Monthly Archives: December 2011

Christmas Days

Posted on December 27, 2011 by nekochan

Hey Everyone!

How were your Christmas days? Despite the unusual weather for December the atmosphere during the last few days was pretty festive. What I liked most in the last few days was the peaceful silence. All the people were celebrating Christmas or other festivities with their beloved ones so there were practically no cars driving on the streets. On the 24th we celebrated with my family at my brother’s house. Silvankun and I got hold of a cute little Christmas tree only two days before the 24th and we decorated it all together on Christmas eve. The dinner was improvised and simple but very delicious. Oven-baked salmon, salt potatoes, salad and bread with butter. Of course there were many mandarins, nuts, chocolate and other sweet treats.

I like Foie gras and fancy table decorations but I was very happy just to be together with the most important people in my life and have this humble Christmas dinner with them. As kids we used to open the presents on the 25th but due to some coordination problems we decided to open them all together on Christmas eve.

On the 26th Silvankun and I got up early and went to buy some fresh croissants. The sun was shining beautifully so we decided to go for a walk and as we arrived on top of the hill we were generosly rewarded with one of the most stunning views I’ve seen of Zurich. There were hundreds of fuming smokestacks and this opaque veil covering parts of the city. Luckily I had my cam with me and with many other photographs beside me I started taking pictures. The scenery was so peaceful and I felt so fresh that I thought it was the first day of the new year.

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Swiss Traditions

Posted on December 24, 2011 by nekochan

Swiss Traditions

Merry Christmas to everyone who’s celebrating! Remember how I told you that the city is all covered in white? Well, not anymore..

The snow has melted away and it’s just raining now. Anyway, this unwintery weather didn’t keep us from indulging in wintery food. I love Swiss cheese and of course there are many delicious and hearty recipes with it.

A few days ago we made Raclette. Raclette is a type of cheese and a Swiss and French dish, based on heating the cheese and scraping off the melted part. The term raclette derives from the French word racler, meaning “to scrape” because of the way the melted cheese is scraped off the block. Traditionally, the Swiss cow herders used to take the cheese with them when they were moving cows to or from the pastures up in the mountains. In the evenings around the campfire, they would place the cheese next to the fire and, when it had reached the perfect softness, scrape it on top of some bread.

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. When the cheese is bubbling convincingly and going brown around the edges, remove the tray from under the grill, scrape the contents with a small wooden spatula on top of the potato which you have placed on your plate, sprinkle with pepper, paprika, nutmeg and eat. As it can take five minutes or so for each slice of cheese to cook, particularly before the grill has warmed up properly, it’s a good idea to put a new slice of cheese in as soon as you’ve scraped the last one onto your potato. That way you can keep them coming. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, gherkins, pickled onions and dried meat. source

To learn about Grittibänz and see pictures of our raclette dinner, read on!

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Snowman Bento!

Posted on December 20, 2011 by nekochan

Snowman Bento!

Hey Everyone!

Today I’m going to show you my first winter-themed Obento! It’s been snowing for the last two days and now the city is covered in white. I can’t tell you how happy I am! Everything feels so right now.

I would really like to spend a few days in the mountains to go snowboarding and enjoy some powder snow but my final exams are getting closer and closer and I’ve just started repeating all the subject-matters and there isn’t a lot of time anymore. Only if I manage to work diligently throughout the holidays I’ll grant myself some snowboarding.
Anyway, it’s been some time since my last Obento and inspired by all the snow around me I decided to make a snowman Bento. I didn’t have many ingredients but somehow I like its simplicity.

There is some Teriyaki chicken, rice with fried tofu stars, chives and a really hot kind of bell pepper (more as decoration than to eat). The snowman is made of an egg and a fish ball and is chilling in a bed of snow peas. I’m kind of happy to have found the tiny but really hot bell peppers because even if they’re too hot to eat alone they’re perfect for a spicy Pasta Arrabiata, one of Silvankun’s favourite sauces! We’ve been looking for hot bell peppers for quite some time but eventually gave it up and started using Shichimi to spicen up the sauces but that’s quite wasteful.