Oriental Dining in Montreux

On Sunday evening we escaped to the mini paradise which is Montreux.  it had been a few years back since we had been there, so it was lovely to reminisce walking through the little streets, feeling the breeze of the lake and noticing the flocks of people admiring the Freddy Mercury statue. ♥ treated me to dinner. We chose a little oriental restaurant which was amazingly decorated inside.  

I am wearing

Top Zara

Capris Miss 60

He turns 25

Last weekend my ♥ turned 25! It's one of the big numbers in life, a milestone, where I guess you turn around and look back at all that you've become so far and look forward at everything you want to achieve (before 30).  The weekend was one of my favourite kinds, filled with food, spontaneity and just pure happiness.  As I made the 3 hour train journey back to my home town, I didn't have time to bake him his surprise cake as I do everyyear. But this weekend when he came to visit me in Geneva, I had a couple of red-velvet cup cakes waiting in the fridge ready to devour.

American icing & the cutest champagne candles

Patiently waiting to party !

Exploring the ultra cosy streets of Colmar with my ♥ 

Us two on a small boat on the Lauch river at "la petite Venise"

Back of the head 1 - Kids playing in the fountains

Back of the head 2 - The cool calm of the river in the shade

 Little gargoyles on Colmar cathedral

Candle daze

Dad made some birthday tapas for the night before

As ♥ comes from Louisiana, he incorporated crayfish into these brushettas

How to make the red velvet cupcakes (small batch)

150g Sugar

60g  White sugar

1 Egg

10-20 ml of red food colouring

1 Tsp Vanilla essence

10 g Rich high quality chocolate powder

120 ml butter milk

Pinch of salt

2Tsp baking powder

150g Flour

Pre-heat your oven to 170°C. In a mixer on slow speed or by hand, cream the butter and sugar for quite some time until it's fluffy and smooth. Add the egg and whisk until incorporated. In a separate bowl you can prepare the 'red' of the velvet, by mixing the vanilla, chocolate powder and food colouring together to form a rich dark paste. Add this to the creamed butter mixture and mix until the batter becomes one colour. Part by part, add the buttermilk, then flower, and salt with the baking powder and once it is fluid in texture, spoon into cupcake cases until they are about 2/3 full. I baked in the oven for 25 minutes as I used large cup cake cases. Please note that I only was able to make 5 maxi-cupcakes with this recipe, so if you would like a large batch, I would double the quantities. For the icing, most make a cream cheese icing, but as my ♥ is partly American, I cheated and bought a tub of  Funfetti American icing (for 9 Fr.-!) from a specialist American shop.

April Greys

April so far has been an eventful month for me.  I celebrated easter with my family, was able to catch up with old high-school friends in Basel who were over for the holidays. I popped to Germany and spotted the perfect sofa for my new apartment and I even squeezed in a trip to Zurich to visit my Brother even if it was a grey and chilly day.

 The gorgeous  colourful easterbunny I was given by my ♥ boyfriends family

  I gave this cute porcelain rhino a new home, he was found while furniture scouting in Germany

View of Zurich from the Lindenhof plateau...we later climbed up the right tower in this photo

Funny poster near the largest clock-face of Europe

Man fishing in the middle of the city

My Dad looking out over Zurich from one of the tower windows

Taking funny photographs at the top in the wind

My big brother and I with the self timer

Pretty Roofs

 In the warmth of Cafe Henrici, I quenched my thirst with a Glass of Moroccan Mint Lemonade

And I stuffed myself with this amazing Flammenkuchen, I was so satisfied by this, that I fell asleep in the car all the way home

First time Skiing with my Sweetheart

I can't believe I have known my ♥ nearly 6 years (in June) and have never been skiing/snowboarding with him.  I thought it was about time, and asked my dad if we could tag along the next time he goes.  On Saturday we got our snow-gear on and headed up to the Black Forrest in Germany (Near Feldberg).  We started out on some baby slopes to get us warmed up but soon enough we were T-Baring up the mountain, and carving down the slopes together. It's amazing how I could still manage to navigate the hillside even though I had not bee in 7 or so years. I guess it's like riding a bike.

 The resort. It was a little shady as it faced north, but it meant far less crowded slopes

 Excited to start in some borrowed sunglasses

With my lovely dad. Yes, I did wear a helmet (for the first time) and it only cost €2 to rent. 

 Hot chocolate heals any cold toes or aching muscles (Especially with a shot of Kirsch in it)

  ♥ is a snowboarder and looked like an instructor in his red jacket

Gorgeous Black Forrest Views from the top of the lift

Hectic September

This month has gone by in a whoosh.  Remember that job I interviewed for a little while back?

 I got it ! 

Since then, I have been energetically searching for a place to stay in Geneva.  I went down to Nyon with my lovely friend Louise who starred in the pool post.  We swam in lake Léman,  cooked some amazing meals containing wholegrain Dijon mustard, and had drinks on a floating bar on the lake in the city...Geneva, I am starting to like you a lot. While I was there I spent a lot of time walking around Geneva getting an idea of the area whilest going to viewings and visiting agencies (who aren't the least bit helpful)... and I even got a little tanned sunburnt.

