Tuesday, August 9, 2011

I have fallen in love again!

For those of you that know me well, you can recall that I have an obsession with rainbows. Even better rainbow sprinkles....but let's not get off track. I was reading the Everyday magazine by the cooking goddess Racheal Ray when I stumbled across a recipe to make rainbow cake. I stopped dead in my tracks and read the article three times, just to make sure I wouldn't forget how to make it.

Then I made the worst mistake of all...I googled it. Oh Lordy, I about had a heart attack from all the awesomeness being displayed on my iPad screen. I wanted to make everyone I saw. I actually may put that goal on my bucket list. I am only 24 I can totally achieve it.

The process is fairly simple. Just a white cake mix and some food coloring. Really thats all. Some of them are seperate cakes put together in layers, while others are mixed together in the batter. Here are some of my favorites. Let's take a look.

The process. Even the dirty dishes are beautiful!























The muti layer approach.





Extreme multiple layering.





The cupcake.





Rainbow cake in a jar. What the nuts! I totally am making this! They also had. Bazillion other recipes on this website for cakes in a jar. Check it Cake in a jar





The swirled batter kind.






The wedding cake.





My favorite. Perfect form, color, and sprinkle proportions.





Pure bliss. Don't you just want to make these!

Location:Holy Cross, Iowa

Friday, August 5, 2011

Top 10 things we didn't know about Italy and Switzerland

1. Most all beds have two mattresses and two blankets. Its amazing to have your own stuff but still be in the same bed.



2. Their main major transportation is by train between country to country.



3. All their pop is in glass or a skinny can. I wish America would adopt this.



4. In Italy it smells. Bad. Real bad.


5. Gelato is everywhere. And it is delicious! In Rome their was a Gelateria on every city block.


6. In italy, They drive like maniacs and will run you over with their Vespas or Fiats.


7. They call the bathroom a water closet! Or as I like to call it the 'ol WC.


8. Ice cubes are hard to come by. They hardly ever use them.


9. In Switzerland they use rocks to keep their roofs on due to crazy winter weather!


10. All the temperature is in Celcius and time is in Military.



Location:Holy cross, Iowa

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Gimmelwald to Luzern

It was bittersweet waking up to leave for Luzern. I didn't want to leave Gimmelwald. I was trying to convince Chris that we should just but the ladies house we were staying in, then we could come back whenever we wanted and could rent it out to our American friends other times. We packed up and went down to Lauterbrunnen to buy cheese. Here is the variety we bought. The cheesees are named after the valleys the cows have grazed in.








Breakfast, a custard creme horn. Just married waiting at the train station.





The city of Luzern. The lion, the swans, and the bridge.





The perfect combo of lake, town, and mountains.


Can't pass up a gnome photo op.


The lion monument. This thing is huge, the picture doesn't do it justice.


My old name!!!


The beautiful bridge








There were paintings inside the bridge.








Ahhh Luzern.


After this we went back to our hotel and watched a movie. At this point we were exhausted of constant travel and wanted to go home. Luckily tomorrow was our day. We traveled early to Zurich and caught the plain. Fast and efficient is the name of the game for Swiss ways.





I took Dramamine and slept the whole way back to Chicago. It was amazing. It was a day flight so Chris just boozer the whole way home, Te good food, and drank red wine. I was sleeping but he always was thoughtful and got. Drink for me. Not. What a lush, cheating the system. We arrived in Chicago at 3:45 grabbed our bags from above our heads and went to customs. We left and went out to the bus stop and was on the bus to Rockford Illinois at 5:00. My mom and Chris's mom picked us up and drove us 2 hours back to reality.

Location:Farley, Iowa

Gimmelwald 2

After the nap we woke up to what seemed like even more beautiful scenery. These two pictures are out the windows of our room.





We got ready for the rest of the day and walked to the lift to catch a ride down to Stechelberg.








Then to Trummelbach falls. This is a waterfall that is inside a mountain. It was really loud and kinda neat because you don't know what to expect because you can't see what you are going to! We had to take a ride up and elevator to get closer to the top!

















The pictures can't do it justice. It is beautiful! When we were at the bottom we saw this. Been there done that.


Then we went back up to Gimmelwald for lunch. I wish we could eat outside on a deck with this view everyday!











Our next venture was a hike that Rick Steves recommended. It is called an Alp hike. Alps are small huts up high in the mountains. They usually have cheese making facility and are like a small b&b for hippies. We went to Murren and rode the funicular up the mountain to allmundahl. Walking through Murren. That cool track up the hill is what we go up!














At the top! We had someone take our picture in front of this gorgeous scene!


On our hike! Our first stop is the Suppenalp. In the first picture it is the larger building towards the middle upper left.








We had to cross through the cows pasture to keep hiking.


We kept going to our next Alp! Here they make cheese and we got to see the process in action. We actually bought some cheese here!


The top of that mountain was the Piz de Gloria, where we were earlier in the day!





Continuing on... We knew we were getting close because we could hear cow bells.





The fancy cowbells! Cheese making and milking!








On our way to the third Alp





Finally we arrive!





Beer break


Then we decided to hike to the Sprutz waterfall. It was a steep windy decline through the forest.


In this picture you can see the steps behind it and on the right side. The hike trail goes right behind and underneath it!








Headed towards Gimmelwald.





The top view coming out of the forest into . Our house is towards the top in the middle. After we got down to the village we bought some cheese at the cheese hut. There were also fellow Rick steves junkies buying cheese too.






Location:Farley, Iowa