Finding Simplicity

This is the end. The END.

2009-11-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

Rob and I have been back in the states for about 3 months now and have compiling this list for awhile. We might keep adding on to it as time as goes on. We have truly enjoyed our experience as expats and wouldn't have changed a thing. In summary this blog has been an outlet for us. We were able to record our experiences, share our stories, and share our pictures. Thank you for reading. I am very much a list person and hopefully this list will encompase what we miss . . .

Why we loved Geneva . . .

1. Asking for the bill. No push or rush to leave the table.

2. Fresh foods. Less processed packaged stuff. Farmer's markets close and abundant.

3. Clean yummy cold tapwater

4. Fresh baked bread from the Migros bakery everyday.

5. Walkable. Didn't take long to get anywhere.

6. Small tips. Servers on salary and not making their living off of tips.

7. Public transportation. We could both have beer out and not worry about who was driving us home!

8. Farmer's markets and locally grown foods. We will forever miss Ferney's Saturday morning market.

9. Yummy dairy. Cheese!

10. Well trained drivers and parallel parkers.

11. Small streets. Max 3 lanes.

12. Well connected to the rest of Europe. Feeling like we could be somewhere fun within minutes.
13. We miss not being able to understand everything. The mystery in language is gone. It was blissfull not knowing what everyone was saying.

13. . . . will continue to add to this list as time goes on . . .

What we will not miss in Geneva . . .

1. SMOKERS

2. No free refills or ice

3. Too much pocket change

4. Expensive food when eating out.

5. "Hoarding at boarding". The idea that there is NO line when embarking on a plane or bus.

6. No Queue's and constant cutting in lines. Excuse me? I was here WAY longer then you. This goes along with . . .

7. Little consideration for others. Everywhere in the world has these types of people, but I seemed to notice them more here.

8. Lack of hot sauces and condiments.

9. Authoritarian assholes at the borders. This is a LONG story.

10. Lack of fountain sodas.

11. Lack of toilet seat covers. The spray to wipe the seat doesn't do it for me.

12. Impatient drivers. I'm sorry I didn't accelerate fast enough for you to the next red light.

Merci bou coup to all the followers this year! Especially to the other swiss expats and our family! Our adventure is over and life will move on in the states. We'll probably start a new blog eventually, but right now, things are too busy. Lots of Hugs! Au Revoir!

Home

2009-08-22T12:34:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update ~ we are home in California after our 3 week excursion. I have a lot of blogging and catching up to do about our adventures and will try to get it done in the next few weeks. For now, we are recovering from jetlag and looking forward to resettling our lives here. It's been a great year and I am definitely compiling the lists to create and "end all be all" post to wrap this expat blog up.

Last Beers in Geneva

2009-08-17T03:43:00.000-07:00

All good things must come to an end. Here are the last beers we had the pleasure of trying in Geneva. Don't fret, the beer adventures are continuing, just not in Switzerland!

The Physics - How could Rob resist trying this one? We picked it up in London and tried it our last night in our apartment. It was really quite yummy! An amber ale brewed by Brewdog of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 5%

Alpenbier - A swiss beer brewed by Brauerei Rosengarten in Einsiedeln, Swizterland. A German style pilsner. This one is hard to find any info in English about it! So I don't remember the percentage alcohol!

La Torpille - Brewed by Brasserie Des Franches-Montagnes in Switzerland. It's a dark strong belgian style ale at 7.5%. Dark and Delicious!

Gambas A Go Go!

2009-08-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

We discovered this little place just a little too late in our adventure . . . or just in time for our cholesterol levels. Right around the corner from our Geneva apartment is a place that served "Gambas-a-go-go", meaning all you can eat shrimp!!! Yummy! It is a little pricet at 39 CHF per person but it is all you can eat. A salad and fries are included, but the real star is the huge shrimp cooked perfectly in a garlic butter sauce. It's impossible to eat these things without getting your fingers a mess, but the taste is so worth it. It's quite funny to see Europeans who hardly ever eat with their hands dig in and get messy. We ate here our last night in Geneva and took J&C back when they dropped us off after our 2 weeks together. It's a lot of shrimp! And you can keep asking for more!

Our last days in Geneva

2009-08-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it actually happened. I never thought the time would fly by so fast. I can remember the days when I wish it was going faster! We have spent 10 months here and are ready to go home! We moved out of our apartment and stored all of our stuff in a friend's cave. We are now traveling like regular people and living out of a suitcase and hotels. No more "home" base to go back to. We are ending our time in Europe with 3 weeks of traveling. The first two we spent with John & Christina and the 3rd is starting tomorrow in Marrakech, Morocco. We are landing back in San Francisco on Friday! Coming home means facing reality and job searching. but we are ready and excited to do it!

Here are some pictures from our last nights in Geneva and the start of the big festival around the lake, "Fetes De Geneve". I'll try to get some pictures up from places we visited in the last couple weeks . . . like Pompeii, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, and Provence!

West Side of Geneva during Fete!

Harbor at night during Fete

Our last night in Geneva!

Mont Blanc was sooooo pretty this day.

Jet D'Eau - The iconic symbol of Geneva

Loss of a friend. Goodbye Danny.

2009-07-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Logging on to facebook yesterday morning I was shocked to see my old fraternity brothers updating their status messages with "RIP Danny". What in the world has happened? More details were revealed slowly and I found myself glued to the computer to try to find out more. Danny died in a car crash off the 405 at 2:30 AM. What a tradgedy.

I met Danny freshman year in the dorms and he was always so kind to everyone there. He worked at the front desk and I dated his roommate. He decorated his dorm room with huge pictures of Shakira and Janet Jackson. Our friendship grew as I became a brother of APX the next year. He was always the life of the party. Dancing, singing, and mixing drinks for everyone. He was always the first to show up and help out and was a great listener when you had a gripe that needed to be heard. We became roommates my 4th and 5th year and we always had lots of fun on the trampoline. I will always remember him cooking up plantains and warming corn tortillas.

I'm not sure how I feel. Being here has already put me at a distance from everyone and everything. I'm not connected like I used to be. I feel grief for sure but it reality hasn't sunken in yet. Did it really happen? How is this going to change things? I do know that I got the pleasure of knowing somebody with a warm heart and I will cherish the memories we had together. I just want to hug everyone who is grieving and tell them I understand. I want to share stories of the good times to honor his life. I feel like his life just ended way way way too soon. He never got to experience some of the greatest pleasures in life, and for that I feel terrible.

Now, I don't believe in an afterlife and I think prayers are useless. But whatever helps people be comforted I am all for. I take comfort in knowing that he can never be erased in the history of time. He will always have been there and touched so many hearts.

Our newest Entrepreneur

2009-07-29T12:13:00.000-07:00

Laura is the 115th entrepreneur we have helped support around the world. Sounds like fun doesn't it? Get started yourself and support other entrepreneur's at ~ kiva.org! Microfinance helps lead people out of poverty.

Swiss Beers From Globus

2009-07-29T10:57:00.001-07:00

I realized time was running out in Switzerland and that we would be moving out of Geneva really soon. Keeping this in mind at the Globus market, I picked up these two swiss micro-brews that promised big things but delivered a little flat.

La Cuivrée

Brewed By Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes, Jura Switzerland

Unfiltered Euro Style Pale Lager - 5.2%

I am guessing this isn't the brewery's best work. But I am eager to try other examples!

La Fraîcheur

Brewed By Brasserie Trois Dames - 4.6%

Wheat Beer. Citrusy with Coriander Smells.

It was terrible. Definitely an acquired taste.

London Beers Are Falling Down ... Falling Down (Uh... I mean Bridge)

2009-07-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

While consuming onion rings at the London Pub "Green Man Porter"we had to have some beer to wash down the greasiness. (This was all Tami's idea btw). London has a rich beer tradition and we wanted to sample some cask ale's while we were at it. A cask ale is - "Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurised beer which is conditioned (includingsecondary fermentation) and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure."

Bulmer's Cider. Original & Pear Flavored.

I know, I know it's not beer. But England has great not super sweet cider's too!

Adnams Broadside.

Brewed by Sole Bay Brewery UL. Dark Bitter Cask Ale - 4.7%

Mellow yet lightly sour. Medium roasted malts.

Forgot to take a picture of this one till the very end.

Marston's Pedigree

Cask Ale - 4.5%

More sour and bitter then the Broadside.

Fuller's London Pride

Brewed By Fuller Smith & Turner - 4.7%

London Weekend In Brief

2009-07-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

Here's what we did in London in brief bullet points:

- Found our way from Gatwick airport, not via Gatwick Express. Via local trains and a couple tube lines.
- Ate lots of food. Whoever thinks England has bad food, doesn't know what they are talking about. Ate full veggie english breakfasts, red veg vegetarian fast food, wagamama, dim sum, smoothies, bangers & mash, fish & chips, and lots of beer.
- Borough Market and Camden Town Markets.
- Went shopping down Oxford Street.
- Went to two of the oldest pubs in England.
- Saw broadway show Ave Q with last minute tickets! Hung out at Piccadilly Circus to see if we ran into anybody we knew.
- Ran thru the airport, cut thru security (it wasn't easy to convince people!), and hightailed it to the gate.
- Relaxed and enjoyed the hotel room and watching the construction right outside our window.
- Didn't do any sight seeing touristy stuff since we have already done it all there. Rick & Tami did the hop on hop off tour bus thing before we met up with them.

I didn't take a lot of pictures.

Full English Veggie Breakfast + Toast

Borough Market

These "Luxury" English Muffins Look Amazing

Health Care & Insurance Debate

2009-07-25T01:29:00.000-07:00

There is a huge debate going on back home about health care and how the whole system is running. Here are my simple points I would like to make.

1. The US system IS NOT the best in the world. It is not the best in mortality rates, life spans, and access to doctors. Nay sayers are trying to SCARE you into thinking that you won't get good health care. That is blatantly false.

2. Lots of people are uninsured. Not just the lower class. So when these people get sick, it costs ALL of us.

3. I would much much much rather have a government employee who has nothing to gain from denying me care approving what my doctors do then some insurance company employee who will get a bonus if I don't get my procedure. FOR PROFIT health care simply doesn't work.

4. Health care costs are increasing. It's a reality. We pay 3 times as much for the EXACT same treatments then other people under a national health care plan.

5. A nationalized system would keep costs under check. Competition is key.

6. People get denied health care ALL the time now. Once again, nay-sayers are trying to SCARE you that you won't get a procedure you need under nationalized health care. The reality is, you will denied NOW under the CURRENT system if the insurance company stands to make a buck.

7. There are simply too many loopholes now for insurance companies to deny you coverage. Pre-existing condition anyone? Everyone has one. Ever been to the doctor? They may count it as a possible pre-existing condition. Even if you are granted coverage, if they find out ONE doctor visit you forgot about when filling out the paperwork, they could deny you coverage and claim you lied about preexisting conditions. Does that seem like a system that is working well?

8. If you want to check out some nationalized health care systems of the world, try looking outside Canada and the UK. The Swiss have a great system and so does Taiwan. Don't let another language stop you from informing yourself.

9. Did you realize people are AFRAID of traveling to the US because our health care system is so bad? Silly yes, but the stigma is there. You don't get bad stigma's from having a perfect system.

The whole point is, the system needs to change. And why not now? Don't be scared to work towards the future!

Brasserie Du Mont Blanc - La Blonde

2009-07-18T06:20:00.000-07:00

Driving back from Florence was a grueling drive. 6 hours in the car isn't programmed into my "routine" driving anymore like it is in CA. We just went thru the tunnel for the last time this year (tear) and stopped for gas. We treated ourselves and bought this beer at the gas station. Don't worry Mom & Dad, we waited till we got home to drink it. It is always so funny how Europeans drink beer during breaks at rest-stops and that beer and booze is even sold there! Oh well, we were thankful to pick up this gem of a beer. The water in it comes directly from the glacier that is melting off Mont Blanc! Yummy!

Brasserie Du Mont Blanc - La Blonde

5.8% Belgian Ale

Brewed by Brasserie Du Mont Blanc in Les Houches, France.

Me like a French beer? Yes indeed!

Something on the internet about this beer:

The Water is particularly pure, consisting of rainwater and snow-melt transformed into ice and filtered over several hundreds of metres through morainic sand and gravel. The role the water purity plays cannot be underestimated, it allows all the ingredients to come into their own.

Pinkus Hefeweizen

2009-07-17T03:17:00.000-07:00

The key to successful travel is research research research. The more places you write down where to eat and what to do, the more time you have while actually on vacation to enjoy instead of compromising between McDonald's and a tourist trap with a plastic menu. (Been there, done that). For my recently completely vegetarian inlaw's and long time pescatarian hubby I looked up a place called "Il Vegetariano" in Florence. It was a self serve place that had FABULOUS food! So great, we ate there twice. The mushroom soup and the carrot soups were out of this world and the salad's weren't shabby either. It was nice to see refreshing healthy food in front of us rather then cheese laden greasy pizzas. Here's what we washed down the meal with:

Pinkus Hefeweizen

Organic German Hefe enojoyed at Il Vegetariano in Florence

5.10% brewed by Brauereu Pinkus Muelle

Feldschlösschen Urtrüb

2009-07-16T03:12:00.000-07:00

Feldschlösschen Urtrüb

Enjoyed with Rösti in the Bernese Oberland

Brewed by Carlsberg in Rheinfelden, Switzerland

5% - Yummy Amber Color, Light Body with Caramel Notes.

Selling the Green Machine

2009-07-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

In case there is any interest in the blogosphere about our pursuit to sell our car . . . email me if interested!

Mercedes Benz A160 Elegance -- Automatic Clutch -- 6750 CHF

Mercedes Benz A160 Elegance
First Matriculation: Oct '98
Mileage: 127,000 km
Comparis Target Price: 7775 CHF
My Asking Price: 6750 CHF

This is a wonderful little 5 door (4 doors plus hatchback) car with plenty of room to take a long road trip with 4 people plus a bit of luggage (we've done it several times).

This car has an automatic clutch. Essentially it has a completely standard manual gear box, but the car does the clutch work for you. It's a nice compromise between getting an automatic and a manual. Very easy to learn if you are unfamiliar with manual transmissions, but also satisfying if you are used to manual transmissions and don't like automatics.

Features include:
Automatic Clutch w/ Manual Transmission
Stability Control
Climate Control
Heated Mirrors
CD Player
Power Steering / Windows / Locks
Carphone (I'll remove it if you don't want it!)

Rick & Tami Visit - Part 1

2009-07-15T01:44:00.000-07:00

Rob's parents have come to visit and we have been running around seeing as much as we can with them. We did a few new things and a few old things but had fun relaxing and enjoying no matter where we were.

The trip started with them landing in Geneva and helping them recover from jetlag. Our advice on jetlag is to stay up till normal bedtime, eat meals even if your not hungry at the appropriate time for your new time zone, and take melatonin to keep you asleep thru the entire night.

Saturday we headed to Chamonix and to take the tele-cabin up to the Mont Blanc viewing station. It is kinda cloudy but the wind didn't stop the tele-cabin from going to the top. It's a little pricey (40 euro) for a round trip, but totally worth it. There is a mid way station on the way up that we stopped at for our packed picnic lunch. It was simply serene. Being above the tree line, watching brave soles ice climb the glaciers with their heavy gear, and me enjoying the cold wind on my bare legs since I foolishly decided to wear shorts! It was warm at the bottom, but chilly at the top.

