Fig and chèvre toastie

An über-schnell sweet & savoury snack which saved me from just-got-home-from-a-long-day hunger pangs. 

Fig and chevre toastie

Serves 2 for pre-dinner snack

Ingredients

About 2 tablespoons of chèvre (goats cheese)

2 slices of crusty bread, slightly toasted

2-3 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 large fig, quartered

ground black pepper to taste

Method

Lightly toast the slices of crusty bread in an oven. Spread the goats cheese on top and put back in the oven until the cheese has slightly melted (about 2 minutes). Take the cheesy toasties out of the oven and sprinkle black pepper liberally. Top with figs, cherry tomatoes and whatever green salad leaves you have.

Devour. 

(Vegan) Chocolatey Strawberry Tart: erdbeer pfluecken in Urdorf

It’s the first sunny weekend in a while and I am dying to go do outdoorsy stuff. I have a slightly embarrassing confession. Instead of opting for erm… more respectable/strenuous Swiss activities along the lines of hiking and biking, I decided to have a ‘domesticated Saturday morning’ and (very nicely) dragged Mark to this strawberry farm in Urdorf, just 20 minutes outside of Zurich.

Summer Spritz: Zurich, Switzerland

Chilling by the lake thinking "will own boat one day" (top-left); Zurich Street Parade (bottom-right);
Jumping off Quaibruecke (right)

Summer in Switzerland is pretty awesome... 


The Swiss clearly know how to pack as much fun as possible in that tiny window of 3 months where the mercury constantly nudges the mid 20's. In Zurich, it's all about spending every single afternoon possible by the lake (fighting the 'crowd' to get patches of grass to sit on, never mind it feels so weird that it's not a sandy beach!), outdoor bars and barbecues (grills), music festivals on weekends, people packing up their Winnebagos and going on leave for 2-3 months at a time. For some reason, the Swiss are also obsessed with throwing the biggest parties during summer... The Zurich Street Parade in mid August which is supposed to be the biggest in Europe, the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival, and the open air festivals across the country (Paleo, Frauenfeld, St Gallen, Locarno)...  I swear I almost went broke by the end of August...