Diamonds and Rust

Everyone seems to love Dandelions.
I saw this Recipe in the Le Menu. Try it if they aren’t all picked.

Dandelion Soup

1 Bunch of Spring Onions, chopped
1 Handfull of Dandelion Leaves,chopped
2 Soup spoons of Semolina
600ml of Vegetable Bouillion
100ml of double cream
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Fry Onions lightly in Butter,add Semolina and Bouillion.
Cook slowly in pan half covered by lid for 15 minutes.
Mash together if possible with a mixer.
Add cream and heat,add finely chopped dandelion leaves.
Add salt and pepper as liked.
Serve in warmed bowls,decorated with a swirl of cream and what else-
a small dandelion and leaf

From my earlier Dandelion post you will have read that Dandelions are good for you.
A salad made with the young leaves, picked before the plant starts to flower and mixed with an Aceto Balsamico salad dressing tastes really delicate and willl do wonders for your liver.

Salad might not be for you, but try Dandelion Pizza.

Roll out a round of Pizza pastry,
Spread with Tomato Sugo,
Cover with cut pieces of Mozzarella Cheese (about 100gr.)
Sprinkle with crumbled bits of Pecorino Cheese (about 50gr.)
Lastly cover with 3-4 slices of Parma Ham,and freshly milled pepper.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 2oo° C

Make a salad dressing with 1 Tablespoon of Aceto Balsamico,preferably rosso,and 2Tablespoons of Olive Oil. Salt and Pepper.

Mix with 50gr. of clean dry Dandelion leaves.
Spread over cooked hot Pizza,and serve immediately.

En Guete
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Yesterday I saw a Dandelion in bloom for the first time this year.

What a promise it made of warm weather and blue skies.

It reminded me of my childhood when we played in the fields and got the milk of the plant all over our hands and clothes.

Our Mothers were angry because the stains wouldn’t come out, and we feared that we would really wet the bed-for that’s what they said about picking Dandelions.

We didn’t have Coke in those days,but my Grandmother used to buy something that looked like it from the Lemonade Man who came around twice a week. It was called Dandelion and Burdock and I thought it was horrid.

I knew then that Dandelions were not poisonous,but I certainly didn’t want to swallow them in any form.

Now I know that there is hardly a plant growing in our fields that is more versatile, and like many spring flowers detoxifying.
From the first leaves you can make a delicate salad.Cooked the leaves are a bit like Spinach.

If you have a lot of patience you can even make a type of sparkling wine.

Roast the roots in Autumn and you can use them to replace Coffee grains. You can also make a kind of savoury paste if after grating them you mix them with Olive Oil.

The flowers are also known as “Poor man’s Saffron” and gives a Risotto a new note.

Dandelions are probably the first flower that children learn to love. Not only for their colour in a bunch but as a plaything when they are in seed.

Did you know that the seeds of a “Parachute” if blown into the air can travel up to 10 Kilometers.

Just the things for gardeners.

Easter has come and gone again. The heathen eggs eaten, and the taste of chocolate still deliciously on our tongues.

But was it also a religious festival for you?

The existence of God can be neither proven nor disproven.But experts agree that whoever believes in God lives longer.

But the power of prayer when used for others is of little or no use.

A study published by the “American Heart Journal” in 2006, and until now the biggest on the subject, showed that Bypass patients for whose good health was regularly prayed for didn’t improve more than that of others who hadn’t been the subject of prayer.

However on your own health religious belief has an undisputed positive influence.

According to a team from the University of Copenhagen,Denmark people who regularly attended a religious service lived on average 83,4 years,and by women the influence was even greater.

Intensive religious activity prolongs life is also the consensus of Ralph Kunz, Theology Professor at the University of Zürich,Switzerland. Brought about he says by a generally higher motivation in difficult situations. Ressourcen were better mobilised and bodily resistance to negative influences higher.

Religion as a general cure? Recipe for a better society?

Since the scales in my local medical man’s practice pointed out lately that I had actually put on 8 kilos in weight since I stopped going to work in March I have realised I must start being cruel to myself. It probably doesn’t seem too alarming, I now weigh 66 kg at a height of 5′ 8″. But I know………….

