tips for baking in France...

...and perhaps also tips for shopping for ingredients in France as well. It took me some time to figure out where the items I needed were stocked in our local grocery store as well as what the heck they were called. Now that I have figured out the local Migros (pronounce mee-grow) I am loath to venture into other stores for my groceries. It's not too bad going into another French store, but drive across the border into Switzerland and you are back to square-one. Not only are things shelved in different areas, but they are called different things. Yes, it's still in French (and often German and Italian as well) but they have not only different name brands, but different names entirely! One example that I think is actually pretty funny is that milk, lait (lay) in French, is called Drink in Switzerland! I don't know why but I find that so very amusing.

So, on to ingredients for baking. The standard ingredients you have to look for when baking are the following: sugar, flour, butter, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, cocoa powder...I'm sure I'm missing something....yeast if you're baking bread. Those are the standards, right? Well, I don't know what it's like in other countries, but in the U.S. all those items are pretty much in one aisle -the baking aisle. Here that is not the case. Yes, the flour, sugar, vanilla and baking powder are in the "baking" section. But the cocoa powder is in the aisle with coffee, tea, and hot chocolate mix! This seems very strange to me. Perhaps you can make hot cocoa with baking cocoa but why bother when there is shelf after shelf of powder chocolate designed specifically to throw into hot milk instantly making hot chocolate? Once you discover that this is where the baking cocoa is your job is not over. You still have to pay careful attention to which canister of cocoa you are getting. Note the picture to the left. These two canisters look almost identical, don't they? Yes. OK, except that they have different pictures of baked goods on them - but they are pictures of baked goods. Not chocolate milk or something. So, naturally knowing what the cocoa canister looked like I just grabbed one during a quick shopping trip. Only to discover that there was indeed a key difference between this canister and the one I usually bought for baking. Look at the following pictures and see if you notice the difference.
Ah , yes. If you said the difference is one says cacao en poudre and one says chocolat en poudre, you would be correct. Now you may be asking yourself, "what is the difference?" The difference is quite obvious when you open the containers and see that one is the dark, rich, unsweetened cocoa (or cacao) used in baking and the other is a light, sugary powder which looks like a more granular form of Swiss Miss hot chocolate (which as far as I can tell they do NOT sell in Switzerland or France -Swiss Miss , my ass). In my defense the containers do look almost exactly the same and if you read the instructions on the chocolat en poudre it claims it too is for baking. there is a recipe for some sort of mousse that I'm going to have to try one of these days, but it certainly is not what I want to throw into my chocolate snack cake!

Next we come to the baking powder. It is found in the baking section but if you don't know what your looking for it can take you hours to track it down. First off, it is called levure chimique or I have also heard it referred to as levure anglaise. This is sort of funny because levure is French for yeast, anglaise is English and chimique is chemical. So their baking powder is called chemical yeast or English yeast. I guess it sort of makes sense since baking powder is the agent which helps baked goods rise. I just think it's funny because, apparently, the French didn't need this component in their baking till the English came along and started settling down in France. I only was able to discover the what baking powder was called and how to find it thanks to a dear friend who visited us the second month we were living here. She was a French major in college and had no qualms tracking down an elusive store employee and making them tell her where these essential ingredients were - it was also thanks to her we discovered where the baking soda was kept. The store employee who assisted her immediately made the assumption that she was British, why else would she have any need for levure anglaise? I really need to find out what the French use to make baked goods. Then again, they don't seem to be a huge cookie country, you know? They're much more into their pastries and fruit tarts. Whew, now we know what baking powder is called -but the tricky thing, for an American at least, is how it is packaged. I kept scanning the shelves for a canister or at the very least a box of baking powder. Oh no, not in France. Here your baking powder comes in little packets. There are 4 packets to a package.

Luckily, baking soda is called bicarbonate, which makes sense. It is even in a box very similar to our very own Arm and Hammer boxes back in the States, only it's not bright orange, but blue and white. The difficulty for me was that it was not in the baking section. It was near the spices and salt. Once again it is only thanks to our friend that we found it at all. It's amazing how ingrained certain things become to you. Why on earth should I be scanning the shelves of a French market for an orange box with an arm holding a hammer on it? It's ridiculous, but that's what I found myself doing. Stupid American, I know. But I've gotten over it now.

Hmm...I think that's all I got for the moment. I need to go whip up the brownie mix that was sent to us in our Christmas care packages. If you are wondering, yes you can indeed buy mixes for cakes and brownies here in France but they cost a fortune. I'm not kidding. In the States you can get a box mix for what? .99 cents? Here is costs 6 - 8 Euros! With the current exchange rate ( don't get me started no that) it works out to be about $9 - $12! I love me some Duncan Hines brownies but not enough to shell out 10 bucks for them!!! I'll make my own thank you very much...assuming I manage to buy the right canister of cocoa powder, that is.

yummy pizza

yep, another quick post and surprise, surprise it's about food! Some of you might know that my DH's favorite food of all time is pizza. He would eat nothing but pizza if I would let him, which naturally I don't. But, from time to time I enjoy having a bit of pizza as well. Tired of the frozen variety and not having found a fantastic pizza place that delivers in the area I decided to try my hand at some homemade pizza. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself - and I do.
So next time you want a pizza, but want to spice it up a bit, have something a little different I would highly recommend this pizza con pancetta. This fabulous recipe is from a cookbook called Pizza, calzone & focaccia by Maxine Clark. We got it as wedding present and it's pretty good.

