More Cheese Please!

Switzerland is not just known for skiing and chocolate. They also love their cheese and have managed to create one cheesy dinner dish! Fondue, a communal dish shared at the table in a eartenware pot over a small burner and eaten with bread, is hugely popular. There are fondue restaurants on every corner and fondue mixes crowd the store shelves. Getting together with friends for fondue is more of an event rather than just dinner. While Jignesh experienced this swiss tradition during a business dinner, I was a fondue virgin until last night. Jignesh surprised me with a date at Cafe du Soleil, a popular restaurant specializing in fondue. While I was a bit unsure about eating just bread dipped in warm cheese for dinner, I have to admit that it was delicious! Over our pot of fondue and using Jignesh's first fondue as a baseline, we experimented and discovered the keys to perfect fondue. First, the cheese has to be high quality and the right temperature. Second, the bread has be fresh and torn into the small pieces. Finally, you have to use the long, skinny fork to completely soak the cheese. If you are going to have bread and cheese for dinner, you have to go all the way! Don't even think about just lightly dipping the bread. I am afraid that we missed the best part. If you finish your entire pot, the server will scrape it and allow you to eat the thin, crackerlike layer of toasted cheese. I guess we need to bring a bigger appetite next time! While I loved fondue, I don't think that I could eat it every night. It will have to be reserved for special occasions and outings with friends. I only have one more thing to say. Where is the chocolate fondue?

Au Revior

Weekend escape to Poland

This past week, Jignesh was in Poland for work. So, I joined him and we extended the visit into the weekend. While there are certaintly some tourists sights (castles, musuems, etc) to explore, we decided to toss the clip board of fun and just relax. Our trip began in Warsaw where we enjoyed a night in one of Poland's most luxurious hotels, Le Meridien Bristol. We enjoyed a huge suite, an amazing breakfast, and the service of a doorman dressed in a funny robe and hat. The best part...it was free! While in Warsaw, we dined at a traditional and unusual Polish restaurant. The restuarant used to be a full service hotel until it lost its hotel license. However, the owners were able to retain their food and beverage license and began operating a resturant literally inside the hotel's old kitchen. While the walls were bare and there were no other decorations to please the eye, the atmosphere was still fantastic as all the food was prepared at your table and servers weaved between the closely placed tables carrying all sorts of ingredients. We did manage to a little more (ok, not that much more) in Warsaw than stay at nice hotels and eat lots of food. We also experienced a bit of Warsaw's nightlife with Jignesh's co-workers and wondered through the beutiful streets of old town.

Since we had the fancy hotel for only one night, we decided at the last minute to hop on a train and head to Krakow for two nights. The train was a nice 2 1/2 hour ride through the snowy Polish countryside. Upon arriving in Krakow, we discovered our hotel luck would continue as we were able to use Jignesh's points for free nights. Score! Krakow is an amazing city with charming arcitecture and friendly locals. The Rynek, Krakow's main attraction, is the largest medieval town square. It is the perfect place to grab a coffe or do some shopping. It also holds the famous cloth hall. One of the original centers of international trade, today cloth hall is home endless booths selling amber jewelry, lace, and other various trinkets. Krakow also allowed us to sample some of Poland's traditional foods. Bigos, a savory stew of cabbage and meat, has no standard recipe and is often prepared with whatever leftovers are found around the house. It is common for Polish households to keep a large pot of bigos for over a week and just refresh it with additional ingredients when necessary! Our bigos was overflowing with cabbage, onions, sausage, mushrooms and various spices. It was surprisingly light and so so yummy! In addition to bigos, we also had some delicious pierogies and hearty, homemade soups. Oh, I cannot forget the round, bagel like things sold from stands on the street.

Our weekend was short but perfect! It was nice to getaway from the expensive restaurants and shops of Geneva and enjoy a slice of eastern Europe!

Au Revoir

Poland Pictures

A snowy day in Krakow

Krakow's old town

A park near Krakow's old town

Pierogies, a traditional Polish appetizer. Yum!

