My cousins are shoppers. My mom is a shopper.
I am not a shopper.
When my cousins consider exchanging their Swiss francs, they think of the loss in selling them back, and they'd rather spend them.
My cousins had one thing in mind that they had to purchase while visiting: New bratzeli irons. We would need to shop for those irons.
When we inquired of relatives, we learned that bratzeli irons, the old reliable, Swiss made irons were no more.
I've gotten ahead of myself. What is a bratzeli?
A bratzeli is a Swiss cookie. It is made from a dough comparable to a loose cake batter, though I have never made bratzelis. The dough is placed in a hot iron. The irons of my aunts and cousins have patterns. The cookie turns out hard and flat decorated with swirls or edelweiss. The best bratzeli are made with lemon in the batter.
Again I've never made bratzelis.
I grew up on bratzelis. My grandmother made them. My family is regularly gifted with bratzelis from cousins. At Christmas time, one of my mother's nieces always brings her a tin of bratzelis.
At a family dinner, the word got around that my cousins wanted bratzeli irons. Madeline, the mayor-for-many-years-of-Brienz, and my dad's second cousin's wife, offered to give one of hers. She had three.
You're seeing how important bratzeli irons are, yes?
But that was only one iron. Three cousins wanted one.
Vreni, my dad's second cousin, a dear and devoted to the Americans, soul, got it in her head that she was responsible for finding the desired bratzeli irons. When she offered to take us to a store in Thun-an hour away-, the cousins said "No." They thought they'd found a place that would order and ship the irons to their homes. Vreni showed up anyway and together we drove over an hour to a store that sold bratzeli irons. It was a beautiful store of beautiful household items. They had three irons for sale.
One of the models was just the one the cousins wanted.
They ordered eleven. Everyone and their children were getting bratzeli irons. They wanted to keep their Swiss culture alive, and this was done in part through bratzelis. They were so enamored with their find and and their bratzeli making futures that they convinced two other cousins to order an iron. They tried to convince me, but I don't even like bratzelis.
My cousin gave me a strange look. I was a family disappointment.
I'd much rather have Swiss chocolate.
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