Neuchatel Makes Me Think of Chocolate

I don't know why Neuchatel makes me think of chocolate, but it does. Not the town, the name. Is there a chocolate called Neuchatel? 10 points to whoever can help me figure out why Neuchatel makes me think of chocolate.

In other news (well, I guess it's not super other. It's actually rather closely related), I love Neuchatel. It's cute and small and has a lovely lake. I was expecting to take day trips, but I don't really see that happening any more. There's just no point. Why would I pay money to leave somewhere I'm enjoying?

Lili and Ludo (her boyfriend) are really excellent hosts. I know Lili said she was going to stop reading the blog so that I could write whatever I wanted about them, but I'm still going to write about how wonderful they are, because it's the truth. Ludo is Canadian (from Quebec. Apparently, according to Lili, there's quite a distinction from people from Quebec and people from normal Canada. "Normal" isn't the right word there, but hopefully you understand) and Lili is French. They met each other when Lili was in Montreal, and I met Lili in a theater class at Cal two years ago. Now we're all in Switzerland. It's funny how small the world feels sometimes.

Anyways, they're both great. They have two bunnies that they love: Pumpernickle & Kartoffel. I had no idea that rabbits were the coolest pets in the world. They're clean and cute and run (well, hop. They're rabbits) around the apartment. They're trained to use a litter box, and Lili taught them tricks. It's awesome. I want a rabbit.

Last night Ludo cooked a delicious dinner. Salad with duck something (neck? I think that's what Lili said) and cheese and bread and nuts and just all around delicious. Seriously, they've been great hosts. I have a whole room to myself! The last time that happened I was in Dado's room (ha! Who is now in my room in California. Funny.).

Anyways, yesterday I spent most my time down at the lake. Reading, writing, swimming, doing nothing. Then last night we had the aforementioned delicious dinner and then went on a drive through the country side.

Then today I did some more nothing. Slept in late, walked to the train station to get train stuff figured out, walked to the post office, walked down to the lake, more reading, writing, and nothing. Took some pictures of swans. (They're everywhere!). Then it started to rain a bit, so I started meandering back. Stopped by Coop (i.e. Safeway) to pick up some food to make my wonderful hosts a dish from my motherland. Do you know what's hard? Picking out spices when you can't read OR smell them.

Then I came home and made said dish (while listening to One Direction. Don't judge). Apple pie. I don't really know how it turned out. . . I guess we'll see. It could be good, or it could be really not good. Instead of using measurements, it was more just, "umm, some of this and a little of this and some of this." So, it could very easily go either way.

You can't really tell from the picture, but the top is made out of hearts and stars. Hearts 'cause I'm a girl. Stars 'cause I'm American. Also, it's not as burnt as it looks. Or maybe it is. But in my defense, I only cooked it for 35 minutes, when it's supposed to cook 40-50. So not my fault.

Now it's thunder & lightening (sp??) outside, and I'm warm and cozy inside. I think I'll eat some bread and cheese.

Eating bread and cheese.

Cheese is one thing America needs to get better at. . . or maybe I just never knew that we have good cheese because I've just been eating cheddar for 22 years. Do we have good cheese?

Tonight we were going to do 2 out of these 3 things: fondu (even though it's summer and it's a winter thing to do/eat. Like baking Christmas cookies in July), go to the movie festival, or go hiking in the canyon. With the weather, I guess the decision was made for us. Which is nice, because decisions can be tricky.

Okay, I'm going to go reply to some emails, drink some water, and do other normal things. Today has been a very normal day. I keep smiling every time I remember I'm in Switzerland.