Earlier today I was rereading one of my favorite books about food by food critic Jeffrey Steingarten. In one of the articles he had an excessively long and detailed recipe for a Gratin Dauphinoise that makes me positively drool every time I read it. Today, as I reread the recipe for the tenth or eleventh time, I thought, "Why not." It's Friday and I have nothing overwhelming pressing to do, though I probably should have hit the Post to pay rent, but that can wait until tomorrow. I made a list of ingredients and hit the grocery.
When I was younger, we got Potatoes au Gratin in a box - it was delicious and one of the foods I begged for. It never occurred to me that there was any other way to make them before I read Steingarten's article. I've always been a pretty good eater, but it wasn't until I spent several years working in restaurants that I really got into food.
This recipe was easily one of the most detailed I have ever read - it was two full pages long. When Mr K walked in the kitchen and saw me, ruler in hand, measuring my potato slice, I thought he was going to hit the floor laughing. Following the directions in the book exactly, I sliced potatoes to 1/8 inch on my mandolin slicer and buttered my casserole dish. Four tablespoons of butter, one cup of tasty swiss milk, one and a half cups of heavy cream - swoon. I lightly crushed a garlic clove and added it to the milk along with a bit of nutmeg and salt and pepper. I brought the milk to boil once, let it cool, and then boiled again before pouring gently over my potato slices. Before the milk was poured, however, I had to tile my potato slices exactly as described, even going so far as to "throw away the small end slices" as the book instructed. This mix baked, covered for several minutes, during which time I boiled, cooled, and boiled again the heavy cream. So many steps!
I think this could be one of the more complicated things I've cooked to date and it was wonderful. Next time I would probably give it another five minutes in the oven, but as you can see from the picture, the top browned perfectly and the cream and butter oozed out from between the thin potato slices. With this we had ham and a cold bean salad. All in all I was very impressed and no, there isn't any left.
Between intense cooking today and finishing my 50k words last night - the novel isn't done, but NaNoWriMo is - I'm utterly exhausted right now. It's just a bit past 7:30 in the evening and I think I could fall asleep right now. Mr K is playing Playstation as we finally got the doodad to plug it in.
I'm off to eat the last three gooey potato slices and try to stay awake!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Gulp!
This picture has nothing to do with Fribourg, I admit - I was just going through older photos today and came across it and it made me laugh.
Over the summer, Mr K and I went to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a nice vacation courtesy of his parents. My parents were there, too, for a conference my dad was teaching at, so the timing could not have been better. Mr K and I ended driving around and exploring one day and we found a pond - or maybe more of a small lake - full of life. Gray shapes moved under the surface of the water, looking far too big for the pond they lived in. These carp must have been well into the 3-5 foot long range and they loved cheese crackers. Lots of small turtles also dropped by for a snack but left when the alligators showed up. Yup, alligators. You can click on the picture to the right to see some more pictures Mr K took of the turtles, alligators, and several of me looking like a completely goofball on the beach - feel free to ignore those.
I find it funny to look at pictures of sleeveless shirts and flip-flops after coming in from a long walk in the chill outside. I can see snow on the mountains, and the weather keeps telling me to watch for more snow a bit closer to home.
Thanksgiving in Bern with Mr K's coworkers and family was really a lot of fun, though I really missed my family. Watch for a Thanksgiving-related post later on this week. Got a question about this fabulous American holiday? Leave it in comments and I'll expand on it for you in that post! Remind me to post recipe for tasty ham glaze!
I'm off to make some salsa! Ole!
Over the summer, Mr K and I went to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a nice vacation courtesy of his parents. My parents were there, too, for a conference my dad was teaching at, so the timing could not have been better. Mr K and I ended driving around and exploring one day and we found a pond - or maybe more of a small lake - full of life. Gray shapes moved under the surface of the water, looking far too big for the pond they lived in. These carp must have been well into the 3-5 foot long range and they loved cheese crackers. Lots of small turtles also dropped by for a snack but left when the alligators showed up. Yup, alligators. You can click on the picture to the right to see some more pictures Mr K took of the turtles, alligators, and several of me looking like a completely goofball on the beach - feel free to ignore those.
