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Where Tradition meets Enjoyment...
As soon as the spring arrives in the mountains, Alpine tradition of "Alpaufzug" starts. The "Älpler" or alpine farmers along with their animals leave their valley homes and head up to the alpine pastures on the mountains. For 3-4 months their home is the "Alphütte" or simple alpine huts. Thus begins a strenuous "Cheese season" with little comfort.
From early morning until late at night, the farmers are busy milking; making cheese & butter; feeding animals; caring for their claws; cleaning pastures; preparing wood; cooking and looking for lost animals. And this seven days a week. They cannot even think of having a rest-day. Nevertheless, every so often they make time for an "evening" of music and dance.
As the days get shorter in autumn, the grass and herbs grow slower, it is time to drive the cows down to the lower "Stafel" (mid valley) and later down into the valley. With a melancholic heart, the herds set off towards the valley. The festive alpine descent of the decorated animals "Alpabfahrt" is accompanied by thousands of spectators and many festivities.
Back in the valley, in accordance with an old custom, the cheese produced by the dairies is shared amongst the Älplers. The "Chästeile" marks the celebratory end of the Alpine Summer. This is also an opportunity for folks who could not buy cheese directly on the Alp to do so now.
And so, I happily headed out to the "Altes Schützenhaus" with Lukas where the Nidwalden Alpine Cheese Market is being held. I look forward to the cheese tasting sessions and to buy a good hunk of flavourful Cheese.
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Älplerchilbi is a centuries-old Alpine Festival, celebrated in many parts of Central Switzerland, where alpine farming is practiced. The farmers get together in the Fall (Second Sunday of November, to be precise) to thank God for a nice, profitable summer and an accident-free time in alp. After the ceremony in the church, the farmers partake in a street procession to depict the alpine life and customs. Later, they indulge in food, music and dance.
Leading the procession are typically, two "Wild-Beings" or the "Butzi". At first glance, they appear to be upto no-Good.. playing pranks, destroying anything that they can lay their hands on.
I wonder what could be a deeper meaning... Perhaps the "Butzi" are out to destroy the symbols of the "typical-modern-life", where man in his greed has lost all respect for Nature and Wilderness. It kinda makes sense, as the "Butzi" are very kind to the Children and offer them little treats. After destroying human encroachments, they dance happily.
The procession continues with flag waving, gun shots and bands playing folk music. The funny anecdotes from the lives of Beckenrieders are recited as short poems in Swiss-German by two locals. The onlookers (including us) try to figure out who the poems are about whilst munching on snacks from street-vendors.
For a grand finale, the farmers and the stars of the show "The Cows" dressed in their regalia, march through the village...
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As i drive uphill along the curvy roads to Fürigen, I'm wondering how my Sushi-Skills will turn out. Apart from eating Sushi at a few Japanese restaurants in US and Paris, i really didn't have too much experience with it. Somehow Sushi hasn't yet ended up being on my top-10 list of food cravings... perhaps being a vegetarian has something to do with it. Rice and veggies is something i do pretty often, so this bland version doesn't attract me. Not just yet. But what's attracted me is watching Sushi experts deftly roll the Sushi with their finger tips -- creating masterpieces of color surrounded by white. I wonder, how hard can it be? Cook some rice, grab some nori, julienne some veggies and avocados, roll it all together, and voila! I’ll have that lovely and delectable taste of home, right?The twinkling lights along the lake divert my thoughts from Sushi.
Silvana and I arrive at Karin's home almost the same time. And soon, the three of us are in Karin's kitchen ready to delve into the world of Sushi.
Silvana and Karin explain the basics to me: Place a Nori on the Bamboo mat, spread rice, chop veggies, Tofu and avocado and roll it together -- Perfect! just as i had imagined it to be... Sounds like a piece of cake compared to the tedious Roti rolling act. WRONG!!!! The rice.. I soon find out why it's called sticky rice -- it wants to stick to my fingers instead of Nori! Silvana shows me the wet hands trick and after that it starts to come together quickly. Soon i have the bottom three-quarters of nori sheet covered with thin layer of rice, leaving the top quarter of the nori sheet empty. I line up Tofu, omelette, veggies and avocado on the bottom third of the nori sheet.
Now comes the tricky part.. Rolling. I figure that if I put my fingertips on top of sushi ingredients to hold them in place while keeping both thumbs on the back of the bamboo rolling mat closest to me, it's pretty easy. I keep pushing the mat forward until the mat is completely around the sushi roll and the top and bottom edges of the nori meet.
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3 hours 9 minutes; 13 km; 645 m elevation gain,
Picnic'ing on the meadows; siesta'ing under the blue sky,
Reloading the calories with Rösti, cake and coffee @ Brisenhaus,
Making new friends and yapping in German all the way down to Schwändi.
Danke schön Bea and Jost for your wonderful company back to the car...
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- Cooking Khichdi with a Swiss Miss -- Feb 20