Out in Zurich: Vertigo

We went out this weekend to celebrate the birthday of one of Jace's workmates. The party was held at a place called Vertigo on Niederdorfstrasse. Vertigo is a club and bar, but it is also a restaurant with a unique dining experience, because instead of just sitting down to eat your dinner, you lounge. And by lounge, I mean you laydown to eat, a la Greek and Roman times, minus the togas. (But word is they host toga parties regularly as well!). I swear this place was on the Samantha Brown Zurich episode, but I can't find it - can someone concur?)

Jace before the party.

Vertigo, restaurant and lounge.

Since we don't get out too often - or at least I don't ;) - we arrived fasionably early (it's all the rage, I tell ya, go ahead and copy us...) and got some great shots of the venue and of eachother all dressed for the occassion. And yes, this is one of the few times you will see me with eyeliner, so soak it up. ;)
Vertigo's interior deco highlights included a spiral ramp or staircase to the upstairs area where white pleather lounge seats with tray tables for drinks await you. The whole place is bathed in pink light in the early evening and once the place turns into a club around 11 pm the white walls are aglow with lasers and computer graphics.

Here are the seats where we lounged before having our dinner served to us. At times it felt a bit weird because we thought we were paying heaps for your basic TV dinners, but after the first course arrived, we knew we were in the land of itty-bitty portion gourmet.

The appetizer was delish. A deviled egg with caviar. I had to put this in my mouth all at one time so as to spare the disaster of caviars spilling all over my lounge area... mission accomplished. It was good... but tiny and left us wanting more.


The second entree was a really nice seared tuna... too bad our lounge mate, Rich, was not a fan and I had to polish off his helping and mine. Pity.

This was about the point where I spilled the wasabi jelly (err... I mean, panna cotta, silly me!) all over my top and swore never to eat laying down again - and when everyone else us was talking about sneaking out and getting a kabab. Not a good sign...but we had a few more courses to go... including an interesting leek soup with curry foam and the highlight...


(By this time the lights were SUPER PINK, see below, so the main meal needed a flash photo... sorry...)... the highlight was the veal with creamy mushrooms, potato cheese gratin and roasted cherry tomatoes. Honestly, I would have been ecstatic with a big portion of this alone, but it was a great cap to an interesting dining experience.


The rest of the evening was spent people watching, chatting, and chilling on the lounge. Cake was served, people danced and some of us came home at hours reserved for breakfast. ;) Happy Birthday, Jake! Thanks again for the invite and to those that organized a great night out in Zurich.

If you want to try lounge foods at Vertigo, book ahead. I hear the place is quite hard to get into with a reservation and the lines for the club after 11 pm are long.

Bluefish's Awesome Blogging Award!

I got this cool award from Bluefish, an awesome blogger in her own right who blogs about her life Between Canada and Denmark. Thanks, Bluefish! I look forward to your comments everyday, and think that your interaction keeps me on my toes and my blog interesting. I am glad you created your own award to celebrate awesome blogging. ;)

The rules of Bluefish's award are:

1. Give the award to 6 amazing bloggers that you love (you can elaborate why this person, if you want). - Check, see below.
2. Link my blog onto yours. - Check.
3. Post this beautiful frame on your blog. - Check, see above.
4. Write a thank you note (on your blog) to the person who has given the award to you. - Check, and thank you again, Niki!
5. Inform the bloggers that they have received an award. - Will do!

So here are my 6 picks for the Bluefish Blogging Award:

1. Swiss Miss on One Big Yodel
I gave her a shout out not too long ago, and she is still one of my favorites at the moment. She talks about her life in Switzerland with such humor and characterizes the Swiss' cultural trites almost too perfectly.

2. Joan on Serowe-Marzenie
I love the premise for Joan's blog. She is planning a big trip to Switzerland in 2009, and her blog is an ongoing update of her travel plans, fund-raising, and research to get to the land of Chocolate and Cheese. I cannot wait to see her updated travel plans soon!

3. Juls on This non-American life
Little does she know, but I have used her blog log to find cool things to do in Zurich ever since we arrived. She lives in Munich now, and I find her writing fresh and like Swiss Miss, she has a humorous take on expat life.

4. Pumpkin Pie on From my Swiss window
I get more and more into this blog the more I read it and flip through the photos. I really want to visit the Jura now, after seeing all her great photos from around her home.

5. Dan and Michelle on The Adventures of Swiss Family Willis
There is always something interesting going on with this Kiwi family that recently moved to Switzerland. Can you tell that I love following other families that picked up and moved to CH? I do. It is great to see what other expats are doing here - besides eating their weight in chocolate! ;)

And last but not least (and please check the right hand column for more of my favorite blogs as there are more than 6)...

6. Kathryn on An American Frau - my life in Germany
I really love Berlin and it is always fun to check in with Kathryn and see what she and her family are up to in the capital city. We almost, ALMOST got an opportunity to live in Berlin before we moved to Switzerland. I enjoy checking in and thinking the 'what if's...' ;)

Thanks again, Bluefish!

Sarah is coming this month! HELP!

This is my friend Sarah. I miss her.

Sarah and I met at my last job in Boston. If she tells you the story, it sounds like I coveted her. And well, I don't care if I did because whatever I did, I got her. She will say that I followed her into the bathroom and introduced myself, but this is coming from the girl who bonded with me while sitting in an underground parking lot while she participated in a strange weekly ritual of sitting in and turning on her car to make sure it still worked... no driving... just sitting...!? Regardless of how we met, since then we have had a lot of great times and I can't imagine my time in Boston without her. Let's just say, I really miss the girl.

But I don't have to worry about it too long, because low and behold, Sarah is coming to visit this month!

I am always so honored and excited when people want to visit me, and I am especially excited about Sarah's visit. I think she really needs and deserves an awesome time here and I want to do it right.

