La Gruyère and Montreux ~ 22.05.2011

La Maison du Gruyère, Gruyères Castle, Maison Cailler and Montreux

I have not been to La Gruyère region after almost 3 years in Swiss. So when my mum and sis came here for holiday, we finally made our way to the land of Swiss cheese and chocolate.

I will have to keep the post short as this trip was done so many months ago so I don't intend to scratch my head for all the details. Hope you will like my selection of photos below.

Posing in front of La Gruyere train


View outside the train


The production of Gruyere cheese

Will he grow up as a cheese lover like his mother?


OMG, so many racks of cheese!!!


The garden inside Gruyere Castle


Outside Gruyères Castle


Swiss cows are the lucky ones

Hot chocolate drinks in Maison Cailler, one of them is with spices

The little one showing us his evil smile


Mum, sis and Ian inside the Golden Pass train


Tulips by the lakeside of Montreux

Cheese fondue as dinner

Additional readings:
http://www.la-gruyere.ch/en/welcome.cfm?

Potato-Butternut Squash-Cheese Bake

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes
5 tablespoons butternut squash (finely chopped/ shredded)
Grated cheese


Method:

1. Peel and halve potatoes. Boil them until cooked and soft, drain and allow them to cool.
2. Place your potatoes on a piece of aluminium foil. By using a fork, mash them.
3. Sprinkle your chopped butternut squash and grated cheese on your potatoes mash.
4. Give everything a quick stir for an even mix before wrapping up your aluminium foil.
5. Place the foil in your preheated oven of 240 degree Celsius and bake for 20-30 minutes.
6. Leave it to cool before serving.


You may opt for pumpkin or carrot if you could not find butternut squash.

As for cheese, I shredded some from my block of Dutch Reypenaer VSOP. If you have no idea which type of cheese to use, read here. For us, we will just stick to hard cheeses made from pasteurized milk as most cheeses mentioned in the article are not available in Swiss.

I did not pay special attention to the baking time as I was baking other things at the same time. But it should be ready in short time provided that the potatoes were pre-boiled and butternut squash finely chopped/ shredded. Alternatively, you can bake a bigger portion and share it with other family members as afternoon snack.

Egg Yolk-Avocado-Yogurt Mash

Feeding a baby is a tough job. Not only that they take long time to finish their meal (at least that's what my son does), the urge to prepare a balanced nutritious diet complicate the matter.

Since I don't get to try new recipes nowadays as my time was spent to cook and feed my son, I will start recording some of the baby food recipes which I found interesting.



Ingredients:

1/4 ripped avocado
1 hard boiled egg yolk
2 tablespoons plain yogurt


Method:

1. In a bowl, mix avocado, egg yolk and yogurt.
2. With a large fork, mash everything together.
3. Serve immediately.


Read more about eggs for your baby here:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/eggsbabyfoodrecipes.html

Original source for this recipe:
Read it online somewhere