At the top station overlooking Mont Blanc

Lunchtime Picnic Serenity

We then drove thru the alps and made our way to the Oberland. We stayed at the all famous mountain hostel and had to endure the youthful folks and a dorm bed environment. We weren't sure if Rick and Tami would be up for it, but they were troopers, and it was only for one night. We ate some wonderful traditional rosti and drank beers. The next day we saw the Trummelbach Falls again and headed back to Geneva with a quick lunch stop thru Bern.

Tami @ Mountain Hostel

We relaxed and enjoyed Geneva at a leisurely pace the next few days before we took off to the Cinque Terre. Our second time there and ended up staying in an apartment just one entrance away from our last place. We did a lot of the same stuff and enjoyed eating fantastic Liguirian cuisine.

Lazy Relaxed Full of Stairs Cinque Terre

It was then off to Florence to take in some famous Gelato at Vivoli and climb the Duomo steps. We decided to explore separately on these days so we all didn't have to do the same things. Plus it would be a great warmup for Tami & Rick to explore Rome together this week without us as tour guides. Rob and I drove back to Geneva on Monday morning and fly out to meet them in London this Thursday for part 2 our their visit. It has been lots of fun to have them here and getting to share our European experience with them. They got to appreciate for themselves how much I loathe doing laundry here!

Florence

To see the rest of my pictures from Part 1 ~ Click Here!

Did you know that in Switzerland . . .

2009-07-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

Did you know that in Switzerland . . . assisted suicide is legal? The swiss has some crazy laws and fines, but they have it right on this one. Don't invade in other's people lives. If they want to end their life, let them. It is nobodies business but the individual.

Here's the NYTimes article about a couple who had to flee to Zurich to end their life together. Rob sent it to me and of course it made me cry. I am not exactly sure why it made me sob like a baby. Maybe it was because it was sweet and sad at the same time? I'm not sure I fully agree with their decisions but I respect that it was their decision to make. There are a lot of complicated issues that come with assisted suicide laws including whether somebody is mentally stable enough to make the decision or not, or does somebody have to be deemed terminally ill to have the right? It may be extremely complicated, but the system the US/UK have in place now (with exception of one state) burdens the life of so many who have a wish to end their existence. Something needs to change. It's an extremely hard topic of conversation but the conversation is but necessary.

One of the commenters on the article said this which I fully agree with, "It's the same people who would shout that the unborn have a right to live that shout that the living have no right to die."

This was kind of a downer post, huh?

More Information & Research . . .

Here's another article from Times Magazine . . .

Another quote on the opposition side - Gordon Brown UK Prime Minister, " I believe that it’s necessary to ensure that there is a never a case in the country where a sick or elderly person feels under pressure to agree to an assisted death or somehow feels it’s the expected thing to do. That’s why I’ve always opposed legislation for assisted deaths.”

Not Much Blogging Lately - I'll Catch Up Tomorrow!

2009-07-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

Haven't posted in about a week and a half. Sorry!

I'll catch up soon. Tami & Rick (my inlaw's / Rob's parents) are in town and we have been running all over the place. We have a few days of break from traveling with them and I am going to try to make the best of them. We've been back to the Oberland, Cinque Terre, and Florence with them. On thursday we meet up on London. Right after that we have two weeks to pack up our apartment and then 2.5 more weeks of travel before we are home for good! It's getting hard to believe that our European adventure is coming to a close. It really flew by! Especially since we decided to cut it a couple months short then we originally thought!

Anyway, just wanted to shout (type) a quick hi to the blogosphere out there! Lots of beer tales and travel tales to come this week!

Sunflower Fields & Jessica & Jace Visit!

2009-07-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

I better catch up with my blogging! Jessica posted her story about visiting Geneva this past weekend and I just have a couple pics to share! Jessica & Jace were fun to hang out with, show around, and super flexible about not finding escargot!

Before they got to the train station, Rob and I spent time out by the sunflower fields that are blooming by CERN. They weren't completely open yet, but was still so amazingly beautiful.

Here's some pics from the weekend!

Sunflowers & The Globe at CERN

BBzzzzz

Jet D'Eau

Jessica does not know I took this picture of her taking a picture of the ducks :)

J & J !

BBQ "Chicken" Pizza & Leffe Tripel

2009-06-25T00:37:00.000-07:00

I have been a bit of a mini pizza kick lately and been trying to incorporate more of the fake meat products I find at the Migros. This recipe uses the fake chicken bits by the company Quorn. I have also been trying to use up our imported products like the BBQ sauce we bought in Manhattan. This recipe is simple and delicious and completely made in the toaster oven and stovetop.

Ingredients Assembled and Ready To Go

Ingredients:

Quantities and Measurements for these items are all up to your tastes!

1. Pre Made Pizza Dough ~ or if you have the time you can make it from scratch.

2. Fake Chicken (or real chicken cooked thru on the stovetop)

3. Red Onions for Caramelizing

4. Mozzarella

5. BBQ Sauce of your choosing

6. Fresh Cilantro or Coriander, chopped. This is a key ingredient to the flavor!

(Ignore the tomatoes ~ I didn't end up using them, but you can if you wish)

Directions:

1. Slice and caramelize red onions. This will take awhile so you want to get it started before anything else. Also, if your using real chicken, it would be a great time to sauté them. Bonus: you could marinate real chicken and bbq them on a grill for a smokey flavor. You could also use leftover BBQ chicken for this easy pizza.

2. Cut dough into rounds and par-bake; aka half bake.

3. Mix "chicken" bits with BBQ sauce

4. Spread BBQ Sauce like you would a pizza sauce on rounds

5. Top with caramelized onions

6. Top with "chicken" mixture

7. Top with mozzarella slices

8. Tope with cilantro and dab more BBQ sauce on top

9. Bake till it looks like melty goodness. Enjoy with a nice cold beer! My choice was Belgium Leffe Tripel!

Before they went into the oven

Post Oven Gooey-Goodness

BBQ and Pizza enjoyed with Leffe Tripel

Tripel Style, 8.1%

Brewed by Abbey De Leffe in Belgium

We have previously tried another style from Leffe, and really enjoyed this one. Leffe is readily available in lots of stores all over the US, CoOp's in CH, and E'LECLERC stores on the French side of the border.

Super Bock

2009-06-23T04:10:00.001-07:00

Super Bock

The mainstream everyday beer of Portugal. Available at almost every establishment.

Brewed By Unicer

We tried the Classic 5.6% and Stout 5% Varieties.

The stout had an interesting sour note to it and the classic was a lager and very drinkable.

German Bio Beer in Portugal

2009-06-23T04:01:00.000-07:00

We ate lunch in Lisbon at a vegetarian place in the downtown area called MegaVega. Rob had a beer and it was all organic. Actually, almost everything in that place was organic. I have never eaten so many edible flowers on my salad, but that's another story.

Neumarkter Lammsbrau Edel Pils

German Organic Pilsner 4.8%

Lisbon, Portugal

2009-06-23T03:03:00.000-07:00

The number of weekend's we have left open in Europe is winding down. This past one we spent in Lisbon, Portugal. We took the low cost carrier Easyjet which offers pretty cheap airfare but with less service and organization then Southwest. There were boarding groups "Easy Boarding", "A", and "B". But there were no lines or signs to indicate where you should stand. A general observation is that most Europeans don't seem to grasp the concept of a queue. Every situation we have been in that it would have been polite to stand in line, people rush in a crowd with no organization and try to take the best of what they can get. It was aggravating to say the least. There are no assigned seats so it was first come first serve.

Once in Portugal, we discovered that our bank back home had shut off our bank cards and there was no hope for reactivation. We literally had 30 euros in our wallets so we spent several hours in the airport after we landed on Skype, the internet, and at Western Union. Rob's dad helped us out and we finally got money for the weekend. The weekend was off to a rough start.

We had read about taxi drivers scamming tourists so we decided to buy a taxi voucher at the information booth at the airport. She warned us it might be 5 euros more then the regular rate of a taxi, but we bought it anyway. We are glad we did since our B&B was hard to find in the Bairro Alto district of town and the driver had to ask a couple of other taxi drivers and locals how to get there. I couldn't imagine trying to explain this to him without the voucher lady at the airport helping us out. We did find out though on our taxi ride back to the airport to leave that we paid almost twice as much then the actual cab far would have been. 10 Euros compared to 20 Euros.

We were very pleasantly surprised at the niceness of the bed and breakfast! It was a 7 room place decorated very modern. It was run by Alex and Vasco and their adopted 8 month old son (from the states!) Edgar. They had 3 sweet dogs running around the place who listened well and were very friendly to pet. The breakfast was the best euro style breakfast I have ever had. The bread was nice and fresh and the preserves were home made. I also think the OJ was fresh squeezed! If you are ever in Lisbon, you have to stay here! Casa De Bairro. They have only been open for 2 months but have skyrocketed to 2nd place in Trip Advisor. Our air conditioning was on the fritz, but we had been warned before we stayed and received a discount rate for putting up with it.

We took it easy in Lisbon and didn't try to run around and see everything we could and just tried to stay cool. It was 36 C most of the weekend so we actively tried to walk on the shaded sides of streets and took many breaks. We saw a lot of sights including the downtown area, the castle, bairro alto, chiado, maritime museum, jeronimos monastery, santa justa elevator, had custard tarts in belem, and drank lots of port at the port wine institute.

If you are planning a trip we recommend the following:

1. The port wine institute where we sampled fantastic white ports, tawny's, and ruby's. We were also introduced to as yummy creamy sheep's milk cheese.

2. Taking the ferry across the river to Caclihas and having some authentic Portuguese seafood. The ferry only cost 4 Euros for two round trip tickets. We didn't try the Caracois but many people were eating them.

Santa Justa Elevator - connecting the downtown to Bairro Alto

Classic Tiled Building

At the maritime museum. A royal barge.

White Sangria

Special Rice with Fish - YUMMY

Typical Street with a yellow tram

View from park at the top of the hill from our B&B. See the "golden gate" behind?

Port Wine Institute with a Tawny from 1980.

Antiga Confeitaria de Belem - Custard Tarts Since 1841!!!

Jeronimos Monastery - There was a wedding going on inside!

For the rest of our pictures.... click here.

Istanbul ~ Street Food!

2009-06-18T01:19:00.001-07:00

What would a vacation be is without sampling some of the street food! Here is what we came across in Istanbul. There are a ton of doner kebab vendors and each with differant kinds of meats and preperations. My favorite was the Durom Doner which the best way to describe it as a Turkish Burrito. The fillings are placed in a very thin flour like wrap that was a bit stretchy and not brittle like a tortilla can be. Kebab meat (chicken or lamb) is scrapped off and the rest of the burrito is filled with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and sometimes french fries. All for 3 Lira.... good deal! Pictures of more food below!

WTF? El Torito? Well, at least they were selling "Dondurma" the Turkish elastic ice cream made with wild orchid tubers. It can stretch up to 2' long! There are a lot of dondurma vendors and most of them have bells above the ice cream containers and they ring them to attract tourists. It was hot, but we resisted the urge to eat some.

"Simit" ~ basically a pretzel with sugar or sesame seeds. Yummy.

Corn - Roasted or Boiled. 1 Lira. Available everywhere. Your going to need a toothpick after this one.

Fish Sandwich off the boats at Eminonu. The ultimate and cheap Turkish fast food.

The pickle juice to go with it.

Eating pierside with the locals.

Below ~ some videos of the crazyness! The boats are rocking and fish smells yummy!

Istanbul ~ Part 2 ~ Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and Topkapi Palace

2009-06-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

We spent Sunday seeing the sights and relaxing. We ate street food most of the day and took many breaks on park benches and gazed at the water.

The Blue Mosque was first after strolling by the Hippodrome Square containing the Egyptian Obelisk, Serpentine Column, and Hippodrome. We both had never been in a mosque before so the experience of covering my head and taking off our shoes was a new one. The place has pretty plush carpeting and the walls and ceilings are covered in beautiful blue iznik tiles. They kept tourists behind a small wooden gate separating the worshipers from visitors. I overheard a tour guide saying there is markings in the carpet to show worshippers how to line up and keep proper spacing. The women's section was in the back (behind the visitor section) so that they can prey and show modesty. *me rolling eyes* The blue mosque has six minarets where the call to prayer is announced from. Legend has it that the architect misheard "six" instead of "gold-capped" which altered the original design of only two minarets. The two words are "altin" (gold) and "alti" (six).

Hagia Sophia was right across the street and had a 20 Lira entrance fee! Ouch! It was worth it and was our favorite monument of the day. It was built in 537 and was a Christian church for many years. In the 15th century it was converted to a mosque. There is really so much history and stuff to see here I couldn't possible cover it all. The place is pretty photogenic and has nice natural lighting shining in from the galleries. The must see items in it are the weeping pillar which people touch for healing powers and the coronation square where the byzantines thought the center of the universe was! There are a lot of biblical mosiacs including ones with Jesus and Mary. Odd considering it has been a mosque for so long and Muslims don't like to adorne their places of worship with figures of people. (They believe it distracts from worshiping the big main god).

After lunch we spent our afternoon trying to find and strolling around the Topkapi Palace. Another 20 Lira each entrance fee. and this time we felt ripped off. The main sight to see there is the Harem where the sultan's wives lived but it was another 15 Lira fee! We skipped it even though the guide book told us it was a must! The palace property is pretty huge and is located right on the "Golden Horn". We took some pictures of Asia as we felt like we were standing on the edge or Europe. We saw some jewels and some clothes worn by the sultans, nothing to interesting. The only remotely interesting thing was there was a small portion of the palace that you couldn't take pictures in. It contained some Islamic holy items including an impression of Mohammaed's footprint, a tooth, and about 7-8 containers of his hair! Apparently, when he died he told people to distribute him around.......... and now some is locked up in glass for tourists to see. The other holy items were swords, koran locks, etc. At the end of this building was a guy live in the flesh just reading the koran page by page. He was sitting behind a desk with a microphone and two large monitors played the words in Arabic and English. It kinda creeped me out.

The rest of the evening was spent in Beyoglu which is easily accessible by Tram and Inclinator. It is modern shopping area of town with charming side streets full of places to eat, have a drink, or smoke hooka. Lots of brand names stores and very crowded! We had some dinner and strolled along back to the old city and to our hotel.

Hagia Sophia

Inside Hagia Sophia - Double Collumnade

Blue Mosque

Asia!

Blue Iznik Tile Work at Topkapi Palace

Turkish Efes Beer

2009-06-17T00:16:00.000-07:00

In Turkey, the taps are dominated by Efes. Whenver you order a beer, this is what your getting. It is light crisp and refreshing. Not at all weak and watery. Perfect standard beer to appease all sorts of beer drinkers. Not too hoppy, not too dry, just perfect.

Efes Regular

Efes Dark

Brewed by Efes Breweries International

Pilsner Style, 5%

Istanbul ~ Part 1 ~ Turkish Cooking Class, Egyptian Spice Market, and Grand Bazaar

2009-06-16T23:15:00.000-07:00

There is so much to say about our trip to Istanbul it is going to be broken up into several blog posts. First it will be about our arrival, the cooking class and the egyptian spice market. Also it will be our fantastic fish dinner with locals Rob met for business and our adventure thru the Grand Bazaar. Next it will be on the major monuments/ tourist sights that are a must see! In between these posts I may throw in some beer and food posts to keep you salivating to go.