I find it funny to look at pictures of sleeveless shirts and flip-flops after coming in from a long walk in the chill outside. I can see snow on the mountains, and the weather keeps telling me to watch for more snow a bit closer to home.
Thanksgiving in Bern with Mr K's coworkers and family was really a lot of fun, though I really missed my family. Watch for a Thanksgiving-related post later on this week. Got a question about this fabulous American holiday? Leave it in comments and I'll expand on it for you in that post! Remind me to post recipe for tasty ham glaze!
I'm off to make some salsa! Ole!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Gobble gobble!
Happy Thanksgiving! Poor Mr K had to work today as Thanksgiving, as all of you not-natural-blonds know, is an American holiday and thus not celebrated here. We are having Kasia and Peter over for a little non-turkey dinner tonight and then going to the home of Mr K's coworker to have Thanksgiving tomorrow with said coworker's wife and kids and sundry other Americans imported for the holiday. I wish I could be home with my family for the holiday but maybe next year we can make the trip back.
So, in a country without Thanksgiving, you may be wondering how on earth anyone here knows when to start decorating for Christmas. The answer is.... late October. Yup, my first sighting of Christmas-related decorative goodness was before Halloween, which is also not much of a holiday here. Every day more stores put out more Christmas decor and suggestions for gifts, and things are starting to look very festive around here. The fact that we're expected to get more snow Sunday through Wednesday of next week also doesn't hurt! A nice thing about no Thanksgiving here... no Black Friday shopping... which is a bonus, considering we kind of live above a mall.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! I'm off to pick up lentils, hams, and other non-turkey items! Entertain me: vote in my new poll!
So, in a country without Thanksgiving, you may be wondering how on earth anyone here knows when to start decorating for Christmas. The answer is.... late October. Yup, my first sighting of Christmas-related decorative goodness was before Halloween, which is also not much of a holiday here. Every day more stores put out more Christmas decor and suggestions for gifts, and things are starting to look very festive around here. The fact that we're expected to get more snow Sunday through Wednesday of next week also doesn't hurt! A nice thing about no Thanksgiving here... no Black Friday shopping... which is a bonus, considering we kind of live above a mall.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving! I'm off to pick up lentils, hams, and other non-turkey items! Entertain me: vote in my new poll!
Monday, November 19, 2007
We finally did it...
We had fondue - and it was wonderful!
Kasia and Peter invited us over for fondue on Saturday and, as Kasia always feeds us so well, we of course eagerly accepted. Peter cooked the fondue and we had bread and dried meat with it. We learned to swirl the bread in the mass of cheese, as opposed to just dunking it, and then to twirl the bread slowly as the cheese cooled to keep it from dripping. Remember that - swirl and twirl. We learned that the best part of fondue is the cake of cheese that browns to the inside bottom of the pan and that you get to eat once all the liquidy cheese is gone. We decided the taste of the cheese pancake from the bottom of the pan was like the world's greatest Cheez-it cracker. For dessert we had a lovely lemon tart Kasia made and we sat around, sipping tea and coffee after dessert until it was time for us to catch the last train home at 27 minute past midnight.
Sunday was spent recovering from having downed over three pounds of cheese and another two pounds of bread. Chris played on his computer while I played on mine. I played Wii for a little while until I somehow managed to blow up the little transformer-thingie that lets us plug the Wii into the wall. This means no golfing for me until we get another one - I'm just hoping I didn't manage to kill the Wii - just the transformer thingie. Keep your fingers crossed!
Note: The picture is purple because it was a bad picture - too little light. I made it purple because purple is fun. The cheese was completely not purple.
Kasia and Peter invited us over for fondue on Saturday and, as Kasia always feeds us so well, we of course eagerly accepted. Peter cooked the fondue and we had bread and dried meat with it. We learned to swirl the bread in the mass of cheese, as opposed to just dunking it, and then to twirl the bread slowly as the cheese cooled to keep it from dripping. Remember that - swirl and twirl. We learned that the best part of fondue is the cake of cheese that browns to the inside bottom of the pan and that you get to eat once all the liquidy cheese is gone. We decided the taste of the cheese pancake from the bottom of the pan was like the world's greatest Cheez-it cracker. For dessert we had a lovely lemon tart Kasia made and we sat around, sipping tea and coffee after dessert until it was time for us to catch the last train home at 27 minute past midnight.
