Guest Blogs
Knowitall.ch often invites local experts in their field to contribute to their own blogs on our site. This means not only you will benefit from the useful recommendations that we make on our News pages, but you can also profit from some of the great advice and tips that these experts have to make on their favorite subjects. Whilst each of these bloggers has been recommended to us at some point during the evolution of Know-it-all passport and knowitall.ch, obviously we are not able to test out all the suggestions they make on their blogs, nor do we necessarily agree with all their opinions. So if you do find one of their tips useful (or not!), do let us know!
To make these blogs more accessible to you, we have now decided to group them altogether in one section, entitled Guest Blogs, accessible from our main menu bar. We will also post the most recent blogs on the home page of our site in the right hand column.
We are still building up this area of the site, and are looking for bloggers in a number of sections, including Your Home, Travel, and Leisure, so if you feel you have a useful contribution to make in either of these areas, and have the time to submit blog entries approximately every month, then please get in touch!
By Hiba Giacoletto, Healthwise
This is my go-to recipe on days when I don't feel like cooking, especially in winter.
It is a very versatile recipe that uses lentils, your choice of vegetables, tomato sauce and a mix of herbs such as rosemary, thyme and oregano. I also add in some more umami taste to enhance the flavor with some blended dried tomatoes (you can buy them without the oil) as well as a dash of red wine vinegar just before serving. In many traditional lentil recipes you will see lemon or vinegar added at the end of the preparation because it really 'lifts' the flavor while making the lentils easier to digest. Also, make sure you never salt lentil until they are cooked.
I usually use green or brown lentils as they don't become mushy, which I prefer for this stew. Lentils are a great source of protein, fiber, folate, potassium and magnesium while being quite easy and quick to prepare since they don't need soaking like beans.
By Denise Nickerson, Educational Consultant
It’s December, and for millions of high school seniors, or students in their final year of secondary school, it’s crunch time for college and university applications. Many colleges and universities (and even UCAS, the UK higher education application clearinghouse) have January deadlines for application materials. Before they take their IB, AP, Bac, or Matu exams, they are preparing the first job applications of their lives – applying to become uni students in the fall. For all students, but especially for international students, transcripts are a very important, heavily weighted part of the university application file.
What are transcripts?
Official transcripts are academic records. They are documents issued by a school or university that provide an educational record. They include dates, subjects studied, some kind of indication of how much time was spent studying each subject, and grades or evaluation received for each academic subject. On a transcript, it should be obvious if the student in question successfully completed his courses or not. Academic credit received may also be evident. Transcripts exist in almost every country, and are used by schools and universities all over the world. They cannot be created by a parent or a student, but must be issued, printed, certified or created by an educational institution (a school, college, university, or other professional institute). Report cards or grade reports can be made into transcripts if a school does not have a transcript system in place (usually with stamps and signatures obtained officially at the school).
By Anouk Mathern, Prise en Flagrant Délire
Christmas is still around the corner but discounts and sales boards are already popping up all over Geneva. Low prices are of course great for saving money on items we need. Unfortunately, the psychology of sales shopping can quickly take over and drive normally sane human beings out of spending control. Whether you really need the latest hit bag or those great shoes, the lure of a bargain and the money you spend are justified by a seemingly sound reasoning — "I'm not spending money. I'm saving it because I've got what I want at a cheap rate!" Here are a few golden rules to consider before you hit the shops.
© Elargis Tes Horizons
By Denise Nickerson, Educational Consultant
On November 16th at Uni Mail in Geneva, nearly 400 girls participated in a day of workshops, interaction with women scientist mentors, a career fair and lunch. The girls, all age 11-14 were enjoying the third Elargis Tes Horizons event to come to Geneva since 2009. Many of them found out about the event through flyers that were distributed to girls in the Geneva area public schools. Girls from other cantons, France, and private schools were also welcomed. Incredibly, this event was entirely free of charge.
35 interactive workshops were offered, all led by women working in Science, Technology, Engineering or Math careers, or STEM careers. Workshops were offered in French and/or English. Each attendee was able to attend two workshops of her choice, and have one workshop period to visit the career fair and talk with professionals working in the sciences. Over 80 volunteers were on hand to help the girls register and find their workshops. Parents were also welcomed to interact with a panel of experts about how to support their daughters in the pursuit of scientific study and professions.
Read the full blog entry from Rosa's Yummy Yums
One New Year's eve, I wanted to make something which would be stressless, not finicky/fussy at all, cheap and yet very tasty as well as festive. That's how I fell into that gorgeous Marcus Samuelsson recipe...
In fact, I had been meaning to taste "Gravelax" for some time, but somehow never got to make it. As I love smoked salmon, I was pretty sure that I would adore it's Scandinavian close cousin.
"Gravlax" or "Gravadlax" is salt-cured raw salmon (it is NEVER smoked) which is rubbed with a mixture of sugar, salt, pepper and fresh dill. It is generally served as apperitive and accompanied by a dill-mustard sauce named "Hovmästarsås". "Lax" means "salmon" and "grav" literally means "grave" or "whole in the ground". At the origin, during Medieval times, "Gravlax" was in fact salmon buried into the ground... This delicacy can be found in Sweden and Denmark ("Gravlax/Gravadlax"), Finland ("Graavilohi"), Norway ("Gravlaks") as well as in Iceland ("Graflax").
