Thursday, October 30, 2008

COLD!!!

I Just Wanted to Share THERE IS SO MUCH SNOW ON THE GROUND!!!!! It is SO COLD!!!! CCCOOOLLLDDDD!!!!!!!!!!

I Also Got a Phone! Finally.

Friday Dilemma. I had made plans to cook a dinner at Ty's place, as mentioned before, but I have now been invited to Matt's, Albert's old roomy, for Fondu and relaxing. Albert will be going to Matt's either way.... I know ethically I want to stick with my original plan because breaking plans is something I hate doing. I just feel like a flake and unreliable if I do, but a night off with the boy and fondu at Matt's sounds really nice. What will happen.......

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Winter

Winter Has Arrived and it is wet! It snowed last night and has been snowing on and off this morning. The dinner chef already pelted me with snowballs in the sandwich shop, a nice welcome to winter! Haha! It is certainly wet and chilly... the fall chill is nice. Winter cold is okay. I didn't brink my winter clothes back from the states though....I may need my dear parents to ship them over. ;P People are already taking their weekends to Zermatt for Snow boarding and skiing. No more biking up and down the mountain or running through Montana-Village. I have been reaquainting myself with the treadmill and have discovered the stationary bike. I've honestly never really taken the bike seriously, I don't really know why, maybe it was simply that I never pushed myself hard enough on it.

I've Finished All of My Books...I have one left actually. I even got a new one in the middle. The nutrition and exercise one. I have The Omnivore's Dillema left to read, and I'm sure I will devour that one too. I'm trying to get another E-book about exercise, to increase my knowledge on that subject. One thing I realized when I was reading the most recent one was that I knew plently about nutrition, but not really about the interconnectedness of nutrition and exercise, and of exercise alone. So, YAY knowledge! Oh, and I finished Breakfast at Tiffany's today, and I really enjoyed it. I need to watch the movie again. I do feel as though the movie does a wonderful job of capturing the intent of the book...from what I remember anyway. I remember learning in Boulder in Film Class about how when a book is adapted into a movie, the determining factor of the quality of the adaptation is NOT how closely the movie sticks to the book, but how acuratly the movie captures the atmosphere, tone, and meaning of the book. So yay Breakfast at Tiffany's! Audrey Hepburn matches the portrays the character of Holly Golightly perfectly. I'm getting excited...

I Discovered The Lunch Menu at Edo! The wonderful Japanese place across the street that tends to be REALLLYYYY pricey is perfect for lunch if you're craving Japanese and don't want to pay a fortune. I had a filling meal I couldn't even finish for only 20 chf! Teryaki grilled salmon, marinated-smoked seeweed and carrots, a salad, a bowl of rice, and miso soup. SO GOOD!!! Even Albert ate well and he can EAT when we get Japanese. He got the other lunch menu option which consisted of a BIG bowl of rice, chicken, egg, and some sort of sauce, with the same side items that I had-15 chf. I would have to thank Cherise for introducing me to the lunch menu.

This Friday is Halloween....donno what to do. CDV is theorhetically doing something. I'm off of work, and I'm having a dinner party over in Randogne at Ty's place, the place I lived in over the summer. There is a fellow "vegan" living there. I say "vegan" because he has also had to compromise his veganess here due to cost and convenience. I'm making Filet Mignon with redwine sauce and those pan fried mashed potatoe patties that I make at home sometimes. And those who don't want red meat will be having Chicken Mole! YUM! I guess I'm not really doing the Halloween thing then. Maybe after the dinner I'll dress up and go to CDV for a bit. We'll see how the night goes.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Good Bye San Nicks

I Went To Say Good Bye To San Nicks last night. The final night of dancing there and Les Roches ridiculousness. The music was all house and tons of good bye sentimental stuff, so it wasn't that great of a dance experience, but it was good to see it off. CDV should be getting a lot busier now. We need to get some kind of bar and dance thing going on, I was thinking every Friday or something. We will have to plan it out this week. After San Nicks I did get to dance up in Montana, all good fun.

