Friday 30 December 2011

I wish it could be Christmas everyday...

Earlier in the year, we decided that we wanted Lydia's first Christmas to be at home, for her to wake up on Christmas morning with the Christmas tree and decorations everywhere, and open her presents in her own home. That's why we ended up having an early Christmas - or Mockmas - in England in early December (see "A Very Merry Mockmas").

We also invited Chris' parents (Nelly and Bernard), sister (Caroline) and her husband (Pascal), round for the day, mainly because I had decided to try my hand at cooking the traditional roast turkey dinner and wanted to share this with them. I had never cooked a turkey before, although I did watch my mum prepare and cook the giant turkey we had at Christmas in England in 2010 (see "So... What's New?").

Plans for the turkey dinner started earlier in the year, as I chose what I wanted to cook as part of the meal. I wanted it to be as traditional as possible, to show my Swiss family how we eat at Christmas in England, so I opted to accompany the turkey with roast potatoes and parsnips, stuffing, carrots and green beans, all smothered in a nice gravy. I would have cooked Brussel sprouts as well, but I wanted everyone to actually enjoy the meal so decided to leave these out.

Saturday 17 December 2011

A Very Merry Mockmas

As mentioned in my last post (Countdown to Mockmas), at the beginning of December we headed over to England to celebrate our Christmas before Christmas, affectionately named Mockmas. This meant taking Lydia on her third flight to my home land - what a little jetsetter!

How to get a baby through
the security checkpoint
Admittedly the flight over wasn't as easy as it could have been, as Lydia was not in a good mood. A squirming, whinging baby does not make for good company on a flight, even if it was only for an hour and a half.

Needless to say, it was quite a relief when we landed and got off the plane.

Lydia cheered up straight away, even managing a nice big smile for her Nan when she picked us up at the airport.

A day of shopping was on the cards for Chris and I during our first full day in England, getting those last-minute presents for the family ready in time for Mockmas.

Lydia with her
great aunt Ruby
 In the afternoon, Ruby and Jack - my mum's aunt and uncle and therefore Lydia's great great aunt and great great uncle - came over for tea. We don't get to see them often, although my brother James had invited them to his wedding in the summer, and it was great to see how happy she was while giving Lydia a cuddle.

We had arranged this get-together for a while, and we could tell Ruby was looking forward to it. When arranging a time for her to come round, my mum had said "come round any time from 3pm", to which Ruby had replied, "I'll be there AT 3pm!".

She also gave her a Christening bracelet, which is something Lydia will be able to keep as a souvenir throughout her life. Aaaaah... :)
 

Monday 28 November 2011

Countdown to Mockmas

Most people (mainly children) look forward to Christmas with such eagerness and anticipation, longing for the big day to finally come. I'm no different. I love Christmas - the food, the colours, the decorations, and most of all spending time with family. However, at the moment I'm not counting down the days until Christmas. I'm counting the days until Mockmas.

Yes, you read that right - Mockmas.

"Mockmas" was a term coined by my brother Adam for our family Christmas this year, which is taking place on Sunday 4th December. The reason is that we can't all be there for the real Christmas Day, so we are having our own pre-Christmas Christmas to ensure we all share in the fun and festivities together.

This year is Lydia's first ever Christmas, so we really wanted her to wake up on Christmas Day (the real one) in her own home, with the tree and decorations all around. I know that she won't remember anything of her first Christmas, but it's a special moment for us. The first Christmas that we'll share together as a new family. I'll even attempt to cook a proper Christmas dinner for my in-laws, allowing Lydia to have a blended version as well.

Both my brothers will be visiting their in-laws on Christmas Day this year as well, so Mockmas is our opportunity to have our normal family Christmas, albeit a bit earlier than usual. I'm looking forward to Lydia's face when she sees the decorations and the Christmas tree, and then the fun of opening presents. Again, she probably won't realise what's going on around her, but we will enjoy it nonetheless.

I know my family is looking forward to it as well, and I'm happy that we will all get to share this moment together.

Just means that I need to sort out all the Mockmas presents before next weekend. I've already bought a few but not all, with some people harder to shop for than others... Fortunately, last minute Mockmas shopping shouldn't be too stressful as all the other shoppers still have a couple of shopping weekends to go until their big day, leaving me free to casually saunter around and pick up what I need (and possibly stop at Burger King and/or Subway if need be).

Ho ho ho!

Friday 18 November 2011

When translations just don't work

Switzerland is a very multi-cultural country. Well, it would have to be, considering it has 4 official languages (German, French, Italian and Romansch).

The fact that there are so many official languages means that the vast majority of products sold in Swiss shops and supermarkets have names and descriptions in at least two different languages. Coming from the UK where all products are packaged with English descriptions, this can be both a shock and a source of amusement.

Sometimes I come across items in shops that I think look interesting, such as a sandwich in my local Coop supermarket. When I turn the packet over to see what's inside, I find that the ingredients list is written entirely in German. Scheisse - ich spreche keine Deutsch! This means I have to take a leap of faith and hope that the contents of my sandwich don't contain too many e-numbers or unmentionable animal parts.

