Animals in Switzerland

Woof.

There are many animals that live in Switzerland- deer, marmots, beavers and Wild Ibex, but when I think of Switzerland one animal comes to mind - the St. Bernard!

Descended from the Swiss Mountain dog, or Sennenhund, the St. Bernard was a dog bred and used for rescuing stranded travellers in the Swiss Alps.  These huge dogs can weigh up to 250 pounds and are very strong and intelligent.  The classic St. Bernard has changed over the years, when many of them were killed during some particularly hard winters and those that remained were bred with the Newfoundland breed.  That breeding gave the St. Bernard a furrier coat which froze more easily in the deep snow.  They no longer are used for rescue but are still a popular dog- a big, huge, loveable,DROOLY dog!

FYI- The name St. Bernard came from the traveler's hospice where they were first used, Great St. Bernard Hospice, which is, coincidentally, located on St. Bernard's Pass in the Western Alps.  And they never had casks of Brandy around their necks!

Barry the Bravest St. Bernard

One of the most famous St. Bernard's in Switzerland was Barry.  He was reported to have saved between 40 - 100 lives, including a small boy who he persuaded to climb onto his back and brought to safety.  He has been honored with statues, had books written about him,and his body is preserved at the Natural History Museum in Bern.

We are watching a movie about a different St. Bernard tonight.  No, not Cujo , that movie scared the bejezzus out of me!  We're watching Beethoven.  I haven't seen it for years (decades?) but I remember it being a fun movie that I'm sure the kids will get a kick out of !! Seriously, who doesn't love a big ol' drooly dog??

On the Menu Part 2: Swiss Food

 Guten Appetit!

That is "good appetite" in German, one of the 4 languages in Switzerland.  Our little adventure in cheese just wasn't enough to whet our appetite so we went online to search for some recipes.  We found this recipe (and many others that sounded good) at The Swiss Center . It's a recipe for Zurich-style "cut meat" or sliced steak, called Zurcher Geschnetzeltes.  It's not a low calorie meal but it was easy and delicious and the ingredients are easy to find!  

Zurcher Geschnetzeltes-
For the recipe you will need:

• 1lb. veal.  I don't eat veal so we used top sirloin- sliced into strips.
• 1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms
• 1 med. onion sliced
• 2 oz. butter
• 5 oz. white wine
• 7 oz. cream- beaten slightly to thicken
• 1/2 lemon- juiced
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper

1. Heat butter and lightly brown the meat.  Remove from pan and keep warm while preparing the rest.
2.  Fry mushrooms for a few minutes same pan. Add the lemon juice.  Add onions and cook until browned.
3.  Add wine to deglaze pan.  Lower heat, cover and cook for a few minutes.
4.  Return meat to pan, raise the heat (not boiling) and stir in cream.  Add parsley and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for a few more minutes to bring everything up to the right temperature.
5.  This would traditionally be served with "rosti", which are similar to hash browns, but I served them with egg noodles, even though I have hash browns in the ingredients picture.

 

The whole family liked this dish, although my husband picked out the onions and the kids only ate the meat and noodles (and some broccoli).  The sauce was delicious - lemony, creamy and really good over the noodles and broccoli (no noodles for me).  If all the food in Switzerland tastes this delicious, sign me up for the next flight!! 

On the Menu: Swiss Food

Why, oh why?

Why did I pick last week to give up wheat (and most other carbs)!!  If I hadn't we could've had CHOCOLATE FONDUE!! Or cheese fondue with chunks of bread (drool)!!  Oh well, I guess I'd rather be thinner and healthier than eating chocolate.  In a perfect world I'd be both!  Ok, enough fantasizing, let's talk about the food of Switzerland. 

Depending on where you are in Switzerland, the foods are influenced mostly by the neighbors.  In the east it's more German, in the south it's more Italian, etc.  The one main dish that seems to be everywhere is Rosti , a potato dish very similar to hash browns.  Cheese is also very popular in Switzerland.  Everyone knows about Swiss cheese, but Emmenthal, Gruyere, Appenzeller and Vacherin are also popular.  Did you know that Swiss cheese gets it's holes because the bacteria that is put in the cheese to ferment it and give it it's distinctive flavor releases carbon dioxide gases which form the bubbles?  I learn something new every day!

So we went to the fancy cheese section of the grocery store and bought some of the cheeses of Switzerland.  We bought a chunk of baby Swiss and some cave-aged Gruyere.  I would've bought some Emmenthal too but they were all so expensive!!  We also bought some German thuringer, a summer sausage similar to the Swiss cervelat sausage.  Then we had a little picnic lunch.  Turns out my kids don't care for expensive Swiss cheeses, they wanted cheddar (and probably would've preferred processed American slices).  They did enjoy the sausage though, so I didn't totally blow $20.  I loved the baby Swiss, it's not as strong as "adult" Swiss and is softer and creamier. The Gruyere was not as good, in my opinion, maybe I just don't like cheese from caves.  It was kind of gritty and had a strong taste.  Oh well, now I know.  If you are eating breads be sure to click on the link above for the cheese fondue recipe- it looks soooo good and was very informative :)  I'm gonna go eat some celery.

Sniffles and Scissors

Don't sneeze with scissors!

