Courtney's Concoctions

A little German in me...

2010-01-15T00:47:00.000-08:00

So it has been cold. But not Canadian cold. But just cold enough to warrant a nightly hot bath and warm socks. And candles and the need to really tell yourself to leave your haven of an apartment. Because even in the winter, the outside world does exist.

I am back and in the swing of things and enjoying my yoga practice to a new degree. I am bounding out of bed, even after not so much sleep to do strange and interesting things like stand on my head for fun. I even think I need less sleep because of this new enthusiasm. But now begins a weekend where I do not have to get up at crazy early hours for the first time in a long time. I may even sleep in until - gasp - 7am. I try to aim beyond that sometimes, but for a 5:30am-er, that really is sleeping!

So last night I wanted to break away from my usual warm weather comforts of soups and sauces and risottos. I had some sweet potatoes that were begging to be used. So I cut them up and put them in a roasting dish. Then the wheels began to turn. I wanted a bit of colour, I wanted a bit of contrast from sweet, but please people, I am not Southern enough to start reaching for the marshmallows. But a tart, crisp Green apple? Yes please. Olive oil, salt, pepper. Pre cooking.

Are the colours not lovely? And the smell would have been homey, if it were not for some sauerkraut that I was roasting on the stovetop to accompany. I love me some sauerkraut, but I am sure my neighbours do not love me for making the building smell like old socks.

Once the taters were good and crispy and the apples were good and melty, I tossed them in a bowl with some walnuts and spooned the sauerkraut overtop. Germans have apples and potatoes and they have sauerkraut and potatoes - we just have a new partnership here.

Belly happy.

Have a great weekend.

Three Kings Day

2010-01-07T02:27:00.000-08:00

A warning: I am moving away from this blog in the next couple of months (around my one year "blogaversary"). My life is moving in some new exciting directions and I think in April or May I will start a new blog to supplement that. This blog was all about trying to think and cook positively throughout a downtrodden time. It certainly helped on some of my harder days - sometimes putting your thoughts into the Universe really does work.

I work near a airplane/engineering training grounds, so I constantly hear jets whizzing past. What a lovely sound!

I digress. Yesterday was Epiphany, or Three Kings Day. Traditionally it marks the day when the three kings presented their gifts to the baby Jesus. And as we know, the Swiss don't like going to church, but they certainly like their religious days and traditions.

So how does one appropriately celebrate? Well, with a sweetened bread/cake. I actually received one in the morning from a stranger who pulled it out of a big paper bag. As I did not know the tradition, I stayed away from the "accept candy from strangers" rule and promptly got rid of it. Then I realized that I had had the opportunity to become "queen for a day" and was saddened.

So here is what you do. You buy the available for three days only "Konigskuchen" (chocolate, sugar, white bread - goodbye New Years resolutions!). You pull off pieces carefully. If you have a baby Jesus in your piece (yes, this is disturbing, but go with it) then you can take the crown that accompanies the cake (the source of much amusement for children, let me tell you) and you can put it on your head and gloat and boss around everyone. It looks a little like the Burger King crown from the 80s. But as you can tell, it has oh so much power.

Sadly, even with my pawing through sweetened white bread, the crown was not mine. Boo.

Pickles, pickles everywhere (and not a drop to drink)?

2010-01-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

Eventful yet again. These journeys back to Switzerland certainly ensure that I am not an emotional wreck upon leaving Toronto. It began with some drug sniffing hounds and crazy amounts of security as we boarded the plane for Amsterdam. They looked at each and every one of us suspiciously as if it were merely inevitable that we were carrying copious amounts of pot. I nervously eyed my bag of dried kale, certain that it looked a little too close to a plant I am sure they were trying to avoid on the plane. Alas, I got through. Upon landing with my typically rough stomach, I found myself in a line for one hour just to catch my connection. At these moments, I am sure my basic expression is one that is completely nonapproachable. The whole idea of smiling is exhausting. But luckily, I have seen every European airport more times than I can count, so I can do the whole thing in my sleep. Literally.

My second flight I was dead asleep after attempting to read one sentence. The stewardess woke me up to ask if I wanted crackers. Um, lady? Was that really worth awakening me from my beauty sleep? I woke up again when the plane hit the ground and then walked in a deep dark haze to get to my bag. I was certain it was not the wet mess, slightly open, that tumbled out of the baggage claim. Uh-oh. Is that pickle juice? The thing I joked might happen did in fact. And even worse, an ugly pair of underwear was peaking its way out of the top of the suitcase.

I tried to act surprised yet dignified as I shoved my things inside and walked through the airport reeking of pickle juice. A train, a walk and suddenly I actually found myself in my apartment. My beautiful apartment with the best view, which luckily was giving me one of the few ice and rainless days ever. The Christmas lights were still in full bloom, the shops were still closed, and I, my friends was safe and sound and surprisingly awake. Even better...those pickles made the BEST welcome home snack. Worth every embarasssing drop.

Christmas cookies

2009-12-09T06:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Sweet blog world!

I was in Prague for St Mikuláš day, and after more yoga classes than I could count per day (no matter how zen you might be, after 5 hours, your mind starts going "Another downward dog? Damn, girl, I just want to eat some pizza!") But anatomy was learned, laughs were had and the true spirit of the season was felt. Sometimes, when you sit just talking and moving and in pure silence for days you feel so much, it is incredible. You wonder if that feeling is normally just suctioned out of you by constant activity.

But I got back from this pure retreat, and I felt like being naughty. It is the Scorpio in me - when I am too well behaved for too long, a little devil likes to sit on my shoulder and whisper ideas. So I took this time to bake my Christmas cookies, to be given to coworkers and neighbours alike. Two of my neighbours barely know me but they got them anyway. It is a very Canadian tradition. Not Swiss at all. The last place I lived at I gave my neighbours cookies and they looked at me like I was trying to poison them. I thought about stopping but then I thought "Tis the spirit of giving and maybe eventually this will seep into this culture too!" So I made a batch of cookies.

I wanted to go the healthier route, since people usually have enough fat around their midsections by the time Christmas rolls around. And people seemed to be happy to hear that they could have a bunch of cookies without the inevitable guilt.

First batch, I doctored up a vegan ginger cookie. Only instead of ginger pieces I put in candied orange and then grated in some orange peel. The result was fabulously spicy. The original recipe had the ginger and lemon, so feel free to experiment as need be.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger (I upped this, but it is to your taste)
3/4 cup minced candied orange pieces
1 1/4 cups cane sugar
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (you don't taste it for those who fear such ingredients)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used the beans from a vanilla pod)

Preparation:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, and candied orange pieces.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup of the sugar and all the remaining ingredients.

Stir the two mixtures together until moist and incorporated, shape into a disk, and cover with plastic wrap. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to 1 day.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a shallow bowl. Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets.

Flour your hands and form the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the dough balls through the sugar. You can flatten them, but I like them raised and chewy so I skipped that step. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 18 minutes, or until slightly browned (they won't get very dark, so be careful not to keep them in too long). The house will smell like gingery heaven.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a minute. Then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

Yummeee. And they taste unhealthy enough to have one of my coworkers unknowingly eat 4 with his tea. Fantastic stuff.

Then, as a tribute to my love of Italian cooking, I made a dark chocolate biscotti. They were traditionally made with almonds, but I thought that whole hazelnuts would be a refreshing change. Also, as an added bonus, the final product tasted like a crisp version of Nutella.

Chocolate Biscotti

2 cups (280g) flour
3/4 cups (75g) top-quality cocoa powder (don't skimp on this one - it really makes a difference)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature (you might need 4, so judge it once you start mixing)
1 cup (200g) sugar
1 1/2teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125g) whole hazelnuts
1 egg for glazing

1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.
2. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the 3 eggs, sugar, and extract (or if you have a very small European kitchen and only two bowls, cheat a little as you see fit. These are YOUR cookies). Gradually stir in the dry ingredients, then mix in the nuts and the chocolate chips until the dough holds together.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into two logs the length of the baking sheet. Transfer the logs onto the baking sheet, evenly spaced apart.
5. Gently flatten the tops of the logs. Beat the remaining egg and brush the tops of the logs liberally with the egg. (You won't use it all). Sprinkle the tops with the coarse or crystal sugar and bake for 25 minutes, until the dough feels firm to the touch.
6. Remove the cookie dough from the oven and cool 15 minutes. On a cutting board, use a serrated bread knife to diagonally cut the cookies into 1/2-inches slices. Lay the cookies cut side down on baking sheets and return to the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies feel mostly firm.
7. Once baked, cool the cookies completely then store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. If you wish, the cookies can be half-dipped in melted chocolate, then cooled until the chocolate hardens. But it isn't necessary, as the chocolatey flavour really shines. And with a black cup of coffee, it makes life worth living. Not that I am dramatic about food or anything.

One of my tin o'treats. Oddly, I have the occasional sweet tooth, but these days it is way down. I feel more like the salty stuff, which isn't as prevalent during Christmas. Still, I will never turn down a hot glass of slightly sweetened glühwein.

"Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself." ~Francis C. Farley

Oh the weather outside

2009-12-01T03:22:00.000-08:00

Is frightful.

But the incense is so delightful.

And if you have no place you want to go (but your new meditation pillow)

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

So as late as yesterday the forecast called for rain. The Swiss have no idea when a snowstorm is going to hit, and as such, I wore my ballet flats and brought my umbrella, feeling prepared. My poor toes, is all I can say. Plus, I have had the new lesson of realizing that the times that you enjoy your cute apartment on a 45 degree incline are not on snowy icy days in a country where there will never be salt on the sidewalk. Maybe I should bring my own package of salt, and sprinkle it in front of me as I walk. Otherwise, I think I could safely toboggan to work, perhaps using my own butt as the tobaggan.

However, it sure is pretty. It mades me want to be all warm and cocooned. I learned to wear some more practical boots today and trudged to work. My forty minutes of walking from train station to bus to the middle of nowhere substantially increased today.

Apparently it is a tropical 4 degrees in Prague so when I go there (I leave Thursday) I will need a bikini or two. Plus, my yoga lesson plan - wish me luck!

A recipe I will NOT give you

2009-11-26T03:34:00.000-08:00

Yes I blog about food, and as such, I am supposed to give you all my trade secrets. But can't a girl have a secret recipe or two that she saves for the people she loves and dinner guests (and one badly planned party where guests ate the following dish off of paper plates?). I learned this dish during my cooking class in Italy. And I won't tell you the exact details, but if I like you well enough, I will make it for you.

There is no veggie substitute for the following (I tried to make it with soy and my tastebuds went "nooooo")

Organic. Love that the Swiss don't mess around. There is a picture of the animal on the package as in, stop living in denial, this is how it goes.

Mixed with what is called "the trinity" of Italian cooking. Chop chop.

I will tell you one secret. You have to mix it with other things and cook it down BEFORE you add the tomatoes. Because bolognese is a meat sauce with tomatoes, not a tomato sauce with meat.

So here is part of the magic occuring:

Meaty steam, how I love thee.

Then add the tomatoes and simmer and bubble and turn your stove and countertops a delicious shade of red:

Another secret (wow, I am too nice to you guys. Must be this Christmas spirit) is that you leave it. Leave it for three hours, four hours...test your patience, smell up your apartment and your taste buds will be the better for it.

I served it atop noodles and spirilized zucchini for bulk. It was too yummy to explain. And of course, a glass of red wine on the side, and a huge smile on my face.

Beautiful stuff. Sideways beautiful stuff.

"Let's be naughty and save Santa a trip."

A night off

2009-11-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my life is so horribly organized...so Swiss...that I must rebel from it and have a night off from living in a perfectly clean, healthy existence. So last night I left my dishes in the sink and ate chocolate for dinner. And one would think I would feel badly today because of it. Wrong...I feel wonderful.

Thursday is apparently the light up the night Luzern. And tonight is Christmas tree lighting Luzern. But that is not to say that it has not already started. Here are a few examples on my walk home:

I love that one, the window panes becoming part of a giant advent calender. I think it is very inventive. And some lovely shop windows:

The lovely bready men come out at Christmastime. It is basically just white bread with chocolate chips or raisins. And of course, what would Swiss decor be without:

I seriously cannot imagine who would buy one of those things. Isn't your home supposed to be a little peace and quiet? And one of my favorite bakeries near my apartment, Hug (tagline: Hug gemacht. Hausgemacht. means "Made by Hug. Homemade.")

My parents would love that there is homemade stollen EVERYWHERE - it is their Christmas treat. I have to say, I love the smell of gluhwein (mulled wine) and gingerbread. Yum-E.

Here's to the wonderful windows that you will pass by today!

One month until Christmas vacation!

2009-11-24T02:19:00.000-08:00

Sigh...I am excited to go home already.

Last night I was in a Swiss shop at 6:29, frantically trying to get the foods I needed. As I get off of my night-time commute at 6:19pm (and yes, it really is that accurate) I thought I was doing pretty well. But then it hit 6:31 (the shops close at 6:30, bad news for anyone without a housewife or househusband) and they just turned off the lights! Like I should shop for my milk in the dark. They then asked pointedly if I needed any help. Um, I suppose not.

But I still had a lovely evening filled with a nice coffee date, a brillant movie at home and some seriously needed vegging. I woke up this morning with every intention to begin my 6am yoga routine, but this deep darkness is not appealing to my morning personality. So I have decided nighttime yoga wins, and I will go to a class after work. In the meantime, I like taking extra time to walk around before getting on my train. A tree is being resurrected in my nearby courtyard, and there are lights from the tops of buildings to the bottoms. Also, there is a giant garland in the shape of a bell near the famous Luzern bridge and people have been hired to sing Christmas songs, which luckily I can hear as late as 8pm, thereby cheering up whatever mood a weekday might have gotten me into.

I am still in my warm breakfast, warm socks phase. I also love getting in the habit of bringing tea on the train and sipping as I whiz past the cantons of Luzern and Obwalden, to my destination of Nidwalden. The simple things, right?

So here is a normal Courtney concoction - extremely healthy apple pie breakfast. Entirely invented by moi. I tossed some peeled and chopped apples in organic sugar free applesauce, nutmeg and cinnamon. I then combined with a few generous handfuls of cranberries. I topped it with a crumble of banana, chopped almonds, and coconut (all mushed together with my hands, thank you very much). Into the oven for 35 minutes and then every morning an individual portion is put back in for 10 minutes, and yogurt is spooned over as a sauce. Balanced, sweet, healthy, but most importantly yummy.

This is pre-baking. The tops crisped up and the sauce melded together, and I am sure you can use your imagination.

I made myself a beautiful photo album that looks a little like a yearbook for Cambodia. As much as online photos are popular, I wanted something I could thumb through in the future and think about my adventurous past. :)

And in this time of Christmas overconsumption, just remember the following:

"Expect nothing and the little you get will feel like millions." This works for so many things - we need to higher our expectations of ourselves and lower it of others in order to love fully. Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Making dessert my dinner...or dinner my dessert...

2009-11-23T03:23:00.000-08:00

I hope that you all had a lovely weekend.

I had a very balanced weekend, and how often can we say that? There was yoga and running and lots of eating and sleeping and reading magazines with cups of coffee in bed. There was the great search for Christmas. Switzerland officially recognizes Christmas as of next weekend, but I was in the mood to start early, gosh darn it. Alas, after a Marroni dessert (chesnuts and sugars put through a ricer and nestled in a chocolate shell. And did I mention the whipped cream?) my taste buds were so happy that I was a-okay.

After a little bit of Sunday productivity, I went to cook...and cook...and cook...setting up some lovely meals for the week so there is no stress when I come in the door at 8:30 or 9 during the week (many days I am out the door from 7am to 9pm. No wonder I love being in when I have the opportunity).

I started with the following:

Swiss cocoa powder, to say the least, is spectacular. And coconut milk from Cambodia remains. Sounds like the beginning of a great cake, no? Well actually, these were the star ingredients in a rather inventive vegetarian chili.

COCONUT COCOA CHILI

1-1.5 tbsp coconut oil (or olive oil - the coconutty goodness in the other ingredients really shines through)

2 cups onion, diced

1 1/4-1 1/2 cups celery, diced
1/2 cup red and green bell peppers, diced
2 tbsp mild chili powder
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice

Put all of the above in a big pot and saute until softened. It looks really beautiful, smells good and even better, is healthy!

After about 10 minutes on medium heat, we can continue with the following ingredients:

2 1/2 - 3 tbsp cocoa powder (sounds like a lot, but it will make your chili spectacular, so trust me)
2 cans (28 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (14 oz) white beans
1 can (14 oz) pinto beans
1 can (14 oz) kidney beans
1 can (14 oz) light coconut milk
1 can corn
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 tsp chipotle hot sauce
1-2 fresh limes - for garnish.

When onions start to soften, add cocoa and stir for 1-2 minutes, then add tomatoes, beans, corn, coconut milk, and coconut, and stir to combine. Increase heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally (I left it on for awhile, then turned the heat off and left it on the burner to cool. Because good flavour sometimes takes awhile to mature). Season to taste with additional salt, pepper, and/or hot sauce. Serve with lime wedges and squeeze on generous amounts of juice.

The flavour is intense, and the cocoa adds a depth that is undercut by the coconut, spices and generous squeeze of lime. I am glad now I made a ton, and I am certain I will cook this again, which is always a great sign with a new recipe. Plus, I love that chocolate is kind of my dinner. It is every woman's dream (once you have gotten over the whole Prince Charming thing).

It is Monday, and I wish you a good one, which obviously means some great flavours and tastes. If it is the beginning of the workweek, we need at least a little bit of easy satisfaction and good food can be just the ticket.

Apple and spice and....well, you know how it goes

2009-11-19T03:45:00.000-08:00

Well the weather is certainly not co-operating with my seasonal attitude. The moutains may look like this:

But the weather on the ground? Sunny, balmy, jacketless weather. It is like Singapore, with Santa Claus co-existing in a land of iced coffees. I mean, come on, doesn't this look like Christmas to you? (note: Singapore, not Switzerland. You can bring your pulse up to normal regarding your worry of global warming)

But what can a girl do? She can wear sunglasses, continue the tan that has been there for most of 2009 (so many tropical climates, so little time) and then eat hearty breakfasts as if it were snowing outside.

Oats, how I love thee.

A chopped up apple. Raisins, hazelnuts, cinnamon, oats and almond milk all go into the bowl (and very soonafter my tummy).

Heat. Wait impatiently as my stomach growls.

Stir in some sliced almonds and chow down. Seriously, could I love food more?

I am having problems with balancing poses these days, even though that is normally my strong suit in yoga. I find it interesting how your ego is always brought down, because as soon as you are good at something in a sport, you may become better at something else and then the original thing you were good at changes. It is not that surprising because every day we wake up with a slightly different body than the day before. Lately my body has wanted a nice balance of tough love and gentle restoration.

