If you’re a sports fan, then you’ll know that Swiss tennis player (legend) Roger Federer is in England right now, hoping to bring home another Wimbledon title.  But you may not know that he and wife Mirka were in Zürich about 2 weeks ago, in line for a wurst. The buzz went wild here about the city’s best sausage.  If Federer’s first choice is not enough proof, then what is?

“Twenty centimeters long, with a total of 500 kilo calories and 33 grams of fat.”  That’s how the group at Zürich’s Vorderer Sternen Grill brags about its bratwurst on their website.  I doubt a public relations agency in America would use the same approach. Perhaps they would rather talk about the fact that this sausage stand serves Anne Mae Bullock, aka Tina Turner, and even the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos.  But most importantly, my guess would be that they feed about 99% of all of Zürich! Included on almost every restaurant list and compilation of top Zürich attractions, this unpretentious stand boasts the “best bratwurst in Zürich.”  And it’s not just a tourist destination, it’s a local favorite – hence the lines reminiscent of New York’s Magnolia Bakery or Paris’ L’As du Fallafel.  The lines don’t detract, and they go super fast.

Ask the outgoing and always smiling men manning the grill, and they’ll tell you that their bratwurst is for Zürich exactly what the Eiffel Tower is for Paris or the Golden Gate Bridge is for San Francisco.  An icon.  Halit, above, is a charmer, and along with your sausage, you’re guaranteed a laugh or two for sure.

The menu is not long; it’s really just a matter of a simple question – pork or pork/veal. The item that gets all the raves is the St. Galler Bratwurst, the thinner grayish sausage, made of a mixture of veal and pork.  The fatter and reddish sausage is the Servelat, made entirely of pork.  Both come with a little paper cup of a rather strong yellow mustard.  You have been warned: a little goes a long way.  Plus a crusty bread roll, real hard on the outside and soft and doughy within, and you’re set.  They get their bread from Gold Bakery, which has been making their signature roll since 1907, and many say they’re the best rolls in town.  So sausage in one hand, bread in the other – you’ll look like a local in no time.  As for eating said bread roll without amassing a generous collection of crumbs around you, that I have yet to figure out.

Sitting above the sausages lined up on the grill are also half chickens, which come with the same Gold bread rolls as well as Russian dressing.  Juicy and flavorful (and deliciously greasy), the chicken is also an excellent option.  You might be surprised to know that there is in fact a vegetarian option too: a warm pita filled with lettuce, tomatoes and Russian dressing.  That much is clear.  I am less certain about the exact makeup of the large pieces that resemble chicken, but are in fact made from corn.  It’s actually quite tasty, if a bit mysterious.  Potato salad is the other way to go.

Either way, you’ll either eat standing up as most people do, over a little cocktail table, or grab a seat at a table, where you can also order drinks.  Beer seems to be the default! But how to drink it when you’ve got a sausage in one hand, and your bread in the other….?  I’m open to suggestions.

Since I shared the recipe for my most favorite polka-dot jam tart a few months ago, I have made it over and over again.  With rhubarb jam, raspberry/apricot jam – I even made it with Nutella, a spin on my husband’s idea for Nutella hamantaschen.  A sweet, buttery, cornmeal crust with just a touch of salt, and a filling of any jam you like, let’s just put it this way – I have a lot of empty jam jars to fill now. So off to the market I went for fresh fruit…

My jam du jour: raspberry.  I imagine it would be fun to make jam the old fashioned way in a huge copper cauldron, mixing the day away as if it were a witch’s brew.  But I wanted a small batch for now – and simple – one that wouldn’t require me watching temperatures, playing with pectin or having to stay close to the pot while it bubbled away.  I remember reading about an easy jam making method by Nigella Lawson, where you actually “bake” the fruit and the sugar in the oven.  The same weight of each in separate pans, and not even a half an hour later – voilà, you’ve got homemade jam. Apparently the act of mixing boiling sugar to the hot fruit creates instantaneous jam. Hard to believe, right?  That’s what I thought too.

But as I eat my sweet raspberry jam out of the jar with a spoon, and think about tomorrow morning’s breakfast, I can say, thank you Nigella, it worked.  It’s so simple, you’ll definitely want to set the timer.  You’ll walk away and forget you even have a batch of jam in the oven.  

Okay, so it is a little bit more liquid than I am used to, but it’s always nice to try new techniques and discover different textures.  The jam is perfect swirled into thick yogurt, spooned on to a tartine with thick salted butter or on a croissant, and not bad as a topping for pancakes either.   When you take the two pans out of the oven, they looked unchanged, as if you forgot to turn the oven on.  Do NOT touch them to make sure you did! The second your wooden spoon hits the raspberries, they will start to sizzle, and the mixture of the two will show you that yes your oven was in fact on – and cooking your jam!

