Bread & Cheese

My plans at blogging the differences between/things we'll have to adjust to re: Switzerland vs USA have been slow to come to fruition. What with not being home and searching for houses and all the other "stuff" that comes with the process.

Now that I'm back and somewhat settling into a routine - hah, until Mom arrives Friday morning - I will offer some observations, things we are grateful for, things we'll miss and things we're looking forward to. I even had a list. Not sure where it went before we flew off a couple weeks ago. Maybe in the "junk" drawer that needs another cleaning out. Everyone has a "junk" drawer, yes? We have one. Only one.

Bread and cheese. I give you a loaf of Abigbrot - hell and Frischkaese: The Abigbrot is our favorite. It comes from a bakery nearby, the Feldbeck, and it is our bread of choice for dinner - preferably the hell which means "light" but the dunkel (dark) is equally good just a bit heavier (higher % of whole wheat).

Abig (the g pronounced hard with a k twist - gk ) is the Swiss German word for evening - Abend would be the standard German word. This bread is baked only for evening sales, 5pm to 7pm. If you arrive at 4:50, you're too early - it's still in the oven. If you arrive at 6:30, there may be none left. I typically time my visits with picking up kids or Bart at school activities or from the train station.

Although I will be able to buy some good bread near our new location, it won't be Abigbrot. I asked the bakery for the recipe and the owner was kind enough to give it to me and sit down and explain it to me. He said my first challenge will be getting the flour. I knew this already - Rueschmehl is what I need and based on some research, I'm hoping bread flour will be OK. Otherwise his measurements are all in litres and grams - enough for 4 loaves! at a time I think - and I will have to experiment. I'll probably blog that process once I try it out. Until then, I'm quite content to buy my Abigbrot!

Cheese: the name of this Frischkaese (fresh cheese) from Coop is literally translated as round of garlic cheese. In the Olson household it's referred to as "yummy cheese." That is how Kendra described it when we first tried it years ago and over time the name stuck. If I want them to eat it up I just have to say "I've got yummy cheese and crackers out."

It has to be eaten within a matter of days ( 2-5) depending on when you purchase it. Hence the "fresh" part of the name. It is really, really good. Especially on a Silzer roll - pretzel bread. With a pickel. Yes, I just declared that soft cheese with slice of dill pickle on pretzel bread is really, really good. It is. You should try it. In lieu of pickles, a cucumber slice is excellent.

Rondele is similar. However, I've checked and it has more salt and 'stuff' in it. And I've become used to less salt and 'stuff' in our food. This is in part from the way I cook and in part from the ingredients available. For instance, we've used non-salted butter for 5 years now. The salted version here comes one quarter stick at a time and is almost twice the cost. I could really taste the salt in the butter when we were at my dad's this last trip. The taste buds do notice. I digress......

I don't know that I'll find a real substitute for this cheese in the US but I know there will be good cheeses to be found. I have already scouted out an International Market in our area (10 minutes!) that has a good reputation for cheese, wine and various food products from around the world. I look forward to scouting out some goodies!

Tonight I'm making chili - perfectly accompanied by shredded Asiago and Abigbrot!