Les Halles

I've just discovered one of Geneva's little known secrets*....Les Halles des Rives. Camouflaged by it's mild mannered street level shop appearance beats the heart of a culinary like beast. Stand after stand of local producers selling sushi next to artisanal cheeses. Butchers with giant cleavers bump elbows with men making fresh pasta. All under one roof, with an outdoor Saturday market to boot.

As I entered and wandered longingly up and down the isles I noticed that my friend's father had a stand. How fortuitous, I had planned to forage my breakfast at Les Halles and now knew where to start. With his help I decided on a Greek tyropitakia and some borek and specially spiced pistachios for later. He was even so kind as to throw in my breakfast's dessert, baklava.

While walking amid the stalls outdoors I notice that all of the goods being sold are raw products for later. The Swiss farmer's markets tend to be less 'grazer' friendly than their American counterparts. I was hunting for other breakfast treats and something homemade to drink, but try as I may I only found Coke, Sinalco, and bottled water. sigh.

A few blocks away I managed to seat myself among some of the brightest sunshiny yellow tulips of the season and dig into my little piece of Greek fashioned heaven. Phyllo dough that could compete with clouds but feet firmly planted on the ground with earthy toasted poppy seeds embracing a warm creamy layer of the salty goodness that is feta. And gone all too soon.

Luckily my small breakfast ended up as an ethnically diverse amuse bouche for the Malaysian goodies cooked up later at Chex. More on that to come....

*the reason Les Halles is little known is not due to its appearance...but rather it's forbidding hours. 6am til 1pm? ouch.

72% Spring

One of my all time favorites is chocolate combined with fruit. I know, you are asking yourself, "Rai, what's up with all of the chocolate in your posts lately...the name of the blog isn't 'Chocoholic' or 'Countess Chocula', althought perhaps it ought to be. Where are the sauces and breads and things you mentioned?" Well my response is, "BECAUSE I CAN!!!" So there ;) As I was saying, I am a huge sucker for berries robed in chocolate, dark dreamy Godiva bars that hide a secret fruity filling, mousse cups adorned with glittering jewel-like fruits, the list goes on and on. And yet, I find here, that there is a more purist chocolate attitude. Pralines and nuts are like chocolate's well known but little mentioned mistress and fruit the horribly neglected step-child. Perhaps you'll see a dehydrated grape (aka raisin) hiding in a Tourist bar among it's nutty neighbors, but fresh fruit and chocolate? Zut Alors! So here is my praise for the exquisite incomprable pairing of two of mother nature's finest. Cheers.

Ugly Fruit and the Chocolate Factory

April 1st, a day for more than just pinning paper fish on the backs of unsuspecting friends (no, really, this is the custom here). This year, April 1st brought the second annual Festival du Chocolat in Versoix, as well as the 180th anniversary of the Favarger chocolate factory. It was my duty and privilege as a chocoholic...I mean, connoisseur to lead a trip up there and check it out. Also, a very good warm up for the Salon du Chocolat in Paris to be held this fall.

Our small group met at the train station bright eyed and bushy tailed at 9.50. Ok, maybe not so bright eyed...most of us had been out late the night before and anything before noon on a Saturday is pushing it. But there was chocolate to be had. So we hopped the train and a scant 20 minutes later arrived in Versoix, a beautiful lakeside town. Made all the more beautiful by the jam packed tent. We planned to arrive early because there had been rumors about chocolate samples running out mid-day last year and we had a private tour scheduled at the Favarger factory around 13.30.

As our group of 15 slowly ate our way through the tent we had to pause more than once at some of the miraculous things offered. (Sadly, I remembered my camera that day...just not the memory card. D'oh. Remember, it was before noon on a Saturday. My friend Jackie was kind enough to send the images you see here) One of the first sights to greet our eyes was a chocolatier hand stirring a bunch of chocolate covered honey roasted almonds. When I say hand stirring I mean, literally his bare, rather furry, arm was elbow deep in the mini cement mixer looking thing and completely covered in chocolate. And yet, my first thought was not, 'How unhygenic' but rather ' I wonder if he'd mind if I licked his arm?' Now, don't tell me you wouldn't all have had this thought as well! I didn't attack him and he kindly offered up still warm almonds covered in manna for us. Mmmm, manna.