A quote I love and absolutely agree with is: "Yoga is the fountain of youth. You're only as young as your spine is flexible." Back pain, having trouble getting up, even stress is often related to inflexibility. So stretch a little bit today, people. Five minutes is better than nothing. And it may make you realize that you haven't even been breathing fully, being so caught up by your to do list. We all have a million things to do - we should be priority on our own lists.

Tomorrow is Friday!

The Christmas lovin' continues...

2009-11-18T03:32:00.000-08:00

It isn't my fault! I got this in the mail yesterday:

which for those of you who may need to brush up on your German, means "Christmas in Luzern." Sigh. Me likey.

And then, in the glistening rain, I look up at Gutsch on my walk home, and what do I spy with my little eye:

The lovely hotel on the hill has been decorated. Too bad my camera was rebelling, as the hotel is RIGHT THERE is my view and it looked stunning. Maybe I can grab it on a more clear day.

So my roast chicken has been added to a few meals this week. I wanted a nice comforting side, so I made the dish that I used to have as my standard takeaway when I lived in England. Not chips, but an Indian inspired Sag Aloo. I roasted the potatoes separately from the spinach and onion, and spiced it all nicely with coriander, tumeric, ginger, garlic and then put them together for a lovely marriage of spice and coziness. It truly elevates a bland root vegetable and a bland leaf into something spectacular.

Roasted heaven on the side of my roasted chicken.

"No one can please everyone. Your mental peace is more important. If you are in peace, then others around you will feel peace. So your best effort should be to work on yourself."

-Baba Hari Dass

Here's to celebrating ourselves - with everything from potatoes to Christmas lights to alone time!

Heads and shoulders, knees and toes (tongues, abs and hair)

2009-11-17T03:09:00.000-08:00

The head and shoulder song...with some alterations.

Let's start with hair! I just got a haircut and wanted to show it off. It allows me the freedom of keeping it curly (oh happy days) with a bit of edge with a straight bang. If I just described it it sounds a little awful, but I think it is a bit rocker-esque, which one needs in the land of straight lines and obedience.

The abs part is that I have decided to incorporate a lot more cross training into my workweek, so that I am a better yogi. Putting all your eggs into one basket, fitness wise, often seems like a good idea (hello half marathon training) but your body sometimes likes a surprise. So I am kicking my own butt and also looking everyday in the mirror to see if I can get prettier abs as a result. It is my pre-holiday gift to myself - what if I can hit New Years and be truly satisfied about an area I normally curse?

I continued my holiday decor. I am trying to be economical in a country that does not support such thoughts (as indicated by their 11% off signs as a major bargain) so I was thinking: how I could get some nice looks in my apartment for very little moula. Voila, some beautiful red ribbon for a mere 3 Swiss francs!

I twisted it around some candle holders I have to make them look like Christmas. I think I succeeded?

I also threw some "snowflakes" on my kitchen table. I love the colour red. I have to say, I even miss my old red couch a little bit, even though it was from Ikea and it fell over when you sat on it the wrong way.

I also put the ribbon on my windowledges for a bit of pop. I like the effect, and I think it look classy. I have to say, I am put off by Christmas tackiness. I like to have very little clutter, and I like the look of an elegant room. So I don't do well with decoration overkill. Hell, I don't do well with much period!

I then got to baking. I was quite impressed with my ambitiousness, given that I didn't get in until 8:45pm last night. I do not believe in starting your day with sugar. Dessert for me is a treat, and I think that it sets off the day badly to begin with sweeteners. I even think that it negatively affects your palate for the rest of the day. But don't talk to me on holidays or the weekend, as I change my opinion entirely. Cake for breakfast on my birthday is a given.

So I usually have fruity, nutty oats. But I wanted a change, and I came upon a recipe that I suitably butchered and made my own. There are two types of people in this world: recipe followers and recipe butcherers.

Baked Blueberry Oatmeal Breakfast Pudding

1/2 cup (75 g) lightly toasted hazelnuts (filberts), with skin
1/2 cup (75 g) lightly toasted cashews
1/2 cup (60 g) old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1/4 cup coconut flakes
3/4 cup (180 ml) unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
1 mashed banana
1-1/4 cups (300 ml) coconut milk (I got this in Cambodia and dear God, it was heaven)
1 cup (120 ml) fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw first if frozen)

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Grease a 4-6 cup (1-1.5 L) casserole dish.
In the bowl of a high-speed blender*, place the nuts, oats, cinnamon, applesauce, vanilla, and banana. Pour the milk over all and blend for about a minute, until perfectly smooth and creamy. Pour mixture into the casserole dish, then gently fold in the blueberries (scatter a few extra blueberries over the top if you like, as they won’t sink).

Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, rotating the casserole about halfway through, until the edges begin to puff and crack and the top appears dry. Allow to cool somewhat before serving; may be served warm or cold. Makes 4-6 servings. Store, covered, up to 4 days in the refrigerator.

The true story is that I also undercooked it by about 10 minutes so that I could every morning rebake a single portion and enjoy a wonderfully healthy start to the day. Grains, nuts, fruit...happy me.

So last night it was looking a little underdone.

As with every baked good ever made in my kitchen, I had to lick the bowl that I stirred the ingredients in. My tongue held the evidence.

Tongue as blue as my eyes. I have so much self control.

But due to my work last night, this was a wonderful sight to wake up to.

Reheated, apartment smelling like blueberry pie. Without all of the stuff that is hard to digest. It was great, and slowed down my morning routine. But I did have to reach the end sometime:

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (in November)

2009-11-16T03:27:00.000-08:00

Right around this time of year is when I think Christmas is really lovely. One month before, it has not been overly commercialized, but yet there is the occasional joy of hearing the first strains of Christmas music in a store, or the first strings of lights over bridges. Luzern is starting to put its best face on, with garlands awaiting an official lighting ceremony and Sammiclaus posed to give his rounds next weekend. A preview of things to come:

Beside Santa (who looks much more religious than our Western counterpart, no?) is Schmutzli, ready and waiting to whip all the children who aren't good enough to get presents from Santa. He even carries around a whip that he will occasionally crack on the street. As a child, that would have put the fear of life into me.

And of course, the Christmas market, smelling of mulled wine and gingerbread, filled to the brim with everything small and tacky and festive.

Even the lifesize manger will soon be up, which I have to admit, I really love, with its wood-cut charm.

So yes I was feeling a little festive this weekend. So festive, that I invented something I felt was very Christmasy, to enjoy as a snack or a light lunch during the week. I began with my usual hodge-podge of soup ingredients.

Potatoes, shallots, celery, chives, parsley, salt, pepper. Saute, saute.

And of course I needed a burst of red to make this a truly seasonal soup. So here came the star of the show:

Have you ever seen anything more pretty? I simmered them in some chicken broth, with a splash of carrot juice (easier than cutting carrots). The cranberries started to pop, sounding like popcorn. Now, that is my kind of music! I let it bubble until it became a delicious thick consistency, and then I had a taste. Oh my. Very complex array of flavours, and I had let the cranberries break down enough that they were not overpowering, rather a light undertone.

Imagine this on the side of a turkey sandwich, or even a nice roast chicken. Note to self, pick up roast chicken on the way home from work today.

I had a gift certificate for my favorite home store in Switzerland, Interio, and I went to get some seasonal goodies. I fell in love with some overpriced lights, but once I got them home and on my wall, I felt it was worth every penny. Look who is climbing up my wall:

And up close:

Last night I watched some online TV with only my angel lights on in the background. Happy cosy feelings abounded. Try to remember these good things at this time! Lights and good smells and music. It doesn't have to be the season of malls and over-eating, people. It is really about what and who we love.

Happy Monday!

Improve the situation

2009-11-12T01:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have a food blog and I suppose that means I shouldn't talk about specialities from other parts of the world that might have most people retching. So I will go back to something simple, beautiful and easy on the tummy. It is a side dish that pairs beautifully with fish, digests well, and has made it into my winter rotation. It is really easy to pull together and looks elegant, like that great black dress you have in your closet (or black suit if you are a man).

ORANGE, BEET AND FENNEL SALAD

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients:

2 med. large beets, cleaned, peeled cooked
2 med. oranges, peeled and segmented
1 med. fennel bulb

for the dressing:

2 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. white balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. fennel seeds, freshly ground
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. agave syrup (or honey, but might I recommend that you give agave a whirl)
salt

Directions:

Peel the oranges and cut them into segments.
Slice the cooked beets in fine circles.
Clean the fennel and cut of the bottom part of the bulb.
Slice the fennel in very thin slices or shavings.
Make the salad dressing. Using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder, grind the fennel seeds. Mix the salad dressing ingredients together and mix well. Assemble the salad by placing beets oranges and fennel decoratively on a plate. Drizzle the dressing over and optionally garnish with fennel leaves. I like to save a bit of the dressing and drizzle it on the fish (tuna is heaven if you can find a good fishmonger. For the love of God, do not buy it at the supermarket).

Another lovely idea for beets is to pear them (ohmigosh, I made an unintentional pun. I was going to correct my spelling, but puns are too good) with gorgonzola and pears over your favorite greens, with a simple lemon vinaigrette.

Okay. Do you forgive me now?

What came first, the chicken or the...ew?

2009-11-11T03:47:00.000-08:00

So in Cambodia, besides cockroaches, there are other interesting delicacies. Pong tea khon in Cambodian is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. No kidding. So you have eggs being sold, and if they don't get sold fast enough, you have some baby chickens on your hands. Now, I like to think that I have a stomach of steel, and very little makes me squimish. But I would not go there:

It is said, however, to give you good health and strength. And maybe the lemon juice and spices makes it palatable.

Nothing escapes the Cambodian palate - no animal or insect is spared. In these times of economy, we have to marvel. And also, we might squirm because we have access to Starbucks and Whole Foods. But find yourself in a hot, poor country, my friends, and you would be certain to eat differently. So much of who we are is environmental.

Cambodians also like 1000 year old eggs. It is only a name, not a reality, as it is really "only" months old. It is a Chinese recipe, made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice straw for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. After the process is completed, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavor or taste. This was popular fare at the market.

Again, untried. I have reason to go back. In a conversation last night, I vowed that on every birthday I would try some new unique food. Welcome to 30 - eat some dog!

I think I may have lost half my readers. Education, people, education!

We kept seeing these signs in our hotels:

Okay, I come from the land of no shirt, no shoes, no service, but no durian? What the heck is that?

Apparently the stuff is so repulsive that even Singaporians agree. A fruit that smells as awful as can be (worse than body odour?) but again, I was so busy stuffing myself with mangosteins and dragon fruits that I never partook. Here is what it looks like:

It is supposed to taste like almondy custard. Sounds nice, right? But apparently in Southeast Asia, it evokes extreme reactions and some people find the smell so offensive and disgusting that bans had to occur for the sake of businesses. Interesting that some governments that have not been able to protect its people from unspeakable violence will protect them from a poor smell.

Anthony Bourdain describes them as follows: "Your breath will smell as if you'd been French-kissing your dead grandmother." And with that, I feel there is nothing left to say.

Alas, but there is too little time...

2009-11-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

I was in Prague for the weekend. Wonderful, fabulous, awe inspiring...and I had some fabulous vegan Czech food with great fake meat and pineapple sauce. I also ate a lot of Persimmons which are quickly becoming my favorite winter fruit. Not as sweet as peaches but just as lovely. And I totally yogically rebelled and had a glass of wine with dinner. Because the one thing I do love to do in this life is refuse to fit into any box.

But let us return to Cambodia, my friends, before we get derailed by my new yogic journey. Cambodia is still sitting in my soul. And even in my fridge. At Phnom Penh I stocked up on some exotic fish sauces and shrimp pastes and coconut milks - not the stuff you get in exotic sections at the local supermarket, but the real deal. And I splurged on some juice box sizes of soy milk - with Collagen. What? No idea why I would need that but there was a winking blobish cartoon on the front and who am I to argue with that?

I will take you to the Cambodian market quickly. You can pretty much smell every smell you can imagine...simultaneously. My travel companion could not even stand next to the fish.

And the fish were alive out of water - my first experience with breathing fish.

Most Cambodians do not cook - ovens are too hot and why would you do it when you can get a full meal at the market for 20 cents or less?

On the way back to our rooftop cooking class we had a tuk tuk accident. They ran right into each other (I was with the crashing driver, lucky me) and they glared at each other, then just drove away. I suppose in Cambodia, there is no such thing as exchanging travel information. Just a mere annoyance (and the other guy's tuk tuk was banged up pretty badly). I was kind of excited - how many people can say they have been in a tuk tuk accident (yes, that is how my mind works)?

We lay out our ingredients and got to work on some crispy spring rolls which we shared with our other cooking companions, not surprisingly from Australia. (I asked them if there were any Australians that were actually IN Australia). So good, no photos were taken except during preparation.

So good, that most people ate too many and couldn't join in on all of the other courses. In hot 30 degree weather on a rooftop it is sometimes kind of hard to stand over hot oil. Not that I am complaining as a) I love to cook and b) I have it good, compared to most people. I was the exception to my overloaded cooking companions on the absolutely brilliant spring rolls, because fried stuff does not float my boat as much as other things. But let me tell you, fresh out of the oil, they are divine. I saved my hunger for our first course of a banana flower salad. I will not give you the recipe because you will not be able to find any of the ingredients and then you will get frustrated and refuse to read my blog. But here is a look-see, perhaps further incentive to go and eat a great meal in Asia:

Is that not the most beautiful thing? I made it people. Throat cough, false modesty...ahem...no, I loved it. It was a bit like a papaya salad and it was sprinkled with peanuts and really interesting herbs that we picked out ourselves at the market. They even had four types of basil. I got a little nervous with my knife work skills in front of our oh-so-skilled instructor, but I did as best as I could for a Canadian girl. She turned 26 the day after I turned 29. She was a waif who loved her food, but was getting a little sick of teaching the same dishes every day, as she confessed to us. We suggested she make more than one menu.

The banana flower salad (which is the coolest fruit by the way - you open it and baby bananas come tumbling out that are crunchy like bean sprouts. See above for an example) was hot, because I think it is very healthy to eat hot things in hot weather. There is a reason that all hot countries are big fans of red peppers. So I added the same as my instructor, eager to impress her. I had to exhale a few times after taking my first bite. But still FABULOUS, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Here is my post-heat reaction:

The menu continued with a main and a dessert, but I will keep the Cambodia postings as a work in progress. All at once and I might overload on my personal memories!

Back in business

2009-11-04T00:46:00.000-08:00

Well I am back. I am heavier, I am sunburnt, I am mosquito bitten...and I am forever changed. What a country. What a story. There is too much to encapsulate in a blog, but I am sure my stories will pepper each entry for awhile. I feel that perhaps I may be able to do something in this life that matters to me. And I am excited that I am no longer "wasting time" - I feel that my actions are moving me in an interesting direction. I am not going into specifics here yet, but you can only imagine!

Firstly, how much do I love tuk tuks? The breeze on your face makes for some all natural air conditioning. Monkeys sit on the back sometimes when you sit casually with a banana. And people on motorbikes are literally right beside you. It is a great interaction with the outside world that is lost in a car.

But let's get into the food. The markets were a sight. Fish alive out of water splashing on a wooden slab. People cutting meat on a board that they were standing on. Some used fans to swat flies away from their unrefridgerated produce. The fruit was colourful and exotic to this Canadian. And did I mention that when you bought fruit at the market, they peeled and cut it up for you to eat immediately? No sticky fingers eating dragon fruit in a tuk tuk for this girl.

The rice was plentiful. We even spent some time in sticky rice village, where the rice was the best I have had in my life. Unfortunately, there was too little time and too many eating opportunities. The rice was cooked in bamboo sticks and flavored with coconut milk and beans. You could get a sizable lunch for around 25 cents.

You peel the bamboo open and you feast. Simple and effective. And oh so comforting, even in 30 degree heat (which the locals apparently thought was pretty cool with the overwhelming amount of Cosby sweaters on display).

I cannot put all of the food experiences in this one entry, but I will end on my birthday treat. Some have cake, but I like to be original. I had a cockroach, bought by a side of the road, family run business. Literally "run" business - it was attached to a motorbike and when the police came, they circled around the block. No business licence, I suppose. They did return, and I had my bugs measured and weighed. They wanted to give us many, but one would suffice. I was told it was like cheap potato chips.

Eyes closed, like when I was a kid drinking milk and trying to pretend that it was iced tea:

Verdict? Not so bad. Crunchy, salty? But psychologically? I shuddered for a few minutes afterwards. Ew. The locals were amused by my very Western reaction.

Of course, we will continue this story soon with my cooking class experiences. I am officially in love with fish and coconut milk. I think it is one of the divine creations of the world. Talk soon...

You know you are polish when....

2009-10-23T03:32:00.000-07:00

...You see winter vegetables at the supermarket, mainly cabbage, and you think "Hmm...mealtime." You also are truly an adult when all of the vegetables you hated as a child make a fulfilling dinner.

Last night I was the only one who showed up for a yoga class so I got a very cheap and private lesson. I was feeling the onset of a cold so with every breathing exercise I focused on the sickness in my body and I told it that it was not welcome there. Throughout the day I also drank 4 litres of water - my magic cure when I feel the twinge of illness.

But that was not all. Having lived alone for most of my twenties, I no longer expect a pity party when my body is a bit achy. No indeed, I nurture myself. And what is more nurturing than soup?

However, I got home close to 9pm, so it had to be fast, and it had to use the vegetables in my fridge that might go bad when I am on vacation. I thus began with some olive oil, onions, celery, carrots and potato - cut into fat chunks because it was too late to get dainty pieces. Sense a cooking trend?

I plan on freezing leftovers for a happy, no cook surprise on my return from Cambodia. I wanted to do a spin on borscht - I have been dreaming about it since Prague. Note "spin" as this is in no way authentic.

I then added canned tomatoes (about 3 cups) and vegetable stock (about 2 cups) to these vegetables and simmered away (okay, I might have boiled to save time, but I am assuming that you have dinner on the table before 10)

Then I added the delight of winter vegetables that I feel are too damned healthy for how good they taste. My lovely, pink favorite, beets (could there be a more girly vegetable?):

I cut them into matchsticks and didn't grate them. Their flavour bleeds into the soup anyway and then you get some luscious bites. And some chopped cabbage was added to the mix:

Hello immune system...remember me?

So these babies were added to the pot with some salt and pepper to taste, and half of a lemon to tie the flavours together. Bubble, bubble.

As the flavours were melding, and I was trying to distract myself from my now catastrophic hunger, I packed for Cambodia. What does one pack for rainy season? A rainjacket. A lot of respectable sundresses (meaning I am not showing any leg above the knee). Some sweaters. Bathing suits. Who knows, really. It is not like I can get away with appearing anything but a tourist. Maybe if I look really cool and comfortable, I could swing for an ex-pat. Who are we joking? I am going to be too thrilled to be in a tuk tuk to look "cool."

So the soup came together and into the bowl it went. I was desperate. I was ravinous. So the picture steamed up the camera and I thought "My readers will understand that out of the choice between having the cake and eating it too, I chose eating."

