It took me a while to find this image but this is the one that says it best for me.
“Only the good die young” really applies here. Steve Jobs was 56 years old. Our generation has lost a genius.
And for anyone who doesn’t remember, Steve was fired from the company (Apple!) he co-founded back in 1976 only to form a new company Pixar (1995) which went on to produce the one of the most successful animation pictures to date – Toy Story. BTW, this is the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. Of course in homage to Steve we had to buy the new iphone 4S which comes complete with a very cool new feature – the digital assistant called “Siri” – all voice control! A new way to remember things, a new way to keep lists! I just hope I don’t have to enunciate in that weird robotic way although they claim you don’t have to.
Either way, brilliant and highly innovative once again – thanks Steve and R.I.P.

Seattle is known for it’s rain but a good friend sent me these shots which give us an entirely new perspective of the darling little drops. Enjoy my little raindrop Rorshach test! Above, a grasshopper’s antenna. Below I’m thinking this one looks like a Christmas ornament or some insects eye (frozen insect’s eye?)… Perhaps a Porcupine forgot his umbrella? This is what happens when Pomegranate seeds decide to take over the world… And finally, little glass pears, so beautiful! Next time it rains, it might be fun to take a closer look…
Thanks Lori – you are a sweetheart and a true Cozy fan!

Funny how that simple spaghetti dinner the night before turned out to be so much fun. I credit that to the gin and tonics! Little did I know how delicious and interesting the following night’s meal would be! We would grill a fabulous filet of beef, upon request I would make as an appetizer of mushrooms stuffed with spinach and pine nuts (see recipe at end of story!) and we would also have rosemary roasted potatoes and a big green salad with lots of end of summer tomatoes. Of course let the red wine flow! Urs treated us to more grilled sausages and this again proved to be a late night especially when Marian produced an authentic bottle of Absinthe she had drive 2 hours away to purchase from the area of it’s origin Val de Trevers - wow! Absinthe was declared illegal in 1915 due to it’s high alcohol level (90-148 proof!). As of February 2008, nearly 200 brands of absinthe were being produced in a dozen countries, most notably in France, Switzerland, Spain, and the Czech Republic. Because Absinthe is not made with sugar it is called a “spirit” not a liqueur. The spoon is used to place a cube of sugar on it and disolve it by pouring water over and into the glass of Absinthe. Tastes like Pernod to me! Check out my previous post on what is known as the Green Fairy! This drink used to be known to cause hallucinations so were we or were we not hallucinating when this creature came into the back yard at a distance of about 10ft? Hi Foxy Brown (or should I say Foxy Red?!) No, oddly enough we were still sober and this friendly fox visits Marian’s backyard on a somewhat regular basis. And now that Foxy knows what filet leftovers taste like (hey, save that that steak for me!) I don’t doubt it will soon be back! Already feeling I was a part of some wonderful Fellini film it went a step further when Corinne and Marian decided to give us an impromptu classical concert in the living room. A little drunk and a lot COZY we rambled up the steps (a stairway strewn with Marian’s artwork) and went quickly to bed! Tomorrow the train back to Zurich and soon our trip would end and home we would be!
MUSHROOMS STUFFED WITH SPINACH AND PINE NUTS (thank you Sid Hicks for this now internationally loved recipe!)
1/4 lb. large mushrooms
3-4 tbl. butter
1 small onion (finely chopped)
2 tbls. pine nuts (lightly toasted)
1 pkg. (10 oz) chopped spinach (defrosted)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Clean mushrooms and remove stems. Reserve stems.
Saute mushroom caps 2 minute in 2 tbl. butter (top and bottom).
Chop stems and saute for about 2 minutes with the chopped onion.
Stir in the pine nuts.
remove all the excess water from thh spinach (you should have about 1/2 cup).
Stir the remaining butter, cream and half the parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper.
Stuff each mushroom cap and place in an ovenproof baking dish. Sprinkle each cap with some remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.
And as they say in the Bussingy, bon appetit!

This is the first tale of two dinners. Both of which happened at the new patio table of Marc’s mother Marian in the French part of Switzerland in a tiny village called Bussigny in her lovely little garden.

