I'm sure you have been reading about the "big freeze" here in Europe. Cold air coming in from Siberia has ended the mild weather we've been having. The papers have been going crazy with their headlines, but a cold winter is actually normal. The mild weather we were having is not. So I'm not complaining!

Back in April of last year, I was asked to photograph a friend's wedding. They went on their honeymoon to the island of Réunion and when they returned I was given not only vanilla pods from the island but also a very generous voucher to the Hotel Fravi in Andeer. The hotel was built in 1828 as a resort for people wanting to take the waters in Andeer.  It's a beautiful hotel with direct access to the spa. We stayed in one of the historic Swiss stone pine rooms and ate in the hotel restaurant. The staff was very friendly in the hotel and made us feel at home. The food was equally good, and we very much enjoyed our stay.

Those of you who have been following this blog for a while, will have noticed that we often spend time in beautiful Graubünden. The last time was in December. We were of course overjoyed to have a reason to explore an area we haven't been to before. Around Christmas we made reservations for this weekend, of course not knowing that we'd be in for a very cold weekend. The sun was out and there was a brisk breeze which made the -17°C (1.4°F) feel like it was even colder. We were smart enough to decide against taking our cross country skis with us. We would have frozen to human popsicles if we had! Instead, we took the bus to Splügen and walked from there to Sufers, about an hour. It was the coldest walk I have ever been on. While we were in the woods and protected from the wind, it wasn't all that cold. But once we were out in the open again, my face stung and I have never felt so cold before. Still, it was a beautiful walk.

In Sufers, we stopped for a bowl of hot soup and after deciding against walking through the snowy gorge to Andeer (we're saving that for summer), took the bus to Zillis and from there walked back to Andeer.

We saw a group of ducks in the Rhein River diving for food. There must have been something good since there were pieces of ice floating in the river and it can't have been fun to swim in it.

We were happy to get back to the hotel and soak in the hot baths.

Vielen herzlichen Dank, dass ich eure Hochzeit fotografieren durfte!

"I'm going caving on Sunday. Will you go snowshoeing?", my husband asked me last week. Past outings had been cancelled due to snow storms in the mountains and sickness. I was not going to miss out on this chance to finally see all the record-breaking amounts of snow in the mountains. It was still dark when we left early Sunday morning and it was cold when we arrived. My husband and his fellow spelunkers clanked and rattled while stepping into the gondola with all the skiers. A friend, and wife to one of the other cavers, and her daughter and I followed.

The men left to go find their cave and we started along a snowy path. I couldn't get over how beautiful it was. Snow at last! The path had been prepared and we didn't even need our snowshoes. When the fog came in, it made everything even quieter. More mystical. Perfect.

This morning I woke up to a light dusting of snow. What a nice surprise for a Saturday morning. After a light breakfast, I bundled and picked up my camera.

Then I walked down the lane.

The snow continued to fall quietly, and it was silent. Every now and then I heard a crow squawk and bells of sheep walking across the pasture.

My walk ended with a wave at a neighbor and a smile on my face.

While on my walk down the lane, I also waked down memory lane. I grew up in warm and sunny California and lately I've been thinking about all the wonderful citrus we had in winter. There was the large Meyer Lemon bush my grandmother had in her yard, we had several Mandarin orange trees and a kumquat in our garden, our neighbors had oranges and there was always the Farmer's Market which sold various other kinds of citrus- grapefruits, mineolas, tangeringes, etc. I was spoiled without realising it.

When we go to the nursery I always stop in the citrus section, touch the fruit, smell the oils in the leaves and inhale the delicate scent of the flowers. I gaze longingly at the plants, but have to be reminded every time that we don't live in the proper climate or have a greenhouse for them. I sigh and move on to the roses.

When I was still at school, everyone's favorite question was "Where do you like it better? America or Germany?". I don't think that anyone ever realised what a stupid and even painful question that is. They wanted an easy answer where there is none. Of all the countries I've lived in, there are advantages and disadvantages. And it's NOT a matter of liking a country as a whole better or worse than another. For me it's about missing things that I grew up with. Things that are a part of me: fresh citrus, potato dumplings, tortillas and dried chilies used in Southwestern cooking, Faschingskrapfen (filled with rosehip jam, a Franconian specialty!), just to name a few.

