Geneva Week 6 (6/14 – 6/20) – Picking Strawberries, My First Illness, and Fête de la Musique

For Natalie, Week 6 was greeted with one of the best discoveries yet – the ability to visit a farm and pick your own fruit!

Natalie and Jason’s landlord, Christianne, told Natalie a few days prior about this farm where you could pick your own strawberries and other fruits, such as raspberries and blackberries. Therefore, on Monday of Week 6, Natalie visited the fruit farm with Christianne and found herself over 2 pounds of fresh, ripe strawberries for a very cheap price of about $6.

(The strawberry field!)

(The fruits (literally!) of Natalie's labor!)

Besides Natalie’s culinary adventure, the week essentially started off as usual. I got my multiple daily walks, Natalie worked out and experimented in the kitchen and Jason went to work at the Electronic Arts office at Place du Molard 8 in downtown Geneva.

Unfortunately, for Natalie, her first experiments with desserts didn’t go well. The jam she tried to make with her freshly picked strawberries was too runny, her never-fail butter cupcakes collapsed in the oven and her French macarons never got beyond the mixing bowl, thanks to Natalie accidentally mixing the powdered almonds with sucre en poudre (granulated sugar) instead of sucre glace (powdered sugar.)

Luckily, Natalie didn’t get too disappointed and did her best to make something out of the mistakes. With the macaron and jam issue, Natalie beat some egg whites to stiff peaks, folded them into the almond-granulated sugar mixture and then piped the mixture into little mounds onto a sheetpan, where the little mounds would be baked into cookies. Individually, they turned out to be chewy little confections. For dessert, Natalie actually made a large disk out of the individual cookies (they were sticky enough that they held together when placed slightly overlapping each other), topped them with fresh strawberries and silky Italian meringue and then put the strawberry jam-syrup concoction on top.

For the cupcake problem, Natalie unwrapped all of her cupcakes and placed some of the collapsed, but still delicious, cake into a 3-inch ring mold (all problems are solved with ring molds!), pressed it until the cake came together and then again topped the cake with fresh strawberries, the strawberry jam-syrup and just-made whipped cream. It was like a modified version of strawberry shortcake!

Natalie’s luck in the kitchen has actually been better with savory dishes. For dinner this week, Natalie prepared a delicious Carrot-Chicken Dish she got out of one of her newly purchased French cookbooks, Tians and Gratins by Valéry Drouet. 

It was so good (I got pieces of chicken, of course) that I have to share this recipe. Unfortunately, Natalie forgot to take a picture of her finished product, but, she did scan through a picture from the cookbook using her and Jason’s fancy new scanner and I’ve included it here with the recipe:

Tian de Carottes au Poulet Grillé et aux Échalotes (Carrots with Grilled Chicken and Shallots)

1 lb, 5 oz carrots - peeled and sliced length-wise into very thin strips

1 small roasted chicken – the meat pulled off and torn into large bite-size pieces

6 shallots – peeled and very thinly sliced cross-wise

1.5 oz of butter (a little less than half a stick)
1/3 cup water

4 TBS extra virgin olive oil

2 1/4 oz shredded gruyere cheese

2 TBS bread crumbs

Sea salt

Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Place the butter in a 12-inch skillet, add the salt and pepper and then melt the butter. Add the shallots and cook until caramelized and pieces are starting to get crispy. Add the chicken pieces and cook until the chicken is coated with the buttery-shallot mixture.

Remove the chicken-shallot mixture from the pan and remove the pan from the heat.

In the same pan used to cook the chicken-shallot mixture, place two of the carrot slices against the side of the pan. Then add some chicken-shallot mixture. Next to the chicken-shallot mixture, place another couple of the carrot slices and then add more chicken-shallot mixture. Repeat until all the ingredients are used. This is where the picture is helpful, so, you can see how to place the carrots and chicken mixture into the skillet.

Once all the ingredients are in the skillet, add the water to the mixture (it’ll settle at the bottom of the pan), drizzle the olive oil over the mixture, sprinkle the mixture with the gruyere cheese and then the breadcrumbs.

Cover with foil and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, increase the oven heat to 400F and bake for another 10-15 minutes (depending on the desired tenderness of the carrots). Jason and Natalie like their carrots a bit on the crispy side, but, if you like them more tender, leave in the oven longer.

