The move to Switzerland

We got a new apartment in Switzerland. It's more expensive, but let's just say that the standard of living between France and Switzerland makes it worth it.

I have two colleagues who lived in Switzerland while we were in France, and one in particular was always complaining about how much more expensive it is in the Swiss grocery stores. He's a bit of a complainer in general, but I still found myself a bit worried yesterday as we made our first grocery shopping in Switzerland.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that almost everything was cheaper. I think this is because the Swiss very much like to keep it local, especially with fresh things (meat, dairy, produce). Onions and potatoes were more expensive, but lettuces, strawberries, fresh herbs, fresh yeast and peppers were all much cheaper. The strawberries were an especially good deal, and I bought 1.5 kilos. (See Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinegar)

I also bought some more seeds for my future garden. I already have herbs: parsley, basil, cilantro, dill and chives. I bought peas and tomatoes yesterday. The seeds were cheaper, too!

I think I'm also going to grow lettuces, but then that's it. It's my first garden, so I don't want to get overwhelmed.

Vote for McCain!

Not for president, but for pizza. I guess it's a Canadian brand, but they sell this delicious frozen pizza here, we simply call it "Pizza McCain." Although there are many flavors, it goes without saying that we are talking about the Supremania pizza with jambon et legumes.



Although BF wasn't fond of it, I also liked the Cheesymania with bleau cheese. Yummy!



We get it occasionally, though we've also started making our own pizzas using the same dough as for pirozhki. I've changed the recipe I use a bit, the proportions are pretty similar but there's less fat and I use buttermilk instead of water. I made a BBQ pizza which I thought was very tasty, and BF made one with Gruyere cheese and a really tasty cream sauce. I'll post recipes later.

I'm going to have a VERY busy next few days. My cousin is coming for a visit from Paris this weekend, so we will probably have lots of yummy French and Swiss-French food in restaurants. We'll be out of the office Friday to show them around. But, I have a big presentation on Monday. So, I have essentially tomorrow and half of Monday to finish it. Yikes!

Becoming Too Carnivorous

We've been eating a LOT of meat lately, I noticed. I guess it's because it's winter time and there isn't much variety of produce around, but I've decided I should take that as a challenge and try to get back into a more or less vegetarian lifestyle.

I like being semi-vegetarian for health and ethical reasons. Ethically, I don't believe that a meat based or meat-heavy diet is sustainable, and I don't believe that animals can be treated with dignity in a society that practices factory farming. From a health perspective, I just feel better when I don't eat a lot of meat.

I also want to start cooking more Indian food, and learn how to cook things that my grandmother used to. My mom cooked several Indian dishes regularly when I was growing up, but the major source of the variety in the Indian food we ate was my grandmother. She's gone now, but I hope I can rediscover some of the things she used to make.

Last night we went to an Indian restaurant right next to CERN. It was awful. My boyfriend thought it was "ok," but I was only willing to call it "edible" and even that was just because I was hungry. It was also grossly overpriced. I knew I could make better at home, so I'm going to start trying.

There's a Russian restaurant we've heard about in Geneva that's also extremely overpriced, but they have a cheaper lunch time buffet. We're going to try that out, and I'm really curious if my boyfriend will think it's bad, and if I'll think it's good.

Tonight I let him bring kebabs from the local Turkish restaurant. By "let" I mean I let him bring one for me, too, he's of course free to eat whatever he wants. Now I feel awful; too stuffed and guilty. We were at CERN working late, and I was lazy at the thought of cooking, and unhappy at the idea of eating the cafeteria's food. I think I'll post about the CERN cafeteria later, I'm sure that some people may be curious to know how the physicists at arguably the world's most famous lab eat.

I'm finding it really difficult to eat healthily; I don't know if it's the season. I feel like I should have found some sort of healthy-eating-routine by now, like I was able to find the last time I moved. But it's been almost a year, and I still haven't found a groove that works.

Last Night's Dinner 2.0

The Tomatoes Stuffed with Eggs that I tried to make last night came out really nicely. They were a little crunchy on top, and nice and liquidy in the yolk, which is how I like my eggs. I think next time I'll try putting something more flavorful in the bottom, maybe a nice pesto.

