First Date in this City

On Friday night after work, I met ♥ at the train station and led him through the streets of Paquis to the very sweet and rustic, La crêperie des Pâquis. 

 Dark wood, exposed walls, interesting lighting: perfect for a date with your special someone

Some shots of our French dinner 

 Reading the menus in French and having to order in another language adds to the atmosphere

 I wasn't in the mood for a long meal in a beautiful restaurant as I was still in my conservative work attire. It hit the spot. He was very surprised and happy with the choice of eatery and happily ordered a crêpe stuffed with steak, spinach which was decorated with a fried egg. 

I opted for the "provençale chèvre", a crêpe filled with goats cheese and a tomato and herb sauce.  We topped off our meal with chocolate and chocolate-banana crêpes and for the first time,  I finished main and dessert before my ♥.  I was truly satisfied, so satisfied that I later fell asleep during our movie, the Guard.

Thankful for Love

I have only been celebrating Thanksgiving for 2 years.  Being British and all, it's never really been present in my calendar.  But now that I have a half American boy in my life, whose American side of the family live far away in food-loving-Louisiana I make an effort to bring the holiday to Europe.  In the past is has been hard as we have been living in varying countries across Europe, but now that I am back in Switzerland, we are together on this special day for the second time.

The first thanksgiving in Scotland, us and 2 of my girlfriends, he went out and bought us Champagne

this year, it was cosy just us two

Our fake Turkey (Chicken)

We made a chicken because it was just the two of us, but we had a very romantic night in together with chorizo, apple and sage stuffing, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, buttery carrots, roasted sweet potatoes, and expensive imported cranberry sauce.  One day we will hopefully have guests and go all out with a huge turkey and spend the day cooking,  but I think for a work night, we did a pretty spectacular job.

Where were you when...

One of the conversational topics I really enjoy is the "where were you when" questions. The answers are never boring as everyone has their own little story as to why they will never forget the event. Where were you when JFK was assassinated for the older generations, Michael Jackson passed away for the younger (I was visiting my ♥ in Barcelona who was studying there at the time), what were you doing when you first heard of the terrible 9/11 attacks (preparing just about to go to my piano lesson), and the most recent, what was on your mind during 11/11/11 at 11:11 and 11 seconds in the morning?

Well, i'll tell you.  I was in the midst of working on an excel at work and would have completely forgotten about this rare mysterious time that I will never experience again if it weren't for my lovely colleague who instant messaged me a reminder at that precise time.

It's the little things in life,  like a person that shares the same fascination for something which can be so insignificant to some.

A Visit from Mum

My mum came to visit me in Geneva last weekend. The two days were filled with:

• Going for hot drinks in sweet little cafés with mismatching furniture and equally mismatched but beautiful teacups and saucers. 
• Drinking vin chaud outside in a bustling square in the old town. Now begins the season of warming your hands with mugs filled with orange and spiced wine.
• Walking through old Carrouge at night to a restaurant and loving the tree lined squares and classic houses with painted shutters.  I now need to live here, and visit the Market!

On another note,  my ♥  brought me a treat on his 3 hour train journey back from Basel last night.  What a lovely way to start my work day...with a pink cupcake for breakfast.

Bubbly Fondue

On Emma's last day after we ambled around the Geneva old town wishing we were living the French dream of drinking wine everyday and living in a beautiful (and unpayable) town house, I introduced her to the Swiss speciality that is Fondue! She really really liked it, as well as other treats I introduced her to such as spätzle and an abundance of chocolate. She was however surprised at the fact that you rarely see people eating crisps in Switzerland...and that houses and apartments here have blinds 'like high street shops'.

 Our very Swiss Fondue experience

 Dipping her first piece of bread

 Crunchy Cheese at the bottom of the pan

Perfect for a cold day:  Hot cheese and bread eaten outside with a special friend....we were so full for so long that we had chocolate for dinner.

