Even though I took some French classes (for tourists) years ago, and I have a semblance of pronunciation sometimes, I never got the name down pat on this one – the Talloires, yes (like tahl-wah), but the lake, no. In French it’s like ann-sy, not ann-a-sy. I kept wanting to make it 3 syllables when it’s not. Well, whatever the pronunciation, this is one gorgeous spot on our planet.

This place, in a tiny little lake-side location, about 8 miles from the town of Annecy (south of Geneva and on the east side of the lake) is one where my DH and I stayed many years ago. The hotel, L’Abbaye de Talloires had been written up in Gourmet magazine. Back then there was no internet, so I believe I faxed the hotel for reservations and Dave and I stayed here for one or two nights. We were enchanted with the location. And with no GPS’s back then, I don’t know how in the heck we ever found it. We had an exquisite meal in the somewhat formal restaurant and enjoyed sitting outside looking at the lake. And I remember the room we had, too.

At left, the front of the hotel. Isn’t it beautiful?

I remembered the hotel had been an abbey, hence the name, obviously. The rooms in the older section are really beautiful, maintaining the wooded beams. The rooms are cozy (but not small, really) with an attached bath. I requested a room with a view on the side. Nowdays it’s so easy to make reservations – we did it all online. Thank goodness for credit cards. We had rooms in different parts of the hotel. I was in a newer section with a very modern spiffy bathroom and a very nice comfortable room. The hotel has nice amenities, not the least of which is the food! Oh gosh. Our breakfasts, both mornings, well, wow, is all I can say. It was one of the best we had – rivaling the breakfast we had on Lake Brienz. And that one only because they offered muesli. We had dinner at the hotel one night – it was really delicious food. I’m glad we did that. The other night we (with Joan and Darlene making a shopping foray to a little bitty grocery store) did a kind of picnic on the end of the bed in Cherrie’s room. A towel was strategically placed, and we had crackers, cheese, Sprite for sure. Don’t remember what else. I’d told my 3 girlfriends about this hotel, and they were all kind of excited about the thought of staying in an old abbey, so I researched and found it. It is a bit pricey to stay here, but we fully felt it was worth it.

On the full in between day, Joan and Darlene both took walks and hikes (Joan hiked up to nearly the top of a nearby mountain). Darlene walked along part of the lake and took this picture, at right looking back at the hotel.

Cherrie and I, recovering from our tummy upsets of the day before (we don’t know what we ate, but we both seemed to have gotten it, whatever it was) stayed around the hotel and grounds. We walked on the terrace a little, and sat out on the dock area on lounge chairs and talked and enjoyed the sunshine and the view of the lake. We read our books, both took naps, and generally were lazy.

In the early afternoon we were craving some tea, so the kind bartender brought us some out on the sunny terrace. At right, Cherrie and I are sipping Earl Grey. We were feeling SO much better by afternoon, and it was that night we ate dinner in the hotel and enjoyed the food.

We were almost sorry to have to leave after our 2 nights there. It was just so beautiful on Lake Annecy (ann-sy, remember). But there isn’t anything to do in Talloires, really. I suppose in the summer they have swimming and boating. We just took it easy and oohed and aahed about the scenery.

The next morning as we were preparing to leave, Darlene asked the very nice desk clerk if he would take our picture out in their interior courtyard – the cloister.

Our next destination was the Geneva train station. I set the GPS to the street address, and off we went, up over the hills and dales (oh, sorry, dales are in Britain, not France) again. We were still avoiding the autobahn, so we ended up going through many little villages as we’d done on our way there, but it was a completely different route. We finally found the building where we were to drop off the car (that took a little bit of finding). Then we walked a few blocks to the Geneva station and bought our tickets. Off to Lyon next.

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Aren’t we all busy as can be sometimes and we need a quick dinner without a lot of prep? Here’s one.

Defrosting a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts was all I’d done in preparation for dinner. I glanced through my to-try file, and knowing that I had a sweet potato, cilantro, milk, ginger, garlic and Dijon . . . well, that constituted enough to try to make a riff on a Jamie Oliver recipe I had. Really, about all I used from his recipe is the technique, the milk, garlic and cinnamon. The rest I made up as I went along.