Here is the recipe:
(either make your own pizza dough, or buy one it's the toppings that really make this pizza)

PIZZA CON PANCETTA

-6 tablespoons fiery red pesto
-24 thin slices pancetta or bacon
- extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
-sea salt and finely ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (roughly 218 degrees Celsius) for at least 30 minutes

Uncover dough (if making homemade), punch out the air, and roll or pull into a rectangle (I made a rectangle and a square and, honestly, the shape doesn't change the taste) about 8 inches wide and as long as your oven will take (or make 2). Put dough on parchment paper.

Spread the red pesto over the pizza crust, leaving a 1/2 inch rim around the edge. Lay the strips of pancetta widthwise across the pizza - they should be almost the same width as the dough. Season and drizzle with oil.

Working quickly, open the oven door and slide paper and pizza onto the hot baking stone or baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, then carefully slide out the baking parchment. Bake the pizza for a further 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the pancetta is crisp. Remove from the oven and drizzle with olive oil. Cut and eat immediately.

For the Fiery Red Pesto you can either make your own (don't worry I'll provide the recipe in a minute) or, if you are lazy like me, you can buy some red tomato based pesto and then add some crushed red pepper flakes to the pizza. Trust me this way is really yummy.

Fiery Red Pesto

1 large red bell pepper
2 big handfuls of fresh basil leaves
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra to preserve

Preheat the broiler to high.

Place the bell pepper on the broiler rack and broil, turning occasionally, until blackened all over. Put the pepper in a covered bowl until cool enough to handle, then peel off the skin. Halve and remove the core and seeds.

Place the pepper and the remaining ingredients, except the oil, in a food processor. Process until smooth, then, with the machine running, slowly add the oil. Spoon into a screw-top jar with a layer of olive oil on top to exclude the air, then refrigerate, for up to 2 weeks, until needed.

Considering I don't have a food processor I opted not to make my own. I did seriously think about getting all the ingredients and grinding them together with our mortar and pestle (which we bought at DH's insistence that it was essential and have yet to use), but once we found some red pesto, I just figured if it wasn't "fiery" (which it wasn't) I'd just spice it up myself. All in all, this is a really great pizza. A nice deviation from a typical pizza, and it's good for lunch the next day...that it assuming you haven't inhaled it all in one sitting!

Enjoy!

ugh

next time I even think about sitting down and gorging myself on soupy fudge, someone hit me. Please!!! I can't believe how much my stomach aches. I know, I know I deserve it. Maybe this will teach me some self-control, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.
OK, I'm going to go take Ally for a nice long walk and hopefully work off some of this fudge I've been devouring

What to do....

...it's another one of those days where I just sort of feel at loose ends. I know I should be compiling my list of UN agencies to send my resume to, but I just can't seem to get myself going. I didn't want to get up this morning, even though I wasn't really sleepy it just felt so good to lie in bed. Mmmm...all warm and cozy, with our nice satiny sheets (they were a wedding gift). It was so snugly and warm and comforting I could have stayed there all day. But, a little after 9 a.m. I figured I should get up and get going. I got up but, of course, I didn't really get going. Instead I ate breakfast then curled up on the couch with my coffee and a book and read all morning. Ally even snuggled with me. I think she knows Picasso is gone for good. How could I possibly get up when she was lying so comfortably with her head on my feet? It would have been cruel to disturb her. Or that's what I convinced myself to believe...it wasn't to terribly hard either.
It's nearly 2 p.m and I've managed to get myself showered and dressed but now I'm just avoiding doing anything by writing this post. Isn't it wonderful to have a blog? Actually, this is probably the most boring thing you've ever read! If you've gotten this far thanks for sticking with it. I did manage to throw in some laundry and I since the sun has finally broken through the clouds I should take Ally for a walk. Maybe I'll have a quick cup of coffee and a spoonful of fudge to fortify myself first.
Oh, did I mention I attempted to make my friend, JD's, perfect fudge recipe? It tastes great but it never solidified! You literally have to eat it with a spoon - no joke. And I do. It's terrible and wonderful at the same time. It's terrible because I don't do so well at pacing myself. When you have to cut it you say, "OK, just this small piece...or two." But when it's sitting there in front of you it's hard to stop. "Just one little more spoonful." or you sit there reading a book and don' t even think how much you are shoveling into you face! oh boy, it's good.
Yeah, I'm going to go have just a little with a nice cup o' coffee. Hopefully, DH won't come home to find me passed out on the couch, groaning with a tummy ache, and chocolate smeared all over my face!

for those interested in the recipe here it is:

Perfect Fudge
1 pound box of Confectioner's Sugar
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, unsalted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts) if you like

1.) In a medium saucepan heat the sugar, butter, cocoa, milk , vanilla, and salt over low
heat, stirring until smooth.