So here is the poor picture. It looks a mess, but please focus on the positives. I put a dollop of goat cheese on it instead of sour cream because this blog points to my concoctions, and frankly, I just like the tanginess of goat cheese better. Voila.

So I am not sure if it was the soup, the water, or the magical yoga breathing but I feel better today. My advice is to try all three!

So enjoy the rest of October. I will come back as a 29 year old who has taken Cambodian cooking classes. Could be worse!

My wallet is exploding

2009-10-21T02:30:00.000-07:00

Not because I am rich, by any means, but because I have a great deal of different kinds of foreign currency. Get this: I have Canadian dollars, US dollars, Singapore dollars, Czech crowns, Euros, Swiss francs, and Cambodian riel. My goodness! Most of it is really interesting looking and I open my wallet and get happy, because it represents my spontaneous and free spirit.

I am starting to bring out some new happy rituals. One is doing yoga after work instead of before. I realized there is no purpose of sun salutations at 5am if you never see the sun. This allows my morning for sitting, bathing, listening to jazz and slowly sipping tea. Slowing down makes a workweek seem a little bit more weekend-ish.

I stay on top of the "important news" in North America. This expanded to the following image:

Wow, was I surprised that it ignited so much controversy. But can I say, this young twenty something, childless, athletic model made me feel a little bit better about myself and my body and all of its misgivings. I have some wonderful things that I love about my body and I like that when I gain weight, it is proportional. But I fail to have the assumed thinness of my family. There are always soft spots, and every time I go home I compare, compare, compare and dislike my dissimiliarity. But this photo. I look at it and I think "so what if my stomach isn't flat?" I am a woman who can move and twist and bend. I can cook a mean meal without it having to fall into a certain category of perfect health. And there can be sexiness behind my inperfection. Twenty-somethings are notorious for being mean to themselves for what they look like. I am a prime example of this. But I have just over one year left in my twenties, and I really want to spend it being nice to myself, regardless of weight gain or loss. So thank you to a "beauty magazine" for finally making me feel beautiful.

Wherever you are, you are meant to be

2009-10-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

The above is a fatalistic way of viewing life, but sometimes we need to accept that we don't have all the control. Although I do have problems with the concepts of "greater good" and "karma" sometimes. I am sure that when I see starving children in Cambodia next week I am not going to be thinking of them getting to their higher selves through hard knocks. Perhaps I am just merely given the luxury of self-analysis by the fact that I do not want for much.

I am anticipating my trip greatly. I do love how last weeks' trip, with its awareness, slightly bleeds into the coming week. I am expecting a little bit of the bustle I saw in India the messy, loud and exciting view that in my opinion, is life.

In the meantime I am doing my best to put one foot in front of the other. Sometimes that truly is all we can do. But there are reasons to smile.

An inspirational cheer up Court card from my mother. And if black spiky smiley haired cartoons won't do it, then perhaps I am beyond help. No, indeed it did the trick (please ignore the fact that I look about 12 years old. Or 40. I am not sure which.):

Apparently, 65% of us think we look younger than we are. So some of us are deluded. Back to the card, however - it is nice to feel loved from afar. Yesterday I went for a delicious walk and found a bunch of yoga schedules in different areas. I decided it would be good to occasionally practice with others, even if it is in Swiss German. It gives me a sense of community and belonging.

The below 0 Celsius action this week is only going to make Cambodian tropical weather (albeit with rain) that much sweeter. I had a lot to do yesterday that is not nearly interesting enough to be blog worthy, but I did it bundled up. Socks, check. Pjs, check. Robe, check. Poncho, check. I'm not even joking. When I get chilly, I look like a bag lady.

I was in the mood for some antioxident relief, since I know that when the weather dips, our immune systems can take a hit. So I made a tangy garlic yogurt dressing (very heavy on the garlic) and added some fresh lemon juice. I then took all my favorite winter vegetables.

Is there anything more luscious than colour in fall food? Delightful pumpkin, scrumptuous beets. Heaven, heaven, heaven. I would have made a risotto with these beauties but it was nearing 8 and my stomach would not hear of any slow cooking dishes. So I added my colourful cubes to a bed of sauteed spinach (in olive oil and garlic) and then drizzled my yogurt dressing on top.

More than one bowl was consumed. And I should have tripled the dressing. It was great with a capital G.

The perfect quote

2009-10-19T02:14:00.000-07:00

You know when you run into the perfect thing to read at the perfect time you should be reading it? Reading it years before or years after would not hit you in the same way. I absolutely love that synchronicity.

"When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It's also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be."

- Molly Wizenberg, from A Homemade Life

And there, perhaps, is why I sometimes cook extravagantly. I want to be enticed by my food, cheered by my food, captivated by my food. And sometimes there is memory in the smell of butter and onion. And sometimes hot chocolate can absolutely soothe.

I was in Prague this weekend, walking through the snowy streets with a yoga mat and a Czech map that I was shockingly able to read. I took no pictures. I barely saw anything but my mat, some textbooks and a little tea corner. But oh , the places I went. I meditated with strangers for one hour every morning. They soon became friends. I opened up. I was me. And I learned so much about the importance of balance, of being true, and of bringing these messages forward to people. I love that in one weekend I know so much more about how to move people into positions that will heal them and ignite them. It was the most intense weekend we will have, study wise. 10 hours of anatomy lectures on Saturday! But when you really want to learn something, and it is the right time, 10 hours is 1 hour in your normal boring life. It was not long enough.

I read a meditation and went first in our group (to get it over with). I started to read with a bit of self consciousness, but as I continued I was silent in my head. I just did it. I was not mean to myself, the time became long and lean, and I was no longer going over what I could not do. I realized how much of my time lately has been spent without any loving kindness towards myself. My God, did I need it.

And in the meantime, I had some lovely Eastern European food...some hearty soups (both potato and Borscht) with lashings of sour cream, salads with a kind of Eastern European feta (not quite as salty) and cabbage galore. It was wonderful, and I am slightly quieter in my head for the moment. I am hoping I can keep this space within myself for at least as long as this weekend. In the meantime, I at least realize that there are always things that can bring me back to myself. And that is always a wonderful (and needed) realization.

Nameste...

Funky times

2009-10-13T04:04:00.000-07:00

I am still in a bit of a funk. I sometimes get so tired of snapping myself out of it, that I think "What is the point?" And therein lies one of the problems of being an ex-pat. At the core, it is a pretty lonely, acquaintance-filled experience.

I am questioning a lot of things, so I am not cooking much. I am quite tired and am eating in ways that would have disgusted me a week ago. The interesting thing is, is one night I was alone in my new place. On a random October evening, with the Hotel Gutsch lit up:

And then, a fireworks display. Exactly in my window, like three years before when I spent my very first night in Switzerland. Only that window was on a different street and things in my life were oh so different.

Sorry for the horrible quality of the photos, I was desperately trying to capture it. I took it as a great sign. A sign that things are on their way to change. We shall see..

My camera is sticky (and other blogger problems)

2009-10-09T02:06:00.000-07:00

So I had pre-baked some sweet potatoes and left them in the fridge (because those suckers take too long for a weeknight). I decided to peel away the skins and dice the sweet potato with some avocado and cheese. I then put that into my handy dandy ramekin and made sure the skins were lovely on top. 20 minutes later, the skins were nice and crispy, the potatoes were hot, and my hunger was a little bit at bay before I began my insane evening of cooking...

I rolled up my sleeves and prepared to flour myself and my entire kitchen with meal preparation for tomorrow. I am all about preparation, so you can walk in the door and still home cook at 7pm with a vicious appetite. Plus, when you have guests over, it is much nicer to sit and enjoy the fruits of your labour than to slave and dredge yourself in flour (I am really not joking - there were flour footprints from my kitchen to my bathroom).

I took the Barefoot contessa's recipe for chicken stew and biscuits. I then changed 50% of the recipe for the stew according to what I like. So I can merely call her my muse for this lovely, comforting dish that is substantial enough to give me "thanks" on this most Canadian of holidays. I am going to have to remember the whole recipe, as I was crossing out and rewriting it as I went along. This stew is sitting and merging as I write this, in the most delightful of fashions. As we all know, a stew or a soup made a day in advance is much better than the day of. Why this is, I have no idea. Perhaps to prove that instant gratification junkies can't have it all (ahem).

Courtney's "make the neighbours jealous" chicken stew

Ingredients

3 cooked chicken breasts (I used boneless skinless and roasted them to save time)

1 stick unsalted butter (if you can believe this, this is significantly less than the Contessa)
2 chopped red onions
2 stalks chopped celery
1 cup mushrooms
1 cup roughly chopped potatoes
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup flour
5 cups chicken stock, kept hot
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup milk (the Contessa used cream, but I think the dish is heavy enough)
1/2 package frozen peas and carrots (I did this to save carrot chopping time)
Fresh thyme

Salt

Pepper

METHOD (to my madness...horrible pun, but the blog world loves that stuff)

Cut the cooled chicken breast into large cubes. Snack greedily on some of the cubes as you work.

In a large pot melt the butter and saute the onions and celery over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. This will be a sea of butter. Your heart will say "No! I mean yes, I mean..." Luckily, the smell will hit you and knock all health reason clear out of your system. You can then proceed.

After about 10 minutes, add the mushrooms, potatoes and garlic, and continue to stir and inhale the elixir. Once everything looks good (about 5 minutes is the good time) add the flour and stir continuously to prevent lumps. Cook over low heat. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, the milk and the white wine. Add the cubed chicken and thyme. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes, then taste and adjust as necessary (this point is important in cooking! Trust your tastebuds). Add the peas and carrots, stir, simmer and then turn off the heat.

As I was doing this the day before, this is the step that I got to. Now tonight I just have to heat it up, and bake my biscuits. I made the dough last night and cut them into rounds, so all they need is 20 minutes in an oven and freshly baked flaky heaven will await.

Okay, Contessa. I will give you this one. I used your recipe almost exactly, save for milk instead of cream and thyme instead of parsley.

DOCTORED UP CONTESSA BISCUITS

1 cup flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cold unsalted butter, diced
1/3 cup milk
Fresh thyme

Method:

Mix the dry ingredients together. I worked the butter into the flour by hand, which is hard, as you want to make sure the butter is cold. But some of us do not have fancy kitchen equipment, so must make do. Stop when the butter and flour mixture looks crumbly, like white peas. Add the milk and enough extra flour as necessary, continuing to work by hand (because this is how good dough comes out). Add the thyme. Dump the dough onto a well floured board, roll out with a rolling pin (or a can, if you don't have much space). Mine made 8 good sized biscuits.

Tonight I will put an egg wash on them and pop them in the oven. Hardly exhausting.

I also had time to make some pastry for fresh tarts, and apple filling. Tonight I have to throw the tart shells in the oven for 10 minutes, then saute the apple mixture for the same time. Voila! Hot "instant dessert." I will give the recipe next time.

This is how dinner parties are stress-free, I think. A day's forethought can mean a little more time sitting and enjoying the company of the people around us.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Battle scars

2009-10-08T03:07:00.000-07:00

So when a woman goes home and delights in culinary creation, it does come at a price. Behold my latest of an arm full of scars:

It will lighten soon enough, and until then serve as a memory for my cooking frenzy. It is not my worst pain: these days my hands have been hurting like mad, I assume due to my excessive typing at warp speed. This happens to me at least once a year. I have to do a lot of fish pose in yoga to improve the situation (basically putting most of your body weight on your hands and elbows to stretch them out).

Ah, so you say that you were here for the recipes? Yes, I am a master of digression.

Even I feel like quick and easy suppers. So here is an example of one. And the lettuce was already pre washed and cut - one of my busy life necessities - so the whole thing was in my stomach within five minutes of walking in the door.

I made a pepper stuffed olive, avocado and romanine salad with a mustard vinegrette. My stomach said "give me FAT!" So I happily abided. We are supposed to listen to what our body "needs", right? Wink, wink.

Then I had some lovely leftover avocado and a little bit of cheese, and those can't go to waste, especially under ravenous circumstances! So I threw them on top of an organic lentil soup leftover from my big grocery lug from Toronto. Heavenly.

I chose to cut the cheese rather than shred it, so I could get big gooey bites once it melted on the top. Cuz that, my friends, is how I roll.

But after slurping down my can opener "creation" I felt a little dissatisfied. I can't call that cooking! Yes, it put those hunger pangs at bay, but it is much less satisfying. So, I gussied up a little apple crisp, sweetened with honey and dried fruits (my blender took the blunt of it and even took a bit of a wooden spoon I was using as my mixing aid). I cut up half the 2 kilos of apples I had bought (here was the brunt of the work), slicing thinly. The rest were chopped and put into the mixer for a kind of homemade cinnamon applesauce: apples, soaked dates, honey, cinnamon, lemon juice, oh my! It went surprisingly well and these naked beauties were given a dressing of sorts.

The crumble was made with ground hazelnuts, raisins, dates, coconut, all mushed together in one fantastic blob and then scattered overtop. My secret? This is going to be breakfast, and I have not yet heated it. So each morning, I will cut a slice, throw it in the oven for 15 minutes or so as I am sleepily applying eyeliner, and enjoy a little bit of pie before the day becomes all work, no play Pie equals pleasure, and if you start the day that way, chores may become a little easier. Plus, it is extremely nutrient dense (she says as a sidenote).

More extreme cooking tonight. I have a dinner party Friday to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving (unknowing dinner guests). No turkey, but at least a hearty meal is in order. Because I am so lacking in that department. I am wasting away as we speak!

Cheek to cheek and spoonful to spoonful

2009-10-07T03:43:00.000-07:00

Very strange to hear one of my jazz idols in Luzern...she looked great, and told jokes that fell flat (which frankly, made me feel a little better about not always being understood here. If Diana Krall gets the same...). Her singing was superb, but she broke my heart a little. Canadian girls with homesickness and unresolved emotional issues - only go to her if you are completely prepared to confront that. I was not, and songs like "Let's Fall in Love" had me crying in a not very elegant way, unlike the black tied and white haired concert goers around me.

Outside the concert was an October fair. Cotton candy, Mexican food, rides - it did a little to soothe my weary soul.

I managed to stay away from the sugar and fat, and we went to sit in a lovely lakeside bar with very few dry seats after the day's rainfall. And you know how much I love pumpkins, so I photographed this:

I am about to give a recipe that is a lovely one dish meal for one. I really wanted to create a warm comfort meal with figs and goat cheese. However, I was short on time. So I decided to go for savoury oats. They are a grain - who is to say that they always have to be sweet? Well, me, apparently - I added honey too.

You can even do this in the microwave, but I always recommend the stovetop. Add water and two figs to about 1/2 cup of dry oats. Put in half the amount of goat cheese you want in the dish. Bubble away and watch the lovely figs expand and brighten, getting more luscious and jam-like. Once creamy, take off the heat and let cool a little. Place into a mug or bowl, and garnish with honey, the remaining cheese and a sprinkle of walnuts. Comfort food in five minutes or less? Yes siree.

I am almost done with my carrot cake - boo! I am going to experiment with a "morning apple crisp" tonight. When it is cold enough to make getting out of bed a personal challenge, we all need some incentive. And frankly, a bowl of cereal is just not it.

Hop, skip and a yum away

2009-10-06T02:05:00.000-07:00

I had a spring in my step this morning (and apparently also some baggy pantyhose - damn you, value packs!) . Mostly my cheer was because of the music on my IPod (I am loving this new song - well new for me - where the big line is "Simmer down now, simmer down now..." Maybe because I often need to simmer down), but it was also a lovely memory of the meal I made for myself last night. I love many things, but at the top of the list is the truth of the fact that I love fall and cooking. Cold hardwood floors equal fuzzy socks, blankets thrown over shoulders and warm comfort in the form of everything yummy. It also means at least one pumpkin.

Fall also means more stunning skies. Okay, the mountains in the background don't hurt. This is a mere two minutes from my office.

When I was in Toronto, I tried to curb my spending (tried being the operative and perhaps more realistic word). However, one thing I really wanted to buy was a ramekin. I didn't want a set of them, I wanted ONE. One pretty dish for individual cakes and pot pies and souffles. And there it sat in my apartment, until last night. Now I fear it will be overused.

I put a spin on a couple of souffle recipes, as I really liked the idea of making a blue cheese souffle. Now what goes well with blue cheese? Well, pears of course. So as I was whipping the egg whites into submission, I put a pear into the oven to roast and carmelize.

Then I got working on my creation.

Courtney's Pear and Blue Cheese Souffle For One

1 pear, chopped and roasted
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon whole wheat flour
4 tablespoons milk
1/3 cup blue cheese
1 egg, separated
Pepper to taste (the saltiness of the cheese means that you will not need salt)

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celcius. Butter the ramekin and line with the roasted pear. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook until bubbly, about 30 seconds. Reduce heat to low, whisk in milk and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in cheese and pepper, stirring until cheese is melted (it looks crazy good at this point). Stir in egg yolk. Set aside.

Whip egg white until soft peaks form (when you lift the whisk, the peaks will stand up, then fold over.)

With a rubber spatula, fold egg white into cheese mixture, lifting under and up through batter just until combined (a few streaks of white may remain.) It should look airy and wonderful. Frankly, my cooking philosophy is that you should be proud of every step!

Place in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, until top is puffy. Serve immediately. Ta-da!

The inside is custard like, the cheese cuts the sweetness of the pears, and every spoonful is just pure joy. As I like continuity with my food, I threw together a salad with romaine, roasted beets (grated) and grated carrots. I threw on the rest of the pear, and made a homemade dressing with just a touch of blue cheese. Then I poured myself a glass of Savignon Blanc and toasted the true satisfaction of treating myself well.

I love to explore the flavours that appeal to me, and then work a dish around them. That is the way it should be, right? One more shot, as I think I may have a slight food crush on my souffle.

Tonight I am going to see the sultry (and Canadian - perhaps there is a connection?) jazz singer Diana Krall. I am hoping she sings two of my favorites "Autumn Leaves" and "Peel me a Grape." Although, this stomach almost always needs more than a grape...

I heart Erlach (almost as catchy as I heart NY?)

2009-10-05T02:23:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was a day of lovely surprises. I met with Marina and Malin and we happily photographed every corner of this harvest festival. The surrounded stands were filled with garlic cloves marinated to taste, sausages of all shape and colour, and glasses of blueberry wine. As with most Swiss festivals, the smell of cheese was lingering in the air. After we picniced on some healthy (thereby over-consumed) goodies, a parade came by; with floats that ranged from a barbershop man who was clearly enjoying his five minutes of fame, to a big bottle of wine on a tracker that was followed by people who filled glasses in the festival. Screw those parades for children with the candy! This parade was drunkenly talked up so much by the locals that we ourselves were seriously impressed by a marching band or two. I tell ya, you have not lived until you hear Thriller on a Tuba.

As this is a foodie blog (sometimes), let me give you some of the foodie highlights from yesterday:

Maybe the gut hanging over the apron is not so appetizing. But would you want a sausage man to be any other way? Didn't think so.

