Switzerland

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.

Rachelete

Matt's from Switzerland, so for his birthday we had rachelete. I was incredibly awesome to have a cultural meal of cheese with sweet chilled wine wine. I love melting the cheese just the right way and having it slide from the melting palette onto your food. Its also great to be around a meal, which you have to partially prepare at the table, where you converse with your guests while the cheese melts.
I must admit that, very shocking to me, I actually had trouble with the concept of eating just cheese! So I had mine on new potatoes and spicy lamb sausage. This was all done on a special electric griddle bought on amazon. But, in Switzerland, it is a tradition of males' proving themselves by serving a meal of fire- melted cheese sliced with extreme knife skills.

Ok fine

I guess ill take most of it back about Bobby's...although,  I think I said the burgers were good. I don't understand people who don't like goat cheese.  I like the FRESH GOAT CHEESE. My question now is wheres the bbq sauce? I thought I saw a Bobby Flay book about sauce.

BLC

One day, my mom was making BLT's for her and my dad. I don't like tomatoes. Therefore, CHEESE. YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH CHEESE (adapted from one of Julia's lines in Julie and Julia) CHEESE IS ALSO A RELIGION (adapted from a Who's Line is it Anyway? Three-headed Broadway star sketch), and (from a t-shirt playing on EurythmicS lyrics)  SWEET DREAMS ARE MADE OF CHEESE.

4 strips bacon
1 big lettuce leaf
2 oz. cheddar cheese
2 slices of bread

1. Fry bacon.
2. Place cheese on bread, oven on 350 and oven rack near the top.
3. Broil to make grilled cheese.
4. Place bacon horizontally on grilled cheese, then lettuce and top slice of bread.

Three Cheese Scalloped Reds

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup Dubliner cheese
1/4 cup Gouda
1/4 cup goat cheese
Sliced potato

1. Prep: Slice Potatoes on the thickest setting of your mandolin and shred cheese.
2. Butter casserole dish and pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
3. On medium heat, melt butter in sauté pan. Add flour and milk and whisk to make a rue.
4. Add un-rinsed potato slices and cheese. Mix.
5. Pour in casserole dish and bake for 30-45 mins.

Butternut Rav

Not sure how you feel about your veggies, but I love butternut squash. Back in college, I was in a co-op. Thank you for your condolences. My taste for meat grew because, as a separate community who didn't eat in the dining halls, meat was to expensive. Since we would only have meat on very special occasions, ate out a bunch.
Not only could we not afford meat, we did not recklessly spend on good veggies. In my first year though, a gem in the sea or weird vegetarian foods, was the sweet potato. Needless to say, I feel in love and that's about the only thing I ate.
When I got out of college, I discovered more sophisticated veggies, but with the same taste I came to know and love. Butternut squash tastes like sweet potato but feels more grown-up.

Filling:

¼ Butternut squash
1 egg
2 oz. goat cheese

1 teaspoon Orange Juice
Fresh rosemary leaves

Wonton wrapper

‎1. Bake squash in microwave or roast flesh (if rind is on) on baking sheet.
2. Puree filling ingredients in blender.
3. Spoon filling into wonton wrappers. About 1 1/2 teaspoons.
4. Seal wonton wrappers by wetting your fingers and 'painting' water around the edges of the raviolis. Carefully pat down tightly seal, so that the filling does not come out.

5. Cook pasta for 8 mins or until they rise. Make sure not to crowd the ravioli or it will stick. Probably about four per pot is the safest.

6. Top with marinara and crumbled goat cheese.
7. Enjoy!