After an eternity of counting down, I had just one more sleep until the big trip to the other side of the globe. One final check:
Checklist complete, I’m ready to fly!
Here I am, ready for the big trip to Switzerland.
I know it’s been a while, my dear friends and followers. Here I am—I’m back on the teddy blog with some very exciting news: In four week’s time my Dad and I are on our way to Switzerland!
All set for Switzerland.
Ah, Switzerland, the chocolate capital of the world: milk chocolate, hazelnut chocolate, daaark chocolate, pralines, chocolate cake, chocolate biscuits … hold on, I need some now, I’ll be right back …
Today's flavour: Frey's NOIR Special 72% Cacao—thank you Grandma & Granddad for sending it over!
Mmmhh, (munch, munch) that feels better. Anyway, as I was saying, we’re going to Switzerland to see Grandma & Granddad, who are currently in the process of selling their house. They are going to move into a brand spanking new maisonette (how exciting is that!) and I’m going to be there when it happens. That’s right, I want to be the first teddy in Grandma & Granddad’s new maisonette!
My suitcase really isn't as big as it looks!
That’s why I’m all packed and ready to go. Dad tells me I packed too soon, and too much. I don’t think so! I’ve been really, really careful not to pack too many things, and besides, suitcases come in certain sizes and may as well be filled!
Even so, I can’t fit everything in. My tricycle for example, it just wouldn’t fit in my suitcase. So I wrapped it up in plastic bags to take as hand luggage, but Dad won’t let me. He says it’s too big and it would cost extra and that I wouldn’t need a bike while we’re away anyway. But how am I going to keep fit and trim? After all, I’m going to be holidaying in a chocolate mecca—let’s have another piece …
Sooo nice!
Last week, Dad, Oscar, George, our friend Ian and I went on a day tramp to Moa Park in Abel Tasman National Park. Being little, we teddies got to ride in Dad’s day pack which was fantastic, of course. Little did we know that Dad had packed a banana and we sat on it the whole way to Moa Park where we had our lunch break.
George, Oscar and me at Moa Park.
Oh dear, Dad wasn’t happy when he unpacked the banana—half of it was quite badly squashed and juice was dripping from the popped skin—yuck! Anyway, Dad said, when you’re in the wilderness you don’t fuss over a partly dissolved banana; you just eat it (and lick up the juice I might add!).
Then, the day before yesterday, something funny happened: We were all back home and had forgotten about the banana drama, when Dad’s partner turned up with a bright yellow plastic banana:
What on earth is that? We would never have guessed: It’s a Banana Saver!
Right, let's give this a go!
Open the Banana Saver…
I couldn’t possibly travel all the way to Switzerland and not have a traditional Swiss fondue!
There are many different recipes for cheese fondues. My Grandma has her very own, tried-and-true fondue recipe which is based on what’s known as fondue vaudoise. When Grandma was a young woman she worked at a restaurant in the French part of Switzerland. That’s where she prepared and served many fondues.
The other day it was my first time for a fondue. I didn’t really know what to expect, but as soon as Grandma started with the preparations, a yummy smell permeated the kitchen—perhaps it had something to do with the Kirsch?
The fondue is served!
mmmh… this is delicious!
I really, really liked Grandma’s fondue, so much so that I asked her for her (no longer) secret recipe. Here it is:
(serves three to four)
method
Before I go, here’s a tip: If you live in New Zealand like me, and can’t find the real Swiss made Gruyère and Emmental cheeses, Robynne, a friend of my Dad’s, has a fondue recipe that uses New Zealand cheeses on her CheeseShop website.
Bye for now, I’m going to have another sip of Kirsch…
Who would have thought that something called Luxemburgerli is some delicious Swiss confectionery? Well, not me, anyway.
After our guided tour around Zürich Airport, we delved into the belly of the airport building, down escalators to a large shopping area.
On the approach to Zürich Airport's shopping area
Mid level with shops & food hall, lower level with check-in counters for passengers who arrive by train (the railway station is further below).