However, deviating as far from the topic of encased meat as possible, let's move on to a raw and refined sugar-free recipe. Marina made this for me to cheer me up and it did the trick indeed. I tried to make it myself without a juicer or a food processor and it came out more dough-like than cake-like but you live and you learn? Sometimes I live and don't learn, but out of the two it is probably what I prefer. Caution to the inspired un-baker: do not attempt this puppy if you do not like kitchen prep. If grating carrots and blending and chopping do not float your boat, move on. But if you are willing to encounter a cake that actually tastes like each beautiful ingredient that it is composed of (rather than masked by sugar), take the time and work through each step one by one. The morning after, when you are spooning your cake breakfast onto a plate, you will be happy that you did so. I am always trying to escape sugar, as I find it puts me onto a downward spiral of unhealthy eating. And as a former girl who increased her body substantially through a dessert or a hundred, I am learning from the past and getting healthier year by year. (ah! Maybe I do learn. Sometimes.)

Cake

1 c almonds (ground)
3/4 c dates (soaked)
1/4 c unsulphured apricots (soaked)
1 c carrot pulp (or grated finely)
3/4 c carrot juice
1 grated carrot
1 T ginger
1 T orange zest
1 T lemon zest
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c walnuts
1/2 c dry shredded coconut
1 t lemon juice (I used orange)

Without a food processor, here are the instructions. Put the almonds and dates and apricots in a blender and pulse, until it forms a ball (or close enough). Add the carrot juice and blend again. Put this soupy delciousness into a bowl with the carrot pulp, spices, zests, lemon juice and grated carrot. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Add the raisins and walnuts or coconut. This is your carrot cake (you can add more of dry/wet ingredients to get the consistency that you want. Courtney, I am talking to you). Form a circle or square or shape of choice on the plate.

Icing (and seriously, this tastes like icing. Don't get all upset that I am misusing one of the most beautiful words in the English language)
3/4 c cashews (soaked)
2 dates (soaked)
1 orange (juiced)
1 t orange zest
1-2 T lemon juice
1/4 vanilla bean

Put all of these things in a blender until smooth and creamy. Check to see if it tastes like heaven, if it does, move on. If it doesn't add more dates, more lemon, more cashews, whatever. When it's yummy, dump it on the cake and ice it. Let it set in the fridge for a bit and then slowly work your way through it. It is rich enough that you actually don't have to eat a huge slice to feel satisfied.

Okay, again it is sideways. But yum, right? I'll bet you I could even fool my father with this one. Okay, maybe that is too tall of an order. But ALMOST.

This morning after stretching out my very tight muscles (downward dog was only a puppy this morning) I walked to work, giving myself lots of time so I could stroll. I have become a slow walker, and I think it is nice to not always rush. Because when you do this, you are rewarding with skies that look like this:

And as pictures never do a reality justice, just imagine a sky the colour of cotton candy. Right on. Here's hoping that you have a similar sky today!

Autumn leaves and orange food

2009-10-03T01:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had the Friday stress where I felt like the weight of the week meant that I was holding my shoulders up to my ears without even noticing it. So I went nuts in the local supermarket and figured that I would cook my butt off, and save the extras in my now functioning fridge. Five minutes after I entered my apartment I was covered in flour, singing along to jazz music and feeling better in my soul. It is a lovely free feeling when you can cheer yourself up. And a fantastic on-sale bottle of French wine was my companion.

I have been in Switzerland long enough to note the change in food exports and preferences. When I first got here there was no pumpkin at all, except for full pumpkins so large they couldn't fit in your oven. And my knives are at least five years old, so they require a little bit of sawing. In no way could they conquer a pumpkin. Year two: they started selling baby pumpkins at markets, the kind that make you want to spend 15 francs just to have some seasonal joy at your table. Year three: they sold cut up pumpkin in freeze dried packs, which were a little slimy, but at least they were on their way. And year four, Courtney's reward: slices of fresh pumpkin, smiling up at you from the baskets of the grocery store. There has been a pumpkin EXPLOSION in this country. So of course I needed to do my part to get rid of the surplus.

I did not know how much a smile would amount to, so I bought four. I now know that one smile equals half a cup of puree. So I made myself one cup of puree by boiling the suckers down (you can roast for a slightly more intense flavour, but it was already after 7pm and I wasn't going to wait another hour for a step I could cheat on). Then I let my handy dandy blender break it down and make it an even more brilliant shade of orange.

But I still had two pieces left. Hmmm. What to do. I figured I would throw some olive oil on them and koster salt and give them a good roasting. Roasted pumpkin rivals fries without being so starchy.

So as they were shrinking and crisping up, I went back to my pumpkin puree. I dumped it in a bowl with two egg yolks and about 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup regular flour. Then I kept adding flour until it was bread-like. Once it got there I dumped it out on my tiny counter (which will probably now have bits of flour in its crevices until the end of time) and kneaded away. When it was together, but not overworked, I rolled small pieces into long snakes and cut them into pieces. That's right people, I made pumpkin gnocchi.

These needed to be boiled for a few minutes until they raised to the surface. I put them in one by one to make sure they didn't stick together. Here they are after boiling.

Perhaps not as uniformly pretty as frozen supermarket gnocchi, but I promise you that their subdued flavour will win you over.

I had a bit of leftover pumpkin from that batch, and I do not like to see things go to waste. So I put it in a saucepan with some sage leaves and butter. I figured it would make a fabulous sauce (and spoiler: it did!)

When the sauce was coming together, I added a big ol'handful of arugula into the pan to wilt down and just add to my bowl o'yum:

I pan fried the gnocchi in this sauce a little and then plated it with some fresh blue cheese crumbled on top, which melted beautifully and gave an extra little kick to this dish. I always thought blue cheese and pumpkin would be great together.

Give to to me baby. Uh-huh, uh-huh!

I love how this dish is so good, it is as if it shows off for the camera. Check out this shameless self-promotion:

I mean c'mon. That is just embarassing.

So today I have a bevvy of orange leftovers - the roasted salted pumpkin, the gnocchi...and another dish I will show you next time. Have a lovely Saturday.

Cluck, cluck, carcass

2009-10-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

I got all the ingredients for a truly delectable fall dish last night. I assembled them, cleaned up a little and anxiously awaited the repairman for my fridge. He came with an apprentice, they pretty much took apart my kitchen (why that was necessary, I have no idea) then tsked that they didn't have the necessary part needed. MAYBE he will be back tomorrow. I expressed my desire to have this be so with a flirty smile and "BITTE morgan kommen züruck!"

So, as with many things in life, you are given lemons and you make lemonade. In my case, I had to go for an easy meal, but I wanted something a little cheer inducing. And as if fate had intervened, I found half and whole chickens (which are like quarter and half for our North American counterparts) ROASTED and not expensive. They put my half of the chicken in a bag with a very cheerful looking chicken on the front, as if to indicate that this particular chicken gave his life willingly to be roasted in such a delightful rub of spices. The smell permeated the bag, and it took everything in me not to gnaw through the bag on my walk home. I also picked up a side Italian salad with fresh mozzerella. Now, women often turn to ice cream in moments of sad, but I bequeth you, give a nice piece of meat a whirl. And devour it. Use your hands, suck the fat off the bones, eat every piece of skin that we are not "supposed" to have since it has flavour and more than 2 fat grams. Oh. My. God. The salad was an afterthought but after the chicken, I felt again that all was right in the world.

I may need another chicken today. I am slowly falling out of love with my lifestyle, and sometimes this can be as hard to stomach as falling out of love with a person. Except it is harder to explain. It is almost easier when you are depressed for a concrete reason, or happy for a concrete reason. If you need a bit of a backstory to be understood, sometimes it is frustrating enough to make you want to hole yourself in your apartment, only to escape for recently slaughtered animals. Not that I am speaking from experience.

Ode to Britain

2009-09-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, Britain. The place I fell in love, the place I learned how to drink cheap wine in pubs, the place I ate chips out of newspapers as dinner. The place I may have gained a pound or two.

Very little of the behaviour remains from Britain (love, cheap wine, okay, the chips might have stayed on occasion) but there are a few remnants that I like to hoard whenever someone takes a flight over. Galaxy chocolate bars are one.

I know as I live in the land of chocolate this is practically sacriligious to say, but I love the creamy smoothness of very unorganic chocolate. Melt in your mouth. Kicks Dairy Milk's ass.

Of course, I miss some things that I don't know if I would ever let myself eat again. Like flapjacks. It is a tray baked biscuit, even though my Canadian peeps often use this term to relate to pancakes. But Britain knows how to sweeten up oatmeal into cookie like contraptions until the point of no return. One easily has 500 calories. A meal? Nah, just a good ol'snack!

But I do allow myself the occasional nibble of a Jaffa Cake. There is no more perfect tea companion. A bit of sponge, a bit of chocolate, a bit of orange jelly. It melts in your tea beforehand to allow minimal chewing. Because sometimes you just feel THAT lazy. It is practically a cult. If you tell a Brit you don't like Jaffa Cakes, get out of the country. It is more controversial than Marmite. And I didn't live long enough in the UK to acquire THAT taste.

There was even a big lawsuit over whether these were cakes or biscuits. McVitie’s had always classed Jaffa Cakes as cakes (hence the name), but in 1991 they were taken to court by HM Customs & Excise who claimed they were actually biscuits. This sounds fabricated, but actually it is true! Gotta love the British food passion. Some countries will fight to the death for their wine or cheese or salami. The Brits do so over a teatime snack.

Mondayitis

2009-09-28T01:42:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I took the above title from someone, but I think is is clever, and isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery? It indeed describes me today. I have been a tad blue (understand, fine, delete the word tad) since my return from Toronto. I am aching with missing. I miss it all, all the time. And as much as I have a logical brain (every few weeks or so) it just ain't kicking in. So until then, I will feel sorry for myself. Which apparently, is a really attractive place to be. I got picked up on the bus again today. Is there a sign on my face that says "single?" Even when I am reading a book and failing to make eye contact?

Life could be worse. There is comfort food in this world. To me this involves something warm and fulfilling (although not always - I vow to dedicate an entire post to Marina's raw carrot cake. It deserves a haiku or two). And today it is blogger's oatmeal. I call it that, because for some reasons bloggers have been waxing poetic over the stuff since the dawn of the word "foodie." Of course, perhaps they deserve to, because it is an area when one can get mighty creative within a five minute window of time. And five minutes these days is often the amount of time I take to wonder why I don't have more time.

You might notice that I am getting a little healthier again. This is due to my incredible obsession with cake and french fries while in Toronto. To a disgusting amount. I swear, even my ankles were bloated by the end, and it wasn't because of airline pressure.

Back to the recipe. Which I am going to write to you without measures, because some cooking should be void of that and just an exercise in stirring and tasting.

BANANA BREAD OATMEAL

Take a big ol'handful of oatmeal (remember it plumps up so don't get too greedy) and throw it in a saucepan. Dice a banana and throw it in there with a little bit of wheatgerm and flax (just to make your body forgive you for all of those times that you didn't do it good). Add milk to cover (this is where I get a bit fancy - I love me some strawberry soymilk or chocolate milk to make life a little colourful). Bubble on medium heat and stir until it all comes together until the thickness you desire. Make sure to let sit for a few minutes to cool it down.

Take out of the saucepan, garnish with nuts, cinnamon and coconut and a little more banana that you may have camelized in a side saucepan. Sigh contently. Your intentines thank you.

My wonderful apartment that has had every appliance break one by one is now onto the fridge. I tried to consume what I could this weekend after my freezer melted, but some food was lost. Until it is fixed (which let's face it, could be Christmas in this country) we might want to re-name this blog "cooking out of cans." Or "shopping in small batches so that nothing has to be refrigerated." Not as catchy as Courtney's Concoctions.

Last supper...

2009-09-16T03:59:00.000-07:00

...before I go to Toronto! Although, while we are on the ever so discussed topic of last meals, let me put mine out there to the internet universe: Steak. Lobster. BUTTER. Fresh bread. Broccoli cooked to perfection. And a bottle of excellent red wine pour moi - if I am going to go down, I might as well go down smiling! And of course carrot cake.

In Toronto I always have a list: things to do, people to see, places to go. And of course, me being me, things to eat. This time I do not have as much of a desire for sushi (although if it were presented to me I most certainly would not say no) but my food item of choice is actually a drink. A gin martini. They barely know what they are here, and I want mine loaded with olives and just plain understood when I order it. Wow, I will be fully understood for four days. How odd.

My lunch today was pleasant, as always. I made a sandwich with roasted red peppers, parmesean cheese and parma ham. With the ingredient list, it could almost be a pizza, for adults that have developed a palate beyond mozzerella cheese. A man I know here once said "What is it with Swiss cheese in North America? Is it plastic?" Ouch, sadly, in that instance I could not easily defend my country.

So off I go to a wedding, to bust out of my cocktail dress due to overindugence, and to correspond with most of the readers of this blog in person (Hi, Mom!). I will make sure to eat impressively so as to have antidotes to relay on my return. And I will have actual photos of my life. Maybe.

En Güte...

Chili no con carne

2009-09-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

So the weekend was one of absolute Swissness and a little laziness. I am sitting at the edge of a cold. I have been for a week - where it is not even truly sick, just at the edge of it. It is so annoying. I am taunting this virus, like, "Cmon! Is that all you got? Why not make it full blown already?" Except I do not want to become a new swine flu victim. Not because I am scared of it, just because it sounds dirty and disgusting. I like my illnesses to sound a little classier than "swine flu."

Anywhoo, Swissness was over the top on Saturday. At the top of the mountain were a gaggle of yodelers (doesn't gaggle work well there?) of the average age of 75. Imagine these men in 40 years:

Due to this, the one yodeler at the age of 50 looked posivitely radiant and youthful, and dare I say it, like James Bond. I developed a quick yodeler crush and tried to make eyes at him as he hit the high notes. But it was not meant to be, so I quickly moved on to my real passion of cheese. I had at least 8 different Alpine cheeses. Then cheese on toast. Then fries. Then whipped cream. My pants are a tad tight today, but it was worth it.

I then said the one sentence I never truly mean: "I think I have eaten enough for a week." Three hours later I was in the kitchen, joyously stirring my pre-vacation chili. Chili is a great way to use vegetables that will go bad when you are away. My small freezer can fit two servings and I can eat the rest. Into the pot: onions, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, hot chili peppers, red peppers, yellow peppers, white beans, kidney beans, chick peas, spices galore, canned tomatoes, tomato paste...

And it simmered and simmered and made my apartment smell homey as I listened to my neighbours truly get ready for a Swiss Saturday (Swiss Saturday means you have some drinks so that you can easily adhere to the silence of Sunday). And while it was going I ate too much healthy cornbread. No oil, no butter, no limits?

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

1 cup unbleached flour

1 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 can corn

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, soda and salt. Stir in yogurt, eggs and corn. Do not over mix, stir only until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until center of the bread springs back when gently pressed. Eat with some honey and sigh contentedly.

A write off day to be sure. Okay, a couple of write off days. But my stomach hasn't been flat since the late 90s, so who am I to try to try and get it to be something it just doesn't want to be?

Toronto. In two days. I feel like Christmas is approaching, only Christmas involves a wedding and a great dress and martinis and conversations with some of my favorite people. Four days means that not a smidgen of time will be wasted. I might have talked about it so much, to the point that a random girl on the train said "You're going in two days right?" Maybe I will hold back on the extreme eating before I go. Wait...who am I kidding?

Ode to wine

2009-09-11T03:16:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite books, vacation spots, hell, even Friday nights, have been accentuated with GOOD wine. I have come to the point in my life where I know the good stuff. Or at least I can fake it convincingly. This weekend, I may be attending "Les Festival Gourmande" in Montreux, should I be allowed. In Tucino there is also a wine weekend, so I will follow the bottles at will.

Speaking of this, my father sent me the following, which brought so many jokes that I feel nothing needs to be said beyond the words themselves:

Courting Courtney:

This Gamay’s hard to get.

Yes, Courtney is here… but the fifth vintage of this

highly sought-after red is the most elusive yet.

The 2007 fruit nurtured in our Courtney block redeemed all the promise of that celebrated growing season. Likewise, the vineyard also exhibited 2007’s characteristically low yields. At eighty cases, this will be our smallest-yet Courtney Gamay release and won’t last long.

Could anything about this wine disappoint the fortunate few who get some? Not a chance.

The complex, spicy nose is abundant with black plum, cherry, blackberry, spearmint and black licorice. Sumptuous and well-structured in the mouth, the wine evinces concentrated flavours of strawberry compote, raspberry, hazelnut, cocoa and well-integrated oak.

Awarded 91 Points by Master Sommelier John Szabo as one of the Top 20 Red Wines in Ontario!

Available now at $29.95/bottle or $359.00/case

That advertisement is good for my ego.

Of course, wine is not all Switzerland is about. Cheese and cows anyone?

Okay, that's just creepy. But the festival is called "Sharing the cheese on Mägisalp." Here is the blurb: A unique event marks the end of the Alpine summer season. Mountain farmers on Mägis Alp at Hasliberg celebrate the traditional «Chästeilet». Festivities comprise music, a colorful parade of cows descending from Alpine pastures, as well as food and drink.

Jerry Macguire coined "You had me at hello." You had ME at "a colourful parade of cows descending from Alpine pastures." How can one say no to that spectacle?

Even if you have a cowless weekend, I hope that it is nonetheless enjoyable.

The conclusion of this exciting drama

2009-09-10T01:05:00.000-07:00

The recipe that I made myself that used to be made for me by a lovely person who is no longer in my life, is to come by the end of this post. Bonus is that the chicken refrigerates well, and as I truly enjoy meat cold rather than hot, there is a week full of bone-knawing in my future.

Couldn't sleep well last night out of excitement! Toronto coming up, then yoga training, then Cambodia - dear God my life bores me to tears sometimes. This weekend I wanted to go to a wine festival but it is booked up and in Swiss style, they are not allowing for the potential for a cancellation. So perhaps this is a crashable opportunity? Unfortunately, it is in the French part of Switzerland, and in the last few years I find myself in French countries with either a German accent or just plain German words (Oui is just not as natural as Ja).

Chicken Adobo

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

about 2 - 2 1/2 lb chicken, 4 drumsticks and 4 thighs (leftovers, baby, got to love them. I open my fridge, I see filled tupperware, and I am a happy woman. Yes, Mom, I did get some of your traits)

1 small onion or half a medium onion, cut into thick slices

1 C soy sauce

1/2 C rice vinegar

3/4 C water (I decreased the water so the sauce is easier to reduce later)

1 Tbsp brown sugar, packed

5 garlic cloves, minced (or just grated in because you can't find your garlic press)

2 bay leaves

1/4 tsp black pepper (which I increase, just to the point of tasting, not to the point of coughing)

frozen peas

one head of brocolli

cooked brown rice (or cook it at the same time as the chicken dish, you multi-tasker, you)

Optional: Combine everything (except the onions) and marinade for 1 to 3 hours.

