It was a big month for “S” over here. Yes, I went to Stockholm, Sweden, and Switzerland. The first "S" was part of a trek up to Fäviken, where I took a few days before and after in the Swedish capital - although others later said that the way to go is to fly into the north of Norway, rent a car, and hit Fäviken that way. However when we priced rental cars, the Norwegian one came out to nearly $400 per day. So we took a pass on Norway.

(And Magnus Nillson, the chef at Fäviken, told me that the little airport at Östermalm was so "local" that they would sometimes call him if he was booked for a flight and hadn't arrived at the airport yet!)

I used to live in a Scandinavian community in upstate New York but had very little experience traveling through Scandinavian countries. I'd only been to Denmark back during my student-travel days, and I landed there in December, when there were just a few hours of daylight - and the prices were sky-high for a budget traveler, so I didn't see as much as I should have.) So it was fun to actually go and visit Sweden as an adult, and during a summer month. There was lots of eat, including creamy-sweet caramels and amazing bread. It’s not like we can’t get good bread in Paris, but the Swedish breads, loaded with grains and seeds, are more hearty. (Although they do pair wonderfully with French cheese, I learned with the few loaves that I brought back.)

And my return to Switzerland was part of my annual Paris and Lausanne culinary tour, where we visit the best chocolate-makers, pastry chefs, and bakers, plus some favorite restaurants, in these two culinary capitals. We dipped into fondue in Lausanne and swooned as we strolled through the food halls of Globus. At home in Paris, we visited the bean-to-bar chocolate shop of Alain Ducasse (my group wiped them out of the chocolate-covered salted butter caramel bars - good going, guys!) and we nibbled on chocolate-dipped ganaches and spiced biscuits at Fouquet.

(That board of meat you see at the top was the first meal I had to detox from the trip. It's Swiss dried beef, ham, and Gruyère - and while you think it might be odd to 'de-tox' with charcuterie and cheese, that just might give you some idea of the richness of the other foods that we had that week! Well, (I did have a salad alongside...)

The downside of this overload of food is that I need to stop eating for a while. Not completely, of course, but I’m taking a little breather now that it’s summer and switching to lighter fare. I will miss cheese and chocolate and ice cream, but perhaps I will finally take the plunge and sign up for Crossfit classes.

Either that, or find someone to replace the waistbands of my trousers with elastic straps. And avoid countries that start with "S" for a while.

(And if you already have the app, we’d love a sweet review in the app store…share the sweetness!)

There are a boatload – or a fruitload – of summer recipes on my site. Here are some of my favorites:

Happy baking...and churning!

-David