On Thursday we had flown from Barcelona to Geneva to be picked up around 10pm by Corinne and Marian. Marian lives in a most charming house way out in the country (about a 40 min drive) with upper level views of far reaching country side (complete with castle) And yes, the sound of cowbells in the neighboring fields – so Swiss(and yet so French!).
The next day we were off to the local Migros to buy the weekend groceries. 2 dinners were on the agenda. Friday night would be a simple spaghetti and Saturday night a wonderful filet of beef had already been purchased which we would prepare on the grill.

Corinne, Marc and I spent a long time in that Mirgos – every decision seemed to be a major one but I knew I wanted at least one bottle of end of summer Rose!

Marc’s brother Urs showed up on his motorcycle from Zurich with a large supply of sausages and left no time in firing up the grill. Lots of jars of mustards and sauces (Curry Ketchup anyone?) appeared on the table along with Burli – crusty Swiss mini breads especially eaten with sausages! Were we saving room for spaghetti? This would be a long night and a long dinner so the answer was yes! White wine and beer made room for red wine but wait, what about the gin and tonics we wanted to make? So inspired by our Barcelona bar experience when at Migros we purchased several different bottles of tonic to try and duplicate the G&T we had tasted a few days ago with Gisela. Barcelona is doing to G&T’s what the states do to Martini’s – all kinds of different flavored gins with different tonics. We were just going for a version of what they called the limon version. It took a lot of mixology to get the perfect concoction but apparently we did as Marian took a long sip, looked up at the night sky and proclaimed the drink “heaven”!!! We had ourselves quite a chuckle over that one! We sipped into the wee hours knowing that hell, we were on vacation and could sleep and do whatever we wanted! What a COZY feeling! (and btw, even with all this crazy combinations there was not one hangover the next morning!).

What an amazing city, our first time there. Even though I have had a old roommate Gisela (a native Catalan) living there for over 10 years it took me this long to finally go and visit! ButI knew one of these days I would get to see her and it was like seeing her yesterday! Here we are catching up over delicious Gin and Tonics with am amazing view of the city. Barcelona is only a 1.5 hour flight from Zurich. We arrived around 9am and after checking into our hotel had the whole glorious fun filled (hot&humid!) day in front of us!
Tapas,Paella, Gaudi, Picasso – we wanted to see it all (and I wanted to eat all of these!!!!).

We strolled out of our hotel along the Passeig de Gracia passing all the posh shops – YSL, Dolce and Gabbana, a huge Burberry-you name it, they’ve got it – great fashion and great architecture in this city! Our destination however was the somewhat more humble Las Rambles market – a covered farmer’s market with every fabulous fruit, vegetable, prosciutto and seafood you could ever want!
All the fresh ingredients for Catalan cuisine!
If the cue wouldn’t have been so long we definitely would have eaten at this little spot that was dishing out amazing looking shrimps, lobsters and paellas – looked amazing! We stayed at 2 different hotels – the modern Hotel Omm right off of the Passeig de Gracia (on the roof a great contrast of old and new). And then in the El Born neighborhood Hotel Bany’s Orientals. Near the Omm we were around the corner from some great Gaudi and modernist architecture. We also discovered nearby the museum of Antoni Tapies (an artist I had not previously known about). The Sagrada Familia is a must see -one of Gaudi’s unfinished project which is in the process of being completed and will be done in 2012. This architecture is so complex and unusual you wonder who or how anyone could complete this project – wow!