On the plus side, some product packaging can be very entertaining, as sometimes the translations don't really work. This is particularly prelevent when it comes to the use of English words, or words that in the local language are perfectly acceptable but their English counterparts have an entirely different effect.

My favourites are shown below.

This is fairly innocuose, simply being the producer's way of showing that the type of carrots in the tin are baby carrots. The reason why I found this so funny was because I imagined someone asking "What's in the tin?", with the response being "It's carrots, baby!". Oh how I chuckled...

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Going quackers for Christmas

I am a massive fan of Christmas. I love everything about the festive season, from singing along to Christmas songs and putting up the tree and decorations, to the big turkey dinner and spending the day with family.

It's a time of year when everyone seems to feel more positive and happy. Whether that's because they are dreaming of gorging themselves on chocolates and mince pies or because they just like shiny decorations, people are more fun at this time of year. It may only be mid-November, but I have already seen some Christmas decorations hanging out of people's windows in my village.

We bought our tree and some decorations a couple of weeks ago, but we won't be putting any up until we get back from Mockmas (my mum's cleverly-coined term for our early Christmas celebrations) in England at the beginning of December. That hasn't stopped me from getting into the Christmas spirit though.

In the last couple of days I have found myself singing some Christmas songs to Lydia, including such classics as Bing's "White Christmas", Elton's "Step Into Christmas", Jonah's "Stop the Cavalry" and Mariah's "All I Want For Christmas Is You". Singing those famous songs made me feel all Christmassy, and I decided to do some Christmas-related searches on Google for some inspiration on how to either celebrate Christmas or the decorations we could put up.

One of the first things I found was this:


Penguins dressed as Santa and Elves!! What could be better than that??

This has very quickly become possibly my most favourite picture of all time. It's from the March of the Christmas Penguins at the Everland attraction park in Yongin, South Korea in November 2010. I have never had any particular desire to go to the Koreas, North or South, but I think I now have a very good reason.

In fairness, these penguins were probably a bit warm with the extra layer of clothing, given that the temperature in Yongin mid-November tends to be about the same as these penguins' (they look like the African/Jackass penguin species from the Spheniscus order) local habitat temperature. Might have hampered their ability to swim as well...

Anyway, I am a massive fan of Christmas, and I love penguins. That's pretty much what this blog entry is about - I just wanted to share the picture of Christmas penguins with the world.

Seriously, are there any better photos in the world?

Hooray for Christmas and hooray for penguins!

Wednesday 9 November 2011

How to calm a screaming baby

The title of this article might be slightly misleading - this isn't my advice to give to other people to help calm their babies. Oh no, quite the opposite; I'm actually looking for tips on how I can calm my own screaming child.

As with any baby, it is incredibly hard to know why they are crying, as they can't tell us in words. When a baby screams we naturally check their nappy, see if they are hungry or too hot or too cold, and try playing with them to calm them down. If all of this fails, what else can we do?

The current problem in our family life is that Lydia - now 6 and 1/2 months old - is going through a phase where she cries (that soon escalate into screams) whenever she is left on her own, or even when we are right next to her but not directly interacting with her.

This phase has lasted over a month now, and is incredibly tiring as we have to keep picking her up to calm her down, meaning we struggle to get on with any other jobs (such as housework or entertaining guests).

I'm well aware from advice given by our families and friends that every baby goes through this phase, but I haven't yet had any advice on how to deal with this phase. Ok, I go to work during the day Monday to Friday to at least I have a "break", but my poor wife Christelle is at home all day trying to cope with a baby who cries every time she is left to play on her own down or Christelle leaves the room. This is naturally very stressful for her, and we haven't yet found a way of calming Lydia down successfully.

When I get home from work I look after Lydia, playing with her and sitting next to her on her playmat to keep her company while she interacts with her toys. This allows my Christelle some time to recover, but it doesn't really solve the problem of getting Lydia to calm down on her own when we are not with her.

I tried Googling this topic for some advice but found only mothering websites where the women were boasting about how their baby plays by themselves, which was really not what I wanted to read. Thanks for nothing, proud mummies.

Lydia has a number of noisy, flashing toys that she can interact with, but this often only calms her for around 10 minutes at a time, and sometimes not even that. Aside from carry her everywhere with us, I'm really stumped for ways of getting her to play on her own without screaming at the fact that she isn't in our arms.

So, I'm putting a call out for any advice on how we can cope with this phase in Lydia's development. Any tips, hints or suggestions would be hugely appreciated and any such advice that turns out to be successful would earn you our eternal gratitude.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Sit Ups

Last night Lydia did something that really surprised us, something totally unexpected yet an inevitable part of human baby development: she sat up by herself.

Christelle had been playing with Lydia on the sofa and noticed that she wanted us to make her sit up (as she very often does), probably so that she could see more of what is going on around her. Lydia has always been a very curious baby in this respect, and often gets annoyed and irritable when laying down - I think this is because she is worried she will miss something.

