"I Love Juice" or I really love juice

The Old Town of Bern is awakening from its static tradition and on the brink of being boring glory into a more vibrant existence. The kilometers of beautiful arcades are lined with several antique shops, designer furniture, various ateliers and small galleries, a marionette shop, a hunting shop, florists, watches and jewelry, hairdressers, restaurants, a horse meat delicatessen, a cheese shop one can smell from a block away. The rows of these boutiques have tattooed themselves in memory over the years. They have always been there as long as I can remember and I bet they were there decades before I first moved here. The shopkeepers as well as their customers have probably grown old running and visiting these places. Until now!

The UNESCO cultural heritage protected Old Town .has opened a new cafe here, a new Turkish or a sushi restaurant there. A couple of clothes brands have appeared. On the window of a hipster atelier a poster printed in a very modern font is inviting for a sewing course. Even a muesli boutique has recently made its debut. A wine bar on corner has closed down. Change is in the air. I am weighing the probability of the reasons for these new places opening up. Is it because after all these decades the shopkeepers have retired or have they gone out of business?

There is a lovely little juice bar between Münster and Kulturcasino. "I Love Juice" is another invigorating discovery and promises an immediate fix to anyone suffering from the winter fatigue. Cold pressed unpasturised juices, fresh salads and soups made from locally grown vegetables and fruits are there to pull anyone out of vitamine drained winter weariness. The juice menu is encouraging with a variety of choices for different tastes. I can feel how the "young glow" is making my "heart beet". I discover that my own current favourite juice is called Flying Dutchie at "I Love Juice" and wonder if it is so because of the beta-carotene or the Dutch connection of the people running the place.

Even though the juices are inviting to inject a cannonball of health into my veins, I feel like experimenting and opt for the more adventurous create -your-own smoothie.

The friendly and glowing bar girl guides me through the steps of the creation process. Select the base liquid from orange juice, almond milk, coconut or filtered water, choose the fruits, herbs or vegetables and add a touch of sweet or sour. My smoothie ends up green and is a mix of almond milk, apple, mint and lime juice. I get a full glass and later on a top-up of another half. I skip the lunch as after the smoothie the hunger doesn´t return until later in the evening. 

My almond, apple, mint and lime smoothie

During the week there is a lunch offering of a soup, salad and a juice. There is a rainbow of colourful bottles, larger and smaller, lined up in the fridge. Juices, smoothies, soups, salads can be enjoyed in the bar, grabbed as take-away or even have them delivered to your home or office. 

And the top-up

I can see how in summer the place will be swarming with tourists and local regulars looking for a refreshing cold energy booster and a shelter from the heat. Perhaps "I Love Juice" will add fruit and berry sorbets to their menu in summer.  Until then I´m going to get some more of the Young Glow and enjoy the Boostylicious as I really love juice in the otherwise traditional and slow paced Old Town in Bern.

Website: www.ilovejuice.ch/
Address: Herrengasse 10, Bern

Fresh Juice Cocktails: Apple - Cucumber - Celery

After a period of contemplation whether I need another kitchen gadget I took the decision to invest in a juicer. I had managed through a couple years making smoothies with my all purpose hand blender and another kitchen machine seemed unnecessary. I thought, not yet.

At the start of the winter, if we may call the slightly colder weather a winter, my mind kept turning around carrot juice. I had developed a craving for carrot juice. The hand mixer is of no use for hard carrots or apples for that matter. My foodie friend Mark advised to get one that is able to crush and squeeze hard veggies if I decided to spend the money. I waited until the department store had another day of -20% discount for membership customers and tried to pick a juicer to fit my needs. The young salesman was not very confident in the technical capabilities of the machine, but he was very helpful in carrying about three kilos worth of my new equipment to the cash desk. I concluded that people must buy a lot more cheese fondue sets than juicers in Switzerland. I´m sure he would have given me an in depth induction into caquelons and rechauds.

My new kitchen toy has served me well through all winter and is here to stay. 

Combining fruit with vegetable juice makes a refreshing and satiating cocktail. More and more supermarkets are offering fruit and vegetables that are a bit deformed in shape but otherwise perfectly fine in nutritional quality. They are perfect for juice making.

In winter combine apple and cucumber with a knob of fresh ginger to heat up inside. In spring replace the ginger with a stalk of green celery.

Freshly Pressed Apple - Cucumber - Celery Juice

ingredients for 250ml

2 apples

1/2 salad cucumber

1 stalk of green celery

Wash and cut the fruit and veggies into suitable pieces for your juicer and extract the juice.

Serve and feel the vitamins and minerals boost your body.