This dish will serve a family of four people, who are mildly hungry.  Jason and Natalie were able to stretch this dish into two nights.

So, needless to say, Natalie has so far done pretty well in the savory cooking department, but will probably be spending a lot of time in the kitchen continuing to experiment with the desserts.  In the meantime, I’m sure we’ll all put on a couple pounds (while probably having to be a 'good sport' on a couple of occasions!) tasting Natalie’s experiments.

This week, I also got to visit my doggie day care on Tuesday and Thursday and play to my heart’s content and Natalie and Jason continued on with their French lessons.

This week’s French lessons was all about learning how and when to apply the verb conjugations Être (to be, or the equivalent of am/are’) vs. Avoir (to have) in a sentence. For example, Je suis americaine et j’ai un passeport (I am American and I have a passport) uses both the 'to be' and 'to have' verb conjugations.  It’s definitely much easier writing than saying, because, of course, it sounds way different than written. For example, that phrase above sounds like ‘ju swee amerikenne ay jay uh pass-uh-porh.’

Apparently, there have been a number of times where Natalie stares blankly at her French teacher, Emanuel, when he speaks, wondering if maybe he’s had a bit too much Gamaret and can’t speak clearly; but then realizes he’s speaking perfect French. Natalie better stop wishing she, herself, could have a nice big glass of Gamaret during these moments and get focused on learning the language.

Week 6 was also an exciting week for Futbol! The Swiss team actually and miraculously won their game against Spain! Natalie was at home working on her baking and pastry portfolio and I was sleeping on the couch, but Jason was able to catch the game at work (Electronic Arts Geneva created the electronic game for FIFA futbol, so, of course the World Cup would be all over the TVs at his office!)  Jason also caught, and was caught up!, in some of the excitement in the streets downtown. Everyone was yelling Hopp Suisse! Hopp Suisse! and it was a very good day for Switzerland, indeed.

Unfortunately, though, as the workweek was nearing to an end, I was not feeling so well.  After Natalie picked me up and brought me home from DDC on Thursday afternoon, I headed straight for the couch and passed out. Natalie wasn’t too concerned as I am usually tired from my DDC outings; however, as dinnertime rolled around and she prepared me a nice meal of kibble and warm water, I wanted nothing to do with it. Natalie could barely even coax me to get off the couch and eat the gruyere cheese she was grating for a potato gratin. All I wanted to do was sleep.

Of course, when Jason got home that evening, Natalie was a bit concerned and they agreed that either a) I didn’t like my food and was striking – I’ve done it before, b) I was bored and wanted attention or c) something was actually wrong. Lucky for Natalie and Jason and unlucky for me, I had a pre-scheduled Vet visit planned for Friday to get yet another vaccination and Natalie and Jason would just ask the Dr. then about my lack of energy and lack of willingness to eat.

Friday morning rolled around and sure enough, I didn’t eat again. Natalie even tried to coax me with my favorite canned food. I went to the couch and took a long nap.

By Friday afternoon, I was officially ‘under the weather’ and when Natalie took me to the vet I didn’t protest. I just laid down on the cool floor in the office hoping to grab another quick snooze.

My Vet, Dr. Luka, came in to give me my vaccination and Natalie told him my situation. He did all his checks on me, and told Natalie that I had a 104F fever! Normally, for my type the maximum normal temperature is 102.5F. Anything above 102.5F is not very comfortable and explains my desire to sleep and not eat.

Dr. Luka took my blood and luckily, there was nothing in my blood to indicate anything serious. He said the cause of my fever was likely due to something I ate (I possibly got into some bacteria during one of my digging excursions) and the fever was my body’s response to fighting it off.

Therefore, in order to get me more comfortable, Dr. Luka injected me full of saline and I had a big lump behind the scruff of my neck for a while as the saline absorbed itself into my body. He also prescribed me with antibiotics.

I went home that evening and slept. Luckily, the drugs and saline were starting to kick in and I even ate some.

Given my situation and the fact that it was a bit rainy, Saturday was a slow day. Natalie did introduce Jason to the strawberry patch and they picked some ripe strawberries for yet another jam attempt.

After bringing back 4 lbs of strawberries, we spent the rest of the day lounging around Geneva and Carouge and then went for a nice dinner that evening at Restaurant Le Cottage in Anieres.