Have you ever thought of going to an airport for the purpose of sightseeing rather than travelling? That’s exactly what my friend George and I did.
Going by the number of passengers, Zürich Airport is Switzerland’s largest airport. This year, in a poll conducted by British consulting firm Skytrax, 8 million passengers rated Zürich Airport the best in Europe. Worldwide, Zürich Airport ranked fourth, behind Singapore Changi (third), Hong Kong International (second) and Incheon International near Seoul (first).
Our guided tour started near the main airport building. We hopped on a comfy bus, or a coach rather, that drove us past enormous hangars, through airport service and maintenance quarters, along taxiways and runways, and even through a 73-hectare nature conservation area—all of it within the airport premises!
The whole time an experienced guide gave us a running commentary with lots of figures and facts on what we were looking at.
One of the tour’s highlights was when we could leave the coach next to two runways and watch one takeoff after another. Being so close to aircraft that take off at full thrust was exhilarating!
At the end of the tour we were given the option to visit the observation deck on top of Dock E, which is also known as Midfield terminal. Of course, we jumped at the chance!
Here are some photos George and I took on the day:
Lufthansa Boeing 737-530.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the figure 99% printed in front of “cocoa” on a bar of chocolate. Surely it had to be a misprint! No matter how much I rubbed my eyes, the figure 99 stayed. Perhaps I was dreaming? Or had I arrived in chocolate heaven?
It turned out that none of the above was the case, for it really does exist: Chocolate made of 99% cocoa! And I thought 90% was the limit, as portrayed in Bertram’s article Espresso & dark chocolate—a match made in heaven.
Who could create such an extraordinary cocoa wonder but world-renowned chocolate manufacturer Lindt of Switzerland?!
Here I am with a bar of Lindt Excellence 99% Cocoa Noir Absolu
The first thing I noticed when I picked up the bar, it was lighter than Lindt’s other bars in the same type of packaging. A quick look at the packaging revealed a net weight of 50 grams, exactly half of the lower cocoa percentage bars.
Here’s what it looks like: A very dark bar of chocolate—hence the name noir absolu—in a thin layer (3 mm), with small squares (24 mm). The bar sits in a plastic tray to give it stability, and is hermetically sealed with a gold foil. Printed on that very foil is the following “warning”:
Excellence 99% is a unique chocolate that reveals all the strength and richness of cocoa beans. To fully appreciate all its flavours, we recommend that you progressively develop your palate through our range of high cocoa content chocolate bars, starting with Excellence 70%, then 85% and finally 99%.
The best way to experience Excellence 99% Cocoa is to break off a small piece and allow it to melt slowly in your mouth.
To taste the full bouquet of cocoa aromas, try accompanying your tasting with some coffee.
Armed with the instructions (like my Dad, I always read the instruction manual first!!) and an espresso, I proceeded to the taste test.
Carefully I broke off a piece of Noir Absolu, placed it on my tongue and let it melt in my mouth. At first I couldn’t taste much. As the chocolate melted, it turned into a sticky paste that had a somewhat earthy taste. Unlike any other chocolate I’ve ever tasted, this one had no sweetness to it.
Once fully melted, the chocolate slid down my throat and all of a sudden, an incredible bouquet of flavours hit my taste buds—absolument divine!
I let the flavours linger for a while before I added a sip of espresso. Wow, the coffee tasted completely different than usual. It was as if the coffee flavour had been exponentially enhanced. A whole new experience all over again! Another sip of espresso, followed by another blast of cocoa…
…yum! I’m in heaven! Lindt, you are my chocolate gods!
One amazing thing is that you cannot comfortably eat too much chocolate that is this rich in cocoa. Two pieces of Noir Absolu were my limit—for real!
If you are a chocoholic like me, and you appreciate dark chocolate, Lindt Excellence 99% Cocoa Noir Absolu may be worth a try. If ever I was hooked on dark chocolate, there’s no doubt now!