I Finished My Book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. Now to implement what I have learned! I also almost done with Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffanys. I have the movie and didn't know it was a book, so I had to read it. It is very good. I am enjoying it thoroughly, and it is one of theose pocket classics so I just keep it in my purse with me all the time incase I get stuck somewhere waiting 30 mins for the funi or bus. That was today. I also baked some delicious Banana Bread in CDV, as it was my second day off. Albert and I shared it with some friends and then we escaped to the room to watch The Sopranos. It was a pretty relaxed day. I even took a nice long nap at around 3:30, and already I am ready for bed. It's only 10 pm. But I have this nasty cold, so it is expected. I need lots of rest and liquids; my body is definitly letting me know that. Albert is passed out on the bed. So cute. I took pictures hehehe! I guess we'll see how Muli and Joey did on thier first weekend. Monday always gives a good indication of how the stagiers and CDV fared. Back to work tomorrow too. This will be a shorter week for me as I am off on Thursday and Friday, so I only have three days of work until then as opposed to my recent 9 days straight. Off to bed I go!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

mmmmm, A Day Off

I Slept In and it was nice. Today was the day I was going to get my cell phone. This is the story. I had lunch in CDV and happened upon a friend who was driving to Sierre. I mentioned my need to go to Manor, the mall kinda far away on the ouskirts of Sierre. He dropped me off there and I was to call him when I had my new phone and he would pick me up when he was done with his stuff. Awesome. I found the phone I was looking for, only 39 chf. Apparently you need your passport to buy a phone. So, no phone for Lia, and the mall was just closing. I didn't have a phone card so I could use th epublic phone to call my friend, Yair. So I walked 3 km back to the funi station and took the funi back up to Bluche. I did get a pleasant walk out of it, and know that Manor is not really that far from the main city center. I may take another walk over there on Thursday, my next day off, WITH my passport.

San Nick's Last Night is Tonight. It is now official and known. Les Roches now owns the Italian restaurant and bar, San Nick. Tonight will be their last night. They are selling drinks pretty cheaply from what I hear, to make that last bit of profit. There are plently of rumors about what will be done with it. The bar area may be used for Bar & Beverage class, and the restaurant may be another restaurant outlet for the school. CDV will be a French Brasserie, and there will be a new "hang out" for students, where, I don't know. This will all be ready by summer 09, so Rachny and Taylor have told the stagiers any way. Prices for rooms will be going up starting summer of 09 as well. Apparently the minimun will be the cost of what Peter's Farm currently is, so around 7,000 chf. Not so good. This is just rumors though.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Meeting

I Forgot To Follow Up On The Weird Meeting. I just got out of work and realized this, so what was the meeting about? Nothing. We were just told that the menu for CDV and PFA was going to change due to "the lack of students showing up at the end of semester." The original rumour that the chefs were talking about was that food costs were too high. That sounds more legitimate, but then the dinner chef mentioned to me that they would openly admit that they miscalculated and messed up, so what was said in the meeting was an excuse to sut out expensive menu items. OH, well. I don't eat the food there anyway.

Tonight was interesting. After dinner service, Luigi went home without saying anything to us, and Dave was told by his bosses, Rachny and La Salla, that he was to cover for Luigi. Dave now has to run dinner service, which he knows nothing about, and do the evening stuff. I have the privalege of helping him with teaching service as I have done it most recenlty.

A Change in CDV...For Better or Worse?

There Was An Incident at CDV last night. It can be summarized as such: some students were playing a drinking game called "Flippy Cup" and Luigi asked them to be quite and to leave CDV, and then he flipped out. He got angry at them, though they are the least of the trouble makers who frequent CDV. He proceeded to scream at them and PHYSICALLY try to remove two GIRLS who happen to be american. Americans, I have found, tend to speak up and fight back a lot more than others. Those two girls called thier parents and thier parents contacted Mr. Taylor. Luigi is suspended for the time being. He was going to retire January 29th too, so it is rather unlucky that this happened so near his retirement. It is understandable, in a way, his reaction. He has not been here in the evenings for a whole 3 monthes. He used ot be here every night for years. This place is his baby. A lot has changed in those 3 monthes and he is older and lives in a ocuntry that doesn't change easily. This "snap" could just be his final reaction to the changes that have happened in CDV. I don't really mind him gon, since it reduces the stress levels around CDV, and we can return to how we have been doing things, which has worked and brougt in more guests. I liked him running lunch and dinner service actually so his presence will be missed. I don't know when or if he will be returning.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

CDV is My Life

At Work Yesterday one of the students said some thing like "you're ALWAYS here! You've become a fixture." I find myself feeling the same way. It does seem that I am ALWAYS at CDV. It has become my little restaurant. I'm still in the process of teaching Muli and Joey how things work there and all, and one thing I have noticed, that I would really like to improve upon, is that my teaching method is not the best. Perhaps it is disorganization, I didn't exactly think to plan how to train them, or maybe it is my "throw them in the deep end" approach, but I feel that there is a much more successful way to go about training. I actually somewhat expected Luigi to take charge of that since he is THE manager of CDV, but it was only a passing thought since he is A. Luigi and B. this is Les Roches. All in all it is going well though. When Cherise, Apri, and I were starting, it took us at least 2 monthes before we figured out the "best" ways to run the place. This time around, I can just show and tell Muli and Joey and they will learn it and add there own insights and improve upon the current "way."

