Monday, February 5, 2007

So Long And Thanks For All The Chili

G'day mates! First of all, I have to disappoint you all. I promised embarrassing drunk pictures, but unfortunately none of us got drunk enough for that. It wasn't for lack of trying, I assure you, since we did play several drinking games. I guess the alcohol just made us sleepy instead of funny (or just sleepy and funny but not falling-over-the-chair-type of funny). Long story short, instead of booze-induced pictures you'll find lots of pictures of food. Or the food being prepared. Or of people eating said food. Or the empty plates after said food was eaten. I guess what I'm trying to say is, that there was lots of food. Friday's leftover Chili becoming the weekend's running gag just illustrates my point (for those of you who were present at the time, it's very reminiscent of the oasg 2005's "wötsch no e Wurscht"-running gag).

Anyway, while we had trouble finding it at first (shout-out to the St.-Calixte Couche-Tard!), the Chalet was very pretty and I think we all felt at home the moment we got there. Saturday was our big skiing day at St.-Sauveur, with mostly great weather and snow conditions. It was kinda weird for me at first, though, cause when we got there I kept looking for the mountains, until I realized the slopes were on the little hill in front of me;-).

Sunday was our fun day, our we don't have to run day, with a big brunch and some sledging / playing baseball outside. All in all, a great time! Thanks again Benoît for organizing and Léonard for being our designated driver the entire weekend! And thanks to all of you for a great weekend!:-)

Hallöchen meine heissgeliebten Honigkuchenpferde (ja, mir gehen langsam die originellen Anreden aus, macht einfach gute Miene zum bösen Spiel, ok?)! Erstmal muss ich euch leider enttäuschen, ich hab euch ja alkoholbedingt peinlich-lustige Fotos von Hühnern und Hähnen (danke, noo) versprochen. Leider waren wir trotz viel guten Willens und unseres grossen Einsatzes zu keinem Zeitpunkt betrunken genug für diese Art von Bildern. Ich schätze der liebe Alkohol hat uns eher schläfrig als lustig gemacht (bzw. schläfrig und lustig, bloss nicht die Art lustig, die auch auf Fotos lustig ist, wenn ihr versteht, was ich meine). Jedenfalls, um es kurz zu machen, statt Alk-Fotos gibt's Futter-Fotos. Leute beim Futter zubereiten. Fotos des fertigen Futters. Leute am futtern. Bilder von den leeren Tellern nach dem Futtern. Auf jeden Fall genug Futter, sodass wir einen signifikanten Beitrag gegen den Welthunger hätten leisten können, wenn die ganze Logistik bei sowas nicht so mühsam wäre. Kein Wunder war der Chili-Reste-Berg vom Freitag unser Running Gag für den Rest des Wochenendes...(für die, die damals dabei waren, er war unserem oasg 2005 "wötsch no e Wurscht" Running-Gag nicht unähnlich).

Also von vorne: nach langem Suchen (danke lieber Couche-Tard von St.-Calixte-Mensch!) sind wir irgendwann am Freitag Abend in unserem wunderhübschen Chalet eingetrudelt und haben uns gleich wie zu Hause gefühlt (nicht zuletzt dank des unverschämt gemütlichen Kaminfeuers). Samstag war dann unser grosser Skitag in St.-Sauveur (nein, kein Massenbesäufnis, wie die Firmen-Skitage in der Schweiz) mit meist tollem Wetter und guten Schneeverhältnissen. Es war aber doch etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig auf der Suche nach den Bergen erkennen zu müssen, dass der Hügel vor mir "die Berge" war;-).

Sonntag war dann schön faul und gemütlich mit ausschlafen, lecker Brunch und bisschen Alibi-Sport alias Schlitteln (ich weiss, richtiges Hochdeutsch ist Rodeln, aber das sagt in der Schweiz nun mal kein Mensch) und Baseball spielen im Schnee. Alles in allem, ein tolles Wochenende! Nochmals vielen Dank an die Fahrer, Benoît (mit Special Thanks fürs Organisieren) und Léonard und an alle anderen für die tollen zwei Tage!

5 comments:

noo said...

Mashed Potato Beef Casserole
Cook up this delicious casserole with ground beef and fluffy mashed potatoes! Yayy! All in imperial Values!

Prep time: About 1 hour 20 minutes
Baking time: 25 to 30 minutes

You Will Need
2 bacon strips, diced
1 pound (500g) ground beef
1 large onion (2 swiss onions), finely chopped
1/4 (100g) pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 (2 swiss carrots) large carrot, finely chopped
1 (i guess they're about the same) celery rib, finely chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 ml) beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire (it's Wooster! Wooster sauce!) sauce
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups (750g) hot mashed potatoes
3/4 (85g) cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
Paprika

What to Do
1. Heat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 2-quart (1 Liter) baking dish; set aside.

2. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp; drain, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings. Set bacon aside.

3. Cook beef in drippings over medium heat, breaking up meat with the back of a wooden spoon, until no longer pink; drain. Toss onion, mushrooms, carrot and celery in flour; add to skillet with the broth, Worcestershire sauce, tarragon and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

4. Add bacon; spread evenly in prepared baking dish. Combine potatoes and 1/2 cup cheese*; spread over beef mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and remaining 1/4 cup cheese*. Bake, uncovered, 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through. Broil 4 (10cm) inches from heat 5 minutes or until bubbly.

Serves: 4-6

*Just take those damn cups. Who measures things in cups, seriously?!

aena said...

People here do...it's even indicated in "cups" on the measuring plastic-cup-thingy.

And thanks for the recipe, actually it's supposed to be a typically French dish, but for the life of me I can't remember what it's called in French (and I did ask several times during the weekend...).

Mum said...

Hi Kid,

No problem you don't know the name of the French dish in case you kept on asking but nobody knew the answer. However, if they told you approx. 52 times during the night / weekend then please think over your alcohol consume: either the quantity or the mix or in the worst case both... ;-) TC & LOVE!

Yours always: MUM

aena said...

Yes, they told me about 52 times but the name was so similar to "viande hâchée", which is "Hackfleisch" and was contained in both the Chili and the thing on Saturday, that I just couldn't memorize it. With or without alcohol...

Mum said...

I agreee, some things are really not worth to remember... :-)