Bern: A visit to a relative of a friend from high school, also fondue

Note: These photos are not in order as I would have intended. but moving them is too much of a hassle right now. In the future, I think I will set up a Flickr account to handle all of my photos from now on.

Way back when in spring of 2007, when we first conceived the idea of traveling to europe the plan was simple enough.

1. Go to Germany and win gold at the olympics(did that)

2. Have lots of beer and relax(still doing that)

3. Find work in Switzerland and work for a year, learning from the best. (Ah, not so much)

As it turned out, Switzerland is a hard country to get work visa's from. If you dont already have work lined up, you're out of luck. On top of that, you have to apply for the visa in your home country, which makes finding good work that much harder. We did try however, in spite of all this, and who better to call than a member of the Canadian embassy? A good friend of mine happend to have an aunt stationed in Bern, the swiss capital, so we gave it a shot. It didn't pan out.

But we did manage to find a new friend in Switzerland, so at least it was not completely fruitless. She was also kind enough to let us stay with her while we were there, which we were very grateful for. The town of Bern was actually quite nice. We managed to go to the market and have some awesome mexican food, as well as taking in all the local produce. It never ceases to amaze me the quality of all the markets here. They make the local Edmonton markets look silly.

One of the local attractions in Bern is their town mascot: the bear. To celebrate their town animal, they decided to have a bear pit, where tourists could come and feed the bears rolls and essentiall anything they wanted to throw in the pit. It's really sad when you think about it and even more depressing when you see it. Essentially, people hover over the rails hoping the bear will walk below them and eat whatever they toss in. Even more sad is the fact that there used to be more than just one bear in that cramped pit, but the rest of them died. Shitty.

After a couple of days of mountains and walking through town, we decided that it was time to give something back to our hosts. Being chefs, the natural thing to do was simple: cook dinner. An afternoon of shopping and cooking resulted in the following menu:

Tomato and Buffalo Mozzarella Salad

Arugala and Bresaola

Balsamic vinaigrette

Roasted Cauliflower soup

Mustard seed and Herb Crust Veal Loin

Roasted Potatoes and Mixed Peppers

Braised Leeks and Fennel

Mushroom, Herb and Cream Sauce

Before leaving Switzerland all together, we were determined to have some authentic fondue. There are mixed stories on where fondue was invented so we chose the town that was closest: Fribourg. I think a good way to describe how good the fondue is would be to say that I will most likely not have real fondue for the rest of my life. Now that doesnt sound so great but don't get me wrong. It was very tasty. But it was also intense which, when you think about it, makes sense. It's cheese and bread. Thats it. Never again. Glad we did it, but never again. The next morning we packed and we soon said our good-byes and were on our way to our next destination: Dijon.

A day in Luzern

Having had enough of walking around the same expensive stores in zurich, we were in desperate need of something else to do. Luckily enough for us, we found some friends who wanted to come along. We met ariella and abby on our 3rd day in Zurich, over what has now become a mainstay of killing time: a game of cards. The intent was to get a view of the mountains, at least at some vantage point while in switzerland, and luzerneemed to offer that as well as a nice enough town. Unfirtunately, the weather did not agree. As it happened, it snowed the night before, and the roads to the observation area were closed because of the roads. Bummer.

So instead, we spent some time in the town, checking out some of the historical sites including a Lion hewn into a natural rock face. It was very nice exept for the slush and water all over the place. We did end up getting a bit of sunshine but by then we were already very cold so we eventually took the train back to Zurich for a home cooked dinner: Poached fish and clams in a White Wine Cream sauce with arugula and parmesan. A good way to end a busy day of walking and sightseeing. It really is amazing what can be done with very little equipment and a little bit of creativity. Suffice it to say, I think it was the best dinner that we had in Zurich, and one of the cheapest too. After dinner we went for coffee and played a little more jenga. We said our good-byes that evening to our new friends and we made our way to bern the next morning.

