Merry Christmas/Joyeux Noël/Frohe Weihnachten!

Enjoy this very special nativity play!
Merry Christmas around the world!

Biggest snow in Geneva since 1985!

We had already snow since last weekend. But on Tuesday afternoon it started snowing heavily. And it snowed and snowed the whole Wednesday. Today our local newspaper, Tribune de Genève said that we got 30 cm of snow yesterday and it didn't snow that much in Geneva since 1985!

The photos above are from yesterday. The whole park & its playground covered in white.
The pics below are from today - we had a very sunny, blue sky day.
We can't help feeling very Christmassy now and started our Christmas cookies production yesterday.

The winners...

... of my little raffle are:

1) RENEE ... for taking the time to write detailed about her personal experiences and observations in Calvin's city.

2) JANE ... for finding adequate and beautiful words to describe Geneva.

3) LYDIA ... for her sweet personal memory of the smallest metropolis on earth.

Congratulations and many thanks to everyone who participated!!

A tribute to Geneva

Five years.
On 21st August 2010 we celebrated five years in Geneva. In September, we've been promoted from B- to C-permis which is an upgrade in our residence permit.
And today, on 14th October 2010, this blog celebrates its 5 years anniversary as well.
It was dedicated from the beginning to tell about Geneva and our life here in this city.

Five years in Geneva means for us:
- talking almost each day in French, English & German
- getting to know people from all over the world (in average we have normally 8 nations and 3 continents present when we have a party in our home)
- celebrating 1st August (Swiss National Holiday), 4th July (American National Holiday), Thanksgiving (at the American International Women's Club)
- walking through the same streets in the old town in which Calvin promenaded
- enjoying the spacious and well maintained parcs, especially our Parc Bertrand
- worshipping in the Oratoire where Henry Dunant (founder of the Red Cross) went as well
- living in the city where 80% of the world wide diplomatic work is done and where the number of NGO that help world wide are countless
- discovering Switzerland and our new favourite holiday countries Italy and France
- beginning to organize concerts/events with zoe events - normally connected with a charitable cause
- taking strolls through the city and at the lakeside regularly, being amazed by the beauty of this city (by day & night!)
- sitting in cafés drinking Renversés (word for "Café au lait" here in Geneva)
- soaking in the atmosphere of this city each day: rich of history, inhabited by many high potentials - working in major companies and the United Nations
- getting to know Swiss people as well - sometimes hidden for expats...
- having the honor and joy to live in the smallest metropolis on earth.

I'm just thankful to be here.

If you leave a comment about Geneva until 31st October (no matter if you have been living here or not), you can take part in my raffle. The 3 most creative and interesting comments about Geneva will win ... Swiss chocolat, certainly! But pls make sure that I have your email address...

Mediterranean feelings at Genève Plage!

Genève Plage means Geneva Beach! It's a beautiful place and surely the place-to-be during hot summer days!
It's an open air pool where you can not only swim, play and relax in various pools and wading pools, but also in Geneva lake.
As it's Swiss, it is very well organized, very clean and well led. When you're still in the pool at 7:30 pm (Genève Plage closes at 8 pm), the pool attendants will make sure you're out of the water in the next 5 minutes :-)!!
If you're in Geneva during summer, make sure to take a bath there and enjoy watching the sailing boats on Geneva Lake!

World Cup Poll!

Join in the fun and vote in my new World Cup poll!
You can vote for one of the remaining teams.
This poll ends already tomorrow at 4 pm as games of round 16 are going to start by then.
Fortunately, Germany is still in the game - and very sadly, Switzerland didn't make it!

Jet d'Eau

You can't talk about Geneva without mentioning the beautiful Jet d'Eau which is, beside Cathedrâle St. Pierre, Geneva's most important landmark. The fountain is turned on all year round, only on too cold or too windy days it's turned off.
In summer, it's turned on and illuminated until late in the evening. It's one of the world largest fountains. Learn more about its history here or here.
The Jet d'Eau is a much loved and often incredibly beautiful photo motif. Sometimes, when we walk or drive by and the sun is shining, we see all rainbow colors reflected in the fountain. That's my favorite Jet d'Eau view - I found an example here.
By the way, in the undermost photo above you see a boat - and that's actually a public service vehicle, called "Mouettes" - find all information here!

