Great Meals of The Month!

It’s been almost a month and i’ve tasted some of the best meals that the country may have. So far, there are only these 6 I can remember. There are a lot actually. But it’s either I forgot the name of the food, or I don’t know how to spell the words. So, here are the best (and lucky?) 6 my brain can afford to remember  

1. Fondue : kind of melted cheese. I love it. It’s cheese You can eat fondue pretty much with everything. My favourite so far… well, i love dipping some breads to the melted cheese
2. Raclette: another version of fondue. They’re all two different things though. I prefer raclette than fondue. Certain kind of cheese only can be turned into raclette I think. It stinks at first, but it tastes very good. It’s all forgiven then
3. Spitzbuebe: it should be a xmas treat. I had it couple of weeks before xmas (Thanks Mary!!!). Based on my friend’s story, spitzbuebe is a german traditional cookie. In germany they call it drei agen (dunno if I got it right, but it supposed to be translated as 3 eyes). Love it very much!
4. Rüebli Kuchen: aka carrot cake. A kind of nice thing to eat. If only I never know that it’s got carrot on it, maybe im gonna like it forever.
5. The Switzerland pretzel: they said the shape of Swiss pretzel is different from the one in germany. No big deal for me… as long as they taste the same. The one in Suisse is a bit better, it’s got lots of butter
6. Zimtsterne: dunno what it made from, but it tastes soooooo good. Gotta grab some more… hehe.

xx

The Eton Saga -an intro or a beginning?? can’t decide-

Started with a friend who wrote on my FB wall, telling me that an old friend of ours went to Eton at Berkshire before he moved to Berlin some of years ago. It continued with a call which was not purposed to talk about that friend, but at the end it seems like the 40 mins convos was all about that friend Since then, I got attracted to Eton.

After the convos, I intentionally googled Eton and browsed on its website. First impression… the web wasn’t so bad. A bit plain, and somehow it looks cold. Dunno, it was just my feeling. The language is a bit refined too, as it’s expected to be read by some royal families, or at least the common citizen with a high level of education.

Read through some pages before I downloaded the prospectus and other information related to Eton. Truly amazed by it. Gotta read the prospectus over and over again before I finally catch what they’re trying to deliver in those prospectus pages (NOTE: it’s not happening to all human being, it’s only me and perhaps some other unlucky people who are a bit lame in language that will experience this kind of difficulty!).

More than 6 centuries Eton has been participating in making a better civilization in the United Kingdom. That’s cool enough for me. During that 6 centuries, Eton College has been giving its highest service to the country by educating 18 Prime Ministers of the UK. What an achievement.

At Eton College, there used to be an old system where registration at birth is allowed! That’s beyond!! I mean, you could register your son literally 2 seconds after he was born! Too bad the system has been abolished some years ago. If that system of registration is still being used today, you probably can register your son even before your son is born! You just have to bring the 3D sonogram pictures from your ob/gyn and tell the school committee that you carry a baby boy! That’d be major, really But after that, make sure you put a reminder on your iPhone that you need to bring your son to Eton right after his 10^th bday for a tour, and after his 13^th bday to begin his 5 years of studying at Eton.

The tuition fee is kinda high there. Nearly £30.000 for a year study (£ 9360 per half, and there are 3 halves per year). Not including some extracurricular and music classes that your son will take. And the uniforms. And other stuffs that might follow later. Approximately £40 -45.000 per year. Not bad for an old school, eh?

The curriculums are kinda old, but they’re good. Strict schedule and a lot of activities. For me, the coolest thing about this school is all the boys are required to meet their House Master or Dame at 7.30 am (sharp) every single day. What they do? Reading newspaper! Hah! I wish my school applied the same system!! 6.15 pm to 7.30 pm, the boys are obliged to run what they call as ‘quite hour’ where they must spend the hours working on things or studying (or prolly… sleeping) in their own room.  Supper is served at 7.30 pm, a great punishment for those who are sleeping on their quite hour coz they’ll possibly overslept and miss the supper. Hehe.