Zurich: Part 2

The first couple days in Zurich were unfortunately, uneventful. They did produce some interesting highlights though, including the learning of a new card game called shithead from some australians and several rounds of intense jenga action. Probably the most signifigant revelation however, involved the food. We had already decided that we would be cooking instead of eating out, making use of the limited kitchen facilities. To that end, from time to time I will begin to write installments of what I would like to call "The Hostel Cookbook: A gourmet's guide to eating in places that will bleed you dry if you try to go out for food." I may edit that later on, but it has a nice ring to it for now. We've cooked some interesting meals so far and they have garnered a bit of attention from other hostellers. I'll try to provide some recipes on the stuff we've made, but I wont make any promises as to their accuracy. I've never been one to write down what I'm cooking as I'm doing it so it's purely based on memory. In any case, I'll leave that for another post, as well as a some info on the chocolate we've been eating. Next up on the list however: Luzern!

Zurich is the most ridiculous place in the world...so far....

So, we made our way to Zurich at the ungodly hour of 430 am from Munich, a five hour ride that was actually quite pleasant. The Swiss and German countryside is very scenic and the second class seats were quite good in my opinion. As we made our way through the Zurich haupbahnhoff the first thing we were looking for was a place to stay. We had done some initial research that suggested we would be paying anywhere from 40-60 francs a night(blarg!) for dorm room accommodations. We managed to find a relatively inexpensive one for 34 francs/night so we were happy about that. After lugging all our stuff, my bags being significantly heavier due to a large knife roll and kitchen uniforms, we decided to walk around and get something to eat.

Wow. Have you ever felt that you've over paid for say, a roast beef sandwich at starbucks or some other place where you bought food because it was convenient? My suggestion? Never go to Zurich. We went by about 2 dozen restaurants that seemed good, but charged a fortune. Appetizers were 18+ francs, Mains 25+ francs, and I didnt even want to look at the cost for dessert. We walked around for a good half hour before we settled on a place that didnt even look that good, but it had a nice view of the main strip. I'd like to think that so far on this trip we've managed to find some really good places to eat and drink and shop for reasonable prices. This was not one of them. For 25.50 francs, my main course included a lame side salad with the swiss equivalent to ranch dressing, a well-done roast beef with a horseraddish butter, and boiled potatoes and vegetables. Sounds good right? I'm not sure if I've every recieved a meal and been more dissapointed. Unfortunately for me, I was hungry and for 25.50 I wasnt going to waste any of it.

Suffice it to say, I was not a happy camper after this experience and we decided that from now on, we are going to by groceries. There is a kitchen in the hostel that we are allowed to use, and we can at least afford to buy food from the super market. If things go well, I won't be completely broke when I leave Switzerland.

Things to look into...

In case anyone was wondering, here are some links and things to look at from my competition times. There are a few articles and photo's on flickr. If you're local to edmonton, there were a few TV spots but I'm not sure how to get access to those. The articles are pretty good and worth reading if you'd like to know a little bit about the competition. I'm going to try to post a few things to explain it all but until then this should be good for at least a little while. There may be a few more things to come, I won't spoil it for the media team but keep an eye out.

Edmonton Journal - Pre-competition

Edmonton Journal - Post Competition

Oh how the pork sings.....

We will only be here in Germany for one more day, but I'm sure we will be having some form of pork and beer for dinner. It's almost all that they serve. Roast pork, pork hocks, pork schnitzel, pork cordon bleu, a liver and pork loaf(tastes better than it sounds), if it comes from a pig, the Germans can't get enough of it. And of course there is the wurst. Bratwurst and Weisswurst are staples to the German diet and are found on every street corner and in every restaurant. It is ridiculous how much pork is eaten in this country. I'm still not sure how I havent had a heart attack and I've been here for only a week and a half. Between pork and potato dumplings and a bowl full of real gravy, I've seldom ate anything else. And everyday, I've said to myself, "I think I'll pass on the pork today" and without fail, for lunch and dinner, I've eaten pork. I think I might have a salad tonight.

Who knew it could be like this?