Easter delights: Swedish Kanelbullar

Who said watching TV is making people passive and lazy? On Easter Sunday, I watched an Inga Lindström movie - click HERE to do so as well... What I liked most about it was, as always, the beautiful Swedish scenery - and particularly a lovely café, situated directly at the lake, one of the movie's main settings.
And there they baked and sold Kanelbullar - Swedish cinnemon rolls with which I fell in love immediately. I found a lot of recipes and finally decided for THIS (recipe in German). - You can also find a lot of Kanelbullar recipes in English, for example HERE.
My recipe worked well - I just needed more flour to make sure the dough was easy to roll with a rolling pin.
Kanelbullar are easy to make and very yummy - they were great for our Easter Monday breakfast (a bank holiday in Geneva, like Good Friday as well). In general they are a lovely breakfast or brunch dish and also a great addition for a picnic.
I certainly made too many, so I put some of them in the freezer. We had one bag today for breakfast. (After they were defrosted, I've put them in the oven for some minutes). They were again a delight!

Finally! A cool urban Sunday brunch!

We were having a hard time to find some cool urban Sunday brunches that we loved so much while living in Cologne/Germany. There is, of course, the Pain Quotidien, which is very nice (and certainly very full as well). It's not with buffet brunch, but already a good place to go.
We also tried some hotels, like Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental and Kempinski. Great brunches, but certainly more for special occasions.
But in January we got a recommendation for the brunch @ Brasserie des Halles de l' Île !!
And we LOVED IT!!!
It's a casual, relaxed (a young crowd and also a good number of families with children), cool urban style.
And at some places you have a wonderful viwe on river Rhône, almost like on a ship!
The Brasserie is on an island of the Rhône that can be reached over a pedestrian bridge.
Very good, fresh food of very good quality: cakes, cheese, salads, good bread and much more! You can even make your own waffles!
Why didn't we go there earlier? Nobody told us before!!! (But the brunches only started in May 2009, so after three quarters of a year, we also heard of it!). Can't wait to go there tomorrow again!!

Valentine's Cocktail Concert

I'm more than happy to announce our Valentine's Concert ... with poco-loco beach atmosphere, cocktails, soul-disco-funky songs, dancers and the personal appearance of St Valentine!
It promises to be loads of fun!
Parts of the proceeds will go to a World Vision relief project in Haiti!
Pls check our blog: zoe events! You can reserve tickets at zoeevents.geneva ((@)) gmail.com

Please donate for Haiti!

I thought I post two of my favourite charitable organizations which have offices here in Switzerland: Compassion and World Vision. Click on their logos above and you'll be brought to their Haiti help projects.

They have both great projects in Haiti and they are both very good organizations which I highly recommend.

Geneva is a winter wonderland!

Pls join me for a winter walk in Geneva's Parc Bertrand....

... and let's have a hot drink in Parc des Bastions!

Celebrating Epiphany!

This year I decided to join in the celebration of Epiphany. This day (6th Jan in Geneva) is dedicated to the three kings who brought gifts to child Jesus. There are some nice pastries to buy for this occasion. Geneva has the great privilege to be influenced by Swiss and French traditions. You can either buy "Dreikönigsbrötli" (3-kings-buns) in a package which contains not only some raisin buns, but also a crwon that can be worn by one or more family members thoughout the day. This buns or the similar cake was already made since 1311, disappeared during reformation time and was newly brought up by bakeries in the 1950s. Here's a recipe.
I've read that it is also a tradition to hide a bean in the cake - and whoever finds this bean is king for one day!

These two pics below show cakes with a similar recipe and are called "Couronne" (crown or wreath, both translations would make sense...)

The French have another Epiphany cake called "Gallette des Rois" (Kings'cake) which is also sold in Geneva. It has an almond filling. Check out a recipe here.

It was fun to think a bit more about Epiphany and the connected traditions. Contrary to Germany, Epiphany is no bank holiday here in Geneva (that's surely a pity!).