You do need to know that when you cook milk, it separates. It just does, and Jamie (and many other great cooks) have shared recipes for meat simmered in milk, so it’s not a new idea by any means. But something chemical in the milk doesn’t allow it to be simmered (boiled) without separating. (If you use heavy cream, it won’t separate even when you boil it, but milk, yes it will.) You could add flour to it to make a thin-type sauce, which would avoid the separating, but I was too lazy. I could have dipped the chicken in some seasoned flour and that would have provided some thickening to the sauce too, that might have kept it from separating. But again, I was lazy and didn’t. I wanted to try it as-is, Jamie’s way. It provides a kind of lumpy, thick-and-thin sauce that’s not exactly pretty. But it tastes good, and especially if you have some kind of carb to put it on.

I had some zucchini too, that needed fixing, so that went in another pan with a chopped up slice of bacon and cooked away slowly while I made the chicken. First you brown (light golden-brown) the chicken in a bit of butter in a big skillet (that has a lid). Once golden brown, you remove it and set it aside. Then you add a shallot, cook that a bit, then add some big chunks of sweet potato, uniformly sliced about 1/2” thick, though, so they cook evenly. Those got slightly browned, then I added in the milk. I also added a little jot of cream – hoping it might help the milk from separating (no, it didn’t). Then I added my seasonings: Dijon mustard, garlic, salt and pepper, and the cinnamon. Jamie called for a stick of cinnamon – I didn’t feel like hunting for it, so I just used a pinch or two of ground cinnamon instead. Once simmering, I added the lid and let it cook slowly for about 10 minutes, until the sweet potatoes were just barely tender. You don’t want to overcook them. The chicken is added back in, simmered for 3-4 minutes is all – until it’s tender and juicy. Don’t overcook those either or it’ll be inedible. (I ordered a Cobb salad the other day, and the chicken meat served on it was so dry I almost choked on it – what a waste.) Just know that chicken breasts don’t need hardly any cooking – check it frequently to make sure you don’t overdo it.

In the cooking time, the sauce, as I mentioned, separates. It’s kind of like curds and whey. You can see some of the curds on the sweet potatoes in the photo. The milk becomes a kind of broth, almost, with the curds in it – my solution was to kind of mush-up the sweet potatoes a little bit, then eat a bit of that, with a bite of chicken and some of the milk sauce. All together. The flavors are subtle – even with the garlic – I expected the garlic to be pronounced, but it wasn’t. I made 2 servings and used 3 garlic cloves, mashed.

What’s GOOD: I loved the taste, that’s what’s important. The visual, well, not so good, and I’d probably not serve this to guests, just because people might be put-off by the separated milk/sauce. I was fine with it, especially since Jamie Oliver tells you right up front about what happens to the milk in his recipe. Milk is a lovely tenderizer of meat, even though the chicken didn’t spend that much time bathed in the milk. It was good. It was simple. All good reasons to make it again. Is it fabulous? Well, no, I wouldn’t put it in that category. It was quick, that’s what I was looking for.

What’s NOT: the only thing is the sauce – some may not like it. I can see children saying “ew, Mom, what’s that?” But if you mush up the potatoes (or serve rice on the side) and the sauce goes on the carb, they might not notice.

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Is it past soup season? My apologies for forgetting this recipe when it was still cold, and you wanted warmth in your tummy. And perhaps I’m the very last person on the planet who hadn’t ever HAD this soup. Oh my goodness, is it ever tasty! And it’s unbelievably easy too. I didn’t put all the trimmings on the soup when I took the photo – there should be cilantro and Fritos all over the top too.

My best friend Cherrie and her husband go camping (really, it’s glamping) a lot. They have a huge (long) 5th wheel that attaches to Bud’s BIG truck and they go up the coast of California, down the coast and inland too (and to Arizona for baseball spring training). Everywhere. And truly, theirs is big enough to live in. Cherrie is an immaculate housekeeper and the 5th wheel is always decorated as cute as a bug. They have several sets of friends and some relatives that they meet in these various places. And THIS is one of the gargantuan meals Cherrie now fixes for the gang. They usually take turns preparing dinner for everyone. Cherrie raved about it, so of course (and gave me a sample), so then I had to try this myself. Cherrie got the recipe from one of the other glamping couples.

