Category Archives: Food, Wine & Beer

Eating baby eels

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Post by Lauren

One of the things we decided to do in Madrid was a fancy-schmancy multiple course dinner. Not like the kind where you are stuffed to the gills, but more like the Top Chef version where the presentation is so beautiful that you question when and where they ever serve that stuff in real life. And it was totally intriguing to Gabe & my curiousity, as well as Andreas was game to the new culinary experience.

Kudos to Isabella for doing the research and landing us an impossible table at Diverxo.

We sat down and had a piece of art as a centerpiece with Spanish words for “what we would experience”….. quite a conversation starter.

They don’t publish the menu at all, before or even upon arrival at the restaurant. You only get the selection of the seven, nine or eleven courses which are customized each evening and sometimes to each table. Our five-some decided upon the middle selection — nine courses. And, they are listed below, as dictated to Ferdinand’s blackberry at the end of the evening because photography wasn’t allowed. Please forgive our descriptions as we couldn’t remember the proper names. I am sure the chef would be offended if he knew we called elements of his creation “dipping sauce” and “breadcrumbs”.

Edamame served with Paraguayan pepper dipping sauce
Tea with flowers and stuff

Tiger mussel* with mousse and bread crumbs
Soup – baby eel** and baby fish in broth, fried eel skin

Smoked tuna belly with egg yolk wonton
Chicken stock wonton on a wheat disk with langoustine and mushroom in a broth
Mushroom “bun” wrapped in milk skin on tomato pad, with pulled jamon jerky
Variation of Peking duck: crispy pork skin with roe and black sesame brioche, then pork meatball lettuce wrap
Oxtail short-rib dumpling with foam & exotic mushrooms

Violet mousse with foam
Green tea chocolate mousse with passion fruit gel and chocolate shavings

Wine: Familia Martinez Bujanda Rioja

*Note, the tiger mussel was seafood. Not the muscle of a tiger which was our first thought.

**When they served the soup dish, they mentioned that it contained a special sea noodle that was made “in house”. We were told after that they wait to tell us the noodles are actually baby eels which are an extremely rare delicacy, as it turns some people off. They said some restaurants serve them living, swimming in the soup. We are glad they weren’t that kind of restaurant that served living baby eels. I am not sure I could have continued on eating the remaining courses after that out of fear.

The service was amazing…if you took a sip of wine or water, immediately the waiter or waitress quickly poured a replacement sip. I almost felt guilty for sipping, they were so attentive. They took care to explain each dish, in English, as it was brought out. The highlight was they also instructed us the best way to eat it….what to start with on the dish, how to pick it up, whether to eat it with one bite or two, etc. We all agreed on our gratitude for this explanation.

I have long been a fan of attending museums and galleries for appreciating fine works of art. The same goes for concerts and shows to witness the talents of musicians. This was definitely the closest feeling I have had to experiencing culinary arts. It was quite a way to behold the creativity of food selection, preparation & presentation and will not forget eating baby eels for quite some time.

Madrid Nights

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Post by Lauren

There was lots to love about Madrid during the day, but what is the most memorable is the nightlife in this capital city of Spain.

Isabella had told us we’d be eating late….an early reservation was at 10pm. This intimidated me. But, once we arrived and started living like the Spanish, it all fell into place. Late dinner. Nightlife. Sleeping late. Explore a little. Eat. Siesta. Repeat.

Here are a few visual highlights of the evenings in Madrid:

Ferdinand’s colleague hooked us up with a penthouse reservation at this bar in Plaza Santa Ana. Amazing views. Delicious cocktails. And a great scene for celebrating Ferdinand’s birthday which happened to be the first night Gabe, Andreas and I arrived.

Nine course dinner at Diverxo lasted until well past midnight. More on this tomorrow!

Flamenco show – a traditional Spanish display of singers, musicians and dancing.

Evening tapas crawls – absolutely delicious and a great inspiration to make it late into the night!

I can’t think of a place I have ever been that is livelier than Madrid at night. A stark contrast from Geneva nightlife and a really fun long weekend. Again, lots of gratitude to Ferdinand and Isabella for giving us a great reason to visit and enjoy this amazing city to the west.