Sunday was spent recovering from having downed over three pounds of cheese and another two pounds of bread. Chris played on his computer while I played on mine. I played Wii for a little while until I somehow managed to blow up the little transformer-thingie that lets us plug the Wii into the wall. This means no golfing for me until we get another one - I'm just hoping I didn't manage to kill the Wii - just the transformer thingie. Keep your fingers crossed!
Note: The picture is purple because it was a bad picture - too little light. I made it purple because purple is fun. The cheese was completely not purple.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Mo sno!
It has been snowing on and off here for three or four days and I just cannot get over how beautiful it is. Seeing this out the window every morning makes it difficult to have a bad day - despite NaNoWriMo trying to get me all discouraged...
I have reached the halfway point in my wordcount - over 25k words done. Whew! I'm still not feeling my novel but at least I now have less left to write than I have written to date...I guess. I'm doing a stiryfry for dinner tonight and then hopefully knocking out another one thousand words, though that may not happen as Mr K just called me and reminded me today is late shopping day - hurrah! For those of you outside of Fribourg, on Thursday all our stores are open until 9:30 or so rather than until 7 so we get to go shopping and it has become kind of a weekly ritual for us. In Virginia, we used to hit Target for late night shopping all the time and we have notice since we moved that we spend a lot less money when the stores close early. Tonight, though, we shop!
On a completely unrelated note, I have a question for any of you French speakers: So, as you know, language books leave out all sorts of unwritten contextual meanings of phrases. I want to be able to apologize for not speaking French when I have to tell people I don't speak French. I have seen "Je suis desole" and "Je regrette" (I know I'm missing some accent marks...) used interchangeably in my books, but I have a feeling there are slight differences. Which one is a less serious apology, as in "I'm sorry I don't speak your language" and which is a more serious sorry, as in "I'm sorry I just stepped on your dog/child/expensive fur coat"? Thanks in advance for helping me look moderately less silly!
I have reached the halfway point in my wordcount - over 25k words done. Whew! I'm still not feeling my novel but at least I now have less left to write than I have written to date...I guess. I'm doing a stiryfry for dinner tonight and then hopefully knocking out another one thousand words, though that may not happen as Mr K just called me and reminded me today is late shopping day - hurrah! For those of you outside of Fribourg, on Thursday all our stores are open until 9:30 or so rather than until 7 so we get to go shopping and it has become kind of a weekly ritual for us. In Virginia, we used to hit Target for late night shopping all the time and we have notice since we moved that we spend a lot less money when the stores close early. Tonight, though, we shop!
On a completely unrelated note, I have a question for any of you French speakers: So, as you know, language books leave out all sorts of unwritten contextual meanings of phrases. I want to be able to apologize for not speaking French when I have to tell people I don't speak French. I have seen "Je suis desole" and "Je regrette" (I know I'm missing some accent marks...) used interchangeably in my books, but I have a feeling there are slight differences. Which one is a less serious apology, as in "I'm sorry I don't speak your language" and which is a more serious sorry, as in "I'm sorry I just stepped on your dog/child/expensive fur coat"? Thanks in advance for helping me look moderately less silly!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Still Life with Random Junk
Our apartment is pretty much put together, but we still have random islands of things that do not yet have a home - mostly decorative items like these that require us punching holes in the wall to install a shelf we have not yet bought. For now, they live on the floor between the living room and the dining room.
I'm treating myself to a little taste of home today - good ole boxed Kraft mac and cheese. Yes yes yes - I know. It's terrible... the problem is I love the stuff and have since I was little. So that makes it my little guilty pleasure. We have had a busy last few days here! Papa C was here for short visit and, at the train station, we exchanged him for Mr K's friend Andy - they had a 7 minutes overlap after Andy got off his train from Bern but before Papa C hopped his train to Bern. The past week has been full of chatting and exploring Fribourg and cooking and cleaning and sleeping and chatting some more! Mr K acquired a few more bottles of swanky bourbon from our guests, so he's a happy guy.
