An Edible Voyage

February 2020 Snow in winter, sun in summer and always incredibly scenic mountains.  The cuisine is influenced by rural farming villages of years gone, leading to hearty dishes, heavy in dairy products. Winter and summer I love the French Alps.    Chamonix is my choice for the summer – plenty to do, great vibe, some stunning hikes, start of the Haute Route trail, and close to some beautiful lakes to cool off in.    Come winter, La Plagne is great for mixed ability groups as there are lots of wide, cruisey blue runs, but plenty to keep more advanced skiers and boarders challenged.    St Martin de Belleville is a pretty, quaint mountain village with a relaxed vibe, but which is linked by a gondala and chair lift to the 600km of pistes in the 3 Valleys.    It’s a great option if you’re not looking for anything too raucous but don’t want to compromise on the size of the ski area.    And if you do fancy an apres-ski p...

February 2020 Make no mistake about it, I love cheese, pretty much every type of cheese, so you would think these dishes would be a dream come true for me.     And I do love them in small doses, I just find it difficult to comprehend eating such a vast quantity of cheese in one sitting – where almost the whole meal is melted cheese.   Raclette is a Swiss cheese, nutty and sweet with earthy undertones, which has become popular in the French Alps.  Around 200g of cheese per person is melted under a table top grill and scraped off as it cooks, on to a plate of boiled potatoes, gherkins and charcuterie. Cheese fondue is a mix of firm, mountain cheeses such as gruyere, emmental, comte and beaufort, heated with white wine, a little garlic and Dijon mustard.  The communal ceramic pot is placed above a burner in the centre of the table for everyone to dip bite-size pieces of bread in to, using a long, thin fork.  It is delicious, especiall...