In other news, I'm seriously starting to consider kidnapping my boyfriend to Hawaii, where I will force him to cook that delicious roasted chicken and we will sell it to tourists for serious $$$. Ok, maybe not $$$. More like $. Sounds soooo much better than being a physicist, doesn't it? I think so, too.

Why Hawaii, you may ask? There are a couple of reasons. The first is that it's awesome, which should honestly be reason enough. The second is that I have a very fond memory involving Hawaii and chicken. I was like seven years old, and my family (mom, dad, sister, grandmother, grandfather) went on a vacation to Hawaii. I don't remember which island, because I was seven. I was pretty focused on being wary of the active volcano my parents thought it would be just fascinating to visit. Well, it was cool, but I was seven and it kinda freaked me out. Anyway, when we were driving around this island, I got to sit in the front seat and be the navigator while my dad was the pilot. Don't ask me how I scored that gig, but that's what happened. After lots of driving and not reaching our destination and reaching the end of the road, it was discovered that I had led us down the right road, but was holding the map upside down and we had gone completely the wrong way.

What's the point? The point is that at this end of the road was a stand selling the most delicious chicken ever. It was called "Huli Huli Chicken" and they had the things roasting over a spit and covered with some wonderful sauce. Needless to say, all was forgiven and I was branded the best navigator in our family.

Food in France

In general, the food in France is of much better quality than what I usually had access to in America. The produce in grocery stores is more varied, generally of higher quality and often more "local." The cheeses are bountiful and exude flavors, smells and textures I have never experienced in their American counterparts. And the eggs. My god, the cheapest eggs here are better than the organic free-range ones I used to buy back home. Let's not even get started on the restaurants, which simply are not comparable in most cases.

However, this foodie paradise comes with one caveat, which is good, or bad, or just plainly a fact of life, depending on your point of view. That is simply this: food here is variable. This may be a difficult concept for many of my fellow Americans to understand, as it initially was for me. It may in fact be so foreign that you have no idea what I mean. Allow me to explain as best I can.

When I walk into either of the three supermarkets that I frequent, I do not see strawberries in the month of January. Why? Because strawberries are not in season, and people would not dream of eating them in January. Sure, they are in season in other countries, and you could conceivably ship them to said grocery store, in hopes of selling them. But I doubt you'd be very successful. And the reason for that is--brace yourself here--to the French, eating strawberries in January is equally as weird as the idea of strawberries not being available at any time of year is to you.

But when I say that food here is variable, I mean more than that. I mean that when I walk into the grocery store with "oyster mushrooms" or "plain oatmeal" on my shopping list, I may not be able to find it, even if I found the very same product on the shelves of the very same store only a few days earlier.

Then there is the question of "Why is it even necessary to go to three different supermarkets?" (Not on the same day, of course.) That would be because they sell different things, despite the fact that they are, theoretically, competitors. Realistically, that isn't the way it works here. People aren't turned off by the idea of doing their shopping in more than one place; they're used to it, as that is the way it's traditionally done. Even if all the supermarkets did carry identical stock, it's likely that shoppers would subconsciously not trust this, and visit more than one anyway.

When food on French grocery shelves runs out, it is not instantly replenished. If you want bread, you should shop right after work, or it will be gone. Likewise for the popular mushroom variety, Champignon de Paris. Show up at seven o'clock in the evening, and you will be left with a few damp, mushy and misshapen specimens to choose from.

Holiday marketing does exist here, but is a smaller scale operation, both in terms of the quantity of goods and the duration for which they are available. In the largest store I habitually visit, there are presently three aisles devoted to Asian products for the Chinese New Year. Or, I should say, there were, last week. Today, half an aisle remains. When that stock sells out, more will not be ordered until next year. This is likely true for even the very popular items. I estimate that the total time holiday-centric goods remain available is a month, but, like most other food related things here, I wouldn't count on that as a constant.

