land of the free and home of the hamburger

Jetlag is no competition for a hamburger. I forced myself to stay up until almost 10pm (4am Zürich time) so that I could enjoy a hamburger, fresh off the grill and covered in good old Heinz ketchup. It was delicious. Granted in the face of severe sleepiness and the fact that it was my eighth meal of the day I could only eat about three bites, but those three bites were full of the flavors of an American summer. In truth the corn salad with red onion and avocado and the cherry-laced green salad were almost better than the burger. I love corn salad. I wonder if I'll see corn in the Swiss markets, for some reason I don't think so. 

One thing I hope I never see in Zürich are these crazy hot and humid days. It is 98 today. 98 freaking degrees and with 130% humidity. The minute I stepped off the plane yesterday, in my sweater and jeans, I was overwhelmed by the  heat. Absolutely miserable. Put me on the beach, next to the breaking waves, and I'd be happy, but it doesn't look like that is on the agenda this trip - some trips to the steamy hot city and lovely toasty New Haven yes, but the ocean, no. The ocean will have to wait for another trip, of which I might be making many this summer based on my current visa situation. I have used up 47 of the 90 days that I am allowed to be in Switzerland from April until September, so until my spouse visa comes through (application isn't even in yet and it takes 8-10 weeks to get) I will have to ration my time in Switzerland. 

That's Molly at the door. When she's outside she wants to come inside and when she's inside she want's to go out. She's always the one that rings the bell to go out and the one to scratch the door to come in. Ellie, sitting on the wall behind her just sits quietly and waits for us to answer Molly's calls. I wish we could have dogs in Zürich, but it would really limit our ability to travel on the weekends. 

My mom asked what she should put in the salad, and I think I said strawberries, but she heard cherries, or perhaps she is so enamored with my cherry pie that she has cherries on the mind, but anyway she bought cherries and so into the salad they went. "ooo ooo ooo a squirel!" thinks Molly...meanwhile I'm thinking "mmm mmm mmm bbq'd chicken"

Zach if you are reading this, I hope it inspires you to go out and buy a grill this weekend! Think of all the hamburgers we could make! If you buy a grill, I'll bring back cheddar cheese in my suitcase. 

I never think to grill shrimp, but once we have our grill (hint hint Zach) I'm going to grill shrimp a couple times a week. They were marinated with lemon juice and a cesar-ish dressing - scrumptious! Is it weird that I like shrimp, but hate lobster? I know, a New Englander who hates lobster! I just really don't like the texture. Shrimp are so little and bite size and I think it might be something about the scale of lobster that I don't like. Now that I type this I don't even know when the last time I tried lobster. Maybe when I'm at the beach later this summer I'll buy a lobster, smoother it in butter, and give it another try. Or perhaps I'll try a lobster roll, people seem to love those...

The party lights from our engagement party last september are still up! Last night was the inaugural lighting of the summer season. 

So I've had the good old American hamburger and now I have my eyes/stomach set on some Mexican and some sushi!