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!
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.
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!
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!!
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!
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.
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 a long-time dream come true to go to Manhattan during Christmas time! And the afternoon we arrived it started snowing ... the picture above is close to Time Square.
Beautiful, beautiful Central Park covered in white.
Manhattan life ... and publicity for the popular Christmas Spectacular in Radio City Hall.
Impressive skyscrapers wherever you look... 
And certainly the wonderful Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center!!
We spent a wonderful week on Long Island in December! As you see above, we saw marvellous beaches...
We've met Mary at "A night in Betlehem" - a "hands-on holy land experience" with the Bethlehem marketplace - beautifully set up by the Lutheran Church of the Ressurection, Garden City.
We enjoyed a nice time at our much loved Cheesecake Factory... 
and shopped at the impressively large Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City!
We just returned from a wonderful trip to New York (Long Island and Manhattan). It was very Christmassy over there, especially because snow fell on Sat 19th Dec (there wasn't any other news on TV anymore ... only the "snowstorm").
My husband and I love to join the annual Thanksgiving celebration at the American International Women's Club. It's always a very warm, welcoming and cosy atmosphere with lovely decorations, homemade food and nice fellowship.
Yesterday we even learnt from a speech that was hold how very connected Geneva and the American Thanksgiving really are ...Geneva, the city of Calvin ... and the godly calvinist immigrants who invented Thanksgiving!!
So Geneva is one of THE places to celebrate Thanksgiving ... and it's a great opportunity to be thankful for all the good things we receive - each year, each day.
Then, in mid July we headed to my hometown in Southern Germany to celebrate our little nephew’s/cousin’s baptism. It was a very nice family celebration. In this church, I was baptised as well, had my confirmation - and we celebrated our wedding there - ten years ago!
At the beginning of August we had the pleasure to spend a weekend at one of our favourite Swiss spots: Lake of Thun. It’s Switzerland at its best, postcards coming true, so to say…
Then, end of August, we spent one night at Lac de Joux, where friends had rented a beautiful chalet and we were invited to join in. We even swam in this rather cold, but very refreshing Lake. There are a number of well known watchmakers located in Vallée de Joux (which is in the middle of nowhere).
And finally, we had a nice holiday in Austria, in “Kleinwalsertal”, which is very close to the German border and the German ski village Oberstdorf. 
What an amazing spring and summer 2009!! So many warm and sunny days! One of the great summer pleasures is surely to be able to sit outside on the balcony or in the garden even late in the night!
It's never really completely dark in the city. There are many lights on in countless apartments, streetlights, carlights....
In some apartments, there are perhaps real "genevois" people - they were born and raised here. Other apartments are the home of expats - singles or families who are here just for a short period of time. Perhaps for an internship in one of the many charitable organizations. Or a short term assignment in one of the big companies.