In addition to food here being variable, it is, of course, simply different in ways. This is due, in some part, to geographical constraints--species that thrive in Texas are not ideally suited to grow in the Rhône-Alpes region of France, after all. However, I am certain that cultural preference plays its role. Take two plant species, for example: malus domestica (the apple), and solanum tuberosum (the potato). While both of these plants, and the bounty from them that we ultimately consume, are readily available in both France and America, there are noticeable differences in the varieties one would actually encounter during a routine grocery shopping expedition.

In America, arguably the most popular incarnations of these products are the Red Delicious apple and the Russet potato. They do not exist here. This in itself means nothing. Far more telling is the fact that nothing comparable to them exists here. There are no apples, at least not for sale in stores, that exhibit the almost candy-like utter sweetness and flat one-dimensionality of the Red Delicious. As for potatoes, they are overwhelmingly of the waxy variety. I occasionally see floury types, comparable to the Russet, but I would not by any means say that they are widely available. And they are much, much smaller than the Russet. I can only conclude that this is simply due to a widespread difference in what is considered "good food," both in terms of what is tasty and what is visually appealing.

All these aspects of the local food culture--coupled with the fact that the concept of 24/7 does not exist here--were initially frustrating. But, now I think that these circumstances have shaped me into a better, more frugal and more daring cook. When things are not conveniently available, you learn to make them yourself. When items you usually use are nowhere to be found, you must learn which substitutes work and which don't. Perhaps most importantly, you learn to lighten up, and just enjoy cooking and eating that miraculous stuff we put in our mouths--food!--because, after all, what you're eating now may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Weekend Cooking Project: Healthy Pirozhki

I'm going to make pirozhki again, mostly because I'm crazy in love with that beautiful, yeasty dough, and also because I just plain like bread pockets with stuff inside.

In that vein, my mission is going to be to "duplicate" a certain Amy's product that I've loved for years, but that I think has now been discontinued (not that I get Amy's products here, anyway). That would be the pocket sandwich stuffed with the topping from the Roasted Vegetable Pizza. I don't have shitakes, which are on the ingredient list, and I'm not especially inclined to go out and find them. But I'll work something out.

Mainly, I plan on making the dough itself healthier by using 50% whole wheat flour, 50% white flour and slightly less vegetable oil. I also plan on not relenting to the sad face my BF will put on when he finds out I intend to bake these ones.

So, I'm going to have some that have the "Amy's" filling, some with the carrot and onion stuffing I loved so much last week, and lastly, some dessert ones. The chief reason for making dessert ones is to clean out the jam jars and some of the frozen fruit in my refrigerator. I kind of plan on mixing them all together, and possibly adding some ricotta cheese to the filling, too. We'll see how it turns out. If I'm successful with the "Amy's" one, it'll be a major victory, since those products are so good but very expensive.

I may also try to make paneer, but I'm a bit lazy to do so, since ricotta serves as a fine replacement for the unpressed version.

Cheap but Good: Grow your own Victory Garden

Lately I've been planning how to plant a garden (my first!) when it gets a little warmer. I don't want to grow flowers, rather, I'm dreaming of beets, spinach, kale, onions, potatoes, and--later on--tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and eggplant. I also want to grow several different herbs that I use often. I want to do this not only because many of those foods are tasty yet expensive, but also because I'm seeking a satisfaction that I can't get from my job. I want to do something physical, to make something, to be able to see results come from my work. I also want the joy of knowing that I am eating produce that has been grown in a way that is kind to my body and the earth.

The problem for me is that I don't have a very suitable space. Our shared yard is not very well taken care of, so it will be hard work to clear a space, if the landlord even lets me do so. On top of that, it doesn't get a whole lot of sun.

I'm hoping to overcome this by creating a container garden. I found a site that is great for gardeners who live in small places that don't really have a yard--apartments, condos, etc. I'm especially interested in the portion of the site devoted to growing vegetables.

I'm going to add the site to the list of blogs I follow. If anyone reading has successfully planted a container garden, I'd love to have your tips as well.

