Warm boxes of milk.

Adam is a milk machine... meaning that he drinks a lot of it.  Don't take that the wrong way.  I, on the other hand, am not as big of a fan.  I have it in cereal and hot chocolate, but that's about it.  I use to be able to drink a big glass, but I think that would make me vomit these days.  

We don't buy these anymore:

We buy these:

 

Warm.  1 liter.  Boxes of Swiss milk.  Yes, warm.  Mmmmmm.  

Pictured above is how we bring them home.  They are conveniently packaged in sets of four (with spiffy yellow carrying handle) and can be found in the dairy section... on a normal shelf... not a cooler.  However, if you do happen to need a cold one then you can buy them individually.

"That sounds gross Ashley."

Yes, it does sound absolutely disgusting.  It took me a while to get used to the taste and idea of my milk being warm before I stuck it in the fridge.  However, we did some research and found out that...

• "UHT" (on the side of the box) stands for Ultra-Heat Temperature.  Basically, they heat the milk up to a super high temperature for a short period of time so that it kills all the bacteria.
• 6-9 month shelf life... insane
• Sometimes the UHT process can cause a change in the way the milk tastes.  Agreed.  It's not a huge difference though.
• 63% of Switzerland's consumed milk is UHT.

I thought it was completely weird too, but I've grown to appreciate the small boxes.  I don't get a bicep workout from trying to lift a ten pound gallon, which means no more of those 'first opened volcanic eruption spills.'  Also, it takes up a lot less space in our tiny European fridge.  

We keep them on our shelf unit until we need a 'fresh' one.  They also do a lot of juices like this too.  We buy our orange juice in boxes.  

From Bessie to box.

German lesson: milk is "milch" (milsh)

French lesson: milk is "lait" (lay)

Au revoir!

Those really thin pancakes... and regular ones.

Just a little video to get this blog started...



You won't need to break our arms to get us to say "we love crepes."  I actually have the hacking French sound down too.  The topic of this post made me think of this clip.  Mostly because crepes are all over here.  And they are uhhhmazing.  Although, we have unlimited access to delicious crepes, we miss cheap pancakes.  IHOP is our favorite, but I would even settle for a dirty Waffle House meal.  I think.

       

Moving to Switzerland brings on cravings for classic American food.  For instance, I never really went to McDonald's a lot, but when we moved I wanted cheeseburgers.  All the time.  I gave in a couple times, but now I'm over it.  Other cravings include Mountain Dew (Adam), Diet Dr. Pepper, Mexican food, tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, Wendy's chili, Subway, Jimmy John's (or any 'custom' sandwich shop), Pop Tarts, frozen yogurt (constant craving I have), normal tasting salt & vinegar chips, and pancakes.  To resolve the pancake craving, I found this:

Yes.  Pancake Crepes... and Ahornsirup (Canadian maple syrup).  You can decide whether or not you're in a pancake mood or a crepe mood.   I'm so EXCITED about this find!  The pancake crepe mix tastes exactly like Bisquick.  YAY!!!!!  After this 11chf purchase (~$12, and 8 francs of it was for the syrup), I cranked out about eight mini pancakes.  Call me Mrs. Buttersworth.  

Probably the most beautiful (and edible) pancakes I've ever made.  

Backstory on my pancake experience:

The first time Adam visited my parents (about an hour and a half away from our college town) I attempted to make him pancakes the second day.  It was early on in our relationship and I wanted to prove that I could be domestic.  It would be a good idea for him to keep me around if I could cook.  I think I also threw some bacon on the stove too.  Bacon is the quickest way to a man's heart.    

Also, my dad's zipper may or may not have been down on first encounter.  I needed to make up for it.  I knew Adam was already planning on calling it quits.  Pancakes it was.  Not just any pancakes though.  The same type of pancakes my mom makes.  Ginormous ones.  Roughly the size of a hub cap or a 12" personal pan pizza.  Not kidding.  Just look at my sister and I when we were little... 

Anyway, my pancake was an epic fail.  I tried to make them just as big, but wasn't as skilled in 'flipping.'  I wound up heaping an ugly pile of pieced-together-pancake on a plate and topping it with syrup.  It was so big that the middle was still just batter.  :(  

All the pancake breakfasts I've attempted since then have also been horrible.  My ego takes over and I think I can make big ones.  I just cant.  