For dinner, Natalie and Jason both started off with a very flavorful gazpacho with a strong essence of deeply roasted tomato.  Natalie’s main course consisted of a Harissa-coated chicken and freshly made pomme frites. Jason enjoyed beef with what tasted like a green curry sauce and fresh pomme frites.

We all slept very peacefully that night – Natalie and Jason knowing I was getting better and me, I was cooler and could actually get a full night’s sleep.

On Sunday morning, after a short walk, Jason and Natalie left me to rest at home while they went to church in Old Town Geneva, which is near downtown. The Church they went to was the Evangelical Baptist Church of Geneva.  This was an English-speaking church and was suggested to Jason and Natalie, by their friend Bernard, who had lived in Geneva himself and had attended this church.

After service and conversing with a few people they met, Natalie and Jason came home to pick me up and we were off back towards downtown where we would enjoy ‘Fête de la Musique’!

Fête de la Musique (aka 'World Music Day) is an annual international musical festival to celebrate the summer solstice.  It was actually started in France and is now held all over the world, including Switzerland.  The Fête de la Musique is a collection of free concerts and street performers that includes musicians and artists who are amateurs and professionals alike!

The portion of Fête de la Musique we experienced was in Parc des Bastions in Geneva. There were rappers, children singing Do-Re-Mi in French and in English, a person juggling bowling pin like things and classical music artists.

(The juggler! He was quite talented.)

One of the best parts about Fête de la Musique, though, was all the food stands. There was food from all over the world – from China to Bolivia! Lucky for me, this world food was also all over the ground! This was likely the result of the many little kids running around and dropping food, but I didn't mind. I had a feast all to myself!

Clearly, I was feeling better, because Jason called me a ‘hoover vacuum’ as I was sucking up (or trying to suck up) everything I could find on the ground. Jason and Natalie weren’t so keen on me doing this, since my nose and desire for picking random food off the ground probably is what caused the fever in the first place, but I am too fast for them to stop me sometimes, so, I managed to get my fill of treats.

(I just don't understand why I can't eat more of the tasty treats off the ground?!)

After spending the afternoon at Fête de la Musique, we made our way home to have a tasty dinner of lamb and potatoes cooked by Jason, while Natalie attempted to make more jam out of strawberries picked that weekend.

I rested on the couch, thankful for the fact that I had energy again and was feeling better. There is so much to sniff and discover in this exciting new territory, that really, I have no time to be ill. Thanks to Dr. Luka, I am back on four paws again and am ready to continue exploring La Suisse with my two favorite people.

Paws,

Sabrina

(Beautiful La Suisse! The entrance to Parc de Bastions.)

Geneva Week 5 (6/7 - 6/13) - Jason visits the U.S., ‘Glocals’, and the World Cup!

Coming off of the previous week’s whirlwind of activities, eating and my vacation at DDC, it was a welcome treat (not literally, unfortunately) to have a relaxing week 5 and start getting into a bit of a routine.

Week 5 did not start out all that enjoyable, though. After having both my dog-parents around for over a month, Jason flew back to the U.S. on Monday morning for work and would not be returning home until Saturday!

As much as I love Natalie, I also love my Jason and it’s always preferable both people are constantly in my presence. I do understand, though, that Jason needs to go back for work periodically and he did promise me that his visits would only be occasional, so I let him go this one time. If his time away does becomes a frequent occurrence, though, I’ll have to put my paw down at some point.

After we said Au Revoir! (goodbye) to Jason, Natalie and I settled into our week. On the days I did not go to DDC, Natalie was diligent about letting me dig for a solid hour in the mornings, giving me the opportunity to sniff and roll in the grapevines in the afternoon, and then providing me with gorgeous views of the lake on our evening walks to the center of Anieres and back. All in all, on non-DDC days, I got a solid two hours in of walking and playing. The rest of my time, I spent sleeping and begging if food was present - Oh, how nice it is to live a dog’s life.

(My afternoon 'rolling' near what I like to call the 'grapevine trail.')

On DDC days, which are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Natalie and I tried a new schedule, which was for me to be at DDC from 7:30am – 3pm. This works with traffic and it allows Natalie a little bit of time in the mornings to sit at the lake in nearby Saint Prex and read, or get prepared for her day.  It also keeps the afternoons free to get stuff done, and take me for another walk! Although, I’ve been having so much fun at DDC and have been playing so hard, my favorite thing to do when I get home from these adventures has actually been sleeping on my shag rug, or the couch.