Bring everything up to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour, until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender. The more time the chicken sits the sauce the more flavorful it becomes. I made it on a Monday night so you can imagine that I didn't really follow this rule due to a rumbling tummy.

As it is getting close to perfection, and the smell of garlic is slowing seeping into your walls, add the chopped brocolli and make yourself wait a little longer. Apparently, all good things are worth waiting for. Then when you can't stand it anymore, add tons o'peas to give the dish a healthy edge and a pretty colour to boot.

Serve the chicken over rice and spoon the sauce on top.

Serves 4 - 6 (or yourself, 4-6 times)

This. Dish. Rocks. Make it, now.

In love!

2009-09-08T03:57:00.000-07:00

With a sandwich, don't worry.

I made the spectacular meat dish myself yesterday, thereby proving that not only can I run for trains in high heels and put together my own bed, but I can show a piece of chicken who is boss. Recipe again to follow - ooh anticipation. Cliffhanger.

But I won't require patience for the sandwich. Another one of my delightful, home-spun concoctions:

Okay, maybe I stole the picture. Or maybe I wrap my sandwiches in neat little parchement parcels with string. That is actually too sad for me to convince you of. But it does look exactly like that, besides the raw red onion. I do way too much talking to put raw onion eating as one of my new hobbies.

Smashed white bean and avocado sandwich - serves 1 hungry Canadian

Ingredients

1/2 can white beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 slices multigrain bread (cuz you know I like the wholegrain and flax stuff)
big ass handful of sprouts (such as alfalfa, radish, broccoli, or a combination)
1/2 avocado, pitted and thinly sliced (or smashed like a madwoman, because you want to get to the eating part of this whole experiment)

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the beans, oil, salt, and pepper. Roughly mash the mixture with the back of a fork.

Place 8 of the bread slices on a work surface. Divide the mashed beans among the slices. Top with the sprouts, and avocado. Top with the other slice of bread.

Slice each sandwich in half, if desired, and serve. To your fine self.

Passion. Ambition. Butter.

2009-09-07T00:23:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely weekend. It began with an extravagent meal, filled with truffles and oil and good bread and wine and tiramisu. So good, in fact, that Saturday was a day where my stomach was craving the bland diet: hardboiled eggs and oatmeal. But the weather was absolutely phenomenal - the best of fall! I sat on various benches and steps and parks and walked and had good conversations and just felt fabulous. I had a party Saturday night where I tested a new chocolate chip cookie recipe (I would give it one thumb up - my lack of baking these days has put me a little out of service) and an artichoke dip from heaven.

The artichoke dip was a heavenly recipe I got from a yoga magazine that did not taste healthy at all and was gobbled up hot with pita crisps and freshly cut carrots.

Creamy Spinach Artichoke dip

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
1 cup non-fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup fresh spinach
1 can artichokes, drained and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 200 Celcius.

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Leave some chunks of artichoke and spinach for a real rustic feel. Transfer to a medium heat-proof dish. Bake 20-25 minutes until the top of the dip begins to brown.

Five days of sunshine expected. In Switzerland! Very, very, strange. This will not be so good for my German language ambitions, nor for my great need for a decent night's sleep. But you only live once right?

My title of course refers to Julie and Julia, where I laughed out loud in the movie theatre alone, completely convinced that I indeed am like Julia Child. Optimistic without being naively so. Smiley as a default. And yes, passionate about butter. I agree with the quote in the movie: everything that tastes divine is due to that one magic ingredient. Yet of course, the health conscious side of me tries to pretend otherwise.

Tonight on the menu I am going to try and conquer a meat dish I used to eat all too frequently a couple of years ago. The problem? It was always cooked for me in the past. Good luck to me?

Pure bliss...

2009-09-02T03:17:00.000-07:00

This is me before yesterday:

But now I am all smiles, because...I have the internet at home! I tried again and barely looked at the screen since two months of attempting has left me a little hopeless. And then the pure satisfaction of seeing the Google homepage. Oh my God. I am connected to my family without spending hundreds on phone bills. It is a beautiful thing. I actually don't know what to do with it anymore, but for the moment it will provide me with lovely jazz radio for my all-too frequent baths. And with the rainy Swiss season approaching, is there anything better?

Oh, I know what is better. My amazing sandwich that has been fueling me through this workweek. If you don't make this soon, you have serious problems. Or you don't love food as much as I do.

Begin with brot, or English speakers can do bread. I like ones that do nice long slices.

Then spread fig preserves on one side. Take slices of brie, and lovingly add them to your lunch. Finally, put some basil leaves and thin pieces of turkey. The sweet preserves with the creaminess of the cheese are heaven, I am not joking. It is one of those eating experiences you don't want to be over.

Another idea I have read is good is turkey, brie and apple. I will give it a shot soon.

Off to see Coldplay tonight in Bern at an outdoor concert with 20,000 others. Have a great night!

September already?

2009-09-01T03:19:00.000-07:00

I had another lovely weekend, that I actually tried to drag onto Monday. I sat on a rooftop patio last night and bid Adieu to summer. Stayed out until 1. Got up at 6 to run. I can only do this at the beginning of the week, when my energy levels have been filled up by weekend naps (beautiful thing to get up early on a Sunday, cook and clean, and then just go back to bed on various couches).

I am having a digital camera situation, meaning it ain't working. So that will be one of my Toronto purchases (never mind food, I have quite a few vacations coming up that deserve a shot or two). I will describe therefore one of my favorite weekend creations (so good that I ditched a dinner invite to cook for myself).

Artichoke Pancakes with Goat Cheese

3 canned artichoke hearts

2 lemons, cut in half
3 large eggs
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese
1 tablespoon sour cream

Place the artichoke hearts, lemon juice, eggs, and water in a blender or a food processor fitted with a steel blade and blend until creamy. Pour into a mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, and pepper, and combine until the mixture forms a thick paste.

Whip the egg whites in a dry copper or stainless steel bowl until they hold stiff peaks. Gently fold into the artichoke mixture.

Place a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat and when it is hot, add the oil. Drop dollops of batter (about 2 tablespoons per pancake), a few at a time, into the hot oil. When the edges begin to stiffen, turn the pancakes over and cook until lightly golden, abut 2 minutes. Place the pancakes on an oven proof plate.

Combine the goat cheese and sour cream in a small mixing bowl. Top each pancake with a large dollop of the goat cheese mixture and place in the oven until the cheese just begins to melt, about 2 minutes.

Serves 4; Makes 8 little or 4 large pancakes.

Note to self: do not use soya flour. I only discovered after my first batch that soya flower is not a binder. Oops. That explained a LOT. These were seriously good with just a hint of artichokeness. The goat cheese was the icing, and it was killer.

I served it with a green bean and tomato salad, cooked to perfection and drizzled with balsamic vinegrette. Food worth ditching your friends over. :)

Some weekend photos for your viewing pleasure. Me in Zurich, showing my friend's sisters how not to shop (It is not a skill I have acquired)

And from last weekend, me with some goats:

And then in a glacier trying to be Switzerland's next top model. Attitude!

Then I actually looked around and realized it was pretty damn cool to be in a glacier.

I will try to fix my camera by securing it with duct tape. The bottom is cracked. Question: how cheap can digital cameras be these days? Any ideas?

Weekend, busy, busy!

2009-08-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

So I have been a Tazmanian Devil in the last couple of days (side note: what happened to the power of Warner Brothers?). I have done a TON of yoga, I have run, I have cooked, I have socialized, I have lived! I have planned my trips even more to Toronto, Cambodia and Prague and now I just have few details for the last two. I am seriously excited. September and October are going to ROCK!

So this story has to be short, sweet and filled with a million spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. Let's start with a pictoral story about Buochs ducks. Swiss ducks entertain me greatly. Canada is filled with crazy cat ladies...Switzerland has crazy duck ladies or crazy swan ladies. Which is worse, I wonder?

Don't you love how it is a row of sleeping ducks? I love how social they are! They tell each other when to eat, and they all follow each other around. Still the end guy stole the show for me. He seems like he would swagger, were he human.

I am either going through a ridiculous creative stage or just a ridiculous stage. I choose to believe the former.

Now to lunch beyond breadcrumbs. My Mexican feast, which taught me that there is a thing called too many beans. But the next time I made this I had a lighter hand, and it was even more fabulous.

So start with some bright and cheerful veggies (red bell pepper, tomatoes, cukes...the next time I added a smattering of mushrooms)

Now wash all the sugar and additives off of canned corn and beans. Or soak your beans and shuck your corn, if you are that kind of overachiever.

Now try to guess what this is? Some might say asparagus, but no...

Hot peppers. From Turkey. So Turkish they didn't have any English on them. And they burn your mouth just by hitting it. Fabulous.

Layer all of the following in a fabulous Ikea bowl along with olives, Romaine, salsa and a big dollop of refried beans. Make Homer Simpson like drooling noises.

Complete Homer Simpson-ness with a cold one. Bought because it is an import here, but sometimes a light beer feels just as healthy as a water. I probably have four beers a year, so indulge me.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

One last summer day...

2009-08-27T07:35:00.001-07:00

...it might be today! I will try to have enough outdoor time to make it worth my while.

Last night I stayed out late bar-hopping and I am running on less than five hours of sleep. The truly remarkable thing is that I feel absolutely fabulous. What is that about? Maybe it is the adrenaline of change...I am starting another kind of concoction. Trying to figure out how my future is going to be shaped, which is so unlike me. I will never depend on the future, because it is never really there, but I am in the mood to have a little direction. I think it is the fact that the big 3-0 is next year, and if I can't live my dreams in my 20s due to fear and youth, then I will knock em' dead in my thirties!

And of course, I will always cook beautifully. Do they have this delicious Francais product in Canada? If not, talk to the exporters people!

It is basically a very high fat cream cheese that has converted me from the light stuff I was gagging down. It has a fitting name, let me tell you that. However, even with beautiful full fat cheese I always feel the need for a little veggie accompaniment. So I had a bulb of this, as I often do:

I chopped it up real fine and added it to the cream cheese-like heavenly spread. I then lavishly spread it on some sprouted whole grain bread. And then, as if life could get even better, I added some incredibly fresh smoked salmon. Hell YES.

The weekend is coming very quickly! Talk to y'all tomorrow!

Mexicoma

2009-08-26T00:03:00.000-07:00

I ate a little too much Mexican food last night. It was all super healthy, but now I am trying to harness the antioxident/digestive power of peppermint tea to help me out. Post to come tomorrow, as I don't really want to view the object of my discontent...

But I will go back to a lovely breakfast I had this weekend. I, like every food blogger out there, love me a good bowl of oats in the morning. However, with the sweltering weather Swissyville has had as of late, it is not exactly appealing to spend 10 minutes stirring anything over a stove. So overnight oats it was. I decided to make it weekend friendly (weekends are for sugar and cartoons, my inner child says) and add some chocolate milk. But let's start at the very beginning.

Oats. In a bowl. You can do that right?

Now chop up some luscious, sweet banana. Or just a plain old banana if you are not a morning person like I am.

Combine two pale ingredients in bowl. Cover with twice as much of your favorite kind of chocolate milk (because chocolate and banana are just too wonderful together to keep apart):

I feel that more ex-pats than Swiss people must fall for the soy/health food business because why else would it be in English? It is a mystery I would love if someone could solve for me.

Anywhoo, we have the whole thing combined, stirred, finished. We put it in the fridge covered with saran wrap so that it does not absorb any other flavours lurking around an average fridge (onion flavored oats anyone)? Go to bed. Wake up hungry. Open the fridge and voila!

It is a cool, freshing bowl of oats with sugar cereal appeal. I loved it. I am sure I will be back to my stovetop oats in no time (the weather is bleak and rainy again, and somehow I love it. I guess I have gotten used to bad weather!), but for the next week or so, these will win.

In the newspaper this morning, they said that people found Wednesday to be the most depressing day of all. I hope that that isn't true for most of you!

To sleep, perchance, to dream

2009-08-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

I had a weekend of relaxation. Of course, there was a little bit of wild dancing to rock music, but still I was in bed at a decent hour. And something in my soul says "REST, dear Courtney, REST." So I am listening and going to bed at times that should not be typed, lest you think I am the worst 28 year old ever. But damn, it feels good to surrender sometimes to the simple pleasures of life. To ignore dishes and television and yes even social obligations to hang out in jimmy-jams with a mug of tea and hear the rain fall.

I did not go up in the helicopter due to the fact that up in the alps the fog was so thick that you could barely see the person in front of you. I felt the experience may have been a bust (and yes, slightly terrifying). So the secondary activity, that I was poorly dressed for, was exploring inside a glacier. Inside, your skin glows a little - I think the fountain of youth may be there!

Ah roadtrips...

The Swiss, surrounded by mountains, do not understand the drink "Sex on the Beach." Instead, they had to concoct the following:

Gotta love it!

Yesterday was one of those perfect summer days. It was also very quiet, and I spent my lunch break listening to the waves and reading books on yoga in the following spot:

Ugly, isn't it?

On returning home, the day could only be capped by a Halibut Nicoise (I didn't have tuna and frankly whole fish is much better). I made a mustard vinaigrette (all together now: lemon, white wine vinegar, one egg yolk, mustard, olive oil) and put it all over a bed of Romaine. Then the fish. Green plump olives. Cooked green beans and potatoes. And a hardboiled egg. YUM. This will be made again.

Not to toot my own horn, but isn't that a fab salad picture?

Enjoy the waning days of summer...

Tofu, tofu, tofu...MEAT!

2009-08-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

If you think of the above as a sort of duck, duck goose sort of thing (spice up these children's games already!) it is kind of how I operate. Except with many vegetables instead of tofu. I read a blog about an "everythingtarian." Love the term and it does encapsulate how I like to cover the range of the eating spectrum - from chocolate cake for breakfast to flax and spinach shakes for dinner.

Last night, a stranger commented that I have a happy walk. I kind of love that comment, thinking that I exude joy. It is nice to know how strangers view you sometimes! Even if it is negative. In "Eat Pray Love" when she looks back on her misery, she says it is reflected to the world, so you are actually more than miserable yourself. People who you don't even know see you and reflect you. Not that it is always possible to keep our misery inward, but it is always a goal to try to exude positivity.

Now, the positivity of food. Last night was a balmy evening and after meditating, I went to watch the sunset with this fine group of people.

Even met a very Canadian guy who reminded me that I don't feel entirely Canadian anymore. I am some sort of weird hybrid who cannot completely relate to anyone, but yet partially relate to everyone.

I wanted some grilled veggies and tofu dogs (kind of bland and in the need for some serious dipping sauce. Next time). I happily threw these puppies on, and turned them with my asbestos fingers.

Why do men insist on being grill masters? It is so fun and we need a part of that action sometimes!

The weather is a little cooler today (and by that I mean less than 35 degrees Celcius) so it called for a bit of melty cheese. Can you improve upon a blanket of fresh full-fat cheese overtop some grainy bread with just a smidgen of Dijon?

Oh wait. Yes you can. Hello grilled chicken!

Tomorrow I will go on a helicopter ride in the Alps. Yawn. Typical Saturday...

A new Swiss discovery

2009-08-20T03:34:00.001-07:00

I got up early again this morning, sweating, sweating, sweating. So I decided to go outside (where it is cooler) and run by the river. I had the kind of delicious run you can't plan, but it cleared my mind which has been on overdrive trying to decide what to do in the next couple of years about school, etc. I came back, stretched and changed quickly and remembered to take a picture of my blondness. The run is the excuse for my sweaty look.

I have lived here for three years. I overdosed on cheese and chocolate and now only use both as occasional indulgences. I have cut down on sugar significantly as I feel it has a huge impact on my energy levels. But yet I have shyed away from the following Swiss masterpiece:

God this stuff is good. And very natural, filled with whole grain flakes and dried fruit and only a touch of honey. Where have I been?

I like to add it to yogurt, which I always buy natural because I like to add my own sweeteners, if at all. It's nice to taste what things actually taste like, instead of just sweetness.

I can't stand a lot of lactose, but one item per day seems to work for me. Then if I have anything else, it is soy or lactose free. This rule even means that I can fit in ice cream on 35 degree days and my stomach won't hate me.

For breakfast though this is a winner. Muesli, dried fruit, chopped up apple, yogurt and a sprinkle of dried coconut. In my happiness mug:

I had a picnic last night that I had every intention of photographing but I was too "in the moment" which is even better. Consumed: mango and avocado salad, tomato salad, mountains of olives, cookies, strawberries, beer...and I BBQ tonight!

I'm melting...(imagine Wizard of Oz voice)

2009-08-19T03:50:00.000-07:00

So it continues. I went to the hairdresser to touch up my rocker roots, with the intention of infusing a bit of red into it, a la childhood Courtney. But I ended up being swayed and I am again a tad blonder. I love it, but I don't want to love it, if that makes any sense. It makes hair dryer and less and I need to wean myself off of this vice. Hairdresser also made me realize how small the Switzerland ex-pat community is. While in the chair, I met a woman and we chatted for a bit, and then I introduced myself as Courtney. She said "You mean, Courtney Sunday?" Oh dear God. However, the timing for the swooshy Pantene hair could not have been better, as the Sri Lankan photo shoot continued, this time with a professional photographer who watched me work, ever so naturally. I always look perfectly relaxed and upright when I photocopy. I answer the phone with a beaming smile. But of course! And although "ich habe einen Baren Hunger" today, I have no food pics. But I will tell you about one of my absolute favorite summer snacks. Ripe, juicy, tomato. Sliced. With course salt. What an exhausting recipe - do you think you can replicate it? My lunch breaks in this heat have been top notch (or "tip top" as they like to say here. What is it, the 1920s?). Bikini paradise awaits mere metres from the office. So I thought I would share to you where I eat my concoctions these days. Serene, isn't it? I can now see the pluses of not taking vacation in August - there is vacation potential everywhere.And this is me, ever so stressed after literally being unable to read or sketch. I stared at butterflies for the entirety of my lunchbreak - there is something to be said for completely unplugging and just observing. It is the purest form of meditation (which some yogis describe as "listening to God"). Okay enough of that, spiritual Courtney - where is foodie Courtney? No worries, my stomach is always inspiring the next snack. While browning, I saw climbing on the wall in front of me nature's perfect food: My question to you is how do I get to it? The branches cling to rocks that flow into the river. Semi inconvenient. I tried unsuccessfully to coax the branches my way but they would hear nothing of it.

Blogging for dummies

2009-08-18T03:42:00.000-07:00

In the mail at the post office was a HUGE box for me, from me, from Amazon. Filled with the coursebooks for my yoga classes (I have already found a lot of interesting translations from the Sanskrit words I know. Funny how as English speakers we just accept a new word into our vocabulary without even questioning the roots). And the slightly offensively titled "Blogging for Dummies." However, let's be honest here, peeps. Me in a computer science class in University frankly just involved a lot of frustration and a whole lot of TA office hour visits. So I would like this book to give me a few pointers for how to increase readership, and how to just make my blog kick some serious butt. And if they have a sub-point called "how to get the internet in Switzerland without losing your mind," all the better. Turns out I am yet another week away from such a miracle. I am convinced that like my movers, they are all out on cappuccino breaks.