The coolest and scariest bar I’ve ever seen

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Post by Lauren

Before we left Gruyeres, Andreas suggested we stop into a bar he had seen on our walk in, the HR Giger Museum Bar. Now from the title, you may think, how scary can a museum bar be? Well, Giger was known for his creative work on Alien and won an Oscar. Apparently this bar was inspired by Jonah being in the belly of the whale. Check out the creativity…..the whole place was a magnificent work of art.

I love the one of Andreas and I doing a “double dragon”…our scariest move, from behind our skeletal stools.

For a more detailed look by professional photographers, check out this link or see this YouTube video:

 

Gruyeres, Switzerland

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Post by Lauren

We are excited to have Andreas in town visiting for the US this week. At first, Switzerland decided to show Andreas its gloomy side, but Gruyeres ended up being a good little day trip as the heavy clouds made the castle a little bit more mysterious, and the chill in the air made our cheese dishes a little bit more tasty.

When we first arrived, we checked out the Gruyere cheese factory and even got to try a sample.

Touring the Gruyeres Cheese Factory

The arduous process certainly made us appreciate our cheese more. I really especially liked the story, told from the perspective from one of the cows, detailing the history of cheese and cheese-making. The story also compared wine tasting (when you pick of flavors of cherry, oak, etc) to cheese tasting, where one should pick up the cumin, the thistle, etc of the matter that the cows graze on.

Next, we moved onto the town of Gruyeres. Usually you can see the Alps in the background. But, it was a tad foggy. Oh well. We were still charmed by the beautiful walled town. We grabbed a traditional cheese dish of raclette and relaxed and dined by a panoramic view of the valley.

After lunch, we adventured to the famous Gruyeres castle. It was really neat, but my favorite was the beautiful geometric gardens that rested in the courtyard.

We almost had an additional adventure when our car took 7 times to start in the very empty rainy parking lot. But, he made it. More on that later.

A traditional Chinese treat!

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Post by Lauren

Sunday night, we had a culinary treat when R & L invited us to their home for a traditional Chinese dinner. We had tried their fabulous spring rolls before at an earlier Canadienne Buffet party, so with the anticipation, we lightly picnicked for lunch on the way back from Lyon so that we would have plenty of room for the delights.

And we were so glad we saved room! They cooked a magnificent feast for us and we got to try ten different Chinese dishes. They were all A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! It was so hard to pick what to go back for second bowls of as everything was so unique and tasty. I think we both ended up trying everything twice.

While we love Chinese food in general, our prior experience had only been limited to USA-style. So, this traditional family-style meal was a first for Gabe and I. It far exceeded the Chinese we had ever had before, so now we are spoiled 🙂

All the girls decided we need to teach each other how to cook different dishes that were our “specialties”, so I certainly look forward to my Chinese lesson someday soon. I think Gabe looks forward to me getting this lesson too!

Thanks for hosting such a lovely evening, L & R !!!

Lyon, France

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Post by Lauren

As you read from the post about Aix-les-Bains, we did a quick road trip to Lyon, France this weekend. We traveled with A & A and the four of us literally pulled together the details (including deciding to go) on Friday before we left.

The main choice to go to Lyon was driven by its culinary scene. However, we were really enamored by all the city’s charms and it ended up being a great overnight trip from Geneva. Below are a few photos from the weekend in France:

A Page from the Swiss Rule Book: Recycling

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Post by Lauren

I am all about protecting Mother Earth. However, here in Switzerland, it really requires a lot of knowledge and time to keep up with your recycling. I really don’t know how I would manage if I were working full-time and had to do all of this, especially with the limited hours that the bins are available for use and stores are open. Also, they have “garbage police” that track down any offenders via rooting though your garbage for clues about your identity.

So, here is a breakdown of what is required:

Aluminum – cans go to a special aluminum bin that is normally located in your neighborhood recycling area. Note that my closest one is on the walk to the women’s club, so I take aluminum on days I have French.

Batteries & Lightbulbs – you have to take these back to the store you bought them. Usually the bin is right before you get into the store. We haven’t had this happen yet but good to know.