We took the long way. We first drove to Zurich, caught a flight to Amsterdam, and then caught a plane to Istanbul. We arrived at 1 AM just to sit on the plane for another half an hour when we landed. The airport health officials were copying health worksheets for the flu pandemic. They passed them out on the plane and we had to fill them out before we could exit the aircraft. Turkish officials met us directly outside the door to the airplane wearing masks and collecting the worksheets. Since the WHO (in Geneva of all places) declared swine flu a pandemic, the Turkish were taking it seriously.

We then had to buy visas for 15 euros each and proceed thru immigration. I smiled at the immigration guy to match my picture. He found it funny that this American was trying to match the picture and he laughed at me. A driver from the hotel was holding a sign with my name on it when we exited the baggage claim and we sleepily followed him to his van. This guy drove really really fast and once in a while would stop and yell things out the window to people he knew of the street. It was an odd late night experience for our arrival. Once we got to our hotel and the front desk guy gave us about a million brochures for tours, we finally got to bed about 2:30 AM. They upgraded our room to the only suite in the place and it had a humongous bed but only two pillows. Why have such a huge bed with so few pillows?

The next morning, after a quick hotel breakfast and little sleep, we wandered out to another part of the old city where we signed up for cooking classes. We took cooking classes in Thailand on our honeymoon and loved it so we were hoping for another great experience. The normal dutch expat instructor wasn't there so we had "Fayzi", one of the main local chefs to help teach. With his broken English he instructed us to chop, stir, and fry. It was quite a fun experience. We took the class with 4 other Americans all living abroad this year. One couple was from Germany and the other were two students finishing up a year in York, England. It was nice to chat with people who had such similar yet different experiences. We made a red lentil spicy bulgar soup, long beans, fried zucchini cakes, lamb stuffed eggplant, and dates stuffed with walnuts cooked in simple sugar. Delicious!

Afterwards the whole group walked together to the Egyptian Spice Market and split ways from there. I sampled some Turkish delights and we kept walking up to the Grand Bazaar. We lost ourselves in the bazaar and bought some things that fancied our eyes. There were rows and rows and rows of vendors all in this huge covered space. The center of the market is the oldest part and sells the true antiques. The covering is made of brick domes instead of tiles and painted other domes of the market. We found out that some Turkish people can haggle way better then the others and it coincided with how good of deals we made.

We headed back to our hotel to rest our feet before dinner. Rob and I were going out with some local people that his business is working with in Turkey. They picked us up and brought us to an authentic great fresh fish restaurant. We didn't have to do any ordering as they did it all. It had an amazing view of the Sea and the food was fantastic. They happened to know the owner and manager and I think we got extra taken care of. The mezes (small appetizers) were yummy and the fish was perfectly grilled. Rob joined in on the "Raki" drinks with dinner.l Raki is like the Turkish version of the Greek Ouzo. (spelling?) The liquor is poured into a glass and then water is poured on top. Magically, two clear substances make a white fuzzy colored drink which they top with ice. Tasted like anise seed and Rob found it refreshing.

It was late and we had a wonderful dinner and great company. Half the table only spoke Turkish so it was up to one guy to translate back and forth. He did a lot of talking!

Stuffed Eggplants

Turkish Cooking Class

Feyzi and Rob. Look at that big knife!

Turkish Delights at the Egyptian Spice Market. Free Samples!

Spices at the Spice Market.

For more pictures of our Istanbul trip, including pictures to be used in future posts of this trip, Click Here.

For more information about the cooking class we took, Click Here.

Istanbul (Not Constantinple) Lyrics

2009-06-12T03:01:00.001-07:00

Guess where we are headed this weekend???

Enjoy the lyrics!

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul (Istanbul)
Istanbul (Istanbul)

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul

Trümmelbachfälle

2009-06-11T00:53:00.000-07:00

Trümmelbachfälle is a great place to visit when is it cloudy and rainy in the Lauterbrunnen valley. After you park and stroll to the wildflowers to the entrance you come to the ticket window. After you fork up 11 CHF each, you enter the park. In front is an inclinator (elevator) that is carved into the mountain taking you higher in elevation to see the top falls without breaking a sweat. Once high into the mountain, you get your first glimpse of the glacial runoff waterfalls that have carved their way into the mountain. The inclinator doesn't take you all the way up and some stairs need to be climbed to get to the top fall #10. It is a pretty easy but it can be wet! It is also really LOUD!. You are so close to the falls it is hard to hear each other. Look for the white arrows pointing out cool views that shouldn't be missed! The pictures we took don't do it justice, it is quite an experience! I always forget how nature can amaze me with its power unless I'm witnessing it first hand.

The sign along the road to let you know your there. Park!

Walking along the trail and gazing over the valley

Me too

One of the many cool views

Walking into the mountain. Don't hit your head! Low ceilings.

Some Movies Below!

Bernese Oberland

2009-06-09T23:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we finally got to use our camping gear. We headed up to the Bernese Oberland and past the touristy lake town of Interlaken into the Alpine village of Lauterbrunnen. The valley we stayed in is known for its 72 different waterfalls. Everywhere the mountain cliffs seemed to leak melted runoff from the glaciers. We set up camp there and went and explored the area. We camped a high amenity campground and got power brought into our tent so we could use Rob's laptop for light. We probably were one of 5 people at the entire campground in a tent and we probably had the smallest tent out of everyone. Most of the people who occupied the place were the Dutch! They all had huge trailers and seemed to be camping there for weeks! So many NL license plates! The campground has cabins to rent on a weekly basis and a hostel type large room bunks to rent as well. We braved the sprinkling rain and set up in our tent anyway.

After setting up camp, we went to see the Trummelback Falles (another post), Stechelberg, rode the telecabin to Murren, and hiked down to Gimmelwald. We had a terrific rosti dinner in the town of Lauterbrunnen and stopped at a few more local places to have a drink. The town was not overrun with tourists and all the building remained small and cozy. No big hotels and resorts here.

We did drive over to Grindelwald which is known for being a big tourist destination in the Alps. And it was overun with tourists. I can't imagine what it will be like in July/August! The two large peaks in the area to visit for panoramic views of the Alps are Schlithorn and Jungfrau. We didn't pay the money to go to the top of the peaks since it was cloudy and sprinkling. It isn't worth the trip up there when you will be among the clouds. It is possible to hike to the Schlithorn from Murren, but it will take you 5 hours to get there. The up side of the hike is that you save around 91 Euro doing it. It was soooo expensive to take the telecabin up, I could hardly believe it. If you stay for several days in the area and want to see everything, there is a 6 day pass available and you can ride whatever you want. There are lots of telecabins and trains that traverse the hills.

Sunday, when we did most of our hiking and picture taking, the weather had cleared up a little bit and more of the panoramic views starting to show. It was too much to really capture in the camera lense. We'll be back to this area for sure! n

Hiking from Murren to Gimmelwald

This cow took a break from eating among the wildflowers and posed for me.

Staubbachfall as seen from our campsite. We could hear it all night. Very soothing. There is a small trail that takes you up and behind the falling water within the rock cliff.

Careless cute mountain village of Murren.

Gnome fishing.

Didn't get the best lighting captured in the shot. But you get the idea, Grazing cows and an amazing panoramic view of the Alps.

Rob and I hiking from Murren to Gimmelwald.

European Cantaloupe

2009-06-09T23:14:00.000-07:00

True Cantaloupe

I finally bought a true european cantaloupe a few weeks ago at the farmer's market. I have been excited to try this new melon since it is different then the North American "musk melon" which is sold as cantaloupe in the states. Notice the exterior of the European melon doesn't have the spidery web ribs like the musk melon and has a smooth exterior with green stripes. (More Information Here) The color is a bit darker and the one I bought seemed a bit sweeter. I hate buying pre cut up melons from stores in the US since the fruit seems to be water logged and tasteless. I paired the cantaloupe with some nice swiss "Heidi" brand prosciutto from the Migros. Very Italian summertime treat. Making it at home is SOOO much cheaper then ordering it at a bistro along the Mediterranean.

Dark Orange Inside & Paired with Prosciutto

Always Strive For Happiness

2009-06-03T01:20:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER : Sorry! This is not a blog post on being an expat, being in Geneva, or our travels, just a blog post because I have been doing A LOT of thinking lately. This may not be the most eloquent blog post ever, or the most interesting, but it may be the most helpful to organize my state of mind and collect my thoughts. Skip it if you must, this is a brain dump.

Always Strive For Happiness

One thing that this experience has taught me if that I should always strive for happiness. Many factors contribute to happiness and when one piece is much lower then the others, the whole things starts to feel out of balance. For Rob and I, it is important to us that we continually work on every single piece.

The biggest single factor for happiness is reducing stress. Stress can be caused by one or many of the pieces not going the way you want it to.

Categories of stress factors:

- Health
- Career & Fulfillment of a purpose
- Love
- Security & Education
- Collective Human Issues

HEALTH - Everyday we make choices on how to live. Balancing healthy options with not so healthy options. Eating french fries increases my happiness of mind because I enjoy them, but it doesn't contribute to the well being of my body. Doing cardio decreases my happiness of mind because I dislike it, but it does contribute to the well being of my body. Both are essential to the delicate balance of happiness in health.

CAREER and FULFILLMENT - This is an area that Rob and I have been having a lot of discussion in. This area is ready for some change and needs work. What we have been doing is making us unhappier. We must be able to adapt to changing times (the recession) and find opportunities when they arise. Possibilities are endless. Can't let other's opinions effect our happiness. We must strive to not hurt anyone else's happiness but not be afraid to break expectations.

LOVE - Finding one's true love and eliminating loneliness -check. Got that one down pat. Everyday putting a little bit more into it, and keeping it alive is so important. Not having happiness in this area can lead to problems in other areas. (i.e. Health and Security) Eventually love and fulfillment will co-mingle when children come into the picture. Eventually being the key word. Not anytime soon.

SECURITY & EDUCATION - The fear of the unknown is a human trait. We as humans strive to connect the dots and find ways to survive the hard things in life. It is a trait humans have acquired thru evolution and natural selection. Humans who connected the dots survived longer. Trying to secure our lives is a way to combat the fear of the unknown. Always preparing for the future (but not forgetting to live in the moment) is a delicate balance. Security can only come from education on how the world works. Education is a continually and adaptive process. We learn from so many resources and draw our own conclusions. This section can go on and on and on. . .

COLLECTIVE HUMAN ISSUES - These are issues that effect our society/civilization as whole. As an individual working alone on such issues, no real progress is easily made. Large groups of people can have large effects and hopefully those effects work towards a greater good. Some of my goals in life is to make sure I am working to improve the world around me. I don't care if it is such a small contribution, what I do care is that it gets done. I want to be kind to others. The stress in this area comes from the suffering of others. I tend not to stress out in this area too much since I am just one person and I am doing what I can.

Now that I have outlined a plan to happiness (for me), I better start working on it!

Fig, Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion Mini Pizza's

2009-06-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

At the Ferney market this weekend we found a stand selling fresh figs. I didn't notice the "Ne Pa Toucher" sign and tried to touch some. The guy at the fruit stand yelled at me and I jolted back. This little encounter didn't stir me from buying some of this delicate fruit. 1 euro for 2 large figs was a pretty good deal. I delicately carried them around the market and tried to not get them smashed among all our other purchases.

The fresh figs

Here is what we made with them . . .

Fig, Goat Cheese, and Caramelized Onion Mini Pizza's

Ingredients

Sliced Fresh Figs
Pizza Dough
Onions
Olive or Safflower Oil for caramelizing the onions
Goat Cheese (we used a stinky creamy kind but the regular crumbly kind is perferable)
Arugula or other small pungent green
Balsamic Vinegar
Honey

Directions:

1. Cut dough into rounds and bake to 65% of the way done

2. Cut onions really thin and caramelize (this may take 15 minutes or so)

3. Top baked pizza's with already cooked onions, sliced figs, then the goat cheese

3. Bake pizza's again until cheese is melted or lightly browned

4. Top with small argula salad. Dressing for arugula salad is half honey and balsamic vinegar.

You'll be really surprised on how well all of the flavors meld together! Nothing overpowered the dish and it quickly disappeared from out dinner plates. Bon Apetit!

Le Reculet

2009-06-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

We have been back in Geneva for a week now and are enjoying our first weekend back. Interestingly enough, it's a 3 day weekend with Monday off to celebrate "Whit Monday". (Some religious holiday we have no clue about). We decided to go a half day hike in the Jura.

We decided to hike up to Le Reculet. We were hoping for an non-cloudy day but we didn't have luck on our side. Both the Alps and the Jura had clouds floating on the top. We decided to head on a hike anyway and at least get half way. The views of Geneva and the French countryside around Thoiry were pretty nice and the weather couldn't have been beat.

3.5 hours up the hill and then back down. We made it a bit past the first big stopping point of La Croisee and had some lunch. Rob has previously been all the way to the peak (the 2nd highest peak in the Jura only being topped by another peak 4 m higher). There is a large metal cross at the top and the views are supposed to be spectacular on a clear day. Hopefully one of those days will come soon and we'll make it all the way up the hill next time.

Our lovely lunch spot

Directional Sign

Reflection Fun

Sweet View

Cool Horizontal Leaves in The Canopy

French Countryside

California Vacation & Long Time No Blog!

2009-05-29T02:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has almost been a while month since my last post! May was consumed by our vacation back to California and I haven't had the motivation to write anything lately.

So here I am playing some catchup!

Why we went back when we weren't really planning on it :

Our original plan was to just change the end date of our return trip tickets to our actual for real return home date in late October. Continental Airlines informed us that the ticket price we bought was only valid for 6 months and that to just change the end date would cost $3000! So, we decided to use our airline miles and fork up an extra $500 and book new tickets and use our old ticket for a trip back home.

SoCal:

We flew into LAX and spent the weekend and mother's day with my parents. We then spent the next few days visiting friends in LA and OC. Had great mexican food in West Hollywood with Leizel, Karen, Brian, and B's Boyfriend. The next day we visited the OC and toured my old jobsite. So much has changed in many ways, yet it other ways, very little has changed. E, M, Rob and I had our share of drinks at Newport Beach Brewing and a crazy mexican pub on the Newport Peninsula. We then headed to Lucille's (which we miss soooo much) and have some great BBQ. I also miss my friends terribly.

NorCal:

We spent a lot of time in Davis with Christina and John just hanging out and having fun. John gave me tour of his favorite fruit stands and grocery stores. Their new place is super nice and very relaxing. We finally got to see Ms. Julie prego! Rob and I had a small conversation about being pregnant with her and it helped calm my nerves a bit. I can't wait to see little Eddie when we get back! In Livermore, we relaxed and took it easy. We ate out at a lot of different places we missed. Los Caporeles, Togo's, this small Vietnamese place, Sansar, LemonGrass . . . etc. We didn't make our way to Donut Wheel but we don't really regret it. We both gained a little weight from being home and eating so much while we could. It was worth it. The night before we left we spent with J&C at the winery BBQ in the back and having a "sleepover".

The plane ride back on KLM wasn't too bad. The food is MUCH better! They even had a snack round of ice cream for everyone! Very refreshing in the middle of a long flight. The unfortunate thing was the seats didn't have a entertainment system. We were surrounded by Dutch tourists who just enjoyed some time in San Francisco. They were so funny sharing peach haribo gummies and passing them around. The dutch have a certain look to them that is hard to put my finger on. The lady who sat next to Rob seemed to have Botox done to here lips. They were very shiny and very full. Rob didn't notice at all, but I couldn't help but stare a little.

What we imported back:

As you may remember, when we took a trip back to NYC for a conference Rob has to go too, we imported a whole suitcase full of stuff that was hard to find/ cheaper in the US. We did the same thing this trip, but bought a whole lot more! It is funny how cheap things felt being back home. We laughed out loud several times and the cheapness of food at restaurants and then we got depressed that we have been paying such high prices here in Switzerland.

