edible rabbits.

easter is coming, and apparently the swiss are nuts for chocolate bunnies. i was a bit horrified today walking into migros to this giant display and large brown plastic bunnies hanging from the ceiling. well, just another excuse to eat more solid (or not so solid) chunks of chocolate!

p.s. for our 4 day easter holiday, howie and i are going to ticino, the italian part of switzerland.  supposedly there is great weather and amazing food on the other side of the alps...

CHocolate.

broq fabrique, and maison callier

this past week i took a trip to Broc-Fabrique to see the place where Callier chocolate is made. Broc is in the hills of the Gruyere region, just a few kilometers from the town of Gruyere where this famous cheese is made. since cacao is not produced in Switzerland there must be something very special about the milk produced in this region to create such great cheese and chocolate!

we stepped off the train and could already smell the chocolate. we quickly hustled into the Nestle "factory outlet" to purchase some chocolate bars and other goodies before it closed. at this point we'd already taken three trains, smelled chocolate in the air, and now were looking at bars and bars of the stuff. i was practically drooling.

old chocolate packaging- great design!

apparently, chocolate is quite good for your health... dietary fiber, minerals, even a natural anti-depressant: 

chocolate is healthy!

the actual production lines are far from view, but a unique video/interactive exhibit tells the story of chocolate arriving in europe and the first brand of chocolate in switzerland: Callier, now owned by Nestle. the best part of the exhibit for me was the mini production line where we saw chocolate being extruded, cut into pieces, then coated by melted chocolate, picked up by a robot and placed into a little wrapper which we could then take for tasting. by this point we were dying to taste some chocolate- yum! the tour ended with a fantastic tasting room- i couldn't even make it around the room- some were too dark and some too sweet for me or perhaps it was just chocolate overload. on the way back we made a stop to pick up some salty snacks and i think we're all taking a short break from chocolate.

the tasting room.

HVD!

Dear Howie,


I hope you are having a great day at school. I'm celebrating valentine's day at home without you. (Yes, I finally caved on some Movenpick ice cream!)

Make me proud! (& come home soon!)
xoxo
a.

i'm a "partner"?

The last two weeks have been so busy, it feels like its been many more! Howie has been working hard on schoolwork already, and the partners group has begun with so many activities to coordinate. It has been a flurry of names and cultures and I’ve tried very hard to remember them all. Still working on that. To be perfectly honest it has been a little overwhelming. I came to Lausanne with a fairly clear set of goals in mind and already I feel like I should be doing more to accomplish those goals- professional and otherwise. (A year goes quickly!) But somehow I have become the running group coordinator, cross country ski coordinator and cooking class coordinator. I also will participate in some other events/classes (such as: Bollywood dancing, clothes making, and cycling) and whew, there went my free time!  But, having friends and things to do wins every time. It’s a matter of balance, planning and plenty of chocolate. 

a little gift for my hubby:

Blondel chocolates- the best in Lausanne