Eating "Spanish" in Zürich

Well, we have seen it all this morning at the Interlaken West train station. The railway gates were down at the road and the train was approaching from the Interlaken Ost station. Then, a man jumped down onto the tracks and ran across them to the other side. Luckily, he hopped up on the other side just in the nick of time. The train driver laid on the horn!!! I stood frozen as I watched this happen. What was this man thinking!! 

Have you noticed the last couple weeks have had cloudy or rainy days? Hoping for sunny days for our last couple weeks here. It rained through the night but stopped this morning as we headed over to breakfast. 

Sundays are Ruhetag days, rest days. The streets were empty as we reached the Interlaken West station. Not many travelers out yet. 

Our train to Zürich will make stops in Spiez, Thun, and Bern before arriving at the Zürich main train station. 

We arrived in Bern on platform 2.  The driver now will walk to the end of the train which will then become the beginning of the train as we leave this station. Michael and I switched seats because I enjoy riding facing forward an instead of riding backwards. 

No work in the Bern train station. 

Just outside of Bern, I noticed the train was taking a different route.  It was confirmed when we went through Burgdorf. We are in the Emmental area. We even went through this region on our way back to Interlaken West. 

Just before Olten, the train joined the tracks I am more familiar with. The speed now picks up as we get closer to Zürich. 

The train rushes by the nuclear funnel. 

That is a landmark I look for when we fly into Zürich and  the plane makes the final decent into the airport. 

We spent a wonderful lunch and afternoon with Sherly and her husband Javi. 

The food we had today was exceptional. As I write this blog, I am at a loss for words to describe it.  But….. I have a comparison. Halle Berry, the American actress, is doing a commercial with Roger Federer, the famous Swiss tennis player, to promote Swiss tourism in Autumn. At one point Halle is asked about the scenery and she says it is beautiful. Then, she says the scenery is more than beautiful. That is how I felt about the food today. Delicious and exceptional just don’t do it justice. 

Today, eating with Sherly and Javi was an experience over the love and joy food can bring to people. Time passed so quickly! 

Javi is a sommelier so the wine both complimented and enhanced the flavor of the food. 

Javi sliced the jamón very thin. Jamón is a type of dry-cured ham produced in Spain. It is one of the most globally recognized food items of Spanish cuisine. It is also regularly a component of tapas. Jamón is the Spanish word for ham. As such, other ham products produced or consumed in Spanish-speaking countries are also called by this name.

"Jamón is typically consumed in slices, either manually carved from a pig's hind leg held on a jamonero stand using a sharp thin slicing knife, or cut from the deboned meat with a meat slicer. It is also regularly consumed in any shape in small portions."

Cheese, nuts, lavender honey, and tiny figs were served along with Peter’s bread, an award winning bread. The bakery is around the corner from their place. 

Sherly had toasted bread and then rubbed garlic and then a sliced tomato on the bread and then drizzled olive oil on top.  The finely sliced jamon was placed on top. 

Next, we had a fennel salad with orange slices and sunflower seeds.

The main dish was the paella,  which is a Spanish rice dish, cooked in a shallow pan called a paellera. Javi added peas, prawns, monk fish, and squid. Instead of saffron he used black squid ink. I had seconds. I didn’t talk much; I just enjoyed the food. Lemon wedges and aioli

For dessert,  we had fresh fruit with some type of wine reduction and mint. That was with a dessert wine, too.

This will be a meal we will talk about again and again!

We had to switch trains in Bern on the way home. It was the German ICE train which actually was on time. Wow! Wonders never cease. 

It was a great day!