Anyway, Chris said to Lydia, "If you want to sit up, you will have to do it yourself". I then served dinner (a nice chilli con carne that could have done with being a bit spicier) and we started eating. All of a sudden I heard Chris give out a yelp of surprise - I looked up and was amazed to see Lydia sitting up next to Chris. It was probably just coincidence that she did this after Chris challenged her to do it, but even so it really was remarkable.

My cheeky little monkey
She had a kind of blank, "I do this all the time" look on her face, which I imagined was her way of showing us that it's no big deal to be sitting up. For us it was such a surprise to see our little baby, who marks her first six months of being in the outside world this Friday, sitting up through her own volition. It serves as yet another reminder that Lydia is growing up.

I love seeing her develop and learn new things, but part of me is worried that it is all happening too quickly. I look back at the past six months that have positively flown by and I wonder where the time went. I won't glamourise it and say it has been easy; we have had more than our fair share of tantrums, sickness and other tough moments. But they all pale away compared to the happy moments when Lydia began to smile, to laugh, to rollover, to discover her feet and her hands. She even plays "peekaboo" with us, showing that there is intelligence behind those beautiful blue eyes.

My little baby will be a toddler before we know it...

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Pushy people

Manners. Being polite. Consideration for others.

...do these words mean nothing to the youth of today?

Every day I get the bus to and from work, and am shocked by the brazeness of people who simply push their way onto the bus, usually by cutting in front of me and various other people, just to suit their own needs.

It might be my British upbringing that has taught me to queue and wait politely for pretty much anything, but these old world values don't seem to have carried over to the present day.

Just when the bus arrived and stopped right in front of me, I stood to the left side of the opening doors - maybe one metre away from the entrance - to allow people on the bus to leave before I climbed on board. I was amazed and shocked to see the other people at the bus stop, who were behind me, brush me aside and force their way onto the bus, without giving a second thought to the departing passengers.

I've seen old ladies brushed aside as well, so I'm not the only victim. Earlier this year when I was on crutches after an operation on my knee (see my blog entry "So...What's New?") and my wife was heavily pregnant, we headed down to the local shop to get some supplies. Walking up to the entrance, people exiting the shop literally pushed past us and expected us to move out of their way, despite our very obvious handicaps (I know being pregnant is not a handicap, but you know what I mean). The nerve of these selfish bastards!

Has society now decided that we don't need to wait for anything any more? Is it now socially acceptable to be an ignorant git?

Friday 14 October 2011

Ah, young love...

Yesterday I babysat someone else's child. On my own. For the first time. Ever.

The child in question - Matys - is 6 months old, and therefore requires a good deal of attention to keep him occupied and happy. His mother, Sandrine and my wife Christelle headed off to a zumba class for an hour or so of exercising fun, leaving me in charge of little Matys and Lydia.

Normally I would have panicked in this situation and probably been a bit useless. Fortunately for me, Matys is a very calm baby. He was born a couple of weeks before Lydia and has always been surprisingly calm and easy going, which is a stark contrast to our little Ms. Curious. He makes Lydia look hyperactive in comparison.

Friday 7 October 2011

Another year goes past...

It only seems like yesterday that I was desperately cramming all my possessions into my tiny Peugeot 106 - like playing a real-life version of Tetris - and setting off on what was destined to be the biggest adventure of my life so far.

In reality it has now been more than two years since I left England.

These last two years might have absolutely flown by, but when I look back over all that has happened during this time gives me an appreciation of just how much my life has changed since I boarded that ferry: I have lived in three different apartments, bought a new car, found a job I enjoy and seen many, many beautiful things. But above all that, the biggest and happiest change was the birth of my daughter Lydia, and watching her grow a little more (both in size and in character) with each passing day.

I only realised this morning that my two-years-in-Swiss anniversary had just gone, and that prompted me to read through what I wrote this time one year ago about my first year in Switzerland (see my blog entry "12 Months Later"). To be honest, I still feel the same about everything I wrote. For example, I'm still a bit annoyed about the shops not being open on Sundays, I still hate Swiss TV adverts and I still believe Switzerland is not that expensive when you live there. Granted, with the current exchange rate it's not going to attract the more stingy tourists, but for those of us lucky enough to live here it really isn't too bad.

Having read through what I wrote about my first twelve months here, I thought I would offer up a few more thoughts on what life is like in Switzerland, should anyone else look to follow in my footsteps, as well as some thoughts on life in general.

Friday 30 September 2011

Review - Les Chevreuils

This is a special place for me as it was the venue for my wedding reception in 2009. I really enjoyed it then but being at a wedding is different to simply eating in a normal restaurant. So, this review is based on my experience here for a meal in April 2011 (described further in my blog "An Anniversary Treat").

