Treat of the day

Last week when we went to grocery shopping I spotted a new chocolate I have not tried before. That's not a huge deal for me actually because most of the time we do not get into the chocolate/sweet isles in a supermarket since I am not a huge fan of eating bar chocolates. Once in a while yes but I would rather go with a special, dark Frey one or with a Toblerone. Guess what? The one I spotted was a Toblerone with crunchy corn and I loved it. Chewy and crunchy at the same time...I cannot wait to go to the supermarket again:)

Money hoarders?

In yesterday's newspaper there was an article about Swiss keeping their money (in 1000 notes) under the mattress. That's pretty funny considering the bank culture in the country.
Whole article in German

What's with these countries in W Europe?

Having lived in several different countries and continents and living in well off countries let me tell you there is one amazing thing is going on in each and every one in Europe. And that's the lack of competition. In the US the competition is fierce therefore you got to have a fairly good product and customer service as well as price. And then there is Europe...where businesses get offend when they are faced with reality that they only exist because we, the customer actually buy the products and he/she should be the king. They get offended when you compare prices and go with the one which is cheaper or choose them whichever other reason.
Ok, to be fair I have worked in marketing all my life and I am completely aware of the balance a business should keep in order to be profitable (aka not abused by customers) but still satisfy its customers and when they complain they should be taken seriously.
Here, in Switzerland, there are a few examples from my own life when I had to face how businesses operate here. And let me tell you, it's not what you would expect.
1) I needed a special business insurance so I asked for two quotes. When one of them was basically double the price of the other one and had to turn it down, I got no response whatsoever. I actually wrote the gentleman that I would be happy to co-opearte on other insurances when needed etc and yet no response at all. Seriously? It's like being in kindergarten.
The 2) is the same story: I needed an accountant, so I talked to two accountants, having a 10 min chat, asked how they think about the business, price etc. After deciding and turning down one of them, I got an email saying how I dare to do that and he invested in me so much time. Make no mistake: when I left I asked how much I owe him when he said, no worries that's a marketing cost. Really? But when I turn you down, you write me an email saying how a mean person I am? That's simply ridiculous.
Nr 3 happened to me recently. I ordered a LOT of fitness equipment. After packing it out it turned out that one of them is defective and cannot be properly used as such. I emailed/called the company and for 3 weeks I did not even get an email or any response how we can solve the problem. Typical situation: you are a king until you spend your $$ then we do not give a &*@@ about what you are doing especially when complaining. So, no other choice, I took it onto social media and got some response at last. No, the defective equipment still does not work and had to listen to the customer service complain how I dare to do it plus they  are very busy, but at least they said they would have a look at it. Again, that's crazy because the parts needs to be changed...instead someone might come out some time to have a look at it (pics is not enough) and then we will see what happens. So, they are really busy, but I should be patient and have the time to write several emails, calls, messages whatever until I get a response.
Actually, the Netherlands is the same from this aspect too. The king is the business the customer is something essentially bad they have to deal with. And these are not the only ones...  I really do miss the US sometimes.

Mission accomplished

We have a new freezer! As I said earlier the Swiss freezers are VERY small and can hardly have enough space for weekly necessities. I was searching for a freezer for a while now here in Switzerland as well as in Germany and I am shamed to admit but we ended up getting it from Germany again. Not only the price is almost the half what we would pay here but also I have not found a decent one that would be suitable.
After checking it online I found a couple I liked in Germany, however the problem was that they did not carry them in an actual shop only online. This is a problem when you want to get the VAT back as well as ordering it to a German address (which is possible) and end up paying for that service as well. Finally after spending some time searching, I found a store called FLÖSCH which has several shops even close to the Swiss border. Since the freezer is 'only' 65 l we were able to put it in the back of the car and carry it with ourselves. Now I am one happy person. No more food falling out on my leg.

I desperately need....

... a small freezer. Here is the thing. The average flat in Switzerland comes with a small fridge and a built in freezer (around 5 liter!!), which is ridiculously small even if you are alone but if you consider this space for a family it's even more ridiculous. Until now there were other household items that needed to be purchased so I did not pay too much attention to this subject. Lately however as our flat started to turn into a real flat with furniture there is more time to figure out what else we need. And not only that. We lately started to pop left over fruit in the freezer to save it for smoothies or ice cream and our tiny little freezer filled up quickly and I cannot take anymore the small frozen packages landing on my feet every time I open the freezer. It's so annoying! Even more if you consider that supermarkets close at 6:30 pm (and 4 pm on Sat, everything is closed on Sun) which means you cannot just run down and buy what you need. I am not sure how the Swiss do it, probably they go out every other day to buy what they need but we are in a serious need for a freezer. That's gonna be on my list for the upcoming weeks that's for sure.

