My Writing Eden

Margo taking a picture of Swiss fondue

Being of a certain age, my sister Margo and I are not accustomed to taking pictures of our food and pasting them on Facebook, and so, in spite of the title, this blog may sadly be short of food photos.

In fact, I have no shot of my very best meal so far. We were in Avenches, a French-speaking village in Switzerland. After a long morning in which we visited a Roman museum,

Roman food on what I’m told is Samian ware

the ruins of a Roman amphitheater,

Roman amphitheater at Avenches with medieval (?) castle behind

a Roman temple,

Me in front of the sanctuary du Cigoniere (stork)

A Roman gate,

The west gate with Avenches in the distance

and a Roman bath.

Roman hypocaust (See, I’m learning something!)

I was a little tired and hungry and insisted we stop at the first restaurant we came to, Le Restaurant du Bain. The Roman goddess Fortuna smiled upon us. We ate a delicious 4-course meal of cream of spinach soup, salad, pan-fried breaded fish (perch, I think) with boiled potatoes and, for dessert, fresh fruit with crème fraiche, all for only 15 Swiss francs. Believe me, the best value we have yet to encounter in Switzerland. An Aperol spritz we had today in Basel cost as much.

15Swiss franc Aperol Spritz in Basel

In Interlaken, we began to realize the error of our ways. Here is the cheese fondue, bread (and empty pot)

we ate there.

We slipped again in Gimmelwald when we had a delicious raclette at the mountain hostel. Raclette is almost the same as fondue, although instead of bread you have potatoes. No photo of the food, but here’s the hostel where we ate.

Gimmelwald Mountain Hostel with the Jungfrau in the distance

The next photo is a cup of coffee, not just any coffee, but a complimentary cup we had in a Nespresso shop in Basel. I thought of my son Jeremie (who has a Nespresso machine and is always pasting food on Facebook) when I took it.

A sales clerk from Canada at Basel’s Nespresso shop

Overall, my most lasting impression of food in Switzerland is of the numerous patisseries and chocolateries.

In Murton we had a local specialty of the pastry kind called “nidelchueche” (don’t ask me how to pronounce it!), a kind of sweet bread spread thick with custard. My daughter Julie would love it.

As f0r chocolate, we never tire of it. As Margo often says, “We should have some chocolate now,” and so, we are.