2.) Stir in nuts

3.) Spread mixture quickly in buttered 9 inch square pan. It sets up fast, so work fast!
(Mine did not set up at all, so if this works for you let me know, I can't figure out what went
wrong!)

4.) Cool. Cut into squares No need to refrigerate (the only way I could get mine even semi-solid was to refrigerate!)

good luck if you try this recipe. Let me know how it turns out for you!

Can I Challah at ya?

Yes, I am actually going to post something about today, as in this actual day. Amazing. Don't worry this doesn't mean the end of my procrastination it just means you never know if you'll read about something that happened a month ago or an hour ago. I like to keep things exciting.

well...not too exciting. This post is just more pictures of my thrilling adventures in the kitchen. I felt a Martha Stewartish fever today and started a baking frenzy - if you can call Challah bread and cookies a frenzy, which I can and do. I also was on a little cleaning kick, but then the baking bug bit and I ended up making very little inroads into the messiness that is our apartment. I also didn't want to call in the DH reinforcement because he has been busy doing actual work -from home no less! I think he's in the grips of the New Year's Resolution turn-my-life-around syndrome that takes ahold of us all this time of year. Luckily, have been able to smother my urgings of self-improvement and bake instead. Woohoo!

So, here come the gratuitous photos of my baked goods. It's like baked good porn - I love it.
Now, as a disclaimer, this is my first time baking Challah and it came out fairly well considering. It is a little on the dark and crispy side but I blame that completely on my oven, which lies to me. Oh and on the oven thermometer (we got it for Christmas) it also lies. I know it's hard to believe that these two appliances would be in cahoots with each other but I swear it is true. I don't know what they have against me or my baking but they are working together to get me. The funny thing is they don't even tell the same lies. One says it's one temperature and the other tells me a completely different temperature and I simply don't believe either one of them! So there.
Oh, yeah, the Challah. I was a bit concerned while I was making the bread because it didn't really seem to be rising. I had covered it with a kitchen towel and left it on the stove top to rise for an hour and nothing seemed to be going on. So, I read back through the Betty Crocker cookbook I was using and it said to cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. I did, et voila, rising bread dough. Good ol' Betty, she always comes through in a pinch. Now, in all honesty, I don't know if the plastic wrap had anything to do with it or if I'm just mental. I find the latter option to be quite possible.
As the bread was rising I decided to make some cookies. As a result of my complaining I couldn't find Cream of Tartar anywhere and my plea to be sent some for Christmas I received enough Cream of Tartar to choke a horse. I thank everyone who kindly sent me Cream of Tartar and I will do my best to use it up. I blame myself entirely for ending up with this large stash. I have learned a valuable lesson from this experience: no matter how badly you'd like something don't ask everyone you know to buy it for you! Lesson learned. Luckily, I had this pile of Cream of Tartar so I was able to make the cookies I've been Jonesing for for months - Snickerdoodles. mmmmm.....love me some Snickerdoodles. My DH claimed he'd never had them before (I find this hard to believe, but that is his story and he is sticking to it). After his first bite he fell in love and proceeded to devour 2 more. Hmmm...maybe it is a good thing I have so much Cream of Tartar, it doesn't look like the Snickerdoodles are going to last too long. I might need to make another batch in a day or two if he continues consuming at this rate! the Snickerdoodles turned out remarkably well. considering my distrust of the oven I attempted to keep a close eye on them as they cooked.

While I was making cookies I paused to punch my bread dough - that's one of my favorite parts of making bread, punching it! I divided it into three sections, rolled them into long snakes and braided them together. Ready to rise a second time. By the time I was done with the cookies and had washed all the dishes up the bread was ready to be popped in the oven. I was not so good about watching the oven this time. I let the bread get a little too dark. It kind of has a crispy crust which I've never seen on Challa bread. The egg wash makes it shiny, but I don' t think it should make it crispy. Funny enough I worked for a year in a bakery that mainly made/sold bread and I still don't know this stuff. All I know is that my Challah did NOT turn out like Allen's (the baker). Mine isn't bad for a first attempt, but it's a little overdone on the outside and it's a bit denser than I thought it should be. I mean every time I've had Challah it has had this lightness to it. Or maybe I'm thinking of another type of bread...hmm....
but, it still tastes pretty damn good, if I do say so myself- and I do!