My Temper Seems To Be Shorter, which I'm not too pleased with. I don't know if it is just the added stress of the new staff, not getting out as early, new teachers working at CDV during new hours, adding my gym-going back into my life, or a combination of all of that. I have found myself running around stressed a lot more and not necessarily eating enough good food, which is probably a big contributor. Low energy will cause stress and an angry disposition, especially in me. I clearly need to PLAN my meals out otherwise there is little to no hope. I have temporarily started eating animal products again, for a variety of reasons. I still tend to mostly vegetarian meals, and I still avoid dairy and egg. Hopefuly I will return to perky-happy Lia behind the counter again instead of angry-stressy Lia.

Overall things are good. It is October, what, 22nd now! Which means a combination of things. I get paid on the 25th!! And this time I plan to move a good amount into my savings account, and keep only what I need for food and "extras", which include transportation and a new Cell phone. Halloween is coming up!!! CDV will be hosting a Halloween party, of course, and I think I'm going to be zombie (the whole embrace your biggest fears idea). THEN, November 1st is World Vegan Day, and though I am no longer a Vegan, I would still like to celebrate and appreciate it. I want to make some delicious vegan goodies for that day. It is also the day I have marked to start this work out program and track my results, so u might be subscribing to 2 Lia blogs soon, I donno though, we'll see.

Keep smiling and loving yourselves

Monday, October 20, 2008

A New CDV Staff

First Of All I would like to apologize for the lack of posts. No real excuses. I've had a good bit to post about too, so I donno what happened. Oh, yes, I think I do. I'm generally exhausted after work these days and go straight to bed. SO here is the update!

The New Staff Is Here. Joey has now been working at CDV a week, so he's getting into the swing of things, and today was Muli's first day. I definitely feel the added stress of being the most experienced one there. Soon all will equal out again when they gain experience. Betwen working out again and working, I am on my feet for 97% of the day, so I'm pretty pooped by the end of it.

Dave Renewed His Wedding Vows! Dave's wife came all the way from NH to renew thier wedding vows here at the little Bluche chapel. It was a very beautiful ceremony. The catholic preist spoke in french, which made it even more beautiful. After the ceremony they took the whole crowd over to CDV for a party. A quick change of clothes and a fast pace allowed me to work and go to the ceremony. I didn't quite get to enjoy the party, but that's all good. They seemed to really have a good time, and it was nice to see Dave and Jen together all happy and celebratory! :D Sunday night it was, so deep cleaning and getting out of work quite late. I passed out and slept soo nicely and deeply. It was such a nice sleep I am noting here on my blog.

Today I went on a really pleasant fall hike to Montana. I took the path straight up the mountain that puts you right outside of COOP, the local grocery store. I decided to take my hike a little further, to Crans, where I got our next week and a half's worth of groceries at Migros, the bigger local super store. The trees were so red and orange and smelled of fall so strongly! I have pictures I will be posting soon, so you can enjoy the views with me!

I'm pretty pooped right now, so I'm off to bed. Oh, I almost forgot. I have a meeting on Thursday with the whole CDV team and staff and, randomly, Rome, who works in PFA sandwhich shop. Let's just say Rome and I don't really "click," so I am really intrigued as to why he is involved in this meeting...I guess I will find out sson enough.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

My Recent Dr. Visit

I Got The Results for my blood test testing for a bacteria in my tummy and...it's actually kind of funny how I found out the results...very MILDLY funny actually. After many attempts of trying to translate "I need the results of my blood test" into french, it all worked out and she pulls out my file and smiles at me and says, in french, "It is good! It is negative!" I look at her completely crushed and say, "No, that means I don't know what's wrong with me." She looked sadder after that. SO, they made me an appointment with a specialist in Sierre...so I need to figure out where it is as Sierre is rather large. It is on Nov. 17th. So there is some waiting to be done. While I was there I did get the Medical Certificate to prove to the school that I missed work for a legitimate reason.

