A Rainy Day

Today it really only rained once and that was enough. It was just "pissing" down, I can't find any other words for it. I took the photo at the supermarket this morning just outside the entrance. At least I do not have to give the garden any water this evening. I have two very unsatisfied cats that do not like getting wet in the rain.
"Did you say something" I asked my big fat Nera cat
"Leave me alone" she says "don't bother me, hisss".
Tabby, her litter sister is just ignoring me. She spent most of the day outside on a chair where it was sheltered but now she is occupying a cushion at the top of the cupboard next to Nera.

So what can we do on a day like this. Not very much, but here is something I made for yesterday's evening meal.

At the back on the left we have an apple cake (Äpfelchueche). Take a shallow baking dish and line it with flaky pastry - you can buy it already rolled out. Then prod the pastry with a fork. Take 3-4 apples according to their size, peel them, cut them in half and remove the middle bits where the pips are, also the stalks. Then cut the apple in slices and cover the pastry it with it. Put in a heated oven (about 180° C) for about twenty minutes to get the crust slightly brown. In the meanwhile put 2 eggs and milk making about half a liter liquid with some sugar in a jug and mix with the electric mixer or a whisk until liquidised and then take the apple cake out of the oven and pour the liquid over it. Put back in the oven and bake until the milk-egg mixture is solid. Take out of oven, sprinkle with sugar and some cinnamon if liked and the Äpfelchueche is finished. You can also make the same using plums or apricots.

Now for the cheesecake (Chäschueche). Again line a shallow baking dish with bought rolled out flaky pastry. Prod the pastry with a fork. Grate about 200-250 grammes of cheese (I use Greyerzer, but you can use any cheese you like, even cheddar - it just has to be a hard cheese) and cover the base of the pastry with the cheese. Then mix 1-2 Tablespoons of flour with the cheese. Put 2-3 eggs, and milk in a jug (to make enough liquid to cover the cheese) and add some pepper - I usually put pepper from the pepper mill in it. Then mix with the electric mixer or whisk. Pour over the cheese-flour mixture and bake in the oven at 180° until brown on top - usually about 30 minutes.

The apple cake is eaten cold and the cheese cake warm. In Switzerland we usually make a soup to be eaten with the cheese one and the apple is eaten afterwards. You can also eat the apple with some whipped cream. If anything is not clear with these typical Swiss evening meal things, then ask. It is a bit of a custom in Switzerland that Friday is the day to eat this sort of thing. I think it goes back to the days when Switzerland was quite catholic and no meat was eaten on Fridays.

Otherwise I have not got a lot to say today. I just stayed indoors and played with my computer and some photos. Thursday evening was interesting. We had another one of our first aid evenings. The husband of one of my colleagues had chopped his thumb off sawing wood. It was all very realistic with a chopped of thumb and lots of red colouring material.

We had to look after a complaining husband and make sure the thumb was securely put in a plastic bag in a second bag containing ice to get it to the hospital to have it sewn back again. Then my friends daughter cut her leg open with some wire which we looked after and eventually her son managed to drive a nail through his foot. Quite an interesting evening. We finished the evening off with plum cake and coffee.

So that is the Saturday report from a rainy Switzerland. My cats are not available to say a few words, they are still sulking and so am I as West Ham United, my football club, lost 3:2 to West Bromwich Albion (one of those clubs from up North somewhere in England). Here is a photo of my wet pampas grass in the garden.