Also another unfinished Gaudi project – Park Guell. The Picasso Museum is an absolute must – you learn so much about the artist and see an entire other side of his huge body of work – really incredible. We did not make it to the Miro museum, just didn’t have the time so that will be next time! BTW, a great guidebook also available as an app is Cool Barcelona (thanks Laura!).
A few restaurants to mention. First night, we ate at the “cafe” of Hotel Omm. Why does everyone in the lobby of this hotel look like someone out of a Disaronna ad? They offer lots of little plates so we tried pasta with truffles, risotto, and a cheese course to name a few.
The next night the formal dining room – full on fusion cooking! No hashbrowns on the side of this golden egg! Incredible, unusual food and this dinner went from 9:30 – 1am! Now we’re talking – a real Paella! Lunch with Gisela at 7 Portes - a real feast with lots of dishes which required a nap afterrwards! That night Gisela invites us to her home for a perfect simple Spanish dinner: the famous Tortilla Espanola , tuna with olives, melon with ham and amazing tomatoes! Our last lunch at the Hotel Banys Oriental’s restaurant – elegant and delicious and not too expensive either. What we loved about Barcelona:
1. The architecture- everywhere you go there is some amazing building
2. The art – wonderful museums: Picasso, Miro, Tapies
3. The fashion – lots of style not to mention so many hot girls on mopeds and pretty people too!
4. A big city but much more relaxed and easier than Paris (for example)
5. Great metro to make getting around easy
6. Delicious restaurants – lunch or dinner, take your time, it’s Spanish style!
7. The beach – we didn’t even have time to explore this (next time!)
We flew out of Barcelona around 7pm to a glorious sunset – what a perfect ending! Next stop Geneva, Switzerland for a little Swiss French flavor!

We just returned from a little over 2 weeks in Europe. We got back from our trip to Switzerland and Spain this past Thursday night around 11pm, got to bed around 1am and were both in the office the next day at 8:30am. Sounds crazy? Actually it was the best thing to do. Helped to get us right back into the swing of things. Today is Saturday and since we’ve already dipped our toe into the work well so we don’t have to “anticipate” any of that and can just spend the weekend both recuperating and remembering all the great times we just had! Lets start at the beginning – Zurich (above).

Cheers Barcelona, we’ll catch up with you in a bit…
When 3 of Mark’s best friends announced they were having a big joint birthday bash beginning of September we knew we had to be there! We arrived in Zurich Wednesday late afternoon and spent the next couple days hanging out in the city and visiting friends before the party on Saturday night. The guys had rented out Cabaret Voltaire – a super cool club originating back to 1916 where the Dada movement was formed. Marc and his friends had had their own “Dead Poet’s Society” years ago so this place fit the bill perfectly!The original cabaret featured spoken word, music and dance. The “Devo” like photo is Hugo Ball, one of the founders performing at the club. Other artists who visited included Paul Klee, Kandinsky and Max Ernst.The party was great but HOT. Air conditioners? Who needs ‘em (same goes for fans…). Europe was experiencing an unusual heatwave and this lasted for our entire trip! Party people outside to try and catch some post rain coolness or just catch a smoke. I am VERY happy not to be around so many smokers anymore. That took some getting used to. It didn’t take any time getting used to the drinks, dancing and people – but you probably knew that…
We spent the following day (Sunday) recuperating from the night before by walking around the city getting some fresh air and doing a lot of window shopping (heck, its Europe – everything, including the grocery stores are closed!). Zurich has it’s fair share of fabulous stores (Hermes, Prada, Grieder (Swiss answer to Barney’s) as well as 2 great department stores Globus and Jelmoli – which has a huge Zara incorporated into it which was great but I was bummed my dollar was worth so little – no shopping for me! So when shopping fails there is always nature and the lake is quite beautiful!
An early dinner that night with Martin and Bridgette before we left early the next day (ugh, a 7:30am flight) for Barcelona. Martin, you never fail us, always a fun and delicious evening!
Up next: Barcelona here we come!

Funny how things come about. We have been talking about having a picnic dinner all summer long but it has never happened. Now when we are super busy preparing for this trip and having lots to do a at work before we leave on Tuesday we somehow managed to finally pull it off. I guess the pieces just kinda fell into place.

We decided we would not cook Sunday night but get a roasted chicken from the store. We would use up whatever food we had in the house. We always have bits and pieces to pull together something. We knew that we wanted to take a walk to see the sunset and somehow it only made sense to combine the sunset with dinner and voila, the picnic was in full swing! The perfect neighborhood location was Betty Bowen park

Arugula+avocado+one purple plum = a yummy salad! Little potatoes sprinkled with fresh mint and broccoli and toasted garlic butter and of course our roasted chichen which I pre-cut for ease. A clandestine bottle of red wine. We were very happy and found our new “dining room” one that we would definitely return to! Note to self: next time do not forget plates (at least we had silverware…)! As you might guess I am going to say, even without plates, it was still extremely cozy! I forgot to mention the sunset, the reason we had our picnic to begin with!