All the pictures from the BBQ are online: https://www.flubu.com/blog/pictures/bsi_bbq_sep_2014/
Tag: land of cheese and chocolate
Nestlé made a functional chocolate teapot
A chocolate teapot is not as useless as the old saying suggests as scientists have shown it is possible to use one to brew tea – provided you do not stir it.
Master chocolatier John Costello and his team from the Nestle Product Technology Centre (PTC), in York, were given the challenge of turning the familiar idiom on its head.
Mr Costello enlisted some of the PTC’s top scientists and engineers to help in its development and solved the problem after a range of experiments.
He said they found that the secret was to use dark chocolate with 65% chocolate solids, due to its fat content, and build up a series of layers using a silicon mould. Doing so, they could create a teapot that was able to withstand boiling water to let the tea brew for two minutes before pouring.
“Interestingly, if you pour the water in a certain way and you don’t stir inside, and you just let it settle, and let it brew like you would normally brew a cup of tea, and just let it stand for a little while – when you pour it, what happens is that the chocolate on the inside of the shell melts but doesn’t move anywhere.
“It stays where it is. So you get a very, very small amount of residue coming up to the top.”
Tasting the final brew, the team concluded it was a lovely cup of tea with a slight hint of chocolate.
The PTC in York is Nestle’s global centre for confectionery research and development and has 185 staff.
Just another random moment in Switzerland
A photo showing Swiss President Didier Burkhalter waiting for a train at Neuchâtel station, alone and without bodyguards, made waves on Twitter on Thursday, receiving 800 retweets around the world.
The photograph was taken by a journalist from newspaper Le Temps, Serge Jubin, and posted on Facebook with an accompanying comment that suggested an innate Swissness in Burkhalter’s ability to act like any other member of the public when out and about.
“Switzerland: marvellous country where the president of the Confederation can cheerfully tap away on his smartphone on the platform at Neuchâtel station amongst other train users…”
Everything is more efficient in Switzerland, even the mosquitoes
Both Katy and I got bitten during the night of Saturday to Sunday. I have one spot, right on the sole of my foot, that’s swollen up to the point where it feels like I’m walking on half a ping-pong ball. My wrist itches like mad and my calf is like sandpaper. Yay, summer.
We were sociable!
That was a nice way to spend a couple of hours :-) we just had an impromptu bbq with Sylvia and Gianlucca, our upstairs neighbours and their son Ricardo. Even though we’ve been living here for coming on to one year, this is the first time we really spent quality time with a neighbour. I’m going to start learning Italian from Sylvia and in return I’m going to help her practice her English.
Pictures from the weekend
Things we learned over the weekend:
1. Swiss windy mountain roads: a thrill to ride.
2. French windy mountain roads: will try and kill you.
3. Swiss motorcycle drivers are all fucking nutters that make english drivers look sane and civil by comparison.
All pictures here: https://www.flubu.com/blog/pictures/chamonix_jun_2014/
Road trip!
Heading to Chamonix, bopping to Pharrell. I feel like a room without a roof.
Morges market wine lady, how I have missed you
Last summer, we fell in love with a little local pinot gris, but I never blogged about it or took down the contact information. Wine lady was there every Saturday, like clockwork, until she wasn’t. I spent months trying to remember the name, or anything that could help me find it again. This weekend, I was going to ask around the other market vendors when lo and behold, wine lady was back. And there was much rejoicing.
Grand marché de Morges
Bean chomping down into an Italian sausage sandwich at the Grand Marché.
Lake Geneva shoreline
I’m in Morges, not Montreux, and there’s no smoke on the water, but it’s a beautiful day and my feet are in the lake.