* Note * I know a lot of this stuff is available in Switzerland ~ but heck ~ we had the baggage room and it SOOOO much cheaper there.

- Trader Joe's Indian Food (restock) (At 1.99 a box its hard to beat.)
- Spray On Sunscreen
- Shaving Cream
- Refill Razers for Rob
- Computer Speakers for out laptops
- Ton of Asian Groceries including Korean Hot Pepper Paste, Korean Seaweed Snacks, Dried Boba Balls, Milk Tea Packets, Hot Mustard, Soba Noodles
- More Cholula and Tapatio
- Corn Husks to make tamales
- Cornstarch
- Ton of Canned Food including, enchilada sauce, green chilies, jalapenos, lots of Mexican sauces, refried vegetarian beans, cuban style black beans, and TJ's 3 bean salads.
- Maple Syrup
- Peanut Butter
- Vanilla
- Dark Chocolate Covered Raisins and prunes
- Dried Lychees
- Tequila and Triple Sec! MMMM... margaritas!
- Big Bottle of Chili Garlic Saucde
- Big Container of Fried Shallots
- Ranch Dressing Packets
- and of course - Tillamook Extra Sharp Chedder Cheese
- 20 Used DVD's from Hollywood Video
- We also bought some shoes and clothing.

Phew!

I honestly didn't take a lot of pictures but here are a few!

Jack (my in-law's dog) getting a bath.

Jack..... again.

E, Rob, and MC

No need for a caption here.

I love home - aka the Pacific Ocean!

Barrels up to the sky

The boys having a grand time.

NE Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and a Blogger MeetUp.

2009-04-27T08:34:00.001-07:00

Can you travel by car from San Diego to Maine and back in one weekend? No.

Can you travel by car from SW Switzerland (Geneva) to NE Switzerland (Au) in one weekend? Yes you can.

And that is exactly what we did this weekend. We made the 5 hour drive to NE switzerland to the canton of St Gallen and checked out the beautiful Appenzellerland and Liechtenstein. We stopped along the way to see Lake Constance and walk waterside for awhile. There were a ton of sailboats about and we chilled in the shade after our long drive. We then headed into Liechtenstein and up to the castle. Liechtenstein in on the Swiss currency and there was no tolls. A few small villages make up this whole country and their license plates are black in color!

We then drove up the hills into the heart of Appenzell and met up with Amanda/Isiah and Edie/Paul for a swiss dinner in the outside beer garden. Lots of conversation and laughs and catching up for Amanda and I. Rob finally got to a Rosti and we enjoyed yummy beers. See below. Amanda and Isiah were kind of enough to let us stay in their AMAZING apartment and cook us pancakes for breakfast! What fantastics hosts! Thank you guys again! It was a quiet night of sleep compared to our usual Geneva street noise from the windows.

On Sunday after breakfast we headed into Zurich for the blogger meetup at Google and the Cafe afterwards. I didn't take many pictures but I am sure in the next few days you will see a few posts about it all on other blogs. It was great to meet people in person and put a real face to a actual blog. We didn't get to stay long since we had to hit the road and drive back home. Hopefully it gets done again and we can make the trek up! Thanks Jessica and Amanda for hosting and organizing! Check out Jessica's post about it here. The Zurich google office tour was a lot of fun and we got to slide down the fire poles and slide into the kitchen.

Anyways, I could elaborate for quite awhile on this fun weekend, but the grocery store is going to close VERY soon! Damn 7 PM closing time!

Lake Constance - we think the 3rd largest lake in Europe?

Number one being in Hungary and Lake Geneva is #2.

Liechtenstein Castle.

Rob in tiny Liechtenstein. Cross one off the list!

I love these kinds of signs.

Appenzell Cheese - Old and Ripe vs. New and Mild. ~ Mild wins!

Appenzell Beer - enjoyed at the beer garden in the cute old town where we had dinner with Amanda & Isiah, and Edie & Paul.

4.8% brewed by Brauerei Lucher right in Appenzell

They make a ton of varieties and wish I tried the Lager Dunkel.

But we have tried a earlier a variety in a bottle here in Geneva brewed in Appenzell.

Isiah shared his favorite beer so far with us.

Zwickelgold

(this one is HARD to find information about on the internet)

Maybe Amanda could get Isiah to help me fill the rest of the info.

I did find this great website on Swiss Beers to help on my quest in the future!

Rob and a Schneider Weisse.

Jessica with a SchneiderWeisse and of course - cinnamon sauce apple strudel.

La Trappe Quadrupel

2009-04-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

Oh yes. Another Trappist Beer

Purchased at a wine store in Balexert.

La Trappe Quadrupel - 10%!

Brewed by Bierbrouwerij De Koningshoeven in the Netherlands.

Tastey - but meant for sharing with a movie and some popcorn.

Sip it slowly and feel the tingle.

Travel to Annecy, France and a Beer in Carouge

2009-04-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

Part 1: Travel

Last Sunday, we headed down to Annecy, France after being told by a few of Rob's coworkers that is was a nice place to visit. It is only a 35 minute drive from Geneva and to avoid any French toll roads, we took the back way. It added 30 extra minutes to the drive, but is was worth it. Driving thru green hills on back country roads, admiring lazy cows, glancing a multicolored trees, is very relaxing.

I didn't take a ton if pictures since we do plan on visiting here often. The town in on a smaller lake but has amazing Alp views. You can rent paddle boats or motorized boats and float around for some relaxation. We totally intend on doing that this summer. There is a huge park right by the lake with a ton of picnicer's and the old town next to the park has great shops to visit. Lots of crepe stands and bakery goods. It seemed to be mostly French tourists. I read somewhere that the French really only like to vacation in other parts of France, and I guess this is one spot they come to.

Part 2: Beer

We visited L'Imprevu in Carouge since it was the ONLY thing open on a Sunday night in this part of town. Rob has a fantastic SchneiderWeisse and I had a Leffe Brown. It was not busy at all and had set out great lounging furniture on the sidewalk. A lot of place in Geneva have started to put their patio table out and I hope it encourages smokers to stay outside! Maybe then I could go inside a place without gagging. We were adventurists and order the "chips and guac with salsa." We apparently never learn our lesson. So let me repeat it, NEVER order guacamole in Europe. Not unless you know if comes from an actual avocado and not from a jar mostly of peas. Yuck.

About the beers:

SchneiderWeisse - Hefeweisen - 5.4% - Brewed by Private Weissbierbrauerei G. Schneider & Sohn. - A pretty popular brew in Germany and in German speaking CH.

Leffe Brune - Belgian Dark Ale - 6.5% - Brewed by Abbaye De Leffe. They make 9 different Leffe beer's and many are sold in the COOP. Ta

Spring Has Arrived!

2009-04-27T07:47:00.001-07:00

So, I'm a little behind on catching up with the rate of taking pictures to the rate of making blog posts, so I am going to attempt to catch up now!

Last weekend, Rob and I stayed close to town and wandered around Geneva in search of soaking up sunshine and enjoying city life. Both of us consider ourselves suburbanites and really have never lived in the heart of a "big" city before. To get out and walk around and to be able to see so many sights is really a luxury. Now that spring is finally here, we intend to take full advantage.

These amazing pink trees are starting to bloom all over town. I have no clue what kind of tree they are, but Geneva sure has A LOT of them.

Monkey's play in trees. This is pretty good evidence for evolution right here.

Rob obeys random street signs well

Another carnival in Plainpalais. Yes, there seems to be a carnival here all the time. Plenty of random American 80's music and ripped off disney characters. Taken from a bench where we were chilling a little bit away.

Subway

2009-04-20T07:35:00.000-07:00

Rob misses subway. But they do their cheese all wrong!

Bon Secours - Biere Vivante

2009-04-19T03:44:00.000-07:00

Bon Secours - Biere Vivante - 8% - Belgian Style Ale

Brewed By Brasserie Caulier

According to Beer Advocate, this beer is retired and is no longer brewed.

We were watching the movie with Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happiness, and the depressing moments were stressing us out. We enjoyed this Belgian 8% to calm things down a bit.

Recipe - Pesto Spinich Stuffed Salmon

2009-04-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

Cooked and Served With Caramelized Mushrooms

Before Putting into Oven

Recipe Adapted From All Recipes - Spinach Stuffed Salmon

Ingredients:

Two Thick Fresh Salmon Fillets - I purchased them from Halle De Rive In Geneva

10 oz bag of washed baby spinach- chopped into small pieces

1 spoonful of prepared pesto

2-3 chopped up sun-dried tomatoes

Zest of 1 lemon and Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 Garlic Cloves Chopped Finely

Plenty of Ground Black Pepper

Pinch of Sel De Mare - "Sea Salt"

Directions:

Slit fillets into two halves creating a pocket but not cutting all the way thru. Combine all ingredient besides lemon juice. Place filling into salmon pockets. Squeeze lemon juice on top. Salt and Pepper top if desired. Bake till salmon is done and flakey!

As for cooking time, I would just keep an eye on it. We have to bake everything in a toaster oven, so the time I give you would be way off then regular oven!

Rob really enjoyed this meal so I decided to share it with you!

Beer ~ La Fin Du Monde

2009-04-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

As a Canadian Beer, I wasn't sure this one was worthy of the beer adventures of the year. But, I did drink it while living here and it has a french name, so I suppose I can let it count. Also, this is a big production beer and can EASILY be found in the US. Whatever, it still tastes good.

La Fin Du Monde - Triple Fermented Golden Ale

9% - Brewed by Unibroue in Quebec

Tasting Notes : Strong (hit me quickly even after eating dinner), Great Aroma and Color.

Bonus : Rob is in the background of the picture!!! :) Isn't he cute?

Cinque Terre

2009-04-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

How we got there:

For the long Easter weekend Rob has both Friday and Monday off. We took off in the car Thursday night and drove thru the Mont Blanc tunnel and got to our stopping point in Santa Margarita. The car ride was about 5 hours from Geneva with a small stop at an Autoroute for some craptastic sandwiches. We stopped on the Italian side of the autoroute for dinner at a place we had been before. They normally have pizza available too, but since it was so late, it was all gone.

We parked the car in Santa Margarita for the night on the street right next to the water in the "blue zone" where the front desk said it would be okay till 8 AM. We woke the next morning and ate our complimentary hotel continental breakfast. Cereal, croissants, and nutella/jam. Not much else you could ask for. We thought Santa M. was going to be a sorta lively town since we drove in and people were still out drinking on the main drag. It turned to to be exactly like we thought, but more resort town like. We were not in a hurray to get to Manarola since we could only check in after 2 PM so we stayed around Santa M. for a while. We walked the coastline (which was gorgeous) and walked around the small town square weaving in and out of the little street. Although we didn't know it yet, it was a taste of what was going to come all weekend.

Santa Margarita

We left Santa M but decided to take the local roads to Levanto instead of the Autoroute. It was a gorgeous drive but took probably 3 times as long since we weren't carving out way thru the terrain via tunnels and bridges like the autoroute. We really felt "at home" with the ocean breeze, the window down, and the mountainous terrain right next to the water. It felt very central coast CA, like driving thru Big Sur. We did end up getting on the autoroute for one section, but freaked out because the machine didn't give us a ticket in the beginning but we drove onto the freeway anyway. We were contemplating how much a lost ticket cost would be since we probably couldn't explain our way out of it. Luckily, we got off on the next exit, and there was a sign in Italian over the machine. We had not idea what it said, but the gate was open and we drove thru! We think it was probably free for the holiday weekend, but maybe it was just out of order? We will never know and hopefully we don't get a ticket in the mail!

We finally arrived in Levanto and knew of a parking lot near the train station. On the internet, somebody said it would be 9 euros a day and we were prepared to pay it. Nobody ever said that the meters only take money for a MAX of 24 hours and that we would have to come back to Levanto everyday to put more money in the meter! Oh well. The local train for the Cinque Terre includes Levanto as the Northernmost stop and La Spezia as the southernmost stop. It was just a quick 20 minutes train ride everyday each way to change out out metered parking space ticket, so decided to leave the car.

We opted and bought the 3 day Cinque Terre card for tourists that allows you to hop on and off any train between the cities and walk the trails. It also grants you access to all the museums of the area and supposedly a free mountain bike hire for three hours? We didn't take advantage of the last two.

The cities are in the order from North to South - Levanto, Monetrosso, Vernaza, Corniglia, Manarola, RioMaggiore, and La Spezia. We went to all of the besides La Spezia since it was a big town and we kinda wanted to get away from it all. The trick is to get a train schedule from any cashier on a small white piece of paper that tells you exactly when each train is leaving from each city. You have to be careful because some of the trains skip towns. They often skip Vernazza, Corgnilia, and Manarola at certain times of the day. Therefore since we stayed in Manarola, we had to be careful to get on a train at the appropriate time. The Italian trains don't have many markings on them when they speed into the station. There are no sign that say which one it is and you have to rely on the announcements in the station and the one monitor that shows arrivals and departures.

Where we stayed:

Since it was Easter weekend, we knew it was going to be a popular weekend and booked about a month in advance. I found a company online that rents rooms/apartments out and had an English website. Arbaspaa.com. We did all of the booking thru email and paid cash for the place once we got there. There are a lot of different options for accommodations, but I always think apartments are the way to go. There are actually very few hotel options and a lot of what is advertised in La Spezia (the bigger town in the south). We were extremely happy with out choice and felt like we stayed among the locals. The place was in the "high" town of Manarola and was a serious hike from the main drag up to the place every night. We had a lovely balcony and view and enjoyed in thoroughly.

View from our bed. I love waking up to beautiful views! The hillside in Manarola was covered with grape vines. The side of the town with the our place was full of cute buildings on the hillside.

What we did:

Friday we decide to take the easiest of the hikes from Manarola to RioMaggiore called the "Via Dell' Amore" or the "lover's walk". Only 20 minutes along the rugged coastline and at the end was a great wine and snack bar that overlooked inlet near the Riomaggiore train station. We stopped and have some cheap local wine (2 Euros a glass!) and some Bruschetta. It was self service since it was a Friday and had open tables right along the balcony edge. Very relaxing! We headed back to Manarola and had dinner three doors down from our place at Trattoria Dal Billy. (See previous food post about this). When we got back to our room we were ready to fall asleep. From the lack of sleep the previous night, and the bottle and a half of wine we drank, we were ready to hit the hay. It was only 10 PM. Right before we totally were in sleepy land, a really loud group singing noise came from the town. We didn't investigate we we could tell that the locals were gathered at the church and signing songs for Good Friday. It was really beautiful. Although, we couldn't understand any of the Italian, we still smiled at the scene and fell asleep.

Saturday and Sunday we hiked around each of the towns and saw some great views. Our camera was constantly on and taking pictures as we uncovered scene after scene of great shots. We hiked up the nunnery in Vernazza, up to the church in Monterosso, up the lemon fields for limonino, and from Corniglia to Manarola (the 2nd easiest hike after the lover's walk). We stopped a lot a just stared at the views. There were lots of spots to sit and just watch the waves crash and people walk by. We noticed a lot of Europeans taking advantage of the picnic areas along the trails and the super touristy type hanging out by the water. The tourists were dressed very "hiker-y" with cargo's, big hats, and hiking boots galore. This place has some magnificent hikes, and people come just for them. Rob and I took a little from both worlds. Relaxing and Hiking. Each town was unique and it was just fun to try to walk down every little path, up every stairway, and into alleyways to try to find new things.