Did I tell you this recipe is EASY? Yes, I did, but it bears repeating. This is SUPER EASY! Get out your slow cooker, friends. Make a huge batch and if you can’t eat it all now, freeze it in family-sized portions. The only thing you’ll have to do later is prepare the garnishes (of which there are a few).

It’s like a chili – you could use ground turkey – but the ground beef one was awfully good. You brown up the beef and onions, then pour everything into the crockpot (beans, tomatoes, corn, olives, chiles, taco seasoning AND, the surprise ingredient: a package of dried ranch salad dressing mix) and let it slow-cook for about 6 hours. Done. Meanwhile, prepare the toppings: grated Cheddar, sour cream (or yogurt if you prefer), Fritos, cilantro and avocado. That’s it. Put out bowls and have at it. My mouth is watering just writing up this post, and it’s been several months ago that I made it (small batch, all gone, none in freezer).

What’s GOOD: if it wasn’t extraordinarily tasty I wouldn’t be going on and on about it. It’s delicious. Really delicious. Tummy warming. And, it’s EASY. You could make it without meat, too – I bet it would be fine. I absolutely guarantee you’re going to hear “mmmmm’s” from everyone. I’m just sorry I don’t have any in the freezer, although it’s getting to be warmer weather and this is probably best in colder seasons.

What’s NOT: there’s no down side to this recipe. Make it.

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I thought I’d taken a photo of this when it was baked, but I guess I didn’t. This is one of those big monster loaves of bread, cut into little towers you pull off, with a mixture of pesto inside, then with oodles of mozzarella cheese all over it.

I was visiting with daughter Sara awhile back – I’d forgotten about posting this one – it was before I went on my April/May trip to Europe. Anyway, Sara invited all of her husband’s extended family over for a Sunday night dinner. I helped Sara some with preparations, and she handed me the ingredients for this, and said “go for it, Mom.”  I’d made one of these before, about 7-8 years ago, but it was a slightly different variation of the same – that older one with cream cheese and goat cheese, from an old friend, Karen. This one with mozzarella only. By far, this one was easier to make, but both were fabulous.

If you consider making this, please don’t look at the calories or fat, okay? Just know it’s probably not good for us, but it’s a treat. There were 4 children at Sara’s that day (ages 11-17) and they gobbled this up in no time flat. Most of the adults got a taste or two. Where I was sitting at Sara’s kitchen counter, it was put right in front of me, so I did get to sample more than some people did. I could have made a meal of it – in fact, after a few pieces I was almost full.

Sara bought the loaf of bread at Costco – a big, round loaf. You must buy an unsliced round loaf, then you slice it both directions in about 3/4 inch slices, but not down through the bottom crust, so it stays in place. I cut the bread too deep – it should have stood up a little bit better than it did, but hey, it made no-never-mind to the taste. You slather ready made pesto (Trader Joe’s and Costco both carry it now), then sprinkle shredded mozzarella all over it. Into an oven it goes, and once the mozzarella is fully melted, pull it out. Let it sit for a couple of minutes before serving as you could easily burn your mouth if it’s too hot. You’ll hear raves, I promise.

What’s GOOD: well, the taste! It’s delicious. The better the cheese you buy (like whole milk mozzarella, and/or mix in some provolone) the better it will taste. If you make your own pesto it’s probably better than store bought. But make it easy – buy ready made pesto, but don’t, please, buy already shredded mozzarella. You know the cheese producers put something on that so the cheese doesn’t clump. Whatever it is, it dilutes flavor, or else they don’t use very good cheese to begin with. So make it with good cheese.

What’s NOT: the only thing I can say is that the slicing and slathering is a little bit fussy, but it doesn’t take all that much time. It’s fairly straight forward and you’ll have it ready in about 10-15 minutes max. You can probably do it ahead and refrigerate it (covered) for an hour or two. It might not even need refrigeration if you made it 2 hours ahead. Don’t quote me – don’t sue me! There’s no mayo in this, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

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My daughter in law, Karen, is a wonderful cook. More than once my DH and I have been at their home and she served these delicious lamb shanks. Last time she made it was a few weeks ago and I just couldn’t eat it because of my food poisoning (sorry to keep bringing that up, but it really did disrupt my eating style, big time, though I’m fully recovered now), but I did eat some of the gravy and rice she’d served alongside. It tasted wonderful, and she mentioned where the recipe had come from, so I made this myself.