° 1 overweight kilo is equal to the weight of 8 kilos on the knee joints.( x8!)
° I have a wardrobe full of expensive trousers that I can’t get into.

° My favourite food, cakes,pastries,chocolate are just not healthy.

° And that there are tens of other reasons why we shouldn’t eat to kill either ourselves or animals.
° That I must do something about it.

Luckily a friend phoned soon after to ask me whether I would like to go to a talk by a nutritionist and natural health practitioner,who had cured something that she was suffering with by rearranging her eating habits. And that when our colleagues in white coats were already sharpening their knives.

I went along open minded but sceptical.

The practitioner herself was underweight and you could see it. Her husband, also there, didn’t have a pound to much and neither did most of the sixty people in the audience, a lot of them her patients.

She told us she had been diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis at the age of twenty one with the prognosis of being in a wheel chair at thirty five,she was now fifty two, and since she changed her way of eating completely, about ten years ago,she had never had a relapse. She didn’t say what if any medication she was taking.

Her audience were each given an unpeeled almond nut and told to chew it 40 times before swallowing, as not chewing properly was the first sin we all commit. Not breathing deeply enough the second, and not drinking enough the third.

And so it went on ,but I must say it sounded very feasible.

We must listen more to our bodies, and if we have a craving for a certain food then we should eat it because the damage is worse if we don’t, stress caused by declining a bodily wish is the greater of the two evils. But keep the portion small,and if the temptation comes too frequently chew it but spit it out before you swallow it.!

I don’t like meat much so I would have no trouble in giving that up, apart from feeling it not necessary to breed and keep animals in so we can eat them. Non red meat would be allowed in small quantities,but then you must eat nothing else for the rest of the day that isn’t cooked because meat stays in the stomach for twelve hours and would prove too strenuous for the digestion. Cow milk isn’t good for the digestive system and arteries. If we were meant to drink milk after baby age women’s bodies would have been made differently.Cow milk protein(Kasein) when mixed with calcium proves almost indissoluble in our stomachs and clogs all arteries and veins. We can get all the proteins we need from other sources we were told. –And I just love jogurt and Welsh Rarebit made with a good slashing of butter on the toast. Bread if it is not gluten free is also a no go, thing to say nothing of cakes etc. made out of wheat flour. Gluten glues the intestines together.! Chocolate is still O K when it is made of 100% Cocoa.

Our sweeteners should be honey,dates and raw cane sugar,dried fruit and bananas. Other sugar products,Cola,Sweetened Ice Tea,Lemonade etc. damages the flora of the intestines,apart from poisoning the nerves and ruining teeth.

Depending on weight drink 2 to 3 liters of fluid,water,tea,fresh fruit and vegetable juice daily. Drink before meals and not during or after.

If possible don’t eat carbohydrates and proteins together in the same meal.

Coffee and spirits? forget them,but a glass of wine is tolerated.

OK so I didn’t really come out a freshly baked Vegan,but it all made a lot of sense.

I have tried to keep to some of the rules and haven’t had any real cravings.( I did eat a small Brownie that someone brought to Art Classes yesterday)

I’m telling myself I must be a bit healthier, and my trousers aren’t quite as tight as they were two weeks ago.

Why don’t you try it for Lent

Illustration,thanks to istockphoto.com

My friend came up to visit from Lausanne last week as she wanted me to help her book a hotel room in Zürich. She could have tried through the Internet of course but it was a chance to see each other again, and chat about the things that only women chat about.

No problem to find a decent hotel room in this city, proud of it’s tourist tradition you may think, except we wanted to book a double room for someone in a wheelchair.

Luckily we didn’t have a budget, so our first stop was a high 5* hotel belonging to an American group across the river from the main railway station. The lobby was beautifully decorated with so many Orchids that I thought I was back in Bangkok. At least we had them to admire while we waited ten minutes to find out if they had a free room that was wheelchair maneuverable for the said dates. The staff at the reception also had a bit of difficulty with my friends’ accent, she speaks with the dialect from Bern but had offered to speak English if it was easier for them.

