La Brisolée

Or roasted chestnuts for my english-speaking friends.

Switzerland’s culinary offerings are as varied as the regions and cultures themselves. Everyone knows about Swiss chocolate ! Most people have heard of fondue and raclette – two wonderful cheese dishes ; others may even know the speciality from Zurich – rösti (hash browns, but ten times better !), or the Tessinoise polenta and rissoto ; the dried meats of the Grisons ; the perch filets of Lac Léman and I could go on and on – there is a speciality per canton and often per village. The mountains where winters are hard, the vallies that know little light in the winter, the flat plains, the rivers and lakes – all meant that the Swiss usually ate locally.

The canton of Valais enjoys lots of sun and produces many items that one wouldn’t necessarily associate with the alps such as apricots and even asparagus ! With 50 different grape vareitals, It also has the largest assprtment of grapes in Europe for one region. But back to La Brisolée : just saying roasted chestnuts doesn’t quite represent this particular meal. The basic version consists of roasted chestnuts accompanied by several cheeses from the alpine pastures, fruits of the season such as apples, pears and the last pickings of the grapes, the rye bread produced in the Valais and one usually drinks the first press of the new wine – or cider. The « royal » version adds dried local meats. There is always either a slice of apple tart or carmalized pear as dessert : a feast for which one needs to walk several miles in compensation !

And walk we did: first cocktails at a friends, then she led us along the Dranse river towards Martigny La Croix under a very benevolent fall sun – beautiful. Lunch in the Café de la Place (just in case anyone needs to know) where the chestnuts were actually roasted in a barrel over an open fire : I loved the dichotomy of the chap’s turning an ancient metal barrel over an open fire all the whilst checking his iPhone!

La Dranse

Bridge over La Dranse

La Dranse as it comes down from the alps

vineyards along the river

vineyards and cable for use in the vineyards

goats fleeing the fall sun

a true chestnut roaster

old and new

pumpkin soup

roasted chestnuts

La Brisolée

After lunch we wandered through the old town of Martigny (Martigny Bourg) before arriving at the Giannada Museum. There we first took in the exposition dedicated to Leonard Giannada who turned 80 this past summer followed by a conference on the current exhibition, Matisse and painters of his time. I had a plastic chair that had been distended enough to leave me in a half-sleeping situation and sure enough lights out for the slide show following the explanations had me half asleep. Enough so that when we re-entered the museum for the exhibition itself, I told my hostess that as I had already seen it three times, I would excuse myself. Another brisk walk back through town (good to know a city as well as I do Martigny !) and along the river to pick up my car and I was off to drive the fortunately short distance back up the mountain.

All in all a great day meeting another 15 or so people I didn’t know before !

Girns to grins and sundry events

 Sometimes the unintended are the most fun and turning this weekend into an “adventure” certainly pleads in favor of that thought.

Today we decided to undertake two things: go to the Renoir exhibit at the Giannada Museum and have lunch in Martigny. The order was indifferent, however due to late awakenings on both of our parts (in turn due to getting to bed late as we not only watched a DVD but also got caught up in watching an English crime series thereafter) we had to change the order a bit.

In the end we were too late to go to the exhibit before lunch without rushing and too early to eat lunch so I threw a third thing into the mix: replace my cell phone!  I finally remember where there was a shop for my service provider, took a number (well actually had a “greeter” sign me up on his iPad or whatever tablet the company is favoring at the moment) and waited about 10 minutes. Explained that I liked my old cell phone (about 5 years old), didn’t want any more or any less service than I had and would even prefer the same brand due to chargers (we have an abundance of one name and none of the others). Turns out that chargers are now interchangeable so less than 10 minutes later I was the proud possessor of another “dumb” phone, i.e. I can make and accept phone calls, send and receive text messages, and little else… all without changing my current rate plan.  Grin number one (also all my stored numbers were on the chip so no additional dithering or adjustments – big, big grin).

Just in time to go find sustenance (like we really need more). For some reason we both were leaning towards Italian so picked La Nonna  (http://www.la-nonna.ch/index.php?action=home). Liked the décor, the waitress was very friendly and the policy of offering a small glass as an introductory cocktail was great. Upon seeing the menu though and the special hunt offerings we both chose the caquelon braconnier (very loosely translated as the poachers pot) – the full menu! Pictures tell it better than I can.

Hungry anytime in the near future – I think not! We did go on to the museum, but that’s a story for another day as still digesting lunch.

Là haut sur la montagne

“Viens, viens sur la montagne
Là-haut il fait si bon »

Une chanson de Marie Laforêt exprime le mieux la journée, je devrais juste insérer un mot “Là-haut il fait ENFIN si bon”. Ou encore « Là haut sur la montagne il fait ENFIN si beau » ferait l’affaire également.

Voici enfin ce qui nous manquait cruellement cette année : une journée estivale - peut être bien la première et la dernière, car bientôt on ne parlera plus d’été mais de belles journées ensoleillées automnales.

C’est égal : au moins il y a eu cette journée merveilleuse ; journée pendant laquelle je suis allée voir le nouveau sentier ludique de La Creusaz. On devrait inciter tous les profs du primaire à amener leurs classes ici en haut pour que les enfants voient ce que c’est la nature.

C’est intéressant et accessible à tout un chacun

http://www.valleedutrient-vallorcine.com/data/documents/Marecottes/creusaz.pdf

route vers Sex les Granges

Mont Blanc avec La Creusaz

Mon Blanc vue depuis La Creusaz

Glacier du Trient

"téléscopes" #5 du sentier ludique

Mont Blanc à travers le téléscope

Trient à travers le téléscope

para-avalanches en bois

mur sèche contre les avalanches_ancien

filets contre avalanches: ancien

vue direction Cervin

table en bois récupéré

avec le bois du triage forestier, maintien des bancs et tables

Et sur le retour, un instant de grâce lorsque j’ai aperçu deux cercles dans le ciel : l’un entourant le soleil, couleurs arc en ciel, l’autre le reflet parfait en blanc. Trop grands pour être photographier dans leurs entiers, les quelques bouts que j’ai pu prendre me rappellera toujours d’un instant magique.

Market

In my quest for new doormats, I decided to drive to Sion, VS and check out the various stores there (had only been once this year so deemed it time for another trip)

Upon arrival I parked under one of the department stores, then, instead of simply looking there, thought I’d take a walk through Old Town.

As has happened to me many a time: unforeseen, unplanned and unknowingly, I happened across a major event: Friday’s Market in the Old Town with more than 85 stands along the main road and several secondary side streets – larger even than the other market that I am most familiar with – i.e. Argelès-sur-Mer.

My camera was in the car so let me try and give you the flavor without pictures to assist. Those above I took later once I had returned to my car.

Local gardeners with their array of vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs – all glowing with that just-from-the-garden freshness; stands of sausages with a variety for everyone; others with cheeses – again local and with herbs for every palate, or plain; wooden toys; several jewelry stands – all again made by artisans in the craft; knitted items – including a couple of ladies carding the wool as they explained the process; the usual street musician or two; stands, coffee shops and restaurants too numerous to mention – all with their own specialties (as we were close to noon and in the Valais, there was many a stand-up stall with the local wines on display and already being drunk); a pastry stall; Asian takeaway, Raclette by the portion; and my personal favorite (I had the choice of two separate vendors too), the tapenade, dried tomatoes in oil, capers of several varieties as well as olives – again in at least 6 different flavors and sweet garlic cloves stands. Such luck – an added treat.

On the way back to the mountains I did take pictures of the surrounding peaks.