Whenever I go researching for a recipe, I rarely, if ever go to the Joy of Cooking. In years past, I used to, because that was kind of the cookbook bible I had in my younger years, when I owned 10 cookbooks total. But now, I’ve got umpteen hundred cookbooks and I either search online, or I go to my recipe program and look at what recipes I’ve stored in my to-try file (it’s called Internet Recipes there). So, for whatever reason, as I was beginning to eat regular food again, this lamb recipe kept coming up in my head. I figured that it meant I really should make it (the dr. said don’t eat something unless you actually crave it). And I know that a lamb and rice diet is something lots of veterinarians say is easily digestible. So, I bought the ingredients and I made it.

Karen calls this Moroccan Lamb Shanks, but that’s not what the recipe is called in the cookbook, Joy of Cooking. It’s called Braised Lamb Shanks, but it contains a variety of mild Moroccan spices (cinnamon, allspice, cumin, coriander and harissa). And the recipe calls for carrots and winter squash. I decided not to add the winter squash to it, just because, but I used rainbow carrots, and I added celery, which wasn’t in the recipe. And it made a marvelous gravy – according to the recipe, the collagen in the bones helps thicken the braising liquid (chicken stock and white wine), and it does. Not a lot, but it makes a slightly thickened sauce that’s perfect over rice or mashed potatoes, which is what sounded good to me.

In the Joy cookbook, Rombauer has you bake the lamb shanks for 1 1/2 hours at 300°. I took the lazy woman’s approach and did the whole thing in my small slow cooker (actually it’s my risotto cooker that has a slow cooker function). It was perfect for making 2 lamb shanks, which was more than enough for me for 2-3 meals. So, in the recipe below, I’ve included a paragraph at the bottom with the instructions for making it in the slow cooker.

The prep work really took very little time – I browned the lamb shanks for awhile, removed them, sautéed the thinly sliced onions, added in the garlic at the last (I used ample) and the spices. Then you add the liquids, some tomato paste, heat that up, then add back in the lamb shanks. I set it to cook on the slow setting for about 6 hours. Twice I picked up the lid and turned the lamb shanks over, because they weren’t submerged in liquid, only up about halfway. Then I added the carrots and celery, and let that cook for about 45 minutes to an hour and it was ready to serve. At the very last you add in some fresh lemon juice, some harissa and the final dish is sprinkled with freshly chopped mint. Done. And it was every bit as good as I remembered. The gravy is a lovely medium-brown color and drizzles well over whatever carbs you might want to serve with this.

As for the lamb shanks, I happened to go to Sprouts to buy my ingredients (I don’t often shop there, but I figured they’d have lamb shanks) and sure-enough, they had some grass fed lamb shanks. They were on the smaller side, but perfect for me. Lamb shanks aren’t cheap food anymore – each small one was about $4.00. If you’re feeding hungry teenagers they’d have wanted 2 of these smaller ones. But with lots of veggies and carbs to go with it, you might be able to get away with just one per hungry person.

What’s GOOD: several things: (1) the flavoring/gravy is divine; (2) I did it in a slow cooker, so it was super-easy; (3) it’s good enough to serve to guests, even. Good enough reasons to try it? I’ll be making this again.

What’s NOT: really nothing at all – if you don’t want to use a slow cooker, just bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours; otherwise, set this for 6 hours and then add the veggies and plan for another hour and it’s ready to serve.

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Here it is, May, and in SoCal, it’s been downright cold. So soup was the order of the day.

Since returning from my trip, it’s taken me awhile to catch up on all the blogs I read. I hate to tell you how many. At least 50. And some of them post multiple times a day, like Food52 and AppAdvice. But Dorie Greenspan only posts once in awhile, and when I saw this recipe for soup, it just leaped out of the screen saying “fix me.” Dorie wrote this up in her Washington Post column. So, even though I wasn’t feeling good, or maybe it was really because I wasn’t feeling good (as I’m writing this, I’ve been down sick with a bad cold for about 5 days) anything soup + chicken (or turkey) sounded good to me.