Eventually we were shown a double room and a suite, both very small by 5*standards. There we might have had difficulty getting through the bathroom door with a wide wheelchair,and there was no way we would have got between the end of the bed and the commode of drawers in the double room. So much for their wheelchair friendly room.
Having a drink in the bar was nice but a visit to the toilet brought the two steps at both ends of a twenty foot gangway to eye. One way of stopping drinking and driving a wheelchair I suppose. The hotel had been recently renovated. Somehow we had the feeling they didn’t want invalids.
We slipped a star, and tried a well established Swiss hotel in the major shopping district. Rooms compatible but decidedly tricky to wheel around in.They smelt of smoke (? from inside or out) and rates were higher than the first one.

And so it went on. Steps here steps there. Doors too narrow, bathrooms too small. Could it be that hotels didn’t want their guests to be offended by the sight of anyone with a disability.?

We had given up on most of the hotels in the center of Zürich for one reason or another.Then we came to Hotel Central. It couldn’t be more central but being by a tram stop and big road junction I hadn’t given it a chance because of the very likely possibility of it being very noisy.

I noticed the special wheel ramp by the entrance straight away. A friendly smiling women greeted us at the reception,

although we were both looking a bit the worse for wear by this time.
Could she help us? But certainly, the entire first floor was planned to accommodate guests in wheelchairs.!!!

She took us to look and we couldn’t believe our eyes or ears.

Perfect, modern, but friendly decorated rooms .Windows triple glazed,you could have heard a pin drop. Even specially designed toilets.

The price? It is probably the most reasonable 4* hotel in Zürich. We could book it straight away she told us,but we would get cheaper rates over the Internet page.

That’s real Swiss service.

At least one place where a hotel is a hotel for everybody.

I am exhausted. Physically and mentally.

I have just come back from my line dancing class. Now don’t laugh, I know line dancing went out with the Charleston

Two weeks ago I saw the announcement of a beginners class and I thought it couldn’t hurt if I toddled along to take a look at the company I might want to make a fool of myself in.

An Aunt and Uncle of mine , have been line dancing for the last ten years, they are extremely agile and alert and are now over seventy.They blame it on their weekly meeting.

My music appreciation covers many forms, good country is one of them, although I believe it’s considered bad taste in some circles in the United States, and here for that matter.

I thought I’d give it a try anyway seeing as it looked as if I definitely wasn’t the oldest in the group of sixteen women and two men.

Of course they don’t always dance to country these days. The music is very mixed which makes it all a bit more difficult.

In fact it really isn’t as simple as it looks, but that is what I wanted. It really needs a lot of concentration to keep in line,there are steps to be memorised and when and in which direction you should be turning. Chaos prevailed today because nine of the class were turning right when they should have been turning left. so it was all good fun too.

An hour of dancing was really quite strenuous so I felt at least after my second lesson this evening I was doing something for my physical fitness too.

I did make the pilgrimage to the home of country once. But I don’t have a hat, and I should have bought a pair of cowboy boots.

Three more lessons and we will be able to perform at the next Country and Line Dance Night she said.

Don’t say I get paid for it too.

I just felt like making a cup of tea but then I remembered I didn’t have anything to dip into it. (Definitely not done in the best circles but delicious and soul satisfying)

My favourite biscuits (Cookies) for dunking are Ginger nuts or Mc Vities Digestive.
Now a recipe has come to mind,which I promised to give someone years back but couldn’t find the exact one. Quick and delicious, so if you have a well filled cupboard run into the kitchen.

It is from a Swiss Cookery book by Betty Bossi. In Swiss Dialect it’s called;

Shoggi Chips

You will need;

100gr Butter

75gr White sugar

75gr Brown sugar

1 Tablespoon of water

1/2Teaspoon of Vanilla Sugar or a couple of drops of essence

1 Egg

175gr Flour

1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder (self raising flour could be used instead)

A sprinkling of Salt

100gr of chopped good Chocolate (the Recipe uses dark)

1/2 cup of chopped Walnuts

Cream Sugar and Butter together till light.