This restaurant, which is also a hotel, is located at Vers-chez-les-Blancs near Lausanne, surrounded by woodland and countryside. It also has views of the French alps from it's garden. It might not be the easiest place to find if you've never been there before, but their website offers advice on how to get there. There is a metro station at Epalinges (Croissettes) and a bus that stops just near Les Chevreuils, so it is fairly accessible if you know where you are going.

The building itself is quite old and homely, giving it a welcoming feel. The staff are helpful, especially when it comes to proposing an aperitif or selecting a wine to go with your meal. Ah yes, the meal. That's where Les Chevreuils really excels.

I started my meal with a little amuse bouche of cauliflower purée with mushrooms and green pesto. It took a couple of spoonfulls for me to appreciate it, but I ended up very satisfied.

Foie gras - yum!
After finishing this, along came the entrée - foie gras. The thought of foie gras might make some people feel a bit queasy, but I decided to give it a go (how do you know you don't like it if you don't try it?).

I made a good decision as it was delicious. It was succulent, tasty, surprising, and very, very moreish. I think I accompanied every bite with contented "mmm" noises, which probably annoyed my wife and any other diners who happened to be within earshot.

Beef and some veg

My main course was a a big chunk of beef with vegetables, and this was very nice indeed. The beef was well cooked and vegetables were nice. The sauce added extra flavour to the dish and complemented the meat really well.

I rounded off my meal with the cheese selection, which I was slightly disappointed with as it was a very standard selection (camembert, gruyere, epoisses and roquefort). I enjoyed the roquefort but the others failed to hit the mark. My palate might have been tainted by the deliciousness of the foie gras though, so the subsequent dishes were probably better than they seemed at the time.

Posh-looking food
The food is always presented in the style that you see from famous Michelin-starred chefs on programs like Masterchef, which peak your interest as soon as the plate arrives.

Some of the combinations can be a bit hit and miss though - my wife had vegetables in lemon grass topped with celery-apple flavoured ice cream. It apparently tasted as odd as it sounds.


Overall though, the experience was enjoyable and the food was a delight. The only downside of the evening was when the bill arrived. As you can imagine with food of this calibre, you are expected to pay a healthy price for it. Hey ho, that's what credit cards are for!

Address:       Route du Jorat 80, 1000 Lausanne
Telephone:   +41 (0)21 785 01 01

Ratings:

07 / 10 - Location - pleasant countryside setting


08 / 10 - Food - very good, although some combinations are weird (vegetables and ice cream, anyone?)


05 / 10 - Price - I won't lie, it is expensive to eat here, so if you want a good meal for less you should look elsewhere; if you are prepared to pay to eat well, look no further!


Overall - 07 / 10 - the food is fantastic (if you've picked the right dish) but the prices are rather high.



Monday 26 September 2011

Review - La Terrasse

Styled as a kind of Italian restaurant / brasserie, La Terrasse is in the little village of Bussigny-près-Lausanne, home to yours truly. It offers a range of foods from steaks to fondues to pizzas, all at fairly reasonable prices. The pizzas can be picked up for takeaway, and the ambiance inside is very welcoming.

I have eaten here a couple of times and the food is pretty good, although on one occassion (as written about in my blog, "A Quick Visit from Mum and Dad - Part II") I took a friend's advice and asked for the garlic sauce with my steak. I was expecting a juicy steak with a sauce that hinted at garlic; what I got was a nice steak covered in chunks of chopped garlic. It was more like a spread than a sauce, and the vapours from the garlic started making my eyes water before the waitress had even put the plate in front of my eyes. I couldn't quite finish my meal on that occassion, and stank of garlic for several days afterwards.

Despite the garlic setback, the quality of food at this restaurant is above average, as evidenced by a nice steak with peppercorn sauce (not a garlic clove in sight). It isn't particularly expensive, and pizzas are a good price at around 18.- CHF each.

I haven't been able to find a website for La Terrasse, but I managed to find one that has a fair amount of information for anyone who is interested.

Address:       Rue de Lausanne 9, 1030 Bussigny-près-Lausanne
Telephone:   +41 021 701 11 59

Ratings:


05 / 10 - Location - easy to get to as it is on a main road into the village, but not otherwise appealing


07 / 10 - Food - good, as long as you don't have the garlic sauce


08 / 10 - Price - Very reasonable, a two course meal would come to around 30.- CHF


Overall - 07 / 10 - a nice place to come for a pleasant meal with good food and reasonable prices.

Monday 19 September 2011

Review - Le Deck

 This restaurant / café / bar is superbly located in the vineyards of Chexbres, and benefits from stunning views of lac Leman and the French alps. As you sit down and gaze out at the glorious surroundings in this peaceful bar, you can almost feel relaxation coming over you.

Relaxing at Le Deck
I have never actually eaten in this restaurant, partly because it's quite far out of my way and quite expensive, but also because no one has ever recommended it to me (I tend to rely on word of mouth). The reviews on Trip Advisor are not particularly inspiring either.

I'm told that if you do want to eat here you should make a reservation, as the demand is high in the summer months whereas the number of tables available is very low.

