hillvalley

No, enjoying adulthood.  Couldn't drink whisky if I was a child.

A few weeks ago I spent not enough time in Northeast Scotland.  I stopped in a local grocery to pick up some bottles whisky made by independent bottlers to bring back with me.  After making my purchases, on our way out, I noticed a random small bottle behind the counter that sold cigarettes and miniatures of all sizes. I opened it tonight to celebrate a few things.

It's 12 year old Old Pultney.  That weekend Jura became my favorite whisky but it is now replaced by Old Pultney.  I'm hoping that the liquor store that sells obscure liquors just over the border in Italy has a bottle or two because this little one isn't going to last.

Clarification, please: were the eggs fried two days before or laid two days before? Inquiring minds want to know.

If they were fried two days ago I would have written eggs fried two days before.  The eggs were two days old when fried.

When I was hired it was with the stipulation that I would help host the annual Channukah party and overseeing the making of enough latkes for 40 staff and students or about 300 latkes.   The party takes place in the grade 10 boy's dorm so that increased the amount of latkes needed by about 100.  And no, I'm not exaggerating.

We pulled it off using local, thin skinned potatoes (you can't get russets around here), onions, eggs and flour (family tradition and the kitchen would have no clue where to get matzoh meal) and fried them up in olive oil.  The only major hurdles we had to overcome were my weak and therefor limited in usefulness hand and the fact that I blew out my friend's Cuisinart with one third of the potatoes left.  This caused a mad dash to the other side of campus to a friend's apartment to borrow her box grater but the crisis was diverted. Oh, and we forgot to order sour cream and the Mexican kids were disappointed we didn't have cinnamon and sugar.

Here's my question for this year's debate: why bother peeling thin skinned potatoes?  We didn't, partly because we didn't have the time (and partly because my friend who hosted didn't have a peeler.  It made no difference at all.  The latkes were fantastic.  Some batches were greasier than others but that's what happens when you are frying to order and don't always have time to get the oil to a proper temperature.  Not one person noticed that the skin hadn't been removed and it did not affect the taste at all.

Let the debate begin....

ps I highly recommend topping your latke with two day old eggs fried in olive oil topped with siracha.  Divine.

The advantages of celebrating Thanksgiving in Switzerland are 1) when the hot water heater in the dorm apartment of the hosts runs out of oil the night before you can get it refilled on the same day, thus ensuring hot water is available for the meal and 2) when the turkey you ordered in Italy is bigger than the oven and the local grocery store only has frozen ones, the local village butcher actually has a bird available.

Dinner for 12

Five different cheeses

Salami, cream cheese, and cornichon roll ups

Shrimp cocktail

Carrot sticks

Garlic stuffed olives

Hot artichoke and pepper dip

Tortilla chips

Turkey

Stuffing

Canned cranberry sauce

Green bean casserole

Mashed potatoes

Gravy

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows

Rolls

Homemade apple pie

Homemade tiramisu

Cookie dough

Enough red wine and prossecco to fill two recycle bins

Cappuccino and/or steamed milk with Baileys

Eggnog made with Kentucky bourbon

This was all made from scratch, except the cranberry sauce and rolls, after we worked a full day at school.

Happy Friendsgivingukkah

I should think that one could hold a wine bottle between one's knees and draw the cork with a waiter's-friend style corkscrew, using only one hand. Also, one can find some pretty good wine in screw-cap bottles, although perhaps not where you find yourself.

I tried once, broke the cork, and had a scotch instead.  I'm 30 minutes from Italy so I'm able  to get good screw top wine, but on my last trip boots and a coat took priority over the wine.  And burrata, truffled salami, and minipastries.  Again, one can only carry so much when you only have one hand.

(I hope your hand heals okay, hillvalley.)

Thanks.  I broke it while rappelling down a mountain in The Alps.

To stay on topic...working dinner (yes, on a Sunday night) at a friend's.  Baked little potatoes, steamed green beans, and chicken breast stuffed with artichokes and Italian sun dried tomatoes.  Washed down with a nice cabernet that she opened

Dessert was birthday cake at another friend's to celebrate their daughter's 11th birthday.  It is the  specialty at a great bakery in town.   We have heard all about this cake and were excited to try it.  Unfortunately no one told us it had some  sort of liquor in it so the birthday girl just enjoyed the beautiful chocolate curls that decorated the top.  The adults however, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cranberry chutney, which I assume I can make the weekend or a few days before.  I really like cranberry and like fresh cranberries over the can.  Any advice on a recipe?

My mom makes an amazing cranberry orange relish using fresh cranberries.  Prep only involves the Cuisinart and can be made a few days ahead.  Let me know if you want the recipe.