Baked Raspberry Jam

250 grams (8  3/4 oz) fresh raspberries
250 grams (1 cup + 2 Tablespoons) sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Put the raspberries and sugar each in their own shallow ovenproof dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and VERY carefully pour sugar onto the berries. It will sizzle when mixed – and be careful, it’s scolding!  Pour mixture immediately into jar, seal shut and let cool. (Turn it upside down a few times as it cools in case some of the sugar tries to settle to the bottom.)

* Important: It will not be as thick nor will it keep as long as conventional preserves. It must be kept in the refrigerator. I would say try to eat it within 2 weeks, but there should be no problem there once you taste it…

After that worldwide chocolate roundup a few days ago, I certainly have chocolate on the brain – lots of recommendations from readers and still my own chocolate drawer filled to the brim with new bars to taste.  (Might need another roundup soon!)  It seems like I am seeing and smelling chocolate everywhere.  Even in my mailbox.

A little envelope arrived today from France.  In it were two sheets of stamps resembling a chocolate bar.  There is even artwork around the perforations to represent the wrapper’s foil – so fun.  Ten 56 centime stamps to a sheet, each with a different image related to Le Chocolat – cocoa pods, someone biting into a bar, a cup of hot chocolate and most important of all perhaps, one that says Bayonne 1609.  About a month ago, my friend Chloé Doutre-Roussel (chocolate maven herself) sent me a link for an article in Le Point, announcing France’s new chocolate stamps.  They were designed to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first arrival of cocoa beans at the port of Bayonne in France, near the Spanish border.  Definitely worthy of a celebration!  I unfortunately could not be in Bayonne for the festivities, but asked a friend in France to mark her calendar for May 25th when these stamps would be available at post offices throughout the country.

Well, there are some serious chocolate fans and/or stamp collectors in the town of Chalon-sur-Saône!  Sold out, and the post office is still waiting for more chocolate stamps to come in.  So I asked my mother-in-law to go to her local post office and send some on.  That same day, I received an email from her that read, “Got the stamps!  But boy oh boy does my handbag smell of chocolate!”  Oh, did I mention… the stamps SMELL like chocolate too?!

First thing I did when I opened the envelope this morning was put the sheet to my nose. Lo and behold, they smell like chocolate!   I don’t know for how long these stamps will be available (nor for how long the aroma will last!), but if you live in France, it’s worth a visit to your local Poste to get a whiff – or if your friends (or mother-in-law) live there, have them check.  Otherwise, you can order them online.  In case you are wondering – no, the stamps don’t actually taste like chocolate too when you lick them!

Here in Switzerland, we have some fun stamps too – cheese, potatoes, a Swiss army knife and chocolate too of course.  Only thing is, they all smell like… stamps.

Coming back from Venice, I had a suitcase filled with nougat, biscotti and chocolate (unfortunately no gelato). Whenever I come back from France, it’s usually jams, Carambar, prunes from Agen and chocolate. From New York – bagels, soft brown sugar, Vermont maple syrup and chocolate. What does one bring back from Croatia? Well, if you want to get through customs without sweating, you probably won’t attempt to walk on by with dried hams or fresh truffles in your bag. Olive oil? I suppose you could risk the glass bottle breaking in your luggage (I did!) – not in your carry-on though, liquid’s a no no. Specialty shops in little villages throughout Istria had tons of products based on truffles and olive oil, pretty much everything imaginable made with one of the two.

So what did I bring back?  Chocolate.

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One thing is clear; I definitely want to return to Rovinj in Croatia’s Istria region. And when I do, I?ll be eating at the restaurant Blu again. I am just not sure whether I’ll be returning more for the view on the Adriatic, or for Chef Nikola Hrelja?s chocolate cake (bonus – I got his recipe, it’s below!). Read the rest of this story >>

In a few weeks, a much talked about beauty pageant will be taking place in Western Croatia.  Prizes will be awarded for most beautiful, most photogenic, best personality and all around best… goat.  Miss Goat Istria 2009!  The pageant was apparently started to make sure traditional goat farming did not disappear, and has now became a rather popular event!

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After the first taste of Croatia, I wasn’t quite sure what to share with you next.  So many beautiful destinations in Istria itself, such rich history and gastronomy; 1,000 photos to sort and numerous recipes to try… where to begin?  How about with my favorite town, Rovinj.  Think Italian Riviera, yet with a twist.  Street signs are in both Italian and Croatian, and people are speaking in either one of these 2 languages, if not in the Rovinj dialect, which would not be understood in any other region, as one local pointed out to me.  A colorful Mediterranean town, with a real Italian flavor, that still feels like an island of its own, even though the old town has been connected to the mainland since 1763.

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