It’s been a while since I posted, I’ve been away and now the Christmas holiday has been and almost gone, I have a bit of time to start to catch up on my life here on my blog. A fantastic time away, what a break from the norm and what a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and family.
These last few weeks I have reaffirmed the importance of distant family. I can sometimes take for granted what I have and especially my circumstances its easy to focus on the immediate family while unintentionally, not make as much effort for those who are further afield.
The majority of my family live abroad in Switzerland as you might already know. I rarely get the opportunity to visit my uncles, aunts and cousins. There is also a language barrier that, while I can speak French, still can be a bit of a struggle in conversations when they aren’t able to speak English and brain failure means I can’t remember a verb.
Visiting Switzerland for me this time around was extra special. It was the first time I have visited my family on my own and on the first couple of days I was able to really chill out and feel welcomed by my aunts and uncles. My cousins were on hand every evening so ensuring that I had company at the local bar (La Taverne).
Waking up each day an looking straight out on to the mountains is something I don’t think I could ever get enough of. I explained this to all of my family while I was out there and while they do appreciate the scenery, as with most people, myself included, you tend to take for granted your immediate day to day surroundings.
Along with the family catchups and the need for a time to relax, the other reason for my get away was to take to the skies with the drone. I hadn’t yet had time to fully use it and review it but here was an opportunity to put it to its test while having the chance to take in the breathtaking scenery.
The first full day, I was taken up to Les Crosets, a local ski station, a jump of point to Les Portes Du Soleil, the largest international skiing resort in Europe. I have skied here before and know the area well its beautiful bowl areas make it one of the best places in the world to ski and being able to nip over to France too, makes it that more interesting to visit. On a tangent – it was gutting being in a position where I could just grab some skis and go but sadly wasn’t to be for this trip. I managed to get a few great shots up ‘Crosets’ and ‘Mossettes-Suisse’
You can a short on my Instagram feed:
Or full length (sadly no sound) on my YouTube channel, shortcut links below:
My cousins had warned me before I came that Switzerland had an early ‘dump’ of snow and so while the skiing season hadn’t officially started the resorts were opening a few runs early and some had taken the opportunity to get out and get on it. Fresh snow, clean air, blue skies, what could one possibly want more, other than a quick visit to the brasserie and a refreshing cold glass of Fendant Swiss white wine. Its a rare opportunity that I get to drink this, by far my most favorite wine in the world. Its amazingly crisp and dry, typically had when having a cheese fondue, but hey! When in Rome, or in this case Switzerland.
We returned that evening to my aunt and uncles to a fondue bourguignon. If you don’t know, this is a Fondue without cheese! Instead of the traditional molten cheese in a pot, you use oil, typically rapeseed oil but I have tried this with coconut oil or raisin oil, all of which are low in saturated fat and high smoke temperature making them good enough to use in terms of health and not affecting your smoke alarm! Instead of the bread which is ordinarily dipped into the fondue, you use meat such as steak, duck, chicken whatever you fancy and this is then served with traditional mayonnaise dips. I also tend to have this with saffron rice or if I’m feeling lazy – chips.
The great thing about eating this way is that there is little effort required, just the preparation of the sides and you cook however you like your meat. As there is a small amount of waiting time involved, this gives you a really social way of having dinner and chat about whatever as you are cooking. The added bonus is that while you don’t have your plate piled high with all you can eat in one hit, you tend not to feel so bloated after eating, allowing time to pass while cooking your next bite. Add this with a splash of red wine and the evening couldn’t get better.
So clearly this break was delivering on expectation with only anticipation of what to do next day as the problem to resolve later.