I love medieval villages.  (Murten/Morat, Gruyères, Stein am Rhein and Chur to name a few.)  The more crooked the structures, the more mismatched the bricks and stones and wooden beams, the more I’m fascinated.  Whether in Switzerland, France, Italy or Portugal, I roam up and down the roughly cobbled streets of these labyrinthine villages, ooh-ing and ah-ing at the imposing doors and the seemingly indestructible ironwork.  I could listen for hours to my husband (or his encyclopedic father) share historical tidbits, while I gaze up at the years engraved into the buildings going back well beyond the 15th century.  All I can say is, thank goodness for digital film.  Every blink of the eye is a photo opportunity.

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For those of you who are familiar with bagels, this could be a very divisive post: New York City vs. Montreal. But this is no simple battle of H&H vs. St-Viateur (each city’s most famous bagel maker, respectively), nor is my very favorite bagel from either of those two places. Unfortunately, it’s not from Zürich either, where I live. So on my transatlantic travels, I often bring back bags of bagels in my suitcase. Into the freezer pre-sliced (a must), they toast perfectly and taste almost like fresh. So where do I go for the best bagel ? Great Neck.

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My recent travels found me eating pasta, risotto, polenta and gelato, and listening to the musical sounds of the Italian language.

While your minds may be full of romantic images, like crossing the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, strolling through the Borghese Gardens in Rome, perhaps shopping in Milan or simply eating pasta all day long in Bologna,… I’m not even talking about Italy.  I’m talking about Switzerland.  Yes, Switzerland, the country with a distinctive Italian speaking canton in the South, called Ticino (or Tessin in German), where you often forget you’re actually not in Italy.

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My obsession with granola started when I was at school in Durham, North Carolina.  My parents were visiting and we took a drive to Raleigh, where we fell upon a bakery that had the largest slabs of granola in the window we had ever seen.  It stopped us in our tracks, and was simply outrageous.  After graduating, I found out that bakery was Big Sky Bread and convinced them (before they started shipping nationwide) to send a massive box to my parents in New York as a surprise.  A bigger surprise came years later when I could no longer track them down; the bakery closed.  Years went by and my parents and I would say to each other from time to time, “remember that granola in Raleigh…?”  We all did.

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It’s starting to get real exciting at the markets here in Zürich.  We’ve already had a few tastes of summer, and berries are making their first appearances, mostly coming from Spain and Italy.  Best of all, rhubarb is now in the spotlight !  I noticed the long, green-topped, ruby stalks at the Coop (local supermarket) a few weeks ago, but as they were grown in hot-houses (and who knows where), I waited ever so patiently for the local crop to show.  Swiss rhubarb is now at every stand at the markets and I can hardly resist buying some each time I go.  Those bright stalks stick out of my market bag like a French baguette, and I hurry home to turn them into a quick pot of jam, or chop them up and throw them into the oven hiding beneath a mountain of buttery crumble topping.

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I hope 2011 has gotten off to a sweet start for everyone! It is certain to be full of new discoveries and adventures for me, with travels near and far.  We’ll be home in Zürich, bouncing around Switzerland and going beyond the borders to wherever the train may take us.  Perhaps heading to more exotic destinations too.  And let’s not forget all the adventures in the kitchen. Many food bloggers have been compiling their “best of” lists and sharing their favorite travel and food experiences of 2010, which naturally got me thinking too. It’s fun to browse through photos of past trips and recall memorable tastes that demand to be recreated.

What are your travel and food highlights from the past year? Here are some of mine…

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It was back in July of 2009, with the excitement of a child, that I announced the sweet news that Zürich would have its very own Ladurée boutique. I nearly jumped out of my seat when I found out, being a loyal fan for over a decade. So you can just imagine how high I jumped at the opportunity to actually translate the new Ladurée cookbook! But first, back to the story we go…

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They say “everything is better with Coke.” For me, everything is better with chocolate.  And dates.  That’s how I ended up baking not just tahini shortbread, but tahini chocolate shortbread… and tahini date shortbread.  Both irresistible, especially the latter.
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It has now been just over two years that I am living in Zürich, Switzerland.  Two years that I have been gushing to you on this blog just how in love with this city (and the entire country for that matter) I am.  If you’re thinking that the whole excitement of what’s new and exotic has perhaps worn off by now… nope.  Not one bit.  I am still in the newlywed phase with Zürich, a giddy sort of love that is resistant to any length of time.

But if forced to pick on this city I call home, well, I suppose I could fault it for a few things.  And I won’t even get into the question of linguistics.  Has anyone ever tried to learn Swiss German? My point exactly.  For an interview with Expat Voices, I was asked what I miss the most.  That answer was quite simple.  Small talk.  That is what I would criticize Zürich for – the lack of chit chat, whether it be with the lady at the cash register, the fellow on the park bench next to you, the waiter at a restaurant or just a stranger on the street.  I’m from New York; I talk to everyone.  And I miss that.

I also miss cookies.

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In a quiet fishing village in northern Croatia, a young chef is creating some of the most simple, divine fish dishes in Istria. He’s doing so in a small, modest tavern, cooking alongside his mother and mother-in-law, using the fish his father catches, and bringing the dishes to the tables himself. Sounds picture perfect to me.  Sort of like the streets of Burano, with their labyrinth of clean, cobblestoned streets, houses and boats splashed with a rainbow of vibrant colors. After leaving Venice and that charming island, I headed to Istria, the northernmost region in Croatia, about a 3 hour drive away. Some of you may recall a few highlights I shared last year, like my favorite port town Rovinj, zoo-like Brioni islands and a chocolate soufflé I have recreated here many times in Zürich. It worked out nicely that the chef’s chocolate of choice was Lindt – not too difficult to find here in Switzerland!

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