In Other News Joey has started working at CDV this week, and I already like him. He is a lot more laidback than I expected and has a great sense of humour, so CDV will still have most of the energy from the last few monthes. Cherise is still working too, but this is her last week. She will be leaving to do the hot kitchen in Market Place. I also had something of a spat with one of my fellow stagiers. His name is Rome and he works in the PFA sandwich shop. Essentially, after I told a girl that she could not eat dinner at CDV at the present time because she didn't sign for dinner, Rome decided to sneak her food and allow her to stay in CDV to enjoy the food. I did my part and eventually kicked her out, after Rome tried to defend her, insult me, and override my word. After the fact he said some wonderful things to me that included my favorite "You are my junior. You came from HOI. I have no need to listen to anything you say." Etc. etc. I talked to the head of the stagiers, Mr. Rachny, and he will be doning out a written warning. This is much less that Rome deserves as he has done this to other stagiers more than the allotted amount of written warnings allows for. There is a rumour that he is protected by the school because of some financial donations his family makes. Yay corruption.

I Know I Talk A Lot about eating well and all that jazz, but tend to be rather inconsistant about actually following through with it. I've read a lot of books and have experienced a lot on the subject of health, nutrition, exercise, and the psychology behind it. It is something I am passionate about, probably because of its very foundational position in human existance. I basically wanted to share an e-book I have been reading. It is called Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. I isn't a dieting book, don't worry I'm not trying to lose weight, but it is a book that effectivley explains nutrition and exercise. It also works wonders on the mind. The author, Tom Venuto, has a very personal and down to earth way of talking that makes you understand concepts better than usual. I especially like his section on positive self talk and how to protect yourself from sabotaging your efforts, which is very easy to do in University where few people focus on their health. He knows how to help you keep yourself motivated to go to the gym everyday and eat healthy. I really like this book and will be applying it's concepts more into my life to stay consistant and keep healthy living as a habit. I want to live as long as possible and be able to enjoy that life, especially the later years. I love the idea of being the grandmother who goes hiking with her grand kids and leads canoe trips. I love the idea of having a garden of fruits and veggies to harvest and to teach my kids how to do it. I want to be energetic and enthusiatic for living for my whole life. That is my drive to get these healthy habits ingrained now.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Follow Up

I went to Dr. and she took blood. I should get the results on Monday. I missed work 2 days in a row for medical related reasons...and I forgot to get the "medical certificate" that proves to the school that I was in actuality sick and not just skipping work. So now I need to figure out how to remedy that. I suppose I could just go on Monday to check my results and ask them to write down all the visits I've had in the past to prove I went today. Oh well.

Not Much Else to report. People are slowly trickling back into Bluche. CDV is busier at nights. I'm pretty bored I'll admit it. I crave exercise, but hate the idea of jostling my poor tummy, so the sooner all this is figured out the better.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Bern

I Went To Bern! I figured, living in Switzerland and all, that I should visit the capital, so I did. I have lots of pictures too, so you can follow my journey. I made an outline of where to go by searching Vegan friendly locations, cafes, restaurants, stores, as well as the only large English bookstore nearby and the US Embassy. There is a store at the embassy that sells American goods, so I was hoping for something to strike my fancy, like Almond butter or something (I know I'm crazy) ;P I had a truly marvelous time though. I was able to successfully find a map, not knowing how to say "map" in German. I then decided to find the nearest cafe to draw out my route for the day and low and behold I found a Starbucks! I had to ask a girl who I saw drinking out of a Starbucks cup where it was, and of course it was right in front of both of us. Look up Lia!! So I got my vanilla soy latte and some ginger snaps and laid out my plan. I found that almost everything I wanted to see was right next to each other. I also was very lucky to stumble upon some of the places that were not at their listed locations. That happened with the natural food stores and I think one of the vegan cafes. I also stumbled upon other great sites like the Bern History Museum, Einstein's house, some other cathedral or something, and many great views.

I Spent The First Chunk Of My Time In The Bookstore browsing and picking up delicious books of a mild variety. I got a book called A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. It's about a Chinese girl who goes to London to learn English and falls in love, more for the sake of wanting someone to know than anything else. It shows her gradual learning, the way eastern cultures think, the differences in etiquette, and all her awkward and enlightening moments in our society. It is very good so far. Then I got The Omnivore's Dillema. A book I've been meaning to read. Basically, I've heard a lot about it being a quality read especially for anyone interested in food and the human diet in our society at our current time vs our past. Then I got Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. I don't know why, but something insisted I read it.

I Got A Haircut! Not really all that exciting except for the experience of tryng to communicate with a woman who spoke a little french and even less english. So it was a mixture of broken french, movements, and pointing at magazine pictures. It came out safe, clean. Evened out. I'm happy with it. She really kept the length too, which was really the most important part for me.

