Swiss Cheese Flashback

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see a great cheese segment on the Sunday morning news from a business in Vancouver. What makes it even better was flashing back to my time in Switzerland eating the cheeses "les amis du fromage" were speaking about.

My mind came racing in when I heard about the Swiss delicacy Vacherin Mont D'or. This Swiss cheese is from the canton Vaud and was developed because there was insufficient winter milk to manufacture the large cheeses such as Gruyère. Vacherin then became a tradition, much like fondue. Vacherin is produced from the end of September to April each year.

A recipe with this rather pricey Vacherin cheese.

1. Tightly wrap aluminium foil around the round box (do not cover cheese) of Vacherin.

2. Poke the top of the cheese with a fork as if for a pie crust.

3. Insert one or two cloves of garlic for added taste.

4. Pour 100 ml of dry white wine over top of the cheese.

5. Bake at 400^oF for 20-25 minutes.

6. Spoon over boiled baby potatoes. Other versions include serving with prosciutto, fresh bread, or lightly toasted cubes of specialty bread.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Perhaps I've found a slice of Switzerland close by..

Cool New Laptops

Since I was having laptop slowness troubles myself this morning, and can't get the topic off my mind, I thought it was only fitting to share a really cool article about a Swiss artist and retro looking laptops.

The Swiss are on the forefront on helping out the developing world with children being the first to experience their own very cool and outrageous looking laptops. And I mean outrageous in the coolest way! Swiss designer Yves Béhar, who currently lives in the bay area, providing the finishing touches making these cheap $100 laptops is something to be envied. The program is dedicated to get one laptop per child or OLPC and is something I think is such a great idea.

Do check out the laptop article from Swiss info.