(At the beach in the morning in Saint Prex!)

(Another picture of the view from the Saint Prex beach in the morning! I couldn't choose between which pictures I liked more, so, I just included both!)

Natalie spent her days this week continuing to fill the home with much needed gadgets. She purchased a printer that is also a copier and scanner. This will be especially useful, as there don’t really seem to be FedEx-Kinkos in Europe. Therefore, rather than Natalie trying to fumble around figuring out where to get a copy made, she just bought a machine that is capable to such tasks at home.

Natalie also purchased an immersion blender that has food processor and hand-mixer attachments, which is all about saving space and money! Unfortunately, with the different voltages between the U.S. and Europe, Natalie and Jason are unable to take any of this back with them when return to San Francisco in a couple years.

The other large purchase Natalie made was a super strength Dust Buster. Due to the new climate and the fact the summer is so desperately trying to shine through (we get rain about 4 times a week here still), I am shedding what seems like pounds of fur a day! In an effort to avoid our house turning into a massive furball, Natalie is attempting to keep the floors clean with constant vacuuming and the furniture and car clean with this handy-dandy Dust Buster.

In addition to Natalie’s attempts at draining the bank account, she also spent a couple days this week at the gym running and getting her free coaching session for signing up at the gym.  As mentioned in my earlier post, the gym is right near our house (and conveniently on the way to Natalie and Jason’s favorite bakery) and is like a mini-resort all in itself, with spa services, pools, a restaurant, etc., etc. 

Natalie was also introduced to ‘Glocals’ this past week. Glocals is an organization of internationals living in Switzerland. The site is mainly in English and it contains group activities organized my Glocals members, discounts, classifieds, member reviews of just about anything you can think of (think Yelp!) and is, overall, a very useful forum to people like Jason and Natalie.

The way Natalie and Jason found out about Glocals was through Jason’s co-worker, Julie. Julie just arrived in Geneva last Wednesday and emailed Natalie and Jason wondering if they’d be interested in attending a Glocals new member drinks at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in downtown Geneva. Jason was obviously out of town, but, Natalie decided to go and had a nice time getting to know Julie, meeting a couple of new people and learning about the Glocals organization.

The Friday evening before Jason was set to come home, Natalie and I decided to go out for dinner. Natalie cooked at home all week and we both figured it was time to treat ourselves. We went to Café Marronniers in Collonge-Bellerive, which is not far from our house. Natalie had a Parma pizza (pizza with Prosciutto on top) and a meringue with red fruits and fresh Gruyere cream for dessert. I, of course, got to sample the prosciutto from the pizza.

Saturday finally rolled around; however, both Natalie and I met it with a lack of sleep.  Jason was supposed to fly out from San Francisco to Frankfurt on Friday evening at around 11pm (Geneva time). Natalie talked to him right after our dinner and he was sitting on the plane ready to go; however, an hour or so later, Natalie got a call from Jason (which, was strange, because he was supposed to be in the air) telling her the Pilot found out the landing gear sensor was broken as he was leaving the gate.  Therefore, the plane had to turn around and go back to the gate.

Since this was an International flight, Jason couldn’t get off the plane, so he had to wait until the problem was fixed. Three hours later (it was around 3am now in Geneva), Jason called Natalie again saying that they were still fixing the problem and he was still stuck on the plane; however, it sounded like they’d be flying soon.

The plane finally took off 4 ½ hours after it was scheduled to leave. Unfortunately, Jason had to sit on that plane the entire time and, to add insult to injury he was going to miss his connection to Geneva from Frankfurt.

Thanks to past experiences, both Natalie and Jason already knew Lufthansa is worse than the worst with respect to making it easy for people to reschedule connections. Therefore, neither was surprised to find out that once Jason finally landed in Frankfurt, he would have to stand in line for over two hours to get his connecting flight rebooked.

While Jason was dealing with one of the most painful flights he’s ever had, Natalie drug herself out of bed to take me on my morning walk and then headed downtown where she joined up with a running group she found through Glocals. Despite her fatigue, Natalie ran about 6 miles through beautiful new territory in Geneva with a really nice person she met in the group.  

