You know the stories where a writer goes off to a peaceful haven to focus and write? Like Love Actually. Or The Shining (well, without Kelly becoming a dull girl).

Uh oh

A cabin-type, lakefront place with a great view. Maybe in the Northeast somewhere. Like Vermont (it must be beautiful in Vermont this time of year…).

How lovely

Yeah, I’m doing that next week.

Wojtek and I are spending a week in west-central Vermont with his sister, brother-in-law and their dog. It won’t be all work and no play, thankfully, but those Jarosz siblings aren’t the earliest of risers, so I hope to have an hour to myself in the morning to focus and write. I’m excited.

At a Zurich Airport gift shop, on the top shelf above cow printed whatevers and chocolate proclaiming its Swissness was a souvenir I hadn’t seen before: Swiss Action Figures.

Swiss Action Figures

I’ll call the one on the left “Distinguished Yodeler” and the one on the right “Cowbell Carrying Champion.” I hope models like “Schwingen Competitor – with super swinging action” and “Alphorn Player – with working mini-alphorn (Try Me!)” are also available somewhere. These remind me of this video for joke action figures of the Brontë sisters.

What Swiss Action Figure would YOU want?

A few times a year, a new Swiss fruit comes into season and beams at me in all its ripe glory from the produce section. I get so excited about the opportunity to be super-Swiss with the new fruit that I buy it without thinking of what I’m going to do with it when I get home. That’s what happened with this carton of Johannisbeeren a few weeks ago.

Johannisbeeren (German); Meertrübeli (Swiss German); Red Currants (English)

Luckily, I came across a recipe for Johannisbeergrütze mit Joghurtnocken (Red currant jelly with yogurt balls). After a few rounds with Google Translate I had a workable recipe in English.

The resulting red currant sauce was sweet and tangy. The yogurt scoops tasted like super-moist, super-rich cheesecake. One scoop each was plenty for dessert.

And if you still have Johannisbeeren left over, try Romy’s recipe for Meertrübeli tarts!

Red Currant Sauce with Yogurt Scoops (adapted from Lavaterra.blog.de)

Yogurt (4 servings)

500 g full milk yogurt (3.5% milkfat)
150 g crème fraîche
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Mix until smooth. Pour mixture into a muslin cloth in a colander and let drain overnight. The mixture should be dry enough to shape into ovals with spoons.

Kelly note: After draining for a day and a half, the yogurt mixture was less than half the volume but was still sticking to the spoons when I tried to shape it. But it tasted good, so I used an ice cream scoop instead.

Yogurt and crème fraîche draining in a muslin cloth

Red Currant Sauce (way more than 4 servings)

700 ml red currant juice (Johannisbeersaft)
1 tablespoon sugar
30 g cornstarch
300 g red currants, stems removed

So pretty

Mix 3 tablespoons of juice, the sugar and the cornstarch in a small bowl. Pour the rest of the juice into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add the juice/sugar/cornstarch mixture and return to a boil, stirring often, until thickened. Let cool, then fold in the currants. Spoon over yogurt scoops.

Swiss fruit and dairy yumminess

I am delighted to announce the first Zurich Writers Workshop, October 1-3, 2010, coordinated by three Zurich-area writers (including me!). 

During the weekend, New York Times Bestselling Author Susan Jane Gilman and Novelist and University of Oxford Fiction Tutor Amal Chatterjee will demonstrate practical ways to improve your memoir or novel, as well as offer career advice to writers.

Also on the agenda: a literary tour of Zurich, a gathering at the James Joyce Pub, and a fondue dinner that includes readings from our instructors.

Check out the workshop website for more information. Registration opens mid-August.

The Üetliberg mountain is one of the most-suggested local places to visit in Zurich. The trip is even covered by the Zuricard, a great deal for visitors.

Once you’re up there, why not take an easy, 1.5-hour walk along the ridge to Felsenegg? It’s one of myswitzerland’s 32 recommended hikes. From Felsenegg, a cable car takes you to Adliswil, then it’s a quick train trip back to Zurich.

We did this hike at the end of May, when the weather was finally nice and the mustard fields were all in yellow bloom. It was a new burst of color in Switzerland’s normal green, blue and white landscape.