Yesterday, hubby and I ventured out for our first visit of the season to the Christmas Market. This was a very short visit, as we were also going the the movies that evening to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (I'm still undecided as to whether I liked the movie or I didn't like the movie...mostly leaning to the "liked" side at the moment, but that definitely wasn't my feeling when the movie finished). We'll likely be taking advantage of our season's pass a few more times to be able to try everything. We first picked up mugs of hot apple cider to sip whilst going through (I really like the way they do their apple cider; it's a nice balance of apple goodness with just the right amount of spices). I decided to have schnitzel for dinner from Das Schnitzelhaus. It did not disappoint: the schnitzel itself was MASSIVE, and perfectly crisp, and the potato salad was very yummy too. Hubby had a bratwurst from Black Forest Meats & Sausages (it's become one of his standards since we've begun going to the market). We then went on the hunt for one of the new foods at the market, the Flammenkuchen.
It didn't take us too long to find Flammenkuchen-Kueche. You could choose between the traditional Flammenkuchen (cream, onions, and Speck) or the vegetarian (spinach with Gruyere). It is an Alsatian dish (French-German) made with flat bread rolled out into a thin rectangle or circle, then flambeed. They also had a selection of sweet tarts for dessert from Tartine Tarts. I went with the traditional, which went straight into the wood oven they had right next to the hut. Hubby got one of the cherry coconut tarts for dessert.
The flatbread was DELISH. I really liked the combination of the cream and onions together, and the Speck gave it that nice smokey taste. The bread was perfectly crisp on the outside with just the right amount of chewiness on the inside. Yum, yum, yum! The cherry tart was quite tasty too (hubby is a sucker for cherries). After a little more wandering and browsing (and sampling some candies from Candy Meister), we left the market to head to the movie theatre.
After the movie, I requested to hubby that we pass by Thierry to pick up desserts. I chose the Passionfruit cake for myself (passionfruit mousse, white genoise and passionfruit gelee) and hubby chose the Chocolate tart for himself (sweet dough crust, 55% chocolate). I also picked up some macarons** (lemon-cherry, maple pecan and spiced apple) and a package of almond-pear financiers. As I was still feeling a bit wound up from watching the movie, we our desserts when we arrived home. The Passionfruit cake was incredibly refreshing on the palate and the mousse was very smooth. Hubby offered me a bite of his Chocolate tart, and it was DIVINE: incredibly rich chocolate with a perfectly crisp crust. I also had one of the almond-pear financiers: a very light cake full of almond flavor and a yummy piece of pear hidden inside. Delish!
**I'm actually having the spiced apple macaron as I write this; it's probably my favorite of the winter season macarons thus far.
Here's the meal plan for the week. I'm going to attempt a different roast chicken recipe this week, the rest of the meals are oldies but goodies. We didn't have the turkey sandwiches this week (had breakfast for dinner at IHOP instead with some friends), so we will have it this week. We'll also be attending hubby's work Christmas party at the Fairmont on Friday (I really hope they sprung for some lamb this year, I was so disappointed that they didn't have it last year). Enjoy the weekend and happy cooking all!
December 1-6th
Sunday: One-hour roast chicken with sage & garlic, mashed potatoes, veggies
Monday: Risotto with carrot, red pepper & Chorizo
Tuesday: Mini pizzas
Wednesday: Lemon-pepper fettucine with chicken
Thursday: Hot turkey sandwiches
Friday: Hubby's work Christmas party