I went to Rome.  And I visited the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Forum, Campidoglio and Campo dei Fiori.  But I know what you’ve all been asking.  What and where did I eat ?!

Even though my lists only had addresses for gelato, chocolate, torrone, pastries and breads, remember, I wasn’t alone on this trip.  So I did sort of have to eat some savory.  And hey, it’s Italy… land of pasta, pizza, prosciutto, mozzarella and more.  I was okay with that.

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As much as I love discovering new restaurants and the thrill of hanging with the chef and being behind-the-scenes, I don’t want to spend all my time in the kitchen.  I also want to get outside and explore.  To me, that means visiting the town – taking a stroll on Main Street, which oftentimes is the only street around.  That’s the way to get a feel for what the locals do during the day, where they hang out, how they dress, the dialect they use amongst themselves and of course,… what they eat.

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You just had a little photographic taste of my trip to Belize and are now raring to go with a list of must-do activities too.  But as many of you expressed in the comments, there’s something else you’re keen on reading about here.  What was I eating while in Belize?  It wasn’t all rice and beans, that’s for sure. So let’s head right into the kitchen!

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I hope you have all been able to catch some of the coverage on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, either from the links from the previous post or on television.  Certainly no shortage of the latter.

For those of you planning a trip to Berlin, if you like museums, you’re in luck.  There are almost 200 in Berlin, satisfying your interests in art, culture, history and/or religion, among other curiosities.  Below you’ll see just a few highlights from my short visit to the city, plus one museum that is a must, if only for the fact that you won’t find it anywhere else in the world other than Berlin.  Any guesses? Read the rest of this story >>

You may have guessed that you’d be seeing pumpkins on the blog this week, with Halloween real soon and my affinity for markets, which are just overflowing with gorgeous pumpkins this month. Around this time last year, I was baking my pumpkin chocolate chip cake, a recipe I make all year long, thanks to my trusty cans of Libby purée from the States.  But from now on, I’m going can-free. Jack McNulty (gastronomic encyclopedia) and his wife Silvia Gautschi McNulty of Laughing Lemon Food & Wine, give fun, educational and delicious cooking classes here in Zürich (Oerlikon).  I signed up as soon as I could for the October pumpkin class (recipes below).  One of the few occasions Jack and Silvia color-coordinate their outfits!

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A trip to New York City?  To me, that usually means City Bakery, William Greenberg, Billy’s Bakery and bagels, of course.  But not this time around.  That will have to wait for the next transatlantic trip when it’s not Passover, the Jewish holiday when we avoid all leavened foods.  Yet if there is but one reason to be in New York right now, it’s simple: my grandfather’s matzoh brei.

Matzoh, those dry, cracker-like squares we resort to instead of bread, get dressed up and disguised in all shapes and forms.  My favorite is matzoh buttercrunch and especially my latest creation, in ice cream sundaes.  My other favorite is soaked in eggs and fried like French toast or scrambled up like the eggs it’s mixed with.  That’s matzoh brei.  Some people like it savory, some sweet.  (You can all guess my preference, I am sure!) From one pan of matzoh brei, you can have a dozen different plates on the table.  My mother is of the salt and pepper camp.  My grandfather eats his with lox (smoked salmon).  My grandmother, plain.  When my sister and I were little, we would make big bowls of cinnamon and sugar and pour (more accurate than sprinkle) that on top. I have since upgraded to pure maple syrup, my father’s first choice as well.  A friend of mine just told me how she had it for breakfast this past weekend, first batch with salt, second with jam. There are no rules.  Just as long as it tastes good!

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It’s fun to look back at my photos from the summer of 2008 when I first moved to Zürich, and see what I took pictures of.  There were buildings and structures so new and exotic to me that they stopped me in my tracks. Now I may pass by every day, and they are all too familiar.  The old town near Lindenhof seemed like a regular labyrinth, yet now seems so very easy to navigate.  There was one spot that I kept taking pictures of, every time we walked by; it was just a wall to me, but so fascinating and almost “hidden” amongst the small winding streets in the area.  

Little did I know that it was the famous frescoed facade of a well known restaurant where the poet Goethe once stayed, and where I would have one of my best meals in Zürich.    