A view from Corniglia up to Vernazza and Monterosso.

Manarola White Wine Vines. Walking the trail and this is view toward Corgnilia.

Monterosso Al Mare

Getting Artistic. . . haha

I loved this archway. Beyond it was small patio and then the ocean!

This photo was taken on the path up to our place in Manarola.

Happy in Manarola

Monday we decided to take a detour on our way home and stop in Piza for a picture of the leaving tower. I really have always wanted to do this, but had no idea of how HUGE of a tourist trap it is. Piza is a shitty little town with one famous attraction. Luckily it was only a couple hours out of our way and we only paid 1.50 euro for parking across the street from it. It was funny to see all the tourists posing and "lifting" the tower up!

Our detour to Piza

There are way too many good pictures to share on the blog. We took over 900 and I uploaded about 85 to my picasa album. If you would like to check the rest out - Click Here.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

2009-04-15T04:11:00.000-07:00

In my quest to eat healthier and more like an herbivore . . . I have been reading vegan food blogs and trying out some of the recipes. This one from Happy Herbivore turned out well. Rob hasn't tried it yet, but hopefully he will enjoy it. I am really on a muffin kick and baking them every week. Banana Crumb, Blueberry, and Oatmeal.

Tami - this one is for you! Try it!

Ligurian Foods Of Our Trip

2009-04-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

I want to share everything about our Cinque Terre Easter weekend trip, but there is just too much for one post. So, to break it up, I am going to share about the food first!

A great trip always has great food. So far, Rob and I have always been disappointed with Italian food in Italy. But the Cinque Terre has changed our minds! We knew great food existed, but we were never able to find it before. I did some extensive research on places to eat in the 5 towns and we ate a the top 3 places I wanted to try.

It's Italy - We must eat Brushchetta

Dinner on Friday night ~ Trattoria dal Billy in Manarola.

This place was only 3 doors down from our apartment and we couldn't resist getting there a little earlier then everyone else since we did not make reservations. The waiter brought us a small free cherry aspertif and insisted that we order one on the specials. The special was fresh fish brought in from the boat that day baked with potatoes. When we ordered it, he brought us up the stairway to a big platter of ice with different fish on it. He made us pick one out and we got it served to us just 20 minutes later! It cannot get any fresher then that! We ordered a local wine and tried a Cinque Terre specialty of sardines with lemon. When the whole fish was served to us he plopped down a big bottle of olive oil with it. He insisted we eat the fish with the oil and he was right. It tasted fantastic!

Dinner on Saturday night ~ L'Ancora della Tortuga in Monterosso

I found this place from a NYTimes travel article on how to spend 3 days in the Cinque Terre. We had made reservations early in the day and got a great table for two on the balcony that hung out from the walkway and overlooked the water. There was only enough room for two tables of two and 3 chairs. The restaurant brought out pillows for the bench wall to create a fourth chair for Rob. It looked a little awkward but the view and spot was amazing! This restaurant is actually built in an old war bunker on the side of the hill if you sit on the inside. It was beautiful weather so we braved not having jackets into the evening and sat outside anyways. The food was very good and we had lots of seafood. Rob even ate a Tuna Tartar which is the first raw fish he's had in Europe.

Our amazing table to the right under the one umbrella.

At L'Ancora Della Tortuga. My dish of seafood pasta was perfect.

At L'Ancora della Tortuga

Fresh Medditarenean Fish (Caught that day!) and Potatoes

Dinner on Sunday night ~ Il Pirata in Vernazza.

This place is recommended by two different sources. One being Rick Steves who made the Cinque Terre popular and brought A LOT of tourists in. And the other being trip advisor. Rick Steves recommends breakfast, and trip advisor recommends dinner. We went with dinner and made reservations the day before. The place is more casual then the last two dinners but the atmosphere was a lot of fun. Two Sicilian brothers run the place and they are a hoot. The place is mostly American tourists who read about it on one of the two sources I listed above. We had yummy pesto dishes and followed with amazing desserts. If you travel to the Cinque Terre - the Cannelloni's they make are fantastic! They have a ton of different pastries and cookies for breakfasttime. When we were leaving, one of the brother packed us a few pastries for breakfast since he knew we were staying in a different town then Vernazza. One of the brothers talked to us about living in Switzerland and his feelings towards the Swiss. He, as an Italian man, has always felt how stuck up they were and and felt their coldness. He also told us that 60 years ago in Switzerland there would be signs on the doors of restaurants that would say "No Italians". He has never been himself, but would like to go one day to the Geneva Car Show!

Lunches ~ Foccaciaria!

Everyday we ate focaccia for lunch. It was quick, easy, cheap, and you could take it to a viewpoint and enjoy. In total, we ate at 6 different places all over the Cinque Terre. (A few of these were snack not lunch!) The best places were in Levanto when we first arrived. They had a fresh sun-dried tomato and lettuce one that had a ton of olive oil. They also had a fresh Caprese one which was actually hard to find in the other foccaciaria's. The other great one was the in hillside town on Corniglia. The only unfortunate thing about this place was the French! The french were trying to cut us in line! Argh! Besides them, the focaccia was yummy and we tried the Farinita. (see pictures below).

Onion Foccacia - (There were a ton of different types but this was our favorite)

Farinta - A local fried bread chickpea snack. Yummy! 1 Euro!

In Monterosso Al Mare - we stopped for a glass of wine.

Crisp Local Cinque Terre White Wine and Local Dessert Wine Called "Sciacchetra"

姥姥 - I love you and goodbye

2009-04-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

(This post as written as a personal note to my grandmother who passed this weekend. I am unable to attend the seven days of mourning and the funeral but I felt I needed to do/say something about the event. Plus, I had a dream that my mother was being hurt and tortured by it all and I have just felt terrible since)

姥姥. The title says it all. I love you and goodbye. I know you lived a long and happy life. You raised 5 children, with my dear mother as your middle child. I will always remember you as a kind gentle woman who always looked at me with love in your eyes. I will always have happy memories of visiting your home and walking to the market with you. Even though we couldn't speak the same language, I knew you loved me and you knew I loved you. I am happy my mother was able to be there with you in your last moments.

In your Buddhist traditions, I wish you a quick path to your "happy place" and hope that you can take all the things you need from this life to your next. As for me, I know the matter that made you into a human, is being returned to our universe to become future beautiful things. You will always have existed in the history of time and space and I will always feel lucky to get to spend some of this time with you.

My mother, me, and 姥姥 in 2006

(Taken during our honeymoon)

I am very happy Rob was able to meet her before her passing.

Jesus Zombie Weekend & Blog 1st Anniversary!

2009-04-09T01:25:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this blog has been around for one year? I didn't really start using the blog till November 08 when we moved, but my first post was back on March 23, 2008 (right around Easter Weekend). One year ago, I set out to record my thoughts and adventures of preparing and moving to Geneva. I think this blog has served it's purpose well so far. So thanks to those who read and comment. Thanks for the emails and hugs to everyone.

In other news, Happy Jesus Zombie Weekend! In celebration, I am eating plenty of garlic focaccia this weekend. Or, if you are religious - Happy Easter. (You can catch more flies with honey)

Rob and I are heading out to the Cinque Terre, Italy this weekend and I will have plenty of pictures to share when we get back on Monday!

Bonus Pictures From The Weekend

2009-04-07T01:12:00.001-07:00

These came out great. Mini Cheescakes. We also made some with chocolate chips in the cheesecake with strawberries on top. Recipe Here

The fountain we can see from our apartment window turned on! We had no idea it was even there. Spring is bringing lots of wonderful things with fountains all over town being turned back on and flower bed pots being replanted. (Our apartment building is in the background ~ yeah the ugly ugly concrete one)

Saturday Relaxation at Ferney Voltaire Farmer's Market

2009-04-07T01:01:00.000-07:00

On our way taking Geneva's TPG - decorated like "home"

I love heirloom tomatoes. They are everywhere now!

Whole smoked legs of ham

Tapenade - The top left sundried tomato is fantastic.

Crazy Seafood Snacks

Olives

There it is - my favorite bread - Viennoise Chocolat

Rob waiting for our favorite bread guy

The season is starting beautifully

I love the way the stems create cool curls

Sometimes . . . you get homesick.

2009-04-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have been really homesick this week. It comes in waves. Little things about being here start to irritate me more. Swiss-French attitudes start rubbing me the wrong way. My attempts at making food from home failed. I haven't called people at home enough. It all adds up.

We are just three weeks away from our half way point of our stay here. (Can you believe its been that long already?) I feel like I have just finally gotten a routine going and have sufficiently filled up my day with activities.

I have plenty to be happy about here. I have a lot to look forward too. But it doesn't stop me from longing for some California sunshine.

Rob and I have had lengthy discussions on how different the sky looks in different places in the world. I swear the sky has different clouds at different elevations and the colors all seem unique. The sky may be a little more gray in so cal and not quite so blue as clean Switzerland, but its still home and I miss it.

I mentioned the little things annoy me much more then usual. Geneva has a LARGE population of smokers. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 80% of people smoke here. It drove me nuts in the states and drives me even more nuts here. Sure, I can say to myself, "Just chalk it up to cultural differences and move on." But right now, I can't move past it. I was complaining to Rob about it at the bus stop last night, almost to the point of tears, and a man walks by us and picks up a used flat cigarette butt off the ground. He probably picked it up because somebody half smoked it waiting for the buss earlier. Rob couldn't help but laugh, I didn't find it that amusing. My biggest complaint - I can't even walk across the street to the gym without passing at least 3 people smoking. I am talking less then 100 yards here. I know I can't change things here, but I was sensitive already, I am even more sensitive now. Every whisp of smoke reminds me that I'm not at home.

The food making from home has been disastrous. I tried making baked Char Siu Bao (being inspired by Natalie) and read for multiple hours about it. It came out terribly. Something I miss so much, that cannot be shipped (don't even think about it Dad) I simply don't have the skill to make on my own. I spent 20 CHF trying to make it for something I can buy at home for $3. I almost cried when I tried it. 3 days of work (seriously - the recipe took 3 days of waiting for marinating and congealing) turned out to be fruitless.

To cheer me up - Rob made me think of a list of things that are upcoming to look forward to our life here. Hopefully this will help. To be honest, he came up with this list and I just nodded.

1. We are going to the Ferney market in the morning. This place always makes me happy. The bread guy likes to chat it up and we get great deals of fresh produce.

2. Sunday night we are going over to dinner at Rob's boss's house and I get to make an appetizer.

3. Easter weekend we are heading to the Cinque Terra. Going to eat a lot of focaccia bread and pesto. Also going to drink lots of white wine.

4. Next week I am going to get back on track with the gym. I was still recovering from my cold I had in Budapest and only made it twice instead of 5 times this week. Lack of exercise probably has sent my mood into this downward spiral even more.

Alright - that's the end of my vent. Writing this post has made me feel a little better. I miss and love everyone back home. I wish I could give you a big hug right now. Knowing that I simply physically can't right now hurts more then usual this week.

Budapest, Hungary

2009-04-03T00:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took advantage of some cheap airline tickets from Swiss Air and booked a whirlwind 48 hour trip to Budapest. It's been on our list of places to go and we got it crossed off! Budapest is divided into two different sections. On the west of the Danube river is the old town called "Buda" and on the east is "Pest". We got a great deal (again) on Priceline and stayed at the Hilton WestEnd of 70 dollars a night for this 5 star hotel. It was quite the deal! It was connected to this huge modern shopping mall which made things like a supermarket and a pharmacy very convenient.

When in Hungary it is not hard to joke about being "hungry" all the time. I am sure you can think of all the silly jokes that come along with a country named after a human condition. "Are you hungry?" "Yes, I'm hungry in Hungary." And.... so on.

One downer of the trip is that I was pretty sick. Rob had gotten a cold earlier in the week before we left, and I caught it the day before we left. Unfortunately it peaked for me while we were there and we had to take our weekend easy. We didn't do as much as we wanted too but we got to see what we wanted. The only thing we missed was the Opera on Saturday night. I bought the tickets online a few weeks ahead of time for 2000 forants ($9) but felt too sick to go.

We did enjoy the Szechenyi baths. It is the largest bath complex in Budapest with both indoor and outdoor options. We had NO idea what we were doing and it took us awhile to get tickets and get into our bathing suits. There was this huge list of items that could be purchased and we had no idea exactly what they all were. The one cashier lady who spoke a little bit of English just kept repeating a price of an entrance fee for two people. So, we went for it, and paid it not knowing what we were getting. We got this plastic cards and headed toward the entrance. We tried to watch other people enter and see what was going on and what we were supposed to do. But watching others provided zero more insight then we already had. I handed my plastic card over and went thru the turnstile. They ended up stopping and rejected Rob! Now we were stuck on two different sides! Him in the entrance, and me being passed by old European men in speedos in what seemed like a large locker room. The turnstile lady enlightened us, we needed to go buy a "cabin" for two people to change in and there currently wasn't any available. Rob went to go buy one and we both waited for a cabin to become available. We rented some "towels" (they were kinda like large bed sheets) and got led to our cabin to change into our bathing suits. After leaving the large locker room we walked into the indoor area of the baths were there were several types of pools. We proceeded thru several rooms and headed to the outdoor saunas and pool. There must have been 50 people in the large (i mean large) sauna and we joined in. It was really relaxing. We tried out several pool including one that had jets that made everyone go in a circle around the pool. It was actually a lot of fun to be swifted around without much effort!

Overall, it was very relaxing weekend. Thanks to Rob's Grandma and Pop! This is how we spent half our Christmas money and the other half we reinvested into Kiva.org. We are up to 86 loans now!

At a Soviet Union era restaurant called "Marquis de Salade" eating Azerbaijan food . . .

In front of Parliment this Hungarian flag with a hole it. The location where the hole is where the soviets put their mark. It flies as a reminder of that time in their history

Parliment (with a bunch of scaffold) from the Buda side.

Parliment up close.

On the chain bridge

View of "Pest" from "Buda"

Szechenyi Baths entrance. I didn't get many pictures of the rest of the baths - since I didn't want to bring my camera into the pool areas.

At Grand Central Market at the end of Vaci Utca

Street Grate

What is this? It's a christmas market! Well.... not really. It's the Spring Festival market complete with hungarian dancers and lots of meat cooking. I would love to eat here, but there never is anything for Rob.

Swiss Peanut Butter Recipe Suggestion

2009-03-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

I was finishing off my jar of peanut butter I bought at the Migros today and decided to try to decipher some of the French on the back. I found this a great practical way of learning some French and try to do it as often as I can.

Here is a recipe suggestion:

Pizza au beurre de cacahuete: Tartiner un fond de pizza de beurre de cacahuete puis disposer des oignons, de tomates, et parsemer de fromage rape.

Translation:

Pizza peanut butter: Spread a background of pizza with peanut butter and then have the onions, tomatoes, and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Um yeah... can we say "yuck" collectively? Basically replace any marinara sauce with peanut butter? Man - who writes these recipes? The worse part about this was - it was chunky peanut butter!!!!

Appenzeller Holzfass-Bier

2009-03-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

Appenzeller Holzfass-Bier - 5.2%

Brewed By ~ Brauerei Locher in Switzerland

Another CoOp Beer Find. Tasty but not for the everyday.

Swiss Kuchen Yogurt

2009-03-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite yogurt in Switzerland. Citron Cake and Linz Torte. Mmmmm...

This is not exactly a content filled post, but I just had to share! Find it at Migros! There is also a chocolate cake flavor!

