Rapperswil Beer Festival

Early in September, while we were still living in our tiny temporary apartment, we actively sought out day trips to stretch our legs outside of Zurich.  Knowing my love of microbreweries and tastings, the Swiss Ms. suggested a local beer festival in Rapperswil (near the southeast tip of Lake Zurich).  After a short train ride, we arrived at the "Town of Roses" (we will have to revisit when the town's namesakes are in bloom!)

Rapperswil Train station.  I became a little directionally mixed up...

A wrong turn took us on a walk in the opposite direction of the beer festival for a good half hour (my fault).  At least our walk took us by a zoo!

Back in Rapperswil's beautiful Altstadt (the old town).

A view of lake Zurich and the old town from Schloss Rapperswil.

The beer festival was held at Schloss Rapperswil (Castle Rapperswil).  For 10 CHF/person, we received a commemorative Rapperswil Craft Bier Festival tasting mug and three drink tickets to try out the delicious local brews!

It was PACKED in the castle.  A clear tent covered the open courtyard.

An example of some of the unique beers showcased by local breweries.  The Black Noir was a rich porter, with hints of mint.  Other favorites included a crisp White IPA and a Whiskey Brown Ale.

Prost! (Cheers in German)

It may not seem like much, but this was one of the best pretzels I have ever had.  (Sorry Philly...)  We had to go back for seconds!

No German beer festival is complete without bratwurst!

A map of Switzerland, with each of the pins representing the breweries at the festival.  

We also took some time to explore the town and relax by the Lake, enjoying the summer weather.

Beyond this beautiful old building you can catch a glimpse of a passenger boat.  You can travel all the way back to Zurich by water.

This slide started up near the castle and wound all the way down the hill!  Wish they made it adult-sized...

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Herr Cervelat

Fall Harvest at Jucker Farms

Nothing says autumn to me like pumpkins and spice.  I remember when we were in the US, starting late September, EVERYTHING had pumpkin flavor.  Pumpkin muffin, pumpkin soup, pumpkin latte, pumpkin pie, pumpkin beer, etc.  However, the Swiss do not infuse pumpkin flavor into every possible comestible like we do in America.  

Sorely missing in Switzerland.

Thankfully, many local farms and stores do sell pumpkin (or Kurbis in German), so we decided to make a trip out to Jucker Farms near Seegräben, a quick forty minute trip from Zurich.

A view of Pfäffikersee (Lake Pfäffik) down the hill from Jucker Farms.

While our photos make Switzerland seem sunny and clear, in reality, most days are cloudy and overcast.  We have lucked out with good travel weather.

Not surprisingly, the farm was packed with families enjoying the fall harvest bounty and crisp autumn air.  

Families grilling bratwurst over the grill.

A selection of apples!

And gourds!  We bought some to decorate our new apartment.

There were also many creative pumpkin sculptures.

What have we here?  A chicken and..

...her egg!

Lion King

Pumpkin knight and his steed

Pumpkin honey bees

Will a kiss turn him into a Pumpkin Prince?

Winners of the largest pumpkins!  The first place winner weighed 588 kg!  (~1300 pounds!)

Frolicking through the fields!

Yes, that is Kurbis Secco (Pumpkin Prosecco).

Savoring the delicate aroma and bouquet of Kurbis.

Of course, what post would be complete without food pictures?

A cart of dessert!

Admiring the view.

To top it off, Bratwurst with bits of Kurbis inside!

Finally, we bought a Kurbis or two to roast ourselves!  Canned pumpkin is stupendously expensive at 7CHF for one small can!

Roasting some Kurbis for...

...Chocolate Chip Kurbis Bread!

Happy pumpkin season!

-Herr Cervelat

Swiss Holidays: Swiss Labor Day, Feast of the Ascension and Muttertag!!!

Tag der Arbeit (Labor Day), May 1st:

I was surprised to learn that May 1st was a holiday for the Canton of Zurich.  In fact, upon further reading, May 1st is International Workers' Day (May Day) and over 80 countries officially recognize this holiday.  The United States equivalent is celebrated on the first Monday of September, Labor Day.  