Neuchâtel, Switzerland

Well, I am so behind in my blogging. I'm going to post pictures of our weekend trip with CD and JD. We were there December 21 and 22 - see I told you I'm behind. I'm a bit cranky and tired today so I have a feeling most of this post will consist of photos...but who knows I could get diarrhea of the pen. A lovely image isn't it? My high school government teacher used to say "diarrhea of the mouth does not constitute constipation of the pen." It always made me chuckle to myself. Anyhoo, what am I writing about? Oh yeah, Neuchâtel. Neuchâtel is a lovely town on, yep you guessed it, Lake Neuchâtel it has narrow windy streets, medieval buildings, was actually a town in the Roman days they've found the structure of a huge Roman Villa in the area), and is truly very beautiful. It's even more lovely in the summer when you can see the surrounding mountains and lake. When we were there most everything was obscured by fog. A pity considering JD and CD had made sure we got rooms with a view of the lake - the view would have been gorgeous if we could have seen more than a few feet! It's the thought that counts and the DH and I enjoyed watching the fog swirl above the lake in the mornings.
In our hotel room was a scooter, or micro-board as they called it. Which we could use during our stay! How fabulous is that? We just rode it around the room, but I know DH wanted to take it for a spin around town he just never had the opportunity. I was tempted to borrow JD & CD's and have races in the hall but my common sense prevailed.
We arrived late on Friday night so just enjoyed a relaxing evening sipping cocktails in the hotel bar and having some dinner there while we enjoyed the vocal warblings of a local performer. CD was convinced she was a transvestite, I just think she liked having a mullet. All in all an enjoyable evening. The next morning we were ready to hit the streets and explore the city. Since I had been there once before (for a few hours with the French language course I took this summer) everyone looked to me for guidance despite my repeated protestations that I really didn't know where we were or what exactly there was to see. I knew that if we kept heading upwards we'd come to a large church with a pretty view of the city...that was if we could see the city through the fog. So we started following the narrow windy streets that led upwards. We passed through a charming market in the medieval square.
Yum, those olives looked so delicious! As we ventured through the city I pulled out my nice Switzerland guide book (given to me by JD before we left the States) and recited the information to my companions as we strolled along. I don't really think anyone was listening, but I enjoyed myself and that's all that really matters, isn't it? I found the fact that Alexandre Dumas described the town as, "looking as if it were carved from butter" due to the majority of buildings being built of pale yellow limestone. Butter buildings...our little butter thief would have a field day in a town made from butter! Alas, she and the slobber hound were back homing being watched over by the neighbors. Back to Neuchâtel, we wound our way up the narrow streets and found the church I had remembered, the Èglise Collégiale. According to the guidebook it is, "a combination of Romanesque and Burgundian Gothic styles" and was "consecrated in 1276." Who wouldn't want to attend a church that looks as though it were carved out of butter? Sign me up - but only if they serve some sculpted butter with the sermons! They views from the top were not so great (see above comment about all encompassing fog). It was unfortunate that our friends' trip was filled with fog, but really I can't be held accountable for the weather.

After wandering around the church in the cold we decided to head back down into the center of town and search out a nice place for a warm drink, food, and a whiskey for CD (in Ireland he has his G&T breaks, in France/Switzerland he has his whiskey breaks).

We found a great little cafe packed with people warming up and JD found the best cup of chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) around. It arrived with melted chocolate in the bottom of the mug and a steaming pitcher of milk to pour into the mug. It looked, smelled, and to all accounts, tasted heavenly. DH and I regretted not getting chocolat chaud especially when we returned the next day to find the cafe closed for the day - darn these Europeans and their Sunday day of rest! that night we enjoyed an amazing and filling meal of cheese fondue. Oh how I have come to love fondue. I usually end up eating so much I end up waddling instead of walking the rest of the night.

A quick word of advice for anyone traveling to a cheese rich country - do not go overboard on the cheese. You will regret it when you have...er...digestive issues for the next few days. Work yourself slowly into a cheese heavy diet, don't just throw yourself in whole hog! 'Nough said. Oh, hey I forgot something. Before dinner we went to the Latenium - the Archeology museum. JD and I thought this was pretty cool. I'd been there before with the French class, but I really enjoyed wandering through again and this time I didn't have a pounding headache from concentrating so hard on understanding our teachers French tour. We wandered through at our own pace and really enjoyed it. If you're in the area I think it is worth the trip. If you make arrangements ahead of time you can get a guided tour in English (and many other languages) or you can do what we did and guide ourselves. There is the drawback that all the labels are in French so if you don't understand any it might get frustrating. But, if you're like many people I know you don't read the labels and signs anyways, you just look at the stuff. A couple of my favorites at the museum is the model of the Roman villa and the bottom of huge boat that they excavated from the lake (it's a long boat or a Roman galley or something like that) pretty cool though. JD was ecstatic because she discovered the museum ha some Celtic cauldron on display in it's temporary exhibit. She's going to kill me because I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. It's very famous and is the quintessential Celtic cauldron (or something to that effect - Sorry JD). She was over the moon about seeing it - seriously I think it made her trip.