Fail Blog ~ some hilarious photos . . .

2009-03-25T02:33:00.001-07:00

see more pictures

see more pictures

Swiss Doctor & Worldwide Health Insurance

2009-03-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I finally made my first visit to the doctor since moving to Switzerland . I was terrified but told myself I was a "big girl" and could handle going alone. I made the appointment online (more below about that) and showed up when expected. The building I walked into wasn't a collection of doctors sharing a waiting room and reception desk like typical doctor's in the US. The building consisted of individual offices each with their own waiting and reception.

I walked in and said shyly, "Bonjour".

They immediately spoke English to me.

"You must be Tina"

"Oui"

"We got a request from HTH, just fill out this piece of paper and I'll be with you in 5 minutes."

The piece of paper was really basic and they didn't ask any medical history. It was just name, birthday, address, occupation, nationality, etc. Simple and easy. Not like in the US when you fill out 10 sheets about everything that has ever happened to you and sign all your rights away to sue.

The doctor came and got me and then introduced me to the med school student who would be sitting in and observing. They both were really nice. I didn't have to sit on a piece of paper on a stiff bed. I sat in a chair, across his messy doctors desk, like a human being. He scribbled away as I talked about my ailments and he asked good questions. His handwriting was terrible. I guess it must a global thing that you can't read a word of what they write. He wrote a few presciptions down, and I walked out, without paying ONE CENTINE.

Easy, painless, and I picked up a flyer because he does house calls for urgent care! Can you imagine that! Not that I hoping to be sick, but I am glad I know how to take advantage.

Side Note ~ In Geneva - you can call 022 322 20 20 for urgent medical care in your flat (not emergencies obviously) between 7 AM and 11 PM.

Rob and I did a lot of research before I stopped my job in the US about finding healthcare to cover us here in Switzerland. We finally settled on HTH Worldwide. They mostly do healthcare plans for students traveling abroad and and for larger groups such as business that employ expats all over the globe. All the paperwork to sign up was online and the customer service on the phone was SUPERB! I have never had an insurance company be so nice. I made my doctor's appointment online and they called the several doctors offices to schedule an appointment for me. They found one that was available and set the date with the constraints I gave them. I didn't have to deal with any French receptionists!

We settled on HTH for one VERY BIG REASON. It complies with continuous coverage under the HIPAA law of 1996. This law requires you to have continuous health coverage for 12 months or your next employer's health insurance could turn you down if they knew of a serious condition. Lots of foreign health insurances (including Switzerland's and CERN's) do not comply under the HIPAA and do not count as continuous coverage. Don't take my word for it, read up for yourselves. I am not an expert, but this is what we learned with our research. We are just trying our best to cover our butts in case of serious medical conditions occur while we are here.

I don't expect to go back to the doctor before I leave, but its always nice to have met one in person.

Beers Around Ecole De Medecin & One at Home

2009-03-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

Just a few beers to document as we continue to try new things! We went out last week to a cute bar near the medical school called Cafe De Lys and had a couple drinks.

Grimbergen Triple Brewed By Brasserie Union (They also own Heineken) - 9%

Powerful Belgium Beer (as most are). When drinking it you start to feel warm and fuzzy.

Found at the CoOp.

Rob's Choice - Calvinus Noir (Previously drank the Calvinus Blonde)

This one is much better then the blonde! Very dark and coffee like.

Brewed By Locher in Appenzell, CH. 6%

Duchesse Anne - Blonde Belgium Ale - 6.5%

Brewed By Cervoiserie Lancelot In Le Roc-Saint-André, France

Tina's Choice for the evening ~ very tasty and easy to drink!

Refreshing Beer and a Swiss Alp View

2009-03-16T05:15:00.001-07:00

Erdinger Weißbier

5.3% - Cloudy White Wheat Beer

Enjoyed at the Verbier Ski Resort. This is what life is about - beer and a view!

No Marshmallow's Allowed - Rice Cereal Snacks

2009-03-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

So, Rob doesn't eat marshmallow's because they contain gelatin. Gelatin is made from animal bones that are boiled up. That may sound kinda gross to some, sounds pretty tasty to me! I remember my mother boiling bones and letting me suck the goodness out the the middle.

Anyways, I have been on a hunt for a substitute rice cereal snack that is ooey gooey enough that the marshmallow is not missed. Here is the recipe I used. They didn't stick together so well, but they tasted amazing! Instead of dried cherries, I used cranraisins. Next time I am going to try to use more peanut butter and hopefully the stickyness will improve.

Skiing at Verbier

2009-03-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Rob and I headed up to Verbier in the Swiss parts of the Alps. It is pretty close to the intersection of France, Italy, and Switzerland. We had to drive up and around the lake thru Montreux and into the Alps. This way, we avoided any French freeway tolls and super windy roads thru the French part of the Alps near Chamonix. It has been way too convenient for us to just ski in France but we really wanted to try out a Swiss resort. We were not dissapointed.

We got SUPER lucky and parked at the top. It was really difficult to find a parking spot and many had resorted to parking at the train station and taking an additional telecabine up the hill. We drove right through the Verbier village itself and parked in the second closet spot to the entrance. We were grateful because we hate walking in ski boots.

The Verbier resort has a ton of different lifts and different levels of slopes. I always stick with the super easy if I can. Because I stick with the super easy, I am normally skiing on roads covered with snow and share the pathways with cross country skiers, snow shoer's, and hikers. Rob adventured a little further and took some red slopes and mogul's down a few sections. I definatly fell a few more times than I wanted to this weekend, but people were pretty nice and helped me up! The British were being very helpful!

We decided against packing a lunch and enjoyed a "pizza au thon" and a "oeuf/fromage crepe". Since we ate at one the mountaintop restaurants we got to enjoy the sunny deck and the amazing view. It was definately worth the overpriced food.

Here's some pics from the weekend.

Rob

Sitting on a chair lift

Alps were amazing

See the dog sled team?

On the drive down the mountain

Wouldn't this be fun to ride?

Us and a View

The St Bernard was so damn cute. It posed for pictures with people and crossed its front paws.

Hot chocolate, lunch, and a view.

Another Unreasonable Swiss Complaint Letter

2009-03-12T08:40:00.001-07:00

This is our second complaint letter from our neighbor downstairs. It is really making me upset and angry. I know I should just shrug it off and ignore them, but I can't help feel like I should do something.

This one says:

We were disturbed at 11:20, 11:26 and midnight
it's not possible
you have to respect the neighbors
the next time we're going straight to the regie
thanks for your understanding

FACTS:

1. We do not have a regie or a lease with a regie. Yes, a regie does manage our building but we are directly leasing from the owner. We do not pay our rent to a regie and we have never ever talked to the regie.

2. We are not being loud. Not at all. This is a TOTAL LIE and it really makes me mad when people lie about you. I'm SO SORRY I stay up past 10 PM, I'm SO SORRY that we need to walk to the bathroom from the living room. I am so sorry we heaven forbid, talk to each other. (If you can't tell - I'm being ultra sarcastic. Not normally my way of dealing with things, but I'm pissed)

3. Midnight? Midnight! We were in bed watching TV on our computer falling asleep and chatting with each other. Why use specific times when it is a lie? ARGH!!!!!! You should only be specific when you have exact facts. Otherwise, you set yourself up to being a fool.

4. We live in a 7 story apartment building. GET USED TO IT.

So what would happen if they do go to the regie? Complaint letter to our owner? Who knows. Any advice anyone?

Yay For American "Nones"

2009-03-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

A new religious survey of the US came out today. Finally, the numbers with no religious affiliation is rising! Check out these articles. Richard Dawkins has said, atheists are like cats. They all have a mind of their own and are impossible to heard. But if angered, they can make a lot of screeching noise.

USA Today Article

US News

Washington Post

L'Alexandrin and 100th post!

2009-03-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

Because we love fine dining and wanted to experience the gastro city of the world properly, we decided to dine at L'Alexandrin of Lyon. Sorry, this may be torture by photos, but it was exquisite.

Rob and I probably were the youngest people in this place of only about 15 tables by at least 10 years. Embarrassingly enough, we were also the first to get there and be seated. We had made reservations for 7:30 and it took about 4 hours to complete the meal. 4 hours - 10 courses. Other people must have eaten faster because we were not the first to leave. We left when the place was about 1/3 empty already. The menu only advertised 6 courses, but with like lots of fine dining, they throw in surprises. Lots of them. I think we actually groaned at the end, when they brought out the after dessert, dessert. We enjoyed the meal with white wine and sparkling water. I ordered a glass of champagne. Well, I didn't really order it. They offered it to me as soon as I sat down, before we even got menus! It was sweet and bubbly, just the way I like it.

Here is Rob's stated Menu: (Vegetable)

Plate of five needs of the moment (This great tasting fried potato ball, a mushroom soup, a pumpkin soup, lentils combined with some yummy pork bits (Rob didn't eat, obviously), and some kind of puree with a small tiny fried shrimp. All neatly presented in little cups all in a row)
..........
Cappuccino cepes the tonka bean roasted hazelnuts
..........
Breaded and fried egg on Arborio risotto slices of truffle emulsion
..........
Fried apples and parsnips with curry and cranberries
Fresh Granny Smith, cider butter
..........
Vegetable casserole Mr Bail spices fresh almond milk and toasted almonds
..........
Bleu d'Auvergne-cherry jam and cherries with spices
..........
Dessert of Choice - Rob choose Chocolate- Guanaja chocolate madeleines, marmalade of oranges preserved in Grand-Marnier, dark chocolate cream dessert and its pure cocoa sorbet

Here is my stated Menu: (Lyon Specialties)

Plate of five needs of the moment - same as Rob's.
..........
Fricot carp Royal Dombes vinaigrette and beet chips
..........
Real muslin pike dumpling and creamy crayfish
..........
Fennel granita Chartreuse Green (I have to be honest - this tasted weird - and the waiter didn't think I liked it)
..........
Braised chicken with vinegar embeurrée potatoes and mushrooms fricasséede
..........
Half Saint-Marcellin and his small salad with walnuts
..........
Choice of dessert- I choose seasonal - Iced chestnut parfait and cardamom sugared milk,
Medjoul date biscuit, almond ice and milk

In addition to these lovely 6 stated course.... here's what else was included (Sorry I don't know the fancy names!):

- Amous Bouche - Toast Points with cheese and salami. (I got to eat it all)

- Lots of bread and butter.

- Pre Dessert - This lovely foamy cream over a soft vanilla ice cream. It tasted like a cloud.

- With Dessert - About 6 small plates with macaroons, chocolates, mini pastry puffs, and chocolate covered marshmallows.

- After Dessert - A chinese spoonful of sweet strawberry sorbet.

Rob and I finished the evening with a great cafe for him and darjeeling tea for me. We left stuffed, yet happy.

Sorry - I didn't take pictures of every course. I also had to adjust and lighten these up a bit. But you can still appreciate the plating!

Tina - Fricot carp Royal Dombes vinaigrette and beet chips

Rob - Cappuccino cepes the tonka bean roasted hazelnuts

Tina - Real muslin pike dumpling and creamy crayfish

(I laughed when I got this one in front of me)

Rob - Breaded and fried egg on Arborio risotto slices of truffle emulsion

(This was the best dish of the night. It takes amazing skill to bread and fry an egg but keep the yolk runny - skills!)

Rob - Vegetable casserole Mr Bail spices fresh almond milk and toasted almonds

Tina - Iced chestnut parfait and cardamom sugared milk,
Medjoul date biscuit, almond ice and milk

Tina - Braised chicken with vinegar embeurrée potatoes and mushrooms fricasséede

This is also my 100th post! WooHoo for me keeping this thing alive!

Amazing Day in Lyon

2009-03-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Rob and I really wanted to get away this weekend. We have been itching to go but didn't plan far enough in advance to go anywhere far. Lyon is only an hour and a half drive from Geneva and we have been neglecting to go there. It is the 2nd largest city in France and the gastronomy capital of the world. There were a ton of fantastic looking restaurants and amazing markets! We ate lunch at a place that had bagel sandwiches and tortilla wraps. It was busy and very crowded so we knew it would be a yummy place. We also made reservations at a one star Michelin place for dinner - which I will blog about later this week. Let me just say it was amazing! Lyon's old town is a UNESCO world heritage site and had many "traboules" to explore. Traboules, according to wikipedia are -

"These intra-building passages link inner courtyards with the streets and are found mainly in "Vieux Lyon" (old Lyon) and on the Croix Rousse hill. They were first made for the use of the "canuts" (silk workers of the late 18th to mid 19th century) so that the pieces of fabric could be moved from workshop to workshop without being spoiled by rain. They also were used as hiding places during the German occupation by the resistance members. Certain traboules are not open to the public, because of security measures, but the city has made a point of keeping the most beautiful ones open during daytime hours."

It felt like being in the long hallways and courtyards of private homes from the past. Really beautiful experience. We hesitated going into the first few because it felt like we were trespassing. Apparently, the residents have an agreement to let tourists come in during the daytime and they closed them off at night.

Basilique de Fourvière - Lyon's Cathedral. It was two floors and one of the most decorated cathedral's I have ever seen.

Theatres Romains de Fourviere - Ancient Roman Amphitheatre. Built around 16 AD

View from the seats. The stage used to have a 30m wall behind it blocking the view of the city.

Us at the ruins

A small section from amazing panoramic view from the cathedral.

We really wanted to go down this slide by the riverside park. Don't you?

Geneva Car Show

2009-03-08T04:49:00.000-07:00

Here are finally some more pictures from my 2 job as press at the Geneva Car Show. The work was for a US based company that were looking for a few local people with the time and energy to go. My assignment was to go to the vehicles assigned to me, and photograph them at over 300 different angles each. It was actually quite exhausting. People were climbing in and out of them constantly and it was hard to get pictures without people in them. I even had to get pictures of the chassis and engines and got strange looks for booth attendants in the process. Another pain was the car models. Oh yes - the models would lay on the car, hang out by the doors, and sit in the driver's seats. They seemed mad that I was more interested in photographing the steering wheel controls then their legs. I finally learned the real reason for car models at the show. If there is a model on the car, the more attention that car gets. There are more photographers and people oggling the goodies (the car's and the ladies) when they are there. The best benefit of the car show was the press lounges. VW by far had the best lounge, and I hung out there a lot. How can you pass down free drinks, appetizers, and desserts? I also frequented the Kia and Alpha Romeo stands for a tea, coffee, and champagne. There were a few really fancy press parties at the Citroen and Renault stands that I couldn't get into. Anyways, enjoy the photos!

A really cool display and a classic mini.

A sign at the Mini booth and a huge plug at the Volvo booth

Concept car by Dacia with a bike inside. The Mini booth with a really cool ice cube theme. They had a fabulous bar and DJ at the booth.

View from the VW Press Lounge. Partial overview shot of Car Show.

Hanging out in the press lounge. With drinks and food. Yum.

The VW Press Lounge. To think this is a temporary structure is amazing.

The sleek Alpha Romeo press lounge. I had some champagne. :)

Hillary's Here!

2009-03-06T04:32:00.000-08:00

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in town! She is meeting with Russia. I wonder where they will be? The UN?

Here's a news article - WRS "Spirit of Geneva"

Today's News & Politics

2009-03-05T04:27:00.001-08:00

News Story #1: UBS refusing to hand over names of people from America with bank accounts in Switzerland.

Thoughts:

How much money is in secret off shore accounts here? Millions? Billions? Gazillions? Maybe they can compromise and just hand over names of people with accounts (or sum of accounts) totalling over a certain amount.

