There out to be some kind of law against that!
All was well in the end, however. I walked out of the store with:
...a nice whole Wolfsbarsch (wild sea bass, line-caught, and from Cornwall)
...instructions ("Squoli squonk!") to cook it on the grill in foil (to which I decided to add a Mirepoix sprinkled with some dry vermouth...or maybe a little Pernod depending on my mood), and...
...a rather unsightly sweat stain on the back of my shirt.
4 comments:
Bad teeth are so distracting!
And OMG do I love living in High-German land. :)
I always thought swiss german sounded like the swedish chef, but squoli squonk is so much more appropriate!
Just in case you're keeping score at home...
I opted for the Pernod.
Hey TBF,
It's just HILARIOUS the way you recount your stories... I hope you are writing a book, cuz I'd buy it!! Hope you and the Mrs. are doing great... Just got back from my month in Cali. It was fun! Take care, Leesa
P.S. Bad teeth SHOULD be illegal, I agree!!
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