So, that was pretty much our stay in Neuchatel. We took it easy and had a great time. I think DH and I will head back there in the warmer months to check it out again. It's only about an hour and a half drive so it's a totally doable day trip.

yum, yum...the scent of Christms continued

Dear me, it's nearly 9:00 a.m. and I find myself the only one up and alert. Even Ally is curled up fast asleep on the couch next to me. Thus, I thought I would take these free moments to post my previously mentioned thoughts on orange and cinnamon rolls. But before I get started did I mention that our guests, CD and JD, arrived safe and sound yesterday morning. So, it's quite possible this will be one of the very few posts made until after they leave on the 27th. Then again if sleeping this late is a regular pattern then perhaps I will find some blogging time. But, enough about that.


No doubt everyone has samples a cinnamon roll, warm and sticky with cinnamon oozing out the bottom and the glorious sweetness of glaze drizzled over the top. I'm salivating just thinking about it. But have you ever had an orange roll? Heaven. Pure and simple heaven. At least my mother's are and for me the aroma of hot orange rolls baking in the oven is the ultimate herald of Christmas. That sweet, tangyness wafting through the air. The delicious odors of yeast bread baking tinged with a faint scent of oranges...mmmm, perfection. For me this smell over almost any other stirs up images of my family gathering for the holidays. The warmth of our comfortable kitchen, my sisters and I sitting at the counter, legs swinging back and forth lazily watching my mother bustle about the kitchen. Her chastising us with, "Just because you're on vacation from school doesn't mean you don't have to help around the house!" The house filled with laughter and memories as we drag out the boxes of Christmas decorations and argue over where they should go on the tree. Laughing at our lopsided Kindergarten ornaments. Helping my mother adjust her village of electric houses on their cotton ball snow. Blowing on a steaming mug of hot chocolate after helping my father shovel the sidewalks. Funny how just a little thing like filling your own apartment with the aromas so familiar to your childhood can make it feel more like Christmas and more like a home. True it also makes me more homesick, but I'm trying to focus on the positive here.

So, on Tuesday I made up a batch of my mothers orange and cinnamon rolls. Being my first attempt I think they came out very well. Also being my first attempt I didn't think about the fact that my mother always baked to feed an army. Not only was her baking for our own household of five, but we would take rolls to my grandmother's house for Christmas eve dinner, she would make extras to give to friends at work, for people at church, etc. So, when I followed her recipe I ended up with nearly 3 dozen rolls! And I only have 4 people in the house to feed. Granted I did put some together as a little gift for our neighbors, but diminishing the supply by 4 rolls isn't really ALL that significant. Here is my mother's, now famous, recipe:

Yeast Rolls

21/4 cups milk

2 pkgs. Granular yeast

¼ cup water, I use about 1/3 with the 2 pkgs. Of yeast

¼ cup sugar

11/2 teaspoons of salt

1/3 cup shortening

1 egg

7 to 8 cups of flour

Scald milk, 190F.

Soften yeast in lukewarm water separate cup

Measure sugar, salt, and shortening in mixing bowl

Add hot milk and stir until all is dissolved, add the softened yeast when mixture is about 95F (lukewarm)

Add egg and beat until well mixed

Add bout half the flour and beat vigorously. Add more flour, ½ cup at a time to make dough stiff enough to knead easily. Keep dough on soft side rather than too stiff.

Turn dough onto floured surface and allow to rest 10 min. covered with wax paper to prevent drying. Clean mixing bowl and grease bottom and sides with shortening.

Knead dough until it is smooth and satiny about 5 to10 minutes or until it springs back when you press it with your finger. Place dough in greased bowl and grease top and sides lightly, cover and let rise until double in bulk (in a warm place). When double punch down to remove air bubbles. For orange rolls split dough into two balls and roll 1 out to about ¼ thick. Spread butter or margarine on and sprinkle with granulated sugar and orange rind (if you do both balls as orange rolls you will need to use 3 or 4 oranges) Scrape the oranges to get the rind while the dough is rising. Roll up like a jelly roll and cut slices and place in a greased baking dish. I use 9 x 13 cake pans. Cover and let rise until double again. Bake in 400 F oven for 15 – 20 minutes.

For the icing I use a walnut size margarine and shortening, 1 tsp. vanilla, maybe 2 cups of confectioners sugar and orange juice to make a spreading consistency.

You can make cinnamon rolls with the other ball by rolling out the same way, spread with butter or margarine spread brown sugar and sprinkle cinnamon over it. Follow directions for orange rolls. If you want to put icing on just use hot water instead of orange juice.

You can also make plain rolls by rolling the dough in balls and putting 3 to a muffin cup, they make nice dinner rolls. The recipe makes about 3 dozen if you want to freeze some don’t put the icing on until you are ready to use them.

As you might have noticed from the first picture I didn't have a candy thermometer so I just used our regular thermometer for when we get sick. Josh had a fit when he discovered this, absolutely sure that I had broken it. Apparently, and this does make sense, those thermometers are made to only go up to a certain temperature - if a humans temperature went up to 200 degrees they'd be dead. So, yeah, I get that I just didn't think about it. Luckily, Josh was wrong I didn't break the thermometer. I used it only to make sure the mixture was cool enough to add the yeast.

