A Visit from Mum

My mum came to visit me in Geneva last weekend. The two days were filled with:

• Going for hot drinks in sweet little cafés with mismatching furniture and equally mismatched but beautiful teacups and saucers. 
• Drinking vin chaud outside in a bustling square in the old town. Now begins the season of warming your hands with mugs filled with orange and spiced wine.
• Walking through old Carrouge at night to a restaurant and loving the tree lined squares and classic houses with painted shutters.  I now need to live here, and visit the Market!

On another note,  my ♥  brought me a treat on his 3 hour train journey back from Basel last night.  What a lovely way to start my work day...with a pink cupcake for breakfast.

Bubbly Fondue

On Emma's last day after we ambled around the Geneva old town wishing we were living the French dream of drinking wine everyday and living in a beautiful (and unpayable) town house, I introduced her to the Swiss speciality that is Fondue! She really really liked it, as well as other treats I introduced her to such as spätzle and an abundance of chocolate. She was however surprised at the fact that you rarely see people eating crisps in Switzerland...and that houses and apartments here have blinds 'like high street shops'.

 Our very Swiss Fondue experience

 Dipping her first piece of bread

 Crunchy Cheese at the bottom of the pan

Perfect for a cold day:  Hot cheese and bread eaten outside with a special friend....we were so full for so long that we had chocolate for dinner.

Chocolat

 Was actually the worst chocolate I tried, Whisky burns

 Chocolate fountain #2

 Every flavour from Christmas, Orange & Ginger to Macciato

Chocolate Fountain #4

Two weekends ago I did something that every girl dreams about...getting full access to as much chocolate as you could wish for. I visited the Geneva Chocolate Festival and tasted chocolate covered cocoa beans, the spiciest chocolate, made with habanero chillies and much of four chocolate fountains, you name it, they had it. I would definitely recommend a chocolate fair/festival to any of the sweet toothed in the world, My ♥ was pleased with the pink strawberry chocolate which was waiting for him when he visited me.


I was in a Cho-Coma for the rest of the day though unable to let anything pass my lips but mineral water

Happy Birthday Switzerland

On Monday it was Switzerland's national holiday and I was lucky to share the day with  ♥'s Swiss side of the family & their friends from Geneva. The day was filled with afternoon sips of white wine, hanging lanterns, eating fondue chinoise, communicating in broken French & of course lots and lots of sparkly fireworks (many of which I was brave enough to light myself)

I made my cheesecake for the occasion which turned out festive with a white chocolate cross...which cracked upon the crowning of the cake (I was worried that would come across shady to all the Swiss) but it ended up to be a success. 

 My 1st of August outfit- was surprised I was the only one wearing 'Swiss Red'

The only shot I managed to get of my cake- on my lap in the car on the way there

 Hanging lanterns in the tree,  they looked so pretty at night, but sadly ♥'s phone isn't too good in the darkness

 When we get out own place, I need need need lanterns, the are so magical at night

 Dancing in the garden with sparklers

  You can see the lanterns we hung on the patio in the background

 Fondue Chinoise - something I had never tried before I met ♥. Must be a Swiss thing, cooking raw meat in broth

Most memorable moment of the night? When ♥ held my hand whilst we watched the volcano sparkle

On another note,  I am really excited for this weekend as we will be driving down to Locarno to go to the 64th Film Festival to see Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford & Olivia Wilde present their new film Cowboys & Aliens in the Piazza Grande open-air cinema. I also can't wait to take advantage of being so close to Italy by having lots of Gelati, Caffè and other yummy specialities whilst on our trip. And until then, arrivederci.

Little smiles you can eat

One of the things that reminds me of my childhood in Switzerland is Linzertorte. The merging of jam, spices and crumbly nutty crust in this cake make me think of primary school in a foreign language, summers spent exploring the outdoors and my loving mum always having a surprise treat for us around 4*. Although very different to the Cake, I was inspired to try some Linzer-cookies.

*Z'vieri (meaning Four): time where the Swiss have a break and enjoy a little snack, ours was usually sweet.

I love eating pretty looking treats

 All my little cute faces lined up plus some love

With a powdered sugar sun-tan

To make these soft, pretty things:

50g Powdered sugar plus some for the end

150g Butter

1 pack Vanilla sugar/or dash of vanilla essence

1 Egg

150g flour

150g ground almonds

pinch of cinnamon

pinch of clove

pinch of cardamom

1/2 Jar of Jam of your choice

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, then add the vanilla & spices along with the egg, lightly beaten in. It will curdle but that's OK.  Now add the flour and almonds and mix quickly as not to over work the egg.  Once combined, wrap in foil/cling-film and pop in the fridge for at least an hour. Once cool enough, roll out on a floured surface until about 3-4mm thick and cut out two shapes for each cookie, one with a face/heart cut out in the middle.

Bake in the oven at 150°C/302°F for about 6-8 minutes until just the edges are beginning to brown slightly. Cool on a wire rack and once ready spread un-cut sides with jam and place the cut out opposite (which you sprinkle with icing sugar) on top. voilà 

My brother, who is very honest and not too big on compliments said these tasted shop-bought !   

When you work, weekends are cool

As an unemployed graduate, I lost all thrill for the weekend, but now that I've been working a week, I couldn't wait for all the fun to begin. It was filled with  ♥ teaching me how to drive manual in a car park, getting McDonalds (BAD) and eating it on a playing field in the sun, relaxing by the rhine, some ping pong,dinner at Vapianos & a date at the cinema.

 I have to pass my test by the 20th of November or I'll have to start all over again.

We bought a kilo of apricots from a lady at the side of the road

Feelin' Swiss

Lazy Sunday started with 'Züri Geschnetzeltes, Rösti & Rahmspinat'

Having a drink at Veronica's

Our Date-movie:  was funny but maybe not worth the cinema money

Recipe for 'cut meat Zurich style':

1 onion diced

3 thin pork minute-steaks (supposed to be veal)

1/2 pot of sour cream

2 large handfuls of champignons

1 clove of garlic

salt & pepper

1 onion diced

dash of milk 

some parsley to sprinkle

Now that I'm in Switzerland,  I think it was about time that I try to add something Swiss to the recipe list.  My ♥ claims not to be a fan as his Swiss parents have made it far too often, he liked it thought which made me happy.  

This recipe is quite irrational in terms of measurements but I was improvising. The real recipe also asks for some lemon juice, paprika and white wine, so throw that in if you want to be authentic. Finely chop the onion and heat with medium temperature until glassy. Add sliced mushrooms and sauté. Stir in the chopped/or crushed garlic. Now is the time to add the cream & milk (or wine if you have) to make it more 'saucy'. Once all is mixed and looking brown and creamy in colour/texture it's time to add the thinly sliced strips of meat. Simmer these in the sauce until they are cooked and I chose to serve it with Rösti (fried roughly grated potato) and some creamed spinach (none of which I made myself).