This particular running group Natalie joined is actually involved in Achilles International. Achilles International is a worldwide organization that helps get people with disabilities involved in sports, or back into sports. Achilles is new here in Geneva, but Natalie hopes to help it grow and get involved during her time here.

Natalie did some grocery shopping after her run, made another stop at her favorite bakery in Veigy and then got home and cleaned up in anticipation of Jason’s return!

Jason finally made it home Saturday evening by 7pm. Since Natalie is still tentative on how to drive to the airport and the train is really easy to take from the airport, Jason took a train from the airport to the Geneva train station, where Natalie and I met him nearby. He was obviously exhausted and groggy; however, since Saturday night was the World Cup Soccer (or Futbol, as it’s referred to in Europe) match between U.S. and England, Jason managed to muster up enough energy to go out.

After a refreshing shower and a very quick break at home, where Jason so graciously gave me a few belly rubs I had been missing so much all week, Natalie and Jason were off to see the match.

Now, I am generally not a fan of being left behind, and I am definitely not a fan when my Jason comes home after being gone and then leaves right away! Sure enough, both Natalie and Jason got the ‘snake-eye’ as they were heading out the door.

Jason, Natalie and his co-worker Julie all met up at the Lady Godiva Pub in the Plainpalais district of Geneva. This is a British-style pub and there are a lot of British people in Geneva.  It is almost too obvious to say, but about 70% of the bar’s customers were British. Luckily for Jason, Natalie and Julie and the small contingent of Americans in the room, the U.S. tied the match with Britain! And, if I may put it in doggie terms, the Britains definitely left that pub with their ‘tail between their legs.’

The match ended around 10:30 and since Natalie and Jason hadn’t yet had a proper dinner, they found a nice little Italian place near the pub. Jason had very fresh-tasting seafood pasta and Natalie had one of the yummiest lasagnas she’s ever eaten outside of home. This lasagna came piping hot in a soup bowl and was swimming in a cheesy-tomato sauce. The lasagna itself consisted of perfectly cooked noodles, a tangy Bolognese sauce and fresh mozzarella. Since Natalie is not a fan of ricotta and every single restaurant includes ricotta in its lasagna, Natalie was very pleased to find lasagna without it.

Natalie and Jason finally made it home very late in the evening and we all slept in on Sunday until close to 10am. Between Jason’s horrible flight and my and Natalie’s lack of good sleep the night before, we all needed to rest.

Sunday was a relaxing day – we went, yet again, to the bakery in Veigy and then headed out for a leisurely, yet somewhat rainy drive towards Chamonix, France.

On our way to Chamonix, Jason actually found a new town, called Samoens, France. Samoens is a very charming place and we look forward to spending more time there, hopefully when it won’t be raining as much. It was a nice town to walk in and also had a very rustic boulangerie where Natalie and Jason got jambon et beurre (ham and butter) sandwiches and cookies for dessert.

We arrived home from Chamonix later that evening and went for a walk to Anieres – the weather had dried up, which was nice, and the lake against the clouds was magnificent. The only downside, though, was my nose getting me into trouble again! On our way back towards the house, I happened to be sniffing at some sheep through a seemingly basic fence. Well, all of the sudden I felt this horrific shock, let out a large yelp and jumped about 3 feet.

Natalie, not knowing fully what happened, yet having her suspicions, asked Jason to be the guinea pig and touch the fence. Sure enough, it was ‘hot.’ I’ll make sure to not get too close to that fence again.

(The sign showing the entrance to our small village of Chevrens - this is along our walk to and from Anieres.)

(Natalie and I at the entrance to our village on the way back from our walk to Anieres....this is after my shocking incident. Luckily, it appears no permanent damage was done (although Natalie and Jason may have another opinion about that.))

After a dinner of merguez sausage sandwiches and salad, Natalie and Jason did their French homework and bills while I slept and we all retired in preparation for our next week of adventures here in Switzerland!

Paws,

Sabrina

Geneva Week 4 (5/31 – 6/6) - My vacation at ‘DDC’ and Sicily = Food, Food, and more Food

Week 4 marked the end of our first full month here as a complete family. During our first month, I discovered parks, beaches, endless amounts of digging and a new doggie day care that I am rather growing fond of. Natalie and Jason have enjoyed learning about the many scenic and culinary benefits this part of Europe has to offer.

