Meal: Goliard

An unbeatable meal. After starting off with some local olives, we got down to business.

For the wine, we went local. Definitely dry, but in a good way.

Arguably the highlight of the night, Squid tentacles served on a bed of ground asparagus and artichoke. It was out of this world good.

We doubled that up with a plate of local cheeses, both hard and soft. A good break from the Swiss we're getting used to, these had less of a sharp flavor while still being , um robust?

Main course. For Jaren, it was a cod dish in a potato cream sauce topped with a local dry aged ham. All was very good (with a particular shout out to the local smoked meats - they we're literally hanging all over town, and I fully understand why).

For me, it was grilled prawns served on a bed of garbanzos and a mild curry. De-licious, although I could have done well with a second helping.

And to top it all off, Semicuit de chocolate con helado de avellanas --it looked like this:

Wine: Vin Chaud

Vin Chaud is French for hot wine, which is essentially mulled spiced wine. It is the Swiss winter beverage of choice.

Vin Chaud includes:
2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
4 cinnamon sticks or a few sprinkles of ground cinnamon
6 whole cloves
1 fresh whole nutmeg
2 oranges or clementines, thinly sliced
1 bottle red wine

Simply combine 2 cups of water with the sugar and spices in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Add the orange slices, remove pan from the heat and let sit for 15 minutes. Stir in the wine. Reheat gently over low heat, never allowing to boil. Serve hot.

Bon santé.

This is a pictures of vin chaud made in a caldron at a Christams market.

Beer: Amsterdam Maximator

Lest you think everything we review here gets enthusiastic approval, we offer the below for your consideration.

If you will, picture a Tuesday night in Geneva, most every shop closed and we in the mood for a beer but not for getting out of our pajamas. So, like the good bums we are ,we roll out to the corner kiosk to pick up a pair of beers.

Not looking for fancy, just something cold and flavorful. Always up for the adventure, we reach past the Heiniken and go for the unknown label: Amsterdam Maximator.

Now the name alone makes one cower in the potential awesomeness of this beer. They didn't call it Amsterdam Prettygoodimator now did they?


It. Was. Awful. Imagine Old English malt liquor with a random aftertaste of stale whiskey (and not in that good Boilermarker way either).

They were finished, but barely. I think this botched attempt at "Blue Steel" says it all.

Meal: Rabbit Fricasse

"Little bunny foo foo

Hopping through the kitchen
Picking up the flavors
And popping 'em in the pot"

-Popular children's limerick

Or that's at least how I remember it, I may be wrong.

Regardless, as may have been mentioned here before, many of the foodstuffs available in Swiss markets are far different than those you may find at your local butcher. One such item, "Lapin" a francais, has been drawing my attention since we got here. So when rabbit went on sale, it went on the menu.

Having not a clue how to prepare rabbit (my original plans involved a live rabbit in a large black cauldron over an open fire coming to a slow boil while I carefully cut carrots, might have had something to do with scenes like this:

Getting on with it, I hunted through the Food Network website until I came along a recipe that if our needs, tastes and resources. An Emril Legasse creation, the Dutch Oven-cooked rabbit dish was as delicious as it was interesting.

On the stove:

On the plate:

So what does rabbit actually taste like? The common misconception is that it tastes like chicken. In truth, it has the chicken texture, but the flavor has much more of a duck taste minus the fatty richness. Very good though, and highly recommended.