We’d dried off a bit, had our cafè to warm us, and were off exploring. Flying under the radar clouds, we absorbed quite a lot of beauty before stopping for lunch. As we drove, the clouds began to lift, allowing us better views of this stunning area covered with wildflowers.
When we got the good news that friends would be in town Friday night for dinner, Bill suggested we have raclette. Raclette is both a cheese and a meal featuring that cheese, a meal perfect for using the time with friends for eating and having fun, rather than cooking and cleaning up. That’s a winner in my book!
In Switzerland, where both the cheese and the meal originated, the edge of the round of cheese is heated and the melted cheese scraped onto the diner’s plate. In fact, raclette comes from the French word racler, meaning “to scrape.” Also on the table will be boiled new potatoes, cornichons (small pickled gherkins), and pickled onions. Eat a bit of each together = heaven! (more…)
Saturday night, back home from my friend-and-food foray to Champaign/Urbana, Bill and I were headed to one of our favorite restaurants in the Naperville area, Chef Amaury’s 33 West, AKA Chef Amaury’s Epicurean Affair, located in Aurora, Illinois. It was a beer-and-snack night, but if you want to see what the fabulous, often locally-sourced, menu looks like, take a quick peek at my post about our anniversary dinner there last September: https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/a-chefs-tasting-menu/. Just don’t do it while you’re hungry!
I decided to dress up a bit and put on my boots that aren’t really made for walking, at least not too far, but that Bill loves:
What fun!! Ye
sterday was my first foray into the world of selling chèvre to a restaurant and setting up the encounter myself. How did I get to this place from four years of teaching high school PE, a few years of working at a health and fitness club, a time of demonstrating equipment at a Sharper Image, doing personal training for about sixteen years while also home schooling our two girls through high school? This was nothing I’d ever imagined doing. (more…)
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