Week 4 was no different.

The week started out the same as usual. Jason went to work in downtown Geneva during the day and Natalie and I stayed up near our place where we both were productive in our own ways. I dug and rolled around endlessly and Natalie maintained the house and kept to her running schedule.  In fact, I rolled around in so much fragrant earth that Natalie gave me my first bath. I am not a huge fan of taking baths; however, Natalie accused me of smelling like a farm animal and told me she wasn’t going to let me inside if I didn’t take one; therefore, I really had no choice.

Natalie and Jason also had their 2^nd French lesson. This lesson included learning how to ask what things were (Qu’est-ce que c’est? is the phrase for ‘what is this?’ if anyone’s interested) and they also got homework for the first time.

I didn’t go to Doggie Day Care (DDC) on Tuesday this week, since Natalie and Jason would be leaving for Sicily on Wednesday night and I would therefore, be staying at DDC from Wednesday until Saturday, which was the day they were set to return.

I was not too happy about this plan, as I was still getting used to DDC and wasn’t sure I was ready to stay overnight.  Wednesday arrived and I was a bit of a grump all day knowing what the rest of my week was going to look like compared to what the rest of Natalie and Jason’s week was going to include. In fact, I made it a point to very passionately and enthusiastically roll around in some extremely fragrant earth that morning as a way of showing Natalie how I felt about the situation.

(Here I am rolling around on something good and smelly :-))

As I’d hoped, Natalie got irritated at the fresh ‘stink’ on me and called me a farm animal again. However, she still persisted on driving me to DDC that evening.

Natalie dropped me off and included with my drop-off a lemon cream-cherry tart she made for the owners of DDC. Natalie was quite excited about this tart as she created her own crème fraiche topping to include on the tart.  Since she was so proud of the recipe and excited to share it with others, I will include it on the blog soon.

As I was settling in to my first evening at DDC, Natalie picked Jason up at work and they both headed off to the airport to catch their flight to Sicily.

The flight to Sicily was a quick two hour trip over the Alps and down through Italy. Natalie and Jason arrived in Sicily at about 10:45 that evening and in what they learned to be typical Sicilian fashion, they had to wait about 45 minutes before they got their bags.

Jason and Natalie finally retrieved their bags, picked up their rental car and Jason took the wheel and started the adventure that was the Sicilian roads! After navigating through road signs that were covered by trees, speedy Italian drivers and getting lost on the road to the hotel (they went the wrong way and the usually trusty iPhone GPS wasn’t helping them much this time), they both finally arrived into the Hotel Lido Caparena in Taormina, Sicily at about 12:45am.

Neither Jason, nor Natalie slept very well and were therefore up before 8am on Thursday morning. Jason was up primarily because he couldn’t sleep and Natalie was up because the beach, which was right outside their hotel room, was calling.

This beach was on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, was privately owned by the hotel and had lounges and towels ready for guests to use. Therefore, all Natalie had to do was get in her swimsuit and walk the 100 yards or so to a day full of sun-tanning prior to the evening’s wedding activities.

Prior to the beach, Natalie and Jason headed down to breakfast and there they met up with Jason’s aunts and their families, who were all in town for the wedding.  They had lovely conversation and Jason and Natalie were definitely looking forward to spending lots of time with Ellen, Sally, Mary and Sue and their families (although, it was Sue’s son, Nick, who was getting married, so, needless to say Sue was quite busy all the way up to the wedding.)

Natalie, Jason and the ‘aunts’ as Natalie and Jason affectionately like to refer to them spent a good part of the day on the beach and getting way too much sun. Before they knew it, the afternoon rolled around and it was time to get ready for the wedding.

The wedding was about an hour and a half away via bus to a town near Catania, Sicily. Therefore, everyone needed to be at the front of the hotel to catch the bus by 4pm that afternoon. Luckily, everyone got ready and made it on the bus in time. An hour and a half later, the bus stopped in front of a very beautiful castle.

(The Castle where the wedding was being held!)

Natalie and Jason wandered the grounds (or, Natalie more like wobbled – the ancient cobblestone was a bit much for her 4-inch heels) and drank authentic Sicilian refreshments that tasted like creamy, sweetened almond milk. Natalie wanted another, but her dress was already tight and the evening hadn’t even begun.

