Closing time

One of the most irritating things about Switzerland has got to be the hours people work. I'm talking about the people in your neighborhood - your grocer, your cleaners, etc. I have been leaving for work at 7:15 or so and getting there at 7:30 (yes, it is SO wonderful to not ride the el. I do love Swiss transport!!). But stores do not open until 8 so I can't get any breakfast or coffees on the way to work. Not that I always picked up breakfast before but sometimes after a DT happy hour at Cactus which ended up at Trader Todds, it was nice to get a Cosi bagel and a diet coke on the way into the office. Uh uh. The closest thing I can get here to an egg and bagel sandwich is a croissant. Not a bad alternative but not the same.

Also I have been taking french class or typically working until 8. Stores close at 7. So I cannot buy groceries before or after work. So you are thinking, well, during the week I starve but on the weekends I can stock up? Generally yes. The grocery stores are open on Saturdays until about 6pm. But they are closed on Sunday. So this means two things. One, if you go out of town for the weekend, you are totally screwed if you need to buy anything for another week. Two, EVERYONE and I do mean that goes to the stores on Saturday. Not only that but they fill their carts with about 100 yogurts, walk extremely slow and manage to completely block every aisle or stare at a cleaning product for 5 minutes therey blocking me from getting my dish detergent AND generally have at least two bratty children or a dog in tow (the dog is ok with me). The store is not that big either.

So last weekend I was out of town and ran out of food last week. Literally. On Friday night I took stock of my fridge and cabinets. Here it is:

Cabinet - 1/2 bar of chocolate, 1 bottle white wine, 1 bottle champagne, italian seasoning. Yes that is it. But at least you know I have my priorities straight. Oh and paprika chips (a handful, and by the way they taste the same as barbeque. Completely fooled me into thinking they had something exotic over here).

Fridge - Lettuce (expired), carrot (expired), cucumber (expired), ONE egg (expired), milk (expired), broccoli soup (about a month old and I just opened it, covered in fur and white), butter, goat cheese (2 kinds), tiltser cheese (expired), parmasean cheese.

So I was totally covered in the way of condiments and desserts, but no actual food. Thankfully I did make it on Saturday and should be good for another week...unless I go snowboarding.

Which I will, because I went this weekend and it was amazing. More to come on that. The moral of this post is that you should be incredibly thankful for Jewel, Osco, 7-11 and etc!!