Lady J on Love: Taking stock

Time sure flies. We are now into December and this marks my 7th contribution to the blog. Gee, where did all that time go? That would mean that we’ve been living for more than six months in Geneva by now.

I wanted to coincide this entry with the recent major national holiday that most Americans would have celebrated - Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving is not widely celebrated in Singapore nor Geneva, I know how big this tradition is to my new American friends who will go round the table with their family and friends to give thanks and express gratitude for the recent year. I find the origin of this tradition really meaningful. Even though I have yet to partake in a traditional Thanksgiving meal, here are some of the things that I’m grateful for about living in Geneva.

Honing my cooking skills
Before Geneva, there was Tokyo. It was a time where I learnt how to cook rice. You may think: How difficult can it be? For me, it was rather challenging as I never found the need to learn how to cook while living with my parents back in Singapore.

Beyond instant noodles

Armed with my basic cooking skills from Tokyo, I took on Geneva with confidence only to come crushing down when I learned that Asian ingredients are often hard to come by and expensive when they do. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, so I trawled the internet looking for easy-to-cook recipes that are suited for a noob cook like me.

Making local carrot cake from scratch

I took a keen interest in food blogs and found myself salivating over the gorgeous food pictures. So with time on my hands, I started to dabble in baking. I found myself investing in a hand-whisk, food blender, processor and baking mats, to name a few tools. I never quite imagined myself loving the time spent in the kitchen but as my baked goods started looking decent enough to be eaten, I decided to document my baking and cooking adventures by putting what I cooked/ baked in front of a camera lens and photographing them.

My proudest achievement to date - learning how to make macarons

Looking back, I think I’m really grateful to be able to be given this opportunity to hone my cooking and, along the way, photography skills. I don’t know whether this will continue when we return to Singapore but for now, I’m pretty pleased with how my baked goods and cooked food have been turning out.

Appreciating nature
Having lived in concrete jungles for a good part of my life, I was never one with nature. But ever since I moved to Geneva, I slowly started to appreciate the changing seasons and the wonderful scenes that Mother Nature brings along with them. During my supermarket runs, I find myself taking a leisurely walk and just taking in what nature has to offer.

Sunset in Florence

Weekend getaways
We’ve been given the wonderful opportunity to travel extensively, to see other beautiful parts of Europe and what these other cities and towns have to offer. Geneva is really the perfect springboard for us to fly, drive or train to most cities in Europe. During our stay here, we’ve covered Austria, Spain, Italy and France, among other countries.

Taking part in Oktoberfest in a traditonal Dirndl costume

I’m definitely looking forward to December for that means that we will be hitting the slopes and indulging in one of our favourite wintersports – snowboarding!

I could go on and on with my long laundry list of the other things that I’m thankful for. But, the one big thing I’m truly thankful for is having family and friends who have supported us on this journey.

So raise your glasses and join me as we bid farewell to 2011 and wish you all the very best in the New Year!

Happy holidays!