Introducing: Geneva

After only having lived in Geneva for a month,  I had the task of showing my first guest around 'my' city. It was very fun as I was a tourist myself.  It's winter,  and usually dark by the time I finish work, so I've not been able to explore the city yet myself.  These are a few of the things we did on Emma's first ever weekend in Switzerland:

 A brave paraglider taking off from the top of the Salève

 View of the Jet d'Eau from up the mountain

 Happy jumping pictures-a must have

 A studenty statue at PlainPalais

 Biiig breakfasts every morning to get us moving

 Rainbow-Jet d'Eau

 We tried for ages to get a photo of us both with the Jet d'Eau in the background

Such a pretty day in Geneva

99% Everywhere

Geneva has them too!

Self painted cardboard signs everywhere

 They are camping out in the park near the university - check out the beautiful trees though!

Welcome Weekend

Anyone else take photos of the back of their 'work hair' before they run out the house in the morning? I thought it looked good yesterday...but my braid had unraveled by the time I got to my desk.  So happy I don't have to dress businessy on the weekend.

Dear Weekend,

You have been often neglected when I was a fresh graduate, and all throughout my 4 years at university.  It's nothing personal,  just...every day felt like you.  I want you to know that I really appreciate you now, how you pop by once a week and leave me all refreshed and energized.  It's nice you let me spend your time with so many people and always leave different memories every time you visit. Every now and then, you decide to stay longer, like around easter for example. I think you should do that more often. This year, your idea to visit on Christmas AND new years has not got me jumping for joy.

Kindest regards and have a nice day,


Hannah

Ironic Halloween

Just as ironic it is to celebrate Halloween on the 29th, my friend Emma who was visiting for the weekend from Scotland and I went to an ex-pat party at the Paladium in Geneva as French girls (None of us can speak this language). We sported stripy tops, berets, mustaches and fresh Parisian baguettes -which we waved around in the air- and had people trying to eat them all night long. Success? I think so.

 Two French Ladies

Getting into Character, trying not to eat our props.

 Posing with our Baguettes in a mini Vineyard 

Goodbye Baguette that a million people touched, ate, laughed at

Chocolat

 Was actually the worst chocolate I tried, Whisky burns

 Chocolate fountain #2

 Every flavour from Christmas, Orange & Ginger to Macciato

Chocolate Fountain #4

Two weekends ago I did something that every girl dreams about...getting full access to as much chocolate as you could wish for. I visited the Geneva Chocolate Festival and tasted chocolate covered cocoa beans, the spiciest chocolate, made with habanero chillies and much of four chocolate fountains, you name it, they had it. I would definitely recommend a chocolate fair/festival to any of the sweet toothed in the world, My ♥ was pleased with the pink strawberry chocolate which was waiting for him when he visited me.


I was in a Cho-Coma for the rest of the day though unable to let anything pass my lips but mineral water

Let's get this Ball rollin'

Hello Everyone,  I'm back in the game!

Now that I have been a strong independent women by moving into my new Swiss chalet-style cosy studio, accomplished a month of work in my new job and loved every day so far... and finally setting up my internet all by myself (8 days late) i'm ready to re-establish my presence on CookMeASmile.

my new home the day I moved in, at the end of September/ looks more homely now

Still not sporting a swanky camera yet but my new phone will have to do. It's Halloween today, and it's kind-of a tradition of mine to make Pumpkin Pie around this time.  I've been on a mission to get to the shops after work in time all week for the missing ingredients to my pie..spices.

 the Jack-O-Lantern in my offices cafeteria on Halloween: Every dish contained pumpkin!

Mashing by Hand

 My pastry Jack-O-Lantern which I forgot to put in the oven after my pie was cooked

 Baking Away in the free standing oven my mum donated to me when I moved

Cooling Pie, ready to be eaten

To make my Halloween Pumpkin Pie you will need:

Enough Shortcrust pasty to fill your pie dish (mine was 9")

Big Slice of Pumpkin, 

2 Eggs, 

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon, 

1/2 Teaspoon Ginger, 

1/8 Teaspoon clove, 

1 vanilla pod or teaspoon of vanilla essence, 

1/8 Teaspoon Nutmeg, 

140ml Cream,

Cut the pumpkin into cubes and simmer for 15 minutes until soft. Drain then blend or mash with fork into a purée. Wait until the purée has cooled before mixing all the ingredients together in a big bowl. This can then be poured into the shortcrust pasty-lined baking tin and popped in the oven for an hour at 180 C.  Was great served with Crème brûlée flavoured ice-cream.  Monday night indulgence !