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!)
(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
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.)
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.)
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