Swiss Getaway

My parents had some business at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and I jumped at the chance to meet up with them for the weekend. It also worked quite well that I had an interview in Paris two days before (Paris? Mais Oui!), so I was able to get a cheap flight to Paris and take the train straight to Lausanne (there are no flights from here to Geneva). 

  

Meeting them at the large train station was surprisingly easy, as they were right outside the door with a fellow Swiss colleague of my step-father's that I hadn’t seen since I was thirteen years old! That was a great surprise and he escorted me up the steep (incredibly steep) hill to our hotel to drop off my bag and then he took us on a mini-tour of Lausanne.

Paris? Mais Oui!

A recent job interview brought me to Paris for a couple days.
  

Ah...Paris, the most beautiful city in the world. It is referred to as the 'City of Lights', but it is so much more than that. Beauty seeps out of every corner, hidden below trees...

Panging for Panang

 

Summer in Italy is rarely spent indoors. Sunny days are spent at the beach and the warm nights are spent out with friends. But unless you live in Rome or Milan, eating out is limited to Italian food. You may not believe this, but one can get really tired of eating Italian food. It’s not that Italian food isn’t enjoyable, but after several weeks of pizza, pasta and insalata mista, a palate change is severely needed. Thankfully, the little Asian market that I depend on was finally reopened after their month-long vacation. Stocked with ginger, coconut milk, limes and even cilantro (the first time I have ever seen cilantro in Italy), I headed home to make some panang!

Strawberry Liqueur

I love fruit. I love liqueurs. I love the two of them together! Italian summers bring some of the sweetest, most delicate strawberries I have ever tasted. I have recently done a series of vodka infusion experiments, including the successful pear vodka I previously posted about, and the not-so-successful melon (which I did not post about). But with these delicious strawberries, I think it would be pretty hard to mess up.

Here is how to make your own Strawberry Liqueur