Today he and Andy headed to Gruyère to explore the H.R.Giger museum - I stayed home as I'm adept at creating my own horrific nightmares and don't need any outside help... and because I'm feeling a little lazy. Tonight Kasia and Peter are coming over for dinner and we're doing some classic American-style food: Cincinnati Chili, four ways. Depending on how productive I get, I'm thinking Deviled Eggs for a snack and Green Goddess (minus the fishies of course) for the salad. All that depends on me wandering down to the grocery in a few minutes.
Outside, it looks like we may be seeing some more snow soon, so stay tuned!
I'm treating myself to a little taste of home today - good ole boxed Kraft mac and cheese. Yes yes yes - I know. It's terrible... the problem is I love the stuff and have since I was little. So that makes it my little guilty pleasure. We have had a busy last few days here! Papa C was here for short visit and, at the train station, we exchanged him for Mr K's friend Andy - they had a 7 minutes overlap after Andy got off his train from Bern but before Papa C hopped his train to Bern. The past week has been full of chatting and exploring Fribourg and cooking and cleaning and sleeping and chatting some more! Mr K acquired a few more bottles of swanky bourbon from our guests, so he's a happy guy.
Today he and Andy headed to Gruyère to explore the H.R.Giger museum - I stayed home as I'm adept at creating my own horrific nightmares and don't need any outside help... and because I'm feeling a little lazy. Tonight Kasia and Peter are coming over for dinner and we're doing some classic American-style food: Cincinnati Chili, four ways. Depending on how productive I get, I'm thinking Deviled Eggs for a snack and Green Goddess (minus the fishies of course) for the salad. All that depends on me wandering down to the grocery in a few minutes.
Outside, it looks like we may be seeing some more snow soon, so stay tuned!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
First Swiss Snow
Ever since it started to get cold here, I have been impatiently and constantly checking weather websites waiting for our first snow. Yesterday afternoon, just shortly past 1:30 or so, there it was - fat white flakes drifting down to the ground (where, of course, they instantly melted.) The snow started off very slowly but actually picked up quite a bit and went on for an hour or so before disappearing again, leaving no accumulation. Today is even more overcast than yesterday was, so I'm hoping that maybe just a little bit more snow will fall today.
Mr K's dad is in town and is our first visitor from back home to see our apartment and, soon, Fribourg. As I type this, father and son are still passed out. Our plan for the day is to go to the farmer's market and take a nice walking tour of Fribourg, then to go to the tea shop for tea and hot chocolate. I made chicken corn chowder last night to eat for lunch today - Mr K and I figured soup is always better the next day, so why not just make it a day in advance to start with and then reheat it. I figure after a couple hours of walking around in the cold, fresh bread and hot soup are the way to go. We plan to go out to eat tonight, but I'm not sure where yet. Tomorrow Papa C heads out and Mr K's BFF arrives - whew!
On the NaNo front, I'm struggling along - bleh. Week Two is always the worst. Week One zips by because it is something new and different but, every time, Week Two just drags. Week Two is about survival - just get through it. Week Three eases up so I just have to hold on a few more days!
Au revoir! (or "oh vwah" as we sound when we say it...)
Mr K's dad is in town and is our first visitor from back home to see our apartment and, soon, Fribourg. As I type this, father and son are still passed out. Our plan for the day is to go to the farmer's market and take a nice walking tour of Fribourg, then to go to the tea shop for tea and hot chocolate. I made chicken corn chowder last night to eat for lunch today - Mr K and I figured soup is always better the next day, so why not just make it a day in advance to start with and then reheat it. I figure after a couple hours of walking around in the cold, fresh bread and hot soup are the way to go. We plan to go out to eat tonight, but I'm not sure where yet. Tomorrow Papa C heads out and Mr K's BFF arrives - whew!
On the NaNo front, I'm struggling along - bleh. Week Two is always the worst. Week One zips by because it is something new and different but, every time, Week Two just drags. Week Two is about survival - just get through it. Week Three eases up so I just have to hold on a few more days!
Au revoir! (or "oh vwah" as we sound when we say it...)
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