I can't believe it's thursday already, time flies when you're having fun (or working 11 hour days). Last weekend we were meant to go skiing with my work but this trip got cancled as there has been so little snow in the mountains although
this week made up for it. Instead fridaynight we enjoyed a great fondue at a very nice
restaurant. It is a traditional place where a lot of quilds and studentassociations still meet. I like fondues as they are a very social and simple kind of meal. But the real surprise was dessert, I chose a
lackerli mousse. These are traditional Basel biscuits that are normally quite hard and chewy so this could go either be lovely or go horribly wrong.....but it tasted great. It still had that lackerli chewiness but was nice and airy....I'll definitly go back for that again.
The next day we went to see the
Vogelgryff, this is an old Basel tradition (started in the 13th century) based on the rivalry between the north and south part of the city. A raft carries a wild man, a lion and a griffin down the river, which come to the bridge and then dance around with their back towards south Basel. It was very nice, but very busy, with lots of kids so I recommend coming early to get a spot at the middle of the bridge.
Then I went to pick up my brand new ski's (early birthday present) which we went to test out on sunday. Barry, Simone and I went to
Engelberg for a bit of skiing. Two hours by train later, we were on the slopes and had a fab day in the sun, although we could have done with a bit more snow. The days was also filled with hazards as you can read in this
post. What Barry failed to mention is that coming off our first lift in the morning, he made it impossible for me to get out which meant I fell down the side of the lift (±3m)!!! Luckily I landed in a big pile of fluffy powder. In addition, I had to spend the whole afternoon skiing with his one bent pole. But it's worth it if he comes skiing more often!
Once back in Basel, we treated ourselves to a tropical dessert using Barry's latest Christmas present. He got a blowtorch for cooking so we made a lovely mango creme brulee based on recipe in a Malaysian dessert book I received with a
blogging by post package a while ago. I liked the idea of using fruitpuree in stead of cream as still trying to be sensible with eating to much fat. The creme turned out really rich, which was nice and had a lovely crispy topping. We'll definitly be making this one again, specially as everything I cook at the moment Barry wants to blowtorch!! fire extinguisher anyone?!
Mango creme brulee (serves 6)
2 eggs
30g sugar (plus extra on top)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence
250 ml mango puree
Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence until creamy. Add the mango puree and stir thoroughly. Pour this into molds, bake 30 min at 170C until golden on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool (they will sink quite a bit so make sure your molds are nice and full). Sprinkle some sugar on top and melt/caramalize this with the blowtorch (or place under the grill).
With all the Fasnacht, I haven't done so much (exciting) cooking...plus with a visit from my brother and his girlfriend last weekend we went away to the Alps. We'd planned this a long time ago and I'd been hoping that the weather would pick up or cool down!! After the initial dump of snow in January, the Swiss winter has been very disappointing. The warmest one for the last (don't know how many) years. Not exactly what I expected from moving to Switzerland but we've made the best of it so far with 2 great trips. 
