Visiting and the non-cow fights

On Friday Frank came down for a visit, we watched Big Bang Theory and made cheese fondue (second time this week!). Well, there was a slight problem... I ran out of white wine and the fondue was still a little thick. This being Switzerland, and after 7pm, meant there was no place I could think of to pick up some more. So I suggested we add some water to the fondue. I strongly maintain that it was Frank's suggestion to add the milk, though I will confess I didn't nix the idea....

Anyway, the fondue was certainly tasty but by the end of the meal the cheese was getting very ... foamy. You would dip your bread in it and desperately search for some cheese to load on but sadly the foam would overwhelm. Anyway, high five over the fondue pot, horray for having low standards and not being food snobs and we will never ever speak of it again. Until now. Don't tell the Swiss guy in my lab.

On Saturday we caught a train and post-bus to Flaschen, a small village in Valais. They were supposed to be hosting cow fights which are supposedly a traditional Swiss thing but the Swiss guy in my lab says they are just for the tourists. Pshaw, I know he wouldn't eat foamy fondue either. Anyway, the weather was quite bad when we showed up so they had just canceled the fights. Good thing we had brought our skis because the conditions were fantastic. It started dark and stormy and quite windy at the top. However, as the day progressed the clouds cleared.

The ski conditions were pretty good. Icy underneath but lots of un-skied powder the entire day because the mountain was empty.

Ugly blue hat aside, these photos of me skiing lately have been much improved without the ugly glasses from high school. I wear them because I broke my last decent pair of glasses skiing at Whistler. I had such a wipe-out they snapped in half and we had to do emergency repairs with tape and a plastic fork tine liberated from the cafeteria. Yeah, that would look awesome in the lab.