If I was a rich person with off shore accounts, I would be ashamed of myself. People are suffering because of the financial crisis. If you are rich and hiding money, you are contributing to their suffering. They probably already live crazy luxury lives, why shouldn't they pay for their fair share of taxes?

Switzerland is in serious risk of being blackballed in the global financial system. Tax evasion can't be tolerated. The swiss "rules" need justification. The laws shouldn't continue to be the way they are just because they are laws. Rules and laws should have good reasons. But, there are always two sides to the coin. Right now, switzerland, by helping extremely rich people, is hurting those who are suffering and could benefit from the money instead of it sitting in a bank account.

Gordon Brown, thanks for standing up and saying what needs to be said. Sen. Levin, thanks for standing up to UBS.

Links To Learn More:

WRS Story

Bloomberg Article

UK Gaurdian Story

Washington Post

News Story #2: CA High court listens to opening arguments in the Prop 8 debate.

Thoughts:

Finally, a court case and a court trial. We all knew it was going to come down to this. Thousands of people across CA held a candlelight vigil last night to rally in hopes to spread awareness and attention that the trial is beginning today. Rob and I plan to listen to the webcast tonight. I think this issue is a simple one.

Protect minority rights and do not let religious values dictate laws for everyone.

If either of these two ideas are broken, we will have inched closer to majority and religious rule. Do I need to explain further? Maybe. But I think founding fathers of this country can do it much more eloquently.

Here is what Thomas Jefferson had to say about majority rule:

"Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801. ME 3:318

Here is another simple thought. America is a republic and we elect leaders to study the issues and create laws. The mass of people in America do not have the time or the intelligence necessary to create laws. One person can be smart, a crowd of people is always dumb. Therefore, I don't want uneducated people voting on my basic human rights.

I could go on and on about how much I really want religion to stay out of government. The answer always boils down to this one thing. People are scared to die. Instead of facing this fear, they fill their head with a religious story (fairytale) that tells you "your never going to die in mind and spirit". With this fairytale, in order for you to prevent death and suffering, you have to follow these religious "guidelines" and impose them on others. NOT COOL. Recognize that your religion should have nothing to do with others. Keep it out of other's lives. Forget about me, save yourself and we'll both be happy.

Sorry, need to stop ranting.

I would love to hear your comments on this one. I am always up for a good debate.

A Funny Post CA Election Sign

Get it? Let's not do either.

Links to Learn More:

LA Times - Candlelight Vigil's

Mercury News - Calif. Legislature supports gay marriage challenge

USA Today

And for fun - an intresting Dilbert Blog thread. Some people get it, some people don't.

Yearly Supply Of Cheetos

2009-03-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks Dad - for sending me a year's supply of Flaming Hot Cheetos. :) I complained about not finding them in NYC a few posts ago, and of course my Dad just had to send 11 bags of them! It cost $45 to ship! He's a nut, but I love him dearly. Fun fact - 11 bags of cheetos is 5 lbs of calories! I better moderately eat these!

Geneva Auto Show - As Press!

2009-03-03T12:20:00.001-08:00

What I'm up to this week - being "press" and taking a ton of pictures at The 2009 Geneva Auto Show! What a great job I landed - two days - get to see the show I was going to anyway - and free juice/coffee stands for the press. Here's a teaser of some pictures I took anyway. More about it later! I'm exhuasted from climbing all over seats today.

The Auto Show Guide

My Press Badge

Funny Concept Car

Renault "Green" Concept Car

Overview of Hall 5. There are 7 halls!

Electrical Stove Fire!

2009-03-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

Rob and I have a pathetic stovetop consisting of two electrical burners. It is so small we can't fit two pans next to each other without one coming up onto the dials. Hence, we try to keep things simple in cooking and use our little toaster oven when we can. Yesterday at the Ferney-Volatire farmer's market I bought a three dozen little neck clams. I have been wanting to make a fermented black bean clam dish since receiving the car package from my parents. Tonight was the night!

Everything started out okay. The rice was steaming on front burner and the clams were steaming away with the lovely fragrance of ginger, garlic, and black beans on the back. I started to see odd smoke that wasn't steam rising from the countertop. At first, it didn't seem like anything unusual. With an electric stove, often there are little bits of crumbs that burn off the bottom of pans or something will fall out of the pan and smoke up on the hot burner. This smoke was different. This smoke was coming from underneath the counter and I called Rob over to check it out. I picked up the pot of clams and stood there holding it. Rob immediately turned off the burners and heard a "Woosh" from under the counter. Did the fire go out when the power got turned off? When we opened the cabinet, a big cloud of awful smelling smoke billowed out and we opened the windows to let it out. The rice wasn't quite done yet, and we let it sit on the residual heat of the burner till dinner was ready.

We have written our landlord to see what we should do. We vaguely remember her saying to please call a plumber if the toilet is stuck since she would obviously do the same. And we agreed to not call about the little things. This doesn't seem like a little thing. This seems different. Anybody know tenant/landlord laws in Switzerland? I am not sure if we are responsible and have to replace it. It's not like we did anything unusual and abused it. We just wanted some black bean clams!

Complaint Letter From A Swiss Neighbor

2009-02-27T08:45:00.000-08:00

Rob came home from work yesterday and found a little note left on our front door. Our neighbor downstairs is obviously not happy with us being up later then 10 PM. The note says they are sleeping so they can get up and go to work. Also that we have heavy feet stomping around after 10 PM. I was home all day when the note was left, why didn't they just knock on the door? Not that it would have helped anyway. They would probably just blabber in French and I would stare and say "Uhuh" then "Merci". I also noticed it is typed on a typewriter on a piece of graph paper. It isn't handwritten like you guess a neighborly complaint letter to be. Oh well, the swiss love their rules! I guess this comes in the package of city living in Geneva.

A Swiss Made Beer

2009-02-27T08:08:00.000-08:00

This beer was definately hard to find a ton of information on. . . but here is what I found:

Monsteiner Stein + Bock

Organic Doppelbock Style - 6.5% by the Biervision Monstein Brewery.

It is made in Davos, Switzerland. Does that place sound familiar? The world economic forum was held there.

Tortillas in Geneva

2009-02-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

Oh yes my friends - I have found fresh made tortillas in Geneva. Actually it is in the small town of Carouge, just a quick hop skip and a jump on the bus or tram to get there. Here's a picture of the business card. It is a small shop where I bought 16 flour tortillas for a whopping 8 CHF. I also noticed, fresh tortilla chips, chilies, hot sauces, enchilada sauces, and corn tortillas. There is also a small menu where you can order a quesadilla, burrito, or tamale. The only down side at the moment is that the package does not have an ingrediant list. Rob is wary of tortillas made with lard so he abstaining at the moment. We will be sure to ask the next time we are in there!

How to Cut a Pineapple

2009-02-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

Lately, in the supermarkets here in Geneva I have found an abundance of pineapples for sale. I don't know how often or how much the Swiss actually eat this fruit, but I am taking advantage while they are around! I have really been missing spring and summer seasonal fruits and can't wait for them to come into the stores here. Unlike the US, you can't find fruits that are out of season. In the very Swiss way of conservation, they eat what is in season and therefore help global warming by not importing plums from Chile. I do miss my Chilean plums . . . but I suppose SoCal is a lot closer to Chile then Switzerland. Don't get me wrong - if you search long enough, you can find the fruits you want, but you have to search hard!

Anyway, back to the pineapple. My mother in law Tami taught me how to cut the pineapple in a very presentable way. I will share this technique with you! Thanks Tami!

An old picture of the final product.

Cut Pineapple presentation covered with spring and summer fruits.

Step 1 - Buy a Pineapple

Step 2 - Cut pineapple in half lengthwise. Leave the leaves alone!

Step 3 - Cut into quarters

Step 4 - Cut under the ridge of core

Step 5 - Cut from the ridge along the base all the way thru the quarter section.

Step 6 - Slide piece out

Step 7 - Cut into finger size bits

Step 8 - Put back into pineapple shell for presentation

Step 9 - All four quarters finished

Step 10 - Feed it to happy husband who is watching Meet the Press.

He is happy about the pineapple but mad at Republican governors.

The End!

CoOp Beer Finds

2009-02-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

Rob is on a search for a standard everyday beer. A typical beer to be drunk with dinner or to relax before bed. We found these at the local Coop. Both were pleasant and cheap enough to be considered in the running for our everyday beer.

Staropramen Lager from the 2nd largest brewhouse is CZ - Staropramen Brewery - 5%

Typical pilsner flavors but more intense and not watered down.

Urbock 23 Degrees Doppelbock brewed by Brewery Castle Eggenberg - Austria

Strong Beer at 9.6% - The label boasts to be one of the strongest beers in the world. It didn't knock us on our feet and it didn't taste too hot.

Light ambered color with small head. Good, but not for the everyday.

Great Travel Quote

2009-02-19T14:43:00.000-08:00

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” - Paul Theroux

What We Imported!

2009-02-18T00:47:00.000-08:00

It goes without being said that things are very expensive in Switzerland. Rob and I have resisted buying the little things in life because the hole they leave in your wallet is not so little. We took the opportunity (like most expats visiting their home country) to bring back a bunch of little things that we miss about our American life.

Here's our list -

1. Ice Tea Mints from Target
2. 3 bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips. (Land of chocolate - but chips can only be found in the American store at a rip off price)
3. 40 flour tortillas from Trader Joes (When we got back we vacuum sealed them and froze them in packs of 2)
4. BBQ Sauce (not impossible - but we bought the good stuff)
5. Cholula Hot Sauce - We couldn't find the big bottles in Manhattan so we settled for the small stuff.
6. Non Stick Cooking Spray
7. Peanut Butter (Organic with Roasted Flaxseeds and Omega 3) All I have seen in Switzerland is Jiffy.
8. 3 bags dried black beans (not impossible to find here - but not easy either)
9. 20 boxes of Trader Joes Indian Food (quick easy cheap $2 dinners)
10. Aveeno Lotion (about 100% cheaper then stuff here)
11. Shower Curtain and Liner - $10. Comparison CH price - $25 CHF
12. 6 blocks of Cheddar Cheese
13. Chinese style rolling pin found in Chinatown. (This is too improve my dumpling wrapper skills Mom!)
14. Ceramic Mandolin Slicer (I've always wanted one) $25 - Compare it to Swiss 60 CHF.
15. Ice Cube Trays
16. Iron On Sewing Tape (Hard to find item here and super cheap in the US)
17. Paper Pad and NotePad from Target's doll er spot
18. Round Cookie Cutters (Again to make my dumplings skins better shaped
19. Dumpling Press (I had dumplings on my mind)
20. Arm Band for Ipod while working out (On sale at target for $10)
21. Nail File (cheaper in US)
22. Shaving Cream (Cheaper in US)
23. Thread (Cheaper in US)

We were not successfull in finding a few items -

1. Flaming Hot Cheetos. Apparently, this is a US region by region item. We searched every major grocery, and convenience store we came across. Nothing. I was actually surprised by the lack of chip selection in the Northeast.

2. Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar. The kind that is wrapped in black plastic. It is a step above the red (sharp) and yellow (mild) cheddar made by Tillamook. We ended up settling for item number 12 above.

Photo Library Challenge

2009-02-18T00:21:00.000-08:00

Why . . . .Yes . . . Jessica (of Swiss Story Blog) , I do have quite a large picture library.

Here is the "challenge" issued by her - Go to "My Pictures". Choose folder number 6 and then picture number 6. Show it on your blog, write a short text about the picture and invite 6 more.

A few pieces of the puzzle though to fill in my completion of the photo library challenge. Since I use a Mac and iphoto for all of my picture storage - I chose my "8th" "event" and the 8th picture in that. I chose 8 instead of 6 because for some reason my 6th and 7th events were okay showing me thumbnails but gave me errors in pulling up the actual file. Here goes nothing -

This picture was taken in October 2006 when my bridesmaids L and K came over to help with some last minute stuff for our wedding. Of course they are goofballs and took some funny pictures. This picture makes me smile because it is in our old old Brea apartment which was the first place Rob and I officially lived together in. Our furniture is a mish mash between his and hers with new stuff we bought together and old stuff from college all in the same picture. For example - the desk is Rob's old college stuff and the white organizer is my old college stuff. The couches and ikeas paper lamp are something new we bought together. It was true what everyone says about moving in together - you have two of everything and it all gets combined.

I issue this challenge to (Sorry - I only know a few people and can't do 8) -
Jackie and Seth - http://www.swisswatching.com
Julie and Dave - http://bowerfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com/
Matalie - http://gdesignjournal.wordpress.com/

This stuff is made in New York City!

2009-02-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

Whenever I think of New York City - here is what I think of:

Pace Picante - "Pick up the original - pick up the Pace" (It's actually made in San Antonio TX)

Aside from the commercial advertising in my head, I still have always wanted to travel there but never have gotten the chance. Rob had a meeting at Brookhaven Nation Laboratory on Friday in Long Island so we extended our weekend and spent it in Manhattan. We found a fabulous deal on a 3.5 star hotel room right by Penn Station for only 100 a night. WooHoo for "name your own price" on Priceline.com. The room was just as large as our Geneva apartment and actually had a better kitchen. Sigh. We hit up the major tourist spots - Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central, Times Square, Central Park and we ate the famous foods. (Cheesecake, Bagels, and Pastrami) We spent Valentine's day dinner at a great sushi bar named Kanoyama which satisfied our longing for high quality sushi since we moved abroad. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Famous Katz's Delicatessen - Over 120 Years Old

World Famous Pastrami on Rye from Katz

Two Types of Pickles - Kosher vs Regular

Central Park

Tea with Theresa at "Tea Spot" in Greenwich Village

We had to have cheesecake at Chelsea Market. (Home of the Food Network)

President Obama screening across the outside of the Today show.

Obama "Stuff"

Grand Central Station

30 Rock!

This is where George Washington took the Oath of Office to be our first president.

NYSE on Wall Street

9/11 Memorial - Wall of pictures of the victims. It was really really sad.

Piece of twisted steel from WTC.

Times Square

Rob happy with the New York Bagels

Yum - Cream Cheese, Lox, Capers, Tomato, and Onion on an Everything Bagel.

It's a bird (inside the terminal of Newark), It's a Plane, It's Manhattan!

The Mer De Glace - Ice caves in a Glacier!

2009-02-10T11:54:00.000-08:00

Back On January 17th, we took a trip to Chamonix France in hopes of taking telecabines over the alps. This is near Mont Blanc and the Mattahorn. They end up in the Italian ski towns on the other side. Sadly, the winds were too high and our only option was to take the train up to see the Mer De Glace. Fortunately, it was one of the coolest sites I have ever seen in my entire life. Glaciers, as most know, are in danger of being wiped out due to global warming. So I took advantage while I can and went to go see one! It was beautiful. I almost cried. Really. When you touched the side the cave - it didn't feel cold! It felt like an amazing smooth glass. The inside was lit up with different lights that constantly were changing colors.

Sorry for the amount of pictures - but it was truly amazing!

Mer De Glace - Wikipedia Link

I was so happy to be here. That's a genuine smile.

What a great sign :)

The route from the train. Take the telecabiner to the stairway.

Another view of the glacier from the telecabiner

Ice Caves

From the stairway down to the glacier

The different caves are drilled every few years because the glacier is receding.

Can you guess why? Global Warming.

The Ice Caves

MC and I outside the glacier

Looking outside from inside

Don't get your tounge stuck!

Love the lighting - It was constantly changing.

