nothing of note.

Last week: had Indian food at the cleverly-named Korma Sutra restaurant (Mike insisted we go there). Mike had lamb vindaloo and I had dal maharani (lentils and kidney beans), and we split a giant plate of appetizers that included a samosa, two fried-onion thingeys, a pile of curried shrimp, a small log of spicy mystery (but delicious!) meat, and several sauces and chutneys. YUM. I always forget how much I really like Indian food until I eat it, and then I rediscover what a huge fan I am. Especially of their vegetarian dishes: if I was going to go veg, that's the way I'd do it. Smother everything in spicy curry and/or tomato and/or cream-based sauces. HOLLA.

We haven't really done much over the last week or thereabouts, so I leave you with a brief, random, photographic retrospective of entertaining things I've seen recently. (I apologize for the resolution on some of them: I took a lot with my phone.)

Bunnies and guinea pigs together in the same giant run at the pet store. I WANT THIS IN MY HOUSE.

Ridiculously cute dog on the tram. I LOVE HIS EARS SO VERY MUCH.

Apparently, they were making their own schnapps on a portable still at the restaurant at the end of our street. Mike was out of town, so I didn't get to go, but the flyer makes it sound like loads of fun! (There were snacks involved.)

Jess pointed this out: apparently, there's no smoking on other people, being poor, busking, sawing the seats (!), or reclining in crampons allowed on the tram. I HEART THIS SIGN SO VERY MUCH.

Pretty art nouveau on Bahnhofstrasse.

Pretty patterns on our window and shades.

You know it's getting warm outside when the neighborhood planters look like THIS!

...and when a previously EMPTY square is now full of bikes...

...and a little cafe has sprung up out of NOWHERE. How fun.  =)

Ooh, and I just realized that I'm terribly behind in announcing to everyone "what I'm reading."

Just finished...

So I thought I'd read this one 'cause it was written by a local Denver author, and the premise seems kinda cute: a man leaves behind his life to pursue love with a pin-up he knows only from an auto parts calendar. In summary: MEH. Skip it. Actually a pretty stupid little book.

This was recommended to me by a friend who knew I was moving overseas, and while the essays about learning a foreign language are FANTASTIC, the rest is sorta blah. I'm not sure why, but I just don't think David Sedaris is as funny as everyone else seems to. (His sister, on the other hand: FAB-U-LOUS.  =)

Finally, the one I'm reading now:

Kinda like Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, but actually comprehensible and with a little more other stuff thrown in. Plus, I just really like Bill Bryson. Also, it's around 500 pages, so at least this one will take me a little longer.  ;-)

And now, dinner. (Leftover homemade cheese tortelloni with tomato cream sauce, caprese, and arugula salad. YUM.)

so...

It's been an action-packed week, people. Tuesday night we went to dinner at a Bar Noon, a Lebanese place, with our new friend Nicolas, and it was TASTY. Between the three of us, we ordered the giant spread-o-everything menu, which included no fewer than ten small plates, three skewers of meat, and a giant dessert. I absolutely cannot tell you with certainty what all we ate, but off the top of my head, it included potatoes with lemon, chicken wings, hummus, an eggplant dip with pomegranate, a tzatziki-like dip, parsley salad with coriander and tomatoes, green beans with lemon and butter, chickpeas with eggplant and tomato, falafel, and bread on the side. And that's all I can remember. The meat skewers were chicken and two ground items I couldn't identify, but all tasty as well. Dessert was mascarpone cheese and something like a cross between tapioca pudding and panna cotta, all topped with whipped cream, sliced plums/mangos/strawberries/bananas/kiwis/apples, and crushed pistachios. Good food and truly pleasant and good service.

Naturally, it being a Tuesday night, there was more greatness to come. The three of us showed up a little early for Karaoke from Hell, and--I'm assuming since there was no opening band--the place was EMPTY. (Thankfully, once it got a little later, the place started to fill up, 'cause it would have been a little awkward to fully rock in front of the eight faithful karaoke fans who were there when we arrived.) The sparse crowd meant, naturally, that all of us got our names on the list to sing. And sing we did. Nicolas sang 'Come as You Are' by Nirvana, I did 'Hysteria' by Muse (one of my favorite songs of all time + fronting a rockin' band = rock star fantasy fulfilled!!), and Mike COMPLETELY ROCKED 'White Wedding' by Billy Idol. He had all the yowling and the rock star stance and everything. It was entirely fantastic. This is absolutely, positively, something we will DO AGAIN. I have been informed that there exist videos of our amazing performances; however, due to the extremely loud nature of the event, and the fact that the place is dark and full of rock band-style lighting, not only can you not hear us singing, but you can't even really tell who's on stage. Thank goodness.