The title of this post refers to the Victory gardens planted during World War II. As Michael Pollan says in his letter to Barack Obama, who he calls the new "Farmer in Cheif", today such a garden could be part of "a new Victory Garden movement, this one seeking “victory” over three critical challenges we face today: high food prices, poor diets and a sedentary population." The article/letter is quite long, but is WELL worth the read. I also heartily recommend Michael Pollan's books.

Amsterdam Trip

Happy New Year to everyone! S Novum Godum!

We just got back from Holland, visiting mostly Amsterdam, but also trips to Haarlem and Utrecht.

It was a lot of fun meeting the New Year in Dam Square, with a bottle of "champagne" (really sparkling wine) and two plastic cups amongst thousands of others.

Let me tell you, Amsterdam is a veritable junk food paradise!

They have tons of small storefronts selling thick slices of pizza, hot dog carts are everywhere and the ubiquitous FEBO is found in every district. The latter is an ingenious junk food store, which has a service counter where you can order things like a burger or piping hot fries, but also has an entire wall that is basically a vending machine. It's the old-fashioned kind, where you put in money and open a little glass door to get your food. So cute! There are also many kiosks/small storefronts selling vlaamse frites. I don't know what vlaamse is, but I do know that I like frites. Most people seem to eat them with mayonnaise. Waffle and sandwich stands are dominant in the museum area, along with some hot dog carts. (I tried a waffle with cherry sauce, it was great).

My favorite find though, was "oliebollen", Dutch donuts. I had previously thought the donuts I tried in the Hamburg central train station were the best ever; I was wrong. These donuts are similar to those--round, approximately tennis ball sized, no hole, covered in sugar--but these were crispier on the outside and had an inner texture more reminiscent of an American yeast donut. The Hamburg ones were a little more cakey. Also, the oliebollen are rolled in powdered sugar right after you order, whereas the Hamburg ones came pre-coated in granulated sugar (they also tasted a little vanilla-y).

That is, they're served this way if you order just one to eat then and there. IF you order 5, which I'm a little ashamed to say I actually did once (but it was to share!), they put them all in the bag, toss in a BIG scoop of powdered sugar, and hand the bag to you. Very fun to shake the bag around and then eat the tasty donuts. (And if you're feeling the effects of a certain other Amsterdam sweet, this can be a surprisingly interesting activity as well.)


(Image from http://www.ad.nl/oliebollentest/article934666.ece)

I preferred the plain donuts, although they also had a version that contained raisins, both golden and regular. My boyfriend preferred whichever were hot. The first day we chanced upon hot donuts, and since then at every donut stand he prefaced his order with, "Do you have any HOT donuts?" This confused and slightly irritated most of the vendors. But hey, if the man only wants hot donuts, he's gotta ask.

On one hand, I feel like I've got to learn how to make these things, they were so good. I ate at least one almost every day we were there. On the other hand, I think it's probably better if I remain uneducated on the matter. Not just for my health, but knowing me, I'll make and eat them all the time, but then grow completely sick of them and never want one again. And wouldn't that be sad?

No, better to just save the experience for the next time I'm in Amsterdam. Some things are just better eaten from a street corner stand, anyway, and I think this may be one of them.

Cheap but Good: Canned Tomatoes

This post is early because I'll be very busy with work the next couple days, but I have some time now.

Let's start by acknowledging this: I love a delicious, fresh tomato--in the summertime. They never taste as good in the winter, that's my main complaint, but they're also (usually) much more expensive! This July I was paying 2.95 euro a kilo for some of the most gorgeous tomatoes I've ever seen in a store, in a bounty of varieties. Now the price is closer to 5 euros a kilo, and for tasteless, dull, homogeneous light red orbs.

That's in France: I'm back in the states for a week, and I noticed that here the price is more consistent. I haven't actually tried one of these winter tomatoes yet, but I remember from my time living here that they were not good.

So what to do? Many recipes that may otherwise be cost-efficient, like pastas with sauces, and various soups, require some amount of tomato, and are perfect for wintertime.