A few weeks ago we had to deal with a very serious issue: one of my students from an eastern block country thought that in America we put french fries on our pizza because she ordered The Yankee, a plain pizza with fries, at a restaurant downtown.  I assured her that we do not do that in America.

The local Irish Pub here in southern Switzerland near the Italian border, owned by a guy from Sweden, caters to a local American college.  You can get nachos made with Doritos, mozzarella sticks served with sweet and sour sauce, and The Obama burger, which comes with lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon and avocado.  It's 18chf, about $20, and the best seller.

"American food" is whatever those in the business in the area decide it is.

The most embarrassing American food intrusion I've seen in Europe so far was in Barcelona, where there was a Duncan Donuts next to The Boqueria, a centuries old market.

I'm limited to one hand for at least another three weeks and didn't feel like walking down to the dining hall for pasta and/or something fried so dinner  tonight was pistachios, Chocos, which are like chocolate corn flakes, and a really bad half bottle of a screw top rioja.  (One cannot use a wine bottle opener with one hand to open the good wine.)  And a few pieces of a Lindt dark chocolate bar infused with cassis.  Yes folks, you can eat and drink crap in Europe.  

When I moved to Europe I was amazed at how simple the process was and how helpful the people were at IAD.  Dealing with unusual luggage and TSA was a breeze.  I will deal with all three airports in December and January and don't have strong feelings either way.  It makes a difference though that I won't have to deal with transportation or parking.  That being said, the Southwest terminal at BWI has the best drinking options when unfortunate circumstances arise.  On the other hand, I think Dulles has the best duty free in the area if thats your thing.  

If you are willing to go to DC, I always got mine as take out, hold the olive oil, at 2 Amys.  

My husband roasts the turkey every year. A few years ago, he found a recipe that involved making a compound butter that included bacon.

Everyone now demands that recipe every year.

Here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Heritage-Turkey-with-Bacon-Herb-and-Cider-Gravy-350421

My mother does pesto, heavy-ish on the olive oil.  I suggested it to the friend who is hosting and she looked at me like I was crazy.  It's going to be a different Thanksgiving this year.

Should you find yourself in need of a stiff drink or two in Grindelwald after a day of rappelling, I highly recommend Avocado Bar.  Owned and run by an Aussie expat, it's a damn good dive bar in a one street village.

No cooking for a while...

Store bought boiled eggs with maldon and fresh pepper

Truffled tomme

Three grain Swiss crackers

Dark chocolate

I am now four days into no dinner in the dining hall. This means I will go an entire week without dinner prepared down in the dungeon that is the kitchen of my school. In my new world this is a Very Big Deal.  Tonight was clean out the fridge as we head off for four days of academic travel.  It was a Thai/Italian night as I cleaned out my fridge and friend cleaned out his.

Thai marinated chicken breasts with sauteed vegetables on a bed of rice noodles

Baked squash blossoms stuffed with robiola*

Tomatoes with the rest of the robiola drizzled with truffle oil

A red that hadn't become vinegar yet

Squares of dark chocolate

*I hadn't cooked with robiola before and was quite pleased with how it stood up to the oven.  The blossoms were over baked but I think would do well when I actually set a timer.

One of the most frustrating parts of living in Europe is that everything is closed on Sunday. This means that forethought is required when the forecast is for yet another rainy, grey Sunday, which for me is prime cooking weather. (Of my 10 Sundays here it has been sunny three of those days.) Yesterday I went to the butcher in the village and picked up a lamb loin for one and three eggs. I broke new hiking boots by walking in to town where I picked up the rest of the ingredients. I spent the day grazing and cooking as I went along...

Some sort of cured pig. I don't know what it was but the people in line before me ordered some and it looked good.

Scrambled eggs with sliced, sauteed squashblossoms and salsa tartufo (truffle sauce)

Anchovies in vinegar

Roasted squash blossoms stuffed with truffled tomme on a bed of tomato salad with truffle oil

Pan seared lamb loin topped with salsa tartufo

Water from the tap

We stayed in a rental apartment and it worked out great.  Much cheaper than a hotel (I paid about $100 for three nights and three days) and if we planned better we could have cooked a lot at home.  One walk around the Boqueria and you will want access to a kitchen.

Due to the lack of palates of those I was traveling with we had multiple meals at the same place where everyone was happy.  They could eat cheap pizza and I could have real food. I had a grilled seafood platter that will be very difficult to top for about 26 euros at Genove 1911 on La Ramblas.  Yes, it's on La Ramblas, but the food was still great.  The platter had two types of crab, six types of prawns and shrimp, two types of clams, mussels, and snails.  A few nights before, at the same restaurant, I had zarzuela, another incredible seafood dish. Skip paella and have this instead.  Again, a lot of seafood in a sauce that I can't describe but was finger licking good.