We sat down inside Kaiser’s Reblaube and started to ponder the menu.  Translation: skim through the pages, trying to find as many words as possible in German that we understood.  All the while, munching on some warm, almost hot, nuts that were set down for us.  Luckily, our German was not quite up to par, and it took us some time to figure out what to order – and thus, savor those nuts!  We were then given a menu in French and a second bowl of nuts, seeing that the first quickly disappeared.  We still needed some more time to decide between the many enticing dishes – Swiss cuisine with a modern touch and a real focus on fresh, seasonal products.  The waitstaff (100% female in the ground floor restaurant where we ate) could hardly miss our excitement about those nuts that once again disappeared.  One waitress returned giggling and this time, presented us with a much larger bowl of those nuts.  It goes without saying that we finished that too, and would have received more, but told the waitresses that we needed to leave room for dinner!  

The nuts were surely a sign of what was to come. Granted, our appetizers and main courses were not quite as addictive and we did not receive multiple plates of each.  As for the dessert, a pineapple minestrone, I can’t say I would have minded… A cold pineapple “soup” with almonds and various dried fruit standing in for the pasta and vegetables.  Plus a large scoop of vanilla chile ice cream.  A nice kick to soften the sweetness and acidity of the other ingredients. Talk about first… and last impressions.  And all the while, absolutely impeccable service.

I asked one of the waitresses if she could share the recipe for those nuts.  Thinking it was some highly guarded secret, I couldn’t believe she rattled it right off – rosemary, sugar, butter. Gee, no wonder they were so good!  I asked if she could send me the exact proportions, as I’d love to make them at home.  Patience paid off. She did!  And I have now tried the recipe several times.  These nuts are awfully good – real crunchy with a mix of sweet and savory, addictive for sure, whether hot or cold. But nowhere near as good as the real deal in the restaurant. 

Almost Kaiser?s Reblaube?s Irresistible Nuts
Adapted from the original recipe for Reblaubennüsse

1 1/4 cups (175 grams) shelled almonds
1 cup (130 grams) cashew nuts
1 Tablespoon chopped rosemary 
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon flour
1/2 Tablespoon (7 grams) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celcius).  Put nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes, giving a shake halfway through.  In the meantime, mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl.  Add the toasted nuts to the bowl and mix well. 

Serve warm.

Kaiser’s Reblaube
Glockengasse 7
8001 Zürich
Switzerland
+41.44.221.21.20
www.kaisers-reblaube.ch

While spending time in the Swiss region of Gruyère, it wasn’t very difficult to know what to order at meals. As the saying goes, “when in Rome…,” right?!  So it was meringues à la crème double for dessert, and for savory, Gruyère cheese in all its glory.  Especially fondue!

It was hard to find a restaurant without fondue on the menu.  But you’re not completely off the hook on making decisions – you still have to choose which fondue! You’ll find different combinations of cheese or even some including other ingredients, like mushrooms, tomatoes or herbs.  One place we ate at actually had fondue made with Champagne.  Whatever the case, for every city or region or even country that you visit, you will find just as many answers for what is the “traditional” recipe for fondue.  Swiss versus French. Beaufort versus Appenzeller. Kirsch, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, lemon juice… what else to add?  As long as you are in Gruyères, Switzerland though, what is true and authentic is unanimous. Moitié-Moitié, the half and half fondue, reigns.  

A good thing about the variety of fondue on one menu is that whether you are 2 or 10 people at the table and you all want fondue, you don’t have to agree on which one.  Just get fondue for one person!  It has become somewhat of a norm for us, but I will admit that individual fondue was a funny concept when we first arrived in Switzerland.  I had never seen it before, but it is quite common for people to order single portions.  And why not?  Everything is the same, it just comes in a small pot.  Quite logical in fact.  So one time, I had my fondue with chanterelles, and my husband had his without. Another fondue during our short stay was the obligatory classic recipe, the half and half – and this one was in a pot for two.  I am sure you all guessed one of the halves: Gruyère cheese, of course.  The other: Vacherin Fribourgeois.  Vacherin is another mild cow cheese that melts extremely well, and lends a thick, creamy texture, as well as a very pleasant taste, to the fondue.  I don’t mean to take sides, but I will be honest and say that this was my favorite fondue yet.  It was much softer in taste, with a less pronounced flavor of alcohol, and still irresistibly creamy – as most fondues tend to be.

