Ski the Alps

We left Geneva on a Saturday morning for the three hour drive to our ski resort, Tignes. Tignes is part of a gargantuan ski area that is actually two together, Tignes and Val d'Isere. Longer ago than I'd like to admit my family skiied both of these areas, before they were connected, and I have fond memories of both. Of course NOTHING in town looked the same after being away for decades, but the Alps and the Grand Motte Glacier still took my breath away.

View from our balcony

FFM riding his favorite kind of lift - POMA aka surface lift. 

The beginning of the week was snowy, up past F's knees in a lot of places! 

Twilight walk to dinner with pal Haaken.

Sunny morning, Travis getting ready to pop on his skis.
We had to walk a few yards uphill to get to the ski run.

View down the mountain to the village of Tignes.

Lunch on mountain, totally different affair than in the US!

Enjoying long, quiet, beautiful ski runs.

FFM loved all the different kinds of lifts, this was a massive 30 person gondola.

Having fun in the powder after my big crash!

Eric and FFM walking to one of the funiculars.

Patiently waiting for our turn on the "mountain subway"

Family ski day!

Life sure is good!

One evening we decided to go out to dinner with my Mom and Eric. I randomly picked a restaurant that turned out to be a local delight. After searching for our location, literally at the end of the road, we walked into a cozy stone building that had a row of flaming metal boxes out front. New to us, we used sign language (only place my rusty French didn't work well with totally non-English speaking staff) to inquire about the flaming boxes. Turns out it was for dinner, so we ordered enough for the table. Yum! Tucked under a big copper chimney we grilled various strips of meat, dipped in an assortment of sauces, and followed it up with a giant dish of potatos au gratin. Declared a gastronomic success!

Storm rolling in again, must be about time to head home.

Geneva - Switzerland

Part two of our trip took us to Geneva, Switzerland via a high speed TGV train. Our ski resort was in France, but Geneva is the closest major city. We met up with some friends and family there for a few days of Swiss sight seeing.

I would like to say that I would happily travel by high speed train anytime. It was so smooth, so quiet, and SO FAST! Lovely way to go.

Leaving Paris on our way to Geneva

Living large!

 The train served us a snack on our three hour trip, brie, prosciutto, fruit, and a mini baguette. No lame bags of pretzels when flying across France! Grown ups could, of course, also have a glass of wine with their snack.

 Day 1 in Geneva was stunning, we went for a walk around part of the lake and watched the famous Jet d'Eau.

 FFM is a big fan of alternative modes of transportation,
 a trip on the free water taxi was a must.

Souvenir shopping in Geneva included buying a fair bit of chocolate and nearly coming home with a cuckoo clock. We also did housekeeping things like laundry; Travis gallantly took a couple of bags to the closest laundromat which happened to be located in the red light district. Walking around waiting for the spin cycle to finish he got to view all kinds of ladies strutting their stuff in nearby shop windows. Meanwhile FFM and I had a fun filled afternoon catching up on homework.

Next day we rented a tiny car 

and headed up the nearby mountains to the town of Gruyere.

 Guess what they make in Gruyere? Yup, delicious cheese! After watching the cheese maker start a batch of cheese we checked out the cheese flipping robot. The curing cheeses get flipped and rinsed with a brine until they are all done.

The whole place smelled a bit cheesy...nevertheless FFM thought we should bring one of these with us. Whole wheels weigh in at 35kg, so Travis vetoed him.

F's Semi-Famous Hot Oat Pucks

This spring we made some adjustments to our food storage so FFM could easily reach and prepare meals on his own while I recuperated from hip surgery. I still avoid having him work with sharp knives and hot surfaces unsupervised, so it was tricky to figure out some of his favorites. He prefers to make his own breakfast a lot of the time, which is great since I'm not super chippy in the mornings. Thus F's Hot Oat Pucks were born.

 We keep a bag of these in the freezer and he can help himself and microwave a couple anytime.

F's Hot Oat Pucks
  4 C milk
  2.5 C water
  4 C regular oats
  1/4 C maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice or leave out if)
  2-3 T cinnamon
  1 C toasted chopped walnuts
  Raisins, Craisins, and/or frozen berries of your choice

Bring milk and water to a boil and add oats.  Cook about 5 minutes, or until your preferred consistency. Remove from heat. Add maple syrup and stir through. Add cinnamon, walnuts, and fruit and stir until well combined. Let cool for 5-10 minutes

Spray two 12-count muffin tins with cooking spray. Alternatively, use silicone and skip the spray. Fill cups all the way to the top with oat mixture. We have various sizes and I try to fill them so that the pucks will all end up about the same size. This means filling giant cups only halfway.

Place all your tins in the freezer for a few hours until totally frozen. To remove from a metal tin you may need to run a little warm water across the back of the tin. To remove from silicon pan simply pop out by pushing on the back of each cup. Put into a freezer bag and return to freezer.

When you are ready for Hot Oats, place 2 pucks into a 2C glass measuring cup and add a splash of water or milk (more if you like your oats runny). Heat for 2 min and 30 seconds for a 1000w microwave.  To serve F's favorite way, tip into a bowl and add 3 generous spoonfuls of yogurt and stir.  Yum!

I don't usually sweeten his oats, so I don't always put in the maple syrup. Sometimes I have smooshy bananas around and I mix them in at the end, too. Nuts go in when I have them handy, and if you're an adult you might like to add half a teaspoon or so of salt for your palette.