I think I've finally learned the secret:  keep them small.  Roughly the size of the spatula... and not a tennis racket.  This is my first pancake success and I'm pretty excited.  There will be more 'pancake crepes' in the Hughes household.    

Oh, the little things in life...

We love crepes... and pancakes. 

Au revoir!

Dear brown sugar, I knew we'd meet again.

I've been searching for brown sugar for four five months now.  Well, not an exhaustive search.  It's been more like an item on my 'mental list.'  I look for it every time I'm out... and around food.

Why?

Because I can't make anything that requires brown sugar.  Like this:

Also, we've resorted to just plain sugar on our sweet potatoes.  Ah!  The insanity.  

A friend told me she found brown sugar at Globus (a department store), which apparently has a grocery in the underground level.  I stopped by today on my way home and sure enough!  I found it!!!

 

I love the picture of the happy ladies on the front.  Definitely reassured me of my decision.  After a great success with the brown sugar, it was off to try and find chocolate chips.  Another item on my 'mental list.'  You would think that chocolate chips would be in Switzerland right?  Swiss chocolate?  Nope.  I grabbed a chocolate bar and paid 10chf for my two items.  Kinda sad.  Thought to myself "This sugar better taste like gold and these better be the best chocolate chip cookies ever!"

Came home.  Whipped out a hammer and started beating the chocolate bar.  Mercilessly.

Chocolate chips.

Mixed all of my ingredients together.   I also added oatmeal because I love chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. 

Adam and I got in a fight.  Fist fight.  He didn't want oatmeal.  I told him he could walk five miles to go get the brown sugar next time.  I'll put gummy worms in them if I want.  I would've been more willing to reason if I hadn't already put the oatmeal in.  

These are going to be so good!!!

What are you doing in there!?!!!!  NOOOOOO!!!!!

Ugliest batch of cookies ever.  I consider this a slight failure.  They are pretty good though.

Au revoir!

Also, you get some weird stuff when you search for pictures of 'brown sugar.'

Grocery-ing in France

Today we drove to France to get groceries.  I know.  Sounds crazy.  We actually went to another country to buy food.  We heard it was much cheaper and decided to check it out.  Here's how our day went... (I'm not in a paragraph writing mood)

ATM for Euros.


Drove towards Annemasse, France because that's where the GPS said there was a Carrefour (large French grocery chain).

Wrong way.  Tiny Carrefour.  Not what we wanted.


Drove towards Evian... we knew for sure where there was one there.

Found it.

Wandered around getting acclimated.  Noticed electronic price tags.  Awesome.

Signs tell you where stuff comes from.  Also awesome.  (Pays-Bas is the Netherlands)

Found cheddar cheese.  Oh my gosh!  Finally!  

Also found this cheese.  At first glance, I read:  'rape, extra fun'  Ran to show Adam.  Determined it was photo worthy.

Tried to figure out which non-cold milk to get.  They kill all the bacteria in their milk, so it stays 'edible' longer.  We buy milk boxes.  We couldn't find the non-creamy milk, so we decided to stick to our Geneva milk (on the right).  

Adam's mom said we'd probably have to use pink toilet paper.  I haven't seen it in Switzerland, but we found it in France.  Adam refuses to use it.  

We also found these.  Get your mind out of the gutter!  I know what your thinking.  These are actually chocolate-covered ice cream ... sticks.  I had one yesterday (dark chocolate).  Delicious.

This is Adam.  Confused.  Too much French.  I made him push the cart because it's one of those 4-wheel drive ones.  Like Costco or IKEA... I can't handle them.  They also make my knees hurt for some reason.

Oxymoron if I've ever seen one.  This sounds like our fitness routine... chocolate.  

I also found these cute gypsy shoes for 6 euros each.  I got a red pair... and a navy pair.  I like to rock the comfy hippie flats around here.  They're pretty popular since it's impossible to wear heels.  I also bought a tan pair a couple weeks ago, but they weren't as cheap. :(

excuse the stanky leg pose... wanted to get the bottom in.

Adam made me drive home.  I don't want to talk about it.  Middle of city, stalled, honked at, cried, got out, made him get us home.  Driving a manual is so stupid.  I. hate. it.  

Overall, it was a pretty interesting trip.  We spent 103 euros for a good amount of stuff.  I don't know if it makes a lot of sense for us to go all the way there.  Although some things were fairly cheap, the prices weren't too different, plus we have to consider the time it takes to drive/bus there and drag everything back.  I think I might stick to my stores across the street.  :)