Well everyone has suddenly awoken. Isn't it funny how everyone gets up within 3 minutes of each other. Each stumbling out or their rooms, bleary-eyed, tousled hair, searching for their reviving cup of coffee. So, here's my last photo of my rolls to fee an army ( I made both orange and cinnamon rolls, by the way). Who knows when I'll be able to post again, but, gotta go!

the scent of Christmas

I don't know about you, but for me Christmas is all about wonderful smells. Whenever I smell certain things throughout the year they immediately evoke memories or just plain old warm fuzzies. Does that happen to you? For me the scents of Christmas are very distinct and they all remind me of family. Of course, there is the lovely, crisp smell of pine trees. Every year my family would go to the local tree farm, pick out, and cut down our own Christmas tree. You'd think that this wouldn't take a terribly long time, but for my family it was a momentous and LONG occasion. We'd bundle up in our warm clothes and trudge through the fields of trees examining each as we passed. There were 5 of us and we all had different tastes. One would find "the perfect" tree, but someone else would disagree, it was too short, the next "perfect" tree found would be vetoed for being too tall. Too fat, too thin, doesn't have long needles, needles are too long, has a branch missing on the back side, it went on and on. Eventually, we would all settle on one tree that everyone was satisfied with. If it wasn't the "perfect" tree it would be once we decorated it. If it still didn't meet someones specific requirements for the perfect tree then they had a whole year to plot their strategy for how they would get the tree they wanted next year. Usually, it was the bitter cold and thoughts of a hot lunch and hot chocolate that finally forced all 5 of us to come to an agreement. My dad would manfully saw through the tree and we'd or should I say, he'd, haul it back to the front to pay and strap it onto the car. Inevitably, once we got it home and put it in it's stand it was always so tall it wouldn't fit into the living room until we lopped of a little. I think my mom secretly sang, "I told you so. I told you so." in her head every year. So, yes the fragrance of fresh pine reminds me of cold winter days and family fun (hey who needs to remember all the fights and fits we had over picking the Christmas tree? Those temper-tantrums are long forgotten - at least by me, since I was probably the one throwing them.) This year Josh and I debated over whether we should get a real tree or buy a fake one. We hmmmed and hawwed over it, tried to purchase a fake one but returned it immediately when it was rung up at 2 times as much as the sign said. We tried to find the one in the price range we wanted, but after struggling through 2 conversations, in French, with 2 different store employees we gave up. And in the end we bought this cute, if tiny, live tree. See, it even fits on top of the table, which we decided was a bonus if our apartment decided to take on water again! Lucky for us we have great upstairs neighbors. Marion and Beat let us borrow their Christmas decorations, which they weren't using because they are going away for the Holidays. Yeah!! We had plenty of ornaments to choose from for our little "Charlie Brownesque" tree. I added some red ribbons I had and we had been smart enough to grab some string lights from a couple moving out of the country this summer.

The other smells of Christmas for me are those which emanate from the kitchen. My mother is a wonderful cook and an even better baker. And at Christmas time our house was always full of the warm, delicious fragrance of baked goods. Classic sugar cookies, which we would help decorate, orange rolls, cinnamon rolls, pies, chocolate crinkle cookies, haystacks, chex mix, you get the picture. There was always something in the oven creating wafts of mouth-watering smells. So, I thought to put myself into the true Christmas mood I'd have to fill my own kitchen with those magnificent and nostalgic aromas. Yesterday, I kicked things off by making some sugar cookies. I followed my mom's recipe with only some minor substituting. I might have mentioned this before, but I'm not sure, my mom used Crisco in EVERYTHING. I, personally, think everything she makes is fabulous so when I'm in the States I use it to. Unfortunately, I can't find shortening, or any close approximation, of it here. So, I use butter instead. When I told my mom this she sighed and said, "mmm....butter just makes them better!" I don't know if I agree with her on that, but maybe I'm just biased because I think mom just makes everything better!
Last night, I sat around frosting the cookies and watching White Christmas, my all time favorite Christmas movie. My DH looked at the screen and said, "So let me get this straight. You are watching White Christmas now and then you are going to force everyone to watch it again on Christmas day?" I replied sweetly, "of course." and that was the end of that. I mean really, who can EVER watch too much White Christmas? Not I.
And here is the finished product




I do have more to tell of my Christmas kitchen exploits, but alas that will have to wait till later. So, tune in next time to see pictures of the infamous Mama Collins orange rolls and cinnamon rolls. My first attempt at making these yummy goody - the ultimate aroma of Christmas!

Raclette, mmmm, mmmmm, good!

We had the most wonderful dinner with our neighbors last night. They invited us over after our Tango class to have some Raclette and to play a little bridge (which Josh and I are still learning). I just have to tell you about the Raclette. Raclette is both a specific type of cheese made in the Valais region of Switzerland and a meal made with this cheese.

