I spend my very last days with my host family, it was very special! Last night we celebrated my host mom's birthday, and then this morning they left at 9am. Suddenly I was no longer an au pair! It is a feeling which I do not think will sink in fully for a wee while!
Today I enjoyed my last day in Switzerland packing my life into my backpack, then I took a walk by the beautiful Lake Geneva.
Then, later in the evening, I went out for dinner with the parents of my host mom and my host mom's sister. We went to a small local restaurant, shrouded under beautiful grapevines which formed a ceiling to the outside courtyard where we sat. We had fondue because in all my 19 months with the family, I had always somehow missed out on the nights when they had fondue! So finally I was able to experience Swiss fondue!
It is an interesting meal because there is some etiquette you have to follow. First they recommend that you drink quite a bit of water beforehand because the fondue makes you thirsty. Then you take a piece of bread and dip it deeply into the cheese (fondue is made by melting cheese with wine), stirring it around then you blow on it and eat it! Everyone shares the same fondue pot, and if you drop your bread into the fondue pot you have a punishment - girls have to kiss all the men at the table, and men have to pay for the whole table's wine! Luckily I didn't lose any of my bread in the pot!
The fondue was delicious! Creamy and smooth. But once you start eating the fondue, you should not drink cold water, only hot drinks or wine, so I took a tea to sip. Even after the fondue you should not drink cold drinks for 2 hours approximately because otherwise the cheese solidifies in your stomach and it is very difficult to digest. All this etiquette of eating fondue! So interesting and so scrumptious! It was the perfect end to my Swiss adventure.
Tomorrow I will take the train to Marseille, France and begin the next phase of my trip!
Ciao!
Hi Gina Love your new Blog! Wow what a fondue experience...... as you probably know fondue was a very trendy thing to do back in the 1970's, here in NZ anyway - and I hosted many a fondue party back in the day, but never knew about all the "etiquette" involved. Maybe that is why it went out of fashion ....... too many people suffering the next day!
ReplyDeleteSomewhere in my cook book collection I have a fondue one, which now you have brought fondues to my attention I must dig it out and give them a go again - this time following the correct process!
Take care Gina - travel well.
Love and Blessings
Cheryl