In the next corner we had to prod our way to the front of the crowd hemming in the chocolate fountain. No, you read right. CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN, surrounded by fruit. What a beautiful mess we all were, and how I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera! On offer were also, chocolate mustards, absinthe white chocolate truffles, moelleux, chocolate spreads for tartine...too many things to recount. My favorite Genevois chocolatier was there, Phillipe Pascoet , and I found some new ones to love and explore,of which there will be further right ups later, you can be sure.

Our group of 15 headed over to Migros and picked up a quick lunch to enjoy at the lake shore (despite the rain) before zipping over to the factory for our tour. We were able to follow our noses to the quaint chateau like factory....with the huuuuge lines snaking around it! We ducked in the back, donned our protective booties and were off. Unlike the factory tours in the US, we were able to wander among the machinery rather than behind plexiglass walls. We sampled as we learned, the best way to do it, and before we knew it our chocolate festival had drawn to an end. So, with full bellies we each bought a small dixie cup of fruit and chocolate fondue to enjoy on the train ride back and began dreaming of the penultimate festival this fall.

quarter century

So, today I am another year older. I think Mother Nature decided to give me a taste of spring for my birthday...and it tasted sweet. I had an excellent birthday bash last night with my swiss amis and my expat pals. The past few weeks have been rather hectic so here is a Mexican 'vegetable pear' filler until I can update the blog as I would like to. Let's just say, there's a junk food review, saucy sampling, and carbohydrate caper in the works.

La chayotte c'est choux, non?

¡Ay, Carambar!

I am so completely juvenile (and not ashamed to admit it!) when it comes to toys, contests, and most of my style. As can be witnessed by the um...subdued color scheme of this website. I tend to be easy to shop for. If it's kitschy, brightly colored, funky or if even your 8 year old kid sister would would look askance at it because she's too old for it, chances are good I will love it.

Hence, when I opened my very first Carambar and saw there were points in it to be collected I immediately wanted 'It'. Regardless of the fact that I had no clue what 'It' was. This is like getting a decoder in your cracker jack box. Sure the popcorn is fine...but we suffer the sugar high for the 10 cent toy nestled lovingly within. Back to my narrative...So I set out to find what our little mystery prize was to be. The options are either a dvd (eh) ORRRRRR a Carambar t-shirt!!!!!! I'll take what's behind door number 2, Pat. My Vache Qui Rit shirt from the last point collecting spree needs a companion.

I rushed out and bought a bag of my very own and brought the bounty in to work to share....not without an ulterior motive, of course. I am currently up to 73 points of the 200 needed to ransom for the shirt. Wish me luck ;)

Now...about the candy itself. Imagine if a Reisen candy and a Milk Dud got wild and crazy some fine halloween evening and shed their silky chocolate coatings in your trick or treat sack. Throw a Tootsie Roll into orgy and the resulting lovechild might resemble something like our baby Carambar. Now dress the candy up in a snappy red and yellow couture covered in jokes and random trivia...in French. It has a surprisingly complex taste for a mass produced candy marketed at sticky fingered children shopping with their moms (and what mom doesn't love their child enough to glue their jaws shut with candy for a little while. Remember those giant jaw breakers you used to beg for? And your mom would finally seem to catapult and give in to your demands? It was really for her enjoyment...not yours.) It's not solely sugar or cloyingly sweet but I am starting to fear for my fillings. Especially as I haven't established myself with a dentist here yet!

Overall I'd have to say I prefer the nibble sized Milk Duds. Then again I am a self admitted (but not yet committed) chocoholic, so any candy without chocolate is a snack opportunity wasted. These are good in that once-a-year sort of way...and yet, just a bit addictive. If you find yourself craving Carambar, give into that feeling.

And send your points to me :)

Amuse-yeux

Summer by Guiseppe Arcimboldo
Originally uploaded by fuzzyshoe.

On today's menus is a big thank you to Mr. Jonathon Nix of Waltham Mass. for letting me use his painting of a xxxxx (to be disclosed later, see update below) on my title bar. (This will be added as soon as I figure out how to do so! Look forward to it, it's real purdy. In fact, expect a complete aesthetic overhaul in the near future.)

Mr. Nix does scrumptious sculptures and totally toothsome paintings, be sure to peruse his peachy paeans to produce here. Don't forget to peek at the myriad of other mediums he masters in as well. To keep him in good company let me also mention worth searching for the transcendant pepper photos done by Edward Weston, the intriguing vegetable portraits by Giuseppe Archimboldo and the amusing illustrations by Greg Brown.