Warsaw's old town

More of Warsaw's old town

Warsaw's main square

French for Dummies

While you can undoubtly survive with English in Geneva, French is still the official language and used in most stores and businesses. To truly integrate into the community and feel at home, I feel that it is imperative to speak French (or at least try!). So, in an attempt to do just that, Jignesh and I are a few weeks into a group class that meets twice a week. I never thought that learning a new language would be easy but I did not think that it would be this hard! The pronunciation is proving to be almost impossible. I feel like a tongue-tied giraffe when attempting to pronounce words that sound nothing like their spellings. And the french "r," simply forget about it! On top of it all, there is just so much to remember. Despite the frustrations, we are really enjoying the challenge and are SLOWLY making progress. Thanks to a very good and patient teacher, we have mastered (umm...maybe mastered is a bit of a strong description) some basic phrases and questions. We can also say the alphabet and most numbers. We are even beginning to congugate some verbs. We even had a conversation in French the other day. (Ok, the conversation was with a 6 year old boy and involved no more than 4 words but, hey, it is a start!). There is no doubt that we have a very long way to go and the phrase, "Je ne parle pas fracais," (I don't speak French) continues to be my favorite sentene. As I think I may benefit from daily practice, I may even take a more intensive class after our current course ends. Will I ever become completely fluent in French? Probably not. Will I ever adopt the beautiful French accent? Definitely Not. However, I would love to walk away from this experience with, at the minimum, coversational French. So, with that in mind...my french homework is calling!

Au Revoir!

Only in Switzerland...

Yesterday was an unusually sunny, warm day. So, I headed out the door for a long walk with Schlopy complete with a stop at the dog park for the little guy. As we were leaving the park and heading for home, the loudest sirens imaginable started to fill the air. These were not your average emergency vehicle or car alarm sirens. I honestly thought that the city was under attack and expected to soon see men dressed in black and holding guns running through the streets. I looked around for safety and seriously thought about making a run for a nearby maintenance building. However, none of my fellow dog owners seemed bothered by these air raid like sirens. So, not wanting to be a crazy expat I discreetly rushed Schlopy out of the park, picked up the pace, and headed for home. Although the sirens only last about 10 minutes, my ears were ringing for the next few hours. As soon as I arrived home, I used the trusty internet to discover the reason for these sirens. Apparently, these air raid warnings are tested once a year on the first Wednesday in Febuary. What would happen if there actaully was an attack on the first Wednesday in February?

Au Revoir

What's for Dinner?

With a little time on my hands and restaurants being bloody expensive in Geneva, I have been exploring the art of cooking as of late. Until now, I have always been a very basic cook....pasta and premade sauce, grilled ham and cheese, etc. Since my newly ordered Cooking Light magazine arrived in the mail a few weeks ago, I have discovered a new hobby. Now, don't go crazy and think that I am creating masterpieces. I still have not braised anything and I certaintly have not attempted to caramlize anything. My pantry, however, is slowly starting to fill with ingredients (white wine vinegar, fresh chives, fennel seeds, etc) that would have been non-exsistent in the past. Did you know that a shallot is a small member of the onion family mild in taste and used in sauces and salads where the strong onion might overpower the dish? Cooking Light's "40 minute or less" dishes have been my best friends so far as I am not quite ready to brave Mahimahi with Pineapple Chutney. I did make one mean Dijon Croque Monsieur with Haricots Verts Salad (including a homemade vinaigrette dressing) the other day! My Roast Chicken with Balsalmic Bell Peppers and Mascarpone Masted Potatoes (pictured above) wasn't too bad either. Well, at least neither Jignesh nor I got sick from it and I managed not to set the place on fire! I am even starting to create my own gucamole recipes. Of course, this new hobby is even more interesting cosidering I am working with a kitchen the size of a broom closet and I have to find all these strange ingredients in a grocery store with labels in French. I am not sure I will ever become the next Gordon Ramsey but I at least I am filling our bellies with some homedmade, flavorful, and healthy meals. Don't worry, if you come and visit, I always keep a frozen pizza tucked away just in case...

Au Revoir.