It did require a trip to the grocery store – I needed numerous fresh veggies (I used fresh mushrooms, a bag of baby spinach, and a fresh bag/pack of broccoli, snow peas, and carrots). I also needed fresh ginger and  enough shallots to measure 1/2 cup. And, freshly ground turkey and riccotta cheese and Thai rice noodles. Plus fresh mint and fresh cilantro. Actually, that was a lot, but I made it a quick trip in and out.

First you make the meatballs – the ground turkey (the store didn’t have the dark turkey mix, only light), ricotta, ground ginger, fresh garlic (I probably used more than the recipe called for – isn’t garlic supposed to be good for a head cold?). Eggs are added to bind the mixture together, along with some bread crumbs, salt and pepper, fresh lemon zest and the shallots. Dorie recommended using a cookie scoop to make the meatballs because they’re sticky – they do require a little bit of light rolling in your palms to make them round and you drop them into the 10 cups of chicken broth. I used my Penzey’s soup base for the broth, and I also added a little dollop of the mushroom soup base I have in my refrigerator just because it’s full of flavor. I had to cook the meatballs in 2 batches, about 12-14 of them in each batch. They don’t want to touch or they might attach to each other. The broth is kept at a very low simmer, and the meatballs cook in about 10 minutes. Then they’re removed. The broth, at this point, is a bit cloudy from little tiny pieces of things from the meatballs. Dorie suggested you can strain it at this point. I didn’t. Too lazy. Meanwhile, I prepped all the veggies (the bag-packed mixed veggies needed some chopping, the box of crimini mushrooms sliced, the herbs minced). Meanwhile you soak some Thai rice noodles. This was the first time I’d used Thai rice noodles (she recommended Taste of Thai, which I found at the market). They’re soaked for 20 minutes in hot water, then cooked in a separate pot for 4 minutes before being added to the soup.

The only thing I’ll tell you about rice noodles is that they go from cooked just right to sludge in a matter of half a minute. So watch them carefully as you cook them for 4 minutes. Since the noodles are long, I chopped them some after soaking them (to make them mouth-manageable) and I didn’t use anywhere near as much as Dorie did – 8 ounces makes a lot of noodles. Fine for a family with carb-hungry children, but I didn’t want that much. I was in it for the meatballs and the vegetables! I’ve left the recipe below as-is, so you can decide if you want to use that much of the rice noodles.

The veggies are added in (carrots first if you want them to be mostly cooked through) and lastly the meatballs to just heat through. It all came together pretty easily. You serve it with ample fresh herbs (I used cilantro and mint), a drizzle of sesame oil (yum) and you can add some sriracha sauce too, and soy sauce if you’re so inclined. Do taste for seasonings – my soup needed more salt and pepper.

What’s GOOD: the word that comes to mind is FRESH. Loved all the veggies and the little drizzle of sesame oil at the end gave it a lovely hint of Asia. Choose veggies you like – carrots add nice color. The fresh herbs are a must – don’t NOT do that part as they impart lots of flavor. The meatballs are, well, turkey meatballs. Good. Not exactly exceptional, but good. Certainly this soup is super-healthy. The only fat in it is what might be in the chicken broth, the tiny bit in the ground turkey and the tiny jot of sesame oil at the end. Make sure your chicken broth is flavorful, otherwise it will be a bit ho-hum.

What’s NOT: nothing in particular. The meatballs take a little bit of time to make, but only about 15 minutes. If you buy ready-to-cook veggies, it’s pretty easy, really.

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It seemed like any way one turned, there was beautiful scenery. That’s just the way it is in Switzerland. Especially in the spring when the grass has that unique hue that means brand new spring growth. Nothing like it.

When most people think of Gruyere, they think of the cheese. Which is one of my go-to cheeses when I want/need lots of flavor, but I don’t want Parmigiano-Reggiano. Gruyere cheese has a nuttiness about it, and it gives lots of depth of flavor not provided by most of the other cheeses of similar types. My friend Joanne, who lived in Geneva for a few years with her family, recommended to me (when I asked her about her favorite places to visit in Switzerland) that we go/stay in Gruyere. I did research, and we ended up staying in a hotel that’s just off to the right in that picture above. When you enter Gruyere – the main city-town is down below in that valley, but this is the old town with its ubiquitous castle. I was standing on the castle grounds when I took the photo above. You drive up to the old town and there’s a little tiny parking lot there and if you look carefully there was a tiny little lane (another one of those do-not-enter things) telling us if we were staying at the Hotel de Gruyeres, enter here, to a small little private parking lot. The hotel was a sweet little place and just fine for our needs. Warm duvets and a nice breakfast.