The thing is... Sarah is all over the blog. It is like she has done and seen it all already by following our adventures and chatting with me online. So I want to give her something new! Something fun but nothing too laborious (no sweating, ok!?) ;) So I need some help! What should we do the weekend she is here?!

Post your ideas in the comments and I will push them past Sarah for the thumbs up... Have a great weekend!

Our Swiss Apartment

We had some friends over for dinner on Saturday (...new friends... I hope they like us! ;) And while I had to clean up for the big night anyway, I thought it was an ideal time to take a few shots of our Swiss apartment to share.

I have no idea if our apartment is "typically Swiss" or not but since we live on the top floor, in the roof, we have sloping walls throughout the apartment. I thought that with the both of us being over 6 ft. we might have some issues, but (knock on the walls) we have yet to bang our heads too badly. The sloping ceiling and the magnificent wooden beams are actually a couple of my favorite features.

In the middle of our living room, alongside the best couch ever (as Jace says, but he only loves it because it is NOT from IKEA... but truly, for some reason, everyone loves this couch...) is a framed print from sugarloop, the first store I bought from on Etsy. I have already blogged about the other feature, the potbelly stove, that sits next to the stairs.

Here is a particularly good shot of the wooden ceiling features. Lovely. I think, being in the roof, we had to give up some wall space due to all the sloping walls, but instead we gained all these beautiful details. This is also the window we could not open or close all summer because a bird and her wee family made a nest in between our shutters... who cares if the neighbors could see us running around naked, because we protected nature and that is cool. ;) Under the window you can also see one of the many sleek, thin profile heaters - we do have normal heating in addition to the wood burning pot belly. But I am looking forward to having a wood burning heater, especially around Christmas time.

This is the kitchen. Emily is still raving, if even in my head, about the sleekness of it all. And I agree. It is exactly how I want to redo the Oz house one day... everything is "neatly" (just don't go in there...DON'T DO IT...) hidden behind cupboards and white makes it look ultra modern. I love how you can't find the fridge either. Where did it go? Where is it?! Where is that fridge? (said with baby voice if you couldn't tell...)

Here is the door to the patio/deck, with curtains from my favorite Swedish retailer. I didn't finish them properly and they are too long and I don't have a sewing machine to redo them, but I honestly really like the effect of the tied off curtains. What do you think? Will it do? Would Martha approve?

We have wooden floors (or laminate?) throughout the main room and kitchen. Upstairs and in the bedrooms it is carpet. I also got this plant at IKEA. I think it fills this weird nook nicely, and it loves it there.

This nook is great, too, because this window swings down and lets a great breeze through the apartment - or ventilates the kitchen in the event that something goes terribly, horrible awry in there!

And finally - the kitchen table. You might not be able to see much of the table because it is also my desk from time to time and the dumping grounds for everything else that comes through the door, but at least we have a table, right Grandma!? ;) While living in the US, we NEVER owned a dining table and my late Grandmother always was quite worried that we didn't have a proper place to eat! But alas, this little bargain ($100 from IKEA for the table and 4 chairs - it ain't fancy but it works) is all we need... now if only we would stop eating on the couch! ;)

There is more - but those parts have doors and let's just say they were all closed on Saturday for various reasons. So there will have to be a part 2 one day. Doesn't it feel/look Swiss?!

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Nothing else compares to Comparis.ch

Just a quick tip. If you want to find a service or compare prices on goods and services, check out Comparis.ch. They have an English version, and the site is practically unbeatable when it comes to things like health care insurance and telecom service provider cost comparisons. Their consumer electronics comparison is also pretty cool so long as you like shopping online!

As a new resident of Switzerland, you will come back to this site again and again. Happy hunting.

You do, we do, everyone Fondue!

Boy, was my timing ever good in regards to prepping you for the fondue season?! Last weekend, while grocery shopping, all the fondue novelties were out, and I mean ALL of them. Here is what was on display at my local Migros, and if this doesn't get you in the mood for Fondue, nothing will!

(Clockwise, starting from top left...)

• All kinds of fondue pots for sale - guess how much a fondue pot costs here?! CHF 80 - 150! I know, that is a lot. I will say I just bought (or Jace did! what a good hubby!) a raclette and it was CHF 100 and it is electric. I find it strange that a basic pot is just as much if not more - but with a culture so engrained in cheese, they know they have got you in a corner! Buy the expensive cheese pot... buyyyyyyyyyyyy itttt....
  
  
• Mini fondue pots! I have no idea what these are for, but I couldn't help but think that they would be fun to hold all the raclette condiments! Again, I am mixing my cheese entrees, shame on me! I think these were about CHF 30 for a set of 4 mini pots. Super cute.
  
  
• I know this giant cheese thing is for raclette, and it doesn't go with the title of this post at all, but come on... a cheese shaped potato holder for all your raclette pleasures made out of felt...?! It is just too genius - and by that I mean, a genius, corny marketing ploy... Click the photo to zoom in and see the tag with the wee potatoes on it. GENIUS.
  
  
• Next to the mini fondue pots is what else?! Mini fondue pre-made cheese packs. I think you actually just pop these babies in the microwave and you are off! This is the perfect little guilty pleasure for all the lactose intolerants. We know you still eat cheese! Don't lie! And now you can finish a whole fondue off in the closet without anyone knowing.
  
  
• I am in love with the raclette cheese felt thing. Sorry, it had to be shown again.
  
  
• And finally, the entire fondue display. They had some big fondue sets too but they are out of the shot. I love, too, that they know there are some disorganized households out there where all the fondue sticks go missing and thus they sell extra fondue sticks in assorted colors.
  

So what are you waiting for!? You live in Switzerland now. Get out there and eat some CHEEEEESSSEEE fondue.