When we arrived in Switzerland (later than we were supposed to because of a 4 1/2 hour delay) we went immediately to Matt's godmother's house. Her children greeted us warmly and we sat down to brunch. As typical of the region, we had assorted meats and cheeses with croissant and a milky bread.
For dinner we had sausages, salad, kabobs and pasta followed by plum tart with plums from the garden.
We spent the next day touring Genevea scouting out Matt's university, lake Geneva and the new Frankenstein statue. We stopped for a drink in town and decided to end our tour with gelato.
Syrups are very popular in Switzerland to flavor beverages-water, seltzer or even white wine. Matt loves to popular mint flavor and i usually get pomegranate. On that day, i tried violet and quince syrup with water. Both flavors don't seem to be at all popular in the United States so that admittedly I didn't recognize the quince fruit when it was presented to me. I have been exposed to violet before and liked the violet better, but would've preferred less syrup, or maybe more blended.
But the gelato was better! Paralleling my reading choice, I found two atypical spicy flavors which I urge everyone promote in their communities. GINGER and CINNAMON! God they were good!
On the third day, I SAW IT. On Matt's birthday I finally saw melted rachlette slide off the halved cheese wheel. The cheese is traditionally served with potatoes, pearl onions and small pickles with either white wine or hot tea so it doesn't solidify in the stomach. There was Italian meat for an appetizer and the lactose intolerant, but Katie, her friend Nancy and I got a big plate to eat with the cheese.
.....
After the third day, I stopped taking notes. However, this was not for lack of scrumy food.
We continued to eat great- Italian food. Yeah, I know, its confusing, especially if you eat pizza in Zermatt. Why was the first restaurant we went to Italian? Everyone knew I was looking forward to real Swiss food, geez. Just more evidence that everyone loves Italian. And Switzerland IS right next to it. We had pizza with goat cheese, panchetta and Gorgonzola.
On the Friday before we left, we redeemed one of Matt's best birthday present. We got the gourmet package at St. Christophe, which included a gourmet meal and a one night stay in the castle. For the amuse-bouche, a triangle of toast with sun-dried tomato yogurt and a thick potato chip. Then we had salmon trout with fennel and grapefruit in a balsamic reduction, a entree of beef with broad beans and scallion crepes, and dessert of apricot parfait with chewy meringue and sugar work. Saving the best for last, homemade pear liqueur.
In the morning, we woke up to breakfast overlooking the medieval courtyard with a backdrop of mountains.
With all that good food, it might be a wonder why my favorite day surrounded a very rustic meal. On Sunday, we went to Matt's hometown and had a day long meal with his aunt. We had the traditional Rachlette meal, this time all of it. The first course was rice, string beans and grilled meat. Then the cheese course followed by ice cream with black currant jam from the garden. We also had dried sage tea.
