when the world is puddle-wonderful

Today was a day like the e. e. cummings poem - a bright blue first hint of spring, the first day this year we could venture outside without layers of fleece, scarf, and coat. We took full advantage by hopping on the train up to Langnau and walking the oft-muddy path along the river back to Adliswil. The weather forecast predicts the rain and cold will close back in on us again, but this day was a much-needed reminder that spring will indeed come!

On another note, our friends Eddie and Alice came over for a fondue last night, and we once again confirmed that fondue from this dairy in Fribourg far outshines anything you can buy locally. My family has been mail-ordering from them for years, and they recently created a website with an online-ordering possibility. The package arrives within two days, so with just a tiny bit of advance planning you can have an excellent fondue Marseillaise ready in your caquelon, and a few more packets in the freezer for next time!

Q: What's yummier than risotto?

A: Risotto shaped into small balls, stuffed with cheese, and then breaded and fried into croquettes called Arancini di Riso. I've died and gone to heaven.

Be sure to also check out the rest of the Around the World in 80 Dishes series from Epicurious, with weekly recipes and video tutorials for iconic dishes from all over the world.

Going Live

Welcome, faithful readers who jumped over from my Xanga! I hope you'll like my new space!

Chestnut Honey Madeleines

I've been eyeing this recipe for a while and finally got around to making it one afternoon last week. It wasn't hard to find the chestnut honey and a madeleine mold, and the rest of the ingredients are pretty straightfoward. I halved the recipe since I knew I'd be eating them all myself (Backie doesn't like nuts). These would be the perfect thing to serve with afternoon tea. They're fragrant, delicate, ladylike, and so small that you can just pop a whole one in your mouth with no effort at all! I would recommend you eat them the same day though - they had gone a bit chewy and dry by the next afternoon.

Step one confused me a little, since I don't understand how you can blend 2/3 cup hazelnuts and 2/3 cup powdered sugar and end up with 1/2 cup of hazelnut meal. I started with ground hazelnuts anyway so I just measured out half a cup, scooped a spoonful back into the bag, and filled in the space with spoonful of powdered sugar. Then I continued the recipe as written. Seemed to work okay...



Chestnut Honey Madeleines from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

2/3 cup roasted hazelnuts
1 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
13 tablespoons (180 gr) unsalted butter
6 large egg whites
1 tablespoon chestnut (or clover) honey

Using a pastry brush, brush on soft butter and then flour two 12-cup madeleine molds (I have one 20-cup mini madeleine mold). Refrigerate until ready to use.

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, grind the hazelnuts with 2/3 cup of the confectioners' sugar, pulsing as fine as you can get it, so that it is a semicoarse flour (you should have 1/2 cup hazelnut flour).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the hazelnut flour, all-purpose flour, and the remaining confectioners' sugar.
3. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until the butter solids at the bottom of the pan turn golden brown. Immediately remove from the heat and strain into a bowl to stop the cooking. Discard the solids.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add the butter and honey and mix until combined.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared molds, filling almost to the top. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
6. Position a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven. Preheat the oven to 375*F.
7. Remove the filled molds from the refrigerator. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. After removing from the oven, immediately tap the pans on your work surface to release the madeleines. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

To serve, turn the madeleines scallop side up and dust with confectioner's sugar.

Leysin is for Lovers

ZIS is on ski break this week so Backie and I decided to spend some time in Leysin. I haven't been there for two years, how time flies! After a short visit to my grandparents in Bern, we arrived in Leysin mid-afternoon Saturday - Valentine's Day. It was appropriate to spend the day in the place where our relationship started, and Backie surprised me with a beautiful card.

Sunday dawned gorgeous and sunny with fresh snow. We were up on the pistes the whole day, with just a couple breaks for a belly-fillling croute mayen (bread soaked in white wine, baked with ham, cheese, and white sauce) and a café des fers (coffee with a shot of kirsch and whipped cream).