The heat is so oppressive in my apartment I literally wake up every night just to drink water. And this is from a 3L a day drinker. It is supposed to press on, hence I am professionally wearing my bikini under my corporate wear to sit behind the office and bask in the sunshine. I think the gold straps may be a dead giveaway.

So last night...the red wine experience. Surprisingly, I was impressed. It still doesn't have the crisp and refreshing quality of an ice cold Riesling or even a Rose, but in a pinch, it really is a nice sipper. It always takes me a little longer to drink a red, so it was a nice evening activity. And I supplemented this with my own little hor d'oeuvre.

Pate in puff pastry. Having flown through Julia Child's book (1.5 hours of train time per day make me a learned woman. Of course some of that time in the morning is spent sleeping/trying to avoid men that are trying to pick me up), I was inspired. And the woman makes everything "en croute" sound like the reason for living. I didn't even realize I was influenced until I found myself in Coop (the supermarket) clutching at anything with a perfectly egg washed crust. This is what happens when you don't watch TV and have limited internet access - even your books start to brainwash you.

The evening was concluded with some lovely mackerel (am I the only one who loves oily, dark meat fish? It feels substantial somehow) overtop a salad with olives, feta and tomatoes. I guess you could call it Greek, but I have been to Greece and I know better than to compare my concoction with theirs. Greece is actually a place I would love to return to. It has corners perfect for writing and many areas that are not over-run by tourists. And everyone and their uncle has been to Toronto so there is automatically a kinship.

Drink some water, break out your bathing suit and run through a sprinkler! I wish that upon all of you...

If a girl can't change her mind...

2009-08-17T03:55:00.001-07:00

I actually did it.

I put a perfectly good bottle of red wine in the fridge. I haven't attempted to taste it yet, out of blind fear, partially. But I put it there because:

1) It is 30 degrees every day and who wants some warm wine?
2) I can change my mind about things on a whim - it is one of my loveable/annoying traits.
3) According to the Wall Street Journal, it is trendy to try to drink some reds cold. And I am nothing if not trendy.

Well, perhaps after this photo, taken this weekend, I should rephrase that to I am nothing...if not shameless. (It went on Facebook for everyone to inspect/laugh at)

In the spirit of Bridget Jones - number of times swimming in lake over weekend: 4. Number of romantic moonlit picnics with female friends: 1. Number of independent films seen at the outdoor cinema (with intermission and ice cream break, a la Swiss): 1. The days were spend laying on various patches of grass/docks/fake beaches attempting to read but finding that the sun was sucking my energy. People drank beer and I maybe saw someone attempt to walk two metres. That was overdoing it. In this kind of heat, you don't want to be overly ambitious.

The good news: the heat is staying. Other good news: I have discovered that I love beer on a hot day. Who knew? (and how unique!) Sitting by a lake watching swans with a cold one is not the worst thing you can do. The worst thing you can do is return to your apartment which is always 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the world. This will be great in the winter. For now, I am becoming adept at cooking in my bikini.

By cooking, I of course mean assembly because who wants hot? Other than a beer, I think a tomato sandwich screams summer. Check out the progression:

Hello sunflower seed bread. Let's make you a little better:

I am not shy with the "forte" mustard (senf in German). I like the kick and I like the runny nose, so sue me. (although don't tell the Swiss, I do occasionally miss factory produced and processed French's. Only occasionally)

Finally, in all of its fuzzy glory:

Lovely ham, real Swiss cheese (which obviously doesn't need the moniker as we are geographically aware), lettuce, plump tomatoes...summer. To continue the trend, I am going to go sketch by the lake, wear big shades and literally try to melt away the worries.

TGIFFFF

2009-08-14T01:20:00.001-07:00

I really mean that - TGIF! I really do this time. I have had a bit of an emotional week - for a non-sensitive person. I am not a cryer by nature. This doesn't mean I don't cry ever, it just means I save it up for the REALLY good and REALLY bad moments. I often stare at my friends sobbing during romantic comedies and wonder "WHY?" So my emotional week was tapered down by some pranayama breathing, some intense laundrifying and a really good gin and tonic. No crying but more unease. And the older I get, the more I sit with unease, because we can't just run from what is going on. Just sitting and admitting to yourself something as simple as "I am uncomfortable" sometimes makes you more comfortable.

I am reading "My Life in France" with Julia Child. I love her passionate relationship with her husband and food, and her great independence during a time where people just shook their heads at the fact that she was moving abroad with her husband rather than appreciating the life of a housewife. Although, 50 years later, some people still shake their heads at me. She is adventurous and happy-go-lucky and didn't find out that cooking make her a better version of herself until 36. But she was always outgoing, she called herself a "talker." Not that I see myself in that!

Not only is this book resonating with me on that level, but her culinary approach is to mess up and then either make it better or accept it. That makes trying different meats, different vegetables and different techniques a little more approachable. I am back in my cookbooks-strewn all over the apartment phase. Food and I have fallen in love with one another again.

This morning I woke up and felt like something salty and savory. I had a bath (yes, I get up early enough to cook breakfast and bathe) and made the following:

Cheer Up Courtney! It's Friday! breakfast

Imagine if you will, a chunky guacamole with lime juice, salt and pepper. Overtop I flaked a hard boiled egg.

Sometimes a simple egg can really be the perfect food. I sauntered into town, belly full and saw that the market was in full swing. I saw the most beautiful herloom tomatoes, but I could not justify buying them as I have at least three fresh ones and I am only one person!

The market signifies that we will have another Swiss holiday on a Saturday. Hence a possible Saturday hike or yoga class or respite from it all. I will be spending the night in Zurich again to eat pasta and see my friend Marina's new home!

Have a lovely weekend - may it rejuvenate us all!

The Great Deep

2009-08-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

I find it remarkable that I expect some things to hold in life. When I get super certain about something, I expect that that is how it is, and that is how it will always be. And of course, as is the nature of life, you change your mind. And I struggle and fight against myself every step of the way.

A tad cryptic, but this is a blog, and cryptic may be the way to go. I think I also am suffering from post-move blues. Everything was exciting! Everything was moving! Life was a constant parade! And now I realize that life has laundry to be done and I am rebelling. Not against the laundry. Against the fact that life can't be constantly exciting.

However, in my self doubt I had a fascinating dream where I flew to Saturn, therefore defying everyone's expectations. It is a completely weird reason for me to feel better, but somehow it soothed me. I am trying to think ahead for the first time, maybe since my University graduation, and this is a new exercise. But if Saturn is possible? Come on, then I cannot and will not sweat the small stuff.

I do want to get more excited about food again, but somehow I have lost my momentum to be a for-one domestic goddess. This means that I have to start the dinner party circuit again (once it eases up on the heat so that the guests do not melt in my apartment). I also have to start cooking on weekends so that I have lovely wholesome things to return to on later evenings (like when German starts again next week - ack! What German knowledge?)

Okay, but I am me and that does not mean I am eating out of cans (not all of the time - have you ever eaten baked beans out of a can? It is a gourmand's nightmare but it sure hits the late night spot). I did whip up a fabulous and fresh salad, one that will make the rounds again.

Grape, feta and chicken "enjoy your life, laundry and all" salad

I like to make a vinaigrette at the bottom of the bowl for last minute tossing. This varies with what is in my fridge and how my tummy is rumbling, but it often includes olive oil, some form of vinegar, good Dijon mustard and some salt and pepper. A squirt of lemon is good too. Then the leaves go on top, along with some sliced grapes, fatty feta (the lower fat ones crumble disappointingly) and roasted chicken slices. I had it for lunch, so it was missing out on the wine but a good glass of Riesling would have pushed this over the top!

When I'm up I can't get down...

2009-08-11T03:24:00.000-07:00

That is the name of a Great Big Sea song, uber Canadian. I love its optimism, but unforunately it isn't always true, is it? I had a great weekend in so many ways. It was filled to the brim with people, sunshine, food and fun. But I had a bit of a "I miss Canada" crash. I think I also projected because my dear friend is moving a town away, and although it may not change the weekends, it is an "end of an era" sort of feeling. Luckily, it was raining so I could feel miserable and stare into the rainy abyss while cleaning my butt off. Today - sunny. A new day. Every day is a new opportunity, a fresh slate. I believe that. And I am back on track with who I want to be.

I haven't been cooking as much still. The less structure I have in my life (yoga, German classes) the less inclined I am to ensure nutrition. However, this is getting me inspired to do a round two of Courtney pampering. I did make a lovely pasta dish on Sunday night.

What a shock - olives and sundried tomatoes. I bought the olives at Globus and they were stuffed with jalepenos and they were spicy and wonderful! Whole wheat pasta to make me full and sleepy. Broccoli, peppers, sundried tomatoes with the oil they came in. Seriously yum.

I took a few days off yoga and felt seriously unbalanced. I had a two hour session Saturday and it encapsulated everything I thought I hated about yoga. Except, interestingly, this time I did not hate it. It kind of worked - the repetition and the poses I normally dreaded became an exercise in breathing and surrender. It also showed that we are so different day to day, we cannot always expect to flow from a yesterday version of ourselves. And this is okay! It is still interesting to note that you may not even know all of the ebbs and flows of your own complexities. We are constantly self discovering, trying to be happy and trying to be good. And sometimes it is easier than other times.

I also made an incredible lunch today but forgot my adaptor. So tomorrow the pictures shall be posted. Hopefully the rain will hold off tonight and then I will picnic again...have a lovely evening!

Freitag mit Sonntag

2009-08-07T03:06:00.001-07:00

Hee hee...German funny title. Or funny to me.

I sucked up the 50 francs (seriously how cheap I can be with some things and not with others is astounding) for a new DVD player so that I can actually watch the end of my movies. The amusing part is that the end of one of the movies I was anticipating was not nearly as good as it was in my head. Damned imagination. I had the sheer luck of buying a non-multi region DVD player (ie. I can play cheap North American DVDs) that ended up playing all regions. Ah, karma. You beautiful, beautiful thing. (At least this week)

Another frugal purchase (frugal doesn't fit into most people's vocabulary here. As one man told me "Life can be expensive. Or not - but not nearly as much fun.") was an organic bottle of red from Provence. 6 CHF. That is ridiculous. That is a coffee in Switzerland. And it is bio! Still unopened but I am seriously thrilled with myself.

Ah, and the purchase of batteries means that we can view the following. Note: tan. Note: me no longer denying my Curly Sue-ness.

I made a dish of pasta and tomatoes and mozzarella (no picture required, I believe this is when you too can use your imagination), but as it was cooking I whirred up (don't you like my invention of the English language? And the Swiss here believe that I am helping them to improve their language - suckers) a lovely dip. It was one of those: hey I like artichoke hearts, and olives, and...kind of recipes. Throw it all in (garlic, olive oil, coriander and basil may have been in there as well) and blend. The biggest lesson I learned from this experience, besides the fact that I can make a killer impromptu dip, is that I will ALWAYS buy olives already pitted. It is just too annoying. My knives and me fought against each other but I believe I did win in time.

Off to Zurich tonight for a little dinner and a little sunshine - pretty weather is heading North right now so I will follow it! Ciao, bellos and bellas!

Eating, enjoying...forgetting

2009-08-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

I have forgotten to buy batteries for several days straight so that I can document my life, including my brand new haircut! It is wavy/curly, a little bit big but I am now changing my mindset to believe that big may indeed be beautiful in every case. I always try to "tame" it, but it is the summer and if I am going in the direction of afro, so be it. Not really, it is more romantic comedy hair, if you know what I mean. My lovely and lying hairdresser said I would break hearts with it and I looked like a model. I took my compliment and then forgot to tip him. Ah well. I don't think he is exactly starving for money.

Food had yesterday for dinner:

Indoor picnic extraordinaire. Tomatoes, radishes (gotta love those breath killers), cucumbers and AMAZING cheese. And me, being a little bit snobby sometimes scoffs at Swiss cheese (c'mon, even as I write that, I feel embarrassed). But these two were divine, one from a goat, one from a cow, because I do not discriminate against animals. Cow did win though, mostly because his fermented juices were stuffed with sundried tomatoes. On "Fitnessbrot." The Swiss like to name a lot of their dishes "Fitness." This has nothing to do with the calories, it is just fun for them. Probably it is to screw with foreigners who think it is always the healthiest choice. And red wine was consumed. I just read an article that dispelled my whole theory that you can never have red wine chilled - there are apparently some varieties that take well to it. However, years of "no" training mean I might not be ready this summer.

Off to the "beach" (no sand, but hot bodies and a bar) tonight to strut my big hair. I will be "uncooking" (ie not turning on the oven) tonight as it is a tad hot and there is only so much my apartment can handle. Enjoy Thursday - great day as guess what comes right after?

Cheerio -

Day off

2009-08-05T01:49:00.001-07:00

So I took a day off. From EVERYTHING. Monday night I was set to go to yoga, and just as I started walking there, I suddenly took a detour. I was cold, it was rainy and an early bath and a 1 hour movie (seriously, my DVD player kicks out after 1 hour of any DVD and it will not let me fast forward. I am very curious about the endings of two movies.) seemed the ticket. I bundled up, as I am easily cold, and made tea and hot things and ate too many raisins.

The day after, however, I felt a little better by giving myself permission to just BE. Isn't it amusing that it is a hard thing to surrender to the art of nothing? Not even meditation or yoga or a walk, but permission to just be. Be in such a way that you will have no stories to speak of the following day. However, I can't take much of it, so the next day was packed with celebrations for Marina's "Jesus birthday" (he died at 33. Things I forgot, or did not learn, in Catholic school as they were busy trying to control our teenage impulses).

The sun was out, the food was great and although I came with only a mild gnawing in my stomach, I chowed DOWN.

My true loves were the following:

Marina's recipe: zucchini soldiers with cashew pizza cheese, basil and a cherry tomato. Dear God, is all I can say. It took everything in me to try to contribute to conversations instead of stare lovingly at them.

Guacamole, because is anything more summery, besides a cold beer and a tan?

And my contribution was the following:

I invented it based on an appetizer that sounded fab. Goat cheese stuffed in dates and walnuts scattered over mixed greens dressed in a balsamic mustardy dressing. The goat cheese dates felt sinful...in a good way. In a way that works on a Jesus birthday.

Then, as if life couldn't get good enough we all got to partake in the following. Ambitious Marina made homemade chocolate to decorate the cake with, and generously sprinkled berries that were the subject of much argument (they are Swedish! No, they aren't). When surrounded by a group of people that outnumber you in relation to the country they are from, always agree. That is my advice.

The cake was rich, chocolatey, coconutey and a great choice for my breakfast the morning after. Method #222 to put a smile on Courtney's face.

Weekend update

2009-08-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

My. What a weekend. And by weekend I mean Saturday - so much was crammed in within a 24 hour period that I was quite content to do nothing Friday night and very little Saturday. I found out that my iron levels are a-okay. I think it is my low blood pressure. Anywho, it was hot as a sticky Toronto summer on Saturday and probably the worst day to hike. My body was very clearly saying "NO" the whole time. And sometimes (okay, all the time) my voice conveyed the same. But I did get halfway up and was SO happy to stop. It was almost worth the whole hike, because of that lovely ending. Concluded with jumping in the Luzern river, then sitting and watching the sun set with a huge bag of peanuts and some wine. Marina and I made jokey pictures and this is me telling a story. Courtney in 15 seconds or less (my, my face moves a lot!).

It being Switzerland, everyone had fireworks and as you walked down the street they were going off in every direction and children were dismantling the teeny bombs with aplomb. Slightly disturbing but the constant booms were quite exciting. We went to the new city beach and had a few cocktails and I talked to some Aussies. Then planned to wrap up the evening and say hi to a few people at another bar for a few minutes. As the sun rose on Sunday morning, I headed home. Tired on Sunday, but it was worth it.

I was a nutritional disaster this weekend. Let me introduce you to my lunch on Sunday:

In my defense, I was at the movies. And European popcorn sizes are much smaller. And they have intermission at the movies, which requires snack #2. And my final piece of defense: we can't always be nutritional powerhouses! How else would I feel motivated to eat beautifully the rest of the time.

Okay, I am done. To help combat my clogged arteries I made a Marina salad (she makes this all the time and it is heaven. It is always better when she makes it,but I think this is always the way with food). Blood oranges were on sale. The salad is a little wintery with the fennel but the sweet and salty were just the ticket and I believe that olive oil is a cure to all ails. And if it isn't, it certainly tastes good.

Blood Orange and Fennel "Get Over What You Ate on the Weekend" Salad

Ingredients (for one):
Blood Orange
Salt
Olive Oil
A medium-large fennel bulb
Basel
Pine nuts

Preparation:
Peel and slice the orange. Salt the oranges and drizzle generously with olive oil. Use good quality sea salt and use a little more than you think you need. Put aside while you cut the fennel to allow salt to bring out the juices.

Clean and quarter a medium-to-large bulb of fennel and slice it. Toss it with the oranges and season with some more salt, and also pepper at this point.

Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and toss one more time. Garnish with basel and pine nuts. Feel your stomach unbloat and breathe a sigh of relief.

Back to the grindstone...enjoy your Monday!

Three years and counting!

2009-07-31T03:33:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is National Day in Switzerland. 1291 founded. Dear God, that is a little older than Canada. It is time for speeches, fireworks, brunch on the farmland (will be done tomorrow! I will drink some milk and then thank the happy cow that gave it to me), paper lanterns and candles.

To celebrate properly, I and some other brave women (okay, I threw in the word "other". I don't count me as brave but I do them) are going to climb Mt Pilatus. Apparently, climb is literally the right word at the end. The last time I did something that steep was probably in the Yukon with my sister and I had to take frequent "freakout" breaks.

Although there has been lots of snow in July on the top of the mountain, I hope this is not true tomorrow. Still, I will dress in layers to be safe. This is the highest peak in Luzern (the whole canton, not just the city). It is 2132 metres (I know, I am all about the facts today, but I am psyching myself up!). Small by alpine standards, big by Courtney standards. I read that it takes about four hours to go up. Well worth that big farmers brunch. Gorge, gorge. Swiss chocolate as energy bar.

Yesterday, to appease my worried mother I ate loads of iron rich foods. Leafy greens and tuna and beans and a little red meat. Yum. Capped off by some fresh berries and a late night to bed. Six hours ain't enough, people. Tonight it is early to bed, so I can rise early and celebrate Swiss day and also my personal Swiss anniversary! I got here with the following monster and not much else:

I watched fireworks explode in the sky and sat on the floor with a plastic cup and was in awe and totally unaware as to what would happen with me and this new adventure. I guess I still don't know. But at least I know enough to not go this blonde again (how I came over to Swissyville):

That was me three days after landing. I also have learned not to hike with a bag full of books and snacks, and pretty shoes. The country girl took some time, but she has been teased out. Mind you, I will continue to wear big shades tomorrow. There is no other way.