So back at home, I looked at my citrus collection on the counter and thought it was time to eat my favorite winter salad yet again. A salad I never tire of and have at least once a week. Fennel and orange. Perfect on it's own, I sometimes add an avocado or a few shavings of parmesan on top. I try to buy only organic citrus, but if I'm looking for something "special" then it can be very hard. Only a few years ago someone would look at me funny if I asked if they had any mineolas. As for tangelos, well I'll wait a few years for that! Luckily, the assortment of citrus has grown beyond the standard oranges, lemons and clementines. It's now easy to find limes, grapefruit and even blood oranges.

In the above picture I have pretty much everything which can be found in a well stocked store: orange (Blond), blood orange (Moro), blood orange (Tarocco), lemon, grapefruit (Ruby), clementine, lime, sweetie (Oroblanco), mineola. Missing from the picture are kumquats and pomelos. I enjoy eating all citrus and in any form (raw, salad, cake, etc). Yesterday I had a a delicious orange Tiramisu a friend made. My favorite treat is a freshly squeezed juice. Perfect for a weekend breakfast. In fact, this is something special that my husband often makes for me in the winter months.

This is today's fennel and orange salad. This time with orange, mineloa and blood orange. To top it off, I snipped some spicy radish sprouts.

Fennel and Orange Salad

Note: Add some avocado chunks or shaved Parmeson for a more substantial salad

• 1 small fennel, thinly sliced
• 1 orange (or other citrus), cut into small pieces
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• fresh pepper
• sea salt

Toss and enjoy!

On Friday my husband came home with a cold and I knew our plans for the weekend would have to be cancelled. I was looking forward to cross-country skiing in all the beautiful snow that has been falling in the mountains. But not only was my husband sick, snow storms were forcasted. So we spent the weekend indoors.

I have mentioned my husband's love for apples many times, so I promised him waffles on this morning. I admit there was also a recipe I wanted to try. Last fall in New Hampshire, I picked up a copy of Yankee Magazine's Best New England Recipes Homemade Favorites for Every Season. While I was flipping though it, the recipe for Apple-Cinnamon Waffles caught his eye. Not one for sweets in the morning, I knew he would eat them if I made them. Today being rainy, I knew it would be perfect breakfast food.

And it was.

Apple-Cinnamon Waffles

Note: I played around with the flours and only made half a recipe. Here is my adaptation of the recipe for two servings. It can easily be doubled.

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 Tbs baking powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 oz butter, melted
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 eggs, separated
• 1 small apple, grated

Preheat waffle iron. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, mix together the egg yolks, milk, vanilla extract and butter. Stir into the flour mixture. Whisk the egg whites until peaks form and gently fold them into the batter, then fold in the apple.

Spoon batter onto iron and cook until browned. Place on a plate in a warm oven until all waffles are ready. Serve with maple syrup.

Yesterday I walked along the Way of St. James- not that it was the first time. In 2005 we traveled to a conference in A Coruña. We flew to Madrid and from there drove to the seaside town. Along the drive from Madrid and from A Coruña to Santiago di Compostella we saw many pilgrims walking the path. After our trip, I was interested in the path and read several books about the walk. What bothered me most about the path was the fact that we were seeing the pilgrims, which meant that they were hiking along paths that were right next to the highways. Why would anyone want to walk and breathe car fumes at the same time? I did some reseach and found out there are more scenic parts of the path, some right though the Pyrenees. As for Santiago, we arrived there at 7 in the morning when the town was still asleep. We slipped inside the cathedral and had it all to ourselves. Sitting in the pews and staring up to the ceiling, I could imagine what a pilgrim would feel after walking the path. We left an hour later as the first of the large tour buses arrived and the vendors started selling their goods.

But back to yesterday. It was sunny and bitter cold yesterday and I though it would be perfect to walk across the lake and try to capture the evening light. I grabbed my camera and took the train to Rapperswil, a stop along the Swiss part of the Way of St. James. There is a wooden bridge which was originally built between 1358 and 1360. It was reopened in 2001 and is the longest modern wooden bridge in Switzerland (841 m). Back in the Middle Ages the bridge was already part of the Way of St. James. Today it is also part of a nature reserve, perfect for bird watching. If there wasn't the loud road. What did I say earlier about the path and the roads?

But with views like these, it was easy to forget about the cars.

It won't be the last time I walk the Way of St. James.