It has been two weeks since I was in London for Food Blogger Connect, and it’s been such fun reading the various posts by fellow speakers and participants… and tasting all the goodies I brought back with me, of course.  Off I went with my lists of addresses in the capital, categorized by chocolate, ice cream, cupcakes and artisanal British products. (Yes, literally.)  With only a couple of free days, friends to catch up with, fbc preparations, the Tube to master, and realizing London is, simply put, enormous, I didn’t quite get to check off as many spots as usual.  Nary a fairy cake tasted, nor spoonful of ice cream savored.  Not even a meringue from Ottolenghi. But worry not, there were plenty of chocolate stained fingers, and bars added to my chocolate drawer back home in Zürich.

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When I first learned that my husband and I were moving to Zürich, I quickly ran to the bookstore and bought a handful of travel guides on Switzerland.  I began spending hours on the internet, reading articles, checking out expat blogs, as well as searching for Swiss cookbooks.  For our first visit here, I figured we would just roam the streets and get a feel for the city, without paying close attention to my lists of sweet addresses… yet.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but notice that Schober, the one pastry shop I had underlined and bolded and put big stars all around it, was [gasp] closed.  For good? For renovations?  Once settled in in Zürich, I passed by every now and then to see if progress was being made.  I peeked through the windows and saw the beautiful moldings, ceiling and chandelier, and just waited for this old-fashioned confectionery to be open again.  Finally, in March of this year, after 4 months of renovations, it was back in business.  Worth the wait?  Absolutely.

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My first foray into the art of homemade marshmallows brought me mint chocolate squares.  Resembling little brownies, they were just as irresistible.  Readers all shouted – S’mores – and so, I stuck a few on a fork and roasted them over a candle (electric stovetop being the deterrent here).  Not bad at all.  They even got that black outer layer some of us strive for over the campfire.  Next up were espresso marshmallows, and boy did I have fun with those.  Hence part 3, the final in the marshmallow series and by far the most irresistible!

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As I learned in part one of this series, making homemade marshmallows is rather simple.  I am kicking myself for not having tried sooner!  Now the ice has been broken, and this surely won’t be the last time I am up to my ears in cornstarch and sticky deliciousness.  I have a list of different flavors I’d like to try next, fun shapes to make using my cookie cutters, and plenty more creative ideas of how to use them.  First up was chocolate mint marshmallows.  For part two here, it’s marshmallows using the same base of ingredients – sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, water.  And the same basic steps too: mix water with gelatin, heat sugar and corn syrup, pour cooked sugar into gelatin mixture while beating.

This time, no egg whites.  But a whole lot more beating time.  So here’s one recipe where I would definitely say that having a stand mixer is a good thing, if not necessary. You may have arms like Popeye and an unlimited amount of patience, but I am not quite sure a hand mixer would be strong enough to withstand this heavy and thick a mixture.  (I’ll have to give it a go and report back, hopefully with hand mixer still intact!) Fortunately I was with a friend who has a heavy duty stand mixer – and high quality espresso powder.  And so it went, batch two: espresso marshmallows!  Coffee being my very favorite flavor of confections and ice cream and chocolate bars, these were my favorite!  So soft and fluffy too, squishy like the perfect homemade marshmallow should be!

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Strange things have been happening lately.  I don’t like raw onions, yet I found myself in the middle of an entire festival devoted to the humble vegetable.  And I don’t drink coffee either.  Yet I slowly savored not one, but two cappuccinos each morning while staying at the bed and breakfast above Caffè dell’Arte in Locarno (an Italian city in all ways – it just happens to be across the border in Switzerland). 

Antonella Patelli’s cappuccino encompasses everything about how she runs the café and hotel above the Fondazione Patrizio Patelli and art gallery - its authenticity, superior quality, presentation, attention to detail, passion and excellent design.  As you drop your spoon into the foam of a typical cappuccino, it tends to collapse and slowly disappear.  Whereas here, the foam is rich, thick and soars above the rim of the cup like a successful soufflé.  Yet it doesn’t fall like one.  Dipping our hot croissants into our coffees, it was like scooping up meringue.  The foam was so thick that you didn’t even get any coffee on your croissant when dipping the first several times, just foam.

Antonella let us know that it’s simply a question of time.  When she insisted on a second round of cappuccinos, she always came back saying these would be better than the first, because she was able to take more time to make them.  A precise quantity of coffee in each espresso.  The thinnest stream possible when the coffee drips out of the machine.  The hot and frothed milk that is ready at just the same time as the espresso. And her passion.  That is why she is known for having one of the best cappuccinos in the city.  

We slept in comfortable, clean and stylish rooms upstairs, and each morning joined the local shop owners downstairs  in the bright room where contemporary meets stone in this historical building. Fashionable plateware on the table, individual butters sitting on a bed of ice, tall dishes of thick yogurt, croissants, fresh bread and a multi-tiered platter of dried meats, cheese and playful fruit kebabs.  I’d go back just for the breakfast… and more animated conversations in a mix of French and Italian with Antonella, so warm and friendly.  To say that this hotel was a find is a real understatement.  Not listed in guide books, it’s in the very heart of Locarno’s old town, a hop skip and jump from the main square, Piazza Grande. It’s hard to call it a hotel; it feels more like you’re staying at Antonella’s home.  And whether or not you drink coffee, you’ll look forward to sipping one of her cappuccinos and listening to her talk about her artwork, the foundation in her husband’s name, her children, where to go out for dinner in town… or that cappuccino.