Sunday was really the only beautiful day weather-wise, so Monday we relaxed our aching muscles at the thermal baths in the valley and then had dinner with some old friends at the Fromagerie. I looked forward to my scrumptious tomato fondue all week! Liam and Larissa are getting so big (Liam will be 9 this year!) and they had fun participating in the cheese-making.

I headed back to Zurich on Tuesday afternoon to work for the rest of the week, while Backie stayed in Leysin to get in a couple more days on the slopes. A wonderful long weekend!

"Two Yellow Shafts of Sponge"

With all the gloomy and terrible news in the world, I rarely laugh at anything that CNN has to read on their website, but this open letter to Richard Branson was a rare exception.

Blog Envy

I've recently discovered a beautiful blog, MyKugelhopf, written by a New Yorker living in Zurich with her French husband. It won the 2008 Weblog Award in the category of travel. It's kind of funny to read about a lot of places I'm familiar with - Gruyeres, Poschiavo, and lots about Zurich - except much more eloquently described and beautifully photographed. My posts about traveling and food aspire to look like this!

Derek Webb Album

I still think it's so awesome that he actually came to Mount Holyoke. I was already a fan and the fact that he flew out to New England and our little Music Fest and didn't charge a ridiculous fee sealed the deal (I just wish I had known enough to ask if Sandra could come too). My biggest claim to fame is that he rode in my car and I drove him to the airport - feeble, but it was an honor! Here's a little flashback pic...

Deliciou...hmm. Not so much.

This blog has me laughing so hard I'm crying.... Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong

A small taste (or preferably not)...

Baffling inscription? Check.

Atmospheric pollution? Check.

"Rotisserie Chicken" label? Check.

Excess punctuation? Check, check, check, and check check.

I miss...

I miss MercyHouse. I miss a church where you actually know people's names, and so much more than just their names - where people are family. I miss seeing friends I know and love on Sundays, and other days of the week too. We've been going to this church on Sunday nights for nearly two and half years now, and I barely know the names of the people who up are there every week doing the music. We have never exchanged more than pleasantries with the pastor. I know his wife's name because he mentions it in sermons sometimes, but I wouldn't know her if I saw her. When I look around, I recognize a handful of parents of students at our school, and that's about it. Once we started helping to run the beamer I hoped we'd meet more people, but it hasn't happened. The one friend I made at church moved away about a year ago. Tonight I tried to introduce myself to a group of a few girls who were talking, but I think they all knew each other already and it was awkward and wierd and after 2 minutes I just wanted to get out of there.

We attend home group on Wednesday nights, which is a little better because everyone actually does know each other a bit and I get along with my co-leader quite well, but we don't see each other anytime the rest of the week or spend time together on a social basis. In fact, apart from being Christians, nobody in our group really has much in common. I enjoy home group for the bible study and discussion, and because if we didn't go to home group we would have pretty much zero regular interaction with other Christians, and God says that's not okay.

But I miss friends stopping by me and Julia's apartment for tea, food, movie, studying. I miss having coffee with Elaine or Sara or Sarah at the Black Sheep. I miss getting up at 6 am to help set up tents for the Amherst Art Show and then going out for breakfast. I miss grabbing a bristol without mustard from Andiamo with the girls after church. I miss Lindsey Poole's laugh. I miss riding around in vans for hours on Free Rides night. I miss that when Rob Tate said he would pray for me, I knew he faithfully would, because he prays a lot. I miss painting the Krumreys' dining room and listening to Martin get all philosophical and being delighted by the things that Julia Campbell says. I miss hearing peoples' testimonies on Sundays and feeling like you know them already before you even talk to them. I miss wedding showers and baby showers and chili cook-offs and Cindy's silly songs about food. I miss a crowd on the shores of Puffer's Pond with one guitar, celebrating in the drizzle.

I miss seeing God so clearly in the faces and lives of other people.