Another Typical Weekend...

...of shopping, cooking, eating, and visiting with friends.

First...

I wanted to buy a dress shirt, so we took the bus into Basel on Saturday morning to do a little shopping. We walked into a store, and we came out of the store a little while later with my dress shirt AND...a winter coat for Mrs. TBF.

How the heck did that happen?

Mrs. TBF tried on the coat a couple of weeks back, but she thought it was too expensive. Just when I was about to pay for my shirt, Mrs. TBF showed up at the counter with the coat and MADE AN OFFER!!! I couldn't beleive it!!! She was actually negotiating on price with a store manager in Switzerland. And you know what? The guy dropped the price! SIGNIFICANTLY!!! Then our friend Di, whom we met at the shop, said the words that sealed the purchase.

"...that coat is TIMELESS!"

With those words (and the "new" price) the deal was sealed. Mrs. TBF had her new coat that she said she'll "...be able to wear until I'm 100 years old". Does that mean that she'll never have to buy another winter coat again? I'm not holding out hope for that.

Then...

Dave and Jane came over for dinner on Saturday evening. It was kind of a birthday dinner for Dave because we never bought him a birthday gift back in September. We just couldn't come up with any good ideas, so we just decided to make him a nice dinner; oyster casserole on toast points for a pre-dinner snack, stuffed eggs and beet ravioli for a starter, mussel soup for the soup course, and cote de boeuf (rib steak) with mushrooms and mashed potatoes on the side for the main course. As if that wasn't heavy enough, we had Ben and Jerry's ice cream for dessert. Oink!

Sunday...

We went up to the Alsace (more specifically, Riquewihr) with John and Rammy. The main reason was to go enjoy lunch at a restaurant that J & R have been to before, but we got there a little early and walked around the insanely crowded Christmas market to kill some time before our reservation.

John and I were enjoying a small sandwich and a beer, ummmm...twenty minutes before eating lunch, when John suddenly said: "Hey...that's your friend from America walking over there! I forgot his name, but...you know...the one who ate at our house earlier this year!" I think I accused John of being drunk on one sip of his tiny beer, but then I realized he was right.

Tom and Sylvia - from Connecticut - were walking not ten yards away from us. Of course, I had to sneak up behind them and give them grief for having come all the way to Europe without calling us. But...I'll give 'em a break this time because Tom was here on business and hardly had any free time. I don't blame him for wanting to spend time just with Sylvia. But...

What are the odds of just running into friends from overseas while walking through a crowded Christmas market in France? It reminds me of the time when we were in Rome, and walked out the front door of our hotel just as people we know from Basel were crossing right in front of us on the sidewalk. Or...the times we've run into people we know at various airports around Europe.

Freaky!!!

So, after saying goodbye to Tom and Sylvia, the four of us ended up having a very nice Menu Hiver for lunch at the restaurant. Afterwards, we shopped a little bit at the market (crazy looking Santa decoration and some smoked meat), stopped for a quick tasting at a winery, and then made our way back to Basel.

And if that wasn't enough eating for one weekend, I even ate a "snack" of leftovers on Sunday evening while watching football. Gain three pounds during the weekend, and lose it during the week.

...the story of my life!

Finnish R-r-r-r-relatives...

...visit Switzer-r-r-r-land!

My relatives from Finland were here last weekend for a three-night stay. It was a short (but activity-packed) visit, and a great opportunity for me to practice my Finnish which gets a little rusty when unused for long periods of time. I'm happy to report that my "lazy" tongue is once again in prime, Finnish "r" rolling form.

We spent the afternoon of their (my Aunt Liisa, my cousin Jaana and her son Pyry, and Jaana's husband Juha) arrival touring Basel. On Friday morning, after a good-sized breakfast, the five of us (Mrs. TBF had to work) drove up to one of my favorite towns in the Alsace - Riquewihr. Of course, we weren't really super hungry since we had finished eating breakfast only a couple of hours earlier, but that didn't stop us from wolfing down a mammoth lunch. Oh...and not too many hours after lunch, we managed to wolf down a barbecued turkey and some duck breasts.

Ahhhhh...behold the power of the Finnish appetite!!!

On Saturday, we five Finns drove down to Luzern (after another filling breakfast) and took the lifts up to the top of Pilatus. Mrs. TBF would have come along, but she...um...felt it was necessary to stay behind and do some grocery shopping.

Pilatus is always a nice day-trip. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day everywhere...except for at the very peak of Pilatus - which was chilly and shrouded in clouds. However, the fun was in the journey...as "they" say. We did manage a couple of good pictures at the summit during momentary breaks in the clouds, and then it was time to head back down and...back to Basel where Mrs. TBF had prepared yet another gut-buster of a meal.

Yes, the rolling-Rs are back, and Mrs. TBF actually mastered pronouncing Pyry's name by Sunday afternoon.

All in all, it was a r-r-r-really g-r-r-r-reat weekend!

Hmmm...

Now that I look at the pictures:

Why is it that Juha (the only non-blood-relative of the group) is the one who most resembles me?

Roadtrip To Riquewihr...

Riquewihr is a medieval town in the Alsace about an hour's drive from Basel. We've been there many times with many different people. However, we recently realized that we haven't been there for nearly four years. It was time to change that...and yesterday was the day. The three of us jumped into the Jeep and made the one hour drive up to Riquewihr.

The Jeep must be exhausted. I think I've driven more in the past two weeks than I did during the first ten weeks of 2007. Plus, the speed limit on the highway in France is 130 kph / 80 mph! I'm sure the Jeep is still trembling down in the garage.

We made it to Riquewihr around 11:00 a.m., walked around a bit, sampled/bought some Rieslings at a wine dégustation, and then made our way to one of our favorite places for lunch - Au Cep de Vigne.

I'm not really sure why (maybe because it was a Tuesday), but nobody else dined in the restaurant the whole time we were there. The food (Alsatian specialties) is great, the setting (in an old wine cellar) is really unique, and the service (despite the language barrier) is very friendly.

Yes, I said friendly. See? The French don't really hate everybody!

After our 90-minute face-stuffing marathon, and a bunch of mercis and au revoirs, we trudged up the stairs and made our way back out into the street. Another hour was spent going in and out of various shops, a few things were purchased, and then it was time to head back to the Jeep.

You'll notice that I didn't say that it was time to "...head back home". That's because we had one more stop to make...

Whenever we go to Riquewihr, we absolutely MUST make a stop at the winery shop of "the Man" - Monsieur Edel - in the nearby town of. We just lucked into his little winery shop back in late 2000, and it has become one of those places that we can't drive by without at least making a quick stop to buy a few things. Unfortunately, Mr. Edel was in the house recovering from hip surgery, but we were well taken care of by his daughter-in-law (who happens to speak perfect English). We tasted some of their apricot liquer, and ended up leaving with that plus a couple of other liquers and some crémant.

We got back into the car, hauled-ass down the highway at 80 mph, and were approaching the Swiss border about 45 minutes later. Oh...I forgot to mention that Mrs. TBF had handed in her passport at work a couple of days earlier so that they could procure a Chinese visa for her for upcoming trip, so we had to "smuggle" her back into Switzerland. Fortunately, the Swiss border patrol had no interest in questioning our "lily-white" faces (they pretty much just seem to stop people of color), and just waved us through.

Here's Mrs. TBF immediately after re-entering Switzerland sans (See? I speak French!) passport! What a law breaker! Isn't she naughty?