In-between, I came home to ♥ for an evening and an afternoon (where I showed off my amazing new Dijon talents only to find out he has never 'really been a fan' of mustard) before being whisked away to Berlin by my dad.

My long weekend there consisted of trying two of 101 cocktails at a great little brazillian bar, eating at trendy yet quirky transit restaurant, and broadening my wardrobe with office-appropriate pieces.  On our 4 hour Sunday walk I got to see the wall and be a tourist, the mood suited the cities darker history as it was drizzling with rain and grey for most of the day.

After another day trip to Geneva with  ♥ to view a cute roof-studio, and some nervous waiting, I received confirmation that I have a place to stay (with only 7 days to spare), I call being the Lucky one this month.

It may be a little while before posts are frequent (especially smiley cooking ones) as I need to find a photographic device that can withstand my clumsiness (sadly my £4 phone although can stay alive over 3 weeks, hasn't got a camera).  I wish you a lovely week.

English Barn Sparkle

Helloo,  I'm back. This weeks been a little hectic because I popped down to Geneva for an interview and had to do my best to prepare for it.  I get so nervous at things like that and think it's the end of the world,  but my dad calmed me with his wide words via text right before, and I did end up enjoying it.

"Remember to breathe, relax and enjoy"

The wedding was beautiful and we were served delicious treats including a trio of lemon desserts and late-night bacon sandwiches English style (which were my highlight of the night).  It was so nice to spend time with all my relatives and go out for a few drinks in Bath with my cousins from Scotland, there was this great place called Opium which made a smashing mojito.

Bridesmaids with the happy couple on their way to get their photo taken

Love how the Groom & his best men are wearing kilts for the Scottish bride

Delicious lemon-themed desserts, the Lemon Crème Brûlée was my favourite

The house with the flag is where we stayed,  it used to be prince Charles' house. Poshy Posh!

The cute English country-kitchen where a pre-wedding party was held

The dress I wore to the party and my burgundy tights my darling mum got for me at the airport

Only pic of my dress I wore at the wedding,  shame I'm frowning,  maybe more to come later

Groom waiting patiently as the bride's father walks her down the isle

So much food with my auntie single-handedly prepared for the pre-wedding party

Photo of the beautiful barn venue in the middle of the countryside

Pre-Reunion Wedding

I will be setting off tomorrow for Bath in the UK to attend my cousin Emma's wedding.  I will finally get the chance to meet her new baby daughter and husband-to-be for the first time while catching up with all my British relatives.

Apologies for being rather sporadic with posts,  not having a camera of my own is the number one reason for this.  But hopefully things will change.  I had a Skype interview with an international company in Geneva this morning and am crossing my fingers that I get positive feedback and will be able to afford a camera.

Here's a pic of me in an interview outfit taken 2 years ago

Heatwave in Switzerland is making me crave these lollies we had exploring Barcelona in 2009

I'm considering this dress for the wedding, I wore it at my high-school prom when I became ♥'s girlfriend in 2006

Happy I can still fit in most of my clothes 5 years on 

Movies and Rain

We're back from Locarno (a week ago) and I can truly say I had a brilliant weekend.  Our 3 hour road-trip to this little town close to Italy was breathtaking. We took a longer route over the Gotthard mountain pass but were rewarded with breathtaking views.  At the top we were met with mysterious spooky fog which made for a dream-like experience.

Once in Locarno we walked around taking in the rustic architecture, bustling film-festival goers & enjoyed listening to everyone around us speaking Italian.  Once we realised that a few crisps munched in the car didn't count as an adequate meal, we stopped at a little café by the lake and shared a salad and the cutest mini croque monsieur while wishing we could speak better French (him) and Spanish (me). It didn't rain until about 30 minutes before they scanned our tickets to let us into the Piazza Grande so we quickly bought some bright yellow plastic ponchos which we wore while eating our pizza slices & espressos-to-go as we waited for the stars to arrive.

We werent really fans for the film Cowboys & Aliens but Drive, which was the second feature film was far more entertaining (although I had to close my eyes at the gruesome bits). The soundtrack was amazing.

 Sometimes we take Switzerland for granted: view we got while driving towards Locarno

Huge rock faces whilst we drove over the Gotthard mountain pass

We found ourselves driving through many of the tunnels pictured here at the bottom

The higher we got, the foggier it became

 Mouth-meltingly-good:  our Mini Croque Monsieur

Salad with Goat's Cheese

 Italian Coffee by the lake

 Just saying hi to my friend Craig

  Sitting in the Piazza Grande for a drink before the Films

 Locarno's massive open-air screen, it's as big as the buildings!

 Waiting in line to see if we could still watch the movies in the rain

 We could...  We did (with the help of our sexy ponchos)

We saw celebrities and the atmosphere was great, it was very much worth it

 on Sunday after a long sleep, we watched some beach volleyball in Basel before watching another open air movie

Nice seats we had with the Historical Barfüsserplatz Museum in the Background.

We ended up seeing 3 movies in an open-air setting in 2 Swiss cities within 24 hours. It was certainly an experience, but I may be watched-out for a week or so.  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.