Have a great weekend!

Struggle and reward

2009-07-30T02:57:00.000-07:00

The struggle? Setting up my Internet in Switzerland. They just make it so difficult! And the thing we know as a "help line" in North America is drastically different in Switzerland. Here it just seems like an optional thing. They might want to pick up and then tell you that no one is around to help you. Then why say your hours are until 10pm? Say it like it is, people!

So still no Internet at home, but at least everything is plugged in and looks official and will eventually work. Marina and I feasted on amazing raw goodness. Two green dips and I will have to provide the recipes since they are just too fabulous to keep to myself. It was a little bit of tahini heaven.

Avocado and Tahini Dip

Consider this guacamole, Arab-style. Serve it as a dip or side dish.

2 medium ripe avocados (about 1 lb/450 g)

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/4 cup each: tahini, water

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Pinch cayenne

Pit and quarter avocados. Scoop flesh into bowl of food processor. Add garlic, tahini, water, lemon juice, oil, parsley or cilantro, salt, pepper and cayenne. Process into paste. Eat greedily with veggies or crisp pita. Lick off your fingers because you are in the company of friends, and if you can't do that with friends, who can you do it with?

Zucchini Hummus

2 small zucchini
1/3 cup Tahini
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Cumin
1 Large Garlic Clove
Sprinkle of Paprika

Peel the zucchini until all the green skin is removed. Slice peeled zucchini into smaller pieces. Combine all ingredients except Paprika into food processor or blender and blend until creamy and thick. If not desired consistency add a little bit of water while blending.

This was fabulous and a nice alternative from the original chickpea version. Next time I think I may add a few olives or sundried tomatoes (or both! Crazy Courtney) to spice it up a bit. However, the original was silence inducing, which I feel is the best way to tell that a recipe has worked. These dippers were great at getting large amounts into our mouths at once:

Then, as if we hadn't had enough avocados, we dug into our "dessert," the agave, coconut oil avocado heaven in icing. Luckily, I left enough for breakfast, and what a breakfast it was! I am telling you, if you feel you need to unbloat after a holiday, this is the meal for you. Note how there is a spoon that is begging to be licked. Let me save you from wondering - it was licked and it was wonderful. I don't believe in letting food go to waste. :)

My coworkers and I are going to be in a Sri Lankan newspaper! Cool, eh? I will have a copy, even though I will not understand anything that is printed. I think this will be my professional photo for the issue. What do you think?

Or I could go with:

Basically, the same, right? But one needs the correct professional image in a Southern Asia newspaper. Love it - Canadian. In Switzerland. But in a Sri Lankan newspaper. Can't argue that life can be random!

Yawn. Stretch.

2009-07-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I surrender. I will get my iron levels checked. It is an effort today to walk to the bathroom. I am extremely weak, and I do not like weak. And it is not sick weak because I felt this way last night and for awhile. And my savvy health friend Marina says I have many of the symptoms - constant cold hands and feet, for example. And it runs in my family, so my mother can no longer claim that she gave me all of the "good traits." I will go to the walk-in tomorrow when I have a bit of time. I will, it is now on the Internet so I cannot back-track. The whole purpose of this blog was health and accountability, so there you go!

My weakness comes and goes, however, and I did manage to get my first run in ages last night. The sun was a little strong so I found shady patches and let punk music drive me forward. I am a bit like Forrest Gump - once I start, I find it hard to stop! I therefore gave myself a song "end point" of when I had to head back. It seemed very easy the whole time, but then I stopped and my heart was RACING. Amazing how I can not even notice that - shows it must be one of my "natural" sports (unlike snowboarding).

Speaking of sports, I am dying to go scuba diving again and wondering if I should take myself on a weekend to get suited up with some other scuba enthusiasts. I don't want to get rusty, and it was such an incredible experience that I want to meet with the fishes again! It is in the back of my mind as something for me to consider, but I do have the Yoga Teachers Training as my main 2009 focus, sportswise. The other sports are still there, but they are taking a little bit of a backseat.

To supplement my full exhaustion which takes over as soon as I sit still I got some fabulous sea scallops yesterday (or Jakobsmuskeln as they are charmingly known over here). I wrapped them in bacon and seared them in olive oil. I love the look of the juices - to me, this is absolutely appetizing.

The side dishes were stars in their own right. Broccoli is always a favorite and corn on the cob is so fleeting, that I try to have it as much as possible. In a big pot all together:

And served all at once, here we go.

Delicious post-run fuel. Then a long summer walk with a glass of wine on a rooftop to cap it all off. Followed by bed. That bed has seen too much sleeping as of late, and I plan to fix it. I like being the high energizer bunny. Anything less just doesn't feel "Courtney."

Ah, sweet summer

2009-07-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

It is here, if only for a few hours a day. But for those few hours I can take complete advantage and I can brown my arms and my face and look blonder as a result. The true tricks of women. Check out this summer loveliness outside my office:

Do you know that I am still tired from the weekend? As per usual, perhaps because of my little sitting lifestyle, I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. And mind you, I was gone 6:30am-10:30pm yesterday. But still! I ignored my cell phone's frantic beeps and needed the smooth sounds of Lady Gaga from Radio Pilatus to rouse me out of bed. I did have Tuesday market day to look forward, which is truly one of my favorite times of the week. The farmers are so NICE. And you have not tasted berries until you have had a farmer's market blueberry. It is fatter than you would expect, wonderfully colourful and explodes into tartness with a finish of sweet. I don't eat breakfast Tuesdays so I can snack my way through the market. Don't you love it - I have lived in my place less than a month and I already have routines?

But I made another lovely summer salad for lunch. It is filling and I am a big fan of meals where every forkful is different. This fulfills that requirement. The usual boring culprits begin this recipe: arugala and cherry tomatoes. Yawn.

The toppings: artichokes, olives and white beans. Getting better.

The best part is the salad dressing: pesto! Why couldn't it be a dressing I ask? It has loads of healthy fat in olive oil and pine nuts and it adds a dimension to the lettuce with the basel. Truly fabulous and it will be done again. Oh yes. It will.

Yesterday we talked about limitations in yoga. I then completely doubted myself until my teacher pushed me and I did my first (albeit two second) handstand! Maybe I will be stronger and healthier as I get older! Feeling great today. Have a good one!

I heart Germany

2009-07-27T03:12:00.000-07:00

Truly, I do think it may be my favorite country of all. Such kind people, so much nature, good vibe. I don't have any food pictures, really. But I do have a lot of a baby so cute you could eat her up, so I think that is close enough.

The night before Germany there was a BBQ/dinner party where we ate much "carne" and drank too much wine before the carne was served. Oh, well. I believe the end result was some excellent dance moves and lots of laughter, so one can't complain. Then a mere four hours after my eve of fun I got on the train to Germany, helped to stay awake by an Emmi iced latte (my new fave Swiss drink). Then I got to Karlsruhe and was greeted by these great people:

Andi's family was so hospitable. They had never met me before, and said I could help myself to the fridge, the towels, whatever. So kind. The backyard was beautiful, and I would imagine showed an idyllic place to grow up. We went hiking just around the block from said house and saw the following:

I clearly was tickled by the wildlife and nature.

We then played on the train tracks a little. Kids, don't try this, this is for responsible adults only.

Of course, there had to be some eating, and luckily Isabel was happy to share:

Is it mean to take yogurt away from a baby? Well we had more fun to follow. German pyramids:

Yes I am sideways. Until I get adept at blogging (and yes there is a Blogging for Dummies book coming to my house) you can turn your head.

The new parents frolicked in the sunshine.

We watched balloons depart.

And then we were all tuckered out. Some of us more than others.

Day two began with coffee and ice cream cones:

We drove to Heidelberg to do some sightseeing. It was incredible. Medievil city but even in the sunshine and the perfection there was still some devestation from WWII. It shows how long it truly takes to recover from devestation. Of course, such things were not really shown in the Altstadt but Isabel learned the true priorities of life in the shopping centre.

Then came the icing on the cake, more for the adults than the children. Playground time!

Some soaked up sun and scenery later, I was very impressed. I wanted to cap off the day with a Subway sandwich (brands are exciting to me now that I am not surrounded by them on a day-to-day basis!) but alas, my approaching train and my time with Isabel was running low. Kein problem - nachste Zeit ist genug. I had a great time, and I liked understanding German again (much easier than Swiss German! Dear God, what a difference!)

I'll try to eat something photographable in the next few days. But trips are a great substitute! I did have a Flammkuchen in Heidelberg and it was wonderful. And thanks to all of the Italian immigrants who helped to build up Germany after WWII, fantastic gelato. Coconut, snickers and banana were all tried within 36 hours. Now I feel the need for some green again!

A perfect storm

2009-07-24T03:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, it indeed was. Twenty minutes before I was about to leave the office, my coworker exclaimed that I had to come look! Over the mountains (this is the view from my office) came lurking a huge dark cloud that almost looked like the spirit in the Harry Potter movies. It was intense and magical and awe-inspiring. And of course, camera worthy.

Then began the hail. July hail, frozen ping pong balls from the sky. I started to document frantically.

In some photos, they look like stars, but no, this was just before 5pm. The Swiss are known for their wacky weather, with their abounding mountains and lakes, but come on, people!

The most amusing part is a mere 10 minutes later the sun came out, I was in my tank top and strolling to the bus stop. Everyone, as per usual, looked calm and unimpressed. However, the next day the paper told otherwise - they were just as shocked as me!

Today we are back to sunshine. I am wearing white pants that look like genie pants because I am about to be a yoga teacher, and isn't that how we dress? I will also start taking wheat grass shots and saying "Namaste" when I exit conversations. Don't worry, this isn't true. Yet.

I did put together another killer lunch salad. Rocket, spinach and herbs galore (one salad leaf ain't enough in my kitchen!):

Tossed with baby corn, bok choy, ginger, sprouts, soya sauce and olive oil. Seriously, awesome.

I have heaps of gratitude today for everything that is going RIGHT. I am off to Germany this weekend to visit my friend Rebeca and her adorable daughter Isabel. I really think Isabel has cool down pat, and she is only one year old. Have a great, and hopefully hail-less weekend.

Doctor's orders

2009-07-23T03:19:00.000-07:00

Here is what I recommend to anyone who is having a little bit of stressy day. Go to an outdoor concert. Samba, even though you don't really know how to. Stomp your feet and wiggle your hips. Later, join hands with complete strangers and dance in big and little circles with them. I swear to God, it would cure all ails...

Yes this happened to me! At this mentioned festival:

And with mentioned band, from Brazil with a little English. They even showed their lovely middle aged bellies to us, in the heat of the dance. Because they were such great musicians, I took no offence. :)

My concert drink of choice, as all classy ladies do, was wine in a tetra pack. A few francs as opposed to 7 for festival drinks. Portable, handy, and pretty good wine to boot!

My ladies and I were feeling the rhythm. We danced for everyone in Switzerland who is too cool to dance. And then some.

I woke up and snoozed a few million times, but I did find enough time for a quick morning bath, a skill I learned in England. Technique: run bath water. Jump in. Sit for three minutes, shave, lather, rinse, jump out. Took me until 10 to feel fully awake but a little dose of The Ting Tings on my Ipod helped move things along (Gotta love "Shut Up and Let Me Go").

Lunch was fabulously green. I scared a few people with the seafood, so back to familiar ingredients we go. Base: brocolli, cukes, cherry tomatoes. All fabulously in season.

Add sundried tomatoes packed in olive oil as the dressing, cubes of feta and scrunch all over the salad with your hands to distribute evenly. Layer the top with proscutto and pine nuts.

As hard as it may be, do not dig in. An hour or so in the fridge gives this salad a little bit of edge. I used to not believe in the term "marinade" but now I am seeing the benefits. Must be all the yoga.

Closer and closer to the weekend!

Hooray for blue balls

2009-07-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

Dirty title, one might think. No, that is the name of the festival here in the summer and I have been here so long it doesn't even affect me. It is a great festival! Last night we walked around the cool scene, took in a German Johnny Cash cover band and watched some artists from the local school "create." The announcer was very funny, interjecting in pretty much every language.

My friends were not so impressed.

But it did hold our attention for a good twenty minutes. Still, Tuesdays and country are not what keep me out late. So I walked myself home and ran into everyone I didn't want to see. Bad karma day?

In good karma news, I am paid for and ready to become a certified Hatha yoga instructor, starting my course in October of this year! This is 100% ideal because my University classes start in March and this class stops in February, meaning that it will ease me into the discipline of studying more (and get me more dedicated to my personal yoga practice). I am so excited and so nervous. I know it is noncompetitive but I don't know who I am "up against." My body can do a lot of things for a 28 year old but there are limitations I will try to bridge! And there is a great curriculum - I will learn a lot of anatomy and how to adjust students and tell them when to slow down (which I think will be one of the biggest things I will bring to teaching besides a bit of music and a fantastic shavasana). I am a fan of yogic philosophy, but I am not a fan of being dogmatic about any one school of thought. Good luck to them to try and make me into a vegan - I believe in everything in moderation (including moderation).

So onto my non-vegan dinner last night, pre "Walk the Line." I decided that nothing sounded more appetizing than a roasted cauliflower salad, and when cooking for one, cater your cravings! I roasted some beautiful cauliflower with some of my favorite spices: tumeric, cumin, coriander. I then threw a lemon in the roasting pan, both to overdose on the smell and to squeeze lavishly over the top when done. It becomes almost less liquid when roasted, like strings of citrusy perfection.

Then, in a move inspired by the documentary "Planet Earth" which has been occupying some of my time, I got the slimiest freshest seafood I could find. Little octupi, I love thee! I rinsed them, doused them in olive oil and lemon juice and spices, and let them sit for a bit to wait. Creating recipes is fun, isn't it?

Then the magic happened. Put the two together, more lemon, let the coolness of the seafood affect the heat of the cauliflower...yum. Serious summer yum. I do recommend a chilled glass of rose to pair this with, followed by some balmy night music. I will continue this concert routine after work tonight, only tonight is samba so I doubt I will be in bed early. :)

Who is afraid of the dark?

2009-07-20T02:45:00.000-07:00

Well, me, apparently. 8 of us trekked over to Zurich for a little "Blindekuh" restaurant experience. (Blind cow, which is just a reference to the Swissness of the establishment). We get in the door and we lock up all of our belongings, we peruse the menu and then we are led, train style, into the restaurant. I am all gung-ho and jokey until I get into the full blackness. It almost takes your breath out of you. Your friends' voices sound different. Eating with a knife and fork is a new experience. And every time someone drops a plate or opens a bottle, the sound is so pronounced it is almost sensual. It was fascinating to strip yourself of a sense for three and a half hours, but also wonderful to have the life where I can return to sight again.

The weekend after that was productive and great but also not very food focused. I got a bit of takeout, I made some smoothies and I drank some beer for some lunches. Oops, perhaps not the best nutritional choice but given that I drink spinach for breakfast most days, I think my stomach can handle it. Luzern is having Blue Balls festival this weekend, which is an incredibly large music festival which actually brings in...get this...foreigners. Wow. The music is great, the streets are teeming with people, and it just feels like summer. Even when you are wearing three layers and standing in the rain. (coldest summer in 10 years, according to the paper this morning!)

So I am a bad food blogger with my lack of foodie pictures. And sad to say, it may continue for a few days, as I have concerts back to back and I at least want a few weeks in the summer where I don't take it all so seriously. So I thought I would introduce you to my little town of Buochs where I work. Firstly, I take the bus in the morning. I absolutely love that the buses have a coffee cup on their display signifying that the driver is away probably sucking down a cappuccino. I told you coffee was important to these people.

This morning I was accompanied by a man and his giant parachute, and he looked as tired as I was.

I get off at this stop. This is no joke. How ugly, right?

It hurts my eyes every morning. Poor me.

It just stresses me out sometimes.

I turn onto the following street for work. (Zahnartz means "dentist" and schuetzen means "to protect") A city girl in this environment is a little laughable, but some parts of me have adapted. I certainly now relish quiet instead of trying to find a respite from it. And it seems laughable that people grocery shop and do laundry on Sundays when they can just be in nature. Or in the bar. :)

Happy Monday!

Who-Pudding and Roast Beast

2009-07-17T03:11:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe I don't have Who-Pudding. But yesterday for lunch I broke my semi-veggie state and put a little bit of protein in my lunch in the form of roast beast. I have been having hair loss lately. It could be low iron (which I will evenutally check) or it could be low protein, so I am trying with the latter since that it the easier solution. I have a lot of hair, mind you. Just lately I look like I have a regular head of hair. And that just sucks.

Before I delve into the culinary mastery required to fix a truly killer roast beast sandwich, let me tell you that I had a truly fabulous day yesterday. Good early morning yoga practice (love seeing the sun rise as I do sun salutations - it is truly using the terminology correctly!), good work review, I passed my German class (and celebrated by going out for drinks with my class, including an Afgani man who begrudged the fact that he could only have one wife in Switzerland), and I found a possible yoga teaching school in Prague that could fit the bill for my crazy hectic life. I was buzzing with energy last night, so much that I found it hard to calm myself down to sleep. Plus, the lovely sunshine didn't hurt.

Woke up to rain again, unsurprised but I am still glowing. Maybe it is the meat?

Here is my concoction. It is truly "incroyable." And so damned easy.

Take good organic bread from your baker. I will not accept pre-sliced bread, that is just cheating. Slather with half of an avocado. Don't be scared. It is good fat and it is fabulous.

Put some sun-dried tomatoes onto this glorious green mound. I won't be angry if you bought them at the supermarket.

Finale! The animal portion of this sandwich (vegetarians close your eyes). I think it looks luscious and I can feel my hair growing back already.

I conclude with a little bit of poetry (am I the only one who did her final English literature presentation in high school on Dr Seuss instead of Margaret Atwood? Thought so.):

Then the Whos, young and old, would sit down to a feast. And they'd feast! And they'd feast! And they'd FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! They would start on Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast-beast Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!

Have a great weekend!

Hippie hippie shake...

2009-07-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I am probably becoming a hippie. Reasons for this shocking admission: I eat sprouts as a snack, I make my own organic green smoothies, I do yoga at 5am, and last night I - gasp - made my own sundried tomatoes. I figured, I would be in my apartment for a good 10 hours, start to finish, and how hard can it be? It turns out, not hard at all and SO much cheaper than those supermarket monsters coated in oil.

You start with - surprise! - tomatoes. You cut them in half. You put a bit of olive oil on them and some salt. Our before picture awaits:

Then you put them in an oven all night for as long as you can at about 100 degrees Celcius. Pretty low, which is great, because any oven useage in the summer might add to the sweat factor. You can wake up and take them out. But the morning is not a time for memory, so I wrote myself the following note:

I woke up and my apartment smelled like Italy - well at least a good Italian restaurant where the cooks know to let the ingredients shine. I had to test one to see for myself, and may I say: YES. It is a success and much more flavourful than tomatoes that have been sitting around in plastic bags forever. They apparently keep for awhile, too (I say apparently because I think it is laughable that I will even consider "saving" fresh foo like this). As I write this these beautiful red rounds are cooling on my kitchen counter. I will try to prevent myself from eating them all tonight like candy.