In other news...we picked up our speaker stands last night, and then had Dave and Jen over for Mexican food and Springer-style margaritas, and BOY, did it all taste like home. We broke into our stash of real, actual pinto beans, and even managed to find cheddar at a specialty store, and between those tasty items and our homemade guacamole and salsa, it was REALLY good food and a really good time. (Apparently, Dave and Jen have just about been everywhere: we are just surrounded by interesting and fun people!)

Last, but certainly not least, our coffee table arrived today. It is ridiculously beautiful and awesome and around 200 years old, and MIKE LOVES IT. I can't even imagine how he'll be when we get our dining room table. But I digress. Without further ado, I give you...OUR LIVING ROOM (as it is now, anyway.)

Luscious, awesome coffee table.

Speaker stand no. 1. (Yes, it's an n. And I even like the color.)

Speaker stand no. 2. (If only the umlaut lit up...!)

From the couches towards the movie wall, with speaker stands in lower corners. 

From the movie wall, towards the back of the room. Complete with lazy cats.

Our little bar attached to the kitchen. 

So it's obviously still something of a mess, but it's coming along. And once we get our dining table, we'll have seating for 12, not counting couches. At this point in time, I fully expect our little apartment to become THE SOCIAL HUB OF EAST ZURICH. Or at least a comfy place to sit. Stop on by if you're in the neighborhood.   =)

true milestones.

Tuesday: finished assembling our closet. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Closet on left. IT IS MASSIVE.

Not closet-related, but note our adorable light fixture!

Wednesday: bought a dining room table and some speaker stands that will be utterly unique and fantastic. Photos to come, when the darn things get here. 

Thursday: Mike left for Nigeria. Spent rest of day doing laundry.

Friday: went to my first by-myself movie: turns out you get assigned seats. The popcorn was good, though. Then went home and made some killer guacamole.

Saturday: bought my first skinny jeans. The tag's still on, though, so I can RETURN THEM. Stewart took his first foray out onto the balcony, in harness. He didn't seem to mind it so much, but the leash was very exciting for him. Here he is trying to eat it.

Also Saturday, realized it was Zurich's version of Fasnacht, which boiled down to lots of small children in costume, flinging confetti everywhere, and brass bands roving the city (also in costume). They were pretty fun.

These guys were terribly, but enthusiastically, playing 'Tequila'.

A pretty decent calypso band...looking like they just played Carnivale in Venice. Go figure.

These guys were FUN and GOOD.

They played 'Sweet Caroline'. Go trombones.

...and were perched on one of the bridges looking south towards the lake. 

I saw several other costumed groups throughout old town, but these were the only ones I heard. There was also another band playing somewhere in close proximity to my house, but I couldn't see where they were. They were ALSO terrible, but they played 'Play that Funky Music (White Boy)' with such gusto! I took a really awful recording of it with my phone, but am not smart enough to figure out how to post it here, so you'll just have to ask me about it the next time you see me. In conclusion, it was all fairly silly, but fun. (Next year, we'll have to go to Bern or Basel or Lucerne to catch one of the BIG celebrations. Supposed to be like Mardi Gras, but without the floats, nudity, or beads. Ok, so it's really just fancily-costumed marching bands and street parties, but whatever.)

Today: Mike came home. Fixin' to eat some delicious omelettes. Pizza for dinner. Life is good.  =)

weekend jaunt. and other things.

Oh, where to begin...? We'll start with Friday night, whereupon we met up with Mike's buddies Steve and Aaron. Grabbed a drink at the Ole Ole Bar on the Langstrasse (Zurich's seedy neighborhood...oooh!), then had a late dinner at the Thai Food Corner. Name aside, the food was actually quite good, although the menu was nearly impenetrable (written in both German and Thai, which made it a teensy bit overwhelming). Somehow I ended up with chicken massaman curry, YUM, which was served with the following, terribly adorable, plate of rice.

So. Saturday we got up and went south to Locarno, which was lovely and sunny--up into the 50s during the day! HUZZAH! It's a nice enough town, near the northern end of Lago Maggiore ("Bigger Lake") and surrounded by extremely steep mountains. Small-ish old town, complete with a castle and a lovely large piazza, and a waterfront lined with little cafes and pizzerias. Certainly not as quaint, quiet, or beautiful as Varenna, our single other lake-district destination, but not bad at ALL.

View from our little hotel balcony.

Prosecco and snackies on the balcony. 

Mike helping me take a picture of our heroically-proportioned bathroom. (Plus, I loved the teeny gray subway tiles.)

Waterfront.

Really, isn't this why you go to Italy? (And the pasta, of course.)

If the funky chicken were a weathervane...