Service at Le Deck is somewhat slow. Maybe the staff prefer to spend time admiring the view as well? The seating areas are comfortable but can get very warm in the summer on a sunny day - the plexiglass panels used to block sound and wind trap the heat on the terrasse, so t-shirts and shorts are preferred to jumpers and jeans on these days. As the main attraction of Le Deck is the stunning views, it is only open between April and October each year. I doubt if anyone wants to sit on a terrasse in the cold rain anyway.

The drinks at Le Deck are fairly average prices for Switzerland, perhaps just a bit more on the expensive side. They do have a good choice of beers available from various countries around the world, so that's a nice touch. Local wine from Lavaux is available here too.

The website for Le Deck has a few nice photos and some information, but as it is only a "spin-off" from the Baron Tavernier hotel and restaurant most of the website focuses on that rather than Le Deck.

Address:       Route de la Corniche, 1071 Chexbres
Telephone:   +41 21 926 60 00

Open:           Mon – Sun: 11:00 – 23:30

Ratings:

09 / 10 - Location - stunning views and modern fittings, very nice indeed


xx / 10 - Food - unrated as I have never eaten here


06 / 10 - Price - as usual for most Swiss bars, drinks are fairly expensive but not excessively so

Overall - 7.5 / 10 * - Le Deck is a very nice place to go for a relaxing drink on a sunny, summer day.

* Overall rating averages scores for Location and Price, excludes Food as this could not be scored due to not being tested.
 

Monday 12 September 2011

Review - Holy Cow!

With two locations in Lausanne, Holy Cow! is essentially a gourmet burger restaurant. As someone who likes the kind of food served in McDonalds and Burger King, this is right up my street. In all honesty though, it doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as those fast food peddlers - Holy Cow! is in a league of it's own when it comes to burgers.

I have eaten at the Holy Cow! a few times since I moved here, and I have never been disappointed. My brother-in-law first described the food to me in 2009 as delicieux, and convinced me to try it with him (didn't take him long to convince me, to be fair). The Holy Cow! prides itself on sourcing it's meat locally from the canton of Vaud, and burgers are freshly prepared on site, adding to the succulent taste of the food.

Elvis Blue Cheese pic borrowed
from The Burger Blog
The burgers all have different names, such as the Elvis Blue Cheese and the Smokin' Holy Cowboy (both of which I have tried and loved). The menus are written in French and English, as is their website, and the staff can all speak English to help out hungry tourists.

Meal deals originally came with freshly-made potato crisps as an accompaniment to the burger, but have recently changed to being chunky chips. I quite liked the idea of having crisps with the meal instead of chips, but apparently they changed due to customer demand. Stupid customers...

Price-wise, Holy Cow! is not particularly cheap. I had a Smokin' Holy Cowboy burger and meal for 24.- CHF. Admittedly this was because I paid an extra 5.- CHF to have a double burger, but even at 19.- CHF it's still pretty pricey. However, the old saying that you get what you pay for is certainly true here, as you are paying for sheer quality.

In terms of seating, the newer restaurant has a few tables with benches, but these fill up really quickly at lunch and dinner times. I arrived at 12:05pm once and the tables were already full. The original site has one small area inside the restaurant for eating, basically big enough for about three people, so you are pretty much obliged to take your burger away with you. In fairness, every time I have eaten at Holy Cow! I have eaten my burger elsewhere (which is fine if it is a sunny day).

Loads of information about Holy Cow!, including the menu, can be found on their website.

As mentioned above, there are two Holy Cow! restaurants to choose from in Lausanne, so I have listed both below.

Site 1 - the original Holy Cow!
Address:       Rue Marterey 1-3, 1005 Lausanne
Open:           Mon – Sat: 11:30 – 16:30


Site 2 - the newer restaurant (with better opening hours)
Address:       Rue des Terreaux 10, 1003 Lausanne
Open:           Mon – Wed: 11:00 – 22:00, Thur – Sat: 11:00 – 23:00


Ratings (overall for both sites):

06 / 10 - Location - the Rue des Terreaux site is a ten minute walk from where I work! By car neither site is particularly easy to reach (not many nearby parking spaces)

09 / 10 - Food - I cannot fault their burgers, and portion sizes are very generous, but they miss out on a perfect score because they now serve meals with chips instead of crisps

05 / 10 - Price - the burgers are pretty expensive... but worth it!

Overall - 6.6 / 10 - it is expensive and you'll have to eat your burger as takeaway, but the deliciousness of the food makes it worth the trip.

Monday 5 September 2011

Review - Restaurant les Berges de Vidy

This restaurant has a generous-sized terrasse as well as indoor seating, and benefits from being located at a camp site right next to lac Leman, giving a peaceful and scenic place to enjoy lunch, a drink or an ice cream. I have eaten here a few times since moving over to Switzerland, and it was in fact the place where I had my first lunch as a Swiss resident (see blog entry The Big Move for evidence of this).

