If you live in Switzerland like I do, you need to take advantage of the numerous mountains with visitor-friendly facilities such as chair-lifts, cable gondolas and Rot-air bubble cars. Not to forget free 'tubing' runways.
On Mount Titlis at Engelberg, hundreds if not thousands of visitors swarm the place - tourists from China and Taiwan (even the cable guy has learnt some Mandarin greetings for the Chinese New Year) as well as locals and residents who want to ski and snowboard.
(above right) You feel like luggage being conveyed up a 'belt' with your tube before spinning down again.
In the snow cave somewhere on the top slopes, there's a display of buttons for you to press. One of the buttons plays 'Negaraku', the Malaysian national anthem. In the Rot-air gondola, there are greetings in myriad languages including Indonesian and Malay. The only difference between the two is how 'keretakabelgantung' is all one word in Indonesian. ^_^ Old women from China like to stick their faces in the 'face holes' of cut-out figures of extreme skiers and snowboarders -- to show their friends back home gleefully, perhaps. Not that it'd fool anyone.
If you don't ski or snowboard (those crazy gravity-loving sports!) like me, you'd appreciate tubing. You sit on an inner tube covered in canvas and push off a winding path. Soon it careens out of control and you're facing backwards and sideways. You learn to relax and enjoy the ride because it's all out of your control. At the most, you might spill over the snow bank and sprain a muscle or two. It's not likely you'd break your neck and die.
And then, when the skiing friends and family converge at the igloo bar outdoors, you can join them in the oh-so-strenuous apres-ski activity of eating and napping in the sun in a hammock or lying sprawled on the bean bags so considerately provided by the mountain ministers.
After you come down from the mountain and an hour's drive home, you'd want a quick hot meal, right? (I'm entering this in Presto Pasta Nights http://onceuponafeast.blogspot.com/.) Break out a can or two of herring or mackerel in tomato sauce, cut up some onions, boil a pot of spaghetti. Heat a bit of oil in a saucepan, cook the onions with some parsley or coriander, add a generous sprinkle of chilli powder (or sliced fresh chillies), salt and pepper, throw in the canned fish, break it up, and finally swoosh in the cooked spaghetti. Turn it a few times and voila! A hot, appetizing meal within minutes.
37 comments:
I have enough of snow but I don't mind the spaghetti. A good idea for a fast meal. My Malaysian friend fries her mee hoon with canned sardines.
Confession: After all these years of living in Pg., I am embarrassed to say that I didn't know that is a street called Lorong Argus!
Some folk don't like canned fish, but I think it's a tasty and convenient protein source. Besides, sardines are really good for one's health.
It's OK, Wonda. Lorong Argus is a small short street tucked away in town (near Leith Street, if I remember correctly).
Now you're making me feel like going home and opening a can of sardines and tossing it with my spaghetti. Badly in need of comfort food right now, and sardines normally do the trick. Preferably swimming in tomato sauce. Ayam Brand. :-P
Remember the extra kick of the onions and chillies, LL! Or else the sardines won't do the trick.
Why are you needing comfort food, sweetie? Working too hard?
A button to play Negaraku, huh?
Must eat the spaghetti real fast, otherwise, it will get cold!
My girls went skiing these couple of weeks with the school. They were asking if Mom can go. I don't think so. The last time I ski'ed, I could NOT get up when I fell down.
p/s LL, I love the Ayam brand as well.
Sometimes, coming to blogs such as yours is comforting. It doesn't matter what the topic is...one can easily find something to talk about. So whatever's bothering me is quickly forgotten. Perhaps the comfort food that I seek is more the conversation than the sardines (but yeah, Lee Ping, Ayam brand rawks hehe...and I can totally relate to your comment on not being able to get up when you fall down!).
hieee...!! How r you, how r you?? I've been missing in action for a while. hahah... house no net.. very the susah... sighh.. =/
Mrs HBT and LZitroengras, I too could not get up when I scooted down to pick up the dropped diving mask on the beach when I was learning to scuba-dive many years ago.
Oh, yeah, I love Ayam brand everything, including the coconut cream.
Spiffy, I've missed you! So no 'Net at home and at work, eh? I'll send some positive vibes that you'll get access soon... ;-)
Lee Ping, I too was curious about the 'Negaraku' button. There were a few buttons for several different anthems and other kinds of songs. But one wonders how the M'sian one got there (instead of some other more famous and bigger tourist-producing countries!). Perhaps the administrators asked several embassies and got a quick response from ours.
I like coming into this lil tea party late, when a soft barrage of comments have been exchanged between the ladies in attendance. Part comfort words, part catching up, part happy gossip... what a wonderful place to stumble upon.
And, er, this time I promise LL and I will behave ourselves. Or at least I will. I can't speak for that saucy minx. Lol.
Yep, Kenny, thanks for calling this a happy place. And, yes, you can do the dishes since you're 'late'.
Lemony-Grasskirt, someone's calling you a saucy minx! (So Simon Cowell...)
Kenny vouching for my behaviour? Dear, dear, can that even be possible seeing his extremely saucy X-RATED latest blog entry?? Hmmmmmm?? Spare me, KENNY MAH YF....!! (in a very dramatic tone)
Kenny pregnant ar, ArgusBagus?