Italy

Since we stayed in Europe this year for Christmas, we decided to put our newly purchased car to the test and take a driving trip through Italy (the picture to the left is of Vatican Square taken from the top of St. Peter's cupola). So, on Christmas day we (Schlopy included!) loaded the car and headed to Venice. Relying on a borrowed GPS (thanks Hans), we quickly found ourselves passing through France with mountains in the distance. Within an hour of leaving home, we came upon the Mont Blanc Tunnel. After paying the €35 toll and receiving a pair of work gloves (yes, we are still trying to figure out what those are for), we proceeded through the 7.25 mile long tunnel and were rewarded on the other end with some amazing views of the Italian Alps. After winding through the mountains and then the countryside we arrived at our hotel in time to enjoy a delicious Christmas dinner.

Venice- What a truly unique and magical city! Built on a series of low mud banks, Venice is a maze of small alleys and canals. The old buildings ooze with character. The only mode of transportation within the city is by vaporetto (water bus) or water taxis. Or, of course, you can also hire a gondola if your pockets are deep enough (€80 for 50 minutes). We started our Venice experience by taking the water bus down the Grand Canal for an overview of all the great sights. We disembarked at the famous Piazza San Marco where we explored the basilica and some of the luxurious shops filled with Murano glass. For the remainder of our visit, we simply got lost among the alleys and canals, ate lots of pizza and pasta, watched the boats drift by, and admired the architecture of this northern Italian city.

Sorrento/Amalfi Coast- From Venice, we headed south to the resort town of Sorrento. The drive proved to be a bit difficult as we encountered some wrong turns and quite a few crazy Italian drivers. Upon arriving in Sorrento, we quickly rewarded ourselves with some local pizza and great wine. With only two full days in this area we decided to split the time between sights and relaxation. The first day we headed to the ancient ruins of Pompeii. In AD 79 nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted burying Pompeii in 20 feet of pumice and ash, ultimately killing between 2,000 and 3,000 people. Today, Pompei is filled with artifacts and buildings virtually untouched since the day Mt. Vesuvius erupted. On our second day in Sorrento, we slept in and then braved the famous Amalfi coast drive. Jignesh was convinced that there could not be anything much better than the California’s Highway One. Well, within five minutes of driving this winding, coastal road, he admitted that the drive was best he has ever seen. The views of the sea and the small towns along way were breathtaking. We drove for a few hours and then stopped in the town of Amalfi for a classic Italian lunch and some window shopping. We ended our trip to the Amalfi coast with dinner in the beautiful town of Sorrento and a walk through the main streets that were adorned with holiday lights.

Rome- We arrived in Rome on New Year’s Eve and headed to the Coliseum for a New Year’s concert and fireworks. Well, our New Year’s was cut a bit short when the skies opened up with some of the most torrential rain that I have ever experienced. We were completely soaked all the way up to our knees and my shoes took three days to dry! Despite the rain, we had a wonderful New Year’s and arrived back at the hotel in time to celebrate with a glass of wine. We spent the first day of New Year just walking Rome as all the main sights were closed for the holiday. We walked up and down the Spanish Steps and threw coins into the Trevi Fountain. And of course, we ate some pizza! On our second day in Rome, we stood in one long line to enter Vatican City. Did you know that Vatican City is the world’s smallest state with about 500 residents. It has its own post office, banks, currency, and judicial system. There, we climbed the cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica for an amazing view of the entire city and toured the basilica itself. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to see the Sistine Chapel (I guess that is a good reason to return someday!) but did have time to enjoy an amazing dinner at a recommended restaurant! You cannot visit Rome and not see the all the ancient ruins. So, our final day in Rome was spent in Ancient Rome. Our first stop was the Coliseum where we took a guided tour and spent time taking a ton of photos. As it was the end of our trip and overloaded with on tourist attractractions, we decided to skip the Forum. Instead, we just strolled through streets and stopped in a cafe for a cappacino and dessert. Our final night in Rome was spent at wherelese…a pizzeria (ok, it was at mall that looked like it belonged in any American suburb but it was still pizza made with fresh ingrediants and cooked to perfection in a wood burning pizza oven)! Rome is such a vast city filled with endless numbers of sights and museums. It would take weeks to see it all! I guess that just means that we will have to return...

Au Revoir