Archive 2009 February

This morning we got up 7 o’clock then went to hair dresser at 8:00 am. Stefan got haircut and I got hair treatment coz my hair got really damaged because of hard water. (Swiss water is much more better than in Paris but still hard for Japanese people…) Now my hair is glossy. I hope it keeps last long.

Then we went to the city to drop some stuff at Stefan’s office and also for shopping. The weather was soo beautiful and the temperature was more than 10 degrees!! Sun is shining. Lots of people were walking with a smile!! While we were walking the city, I found many tiny flowers on the lawn. Wow it must be sign of early spring. I was really happy.

In the lunch time, we went to the popular restaurant in Zurich where we can eat typical Swiss food.

I had “Wienerschnitzel mit Pommes” It’s deep-fry a cutlet (calf) with french fries and also “Wieners” is a city in Austria which is the country next to Switzerland. It was completely bigger than I expected and I thought I can’t eat up but for me nothing is impossible about eating!! I ate up!!

Stefan had a “Zurcher Geschnetzeltes mit Rosti” It’s sauted mashrooms, onions and piece of porks, dressed with white wine and creamsauce. “Rosti” is baked piece of potatos and while they are baked, the piece of potatos stick together. The surface is crispy but inside soft. It’s soo yummy. This is one of my favorite Swiss food.

Finally I could eat “Oyako-don”. Unfortunately I couldn’t get Japanese rice and “mirin”. So I used Thai rice instead of Japanese rice and white wine instead of “mirin”. “Oyako-don” is one of typical Japanese food served in a bowl. My “Oyako-don” was really good. Even I didn’t use Japanese rice and “mirin”.

It’s reminded me a lots of delicious and healthy Japanese food. I’m looking forward to having them when I go back to Japan!!

Before I left Japan, some my friends gave me a pair of special Japanese table ware. It’s soo beautiful and cute. When I cook Japanese food, I always use this special table ware. Stefan also love it! Thank you!!

When I knew it first time I was really surprised. Here many people iron clothes. It’s OK and I like ironed clothes. And also Japanese people do the same. What surprise me is that people iron everything. (England also the same as far as I know) Blouses, sweatshirts, even socks and underclothes!! I’ve never seen before ironed socks and underclothes. I think that’s why here not soo many dry cleaner’s shops. In Japan it’s soo easy to find the shops. People here must be good at ironing!!

I thought I would never iron my socks or underclothes but I realized when you put on ironed them feeling much more good, so I started to do so.

European water containing much chlorinated you will surprise when you use pots a few times at the bottom of the pan you can see the lump of chlorinated lime. So when you need to put water into iron , coffee machine and so on it’s really advisable to use water filter bottle. Because the machinery easily get damages. Stefan’s mother tought it and bought it for me. So it’s my new partner for ironing.

Maybe some Japanes people think isn’t it too much house work? But don’t worry here people don’t do the washing everyday. It’s about 1 or 2 times in a week! I think it’s also surprise to Japanese people.

Last week we bought new plates and since then I really enjoyed cooking. Generally I don’t like cooking at all…

Before I just had some toasts or cereal for breakfast but I cook proper breakfast these days.

Having breakfast is very important to start a new day. Healthy meal and good coffee wake you up with happy way. I get enough energy and can study German hard!!

I found a very colourful heart cake at the bakery. It’s cute but must be too sweet for me.

In Swiss there are soo many colourful cakes compare to Japanese cakes.

I get used to eat Japanese cakes so I hesitate to eat such a colourful cake.

Today Stefan and I went to Zurich for shopping. There were lots of people, coz here even cities, all shops are closed on Sundays so people can’t go shopping. They need to finish it on Saturday. I think this sounds very unusual and inconvenience for Japanese people who are completly get used to having convenience life.

We went to the bookstore to buy German book and English. German book is essential for me to live in Swiss. Maybe some people think why English book? Because my English is really bad and being afraid of mixing English rules and German rules. So I decided to keep on studying English. It’s lifelong study!!

When you stroll here from autumn to winter, I mean cities in Swiss, you easely find a “Maroon Stall”. It’s a kind of snack. When you want to have something small. People call the maroon “Maroni” . In France “crepe” is a typical of snack on the street. In Switzerland it’s “Maroni”

You can buy “Maroni” by gram starting from 100g. You can get sweet warm from this Maroni.

After shopping we went to cinema to watch “Bride wars”.

I think this is also surprise for Japanese people. In Switzerland during film there is about 10min break! So people can go outside to smoke, buy snacks and so on.

To be honest I don’t like this break. It makes me calm down the excitement. I wanna keep my excitement until the film is over.