So...after wandering the mean streets of Locarno for hours, trying to find a place that looked interesting, we finally settled on Ristorante Il Boccalino for our single dinner in old town Locarno. (Mike claimed that his indecisiveness was due to the pressure of only having one dinner there; therefore, it had to be good. Me, I just didn't see any place in particular that said, "Dine hither!") But oh, the food! Soooo glorious. The aperitifs were divine, although I can't remember what was in them. Mike had an electric-orange, cream-of-pumpkin soup, which was fantastic, and then onto the pasta courses. Mine was spaghetti with shrimp, garlic, grape tomatoes, and red pepper; Mike's was spaghetti with tomato cream sauce with prosciutto crudo and mushrooms. All topped with fresh parmesan, of course, and all FRICKIN' FANTASTIC. Panna cotta with "forest berries" for dessert. People: if you're ever in Locarno for dinner, GO THERE.  

Anyway. The next day we meandered around the Piazza Grande...

Yes, those are Alps in the background. SO very pretty.

Saw the castle...

Castello Visconteo, initially built anywhere from the 10th to the 12th century, continued to be remodeled through the 16th century.

One of the few existing pictures of me that I don't hate. Mike says the only way to get me to hold still for photos is to treat me like a toddler: "Look at the birdie! Ooh, what's this over here?"

Found the fencing school...

To the basement, nerds! (Seriously, though. It's in the basement.)

Saw LOTS of trees with gigantic flowers on them, even in early March...

They had pale pink ones, too.

Saw Smurf costumes and action figures (!) for Fastnacht (the Swiss version of Carnival)....

Yaaaaaaaay, they still exist!

Enjoyed a sub-par cappuccino by the waterfront...

The bad ones are always better with sugar, we've found.

And took one last stroll down by the water. 

Yeah, it's kinda pretty here, if you're into this sort of thing.

We cut day 2 in Locarno short, because A) it was Sunday, and nothing but the cafes were open, and B) we REALLY needed to go home and assemble our closet. Which we're still in the process of doing, seeing as how it's this MASSIVE behemoth piece of furniture from--where else?--Ikea. At least we scarfed some amazing Italian sandwiches on the train home. (Mike's was prosciutto crudo, mozzarella, and mushrooms on a giant square ciabatta roll; mine was prosciutto cotto, mozzarella, and butter lettuce on a crispy, perfect baguette. SOOOOOOO FANTASTIC.)

What I just finished reading:

I was worried about my first foray back into fiction, after all of the history-nerd fare I've been consuming as of late, but I this was a seriously good book. Thanks for the recommendation, Dad. I finished this one in 3 nights, it was that good of a read. Stunningly, beautifully written, extremely compelling story...I can't remember the last time I was up that late to keep reading. I absolutely could not put it down, and probably would have stayed up all night, had not common sense prevailed (at least, after a time). Once again, I really don't want to ruin the entire book for anyone, so suffice it to say that this is the story of an atypical family's search for an outlaw son on the lam. It's a story full of faith and belief, heart and soul, heartbreak and miracles, I could go on...but the truth is, I can't do justice to this book in this paragraph. It is truly an exquisite read. The only problem I've discovered with this book is that I fail to see what I can read next that will even compare. READ IT. NOW. 

odds and ends.

I know I've been terribly sporadic with the blogging lately, friends...some days, TOO MUCH! Other days, no blog in sight. Well, get ready for some overkill. I felt the need to post these photos/thoughts today, because--if nothing else comes up--we're going to spend the weekend in Locarno, an adorable town in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland (Ticino). I suspect I'll have more to post after we get back, but so as to avoid MASSIVE over-posting then, I'm settling for only SLIGHT over-posting today. Here are some random bits from the last few weeks.

Just so relieved that we didn't end up with an apartment at the top of these stairs--of which there are many in old town.

Hear them now and believe them later...this shoe store is here to POMP you up.

Throne chairs at Indian Palace restaurant. Pretty good food, but REALLY fun seating.

So the giant green glass thing dwarfs it, but on the left is the Freitag building--17 cargo containers they've put together to make a store, wherein they sell bags made entirely from recycled shopping bags. HOW UTTERLY COOL OF THEM.

Naturally, it wasn't open on the day we found it, but this is the markthalle at the viaduct: a giant shopping center/market built underneath an old, but still in-use, train bridge. NEATO.

My new favorite store: Bogen 33. Super cool secondhand store in a bomb-shelter basement. We WILL be buying something(s) there. 

Peace between teh kittehs! Temporarily, anyway.

Someone is growing forsythia (and other things) in a bathtub overlooking my street.

Utterly phenomenal chocolates from Belgium. Undoubtedly the best chocolates I've ever had. (Sorry, Belvedere: we had a good run, though.)

You know it's especially black and shiny because you can SEE me taking a picture of it. (For some reason, I thought it was hilarious that they needed to state that the front design was, indeed, black and shiny...)

We all know I'm not a huge fan of bottled coffee. This, however, is something entirely new and delectable. 

And there you have it, folks: a weird and disjointed photo survey of the things that strike my fancy on a daily basis. More to come.