View of Bürkliplatz, which on May Day becomes a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist and communist groups.  Because of these large demonstrations, many trams and buses originating from or going through Bürkliplatz were cancelled.

As we know, holidays are treated as Sundays, so the day before, we went out to Coop and loaded up on tons of beer and sausage for a barbecue at the park in Wollishofen, (a section of Zurich north of Thalwil).  

We are ready for the picnic!  Wait until you see all the sausage we bought! (pictured below)

Public, electric grills that are regularly cleaned and maintained!  Just add meat!

We had initially bought some aluminum pans to keep our meat from directly touching the grill, but an immense amount of heat got lost on the corrugated pans (very poor heat transfer).  Even after an hour of cooking, we had barely seared one side of our sausages.  We were so fed up and hungry we threw food safety concerns to the wind, trashed the pans and placed our food directly on the grill.  Everything was cooked within minutes!  Lesson learned: don't mess with Swiss genius.

After an hour, still very under-cooked and cold...

Pork sausage in the shape of a snail from the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

St. Galler OLMA Bratwust (very large veal sausage), similar to the sausage we had in our trip to St. Gallen.

Sausage on skewers filled with cheese, and wrapped in bacon.  The crowd favorite!

As you can see, there was no shortage of food! (And yes, as you can see from the packages, it cost quite a bit.  Meat is expensive in Switzerland).

The grill was certainly very busy that day too!  People filled the park and kept the BBQ going all afternoon.  


Auffahrt (Ascension Day), 39 days after Easter:

This holiday occurs thirty-nine days after Easter Sunday and always falls on a Thursday (also referred to as Holy Thursday).  The canton of Zurich took the day off, and as such, we decided to relax with another barbecue.   

For Labor Day, we went to Coop the day before and were prepared with grilling goodness.  Unfortunately, we were not so prepared for Ascension Day, and foolishly decided to hazard the grocery store at Zurich HB.  On Sunday and holidays, all businesses, except those that serve food or are located within the train stations are closed.  This means that the few businesses open, especially the grocery stores, are absolutely mobbed.

Ascension day was no exception.

It was packed.  The Migros at Zurich HB is significantly smaller than most grocery stores and we felt like sardines in a can. Another lesson learned.

Trekking our way back to Wollishofen, we met up at a fellow post-doc's patio and grilled some more sausage!

This would have cost us about 60 CHF.  However, they were on AKTION (means that the food is DISCOUNT and on sale) and only cost us about 30 CHF.

So.  Much.  Bacon.  Sausage.

Our host was Italian, so he broke out some delicious cibo Italiano (Italian food) to accompany our grilled meats.

Starting from the freshly baked bread on the top (courtesy of Migros), clockwise, we have olive verdi snocciolate (pitted green olives), filetti di alici all'olio di oliva (anchovy fillets in olive oil), hunks of provolone cheese from Italy, cheese filled bacon wrapped sausages, carciofini interi in olio di semi di girasole (whole artichokes in sunflower seed oil) and melanzane a filetti della Puglia (eggplant strips from Puglia, Italy).

Seriously good stuff.


(Muttertag) Mother's Day, Second Sunday in May:

Today, we decided to go out for a walk to Rüschlikon, the town next to Thalwil, and go to Park im Grüene for a light Sunday brunch!  It also happens to be one of the few places that is open on Sunday around Thalwil (aside from the Starbucks downtown).

Sponsored by Migros!

Beautiful public park with the Migros Restaurant in the back.

Amazing spread at the restaurant.

Our Sunday afternoon treat!

Migros-made croissant and creme cornet (delicious buttery vanilla cream).

A colorful (and crowded!) play-pen inside the Migros Restaurant for families.  The Swiss are very mindful of play spaces for children.

Happy Mother's Day!

-Sir Cervelat