Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Food for Foodies

If you read this blog, you know that I love to cook.  I also love to eat.  When I went on my trip last year I was on Weight Watchers.  I am still on Weight Watchers.  Given a choice between real food and dessert, I will usually opt for the dessert first.  That being said, there was not much excitement food-wise on my trip except for gelato.

In Evian, France, I had a gourmet dinner that I cannot remember.  I believe I had some fish but what I do remember is some really smelly and awful cheese at the end of the meal.  It is better left forgotten.

I remember a very expensive brunch the morning I arrived in Zurich.  That's it.  I just remember the cost.

We can forget Germany other than to say they serve a lot of pork.  Which I like.  But not at every meal.  Some of their specialty foods, like a mushy breakfast sausage (UGH),  and some currywurst (which I didn't even try), are better left to the braver folks among us who can kill the taste with beer.

But I did have one memorable meal.  Enough so that I even took pictures of the food.

Traveling through the Italian and Swiss countryside while going from Zermatt, CH to Lugano, CH, I stopped at a lovely vineyard up in the hills for lunch.  This is a view of the Alps form the road going up with Lake Maggiore:


It was a gorgeous day.  And the meal was wonderful.  I could eat Italian food everyday.  Pizza is my favorite.  Yesterday I made a baked pasta and sausage dish.  But up in the hills we had risotto.

Growing up my favorite risotto was risi e bisi.  Now, I have made many variations and have never made one I didn't love.  So, here are some self-explanatory photos of my one memorable meal.  And yes, we dined alfresco.




 From the vines came the grapes:


From the grapes came the wine:


And then into glasses in Evian, France  (the wine I remember)


This post is for Jo.  Thanks for mentioning the food.

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for the post Denise, I am very surprised that your food experience was so negative. I have only been to the coast of Germany but remember great meals although it's a very long time ago. Hubby went to Switzerland and often talks about the wonderful food.

    I love risotto too. Haven't made it in a while, not exactly diet food.

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    1. It is more that I was watching my weight. I could have indulged and then paid dearly for it when I got home.

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    2. Great willpower, not sure that I would have been so disciplined. I only ever once went on vacation and came back weighing less. I was very proud of myself, but never done it before or since although I have managed to lose 38 lbs. in the last year and a bit. Very slowly but works well for me.

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  2. What beautiful grapes! Looks like a great trip!

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  3. Yum! When I toured Europe, I was a starving student and that was pretty literal. I ate what was served in the youth hostels in the a.m. and bread and cheese the rest of the time. Not much sampling of the local foods, except different cheeses. I liked the stinky Camembert, but that might have been because I was 22 and trying very hard to be sophisticated, or at least Frenchish.

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    1. Camembert would have been exquisite compared to whatever this cheese was. You couldn't even get the stink off your fingers. Ewwww!

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  4. I wonder if you had, what my mom called, stink cheese. I am trying to remember the actual name but, in the end, why? I doubt you or I will ever want to eat it. I am not liking the sausage at all-yuck. I can say there are a few german dishes that are wonderful. It depends on the region as the more north you go the more fish you have. The more East you go the more one has from Hungary(ok that is more Austria), Poland and such. I love Rouladen, Red Cabbage, a Nice baked fish. My mom would also make a wonderful stroganoff which was handed down and Iam certain must come from the eastern areas. As for sauerkraut, sausage, Wiener Schnitzel, dumplings-nope-yuck:) I could never go to Europe and be on a diet so kudos to you

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    1. I don't know what is was called, but 'stink cheese' sounds appropriate. As for my diet, did everyone miss how much gelato I said I ate? That is why I skipped the other food, lol.

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    2. oh yes-Didn't skip but memory banks failed me:) I am certain you tried every flavour and why not!:)

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