We walked up the short hill and onto the main cobblestoned street (in picture at left, closed to vehicles). It is an adorable village with lots of little shops.

I ended up buying a beautiful table runner in one of the shops on the left side. The owner designs her own fabrics, and if I could have, I’d have purchased 4-5 of them, but they were more than pricey, so one was fine! I just took photos of both of the table runners I purchased (one here in Gruyere, the other at Giverny in France) and I think I’ll write up a separate post about them since I’d like to use full-sized photos. Those of you who are interested in such things can see them better. At one of the stores they were selling absinthe (photo at right). I know we can buy it now, in some new form that isn’t a a poison, but here they offered it plain or with eggs (like egg nog?). Really? Uh, no, I didn’t buy any.

Anyway, we wandered all over the castle town, in and out of shops. Finally we got to the end of the street and walked up a rather steep grade to the castle entrance. For a nominal price we watched a video (with language translation via headphones) about the history of Gruyere, which was very interesting, then we walked through all the rooms of the castle and out the back side overlooking the valley, and the gardens. We had dinner in the town, at a cute little restaurant at the far end of the street. Cherrie and I shared an entrée of mac and cheese (yes, that’s what the menu said) with a salad. It didn’t agree with us at all and both of us got sick during the night or by morning. (This was not the food poisoning we got on our last day in Paris – this was just a 24-hour thing). In the morning Cherrie and I stayed in our rooms trying to recover while Joan and Darlene drove down into the town of Gruyere to see the cheese factory. Cherrie and I both needed rest for as long as we could. Once we got underway, I managed to drive (I don’t know how, other than I knew Joan really didn’t want to drive, and she was the only other authorized driver).

Some of the prettiest scenery we saw on the back roads. That was one of my main considerations as I plotted our trip plans for Switzerland, wending our way up hills, down into valleys, all with gorgeous vistas of the snow-capped mountains around us. That’s our rental car, a station wagon. It was a brand new Audi, and it was a dream to drive.

Photo at right is one of the floors in the castle. Goodness, the hard work that went into creating that floor of equally sized, smooth stones, laid up on their edges, and in a very intricate pattern. Made me think about my favorite book I’ve ever read, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It’s about the building of a cathedral in England, but it’s certainly similar to Medieval castles. We just loved Gruyere. The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful and the town itself oozes charm. If you’ve never been there, you should. Thank you, Joanne, for insisting that’s where we should go! A great destination. Not for any length of time – there isn’t much to do, but it’s a very quintessential European village high up in the Alps.

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Don’t stick up your nose at the title of this – I know what you’re thinking – how could tartar sauce made with cottage cheese taste like anything? Well, I might have been in that camp, but laziness on my part made me inventive.

You see, I didn’t want to go to the store to buy sour cream. Or, yuk, to buy ready-made tartar sauce, which I think is awful. So, since I did have cottage cheese in the refrigerator (full fat type), I decided to snoop around on the ‘net to see if anyone had devised a recipe that was palatable. I took ideas from a couple of different recipes, and  used different proportions. I didn’t want a lot – it’s just me these days – and I had just one piece of salmon to eat.

What I wanted was a tartar sauce similar to what you’re served in a restaurant, which  usually is made fresh daily. So, I fiddled with what to add, a little jot here and there, and it tasted pretty darned good. Generally, I don’t buy “diet” labeled items, and I don’t necessarily stint on using butter (in moderation) when it’s needed. And I’d have used sour cream if I had it; but I didn’t. I’d have  used yogurt, except what I have in the refrigerator is sweetened slightly, and I didn’t think that would taste good with salmon! So, you see, I made do.