Lemony-Snigger, I haven't finished reading Kenny's latest -- wah, can look forward to hot, saucy bits, eh?
Why you say he could be pregnant?!
(I'm blur again...)
What's this about me PREGGERS????
1. I'm always the FIRST at dinner parties AND the one who does the dishes, unasked. So. There. Hmph.
2. Mana ade X-rated? No sex also. Macam asmara sastera Melayu aje. What's implied is far sexier than what could have been shown explicitly. But Lemony-Rumputrumpai loves her gravy surely, saucy-naucy!
3. And I promised to behave! O dear. Sighs...
Ah, but, Kenny, asrama would be a different story -- lots of hot, steamy, dark corners, eh? ;-)
Argus, you said Kenny was "late", mah. That's like anticipating that Kenny is pregnant lar. Innit?
And Kenny, if sastera melayu were like that, I'd have taken that subject in school (a looong time ago), but noooo..all they talked about was the glorification of the daulatness of the tuankus and the puteris patik minta ampun tuanku. Or was that sejarah? Whatever lah. My point is that people in the olden days (hence old people) did not have sexual romps at the Schönfeldwiese stark blardy naked.
And Argus, you no saint either. Dark City 2 made it very very VERY clear.
So what's my point again? I dunno lar. I suppose it's that I'm surrounded by nymphomaniacs and errr....what's the male equivalent? Ah yes, MAN.
Signed,
Saint Lemongrass (no relation to Saint Cinnamon found in Mid Valley Megamall)
"Ah, yes, MAN." Ha ha, so true, Santo Zitroengras who eats Japanese men like sashimi while shimmying with Yemenis.
Ah so... 'late' = maybe pregnant.
*hits fist on forehead*
Hi there,
A fellow Malaysian! Stumbled upon your blog and just wanted to say hello. I have a blog, too. :)
O - Argus, asmara dalam asrama is the best thing... when one is young, of course. Now that I'm an old man, my tastes has deviated somewhat...
O - Mother Lemony-Rumputrumpai, surely you must have had studied in a secluded convent somewhere in Gunung Ledang, or we must have had very different texts for Sastera Melayu. Sex was the only reason I even took the darn subject. O yes.
O - them romps at the Schönfeldwiese weren't sexual. Stark blardy naked yes, but so were everyone else there. Clothes were forbidden, so what was I to do?
... and Argus, I was cracking my head to counter LL's point on MAN, but thing is, it may finally be the one thing I agree with the woman. Hehe, ah to be a MAN. So blardy proud. Hehe.
But...
... suddenly I have a craving for pickled pinenuts from Panama... Hell, I might well be preggers after all!! :P
Hi, RasaMalaysia. Welcome!
I visited your blog a couple of times last year; made Cucur Badak from your recipe and maybe satay, too. Thanks!
Kenny, you might be keen to know there are many nudist beaches by the lakes (and elsewhere) in Switzerland. There's one just 3km away from here. ;-)
Sweet. Now I know where I can go when I visit you in Switzerland, hehe...
Waitaminute, I'm not like an exhibitionist or anything... just an Occasional Nudist. LOL.
But are you a voyeur, Kenny? ;-)
Ah, but I'm not. I seem to draw voyeurs to me. Opposites attract, no? Hehe.
Argus, how nice to live in beautiful Switzerland. It's always been a dream for me to visit somewhere snowy. One day in the distant future, perhaps.
Make it soon, Lydia! You know who you can stay with for a few days. ;-)
Kenny, did you realise you inadvertently admitted you're an exhibitionist?
I did? I thought I did it explicitly rather than inadvertently.
An Occasional Nudist (public) perhaps, but An Everyday Exhibitionist (private) oh most definitely.
Urgles.
Explicit or implicit?
Well, you sans clothing could be rather explicit, eh?
(My guardian angel says: "Haiya, you writers play with words like kids playing with Lego blocks.")
Your guardian angel would be most accurate in his/her observation. Plus, I still love Lego blocks, hehe. But I play with them full-clothed. Just because.
Lol.
hi argus,
thanks for swoopin' by...
hey mt.titlis!!!...it reminds me of my euro trip a while ago, wanna share 1 of my mt.titlis pics with u...where do i post/email?
Hi, Rita. Welcome to ArgusWorld!
You will need to put up your Mt Titlis pic on your blog. (We are advised not to expose our email addresses here.)
One day... hopefully I will visit and enjoy the beauty you speak so eloquently about.
Hi, Cynthia. Thanks. I too hope you will visit soon -- then we can have a chat face to face. ^_^
Hei Argie, I've been to Titlis! Forgot to wear proper shoes and so my toes were blue with cold!!
My dog Oldie just died 2 days ago. I hope he's romping with Argus in heaven.
Hey, Xeus, good thing you wore the right kind of bra-armour -- or else you'd have been titless on Titlis.
^_^
(Your comment brings to mind an old riddle: What kind of birds do you see on Mount Titlis?
Answer: Blue tits)
As for Oldie romping with Argus in the cosmos, well, only if Argus hasn't reincarnated into Tigi (see a couple of posts newer).
I'm glad Oldie spent the last few years of his long life with you.
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