Beat in Egg and Water.

Add sieved Flour,Salt and Baking Powder and mix together.
Add chopped Chocolate and Walnuts .

Mix everything well together.

With a teaspoon make small piles and place them on a greased oven tray 6 centimeters apart.

Bake at 200° for 10 minutes.

Euthanasia <Greek eu-well + thanatos-death> is, thank liberal laws allowed in Switzerland.

No it doesn’t mean you can dispose of your Mother-in-law here when you get tired of looking after her. There are quite a few paragraphs to stop you doing this.

But it does mean anyone suffering physically beyond his limits, and without any hope of being healed has the right to die. Provided two medical doctors certify this is correct and the person can swallow, or turn on the infusion containing the usually given barbiturates himself he is on the right side of the law, if not of Heaven.

Hospitals don’t really care for this procedure. I don’t think it’s a matter of ethics, more of mucking up their look good statistics. But a patient can be discharged home or where ever to do what he likes.( Nursing homes are much more lenient, palliative suicide is carried out regularly and escorted suicide if wished)

This is where a couple of private suicide organisations Exit and Dignitas come in. Membership of the first,and they have over 70′000 members, is restricted to Swiss citizens, the other is not, and suddenly what is good for the Goose is not good for the Gander.

The procedure which of course is very discreet, and almost routine. If you have paid your subscription regularly,your papers are in order and you don’t wish to, or can’t die at home you will be taken by an “escort” to a quiet house somewhere, given your potion to swallow and a few hours later carried out. People don’t normally want the nice house next door to have a red light in the window so they certainly don’t want it to be used for these purposes.

The papers last week were full of a court case concerning an area in the agglomeration of Zürich ; Neighbours versus Neighbours.
It wasn’t just the psychological problems caused by living next door to a house of ill repute you could almost say, no it was that the house was rented to the organisation which admitted foreigners, and no one wanted suicide tourists.

Someone suggested they did it straight at the cemetery if they couldn’t find anywhere else!

I won’t try and give my opinion to the issue as yet, althoughI have been confronted with death and dying for all of my professional life and I don’t like seeing people suffer. But I’d like to read yours.

I just vaguely remember seeing a Sydney Pollacks’ film way back and rather on this theme ,”They shoot horses don’t they?”

But abortion or euthanasia it’s all a question of ethics, in this very ethical world.

A friend of mine has just called me to ask what kind of a day we had yesterday.Yesterday being the 1st of August, and the Swiss National Holiday.

It is celebrated by parties , speeches , bonfires, and fireworks.

The bonfires commemorate the fires that were lit on the hills of Helvetia on the first of August 1291 to spread the news of the joining together of the first three states in the country we now know as Switzerland .

I like the parties, the speeches range from conscience pricking to downright boring,they are usually political and their aim of course is to make us truly grateful that we live here, because the rest of the world wish they did.

And then we get to the Fireworks-and that was why my friend called me. They have a very loving and docile (towards the people she knows) German Shepherd dog called Astra,but on August 1st, like many cats and dogs in Switzerland she goes berserk because of the fireworks. Most people like to watch the fireworks, but that is at night. Here a lot of kids or otherwise think it’s fun to set off those loud ones during the day, and all day. You can imagine how it affects the animals.

Toward evening my friend and her husband decided Astra couldn’t take it any longer,so they packed their rucksacks and made for the mountains, at least there Astra would have some peace and they would celebrate the rest of the national day alone.

Alone, don’t you believe it. My friends are good hikers and climbers but so are a lot of others here and they had brought along their fireworks.

Astra? Well she really saw stars that night. My friends husband thought he could try giving her a nip of the hard stuff as a sedative, just a little of course,but Astra loved the taste and couldn’t enough of it.!!!

Didn’t a well known Scottish Whiskey firm use two black and white Highland Terriers as a logo? Maybe they still do.
Maybe someone would like to borrow a German Shepherd.

Next year I’m going to give some to Dominic von Tribo.