MC again

Rob inside the glacier ice cave

Us inside the cave

Rob inside the cave

Amazing Crystal-like structure

Amazing Structure

You can see pretty deep into this one.

Rob paying the parking and me putting MC to good use.

Care Package From Home

2009-02-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

Care Package From Home

(Fermented Black Beans, Sirachi "Turkey" Sauce, Wasabi Powder, and Seaweed Snacks.)

Thanks Mom & Dad!

From Scratch - Lentil Burgers

2009-02-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

What's cooking for dinner?

Lentil Burgers on Homemade Seasame Buns. Yum.

Try it out for yourself!

Recipe for Hamburger Rolls. Recipe for Lentil Burgers.

I used green lentils instead of black and added some more spices to the mixtuire. It turned out a little salty but had great texture. Not bad at my first attempt at using dried lentils!

Beers Of Our Winter Trip

2009-02-10T01:03:00.000-08:00

This post has taken me a little while to put together since it required some internet research and recalling some slightly fuzzy memories. Here is finally a comprehensive list of the beers consumed on the winter vacation trip. Or at least as many as I had pictures for!

Location: Prague

Beer: Original Budweiser or Budvar (Bud Super Strong Red Label) 7.6% - Served From the Tap

For more information: Wikipedia Link or Brewery Link

Location: Prague

Beer: Bottled Drak brewed by Pivovar Starobrno in the Czech Republic. 6%

Notes: It was served way too warm and was pretty terrible. No wonder it was being sold in the supermarkets for 75 cents a bottle.

Location: Prague

Beer: The Orginal Pilsner Urquell at the UPinka Bar and Restaurant made by the Plzensky Prazdroj brewery- 4.4%

Bonus - First Pilsner Urquell Tap Ever!

MC Surveying our delicious beers and contemplating drinking them all himself.

Location: Enkhuizen, Netherlands

Beer: Hertog Inn Bar House Brew Dark

Location: Amsterdam

Beer: Palm by the Palm Brewery. 5.2%

Location: Brussels at the Delerium Cafe

Beer: Chimay Blue by the Chimay Trappist Brewery. 9%

Location: Brussels at the Delerium Cafe

Beer: Brugge Trippel by the De GoudenBoom Brewery in Belgium 8.2%

Location: Brussels at the Delerium Cafe

Beer: Either Delrium Christmas or Delrium Noctorum. Not quite sure which it is.

Brewed by the Delerium Brewery - 9%

Side Note: E & M took this very glass from the bar as a souvenier.

Location: Brussels at the Delerium Cafe

Beer: Petrus Aged Ale By the Brouwerij Bavik Brewery

Notes: TERRIBLE. Tasted like it was rotting. It does not go well with anything. YUCK. The "aged" factor does not help.

Location: Prague

Beer: Master Dark- Best beer of the trip! - 7%

Brewed by Plzenjy Prazdroj

(sorry I can't figure out how to type the accents on the the words!)

At U Zavesenyho Kafe in Prague - Enjoying our Master Beer. :)

All Done - We need another round!

Location: Prague

House Brew of Pivovarsky Dum Restaurant -Dark House Brew

This place happened to be across the street from our hotel and we ended up eating and drinking here twice. The food was very good and had great prices.

Location: Prague

House Brew of Pivovarsky Dum Restaurant - Light

Bonus Pictures - Some DELICIOUS Czech Food.

Roast Pork, Saurkraut, and Bohemian Dumplings.

Bohemian Dumplings and Goulash

Schnitzel and Roast Duck - Drool

Jessica From SwissStory Interviews Me

2009-02-09T02:30:00.000-08:00

This is a unique kind of chain "mail" or silly survey you see posted on facebook. Bloggers interviewing each other? That's right. Hopefully this will catch on and we can all learn about each other a little more. Especially the community of expat bloggers out there!

Jessica from Swiss Story had a lot of responses to her offering to interview people, including me. Here's my interview answers - enjoy!

Jessica - Q1. Where do you think you would be right now if not in Switzerland?

Tina - A1. I would be back home in California. No question about it.

Jessica - Q2. What do you like the most & the least about living in Switzerland?

Tina - A2. What I like the most about Switzerland is the proximity of everything Europe. So many great places are an easy train ride, car ride, or plane trip away. I also love the scenery. The alps cannot be beat. I also really enjoy all the local farmers markets and the freshness of all the cheeses. I also enjoy the multinationals of Geneva. There are people from every country in the world here (almost). It's not unusual to see a woman in full abayas standing next to an Japanese business man standing next to a old Australian woman on the bus.

I am really starting to be annoyed by the pace of life. People take it easy in most cases. I have only seen people be aggressive when "in line" or in a car when the person in front of them screws up in their mind. They like honking and pointing out mistakes to feel superior. I also think this is isolated to the Francophone parts of Switzerland.

I also HATE THE SMOKING. It is such a hazard. It prevents me from the silliest things. I won't eat at certain places because of the smoking and I won't stand under the bus stop cover, even if its raining, because there is always somebody smoking underneath it. Smokers also seem to put their cigarette out on anything and everything. I am always annoyed to see the young Swiss put their cigarettes out on the bus door button. Everybody has to touch that! It's so inconsiderate.

Jessica - Q3. If you could only eat chocolate or cheese, and not both, for the rest of your life which would it be and why?

Tina - A3. Cheese. Hands down. I'm not a big chocolate fan. I must admit, overdosing on either of those pleasures leads to a major stomach ache. I overdosed on chocolate on my birthday by having a chocolate lunch. Hot chocolate, chocolate cake, and a truffle. Ugh - I did not feel good. I also think there may be more variety in cheese then in chocolates. But that is just my guess. I could never give up creamy goat cheese for a piece of chocolate.

Jessica - Q4. Why do you blog and which blog/s inspire you most?

Tina - A4. I blog because I want to look back and have vivid recorded memories of my year abroad. I don't necessarily care about how many readers I have or what people think. My blog is mainly for me. (and Rob). I always have a million thoughts going thru my head and its a nice place to write them all down. I have considered starting a new blog unrelated to the expat life that is all about politics and religion. I have also connected with old friends - Hi Amanda! Did you know that Amanda from Quezo Suizo blog is a friend of high school? Funny that we both ended up in Switzerland.

I think foodie blogs inspire me the most. I love reading all the blogs by the White on Rice couple.

Jessica - Q5. And stealing from Ms. Mac, if you had to choose a flavor of ice cream that most fits your personality, what kind do you think you would you be?

Tina - A5. This questions is harder then is seems. If I choose Vanilla, I view myself as plain but classic. If I choose chocolate, I view myself as the typical woman who like to indulge. But what I choose is .... lemon sorbet. I am sweet with a sour side. I am also not smooth and creamy but more crystallized and structured. Hence, I don't just go with the flow, I organize and compartimentilize.

Would you like to be interviewed for your blog? I'll continue with the same rules as Jessica . . .

The rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. (here they are!)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. Be sure you link back to the original post.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

More Mont Jura Skiing

2009-02-09T02:03:00.000-08:00

Mont Jura skiing consists of several resorts. Crozet, La Faucille, La Valserine, and Menthieres. Last weekend was Crozet and this Sunday was La Faucille. The weather was worse this week. At the top of the chair lift it was quite windy with snow and ice blowing into our faces. We had to ski about 200 meters before the trees shaded the wind. I was happy with this resort since there was a large easy slope down to the bottom of the hill. We actually thought the easy slope was a paved road in the summer time and was just packed with layers of snow in the winter. It was enjoyable and not crowded at all. We witnessed quite a few people off route skiing and getting stuck in the powder.

On the drive down - the view of Lac Leman (Geneva's Lake)

The amazing drive

Rob stuck in the powder

It was so cold the tips of my hair frosted. You have to look closely.

One of the small chair lifts. Can you see the lack of crowds?

On the easy slope.

Frosted Trees

Rob needs ski goggles really badly. I have my huge sunglasses.

Rob up ahead.

A video of the serene easy slope... and me being more confident on skiis

Extra Paris Photos

2009-02-07T00:43:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to throw in some more pictures from our time in Paris. Thanks E for sending me your pictures!

Cute Children's Program Poster

E's amazing photo.

There are several things of note in this metro ad. A bear with a six pack and a properly placed leaf to hide his naughty bits? This sells Orangina how?

New Year's Eve. Awh.

Kings's Cake

2009-02-07T00:14:00.000-08:00

This post is definitely a little delayed in the season as most bakeries have stopped selling King's Cake.

Wikipedia defines King's Cake as -

"A king cake (sometimes rendered as kingcake or kings' cake) is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with Mardi Gras and Carnival. It is popular in Christmas season in France, Belgium and Switzerland (galette/gâteau des Rois), Portugal (Bolo Rei), Spain (Roscón de Reyes and in Catalonia called tortell), Greece and Cyprus (vasilopita) and Bulgaria (banitsa). In the United States, which celebrates Carnival ranging from Pensacola, Florida to East Texas, centered on New Orleans it is associated instead with Mardi Gras season traditions.

The cakes have a small trinket (often a small plastic baby, sometimes said to represent Baby Jesus) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations."

The "La galette de rois" has frangipane (almond paste) and is light and fluffy and has many layers. We sampled several and found the original bakery in Paris had the best tasting. Inside the king's cake they hide a small plastic figurine called the "la feve". Whoever finds the figurine is king or queen for the day. When you buy one at the store it comes with a paper gold crown that you wear around. Also, if you find the figurine, you have to buy the next King's cake.

Silly traditions. Once again something religious turned into just a good time for us.

On our winter vacation we spotted them in Paris at a small bakery where we bought our baguettes and had some sandwiches. Here is a photographic tale of the adventure -

French Style King's Cake - Doesn't It Look Delicious?

At The Bakery

Cutting into our cake at our Paris apartment hotel.

This is serious business

Kings and Queen for the day.

???

Here is the trinket!

She's carrying a basket. MC carried it around the rest of the trip.

It made some random appearances at our dinner table.

Geneva's Housing Crisis

2009-02-06T04:14:00.001-08:00

Here's a great article from World Radio Switzerland that talks about Geneva's housing crisis. Rob and I had a full time job the moment we landed. We ran around for two weeks's finding a place. And had to wait 6 more weeks to move in. I can't imagine how to do this if Rob's work wasn't so understanding. Looking back on the experiance, we are lucky to have found a place in only 2 weeks!

Our Tiny Apartment

2009-02-03T00:19:00.000-08:00

Speaking of the housing crisis, I have forgetten to post pictures of our little place. It's not much, but it's home for just a year.

Dining Table and Tiny Kitchen. Check out my Ikea wall mounted system for our cutlery.

The couch, a small desk will be behind the couch, and the bookcase that divides the room from the bed.

The view from the kitchen to the living/dining

We are not quite done with making it ours. We are still looking for a small but useable and affordable desk to go behind the couch. We are also looking for a small kitchen cart where we can store fresh items like fruits and bread. We are making one more trip to IKEA tonight and hopefully we can find everything we need to make this place complete.

Jura Skiing

2009-02-01T09:51:00.001-08:00

Rob and I finally got the time to go skiing today. The season started back in Decemeber but we just haven't made it till today. We went up to Crozet in Jura mountains. You park your car and take a funicular up to the slopes. From there, their are chair lifts and one person lifts. If you go to the top chair lift, you can ski down the other side of the mountain or into another town along the base. Since this is only my 4th time skiing ever, I am still no good. I fell several times and got frustrated easily. I still made it down a long intermediate slope despite the difficulties. We packed some great sandwiches for lunch with our homemade bread. (We bought a bread machine yesterday and made a great loaf of whole wheat!) All in all it was a fun time and its going to be a great rest of the season!

Lunchtime (with our homemade whole wheat!

Sometimes it was hard to tell where the sky started and the snow began.

My Ode To Eimalzin Crisp

2009-01-29T06:16:00.000-08:00

Recently, I was looking for an interesting alternative to everyone's favorite hazelnut spread Nutella. I found this product called Eimalzin Crisp in the Migros and decided to give it a try. It tastes just like Nutella but has these little crackly bits in them. Imagine grinding up a kit kat bar very small and mixing it into a soft nutella. Pure heaven. I probably should not eat so much of this stuff since it is such high calorie, but one spoonful on a piece of bread or by itself is pure heaven. Yum!!!

Eimalzin Crisp - So Yummy - A Crispy Version Of Nutella!

Browsing for more information about the product, I ran into this little tidbit on the internet - The Nutella Alternatives Flickr Group Pictures. Check it out!

Speeding Ticket!

2009-01-29T05:57:00.000-08:00

Damnit! We recieved in the mail yesterday our very own Swiss speeding ticket! On January 15th somewhere in Morges, driving between Lusaunne and Nyon, a camera caught me going over the speed limit tolerances by 8 km/hr. Only 8 km/hr over!!!!! (That's only 4.9 mph) Argh. It it seriously hard to tell when driving here when the speed limit changes from 60 to 50. The national speed limit for city driving is 60. Small little towns can set their own and set up speed traps like the one I went through.

Oh well. Speeding tickets don't effect insurance prices at all here and it is only 40 CHF. Switzerland has a lot of these speed cameras around and it is hard to see them all. I have noticed several of them on the A1 route between here and Ikea near Lusaunne. I am pretty sure during this drive I was honked at several times for going too slow! Rob actually laughed when he saw it.

I guess this whole thing can be chalked up to a real Swiss experiance? We think so.

Explanation of the speeds and tolerances

Cameras don't have to provide the pictures like they do in the states.

The pink part is the bill you pay at the post office.

Geneva's Tap Water

2009-01-29T05:08:00.000-08:00

Having come from a place where the tap water is so-so and everyone drinks bottled water like crazy, it is refreshing for switzerland's tap water to be some of the best in the world. I can finally fill up my Nalgene bottles and not worry about the wierd taste. Better yet, the tap water is really cold and no ice cubes are needed.

Looking at some glocal forums, I found this thread about Geneva's tap water and a question on whether it was hard or soft. I found out it depends on where you live in the canton as to where your water comes from. Check out this site (in French) for a map. Scroll over your location and check out the mineral contents!

The area I live in gets the water from the lake itself! Hmmmmm - it does make me want to yell at people I see pollute or swim around in it!

Another Interesting Prop 8 Cartoon

2009-01-27T05:05:00.000-08:00

I can't really let the Prop 8 issue go back into the shadows till the next election round. I am constantly reading articles about it and am still very passionate about the subject. Anyways. I found an interesting cartoon you might all enjoy . . .

In other news - I finally got off my lazy butt and got a gym membership today. It is right across the street and really conveniant. I also restarted using sparkpeople to track goals, calories, and excercise. It has helped me in the past and hopefully since I have all the time in the world now to dedicate to my health and well being, hopefully it will work even better.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Today is Chinese New Year and begins the year of the Ox. Food surrounds most of what Chinese people desire. No surprise there. I made homemade jiao zi with homemade wrappers, shrimp, shitake, leeks, scallions, sesame oil, soy sauce, and garlic. Make some new years delights yourself - here is a great list. I have fond memories of making wrappers with my mother with her small wooden rolling pin. I had to resort to a small glass. Oh the joys of an unequipped kitchen. Here is a small piece of good luck advice: When you eat the dumplings, you are not supposed to count how many you eat. For the new year - you don't want to have to count your pennies, so don't count how many you eat. Good luck and prosperity to all this new year!

Boiled dumplings; (shuijiao) literally "water dumplings" (水餃; pinyin: shuǐjiǎo).

Before They Are Boiled