17Feb 2019

Family Visit in Malta & A New Vegan Rice Recipe

17 Feb 2019 0 Food, Travel Permalink

What a week it’s been! So much going on, so many travels, business meetings, enjoyable moments, good food, and: my very first food poisoning (not so fun!!). The week started off in Zurich for a night, went on in London for two days and continued in Zurich on Thursday. It’s been rather stressful on the business front, yet thankfully also quite successful! My agenda for the upcoming months is filling up quickly and as much as I cannot wait for all the travels, meeting people and seeing new places, I likewise more and more cherish my days at home with my loved ones and spending time with Zaphira.

Thursday night started amazing! I had a busy day that ended with a lovely business dinner and then went over to a nice evening with hours of talks over a good glass of sparkling wine. Then it all turned negative: at around 3am I woke up with the worst fever and chills. Then it all took its turn, and the food poisoning fully hit me. The joy..

Friday didn’t look much brighter. What was meant to be an amazing day ended up with me feeling dreadful and wishing the day went past even faster! It started with me receiving the keys to my new apartment. What was supposed to be an amazing experience, however, ended in me barely noticing what was going on around me. Thankfully my dad was in the city and helped out with everything. I also had to skip the business meetings and spent half the day in bed. in the late afternoon however I had to get ready, off to the airport and off to Malta. I got home (family home in Malta) at around 8pm and was dead asleep an hour later.

The good news: Saturday I felt much better. Although I couldn’t eat most of the day, the nausea was more or less gone. In the evening I made a new vegan rice dish for the family. I looked at different recipes on the internet, got my inspiration and changed it up a bit. I must say: it was super delicious! The family loved it and it was decided we’ll add it more often to our monthly recipe options!

So here it is – super, super simple.

What you need for 4 people:
– 200g of uncooked rice
– 600g of spinach (frozen is fine)
– 200ml of water (boiled) with 1 tablespoon of vegetable broth
– 1 can of chick peas (including the liquid it’s in)
– 1 large onion / and one clove of garlic if you want
– 1-2 tablespoons of yellow curry paste (depending on how spicy you like it)
– 40g of yellow raisins
– 1 tablespoon of olive oil (coconut oil works just as well)
– 50g of unsweetened and unsalted cashews (for the topping, if you want)
– salt and pepper

What to do:
1) heat up the oil in the pan and add the curry paste
2) add in the chopped up onion (add one clove of garlic if you like)
3) boil the water, add in the broth and add it into the pan
4) add in everything else
5) let it simmer for around 20-25 minutes (until no more liquid is left and the rice is cooked) – eh voila – you are done!

6) if you want a topping – you can roast the cashews in a separate pan until they are golden-brown and add them on top before serving

the view from our balcony – always amazing!

I could take a million photos of the ocean – I love how every second there is something new and exciting to see, how the image is never the same and brings about so much inspiration!

06Feb 2019

Quick Update from our End

06 Feb 2019 0 General Permalink

Good morning, afternoon or evening :)! Whilst Zaphira loves to stay on the couch on cold winter days, I on the other hand try to use my free time to continue packing everything up. Because: Big News: I am finally moving! Everything is set and almost ready to go and the big moving day is finally coming around the corner (end of February). I found myself a cute little apartment a little further outside of Zurich (still close enough though) with a small garden perfect for long summer nights outside – and – of course for Zaphira. Thus, I apologise that I have not had the chance to update you here all too regular the past few weeks and I promised myself to getting back into the routine once everything is settled in. Of course, I also plan to share some of my journey with you!

Although I still have a few nights until the move, I also have some travels coming up before. Therefore I will need to pack everything up by the end of this week ready for the move once I am back in town! Can’t wait to show you more :)!

20Jan 2019

Vegan Brunches: 26 Rose Garden

20 Jan 2019 0 Food Permalink

Good morning and happy Sunday! One of my all-time favourite activities on the weekend is a good brunch; usually happening every Sunday for me. I absolutely love sitting down with friends, chit-chatting over life and updating one another – and of course – good food.

I’ve been going to more or less the same brunch place forever now, it seems. Yet, this time, my friend and I decided to explore Zurich’s brunch options a bit more and try out something new. After a short online research, we found 26 Rose Garden.

It’s such a cute little place, a bit outside of the city center, where one feels home the minute you step into it. The owners and employees were extremely friendly and even my dog got her well deserved attention with lots of cuddles and kisses included ;)!