After all the guests arrived, the wedding started in a tiny, yet romantic chapel that was to the side of the castle. Nick was beaming and his bride, Cinzia, was beautiful. Much of the ceremony was in Italian and Natalie and Jason delighted in experiencing a wedding in a different culture. After the ceremony ended, the guests filed out and picked up cones of rice to throw at the elated bride and groom!

(The cones of rice nicely displayed to look like Cala Lilies.)

Everyone then ventured into a courtyard with a sparkly swimming pool and benches covered in white pillows. This courtyard was the site for aperitivo (appetizers) and prosecco. Natalie and Jason figured that this was the reception and therefore, happily drank and munched on deep fried treats, such as ham sandwiches and vegetables. They also were served little cups of granita and stuffed puff pastries.

(The courtyard with the comfortable benches.)

A little over an hour into the reception, all the guests starting moving out of the courtyard and into another section of the castle. Natalie and Jason didn’t know why, but followed anyway.

This section of the castle had yet another courtyard and dimly lit rooms off of the courtyard. It also contained more food and a lot of it! Apparently, as Natalie and Jason quickly learned, this was the antipasti portion of the reception. And, as they also learned, this would be followed by a sit-down dinner with multiple courses!

(A picture of one of the dimly lit rooms off of the 'antipasti' courtyard.)

The favorite part of the antipasti course for Jason and Natalie had to be the cheese and ham display, specifically the huge round of parmigiano reggiano hollowed out and filled with chunks of the salty and addictive cheese! This display also contained some very fine parma prosciutto and mozzarella burrata.

(The Parmigiano Reggiano Round!)

Natalie went back a couple of times for the cheese (Jason had a bit more self-control) and after drinking and eating way more food than necessary, Natalie and Jason then made their way into the main dining room, which was in yet another beautiful part of the castle for the sit down dinner.

By this point, Natalie and Jason were thoroughly stuffed…Natalie wouldn’t have been surprised, actually, if her dress blew apart at the seams.

Even though Natalie and Jason couldn’t breathe they both had to sample the sit down dinner offerings, which consisted of two delicious pasta dishes as the ‘primi’, a fish entree as the ‘secondi’ and a refreshing white wine to complement the meal.

By the time dinner finished, it had to be somewhere close to 11pm…you would think that the feasting would be over; however, the most important meal, dessert!, still needed to be served.

Everyone moved out into the courtyard where the aperitivo were served earlier and the courtyard was now turned into a sweets paradise. At the center of it all was the biggest wedding cake Natalie had ever seen - it was the size of a small armchair!

(The largest wedding cake Natalie and Jason have ever seen!)

Natalie managed to find room in her stomach for the dessert (if she stood up, the dress didn’t feel that tight and she could eat more) and sampled the wedding cake, jordan almonds and a variety of European-style cakes and confections. Jason also dabbled in the dessert, but again, managed to hold back a bit more than Natalie.

(Jordan Almonds!)

(One of the perfect cakes that was quickly devoured by guests!)

Dancing then started and at close to 2am, the fabulous party ended and Natalie and Jason were back on the bus headed to the hotel with many of the family, as well as the bride and groom.

Unfortunately, the next morning, Natalie and Jason suffered from a serious food hangover. They would need to get over it, though, because Friday would prove to be as big of a feasting day as Thursday.

Natalie and Jason joined the family for breakfast at the hotel and then headed out for the day to visit two chefs Natalie had met while in culinary school. One of the chefs, Corrado Assenza, owns a pastry shop called Caffe Sicilia in Noto, Sicily and Natalie and Jason were going to meet up with him first. The other chef, Accursio Craparo, is the head chef at Ristorante La Gazza Ladra, which is in Modica, Sicily. Natalie and Jason would be dining there for the evening.

After a pleasant drive from Taormina to Noto (which is about a hour and a half away) and after pizza for lunch and a walk in scenic Noto, Natalie and Jason visited Caffe Sicilia and had very nice conversation with Chef Corrado. They also had some delicious treats, including Pistachio Gelato, Bitter Cherry and Almond cake and White Pepper with Bergamot cake.

(The very classic sign in front of Caffe Sicilia.)

(Scenic Noto!)

