Germany & Switzerland

BREAKFAST


Here's the lovely set out breakfast table. Lena's mother adores candles and she lit some anytime we had a meal, snack or tea. She's also a fantastic interior decorator, if I do say so myself. On the table we've got some great breads including the wonderful pretzel, some croissants and really great rolls, some with poppyseed. Bread is Germany is fantastic, with a texture on the outside and a nice fluffiness on the inside. Lena's mum goes out to the local bakery and picks up the bread fresh. Next to the breads we've got some lovely Swiss jam, Nutella and honey, I believe. Butter as well. I'm a big fan of butter with Nutella on a croissant. :)
Note: that shark at the bottom isn't particularly German. Lena's mother heard that I LOVE croissants and got some extra for me the next day for breakfast; the one I fished out of the basket had a small defect to it: it was missing teeth. So I gave it some.


Meet German New Years bread! It's a sweet kind of bread, slightly like King's Hawaiian, but not quite as cotton-candy like as King's Hawaiian bread. It's between that and perhaps a soft scone, being more dense, but not hard.


I can't quite remember what these are specifically, but I do know that that cheese is goat cheese. The meats are schinken and speck (thanks Denise!!). Nonetheless, extremely tasty. This was the first time I had goats cheese while knowing it. And I liked it. :)

APPETIZERS/SIDES

Cheese-stuffed baby peppers. A nice twang balanced out with the goat cheese. The olive oil it's soaked in makes it fantastic. I believe the peppers are slightly pickled as well. Great side.

ENTREES




This is raclette. Basically it's like an indoor grill with a top grill underneath. How it works is you grill whatever you want on top, really, and then in your individual trays, you put cheeses and meats and whatever else to be melted under the grill. When it's bubbly and gooey, you remove the tray and slid the toppings onto either a slice of french bread or some lovely potato. Delightful and very Swiss.


While this is more a dish that Lena and her mother cook (not entirely sure if it's particularly German), this meat, eggplant and zucchini lasagna was wonderful! I've never had eggplant before (just because it looks funny, in all honesty), but I thoroughly enjoyed it here. Everything in Germany = sooo much tastier than British food, by the way.



Lena made some pie that we decided to call cottage pie, since it wasn't quite shepherd's pie or any other English pie. It was great! :)


Nurnberger Rostbratwurst and potato salad. My last night in Germany, Lena and her mother searched forever to get me traditional sausages from Lena's mother's hometown Nurnberg, or Nuremberg as we say in English. And success! I'm learning that sausages are very particular... (I wish I could take a class on learning about the types. Same for cheeses.) Also, teamed with some really really good potato salad. It was made with dwarf potatoes, sliced pickle and a certain kind of oil.

DESSERT/SWEETS


Though we had this for afternoon tea, it technically can go under desserts. It's a really nice vanilla cream cake basically. :) The cream was very good. Eaten at the Hohentwiel restaurant down the mountain from the actual castle.


You can't go to Switzerland without having Swiss chocolate because it actually is amazing. So milky, soft and wonderful! It's like velvet in bar form! (I'd also LOVE to take a class on just chocolate.)


Bratapfel: so there's no Wikipedia page in English for the bratapfel, but it basically means "baked apple"-- no, not that kind of baked. >_> I shadowed Lena as she made it, so I can describe it and hopefully duplicate it one day! The apple is first hollowed out and then filled with a mixture of breadcrumbs, raisins, ground almonds, honey and a bit of sugar. Then slices of butter are placed on top and it's placed in the oven and wonderfully baked! I really adore this dish... (Boy, I sound like Ina Garten now.)

This is just something adorable I have to share:

I've set my heart on finding one and buying one to bring home. Except my fridge is not magnetic. Dammit.