The capers are essential – they add a little sour taste and a briny flavor from their juices. And the pickle relish is also essential for me. But you can jiggle the proportions to suit your taste if you’d like. The cottage cheese kind of flew around inside my little tiny food processor, and the part that stuck to the lid was still little curds, so I didn’t scrape that down or use it in the finished sauce. Just the part that got whizzed well until it was smooth (remember, I wanted it to taste like sour cream). I tasted, add more lemon juice, more pepper, then scraped it out into a bowl, with some going into that little ramekin in the photo. If I’d had fresh dill I would have added it, but I didn’t. You could add dried dill.

What’s GOOD: I was almost amazed at how good this was. Of course, it’s not like the real thing, but salmon has a lot of flavor all on its own, so the tartar sauce was just fine. And yes, I’d make it again if I needed to. Note that there is a tiny bit of mayo in it – I think that helped. I used regular Best Foods/Hellman’s because that’s all I have in my refrigerator.

What’s NOT: nothing, really. No, it’s isn’t like the real thing, but it’s pretty darned close!

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This photo above is taken at some of the lower altitudes of the trip. You can board a train in Interlaken, or stay in villages part way up the mountain. Some are closed to auto traffic, but Lauterbrunnen is not.

It only took us a couple of hours to drive from Brienz to Lauterbrunnen. The town is so small you can’t miss your hotel as there aren’t very many. But it’s a twisty, windy road getting there, up through a narrow valley, then up and up until you come to the little plateau that is Lauterbrunnen. We stayed at the Hotel Staubbach. A very cute little place, with several floors of rooms. Maybe 50+ rooms. Not sure, really. Very clean, comfortable. Not luxurious, but more than adequate. The manager was English, so we had no language difficulties! We checked into the hotel, then immediately headed for the train station, close to the hotel. It took us 4 1/2 hours to make the round trip journey up to the top of the Jungfraujoch. From Lauterbrunnen you wend up steep valleys, finally up to Kleine Sheidegg, a place where every train coming in stops. You get off there, transfer to a different track, then get on the funicular that shortly takes you up the mountain.

About 90% of the way up the mountain the funicular stops at the Ice Window. They explain that you have 5 minutes to run out and get back on. Everybody runs out to the window at the end of a carved wide tunnel to the edge of the mountain. It’s glassed in, and they keep it very clean so you can take good photos.

If you’re interested in the whole history of the region, and about the Eiger (one of the mountain peaks, and the subject of the movie The Eiger Sanction) click on this Wikipedia link. It tells you all about the railway (interesting) and about the building of the tunnel going up inside (amazing). At the top you exit the funicular at 11,332 feet. The minute I stepped off the train I felt dizzy. I don’t do too well at high altitudes – have had a problem with that even when I was a young child. I held onto Joan, I think, and I went into the building that’s up there at the top, found a place to sit and I just sat while we were up there. I felt that was best. Since this was the 3rd time I’ve been up there, it wasn’t like I needed to hike all around outside. Cherrie wasn’t feeling very good herself, so she and I both just sat down and looked at the gorgeous view. Darlene and Joan, having never been there before, went outside and hiked up and down the steep steps and trails. Darlene bought me a hot chocolate which tasted good. Then we got in line to take the return trip down to Kleine Sheidegg, and then on to Lauterbrunnen.

At left is another view from way up at the top, looking down the glacier. Every direction had spectacular views. It was a perfect day – cold, but clear and sunny. Couldn’t have asked for better weather, actually.

On our way down a middle-aged man and teenaged boy came into the small area where we were on the train, and the dad turned to the 4 of us girls and said – “excuse me, but I need to take my pants off.” I don’t know what we said or squealed, but immediately he said “not to worry, I have another layer on underneath.” He and his son had been snowboarding all day, something they do for 4-5 days every year and he needed to remove his heavy-weight pants. They were from England. The son fell sound asleep, so we had a nice conversation with the dad all the way down the hill. Picture at right was the view one direction from our hotel. So very pretty. Pastoral.

That night we went to a German restaurant a few blocks away from our hotel, had a nice enough meal, though it was very noisy. I think Darlene ordered cheese fondue. I think I had salad. Hard to talk, it was so noisy and crowded. We all slept well, and met early in the morning for our next journey. Off we went to Gruyere.

