Alsace and Appliances

my Swiss kitchen at this time last year, lots of the seasonal bounty

my kitchen at home right now, no food in sight yet!

Apparently, I can't stop talking about food. It is because I do not have a functioning kitchen right now. So here is a little bit about my experiences having lived so close to the French/Swiss border. And a sneak peek at the new range hood.

We had only been in Basel for a few weeks when a friend came over for business and stayed with us over the weekend. We went to France to do some wine tasting. Along the way, we stopped in Thann to do some shopping. We all ended up with pastries before making our way over to the farmer's market. Our visiting friend is a foodie, too, so we were looking for options to prepare at home. Let me just say, if you have never had wild asparagus before you need to try it. Yum!

On the way back through the border we were unsure if we needed to claim food. So instead of just driving through, I suggest we stop and ask. We would be doing this frequently, so we should know the rules. So the three of us go in to the office where a nice, young Swiss border patrolman is on duty. We tell him we are new here and have purchased some food and wanted to know if we need to claim it. The funny part is when he asks us how much we had bought. We tell him less than two kilos. He laughs and says we only need to claim if we purchase over 20 kilos. We all got a good laugh and were on our way. I can not imagine an instance ever in my life where I would be purchasing 20 kilos of produce at once and I don't think he could, either.

We used to ride our bikes across the border to go to a grocery store called Geant. They had a much bigger selection than the 3 major Swiss grocers and the prices were better, too. One thing we found that was a very good deal was chicken. Particularly the little, whole ones. I think they are called roasters here in the US. I could never seem to remember the name of this particular chicken product, in any language, English, German or French. So I took to referring to them as "those things, you know those things from France." When Scott wanted one, he would ask if I could go to get one of those things from France for dinner. The tricky part is that when biking to grocery stores, you must only buy what you can comfortably peddle home. Those things get heavy quickly when combined with wine, butter, cheese and other typically French foods.

Two particular memories of eating French stand out. Both involve family. One was a single experience and the other happened multiple times. Flammekueche or tarte flambee in French, is an Alsatian favorite. It is sort of like a pizza, but a lot more french. And it seems as though it was made to go with Alsatian wines and all their variety. Think of a thin, crispy but not greasy crust. Then top it with creme fraiche, lots of onions, nutmeg, a hint of gruyere and ham and bake it in a wood-fired oven. Sometimes, you could opt for more veggies, different meats or no meat. Always super hot and satisfying. The memory of these is when Scott and I would head across the border to Alsace in the colder months to See various things. We always would end up hungry and it was much less expensive to eat in restaurants in France than in Switzerland. So it was like a treat. We would head in to the local bakery or bar, enjoy the warmth of the fire and some flammekueche. Yum!

My teenage niece and nephew came to visit in August 2009. We went to a castle called Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg, http://www.haut-koenigsbourg.fr/en. On the way back to the car, we were all hot, tired and hungry. Most, if not all restaurants were closed, so we decided to wait until we got back to Basel to eat. Along the side of the road, there was a woman selling tiny plums in big containers from her yard. My niece and nephew looked at the plums like they didn't know what they were and weren't going to eat them, even if they did. We sort of showed them how to eat one, and before we know it, we were all eating them and it was as if they were the tastiest things we had ever had. They were warm from the sun and the container was half finished by the time we made it home.

While in Paris, we visited Luxembourg Gardens on a very rainy day. After, we wanted lunch and wandered over to a new place. It was called Dips, http://dips-restaurant.com/en/mainPage.html. The concept was fun - for whatever course you are ordering, you pick a main and a dip, mix and match style. So your table ends up with a bunch of tiny cups of colorful dips and a few plates of food to dip with. Very tasty, very fun, very conducive to sharing. Worth the trip if you are in the neighborhood.

appetizers at Dip's

shark entree at Dips, chicken entree in background, dips in the middle

Without a kitchen, I am learning to improvise. Time to go eat some plums and apples that I picked up from Highland Orchards last weekend, paired with some cheese. Not too shabby....