clementine yogurt cake

You know how it's almost harder to start things back up after you've been away from them for awhile? It just feels daunting. Like, how to recap and regroup on the past month? Maybe it's easier not to. Eager to get back to it I figured it was better if I didn't try and review the days of my absence, at least not yet, and that it was better to just start with today, specifically with the cake I made this morning. I was really in the mood for a breakfast cake, something to break the Kellogg's Red Berry cereal kick that I've been on for the last week. I searched for coffee cakes and morning cakes and buttermilk cakes, but finally settled on a plain and simple yogurt cake that I spiced up with a bit of clementine zest and juice. This cake references back to one of the first recipes I posted here, almost a year ago (happy almost birthday blog). Today's cake is a bit lighter, more cake-like and less poundcake-like. It is in good company with a mug of coffee and the morning paper. It's also in good company with the photos I took from our weekend in Grindelwald.

I haven't even been back a week, but we ready to get out of town for the weekend. Zürich in the winter can be a bit grey and chilly and although we love to nestle inside, we also love getting to the mountains. We planned our weekend on Friday over dinner and we were off Saturday morning shortly after breakfast. I should also mention that this cake is very simple, one of those pour-in-a-bowl-and-mix type of recipes. There's no creaming, or melting or whipping egg whites.

Clementine Yogurt Cake

adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup whole milk plain yogurt

- 1 cup sugar

- 1/3 cup olive oil (or vegetable oil)

- 1 tsp vanilla (extract or powder)

- zest from 2 clementines

- juice from 1 clementine

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- good pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC and butter a 9" springform pan.

Mix the top ingredients (eggs, yogurt, sugar, oil, vanilla, zest, juice) lightly in a bowl until incorporated.

All at once add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until blended together, without over-mixing.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire wrack.

So there we go, over the hurdle of the first-post-back. Phew! It's good to be back in Zürich and on the blog. It's also nice to have a cake sitting in the kitchen again, it's been far too long. I'm already looking forward to breakfast tomorrow....and to dessert tonight!

bonjour from my parents couch

A week and a half ago we were wandering the streets of Paris, ducking into patisseries and boulangeries, sampling madeleines, pain au chocolat, brioche and baguettes. It was truly a foodie tour, guided by my fabulous foodie friend Tala, who has just returned to Paris after a decade in the States. Fortunately for us it didn't take her long to get back into the Paris swing of things - she's spent the last few months getting settled by scouting out the best bread and sweets in the city.

A lot has happened since we were in Paris. We traveled the familiar route from Zurich to New York and were welcomed home with lots of hugs and a whole lot of sugar cookies. We've given and received gifts and enjoyed the company of family at the dinner table. There really isn't much like Christmas at home, and this Christmas we split our time between homes, first with my family and then a stint with Zach's in Providence. The only hard part about being home is the reality that it will be a while until we are home again, especially at a time when all of our family has gathered in one spot.

And the travel continues - we are off to San Francisco to ring in 2012 with our dear friends Helen and Brendan who are celebrating their wedding on New Years Eve.

Before we leave in the morning a few favorites from Paris...

We had barely set down our suitcases before we headed out again to two boulangeries in Tala's neighborhood (the 9th). Our first stop was Lendemaine (the first picture) where we picked up a kugelhopf, an almond croisant, a plain croissant and a brioche and a baguette (they were awared 2nd place for best baguette in Paris, and after having tried the 1st place baguette later in the weekend I think their baguette is the best). Eager to assemble a sampling of goodies we headed up the street to Arnaud Demontel where we bought another kugelhof, a raisin danish and a few more croissants.