Below you will see the classic recipe for the Moitié-Moitié.  Feel free to try it at home and practice your fondue etiquette, which is very important!  Always keep in mind a few things, and you’ll be a pro in no time.  First, make sure your piece of bread is real secure on your fondue fork – people have all sorts of funky rules and traditions about how to handle the person whose bread falls in the pot!  Next, don’t just dip your fork in the cheese, but stir it around a few times (some people will say in a figure eight), so that the fondue keeps its creamy consistency and does not separate.  Lastly, it’s not recommended to drink cold water with your fondue, as this may cause the hot cheese in your stomach to congeal.  Wine would be a much better option.  Once you’ve mastered the traditional half and half recipe below, you may even start experimenting on your own with different cheeses.  But if you’re calling it a Moitié-Moitié, and telling anyone in the region of Gruyère about it, I’d be sure to make sure one of those halves is Gruyère!

Fondue Moitié-Moitié (Half and Half)

Serves 4

1 garlic clove, cut in half
3.5 cups (400 grams) Gruyère cheese, grated
4 Tblsp cornflour
1.5 cups (3.5 dl) white wine
1 Tblsp fresh lemon juice
3.5 cups (400 grams) Vacherin Fribourgeois cheese, grated
2-3 Tblsp (3?4 cl) Kirsch

Rub the interior of your fondue pot with the garlic clove.  Add the Gruyère and the cornflour to the pot, followed by the wine and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat, and add the Vacherin, while continuing to stir until smooth. The fondue should no longer boil.  Add the Kirsch.  Keep the fondue warm, with the pot sitting on its burner.

Serve with bite-sized pieces of bread, small boiled potatoes, gherkins (cornichons) and pickled onions.

This past weekend was a short trip to Lyon – only 2 days, and relatively short in distance (about 4.5 hours by car from Zürich) – but what felt like a long trip back in time.  From last week’s visits to Paris’ pastry shops with colorful macarons and beautiful, precious pastries, we left the modern and refined for the traditional, more laid back cuisine of Lyon’s typical restaurants, called bouchons.  We saw heavier dishes like quenelles (fish dumplings), many varieties of offal and sausage, coq au vin, duck pâté, hearty salads with meat and platters of charcuterie.  True Lyonnaise cuisine is not for those watching their diets, and especially their cholesterol!  Following the obligatory cheese plate with Saint-Marcellin, dessert menus will almost always include: ile flottante, baba au rhum, tarte aux pralines, nougat glacé, profiteroles and bugnes de Lyon (small rounds of fried dough).  

My father-in-law was searching for a particular atmosphere for Sunday lunch.  He wanted to find a small, charming restaurant on the Saône, the tranquil river flowing through Lyon. He wasn’t looking for haute cuisine, but rather a convivial atmosphere and good traditional cooking.  With a name like La Guinguette, we could not have found a place more suited to his cravings. Reminiscent of the paintings of the Impressionists, guinguettes depicted scenes with food, drink and music.  Usually open-air restaurants with an area for dancing, guinguettes were popular with the urban working class who wanted to relax on a Sunday in a pastoral setting. Found along the banks of the Seine, in Paris suburbs or other cities throughout France, they were all about the simple pleasures of life at affordable prices.  In mid-November I have to admit that the ambience was a bit more subdued, but I could imagine all the restaurants lined up along the water just filled with people, eating outside and drinking wine late into the summer nights.

On a side note, a guinguette is a true subject of nostalgia in France, as not many survive today.  Many were closed down by the Germans during France’s Occupation, and the final decline came with the invention of television, and the ban on bathing in the rivers in 1960.  

Ordering a prix fixe menu (always the best option in France), we had the choice of a Salade Lyonnaise (poached egg, lardons, croutons), Salade Pêcheur (baby shrimp, crevettes, cooked salmon), Salade Landaise (smoked duck breast, croutons) or a plate of charcuterie (sausage, terrine, confit, pâté, rillettes, ham) as a starter.  Not one of us bothered to read the options for the main course however – it was Cuisses de Grenouilles à la provençale for us all – frog legs!  A large platter filled the center of our table, with small, fried frog legs swimming in the typical sauce of butter, garlic and parsley.  Forget a fork and knife, this is food you eat with your hands. 

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The changing colors, the leaves falling from the trees and hiding the sidewalks as they gather throughout the day, the omnipresent chestnut stands – it is unquestionable what season it is here in Zürich.  In my opinion, the most exciting place to see the arrival of autumn is at the market.  Tables full of bright summer berries, juicy peaches and nectarines have been replaced by a panoply of root vegetables and a dozen varieties of apples.  Pumpkins and funny shaped squash take center stage.  The colors are just as vibrant, the produce just as fresh, a new selection simply exciting as ever.  Restaurants are posting their new fall menus, and home cooks are taking advantage of the new fruits and vegetables available. 

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