The fondue was v….

The fondue was v. yummy, a blend of half vacherin cheese and half gruyere cheese, simmered with wine and kirsch (a kind of cherry liqueur, I think). Ben Rosenbaum tells me that they probably also rubbed garlic over the bottom of the fondue pot. Num. Eaten with little cubes of hearty bread and baby yellow potatoes; we could have gotten pickles and onions too, but I'm not so fond of pickles. Complemented by a glass of dry white wine. It's definitely more appropriate for a cold winter's day than warm summer, but yummy nonetheless. :-)

Yesterday I mostly worked, reading Blowfish subs and catching up on e-mail, but I did spend a few rainy hours wandering around the Bellevue area in Zurich. Little cobbled hilly streets, leading up to the the Grossmunster cathedral, which was gorgeous in all sorts of ways. I didn't get many photos -- the rain made it quite dark inside. So I'm planning on going back, either this afternoon or later in the week; you'll see more of it. I rather liked this door -- there's a remarkably forbidding quality about it. It seems like it should have torture chambers behind it -- I'm not sure what's really behind it, but it's way up in the nave of the church, so torture chambers seem unlikely. More likely a priest's changing room....

We had sandwiches from Starbucks (yes, Starbucks is everywhere) -- it was surreal, ordering things I could only point to. Mini-bagels stuffed with some kind of smoked beef, yum. And in the evening, back to the tiny studio where Kevin made broccoli and pasta while I goofed off, playing the demo of Neverwinter Nights (David, it's freely downloadable from the Apple home page, but it's going to take a long time on a dial-up -- it took an hour or so with ethernet). Up late, talking some, reading some (I finished the Lodge, funny, and am now reading Lullaby, a funny, morbid, book by the author of Fight Club, Chuck Pahaniuk (sp?). Feeling more in sync with Kevin after a few days here; it's always odd, seeing him after weeks (or months) apart. It's almost as if we have to recreate our relationship, remind each other how we are together. Awkward, but worth it.

Today, Ben Rosenbaum came and met us for a pricey but tasty lunch at Cafe Odeon (it is remarkably expensive, eating out in Zurich); I think he may be the first spec fic writer to actually meet Kevin. :-) Unless you count Jed. I'm not even sure Heather ever met him.... Now Ben can testify that Kev really does exist -- oh wait, I think some of the Chicago sf people, like Nnedi Okorafor and Jenn Whitson might have met him at brunch at my place. Okay, so there are a few of them now. That's good; I don't like having my worlds so separate. I encourage mingling. Cross-pollination is a good thing.

Around 6, I'll meet Ben at the train station, and then I'm off to Basel with him, to spend the night at his house and meet his wife (Esther) and daughter (Aviva). Fun! Tomorrow morning, the Tinguely museum and other sightseeing in Basel, then hanging out with Ben and Aviva, then a dinnertime train back to Zurich. Will take lots of photos for y'all, I promise. :-) But now, off to do some actual work.

5 thoughts on “The fondue was v….”

  1. I am glad someone besides me thinks cross pollination is a good thing. So many of my friends are content to have their worlds separate. Some of them even prefer it that way, which I find difficult to understand.

  2. I met Kevin too, and so did Jennifer Stevenson, when you had us over to dinner at your place. ‘Course, that could have been somebody *posing* as the fictional Kevin.

  3. Hey, I did too meet Kevin! We just had this conversation when you were in town, MA — remember that *special* birthday party at the house?? Yes??

  4. Birthday party? What birthday party? You must be thinking of someone else, Heather. I only have *nice* birthday parties, with sailing on the lake and frisbies and picnics…

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