One of reasons I chose 26 Rose Garden is due to the fact that they have a lot of vegan options. Having certain intolerances (especially milk products and eggs), going for a brunch can sometimes be somewhat complicated for me. Or at least, I usually don’t have as many choices on the menu as the others do. This surely was not the case here. I loved the vegan scrambled eggs (made of tofu), the gluten-free and vegan croissants (which tasted totally normal!) and especially their home-made onion & cinnamon quiche they had on offer. I am surely coming back to this place!

Yet, I’m curious. What are you favourite brunch locations in Zurich? Any recommendations?

13Jan 2019

All About Snow Days & Keeping Your Puppy Warm

13 Jan 2019 0 General Permalink

All is white, all is bright – it finally snowed in Zurich this week! And not just a little, no – I mean a lot of fluffy powder snow everywhere. I love it and am crossing my fingers that it’ll stay a while!

My friends child stayed home for a few days and some schools in South Germany are even closed due to snow chaos I heard. Sadly, we “adults” don’t get free snow days anymore. Though let’s be honest – most of us would not be rolling around in the snow the full day (at least I wouldn’t). Unless, of course, one can go up the mountain for snow activities.

Zaphira prefers snow much more than rain. Understandably so, I think. And because our almost everyday lunch activity is to play fetch & catch the ball, this was not different with all the snow. I took Zaphira to a small park area nearby where she run around freely. One thing I didn’t think: the snow was actually so high already we several times almost lost the ball in the snow. Of course that is one thing Zaphira does not accept. Thus, she runs around like a maniac trying to find the ball in the snow not caring whether her jumper gets soaked or not. Surely, it did.

Now, for anyone that also has an Italian Greyhound, knows the breed, has a dog of its own with less fur or one that is not used to the cold temperatures – note that even dogs can catch the flu if we (the humans) aren’t watching out for them. Zaphira for example barely has fur and is surely not made for the winter – I don’t think she would survive one winter by herself. So of course she has a little closet (joke) of her own and thus a few outfits to choose from (well, four jumpers/jackets so to speak).

After being all soaked by the snow, however, her shivering could no longer be ignored. This is when I say: be careful. No one, not even a puppy, should be shivering due to the cold. So I took off her jumper immediately, wrapped her up in my jacket – took some amazing cute little selfies (see the photos) – and carried her back to the office so she would be warm. At the office I made her a hot water bottle (yes, she has her own one there). Because she was shaking and shivering a little more than usual, I also cooked up a chicken bouillon (add A LOT of water) and served it to her slightly warm. Trust me: your dog will love you after this – and it has the great benefit of you not having to worry that your pup isn’t drinking enough!

Do you have any other tips or trick of keeping your pup (those that freeze easily) warm after a day out in the snow?

06Jan 2019

Winter Wonderland – Over the Flüela Pass

06 Jan 2019 0 Travel Permalink

White and pure. I could walk around anywhere and I would find the beauty in nature. Yet, there is something very special about the mountains in winter I find. Everywhere you look it seems to be white. It always looks so peaceful, so quiet, so pure. It is something I could stare at for hours and most likely explains my love for the mountains and why I wouldn’t mind having my own little chalet up in the mountains one day!

I have always had this little Christmas dream: that one day, my whole family (future family included) will rent out or own a little chalet in the mountains that we can stay in over the Christmas holidays. That when you open the door all you can see is white. The children can run around in the snow, the dogs (never forget the dogs!) lying in front of the fire place and I’ll be sitting on the couch drinking a glass of wine. Isn’t that an amazing dream?!

To give a little background to these photos that I wanted to share with you: The story is quite amusing. As I told you in my last post, my girls and I went to South Tyrol for a SPA weekend. On our way there, my navigation system took us to the car transporting train that goes through the mountain (very time efficient!). On our way back, however, it decided that it would be a great idea to drive over the Flüela Pass! We only really noticed once we were more or less up the mountain already and the snow fully covered the roads. Although I didn’t mind this way as I had the chance to stop once in a while and enjoy the beautiful view of the mountains (we must say it was amazing weather thankfully!), my girls were not all so convinced. One of my besties was writing with a couple of her friends and we were then told that it is not normal to drive over the Flüela Pass (or any mountain passes) in winter – especially not without snow chains for the wheels. Whoops.

Nevertheless, I would totally do it all over again and was and still am super happy with the impressions I got from the beautiful views. Oh, and my friends now fully trust me with driving! ;-)