 

Compost – you are required collect your natural food scraps and put it in the special bin for compost. They make special bags for this but I have been using the bags that my salad comes in to dump since the teeny bags are about 1 CHF each.

Glass bottles – these go to a neighborhood collection site. The closest one is 3 blocks away, on my way to the post office. Usually this bag gets quite heavy as I despise going to the post office. Note the bag can get very full if you have a dinner party with beer and wine.

WARNING – you are only allowed to do this within certain hours, 8a-8pm, and NEVER on Sundays or holidays. My friend Alysoun and her husband were severely reprimanded by two separate neighbors for breaking this ordinance on the last Swiss holiday during the middle of the day, which was on a Monday.

Milk bottles – these have to actually go back to the grocery store, they usually go to the milk section inside the store – there is a little hole in the wall you insert your old bottles into. This has to happen during store hours, 8:30-7pm and when you know you are going to the store. One day, I carried three empty milk bottles around all day because I knew I was going to hit the Co-op that afternoon.

Paper & cardboard – this goes in your building’s bin. If your building doesn’t have a bin, you have to tie it up neatly in a 1’ x 1’ bundle tied with twine and put it on the street a certain day.

 

PET / Plastic Bottles – these have to be collected from the store you brought it from since it is the liability of the store from making profit of selling plastic bottles. So when you go grocery shopping, you need to return them with you. Sometimes these bins are just outside of the store, sometimes they are in the store.

 

While I feel very eco-responsible, I do miss single stream like we had in the US. And I never leave the house without a bag of something to recycle. I am a continual bag lady. This is typically the size of the load I carry out each day:

 

 

We had been keeping everything in the kitchen for convenience:

However, I finally couldn’t take the eyesore and smell, so I invented a new bin using a Rubbermaid tote. It sits outside on our kitchen balcony.

Happy Recycling Everyone!

Fête de la Tomate & Carouge

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Post by Lauren

Friday night, we checked out the Fête de la Tomate in Carouge. The Swiss love their festivals (we have seen/been to 4 already in our short time here) and we equally love going to them. Mainly, because it provides a neat outing and more tasty & affordable cuisine than we can find in the restaurants.

The Fête de la Tomate was a really enjoyable evening, but this festival was a lot smaller than the others. Especially as I think it is a bit more lively on Saturday vs. Friday night since it apparently was the first year its been open Friday night. Maybe everyone didn’t get the memo including the vendors as the tomato stands, tomato sauce stands, etc. weren’t open.

We explored it for a bit, enjoyed the band, had some food, and then headed back into Carouge to have a glass of wine and dessert.  Ironically, we ran into friends A & A and their pups during our walk.

 

Mr. Edible

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Post by Lauren

If you love animals, you might want to stop here.

So, as a beginner in French, our first week here, I took notice of a menu posted on the street with “cheval”.

 

“Hmm” I commented to Gabe, “ I thought that cheval meant horse! Ha, my French is really awful….Rosetta Stone really didn’t pay off, huh?”

A few weeks later, I saw it again. It must be some sort of goat cheese…..like fromage de chèvre. Sort of sounds the same, right?! So, thirsty for French knowledge, I looked it up.

Oh no.

And, I found that I was accurate the first time.

Yup, as confirmed by the meat labels in our local store, people here like to eat Mr. Ed.

Riding or eating. Either will work!

I was shocked and brought it up on our next women’s hike. My friend M noted that usually this is served prior to fondue, as a dried meat. Bleccccck!!!!


Horse steaks on sale in Carouge!

If you don’t believe me, check out the little animals on the packages they have at the Co-op to help people identify the meats. I should dedicate a Gratitude Friday to these labels so that I haven’t mistakenly eaten horse.

Speaking of mistakes, when we were in Chamonix a few weeks ago, I was eating the dried meats they served with raclette until I remembered M’s fondue advice mid-bite of a really tough piece.

Getting upset thinking about what I might be eating

Don’t worry, we asked the waitress and it was a false alarm – all jambon, or ham. I couldn’t eat any more after that though.