The awards went to the almond croissant and the baguette from Lendemaine. I'd fly back to Paris just to eat them again. The second award, not pictured, went to the madeleines and pain au chocolat that we bought at Le Grenier à Pain (the spot that won 1st place for best baguette). I bit into the chocolate croissant and was so delighted by what I tasted that the bite almost fell right out of my mouth. I quickly handed it to Tala to sample since she is the resident expert and would be able to confirm or deny whether it was indeed a good croissant and she agreed it was fabulous.
This is us eating gooey French cheese on a baguette while standing on a street corner in Monmartre. Is there really anything better?
Maybe this fish on a bed of pesto sauteed veggies that we had for lunch was better? It's really hard to say what the best thing we ate was because everything was so delicious and flavorful. I've been to Paris a handful of times but this was the first time that food was the focus of the trip, and it was definitely my best visit yet! All we did was eat and it was fabulous.
I've climbed up the Eiffel Tower and I've ridden the elevator, but I think the best view I've ever had of it was from Tala's parents apartment. It's right there, out their window. And you know what, they still get excited when the lights start to twinkle.

Thank you thank you Tala! we will be back! And next time I'm taking train back so I can load my suitcase with gooey cheese, preserves and cooking supplies.

So off to San Fran tomorrow and then to Florida for a bit before I head back to Zurich on the 9th. Hopefully I'll have a second to post again soon.

sleigh bells riiiiiing...

"Sleigh bells riiiiiiiiing...." - that is the subject line of the email chain that is buzzing around amongst my girl friends. I jump on the new emails as they come in, loving the good tidings they bring - mostly about life, love, Christmas plans and pictures of new nieces and nephews - and sending my own right back out on the gmail sleigh. It really is almost Christmas. I'm heading home on Wednesday to deck the halls with my family and then Zach arrives just in time for Christmas Eve dinner and then we head to Providence on Christmas Day to celebrate with his family.

Before we jet off for the States we are actually heading to Paris, in about 2 hours, for the weekend! I wanted to post these festive photos before I head to the airport. My fingers are crossed that 1) Zach will make it, he's cutting it close with work stuff and 2) that our flight isn't cancelled with all of this wind and rain. Maybe you could cross your fingers too, the more the better. Danke!

The Swiss really now how to make a city feel festive. In the center of town, on the Bahnhofstrasse, there are lights hanging from every possible spot imaginable. The ones hanging above the streets are called 'Lucy', I believe in reference to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. They really are quite spectacular. Then there are also Samichlaus and his sidekick Schmutzli. Schmutzli, who paint his face back and dresses in a dark brown cloak, is pretty much the idea of coal personified.

Since so many people commented on our tree I thought I would post some close-ups. The ornaments are from the Christmas market in Germany and they remind me of the ornaments we use to trim our tree at home. My mom has always loved little wooden ornaments, so I guess I inherited that from her. Although I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't like a nutcracker rocking horse ornament. Oh, and I made the bird on top. Zach's family uses a bird on top of their tree and we've always used an angel, but I thought a bird was really a good combo of both...in it's own way. And then there is this amazing almond cookie recipe that I want to share with you that can double as Viennese Crescent cookies or Linzer cookies, depending on how you roll the dough. I have to rush to the airport in about 5 minutes so I will share the recipe with you when I get back from Paris....

Okay back from a wonderful trip to Paris. We almost didn't get there because our flight was canceled on Friday night, but thankfully we zipped off on an early Saturday morning flight, which gave us plenty of time to shop for breakfast croissants.

Viennese Crescent Cookies/ or Raspberry Linzer cookies

adapted from Irma Rombauer

- 8oz / 1 cup unsalted butter

- 3 oz / 3/4 cup powdered sugar

- 3 teaspoons vanilla bean powder, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 4 oz / 1 cup ground almonds

- 10 oz / 2 cups all purpose flour

- 2 oz / 2/3 cup powdered sugar for sprinkling

- raspberry jam if using

Preheat the oven to 350ºF / 180ºC and line baking sheets with baking paper

In a medium bowl beat the butter until it is creamy and light in color, then sift in the 3oz of powdered sugar over the butter and beat until incorporated

Add the vanilla and mix until smooth. Stir in the ground almonds. Follow with the flour, adding slowly, until mixed. Knead the dough until it is well blended. If the dough is very soft place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. You want the dough to be workable in your hands so make sure it is malleable when you take it out of the fridge.