HUG factory

And here we go again. After visiting the Kambly cookie factory back in November we decided to check out another one. One of the factories of HUG is maybe a half an hour drive from us which made it an ideal destination for a rainy afternoon visit. Compared to the Kambly one it's definitely much smaller but they still have a good variety. You can try out all the products and buy bigger packages of goodies than in a supermarket. You can also try out and purchase a few test product, which is also fun. While Kambly is a place to spend almost a day, this HUG factory store is mainly to have a quick overview of their products, try them and leave. It offers a different experience than the Kambly one but definitely worth a visit.
Sorry, no pictures this time.

Around Central Switzerland

We have been on a mission to check out places in Central Switzerland. We visited a couple of small towns/villages around Luzern. Here are a couple of pictures how they look like.

It's still cherry time

A couple of weeks ago we picked up some cherries in Zug. Afterwards we went on a holiday and was busy with daily life but I was longing for some more cherries. During the weekend we went to the same farm to see whether the season is still on. And it was on! Best cherries ever...

The seller told us though that that's the last weekend they are selling because the cherry season is over in a day or two. Until next year then!

Treat of the day

Treat of the season to be precise. Since tomatoes are in and they actually have taste, we got into the habit of making some kind of gazpacho almost daily. Some kind of gazpacho because I omit the bread and not measuring the ingredients to achieve the real Spanish taste.
After blending the ingredients it is poured into small jars and can be kept in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

The recipe is simple: 5 tomatoes (I cut them into chunks), a quarter of green bell pepper, a half of a small onion, some cucumber peeled, salt, pepper and some olive oil. Blend everything together using a mixer. You can use less/more tomatoes, cucumbers or anything. Add them slowly and work out the taste you like the most. We usually like having a more tomato flavor with less olive oil.

Surprising stuffs in Switzerland - flyers 2

I mentioned some time ago that there are a few very strange flyers are circulating in the country and gets into our mailbox from time to time. Last week it was one about the Swiss Airforce.

Treat of the day

It's cherry time in Switzerland! Although the weather is not mediterranean in Switzerland, there are plenty of fruits available during summer and believe me it's worth waiting for them. At the beginning of summer they come from Italy or Spain. Canton Zug is famous of its cherries, cherry liquor and cake. We bought some cherries over the weekend and it was AMAZING. Probably the best I have ever eaten. Ripe, crunchy, sweet.

Food lately

This is how life look like food vise lately.

We put our hands on some very fresh ink fish that we cut into strips and fry it in a pan with olive oil. When it was done we added a mixture of garlic, parsley and olive oil plus some lemon juice.

These are two trouts (forelle in German) baked in the oven with lemon and thyme. The trouts were actually from the Black Forest (Schwarzwald).

A super easy and yummy cherry pie.

Results of the last vote

A couple of weeks ago there was a nationwide voting, which I already mentioned in one of my previous posts. The outcome for the mentioned topic got an overwhelmingly large amount of support.
Other topics included the introduction of a minimum wage of 4000 Chf (around 4400 USD), which is failed to over win the majority. As did the one for purchasing new air force planes for defense. And why would not it? Buying new planes when the country is defended only during office hours? It seems that would not make sense for the Swiss.

View lately

Spring arrived to Central Switzerland maybe two weeks ago. It was pretty cold before but suddenly the weather turned into sunny with a 20-25 degrees although there is getting cold and rainy some days with a storm here and there. The snow melted in most of the mountains and suddenly in one of the mornings they were covered again.
Here are a couple of pics of the view recently.

Shopping in Switzerland

I have to admit we regularly do grocery shopping in Germany and/or if we go to Italy or France for a weekend trip we do some grocery shopping there. Most of the products, to be precise, everything is much more expensive here than at the other side of the border but there are certain things we only buy Swiss mainly because the quality. We do buy Swiss meat, milk and locally grown vegetables and fruits whenever it's possible. We do not eat a lot of meat but since we moved here the amount certainly went up compared to the Netherlands. Although prices are INSANE here, we mostly would prefer the Swiss one.
One of the other expensive products include ice cream and creme fraiche.