Overall, I like what Eton offers in their prospectus. Even it makes me want to send my future sons to Eton. Conditional applied though. I will send my sons to Eton IF I only got no more than 2 sons! OR if I’ve got more than 2 sons BUT my husband later is kind of man who earns more than £ 2 mills a year. Fair enough, right? I’m assuming (and my “PR Plan & Campaign” lecturer will be mad at me coz according to him a PR person will NEVER assume. Just a note ^_^) that it will cost around  £ 60.000 to £ 75.000 per year –or even much more- for the tuition fee at Eton by the time I’ll finally send my sons to Eton. Hah!

There’ll be the time when I finally feel my parents’ ‘misery’ working on pretty much everything so they can send their babies to the best school possible (and to get their daughters the best things that LV and Prada boutiques sell! * just kidding, mummy ^_^*)

My future sons will need to go to a prep school before they go to Eton. In the mean time, im doing my own ‘prep class’. Hehe. So… anyone… what you think it takes to get a great young man who will love you and your family with a guarantee that he’ll earn more than £ 2 mills a year in his future??  

Zürich is the name, baby ;-)

Welcome to the city where you only can find 3 Starbucks outlets!* Well, it doesn’t matter anyway since the number of people who live in Zürich is not enormous! Also it is forgiven by many great confectionaries you can find there. Who needs caffeine when the finest chocolate in the world is being offered right next to your door?!?

Anyhow, this city isn’t only blessed by so many greatest chocolatiers ever alive, there’s just so much about Zürich that will make people in love with this little heaven. As an example, there’s no such thing called traffic, my friend! Hehe. Even if you notice the city is more to be like vehicle-free city. The people are spoiled by a great system of public transportation. Though I personally think that walking is a great option after tons of choco pralines and raclette :-p

For ladies, tell your father (or boyfriend, or hubby) that there are not many shopping malls in Zürich. It brings them such a relieve, I believe. Just wait till they hear your story about you accidentally being dropped off in an area called Bahnhofstrasse!! Jelmoli is probably the biggest department store you may find within the area. I love it.  You can get Agent Provocateur, cute mugs, great crystal for home decorating, and many more under one roof. Everything there is relatively cheap, though I still think I can find cheaper stuffs with the same range of quality in other places outside Switzerland There are plenty of international brand boutiques in this area. Louis Vuitton, Zegna, Dior,but no Hermes (or did I miss it??). But honey, gotta tell you one thing, take a (quite long) journey by train to Paris and get your Porte Tresor at Champs Elysees. Simply don’t buy it in Zürich. It’s just not a place to have a Louis Vuitton shopping session

There’s a place also which I think still in the area of Bahnhofstrasse. Paradeplatz,. Take a walk there and treat your self a great chocolate you can get in a store named Sprüngli. A bit pricey, but it’s all worth the price  But what are not pricey in this city by the way? I even suspect that actually we’re being charged for the air we breath while we’re staying there

Getting around in Zürich isn’t so difficult. As I mentioned earlier that the city has got probably the best transportation system in the universe. There’s tram that literally will connect you door-to-door. Unless you wanna have a bit of adventure, taking a walk getting around the city and got lost trying to find a way to reach Rämistrasse from Talstrasse (so obvious who’s that stupid one, yeah?)

One more thing… well, it’s applied in almost every part of Switzerland. The people do speak in Swiss German language. It’s okay if you speak German, coz everyone will understand you well. The accent is kinda different and even though they speak German, they won’t say danke as a form of thank you. Instead, they’ll say merci with a very different accent from the French merci. Cute, isn’t it? So don’t ever forget, mates!! It’s ‘merci vilmal’ (a bit weird, I know) not a ‘vielen dank’. Hehe

xx

* as a person who used to hang out in a city called Jakarta, it’s a bit overwhelming! Jakarta’s got more than 7 Starbucks outlets, mate!!