BMCC 2008 Switzerland Blog

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Chur, Switzerland: Itinerary

7:00-7:20am Breakfast

8:00am Discussion with Professors Garely and Blake-Neis

9:00am Swiss Cooking – 101 with Chef Schmid

12:15pm Lunch (Menu from Cooking Course)

3:30pm Meet Michael Meier (Director of Chur Tourism)

Meeting in Chur Tourism Office

6:05pm Departure to Passugg by bus

6:30pm Dinner in Paulaner

Au Bon BMCC Chef’s

Written by: Mark Villanueva

Our course of the day was to prepare lunch for ourselves in the school’s kitchen with professional chefs. I was very excited to be able to be part of a cooking class because I love cooking at home. Well, not everyone is meant to be a chef but the thirteen of us in the kitchen are the exception. We used team work to prepare the meal and in the process of all the stress of the last few days were able to get along better and have fun. The meal turned out to be a success and it made us stronger and more united as a group.

Mark, Curtis, Adele, Andy, Sasha, Chef Schmid, Pragya, and Elliott preparing Spatzli

The Lunch Menu

Smoked Salmon on Puff Pastry Pillow

Sauted Pork Steak with Paprika Cream Sauce

Spatzli

Steamed Broccoli with Parmesan

Dark Chocolate Mousse

My task during the class was to prepare the pork steaks. I cut up the onions, took part in cooking the Spatzli, (an egg noodle) and cooked up the peppers for the paprika sauce. The food came out real well and the time in preparing went by so fast, next thing we knew, it was time for lunch to be served. I really liked the dark chocolate mousse (it was very rich and thick).

Chur Tourism Office

After the cooking course, we took a trip to the Chur Tourism Office to meet with Michael Meier, Director of Chur Tourism. Mr. Meir was very personable and enthusiastic about his position. Throughout his presentation of Chur which consisted of information on Chur, the peak season (Winter), a brief history (Chur is one of the oldest cities in Switzerland), and statistics. The Chur Tourism office played a vital role for all of us coming to Switzerland because it was his office that responded to Dr. Garely’s proposal for Summer Study Abroad in Switzerland and connected her to Mr. Wicki and SSTH. I felt Mr. Meir held great pride and represented Chur very well throughout his presentation.

TTA 100 group with Michael Meier, Director of Chur Tourism