That is what my new friend Melanie has named our little luncheon group, and I have to admit that one of the highlights of not working (among many) is being able to meet up with some like-minded gals who love food and experiencing different things as much as I do. Plus the advice exchange is invaluable! Our new mission statement involves trying out as many different Geneva restaurants as possible (in a reasonable price range obviously) every week. One of the first weeks we went to a teahouse called Le The, which served the best tea and dim sum I've ever had. Granted, I don't eat dim sum very often, but hey the point is, it was great. And now that the weather here is getting cooler by the day, warm tea is very appealing to my anti-cold personality. Plus it's right around the corner from where we live! I'm so glad that we chose to be in center city because it affords us an opportunity to be in the action and close to everything. We're in a more student inclined area, which is fine by me, because jeans and sneakers fit in perfectly, and there are more thai restaurants in the vicinity of our house than I can shake a stick at, which is great for me, and doom for Tyler. :) He thinks I'm slightly obsessed with Thai food, which is probably true because it is surprisingly so easy to get all the supplies you need to make really great green curries and drunken noodles. It's helping ease the pain of not having a lot of korean food around, ok AFFORDABLE korean food around. A kimchijigae (kimchi soup) back home would have cost maybe 7 bucks, here it's thirty. Ah Geneva. However, I did get some kim (seaweed laver sheets) in a care package that I've been gobbling down with rice, so that's been helping alot, and I even gave a try at making kimchi. That wasn't so successful as I think I didn't rinse the salt enough off of the cabbage before dousing it with garlic and red pepper powder. So it's a little too salty, but I think I've learned my lesson and am ready to try try try again, much to Tyler's chagrin, ha ha. Can't believe he invented a new bad word just to describe kimchi!
So I can get really lazy, and as such this is the continuation of the draft blog I had started awhile ago. Part of it is Tyler's fault, as he now calls this blog HIS blog, and he has become very possessive of it (love you honey!!!!), but it's rather cute. So since going to Le The a few weeks ago, the Non-Desperate Geneva Housewives (otherwise known as NDGH) group has expanded to around 10 members, and we've gone to Vietnamese, Indian, and Sushi. The Indian was very yummy and a great deal because it was a buffet, the first buffet I've seen in Geneva! And let me tell you, I went to TOWN on that buffet. Talk about getting your money's worth! Although the service was absolutely atrocious; I nearly got into a fight with the snotty waiter. They don't get paid on tips here, and unfortunately it is reflected in the service sometimes. Everyone who knows me, knows that I'm a really easygoing, non-trouble-wanting kind of person, but this guy just made me want to throw down. Regardless, I paid him back by polishing off all of the chicken dishes in the buffet line by going up for seconds and thirds. Ok, not really. Ok, maybe :)
The lunchgroup has just been so much fun and such a great way to meet new friends; one of my biggest fears coming over here, was not being able to establish a network of friends very easily. I'm just a very social person and there is nothing more I like than to have a good chat or just to commiserate. Well, I'm very lucky to have found that in these girls, as well as some other people we've met through the expat network sites. I think our transition to living here has gone so smoothly because of that, and I know Tyler likes that I'm not pining away waiting for him to come home. Well, I know secretly he'd like that, but after awhile I think it would start to annoy him.
Today the NDGH group had lunch at Sushi Misuji, which is literally maybe a six minute walk from me (love that!) and I was surprised by how good my spicy tuna roll was. And the miso soup. I was expecting some kind of spicy mayonnaise gob concoction, but what came out was a very nice sized roll with large chunks of avocado and tuna, sprinkled with sesame and spicy pepper. Very yummy, and totally satisfied my sushi kick. There's something to be said about a really good sushi roll laden with wasabi and soy sauce...I felt very content, sitting there with my chopsticks poised on its way to bringing me goodness, listening to the gab around me. Life is good.
Next up: Budapest!