As a comparison:
Chicken breast 1 kg:
CH: 33 Chf, which is about 27 EUR
Germany: 7 EUR


Haagen Dazs ice cream 500 ml:
CH: 9.95 Chf, which is about 8 EUR
Germany: 4.99 EUR

Creme fraiche 200 ml:
CH: 2.20 Chf, which is about 2 EUR
Germany: 59 cents

There are branded products we would only buy in Germany and that would include toiletries and other household items. Here is an example:

Nive sunscreen 200 ml:
CH: 25.40 Chf, which is about 20 EUR
Germany: 8.45 EUR

A treat

This was my first Easter in Switzerland and as such I was curious what kind of specialties hold this country. One of them was this pastry formed into a bunny holding a stick of Swiss chocolate. The flavor and texture is close to the French brioche but a bit heavier in texture and probably sweeter. The chocolate stick is way too much though, but luckily it's not baked into the bunny, so stays optional to eat it or not. Overall, it's a nice breakfast pastry but would rather indulge in strictly occasionally otherwise it can easily become a staple for breakfast, which we all know not a healthy option.
I bought it in Migros, one of the Swiss supermarket chains.

Weekend trip

Last weekend we got ourselves together and went down to Lugano and Como. It's about a 2-2,5 hour drive from central Switzerland, which makes it an ideal short weekend gateway. The weather is getting warmer here around Luzern but still there are days when although there is some sun, it's not yet warm enough. We really wanted to have some nice sunny and warm weather and turned out we can get it by traveling only a couple of hours by car. It sounds funny, but that's true. As you are driving down and you cross the Gotthard Tunnel (which requires a separate blog post), the climate instantly changes. It's not the mountain air anymore but more mediterranean with palm trees. Yes, it's possible...palm trees in Switzerland. Here is a short 'you need to know about Switzerland': the country has more than one official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The latter is mainly spoken in one canton but the rest is dominating in different regions of the country. The West side is mainly French, the middle/north/east part is German, the South is Italian. The different languages bring different traditions, food and culture too. For example in the Italian part there is Italian gelato (yumm), while in the French side you can get things more close to the French traditions. 

So, first, we stopped at Lake Lugano, which is still in Switzerland; got there around 11 am, had breakfast/lunch by the lake under the Sun, ate plenty of ice cream and were hanging around by the lake during the afternoon. I would recommend trying out a couple of ice cream (gelato) places in the city to decide which one is your favorite;-)

In the evening we went to find our hotel, which located up in the hills near the lake, with a lovely garden and view.

Defending the country

Switzerland takes many things seriously, including defending itself and its people. They not only testing the sirens once in a while but they regularly monitoring their airspace. Well, to be honest, they actually kind of do it during office hours and weekdays only. Yes, that's right. Twice a day the planes of the Swiss Air Force take off and go around above the country but finish their work when everyone else does and obviously (?) they are off during the weekends.
The first time I heard the planes I thought there is a plane that was actually crushing into our apartment. It's unbelievably loud as they prepare for landing.
Of course they monitor the country out of office hours from the ground but they do not have planes ready to take off in case something happens.
The next nationwide voting in May includes a question about whether or not Switzerland should buy 22 new fighter jets from Sweden costing billions of franks.

Recycling update

Shortly after we moved to Switzerland, I faced with the question of recycling basically everything. I wrote about this before. Since then I figured out how to create a corner, which looks good. Now, obviously I am not there yet as I could not manage to put my hands on the baskets I want but we made some small progress. There are a couple of IKEA bins in the same size for carton, paper and metal tins, and I still collect the plastic ones in a bag. Besides, there are two small baskets for batteries, small electrical things, wood, and milk bottles.
This is how the small progress look like and hoping to get a nice big basket shortly; something like this or that, in which I can partially place some of the IKEA holders.

Another nationwide vote

After the nationwide vote in February (topics included immigration cap), another vote is coming up in May. This time one of the topics is whether or not ban convicted child abusers from working with kids. Apparently now that's not the case and there were precedents in the past, where convicted abusers cold go back teaching after their sentence was over. I am just hoping this initiative will pass. There has to be some common sense...