Oh Cheese.  How I heart thee.  Especially when you are melted and put on top of other kinds of other splendid mouth-watering delights.  I am already excited for the insane amounts of cheese I plan to ingest when I go to Switzerland.  I am going to turn into a block of cheese, I am going to eat so much.

For anyone who started reading my blog the past few weeks, I am usually a pretty healthy eater (with a mean sweet tooth.)  But right now, with my boyfriend’s family visiting from Switzerland, I have been doing a lot of eating out, a lot of trying new things that they brought and a lot of eating fantastic Swiss meals and drinking good wine.  They are leaving this Sunday, so the party will come to an end, but for now I’m just trying to relax and enjoy it (while maintaining my healthy eating the rest of the time when I’m not with them, continuing my exercise, and trying to keep portion sizes under control.)  Things will change after Sunday.

For breakfast, I had a nectarine, green tea and my coffee.  I just wasn’t feelin breaky… had to force myself to eat something (ha, when have you ever heard me say THAT?!?!)

Lunch was my turkey salad.  Used up my edamame and olives, and not sure when I’m going to have time to go to the grocery store   So at least my salad will have some new stuff tomorrow!

Snacks were a few creamsicles and some cereal:

I went to the gym where I tried to mix things up a little by doing a new program on the stepmill.  I always do the fat burning routine, but I read on Sparkpeople the other day that those fat burning routines actually aren’t as good for you as they sound, because they are specifically designed to keep your heart rate low so your body is in “fat burning” mode.  However, in order to burn fat and the same amount of calories as high-intensity workouts, you need to go for a much longer period of time.  And I was in a bit of a rush yesterday so I tried the aerobic program for 30 minutes.  The first half was easy, I was on level 12 and wasn’t having trouble at all.  So I bumped it up to level 13… but then the hard part started (and I had just bumped the level up) so by the end I was pretty much dead.  Then I did 15 minutes on the elliptical with arms, but I can’t really remember that because I was a zombie at that point.

After the gym, I became a baking beauty.  I was going to Stephen’s house for dinner where his parents were cooking us a traditional Swiss meal, and I wanted to bring something.  So I decided to make a recipe that was given to me by my Grandmother, passed down from her mother.  It is for Mandelbroit, a Jewish almond bread that is very similar to biscotti.  I thought Stephen and his family would like that, and it was kind of a traditional Jewish recipe which would be a nice compliment to the coffee they always have after their traditional Swiss dinner.  I was a little nervous as I had only tried to make this recipe once before and had totally messed it up somehow.  The dough came out way too soft and I couldn’t even shape it to bake.  I kept adding flour until it was impossible to use, they would have been horrible.  But this time they turned out great!  First I shaped the dough into two logs, put them on the baking sheet and flattened them a little bit:

I baked them for a while, then took them out, let them cool, cut them into diagonal slices, and put them back in to bake some more (flipping them in the middle.)  They turned out great, although I was really pressed for time so didn’t allow them to cool properly afterwards before I had to bag them up and take them.

I was so proud of myself, and they were a big hit!  Here is the recipe:

Mandelbroit

24 servings (serving size: 1 bread/cookie)
Ingredients

* 1 3/4  cups  all-purpose flour (about 7 3/4 ounces)
* 1 1/2  teaspoons  baking powder
* 1/4  teaspoon  salt
* 3/4  cup  sugar
* 1/4  cup  butter, softened
* 2  large eggs
* 2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
* 1  cup  chopped almonds

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat until combined. Stir in almonds.

Shape dough into 2 (9-inch-long) rolls. Place rolls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper; pat to 1-inch thickness. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes or until rolls are golden. Cool on baking sheet 10 minutes.

Cut each roll diagonally into 12 (1/2-inch-thick) slices. Place, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake at 325° for 15 minutes. Turn the cookies over, and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool). Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on a wire rack.

For dinner, Stephen’s parents made Raclette – a type of cheese dish featuring melted cheese from the Swiss Alps.  Stephen’s family brought the cheese with them from Switzerland.  You use this machine that kind of looks like a midevil torture device to melt the cheese right in front of you at the table (his family brought the machine with them too, but they are leaving it when they go so that Stephen and I can make raclette ourselves!!!):

image from:  http://www.kitchenemporium.com

You light the burner underneath, put the cheese on it, and wait for it to melt and bubble.  Then you take this little scraper thing, tilt it so that it is like a slide, and scrape the cheese off the end onto your plate – onto or next to whatever you want to eat it with.  You can find some more information and pictures about raclette at . We had bread, potatoes, raw vegetables, pickled vegetables… the works.  It tasted incredible, plus it was just fun because you got to make your food in front of yourself and slide the ooey gooey cheese down the cheese slide!  Woo hoo!

Oh my.  I’m stuffed completely, but my mouth is watering just putting the pictures in this post.  And for dessert, we had banana splits:

And finally, finished off the night with coffee, tea, and the mandelbroit:

But now, I’m afraid, I took a Tylenol PM for a headache. At any time now I could become unconscious at my laptop…  So I’m off to bed.  Good night!