Filets de perches
The menu has a fairly wide choice of meals, including steaks, tartare, fondue, pizzas, pasta dishes and a variety of salads, but I have only ever tried the filets de perches (like a healthier, Swiss version of fish and chips), mainly because it is absolutely delicious. These little fishies live in the lake and are supplied fresh to the restaurant, no doubt one of the reasons why they taste so good.

Priced at 36.- CHF, they are not the cheapest filets de perches you will find in Switzerland, but having eaten the same dish in other places I can assure you that you will get your money's worth here.

The full menu for the Restaurant les Berges de Vidy is available on their website.

The restaurant is open from March/April to October, depending on the weather (although the campsite is open all year round). Reservations are advised during the busy summer periods, particularly at the weekend. Staff here do speak basic English as it is a popular destination for campers from all over Europe, as well as visitors enjoying a stroll along the lakeside.

Address:       Chemin du Camping 3, 1007 Lausanne
Telephone:   +41 (0) 21 622 5005
E-mail:         
info@clv.ch

Ratings:
09 / 10 - Location - gorgeous scenery and peaceful setting
09 / 10 - Food - (based solely on the filets de perches) delicious
06 / 10 - Price - a bit expensive for some dishes
Overall - 08 / 10 - a very nice place to eat that will leave you satisfied with your choice.

Monday 15 August 2011

The trouble with teething

Just when you think you're starting to get the hang of being a dad (or a mum), with your baby starting to smile and giggle and generally seem more peaceful, suddenly something else emerges that upsets the entire rythym and puts you almost back at square one.

I'm talking about teething.

Well, actually I'm talking about the bit that comes before teething, when the little teeth are beginning to form in the baby's gums, which understandly hurts the poor little thing and causes a lot of screaming and crying (mostly from the baby). For the last week or so, Lydia has seemed to be in a lot of pain in her mouth, giving such heart-renching screams that it really shakes you as a parent as you feel so completely helpless.

A teething aid, which
looks a bit like a
pair of balls...

We have tried rubbing a soothing gel onto her gums, another gel that is supposed to numb the pain, massaging her with soothing oils, and giving her a variety of refrigerator-chilled teething aids to chew on. None of these seem to work particularly well, as Lydia still seems to be in a lot of pain. It is hard to see our little girl in such obvious discomfort, knowing we - her parents and therefore protectors - can do nothing to make her feel better, aside from giving her lots of cuddles and reassuring words.

My mum told me that my first teeth started to poke through at around 5 months of age. That means we probably have another month and a half before we see the first of Lydia's gnashers, so can look forward to a few more screaming fits before then. If anyone has any tips on ways to ease teething pain I would be sincerely grateful to hear them.

Seriously, send me your tips.

Now.

Thanks!

Friday 5 August 2011

Penguins!

Here Pingu, have a fish
For my birthday last year my parents-in-law gave me a unique opportunity - to feed the penguins at the Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, England. Those of you who don't know me might not know that penguins are my absolute favourite animal in the whole world, so this experience was something I was truly looking forward to.

I was made to wait for it though. I had booked the experience for last summer, but unfortunately we were informed by the people at Paradise Wildlife Park that they had to close the penguin enclosure for maintenance, so my experience would have to be re-scheduled at a later date. So, I rebooked it for this summer, after the wedding of my brother James and his new wife Kelly (see my last blog, "Congratulations James & Kelly").

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Congratulations James & Kelly

Following on from my last blog, we all headed over to England for the wedding of my brother James and his fiancée Kelly.

The bride and groom
 It was a fantastic day that everyone seemed to really enjoy. The ceremony at Sopwell House in St. Albans was both beautiful and humorous, and even the reading I did ("Blessing for a marriage") went off without a hitch.

The aperitif after the ceremony was great, with delicious amuse bouches and champagne (or Pimms for the more traditional English-types). It was interesting to go from the ceremony room to the conservatory and veranda where the aperitif was held as the corridor between the two is lined with signed football shirts in frames.

It turns out the Sopwell House has been used to host various international football teams over the years (including a number of England squads), with the players relaxing in the luxury rooms and making full use of the spa treatments.

Fortunately, the weather held out for the whole day, as it was cloudy with some sunny patches but absolutely no rain (amazingly for an English wedding!). It meant the happy couple were able to take the wedding photos outside in the lovely gardens of the house.

Monday 25 July 2011

Growing up too fast?


Lydia playing with Bugs
It's been a whole month since my last post. Lydia is now three months old and seems to change a little bit with each passing day. Time has simply flown by, and I am beginning to understand why people always say you should enjoy every moment with your child because they will be grown up before you know it.

Ok, so Lydia is still a baby. It's not like she has suddenly started walking, dressing herself, taking whatever she wants out of the fridge, and so on and so forth. She still needs us to do everything for her, and as such is still as helpless as the day she was born.