My solution is to substitute canned tomato products. Tomato juice, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, whole peeled tomatoes--all these have been starring in my winter cooking. If you keep your eyes open for them, you can sometimes find a really good deal, too. I bought recently about five 765 g cans of peeled whole Italian tomatoes; they were on sale for 82 euro cents a piece! I use these in the following dishes on the site:

Sweet and Sour Schi
Golubtsy
Eggplant Dhal
Cheese Fondue (They're not in the posted recipe, but adding one or two chopped tomatoes to cheese fondue can be very tasty.)
Borsch (Uses tomato paste, in the recipe I posted. I've before used chopped canned tomato or crushed tomato when I didn't have paste. Or you can use a combo of both.)

Some other applications that I haven't posted (yet):

-Many other soups, including plain, simple and tasty tomato soup
-Meat curries
-Tomato Sauce for Pasta

I would say that you can safely replace fresh tomato for canned in any recipe that will actually cook the tomato. Some things, which call for the fruit to be eaten raw, are better saved for summer. It leaves something to look forward to, don't you think?

Food in America

So, it isn't a recipe, but this is a food related post.

I came back home (to the States) for a visit starting on Thursday, after having lived in France for the past 7 months. French food is DELICIOUS, but naturally, there were some American foods that I missed. Surprisingly, a lot of them are fast food/restaurant food, which I never ate very often at all when I actually lived here.

I came here with a list of foods to buy and bring back, and a list of restaurants I wanted to go to. Now, after just being here a few days, several are crossed off, not because I've gone there and eaten the food/bought it, but because I've realized that my palate has changed and there are certain things that I don't want anymore. Also there are certain things (peanut butter and marshmallows, brownies) that I've been able to find or recreate in France in the past couple of weeks.

Here's what I've eaten so far being here, and what I've thought about it:

-Thursday: A reuben sandwich in Newark airport. It was great, but I had to take half the cheese off of it. The fries were disgusting! They were so different from the crispy French ones I'm used to now; they were so doughy!

-Friday Lunch: I had some refried black beans that I made, and some microwaved plantains (Goya brand). They satisfied most of my craving for Mexican/Latin American food.
-Friday Dinner: We went to an Indian chaat place. I had some pani puri, some dahi wada, some masala dhosa, and for dessert, gajar halva and rasgulla. The dessert was ok. The pani puri and dhosa were dissapointing, the dahi wada was the best dish (yogurt was good, the wadas were not). It was something I had been CRAVING, but I realize now that after India, no chaat in America will ever compare. A dissapointing realization.

-Saturday Lunch: We went to a new Vietnamese restaurant. I had very decent eggrolls and spring rolls, and the best pho I've ever eaten!
-Saturday Dinner: It was a religious holiday at my dad's mosque. I am no longer an observant muslim, so I didn't attend, but I joined my family afterward for the food (at my dad's request, I'm not freeloading here). It was biryani made with mutton or goat (I think mutton), and a really tasty salad (yogurt, beets, onion, cucumber and cilantro). The cake afterwards was tasty, just white cake layered with cream and fruit. The beverage was milk with tapioca pearls and rooh afza (sharbat). The sharbat was fantastic, as was the salad and cake. The biryani was ok. My portion had too much masala, not enough rice. The mutton was fatty and mostly bones.

-Sunday Dinner: My dad made steak, and my mom made mashed sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach and sauteed mushrooms. I feel bad saying it ... but tonight was when I realized I've become a much better cook than my parents. Things were mostly poorly seasoned and overcooked. :-( Sorry parents!

Things still to eat on my list: some good tex-mex, some more southwestern mexican food, my favorite thai restaurant, chik-fil-a, a burger from this place by my university, some lemon-chicken soup from this one Greek restaurant, sushi from my favorite sushi place and this one Persian restaurant. Out of all of them ... I think that only the sushi and the Greek place, maybe the tex-mex, will be disappointing. I've taken a few things off my list: Quizno's and Subway (which for some reason I was craving), several things that Mom makes that I can now make too. I think there were others, but I already deleted those so I don't remember!

In general I think the food in France is much better quality. I bought expensive organic eggs here, and they don't compare in color or taste to the cheapest ones in France. But there are some things that just AREN'T in France, like good cheddar cheese. I had a cheddar cheese pretzel today and it was great. Only in America: German pretzel, English cheese. :-)