Letters from Marion: A Weekend in Switzerland

I hope you all had a gorgeous Easter weekend? I certainly did, I jetted off to Switzerland for a lovely, long weekend.

My parents moved there a while ago and it's the perfect place to escape to and relax. A weekend away from the bright lights of Glasgow was exactly what I needed and while I dozed the plane floated towards a destination of relaxation, food and wine. It was the ideal lazy weekend, where all I really needed to think about was drinking and eating - bliss!

It seemed that I'd left the sun in Glasgow when I woke up in Saturday - I mean really how often does this happen! It was a little dull over in Bern, but we wrapped up and headed to the market. It's on Parliament Square, a great setting as the stalls huddle below the impressive buildings.

We wandered round the overflowing stalls, admiring the flowers, smelling the delicious lavender and testing the fresh fruit on offer before we picked up all the ingredients we needed for tonight's feast.

When we'd got everything for the recipes from the market we trotted off to Globus for some lunch. The Food-hall in the basement is the perfect place for a light lunch and a glass of something chilled, as you watch the hustle and bustle of everyone around. We both had a delicious sashimi salad as we watched the skilled sushi chef wrap parcels of tasty looking morsels.

The Food-hall is like an Aladdins cave of all things tasty. I could wonder round it for ages, picking up nibbles, cheese and wine tasting, but we had to leave eventually, laden with all we needed.

We wandered the streets of Bern for a little longer, doing a bit of shopping and a bit of people watching we soon needed a coffee. We ended up at Einstein Kaffee, below the house in which the famous scientist lived. It was a cosy little cafe with a modern but elegant interior. The coffee was actually really tasty, with lots of puns about the theory of relativity - I'm sure ol' Einstein would've approved.

Now, to be honest, I'm not the best in the kitchen, but my Dad should pretty much be given Michelin stars here there and everywhere - so I let him get on with things well I indulged in a little Harry Potter magic and another glass of something chilled.

And geez, did my Dad cook up an impressive feast!

We started with Market Asparagus - that we'd picked out that very morning - and Hollandaise Sauce, of course with the rest of the bottle of white.

Next up was my new favourite dish. It was simply, absolutely, mouth-wateringly delicious. Tournedos Rossini with Madeira and Morel Jus - so in translation, steak on top of a generous helping of mousse de canard (a duck liver mousse) on top of a bed of brioche, surrounded by madeira and morel mushrooms with a jus and a sprinkling of spinach to add a little green. This was all complemented by a lovely glass of red.

Of course there was a little bit room left for pudding and if you thought things couldn't get much better ooooh they did. We savoured a gorgeous Praline Cake with rhubarb, strawberries and a sploodge of ice cream - it really couldn't get any better, and my one of my favourite things about dessert - sweet wine - finished it off wonderfully!