However, she is growing up fast. Over the last few weeks since my last blog entry Lydia has started to get much stronger. We can see her trying to sit up a bit whenever we have her laying down in our arms. She is also getting closer to being able to roll over. We lay her down on her back, she kicks her legs up in the air and rolls onto her side. At the time of writing, she hasn't quite managed to roll all the way onto her front yet, but I think that will come in the next few days.

Monday 27 June 2011

Thoughts on being a Dad

It's now two months since Lydia was born. Two months since the day I became a father and my life was changed forever. The day I began a new journey that promised to test my resolve and push me to the very edge of my limits, bringing me love, anxiety, stress and delight in equal measures.

A happy, 2 month old baby
A lot has happened in those two months, as I'm sure you can imagine. I, along with my wife, have had the pleasure of watching our little girl grow in both size and in character, already going from a helpless newborn to a smiling, cheerful little lady who knows how to get what she wants from us. Seeing this growth has been amazing, and prompted me to reflect on what we have experienced and learnt from the beginning of our new life as a family, which is the goal of this blog entry.

Here is a list of some of the things I have learnt about the responsibilities and rewards of fatherhood.

Monday 16 May 2011

Funny Faces

Having a baby is fantastic source of entertainment. Granted, it is a lot of hard work, but you can't help but smile at some of the things they do. Lydia sits (and occassionally sleeps) on a sort of bean-bag designed for babies in our living room, and it's great to just sit near her and watch as she pulls a variety of faces while she sleeps. I guess this must be her way of practising the various facial expressions that she will use as she gets older and starts to discover more about the world.

Happy baby or gassy baby?
From grimaces to smiles, and looks of surprise to looks of pain, it is often more entertaining to watch her than to watch the TV. Even though Lydia is asleep, her little arms and legs move around like they have minds of their own, giving the impression that she is dreaming about starring in a kung fu movie.

Lydia also makes a lot of noise while she dreams, emitting little squeeks and heaving tiny little sighs. She even seems to occassionally laugh in her sleep, a short giggling noise that surprised us as we hadn't heard it before. I know that at 3 weeks old any smiles or laughs are probably just gas, but it is still very cute to see.

The other day I sat next to her bean bag and asked her a question (probably something along the lines of "have you done a poo-poo for mummy?"), and she looked straight into my eyes, frowned, and then brought her clenched fist up slowly in my direction. Less than a month old and she's already threatening her father. Looks like her teenage years might be fun!

Wednesday 11 May 2011

Her First Mothers' Day

Last weekend was our first experience of a commercialized holiday as parents, as Sunday was Mothers' Day in Switzerland. Thinking that, at 2 1/2 weeks old, Lydia might be a bit too young to buy some treats and pamper her mum, her dad stepped up to the plate.

What did I do?

Well, I spent most of Saturday evening and Sunday morning preparing an Indian feast. We had invited Christelle's sister (Caroline) and her fiancé (Pascal) around for the meal, and they had been piling the pressure on my shoulders in the build up to Sunday by saying how much they were looking forward to it. As someone who doesn't really know much about cooking indian food, it seemed to be an enormous challenge.

I scoured the Internet for recipes, printed off a few that I liked, and went out to the supermarket to get everything I needed. My plan was to do a proper three course meal, consisting of starters, a main course and a dessert. Deeming this to be somewhat overambitious, given my limited skills in the kitchen, Chris thoughtfully offered to provide the dessert, so that was one less thing to worry about.

My preparation started on the Saturday evening, as I spent roughly 3.5 hours chopping onions, garlic, chilli, ginger and peppers, and carefully filling Tupperware with spices for each of the dishes I had planned. I know I often make fun of Chris for her love of Tupperware - she has loads of plastic containers that have taken up box space during 6 separate house/apartment moves, some of which has never (to my knowledge) been used - but on this occassion I was truly grateful, as I used just about every pot and bowl in our cupboards to hold either vegetables or spices. I lined the containers up in small piles according to which meal they were for, and stuck the printed recipes on the cupboard doors in the kitchen for reference the next day.

Exhausted, I went to bed. Lydia woke us up during the night for a feed, and I made the mistake of trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. I wouldn't normally consider this to be a mistake, but as I had not washed my hands properly after chopping chillies I soon regretted my actions. My eyes felt like they were on fire and became redder than a robin's breast. Ouch! I had to lay down with a cold flannel over my eyes to try and soothe my pain.

The next morning I woke up bright and early to get cracking with the remaining preparations and the cooking. Thankfully the pain in my eyes had gone and my eyesight was intact, so I was able to concentrate on what I needed to do.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Life's Greatest Gift

On Thursday 21st April at 11:49am, a new little person took her first look at the world, as Lydia Reed-Peck was born. She had certainly kept us waiting - she was born nine days late - but it was well worth the wait.

Trying to write a blog that captures in words the feeling of becoming a parent for the first time is not an easy task, but I will do my best!

Our gorgeous little girl
I remember a whole rollercoaster of emotions washing over me as the nurses placed our little girl into the arms of her mother, from delight and elation of becoming a dad, through to doubt and anxiety over how we will cope.