Raclette (the meal) is a traditional dish in Switzerland, apparently the cow-herders of old used to take this particular type of cheese, Raclette, with them when they moved the herds. At night they would place the cheese on a stone near the fire until it melted then they would scrape it onto bread. Thus, making a delicious meal and giving rise to its name: in French the word racler means to scrape, since they would "scrape" the melted cheese off the stone the cheese became Raclette (or so my sources say - thanks wikipedia). Now adays things are a bit more advanced we did not have to build a roaring fire and place slabs of cheese on stones till they melted. These days there are electric raclette grills
making it quick and easy to enjoy this yummy melty cheese. Instead of scraping the cheese onto bread you scrape it onto boiled potatoes. Also, you can add all sorts of goodies to your cheese while it melts - mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, olives, you name it. The melted cheese goes in these little square dishes you place under the grill and the top of the grill is reserved for cooking up meat to go along with your cheese and potatoes. We had thin slices of pork, veal, and beef as well as some sausages wrapped in bacon. To tell you the truth the "sausages" tasted like regular old hot dogs to me, though they didn't really look like hot dogs! Along with all this deliciousness it is traditional to serve small pickled onions, gherkins and/or cornishons (a type of pickle) as well. It is a wonderfully simple and filling meal. We had fun trying out different variations of veggies and cheeses (we had different flavored raclette cheese - pepper, plain, garlic, paprika, etc.)

We had a fun evening drinking white wine - a must with Raclette. An old-wives tale claims you should not drink water while eating Raclette because it "interferes with the digestion of the cheese". So, white wine is the drink of choice when partaking in either Raclette or fondue. Hey, I'm not going to argue about the necessity to drink wine!
Bon appetite!

p.s has anyone else started to notice how often I write about food?

Princess Ally Babba the Butter Thief

A story:
Once upon a time in the land of Mossopatamia their lived a young Princess name Ally Babba.

Princess Ally Babba

Now, Princess Ally Babba lived with the King and Queen of Mossopatamia and was treated very well. In fact, many thought her to be rather spoiled. She never wanted for new toys to destroy, treats, or the most comfortable spot on the couch. Yet, Princess Ally Babba was not content. You see, she loved butter and this was the one thing the King and Queen forbid her to eat. The King and Queen had decreed that none in Mossopatamia should eat the delicious butter produced in this region except themselves, and their honored guests.

They felt that Princess Ally Babba should be excluded from eating butter because she was a rather roly-poly little princess and they worried about her health. So, you see, this decree was not entirely selfish and mean. But, Princess Ally Babba could not see that the King and Queen were looking out for her health. Being rather spoiled all she could think about was the injustice and deprivation she suffered by not being allowed to have even the teeny tiniest pat of butter.

So, one day when the King and Queen were out enjoying a Christmas Market Princess Ally BAbba discovered that they had been careless and had left some butter on the counter. Yes, she could see that they had cleverly pushed it all the way back to the farthest corner of their kitchen counter, but that would not stop this little Princess. She was determined to have that butter. With stealth and cunning she managed to pull the butter from the counter (lucky for her there were no courtiers around that day) and began to devour the forbidden butter. After eating a good bit of that scrumptious butter Princess Ally Babba began to feel a bit sick to her stomach. At first she ignored these pains, but eventually they grew so bad she was forced to stop eating the butter and go lie down. She wondered what could possibly be causing such pain in her little tummy. The King and Queen never had achy bellies after eating butter! It never occurred to her that the King and Queen had sense enough not to gorge themselves on the mouth-watering butter (at least the Queen did, who then prevented the King from enacting such outrageous behavior). So Ally found her favorite spot on the royal couch and promptly fell asleep her tummy full, but aching rather badly. She slept soundly for some time and was awoken by sound of keys turning in the lock. Oh joy! the King and Queen were home. Ally stretched herself and began to wiggle about in anticipation for she truly did love the King and Queen. Also, she was anxious to see what treat they had bought her for she always expected a little something when they returned from their outings! The butter and her theft of it had completely vanished from little Ally Babba's mind.
The King and Queen, who loved Ally Babba very much showered her with pets and belly rubs until the Queen noticed an empty butter wrapper lying on the floor. "What is this?" she exclaimed in dismay turning a beady eye on Princess Ally. Who happily wagged her tail at the Queen and tried to lick her face. The King went into the kitchen were he discovered the lump of butter Ally Babba was not able to eat. "Ally," roared the King.
"Oh dear, " she thought to herself, "What am I going to do? I forgot to get rid of the evidence!" She attempted to place the blame on her sometimes friend sometimes arch nemesis Pici (pronounced pee-kee), the snaggle-toothed slobber hound.
Unfortunately for Ally Babba, the King and Queen were much too smart for her and knew she was lying. Besides, the King and Queen knew that Pici could not have stolen the butter because they had seen him put securely away in the cave sans espoir (the cave of no hope) for slobbering on their royal couch. With the evidence stacked against her and the King and Queen in a royal high temper, Princess Ally Babba hung her head and tail in shame. Remembering her horrible belly-ache she promised the King and Queen she would never again steal their precious butter. And she meant it too...that is, of course, until enough time had passed for her to forget that terrible butter belly-ache and the King and Queen were foolish enough to leave the butter somewhere she could so easily get it.....