All of the items Natalie and Jason tried at the café were so delicious and unique; therefore, in order to keep the Caffe Sicilia experience alive for a week or two longer Natalie and Jason filled their bags with goodies to take home. These items included chocolates with a basil center, amaretti cookies, torrone (nougat confection), a pink grapefruit marmalade, an almond cream and sugary marzipan-like cookies with a jelly center called ‘conchiglie’ (Conchiglie is ‘shell’ in Italian and these cookies were in fact shaped like shells.) Now that Natalie and Jason live in Europe, they will definitely be back to Caffe Sicilia a few more times!

An hour or so after Natalie and Jason’s visit with Chef Corrado, they found themselves winding through the narrow streets of Modica looking for Chef Accursio’s restaurant. Unfortunately, the iPhone failed them again and Natalie and Jason found themselves at a dead-end street somewhere in Modica and already 20 minutes late for the dinner reservation.

Natalie and Jason at least knew they were close to the restaurant. So, instead of braving the roads again, they decided just to go on foot. A few windy streets later, Natalie and Jason finally arrived at the restaurant and got to see Chef Accursio for a moment before he was off to make what would be a fantastic dinner!

(A picture of the inside of Ristorante La Gazza Ladra.)

Since this blog is starting to get way too long, I won’t go into each and every dish as Natalie and Jason described it to me, but rather I’ve included a link to the restaurant and the menu ‘La Gazza Ladra’ contain the dishes Natalie and Jason enjoyed for dinner that evening.

I will share some of the menu highlights, though – the false ice cream was fantastic. It was essentially smoothly pureed cod that was shaped into a ball and topped with a bit of caviar. On top of the cod was a cone that was similar in texture to a crispy fried wonton. The cone had this deliciously ‘salt and pepper’ hint that went really well with the salty cod. 

The filet of black pork was also one of Natalie and Jason’s favorites. Apparently, this pork was slow-cooked for 48 hours and you could literally cut it with your fork. It was served with this smooth, yet distinct pine nut cream and perfectly cooked asparagus.

For dessert, the ‘boiled egg’ was the winner. This ‘egg’ was actually a hollowed out eggshell filled with an almond milk gelatin (which acted as the ‘egg white’) and a passion-fruit puree (which acted as the ‘yolk’). Somehow, the chef managed to create the same exact consistency with these ingredients as a soft-boiled egg. Alongside side the ‘egg’ was a frangipane cookie and sweetened almond crumbs. The creativity and fabulous flavor of this dessert was an experience in itself!

(The 'boiled egg'!)

Natalie and Jason finally finished dinner close to midnight and after winding their way back through the streets to find their car, they were headed home and looking forward to a two and a half hour drive.

A couple of Red Bulls later, Natalie and Jason finally made it into the hotel room at around 2:30am. They got a few hours sleep before heading out to the airport later that morning.

At around 7:30 that morning, Natalie and Jason met Sally, her daughter Ellen, and Ellen to go to the airport. Jason, being the expert packer that he is, managed to fit multiple pieces of luggage and five of us into a compact car to get to the airport. It was a tight squeeze, yet made for an exciting end to what was a very exciting and adventure-packed weekend!

Of course, Natalie and Jason passed out on the plane as having only 12 hours of sleep in the prior 3 days. Luckily, they woke up refreshed in Geneva and when they got to DDC to pick me up I was so excited I could hardly stand it! Although, I do have to say I had a lot of fun at Truffes and Co. I got homemade meals prepared for me each day and I got to play and dig a lot. Hopefully, there’ll be pictures soon of my adventures – they should be on the website any day now.

Since we all had a busy few days, we spent the rest of Saturday lounging around on the Saint Prex beach and having an evening picnic on Lake Geneva in Hermance.

Sunday was also a mild day. We all went for a long walk in the morning to Natalie and Jason’s new favorite bakery in Veigy, France and afterwards Natalie and Jason signed up for the gym, which is also in France.  The afternoon consisted of lounging around again, this time in the Eaux-Vives park in Geneva and having a light dinner of tapas at a café in Carouge.

Even though we all probably weighed the bed down a bit more than the week prior, we all went to sleep on Sunday evening blessed with great memories from this last week of the union of a beautiful couple and of precious time spent with family, old friends and new friends.

Paws,

Sabrina