The most prominent feeling I can remember is that of sheer love, and the knowledge that even though I had only known her for a few minutes I would already do anything for her.

As soon as I held Lydia in my arms, I was overwhelmed with pride at having such a beautiful little girl, and immediately felt my protective dad instincts kicking in. I cut the umbilical cord (which was tougher than I thought it would be; I had to give a couple of good chops to get through it), helped the midwife run through the initial baby tests to check her reflexes, and also gave Lydia her first bath the following day.

Thursday 14 April 2011

When will it happen?

In our attempts at preparing for the moment when our family grows, we have got absolutely everything ready for the baby: a fully-furnished and decorated room, plenty of clothes and toys, a pushchair, car seat, a baby bath and various creams and products to clean and care for the little guy. The only thing that is missing is the baby himself.

At the time of writing, the baby is now two days overdue. Not that I blame him* for that, however, as I can understand the attraction of staying in the warm, comfortable home that he has made inside his mum instead of forcing his way out into a big, scary world, especially when you have to squeeze your entire body through a tiny little hole (possibly the equivalent of us trying to fit our head into an empty toilet roll?).

We had the nine month control checkup at the hospital this week (on the due date), to make sure the baby is well and that there are no problems. I think that we were both secretly hoping that they would say to us, "we need to induce this baby NOW" so that we could finally meet the little guy. Instead, they basically told us that the baby is doing well, and to come back in a week's time. That, my friends, is a very long time to wait.

Monday 11 April 2011

Carnaval

When I left my house this morning to go to work I had a brief moment of bewilderment - after glancing at the road ahead of me, I thought it had snowed.

This would not normally be such a surprise in Switzerland, given that it is April. However, after being blessed with glorious sunshine and temperatures of over 20°C for the last couple of weeks, one could forgive the feeling of surprise I felt at the prospect of snow on the ground (especially as I didn't bother to put a coat on when I left the house).

Glad I'm not cleaning this up
The shock didn't last long; after a comedic double-take, I realised that it was not a dusting of snow that lay on the ground, but it was in fact confetti. The annual Carnaval de Bussigny took place this weekend, with marching bands, guggenmuzik, fairground rides, beer, churros, and - most importantly - confetti canons (hence the debris shown in the picture).

These air-powered pumps are designed to spread the carnaval atmosphere to onlookers and innocent bystanders in the streets by showering them with tiny bits of paper cut into little stars, hearts and other assorted shapes.

Thursday 7 April 2011

An Anniversary Treat

April 6th is a special day for Christelle and me, as it was the day we first got together all those years ago on Fraser Island in Australia. It may have been an alcohol-fuelled beginning to our relationship, but even then there was something much deeper that has kept us together ever since.

Chris enjoying our dinner
This year marked our 6th year as a couple. When I look back over our time together, it is remarkable to see just how big an impact Chris has had on my life; if it weren't for her I would not be in Switzerland now, for example, nor would I be impatiently awaiting the birth of my first child.

Cheers!
It has been an exciting journey full of ups and downs (mostly ups, fortunately), but I have the feeling that the real journey will begin when the little one comes out to meet us in the very near future.
 
We decided to treat ourselves to a meal in a nice restaurant for our anniversary, which would also be the last restaurant meal as a mere "couple" before the baby arrives (after which the romance might be somewhat disturbed by the presence of a screaming child flinging food everywhere).

We chose to book a table at Les Chevreuils, a restaurant we know well - it was where we held the reception after our wedding in 2009.

Wednesday 6 April 2011

A bit too much sun...

Last weekend the weather men (and women) all predicted clear skies with lots of sun and temperatures of up to 24°C. Given that it was chilly and wintery only a few weeks ago, this was the perfect opportunity for us to get outside and really enjoy some fresh air.

Enjoying the sun and the
view at Signal de Bougy
So, Chris and I headed to a place called Signal de Bougy, which is north of Rolle in the Canton Vaud (and roughly 20 minutes by car from where we live). Chris had been here in the past with her family when she was younger, and remembered it as a very nice place to spend a few hours.

She was right - masses of open parkland, plenty of outdoor playgrounds and games areas for the kids, a restaurant and several wooded areas make Signal de Bougy an ideal place to come, especially for kids (must make a mental note of this for future reference).

Thursday 31 March 2011

So... What's New?

No relevence to this blog entry,
I just like this photo of Chris
Now I know what you are going to say, "Oh no here comes another 2/3/4-part blog update on every detail of his life in Switzerland since his last blog entry several months ago... I best put on a pot of coffee...". Well, normally you would be right. I like telling stories and I tend to get carried away with my writing, resulting in blogs of hundreds of lines that would force any readers to set aside an entire evening just to get through a single blog entry.

As of this moment, that will change.

I, Paul Reed-Peck, AKA Ernie McPeck, do hereby solemnly swear to limit the amount of babbling that goes on in my blogs, keeping entries precise and succinct whilst still attempting to describe my Swiss adventures with the same amount of honesty and reality.