Surprise, surprise.

Don't you just love surprises? (The good kind, of course.) Indeed, I love a good surprise, so imagine my surprise on December 31 when I learned that Isaiah and I would be hosting a little NYE get together at our apartment later that evening. If we were back in California this would not be a good surprise, and in fact it would never happen. Here in Switzerland, however, I have learned to become quite flexible with our plans. As soon as I heard the news, I didn't freak out and start cleaning the house like a mad woman. Instead, we tidied up the place together, like partners should, and headed to the store to shop for supplies. Our friends would be in charge of a lot of the other consumables, so all we had to pick up was the fondue cheese and the alcohol.

Since this blog is called "Swiss cheese" in Spanish, I feel it's important to pause a moment and discuss the cheese we bought for our fondue feast. (I do apologize for not writing about cheese more, which is a goal of mine this year: eat more and write about cheese.)

Isaiah and I had been shy about going up to the cheese counter at the supermarket to buy our cheese. (You see we have that whole not knowing how to speak German issue going for us.) So, we had grown accustomed to heading to the large cheese section and grabbing a few prepackaged cheeses and continuing with the rest of our shopping. Generally satisfied with the assortment, we didn't feel we were missing out on anything by not going to the cheese counter. Then, after a disappointing run in with prepackaged raclette cheese, we decided that packaged raclette just won't do. (More on raclette in the future - I'll be sure to post photos of a raclette meal as soon as possible.) During our Christmas vacation we got brave and walked up to the cheese counter to ask for raclette. Basically, I just pointed to the cheese and said, "400 gramme Pfeffer Raclette und 400 gramme Paprika raclette, bitte." And it worked! We enjoyed the yummiest night of raclette we've ever had!

Consequently, for our NYE party we decided to get the fondue from our cheese lady. They do sell prepackaged fondue, but since we learned that the cheese lady offers a higher quality, we went to her. Following the recommended 200 g per person, we asked for 1200 grams of the Appenzeller Fondue (this cheese comes from Appenzell, a small region comprised of two half cantons Innerrhoden and Ausserrhoden, which are completely surrounded by our canton St. Gallen), and she proceeded to cut chunks of cheese from various rounds behind the counter then put them in a big shredding machine. She placed the shredded cheese in a special fondue sack and we were on our way! We also bought a box of prosecco, some salami, and a baguette to make "crostini" (little toasts). One final item we purchased was a set of champagne flutes, but we forgot to buy those little attachments that people use to easily identify their personal glass.

So, our guests got creative and found different ways to "label" their glasses.

Pour a little white wine in with the cheese, watch it melt... and let the party begin!

I love cheese!

Dancing (?) in the living room. (Oh dear, we need to do something about those bare walls!)

Isaiah is such a good friend.

I know this picture is blurry, but I want to give you an idea of another surprise we had - snow! This is our street just after midnight.

Giant snowflakes had been falling for a couple of hours, so there was enough on the ground to make a snowman.

Step one.

Step two.

Step three.

All complete!

Happy New Year!