My kids have pretty much gotten the idea that you shouldn't run with scissors, but we learned a new rule - Don't sneeze with scissors either.  Luckily, there was no blood shed with this art project :)  I had both kids home yesterday with the latest cold to be passed around at school, so we whipped out the art supplies and made some Scherenschnitte!  Gesundheit!!  You might not be familiar with what scherenschnitte is (I sure wasn't).  The name translates to "scissor cuts" in German and it has been a traditional craft in Switzerland (and Germany) since the 16th century.  I can imagine the craft was developed as a way to fill the long, cold winter days in a relatively inexpensive (but fun) way. 

The concept is to cut out a design on a piece of paper and then mount it on a contrasting colored paper.  Like a silhouette.  The designs can range from the very simple to elaborate, very detailed works of pure talent. We found a nice blog, called Papercutting, that had some beautiful examples and some free templates if you'd like to give it a whirl.  And, of course, if you just google "scherenschnitte" you'll find hundreds more!  All you really need are some colored papers and scissors. Oh, and some imagination (or a good template) helps too :) 

Cut, Cut, Cut

I can honestly say that my daughter sat at the table and did this project for a whole hour!  My son was more interested in superheroes than scherenschnitte :)  Isn't it amazing how kids from the same family can have such different personalities!  Here are pictures of our fun-

A nice way to spend a snuffly day!

I had fun too!!

 

Have fun and watch out for those scissors if you feel a sneeze coming on!!

Week 28: Switzerland

The journey continues....

...In Switzerland!!!  We're travelling from the Andes Mountains to another mountain range - The Alps, which make up most of the country.  Switzerland is a landlocked country in western Europe.  Bordered by Germany to the North, France to the West, Italy to the South and Austria and Liechtenstein to the East, it is a country that has learned to live peacefully and remain neutral in a sometimes crazy world.  The people of Switzerland are among the richest in the world and (probably because of that) have a very high quality of life.  The are well educated and speak multiple languages.  In fact, the country has 4 official languages- German, French, Italian and. less commonly, Romansh.  The capital city of Bern, for those of you still charting the latitude and longitudes, is 46.95°N / 7.44°E.  The largest and best known cities are Zurich and Geneva.  Here are some more interesting facts:

• The Red Cross was founded in Switzerland in 1863.  The symbolic red cross on the white flag is the Swiss flag reversed.

• One of the most famous children's books to come out of Switzerland was Heidi, written by Johanna Spyri.  It tells the story of a young orphan girl raised by her grandfather in the Swiss Alps.  I remember watching the Shirley Temple version on TV when I was young.

• The alphorn, a long trumpet like instrument, the accordion and yodeling are all aspects of traditional Swiss music.

• The Swiss are the biggest consumers of chocolate in the world.  They are said to consume 23 pounds per person each year.  That is a lot of chocolate!!!  Americans eat 11 pounds/year.

• Speaking of chocolate, the Nestle company was founded and is headquartered in Switzerland.  It is the biggest food company in the world.

• Switzerland is also the world leader in private banking.  Surely you've got a few million in a Swiss bank account - doesn't everyone?!? Not me.

• The country is also a leader in fine watch manufacturing.  I don't have a fine watch either.

• The rail system in Switzerland covers over 3,100 miles and the Swiss rely on the trains for much of their transportation needs.

• Between the glaciers in the Alps and the 1,500 lakes in the country, Switzerland contains over 6% of the freshwater in all of Europe.

Another interesting country!  It seems the world is just full of them!  We are looking forward to learning about yet another wonderful area in this wonderful place called Earth - hope you'll join us!!!!

But wait, there's more!!

Just one more recipe from Peru (kinda)

I had kind of put Peru week to bed, but last night's dinner was so good and full of nutritious foods that (coincidentally) are native to Peru, that I thought I would share it!  I started a new eating plan this week to try to shed a few (dozen) pounds, so I am cutting wheat out of my diet.  We'll see how that goes, but it has opened my mind up to some healthier alternatives, one of which is Quinoa (keen-wha).  According to the box, quinoa is "the supergrain of the future" and was also the supergrain of the Inca culture, who called it the "Mother Grain".  What makes it so great is that it is a complete protein all by itself, something most grains can't claim.  It is wheat and gluten-free and can be used in many different kinds of dishes- even as breakfast. So I made a little salad with it.  We can call it...........

"The Supergrain of the Future" Salad  
(catchy, huh?)      

For the recipe you will need:

• quinoa- 1 cup dry cooked according to directions
• 1 cup cooked corn
• 2 avocadoes- cubed
• tomatoes- cut up however you'd like
• aji amarillo pepper- diced (or any pepper)
• cilantro- small handful- chopped

For the dressing:

• 1/4 olive oil
• 1/4 rice vinegar
• juice of one lemon
• 1/2 - 1 tsp cumin
• 1 clove garlic- crushed
• some dijon mustard
• salt and pepper
• a little sweetener if too acidic

1.  Make the dressing in a large bowl.  I really didn't have a recipe and I usually "guesstimate" amounts so use your best judgement and play around, tasting as you go until it tastes good to you.
2.  Throw the rest of the ingredients in the bowl and combine until everyone is dressed and ready for the party in your mouth!!

This was delicious and HEALTHY!!  I ate the leftovers today for lunch and it was just as good the next day (except the avocado got a little brown).  I could imagine so many great things that could've gone into this - green onions, black beans, bell pepper, etc., and it would be great to bring to a potluck (or superbowl party- GO NINERS).