It's official, it's the first day on our 1 year trip across europe and possibly asia(our minds change just about every day). It's still a bit of a mental shock but I'm sure it will wear off in the next couple of days. We said our good-byes and left the team early this morning and made our way to downtown Munich. It is quite a beatiful city(I'm a little partial to Berlin though, there was a lot that I wanted to see there but never got the chance) the architecture is really amazing and the beer halls and gardens are rediculous to say the least. The largest, the Hofbrauhaus, goes through some 30,000 covers a day, and their kitchen is a well oiled production machine. a standard beer is 1 Litre, for 6.90 euro, and everyone is drinking. Not just here, but at every brauhaus, cafe, restaurant, and beer garden. It boggles the mind how much alcohol is consumed in a day, and im most cases its easy to see why, the beer is great, and im almost all cases, cheeper than its volume equivalent of water. Or pop, or coffee, or any other liquid for that matter. Its funny when a bottle of coke is 2 euros but a pork sandwich is 1.50. It feels like splurging almost if you don't buy beer. I may have to stick to a strict beer diet in order to save money.

That was then, this is now....

So, when I originally thought up this blog, I was thinking that I would try to write something or post something every day. Turns out I'm such a great liar that I convinced myself that this would be possible. Even though this hasn't been true so far, I'm still going to try my best to post as often as possible.

A quick recap since my last post:

October15 - I finished packing and prepping for the competition at the last possible moment, thus ensuring no sleep for 2 consecutive nights.
- On the plane ride from edmonton to toronto, I left my money belt on the plane(no words to describe my anger and disgust), luckily, my passport was not in it.
October 16 - Arived in Germany feeling somewhat uneasy from the almost 24 hours of travel, also still pissed about the money I lost
October 17 - Final prep begins(noon) and ends early(10pm), a bad feeling begins....
October 18 - Unfinished prep pushes back gazing by 3 hours. Tension is rising and stress is getting to everyone. There will be no sleeping tonight.
October 19- Show day- Plating takes longer than expected but everything is out on the tables on time.
- We get our medals(A gold for myself and a bronze for Jake) and clean up. It is finally over.
October 20-25 - Travel and leisure time spent with the team. We spend a lot of time driving. I go insane from bad directions and annoying people.

October 26 - Here and now. We are at a hostel in Munich doing laundry. hooray.

A first step: The clouds before the storm

October 11, 2008

10:51 pm - It would be very quiet but for the constant whirring of the hood fans in the N.A.I.T. culinary arts labs. I'm exhausted, but not tired enough yet to head home in the hope that something might still be accomplished if I should linger longer still. The day began like many others before it.

Earlier that day(being today) - An alarm too early for comfort rings, slowly growing in intensity. As usual, I hit snooze twice before getting up and begining the day. I'm already behind schedule as I drive to school to find Jake waiting anxiously to start get things rolling. We hit the market and get breakfast before going to school. Its a pretty light mood, we still have time to go looking for more produce before we need to really get to work. When we arive, all the usual suspects are already working, slowly driving towards our shared goal. It's another day in the life of Culinary Team N.A.I.T., a group of former students, mixed with Chef instructors and support personel working towards what will be a career highlight for all five competitors: a chance at a gold medal at one of the most prestigeous culinary competitions in the world, the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany.

11:33 pm(now) - It has been a gruelling and tough year of practices, competitions and preparation leading to this day, and the pressure and intensity of the moment is not lost on anyone. Every cut must be precise, every slice must be measured, every item must be scrutinzed, checked, and double checked. Anything less than perfect is thrown by the wayside, never to be eaten, or looked upon again. It is an excercise in acheiving perfection through repitition and patience. We work, through lunch and dinner, taking breaks when necessary but trying to stay on the task of preparing our food. It is late now and most everyone has gone home to family and loved ones to enjoy some rest before the coming storm of travel and sleepless nights in a foreign country days before the competition. Yet there are some, Jake and myself, who think there is yet something to be done. Some aspect of our entries that needs rechecking. Some task better done now rather than later. I take my last break to write, and return to my tasklists and go over them again. In 4 days, we leave the country for the competition and to experience the world for a year. I'll be lucky to get much sleep tonight.....