Marché de Noël

We had a fabulous day on Saturday visiting the Christmas Market in Montreux, Switzerland. It was so cute! There were all these little wooden Chalets lined up around the lake selling food, crafts, wine, etc. Although it began to rain lightly shortly after we got there it didn't deter or dampen our spirits. We wandered around for nearly 3 hours and finished up the majority of our Christmas shopping. I took tons of pictures, so be prepared!
Here's me next to a very cool tower made up entirely of firewood! It was right in the "food court" area. You enter this little gate and you are suddenly ensconced in the delicious smells of mouth-watering treats. Each "chalet" has something different: chocolate, wine, sausages, fois gras, churros, fondue, raclette, hot wine, you name it it was there. All these food chalets were in a large circle and in the center was a big wooden pavilion with tables and benches where you could eat. Some of the food vendors had their own stalls with tables as well. Here's Josh with some food chalets behind him- aren't they so adorable? Oh yeah, he's cute too, but look at those little Christmas chalets!
Somehow we managed to make it through this area without succumbing to the intoxicating smells emanating from every single stand. We even managed to hold off buying tea, even though it was cool, it was brewed over an open fire! And check out all those hanging sausages!
Lucky for our wallets we happened upon a sculptor who used a chainsaw to create his wooden sculptures. It was our good fortune to happen upon him just as he was starting a new sculpture. It was pretty cool to watch.




We watched for a while then figured we might as well continue on and come back later in the hopes of seeing the finished project. Our guess was that he was making an owl. What do you think? I think it's a pretty darn good guess. Unfortunately, by the time we made it back he had packed up all his statues and equipment and left. Probably due to the rain more than anything else. Then again, we did take our sweet time getting back - buying gifts for people can do that to you. We then ran into a sight to behold - a HUGE candy buffet. Oh the one at my wedding was nothing in comparison to this glutton festival for the eyes and tummy. Yum.....


Yet, even this did not tempt me to open my wallet. Well, it did tempt me, but I soldiered on. Until I saw this:

Roasted Chestnuts! The sign says something like: Chestnuts grilled the ancient way.
These chestnuts smelled wonderful and I had heard how wonderfully tasty roasted chestnuts were so this was where I insisted we stop and have a snack. We shelled out the 6 chf for a paper cone full of freshly roasted chestnuts and were prepared to be overwhelmed by the scrumptious taste of Chestnuts roasted the old way. We were rather disappointed I'm afraid. They tasted alright, but they were a bit dry and not exactly something I'd shell-out 6 francs for again. Oh well, we tried them. I mean who could pass up chestnuts roasted in clay pots over cylindrical metal tubes?
Moving right along we wandered from one little chalet full of beautiful gift ideas to another until we came to the famous statue of Montreux (pronounce montrow, by the way).

Yeah baby, Freddy Mercury. Lead singer of Queen. The people of Montreux love their Freddy Mercury- you can see the fresh flowers and gifts they leave at the statues feet. Someone had even tied a pair of ballet shoes onto Freddy's cane, I have no idea what that's all about.
Yeah, yeah, I know that you've already seen a ton of pictures - probably more than you wanted to look at- but I still have more so I guess you'll just have to deal. Coming up pictures of the little ice rink that put up every year. Josh and I contemplated skating, but it was getting late, it was rainy and we still hadn't seen everything yet. So after a quick break to drink some lip-smacking, yummy hot chocolate and kiss the fake deer we moved on.

We happened upon a smokehouse that was smoking Salmon. This was the Finland section apparently with a "Finland" restaurant across the path from the Salmon smokehouse.

OK, I will leave you with these parting images. There was one section that was underneath a GIGANTIC wooden pavilion. There was a train kids could ride, more stalls selling gifts, and two sides filled with food. There was a whole row of food in these humongous pans. It looked awesome. We didn't stick around that area too long because despite the fact that we weren't hungry the sight and smell of such massive quantities of food started working overtime on our saliva glands.

Look at that big barrel o' wine. Doesn't it make you want to just drink right from the spigot? Josh, of course, had to dragged away from the sauerkraut and ham mixture. With those parting thoughts I am going to turn my own thoughts towards dinner. I have been working on this damn post ALL day long. Geeze, it's ridiculous how adding so many pictures can take such a long time! and to think I had ideas for 2 more posts that I wanted to do today I'll be lucky if I EVER get around to posting them. sigh, the trials of being a self-centered blogger. hee, hee!
Hope this put you in the Christmas mood just as much as the actual trip put me in holiday spirits. Now that I think of it, maybe I'll go check out the Christmas decorations we borrowed form our neighbors before dinner.

À bientôt!