For crescent cookies, take about 1 tablepsoon of dough and shape it into a crescent and place on the cookie sheet.

For the jam filled cookies, roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until about 1/4" thick. Using a cookie cutter cut an even number of shapes out of the dough. Using a smaller cookie cutter, such as a star, circle or heart, cut the center out of half of the cookies. Move to the lined baking sheet.

Bake the crescent cookies for about 13-16 and the linzer cookies for about 10 minutes, or just until the edges have lightly browned for both. Cool the cookies on a wire rack. When completely cool dust the crescents with powdered sugar. For the jam filled cookies, take the cookie without the hole and spread raspberry jam on it and then top with the hole-cookie.

This photos is terrible and blurry, but I had to share it with you because this my friends is The Santa Tram, or Märchentram (fairytale tram). Santa drives the tram while his angles read fairytales to the children in the back. Only children are allowed on the tram, no parents allowed. I absolutely love this little Zürich Christmas tradition. I guess the theory is that parents put their kids on the tram for thirty minutes and then they can run off and buy that last minute toy while the kids listen to The Night Before Christmas while zipping around Zürich.

okay time to run! remember, fingers crossed...

Burgundy hotel

Yes, those are cow-donkey-mini pony-type animals grazing on the front lawn. Too funny.

So Zach's track record with hotels is not good, at all. The last hotel he booked we almost up and left before even setting down our bags. The hotel, if you could even call it that, was tired, dirty, depressing and really really far away from anything. The rooms were furnished with furniture from the early 80's, furniture that looked like was pulled right off the street and into the hotel. The couch was patterned with sagging cushions, the bed made with yellow jersey material sheets and the bathroom was brown all over. It was unpleasant, and it wasn't cheap, but by approaching it only as a place to sleep and spending the rest of our time outdoors we managed to make it work, but not happiliy.

Since then Zach has learned about tripadvisor and jetsetter and the value of advice from friends. And he put all that new knowledge to use when he booked our hotel in Burgundy. The hotel, called Abbaye De La Bussière, is located between Dijon and Beaunne in a little wine village, and dates back to the 12th century when it was built as a monastery. Zach pretty much redemed himself because not only were the grounds incredible and the interior vastly cozy, but the Abbaye restaurant has a Michelin star. It's crazy to think that we actually debated whether or not we should eat there, wondering instead if we should try and get a more local experience in Beaune, but thankfully we had our wits about us and made a reservation. It was arguably one of the best and most interesting meals that either of us had ever eaten.

So a bit about the meal. You could approach the menu a variety of different ways. There was the seven course 'house special' menu, the terrain menu with food from the region and then the a la carte menu, where you could simply create your experience. Zach and I both went with the latter option because we wanted to scatter our choices across lots of different things. Zach started with doe, dried and tartar, and then followed with the duck, seared breast and confit. And I chose the truffle risotto and the scallops. Everything we ate was perfectly paired and wonderfully flavored. Our palates literally woke up. I should also mention that we were served a variety of things that we didn't order. To start we munched on goat cheese fritters, a spoonful of salmon tartar and a cracker with foie gras, and then before our appetizers arrived we were served seared beef in a soy based sauce. Before you continue reading and I continue typing as if those things are common fare you should know that I was once a picky eater and that in fact that was the first time I had ever tried foie gras and raw beef. And they were both delicious, especially the beef. It was lightly seared on all sides, sliced thin but not too thin and served on a square plate. I think there was as much oh-my-goodness-this-is-so-freaking-good staring at each other as there was actual conversation. My fingers are crossed that we will find ourselves back at this hotel before long, perhaps in a different season when we can step outside in short sleeves and hop around to the vineyards and taste wine. Until then I'll continue browsing jetsetter and travel magazines and keeping up my where-to-go next file.