In the Boqueria, find El Quim, enjoy a glass of sangria while you wait for a seat, and eat whatever seafood they put in front of you when you finally sit down.  The razor clams were the best I've had.  It's a tiny little joint, with maybe a dozen seats and four or five guys in the smallest "kitchen" you can imagine cooking seafood caught that day to order.  It was recommended to us by a fishmonger as the best in the market and she was right.

Also in the Boqueria you will want to try one of the dozens of flavors of fruit juice for 1-1.5 euros.  Don't pay more than that.  At many of the stands you can buy meat on a stick/in a cone/ in a McDonald's french fry shape container.  Everything from salami to iberico ham.  They also sell vacuum packed sliced Spanish meat and sausages to take home.  I didn't have any problem flying back to Switzerland with a backpack of meat but you should check about flying in to the US. Oh, and don't forget the olives.

Otherwise, I just ate at random places I found while wandering around the city.  I had iberico sandwiches for breakfast every morning.  The best one I had was at the stand just before you go into Boqueria from La Ramblas.  I had cravings when I got home.

I managed to go 49 days without seeing a Starf*&cks until I got to Sagrada Familia where it was across the street.  Much more upsetting though, was the Dunkin Donuts next to the Boqueria.  Damn Americans.

I was advised by many locals I spoke with to not go to the other market Don mentioned.  It is under construction and I was told not to bother, so I didn't.  There is so much to try at the Boqueria that you won't miss it.

One last thing to remember is that nothing but touristy stuff is open on Sundays so make sure you stock up on goodies Saturday.  And go hungry.

Lunch #1 during meeting #4 was peanut butter, honey and cinnamon on wheat bread.

Lunch #2 during meeting #5 was french fries dipped in a ketchup, mayo, tabasco, and cumin concoction we make often in the dining hall.

On a Labor Day Monday, five or six years ago, Mrs. B made me my first homemade fried okra.  I fell in love with okra that day and haven't had it fried that good since.  I personally love the slime and try to bring it out as much as possible but when preparing it for others I like to roast 'em till golden brown.

I finally made it to the local outdoor market and grocery store in Italy this morning. This afternoon I hit the local version of Sutton Place (Manor).  Hitting both in one day is major accomplishment in my world given the amount of preparation for travel involved.  At the checkout at the grocery store in Italy gave prices in euros and lira.  Four bottles of wine, including a bottle of prosecco, was 10 euros or about $13.00.

Burrata on a bed of sauteed roma tomatoes and squash blossoms drizzled with truffle oil

Broiled pork chop stuffed with garlic

A fizzy red whose name I don't remember

Peanut M&Ms (a luxury because they are so expensive)

The burrata was the best I have ever had.  It was huge, the size of a newborn, and made a couple of days ago.  The cheese maker's father sold it to me.

To my first sunny Sunday (and right now my only full day off each week) in a month.

Last week I went grocery shopping and the only eggs I could get were already eight days old.  Each egg has the date it was laid stamped on to it.  Anything past three or four days is considered old.  So I had to use up my "old" eggs and made my first real omelet with basil and Slow Food brand parm with a little lemon oil drizzled on top. 

No, fatback is pure fat (also very hard to find fresh and not cured with salt), though technically you can make lardons from it as well. It's true in Europe what I'm looking for is very easy to find. You can get lardons (meaty ones) in practically any good supermarket, already cut and packaged. I might have to go with chaofun's suggestion and live with the smoke (as I've done before), though it's not really classical for a coq au vin.

You can get them in the not so good supermarkets in Switzerland as well.  This thread is interesting because I've noticed the less fatty cuts of bacon and wondered how they differ from what we get in the US.  I've had American students complain that they miss real bacon, which you can get.  I haven't played with lardons yet but the less fatty bacon brings a different level of pork goodness to potato hash and bacon, vegetable frittatas.

OK, this is not really fair because fellow DR members cannot pop down the street to procure...

...there is a fig tree down the mountain on my way to campus.  (It's a walking path that eventually becomes a street.)  The general rule is you can pick the ones that are on the public side of the fence or the ones that have fallen to the ground.  I went to a party last week where all we ate were figs from the tree and cheese.  I was never a fig fan until now.

First dinner party in my new kitchen. Tomato, basil, and mozzarella with truffle oil, chicken piccatta, and roasted cauliflower. Simple but a success as I get used to my tiny new stove and oven. Lingnonberry vodka spritzers to drink.  For dessert we walked down to campus to make s'mores.