My Health has been of some concern to some of you reading my posts, so here is the update. I have gone through my tummy pills and nothing has changed, so I just made another appointment to follow up with the same Dr. It is on Friday, and I will let you all know how it goes. Beside the chronic stuff, I am coming down with the flu. All the symptoms are here...or at least starting to arrive. Head and nech ache. Generally feeling chilly and tired. Body aching. So that will be fun to ride out.

My Mood is high. That trip to Bern really relaxed me and reminded me that there is more to the world than Bluche, Sierre, and Crans-Montana. I got some mini-Moleskines for writing while on the go, which is especially good for my little alone adventures. These are the times I am most able to organize my thoughts.

Work is good. I finished my break and now am back to work again. I did kitchen today, which was tons of fun! I forgot how much I love kitchen. I'm excited for school to start again and I return to the status of student, AND I get to work in the kitchen!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Recent Positivity

Albert and I Went For a Walk to my favorite place in Valais! First he was really keen to go to the small grocery store, which I was stoked about. We went there, by the way it was the coldest day of this semester so far that day (so we were all bundled in fluffy hats and scarves yum!), and bought some groceries and goodies to keep us warm through these cold days that are clearing going to be more frequent. This lead to my first encounter with hot Ovomaltine (also known as Ovaltine in the States). I have found another thing to live for ;) We then went to my cliff spot and enjoyed the view over all of Valais. I have a nice picture from our gander. It was really nice to sit there on the rocks, snuggling, and looking at the view. I was happy.

Today I Went To Sierre with Dave, just to get away from Bluche for a while. Poor Dave had sprained his ankle the night before and was rathy limpy. The trip to Sierre, though still rediculously close to "the area," was like rediscovering a place you go to all the time. I found things there I NEVER knew were there. I found a NATURAL FOOD STORE!!!!!! It sold VEGAN CHEESE!!!! Even my beloved Almond Butter. Soy and Almond Yoghurt, oat, Almond, Rice, and Soy milk. Tofu of different marinations. I just oculdn't believe I found a store that REALLY catered to vegans. The soup they had contained no milk. This is very hard to find in Switzerland. After a splurge of grocery shopping there I proceeded to eat at a wonderful Thai place I'd never been to before, and then to a Chocolaterie! The actual kitchen was open and the public could see it. One guy worked there. Not a whole team of people, just this one guy and maybe his wife too on the days he wants off, I don't know. So we first tasted the free samples of broken chocolate and immediatly fell in love with the place. The quality of the chocolate was memorable. We bought a variety of truffles, sat on thier comfy leather couches and tasted handmade swiss chocolate. This is not a bad life I live.

Tonight We Are Making Dinner! I'm cooking Beef Entricote marinated with balsamic venager, red wine, sat and pepper, fresh onions and garlic, grape juice, and olive oil. We have a red wine onion mushroom gravy to go with it, and I am currently boiling the potatoes for mashed potatoes. For me, I will have artichauke pasta with boiled cabbage, sauteed zuchini and leek, with a Basil Tomatoe sauce. Yum! What a nice day!

Friday, October 3, 2008

A Dramatic Few Days

A Lot Has Happened recently. The Chef had thrown away our pizza and quesadilla ingredients because they were not properly labeled. All of us, the CDV team, were rather angry about it, so I wrote a little something on the wrapping for the newly cut ingrediants. It was a rather tasteless joke, let's leave it at that. The next day, the chef put out the containers in the display case of CDV with a nice sign saying something like, "The professional labeling of your CDV stagiers." He then encouraged the students who came in to eat to take a look and take pictures. He acted very professionally himself, I must say. All of this when I wasn't working. Cherise was working that day and got embarassed and made to cry. It escalated because Dave was very angry that the chef did not go through the proper procedure of talking to him and him punishing me, or talking to me, or whatever the consequence would be. He took pictures of everything that the chef did wrong, wrote letters, and sent them to Taylor and Rachny. We had a meeting yesterday about in which Dave couldn't quite keep his temper and ended up pointing out every inadequecy of Les Roches to Rachny. Cherise, Apri, and I sat there awkwardly while the two of them duked it out. Not so much fun. I have yet to actually be talked to or really affected by my actions. Everyone is so caught up in the drama, that the simple consequence of me being sat down and told that what I did was wrong is completely being overlooked. I wrote an apology letter immidiatly and sent it out, so I covered myself that way. The battle still rages.

Midterm will be me in Bluche and around the area. I will go to Italy probably for a day or something, hopefully visit Steffi in Zurich, maybe pop over to Paris and say hello to Olivia. Amsterdam, which became my plan through invitation recently, fell through because the ticket prices jumped and, to be perfectly honest, I don't feel like flying again anytime soon.