*UPDATE* May 7, 2006 I am finally getting the hang of this 'blogger' thing and thanks to my future webmaster (www.rai.nu, coming soon) Laurent, we now have the image appearing in the title bar. w00t. Thanks Larry! And another thanks to Mr. Nix for the truly awesome and vibrantly alive painting of a Kiwano, better known as a horned (not horny) melon. I am still however working on the graphics and layout of the page in general though. Will keep you all updated as I go.

Cheers,
your hostess with the mostest - Rai

...but it's got a great personality!*

And so it begins. I've been flirting with the idea of blogging my culinary adventures for some time now, but have been hesitant to take the plunge. "Does the world really need another food blog?" my shoulder devil would ask. "There are so many filling so many niches already, what can you add or contribute?" And my other shoulder devil would say (yes, that's right, there are two. I seem to have conveniently misplaced my shoulder angel), "But the world needs to hear YOUR experiences, YOUR tastes, suffer...no..enjoy YOUR recipes. Yessss, world domination through baked goods. Mwahahaha." At that point, perhaps, I realized it might be a better idea to start writing and quit listening to the imaginary voices in my head ;) So, dear reader, here I am.

On a more serious note, I just feel a need to communicate with like minded individuals. I find that many people don't understand my enjoyment of cooking and eating. That is to say, I love flavors and textures, the smell, alchemy, and method in baking and cooking, in discovering unknown restaurants to share, finding new favorite foods and then holding on to them by my teeth (literally and figuratively).

My life is tied to food in so many ways -- preparing it, eating it, reading about it, discussing it, assessing it, dissecting and debating it. So many of my memories are associated with specific foods. Yet, despite all of these intricacies, many people have asked why I WASTE my time preparing meals at home. (Perhaps I just enjoy doing it? Yep.) They think it's odd for a young working gal to have any degree of domesticity. (Did I mention I hate doing dishes?) I suppose it's odd for many people to still cook on their own...or at least derive any pleasure from doing so. There's nothing I love more than clipping an incredibly difficult, multi-step, make-3-day-in-advance recipe from "Gourmet", "Bon Apetit" or "Chocolatier" and eagerly await trying it out.

Sometimes I get the wonderful and age old "Rai, I eat to live, not live to eat!", implying that my world gravitates around my next meal (which is just not true -- it may very well be a snack instead ;) but I truly don't understand why it must be one or the other. Why can't it just be lively eating? Rather than consuming solely for consumption's sake, I think it's time to suck the joy out of the marrows. Be bold, brave, and creative. Create memories and anecdotes...and I don't mean just the food. The best meal (or bottle of wine, or hot fudge sundae) is that shared among friends. That said, solitary dining and amusing oneself have equal if different merits.

There are so many spices and soups and desserts and hole in the wall diners and cafes and croissants and strange fruits not to be missed. By looking at a meal as a way to stay alive and just doing the scantist bare-ist minimum to ensure your survival, you are missing a plethora of enjoyable experiences. Yes, one could live on a very bland diet and be healthy, but where is the joie de vivre in that? Your average pooch will eat the same bowl of dog food day in and day out for as long as it lives. but how much happier is that pup when you throw it a scrap of bacon, dab the roof of it's mouth with peanut butter or pamper it with a 'frostypaws'? I can see how cooking might not be for everyone -- but eating and enjoying it? Well, there is no harm in that. It needn't be high-minded or high-handed -- sometimes we all get cravings for Taco Bell (What? You don't? Freak!) or something else that there is NO artistic or culinary art involved in. But it is just as valid because it's something we enjoy, however guiltily. So here's to guilty pleasures and eating for the joy of it!

Bon Apetit
Your Hostess-

Rai


*Disclaimer: This is not a mission statement. It is just a current gauge of my thoughts and feelings involving food. And life. I hope I can expound and explore my feelings as I go. Grow as I go. I tend to write in free form thought...and cook off the cuff. I hope you enjoy both or at least come to appreciate them. I am working on expanding my tastes and my mind. Someday I may write a real mission statement...but I like the idea of leaving it open ended and malleable, able to change with me. From time to time I hope to elaborate on my influences and inspirations -- why I like what I like and how I've come to learn I am a bit picky and what I am doing to broaden my palette. Ideally these would all be part of a real mission statement...but then this may end up a mini e-novella. Think of this less as a blog and more as musings, an experiment in life, a journal of discovery...food, self, and otherwise.