"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."

And who isn't familiar with Bing Crosby (or maybe Nat King Cole, dependent on your age!) crooning The Christmas Song? (which incidentally was written on a very hot summer's day in Southern California as a way for Bobby Wells and Mel Tormé to cool down! Ah what you learn as you blog!!) But have you ever eaten any chestnuts that were roasted over an open fire? I certainly hadn't. Past tense.

When you walk through Zürich these days (since approximately late October), you will see stalls with men inside, roasting chestnuts over a charcoal fire. On my way back to the train after Bible study, I can either head over to the permanent Bretzel King stand and get most any imaginable variety of pretzel including a sandwich made on pretzel bread, or I can head to the stall right next to it and get a small cone shaped paper bag with these hot chestnuts (marroni, they are called here) or I can join some friends for coffee at the Globus.

I haven't had any in Zürich because I tried them in Vienna. I was not impressed. They were soft and pretty tasteless. I have since read rave reviews about how wonderful they are. Not my experience. Maybe I got some from a bad batch or maybe I was expecting something closer to hot roasted peanuts. I can only tell you that after sampling some the song lost some of its mystique. Why would any one dream of chestnuts?

Oh well. Espresso anyone?

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