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As I am recovering from my food poisoning – wow, has it been a long haul (as I write this it’s been 17 days, but hopefully by the time you read this I’ll be fully recovered!) – if you are just sick for an overnight, or 2 days, it’s not food poisoning. True food poisoning generally lasts about 2 weeks, and then some. I’m nowhere near as ill as I was when I first got home from my trip, but I still have occasional pain in my stomach and some food just doesn’t sound good – mostly meat and vegetables. And salads. It’s hard to find things other than lots of white food (chicken seems to be okay) that I can eat that doesn’t cause the pain. (The only good news is that I’ve lost 6 pounds.) Anyway, sorry about that detour – I was so happy the day I made this – I actually wanted to bake, and I was having my bible study group over, so a perfect occasion to create something to share. And the cake tasted wonderful, even with the nuts, which I wasn’t so sure would agree with my tummy.

When I designed my kitchen in my house (this was in 2006) because I had plenty of room, I created a kind of baking center on one side. My stand mixer, blender, toaster and food processor all hide in an appliance garage. The oven is a few feet away. All my baking needs are in the drawers below the countertop, and the drawer dishwasher (meaning that it’s half-high) is built into the island, so literally I just have to turn around. There’s also a small sink one step away too, so the dirty bowls and stuff get rinsed off and go right into the dishwasher. That also makes it easier, too, when the dishes are clean, they’re all put away without hardly taking a step. The dishwasher was planned mostly for wine glasses – it has a china/light cycle and it does a beautiful job of spotlessly cleaning the lovely Riedel glasses that grace the bar shelves in the family room. Whenever I entertain, all the wine glasses go into that dishwasher because it does such a good job – it’s a KitchenAid, fyi.

So, I went through my huge to-try recipes for a dessert that sounded good to me. I suppose I could have made anything, but hey, I’m the cook, I get to choose! I had some apples on hand (Granny Smith) which I’d intended to make applesauce with (you know, I was on the BRAT diet – bananas, rice, applesauce and toast during the early stage of my food poisoning) but never got around to preparing it. Bingo, this recipe just moved to the top of the list.

Hopefully you already read Elise Bauer’s website, Simply Recipes. She’s a wonderful cook, and I’ve made many of her recipes over the years. And this one she did in 2008 but I just hadn’t gotten around to trying. That’s corrected now and it will be a keeper.

She gives the credit for the recipe to someone named Mrs. Paxton from Virginia. But Elise mentions she’s made it a lot over the years. Did I say this was a keeper? Yes, indeed. It’s nothing all that unusual to make, although it uses oil as the fat in it. It has toasted walnuts and coconut in it. I didn’t have fresh coconut, so Elise says to soak regular sweetened coconut in water, then drain. All done in the stand mixer, poured into a greased and floured bundt pan and baked a long time. My only caution – make sure it’s done before removing from the oven – I have a taller, less-wide bundt pan, and the 1 hour baking wasn’t quite enough. The batter closest to the center tube of the bundt is that last place it cooks through. I used a cake tester, but I didn’t poke it enough just near the center tube, so it was just a bit under-done there. But it was fabulous. In every way. The glaze isn’t a necessity, but adds a lovely touch to it, especially if you like things sweet. Next time I make it I probably will reduce the sugar in the cake part by just a tablespoon or two – with the glaze, it makes it pretty darned sweet. But altogether good nonetheless.

What’s GOOD: For the third time, did I say this is a keeper? Yes. Delicious in every way. Do chop up the apple in little pieces, like 1/3 inch at the max, even smaller if you can make the time. The apples do stay in place in the batter – all over – and don’t sink to any one place. It’s a thick batter anyway. The glaze is delightful, especially if you have a pretty bundt pan with lots of grooves. I couldn’t get the cake to accept all the glaze, so used the last of it to sweeten the whipped cream I made. I think vanilla ice cream would be best with this, which is what Elise recommends. I had some salted caramel gelato, and those who had that thought it was a wonderful combo. I still vote for vanilla ice cream. I think the cake was even better the 2nd day.

What’s NOT: not a single thing – it does take awhile to bake and you need to test it during its last 15 minutes of baking. It also takes awhile to cool because it’s a dense cake. Make a day ahead if you can but don’t glaze until close to serving time.

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Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click on link to open recipe in MC)

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