And that was not all. Seeing I actually had time to make myself dinner (while I did laundry, a remarkably productive feat save for the fact that I used a dishwasher cleaning cube instead of a laundry machine one. Now I smell like freshly cleaned dishes. Tired much?) I went for one of my tried and true summer loves: Happiness Soup. As yellow zucchini is not available much, it must be grabbed while it can. I got it from Nigella's (does she need a last name?) cookbook "Forever Summer." And then I tweaked it. Because that it what I do. No offense to her, I still believe she is a kitchen goddess.

Courtney's version of Happiness Soup

Ingredients
500g yellow courgettes (2 large)
1 yellow pepper (because why the hell not)
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil (less than Nigella, because otherwise the soup gets a tad oily for my liking)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 litre chicken stock
50g basmati rice (Nigella uses 100 but I find this makes it into more of a risotto, do what you like)
Maldon salt and pepper

Method: How to cook happiness soup
1. Cut the courgettes into rounds. Nigella dices them but I like a good mouthful of vegetables. Slice the yellow pepper in strips.

2. Put the veggies into a pan with the lemon zest and oil, stir to coat, then cook on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they've slightly softened.

3. Stir in the turmeric and coriander and pour in the stock and lemon juice and then drop in the rice. Cook, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes, or just until the courgettes and rice are tender. (Nigella says it can be ready in as little as 10 minutes, but in my experience that is a flat out lie)

4. Leave to cool slightly before serving so that you eat the soup warm rather than hot. Or screw the rules and burn the roof of your mouth.

Does that not just look like a big bowl of yum? It feels so cleansing and it is fabulous with some crusty bread and a nice chilled glass of white wine.

She put the lime in the coconut...

2009-07-15T03:10:00.000-07:00

There was a brief moment of sunshine yesterday. Brief enough, but after German lessons (one more to go before I can actually sit OUTSIDE in the summer instead of in an office or a classroom) I was able to get a shot of my apartment and street without the foreboding lightening (although that makes my life look cooler).

I was loaded down by bags, equipped by "ein bisschen Stress" but managed to calm down my nerves by attacking this mofo.

I swear, attack is the right term. I put a corkscrew through it to drain.

I then "baked" it a little which apparently after you hear a "pop" is the "easiest" way to peel off the skin. Um, easy? Dear God. A hammer and all the aggression in the world could not open this sucker. I thought about dropping it from my window, but then I realized I didn't have housing insurance yet and that truly is a situation that could go very, very badly. So I pounded it against the corner of a wall and peeled off some paint in the process. I was sweating, I was pissed off. And finally, dear sweet lord, the thing opened.

Sadly, this story does not have a happy ending. The stuff tasted like soap. And not even yummy, Body Shop soap. I tried to eat enough to convince myself otherwise but the stuff got tossed after my furious effort. Next time, I go to the supermarket and I buy the stuff already chopped - sweet coconut meat is amazing and I will gladly pay one extra franc for it.

Frustrations high, I decided to gaze lovingly at my new appliances. Recognize this? Except shinier now?

And I couldn't help myself. I just couldn't. And even if I just make popcorn twice it is worth the cost. But I won't. Nights in watching German TV with homemade kettle corn? Um yes please. Maybe in the fall I will have a "night in."

Until then, there are "hours" in, and I effectively cheered myself up with a little bit of popcorn loving. Drenched in salt, because I am 28 and I occasionally want to have too much of things while I can.

It was a dark and stormy...morning?

2009-07-14T03:32:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't get back until pretty late last night due to a newly bad habit of exercising close to bedtime. I was WIRED. Thought! I will do x next year! Thought! I will buy a mango! And so on and so forth - a whole bunch of disjointed ideas that were completely useless but kept me from slumber. Finally drifted and woke to GUSHING water. Not only do I live next to a picaresque lake, but I also live in a town so wet it could give Vancouver a run for its money. I was up before 7, but it is summer and the sunrise is traditionally at 5:30. Does this look like a July morning to you?

It was flowing down the streets and I could only think practically that today might not be a good idea for high heels. Then I vetoed that negativity. Why deprive the world of gorgeous footwear due to dreary skies? You're welcome, world. I think you can see the monstrosity of the water better in this picture:

And of course, I had to get another view, but this one looks pretty. Don't let it fool you for a second. Okay, fine, do. I can't complain too much of my life with the mountains.

I did inject some sunny bananas into my morning to try and get a few extra colours besides grey. I ran out of coconut but it was still lovely with agave and a nice spot of tea:

If life was a little wet for me, I just imagined how it was for the farmers as I walked to the train station, talking to my sister the whole way (this is a cool thing about great time differences - I talk to her as she is going to bed and I am on my morning commute). I bought some lovely brombeern (blackberries) from a little boy with a pacifier who could speak better German than me. Whatever, kid. Let's see how you can count in ENGLISH. Then I moved on to get some gorgeous yellow zucchini because if there is no colour in the outside environment, let's move it into our food, people. Or our shoes.

Now it is sunny and warm in Buochs but I do not trust it. Sometimes my body will not warm up for anything below 40 degrees Celsius. Case in point: one afternoon in Egypt it was 30 degrees. I ordered a hot coffee, wore a sweater and shivered. I can be a bit strange. Unfortunately, today I did not have the provisions for a hot lunch but I did turn an ordinary bowl of lettuce into something spectacular.

Before shot:

After shot:

I believe there is an improvement, no? Fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, cucumber, olives, feta - salty delicious yumminess. I am sure it would be even better in 40 degrees Celsius but even without that help it sure does hit the lunchtime spot.

Fabulous weekend

2009-07-13T03:34:00.000-07:00

My appetite is UP today. I blame that on heavily yogifying and dancing my butt off Saturday night. Cottage cheese, chocolate, lattes, breakfast, huge salad, and no, it is not even 1pm. Sometimes it is shocking that I am not the size of a house.

Friday was lovely and just for me. I began by breaking my blender due to a guacomole incident. Luckily, the guacomole was made before said disaster. I threw everything into it: avocado, corariander, spinach, lime juice, garlic, onions, cumin, chilis, blend, blend, blend. Then it broke. I of course returned it the next day and pretended it was the fault of the manufacturer instead of my over-zealous cooking skills. While I was blending I admired my new weekend purchase. Flowers are a good habit, I think.

I also made the following salad: rocket (arugula) with mint and basil and combined with some melon and peaches:

Then it gets good. Are you ready for the money shot? Proscutto and fresh mozzeralla on top. Can I get a yum? I ate in a semi-horizontal position, preparing myself for the surely busy weekend ahead. I wanted to recharge my batteries, and recharge I did. My face looked more rested than it had in ages.

Saturday I went to "Air Yoga" and spent two hours twisting. I returned to Luzern in a highly underdressed state (I cannot and will not accept that I have to wear a sweater and a jacket in July. No. That is not right) and proceeded to chop my way to raw heaven. Marina and Malin then came over and we started with the guacomole (nicely received) and then moved into a "make your own salad" party. Sprouts, avocado, various salads and herbs, nuts, artichokes. This suited us just fine because it meant that we could eat constantly.

We finished with some homemade sorbet. Do you want to know this crazy easy and crazy fantastic recipe? Take some bananas and strawberries. Put into a blender. Freeze. Voila! Dessert and healthy heaven!

Dancing then commenced. I had a good time. Maybe too good of a time.

Danced until almost 4, went to sleep with a smile on my face. Resumed healthy yoga/eating lifestyle the next day. Check out this killer breakfast (one of a few breakfasts, admittedly, but still starting the day right)

I liked how the weather did not feel like summer, but the mood was summer. How could it not be, with dancing in my new living room with such ladies?

Ah sweet bliss. It is Friday.

2009-07-10T03:26:00.000-07:00

What a lovely day (I got another "It is Friday, but your last name is Sunday" joke today. Those things kill me. For the 28th year in a row.)! Overcast but weekend is approaching. Yesterday we had a bit of sunshine and I captured it as I walked to the bus stop in Buochs:

On that street live many women my age with 2.5 children, 2.5 cats and 1 husband. Walking down that street is a single Canadian with a poor grasp of Swiss German and a penchant for travel. One of these things is not like the other?

Here is what I do have in common with the housewife. I am thrilled to cook and even more so thrilled that I can turn on the tap in my kitchen. No wonder I couldn't clear it out with a wire hanger (one of the many thing I attempted). It took my service man half an hour with a powered drill and a hell of a lot of noise to incur the following miracle:

Und alles gut machen! Yay. I sketched as he worked (not him, that would be creepy, even for a woman to do) and when he was done I rewarded his efforts with a happy dance. He seemed to like the payment. I believe he gets real money, too, but not from me, since I moved in with these "defekts."

Yesterday was a challenging German class. It made me realize I have to study more, but in July I am impressed that I can ignore evening sunshine to sit in a classroom and go over verbs. We had to correct three paragraphs (with little things like capitalization and changing genitive to dative) and tell our teacher which one had no errors. We were all certain it was the third. Eeeh (game show wrong answer buzz sound). That was the one with the most "fehler." (mistakes) Crap. It looked pretty good to me. And I read a lot too! More German, less pleasure reading?

I came back early to my house (before 9pm! Wow!) and enthusiastically conjured up dinner. I decided it was time for some more green, for a lovely stir fry. I chopped, I sprayed broccoli all over my kitchen and actually put a few in the pan (after I chewed on the stalks - best part, in my opinion). Mushrooms, peppers, spinach, zucchini. A whole lot of summer lovin (but not of the Grease Lightening sort).

I had found this bottle of heaven at Globus. Notice how the light is casting down on it signifying that the Ultimate Power agrees with me? Why is this stuff so fabulous? Is it the malt vinegar? Is it the molasses? All I know is that for all the food mistakes England has made, they more than make up for it with this stuff.

And I slathered it on my stirfry. Oh, yes I did, and don't judge me, because you secretly wish that you did too. And I put a big dollop of goat cheese on top. Because I can.

Washed down with H2O and some Sauv Cab (don't you love short forming wine terms, so that it seems like you are close personal friends?).

The weekend ahead is filled with time in Basel and Zurich, and of course, food (including a Saturday night raw food party in honour of my lovely friend who let me crash on her couch for a time beyond the requirements of basic kindness). And I am going to try and see what it is like to sleep for more than 7 hours. I have lofty plans, oh yes sirree.

Have a good one!

A little bit of om...

2009-07-09T03:29:00.000-07:00

I went to a lovely girly party last night in honour of the lovely Helena Müller and her 29th birthday. Birthday girl joy:

Due to my sleepless state, I left after too long and was in bed before 11, happily. Sometimes I love an early night in. It also helps me to get up a tad earlier and greet the sunrise with some Uttanasana and Urdhva Dharursana. Okay, I'm just showing off with the fancy names. Long story short: I am in a fabulous mood as a result of my early morning. An early morning run or stretch or hike puts me in this greatly centred mood. Lately I have been feeling a great need to connect to the real and true - to slow down and give and be kind and seek kindness. Yes, hippy Courtney has emerged but it a slow and deep happiness, as opposed to anything intensely overwhelming. It all started with an apartment! "Life is not about finding yourself. It is about creating yourself."

This party could have not been more catered to the female palate. First salads. Then wine. Then...DESSERT. And by dessert, we are not joking around, people. Check out this spread:

The star of the show for me was Marina's raw fruit pie, created by blending some fruit together and mixing it with whole fruit, pressed into a nutty (and also raw) crust. It was tart and sweet and heavenly. On the side I had rice milk ice cream (ha ha - rice cream) and enough berries to make my stomach beg for some relief from the fruit overdose. Pie of my dreams:

Here is the baker, cracking up over her joke about Indians, some Germans, and a dirty situation. I don't think it would be funny in print, so I will let your imagination make you laugh.

So here's to joy in all of its forms, whether it be a good walk with a good friend, a cuddle with a puppy or a peanut butter sandwich. And yes, it is still there, when it has rained for the 25th day in a row and you are forgetting what summer felt like.

"Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom." - Lao Tse

Exhausted on hump day

2009-07-08T02:05:00.001-07:00

This will be a low on food post, unfortunately. Several reasons: I traded my excellent cooking/assembly skills last night for an after work road trip to Montreux, in the french part of Switzerland. A little over a two hour drive both ways. AFTER work. It was all to see this lady:

Lily Allen! Although angelic looking, she has some pretty fantastic (or as she would say f-ing fantastic) lyrics for those post break-up gals. Which was essentially everyone in the audience, plus or minus a few hundred gay men. We "danced" while the Swiss stood completely still around us, unimpressed and "tres cool" as always. Even a high energy rendition to Britney Spears' "Womanizer" was met with blank stares. Luckily, I travelled with this crew, excited enough for everyone in the country:

The venue was very classy and I spent much of the time regretting the curry sauce I spilled all over myself in the car. How very un French of me. But I did French it up with some fries later on the ride home. Gerit hysterically ordered in German and English but made sure to say "ahmberguhr" instead of "hamburger." Good one. That will be certainly understood by the Pink Panther.

So home at 2am. Up before 6. And I am no longer a teenager. I thought I would take a picture of myself at 6 to prove this exhausted, no makeup, rained on hair state.

I tried to compensate for my McDonalds relapse (it has been awhile, I must say but sometimes the score goes like this. Golden arches: 1. Courtney: 0) by bringing virtuous nutritional loving into my morning. Almond butter on Whole Grain unrisen bread, a whole smashed up banana, a sprinkle of coconut, a squeeze of Agave, and an iced coffee with almond milk. YUM. A little bit of energy to get me to the train station.

Another rainy, cold July day reminiscent of November. My sundresses are going to see the inside of my closet more than the light of day! Still, I fight it out and wear sandals as much as I can. Cold feet be damned, they look pretty and they must be seen! (in Luzern's defense, this picture was taken before 7 in the morning, and who looks good before 9?)

In the office, began my coffee day (the day that I save for emergencies, but is tasty just the same). I am an ex-barista and I therefore have a snobbery that I carry with me wherever I go. The day began with my favorite variety of bean. Kenya coffee has a little bit of fruitiness to it - it has a depth of flavour that doesn't even need milk to protect the palate. It kicks Colombia's ass.

Making a nice misto is as simple as making a cup of coffee. We all have our tried and true methods to do that, and we are all right, so I am not going to tell the proper water/coffee ratio (even though I am positive my ratio is spot on). The most important thing is boiling water, not just hot water. Then heat up your milk. Get a electronic frother, because they are cheap, they are fast, and they are fun. You can get as frothy of a beverage as you like, and I am of the mindset that froth is the icing on the cake part of the coffee. It caps the beverage nicely without weighing it down. Froth, froth, froth away until you remember that you actually want to drink this grown-up beverage instead of playing with it like a four year old.

Pour the coffee through the centre, almost like an overloaded espresso shot. This makes the milk looked "marked" (hence "machiatto").

Sit, sip, enjoy. Watch your four hours of sleep slip to the back of your mind, only to return at 3pm. But until then...

Tuesday and feeling good...

2009-07-07T04:46:00.000-07:00

I travelled an hour and a half for a yoga class yesterday. Obsessed? Maybe. But there is a method to my madness. One: I need to start finding healthy solutions to a bad mood Monday, and yoga is undoubtedly one. Two: I need to take intermediate/advanced classes, which are harder to find, in order to nudge myself closer to becoming a teacher. We learned how to do mountain pose properly. When you look at this in a book (or even in person) you think "Um, Courtney, that person is just standing." But it is more complex than that. Tuck your pelvis, but don't overtuck. Bring your shoulders down. Engage your abs (a fact I kept forgetting and kept being reminded wordlessly by my Danish partner, who would punch me good-naturedly in the stomach). Focus on NOTHING but your breath. No "What should I get from the market? Cheese sounds good. Or berries. Berries are lovely at this time of year..." Monkey brain is what that is known as!

Speaking of markets, I walked by Tuesday's Luzerner market in the misty rain. It has a beautiful rain today, and the coolness is appreciated as my only fan is the size of an average toaster. However, this fan looks sleek (defensive? Maybe a tad) - those big models are a bit of an eyesore and in Swiss weather I really would only need it for one or two weeks. What is wrong with a little bit of "schwitzen"? (sweating)

So back to the beautiful rain. In Buochs, where I work, it absolutely looks like the trees are catching the clouds on the mountains. And in Luzern it means a little bit more dampness for the ever friendly farmers. I saw these beauties this morning and could not pass them up. They were cheaper because they are "klein." (small) Who is complaining? Smallness in fruit often leads to more compact flavour, I find. Have you ever had a honking strawberries that just tasted like water? Me too!

I am going to make this a post of healthy treats. Some are going to offend my father, such as the next. Spinach in a smoothie. If it wasn't so green, you could easily fool people into thinking it is a banana milkshake. The trick is to not use too much spinach, just enough for a bit of a nutritional kick first thing in the morning. Thing of it this way: drink one of these in the morning and you will have reason to feel superior to croissant holders on your morning commute.

I first cut up the following: banana, lovely fresh cherries (which are getting me through almost every meal) and some orange and juicy cantaloupe. The red spoon was to scoop out the seeds. And it is my favorite spoon. Little and red. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

Add to the blender, and put some lovely crisp spinach on the top.

Douse the whole thing in milk (almond, soy, cow, whatever floats your boat. Or your smoothie, in this case). Add a squirt of honey, and if you like a little protein as I do, a bit of almond butter. Close that sucker and whizz to your heart's content.

Now you can enjoy. It is thick. It is luscious. And yes, it is green. But we are in the green movement, according to Al Gore, so why not celebrate with your breakfast? And turn off the lights and unplug the machines when you are done, for the love of God (note to self: unplug blender when I get home).

Now my fruity lunch. Don't worry, I didn't have both of these on the same day. But the greyness of today inspired me to inject a whole lot of colour into my lunch. I was inspired by Nigella Lawson's recipe, and I just did a minor twist since I am not a big fan of parsley, nor of raw red onion. I like how she says to cut into bite size pieces but that her mouth "can be accommodating." I ultimately agree. So take a big round watermelon, and struggle walking with it down the street in your environmentally friendly cloth grocery bag. Roughly cut it down until you have a section you feel will satisfy you. Cut into triangular pieces. Now the easy part. Take some onions and sliced garlic (usually found together in antipasto). Throw those babies in. Take some feta in olive oil. Throw in (or place in delicately, but lunch is time for a bit of roughness, in my opinion). Douse the whole thing in lime juice. Toss with your hands, because why the hell not? And sprinkle lavishly with mint. The smell is intoxicating - so fresh. The look is beautiful and girly. And the taste? Don't get me started. I may or may not have drunk the juice from the bowl when done.