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!
Photo courtesy of spekulator
By Crissy Mueller, Writing that Works
If you are thinking of setting up your own business, one of your first decisions will be what to call it. The name you choose will be the basis for your whole branding/marketing strategy – and will hopefully create a powerful first impression.
The fun part (at least, for us right-brain thinkers) is coming up with something catchy and original. There are lots of resources and tools to do this, many just a mouse click away, including everything from articles written by experts on latest trends to mind mapping and other tools to get your creative juices going.
But then there is the whole, legal/administrative side to consider, which is what I want to focus on here. There are a few limitations particular to Switzerland that it’s good to be aware of before you launch into the creative part. If you’re an expat lacking fluency in one of the country’s official languages, finding information about these legal guidelines in English all in one place is not so easy. I am by no means an expert on all this, but here are a few useful things to keep in mind from my personal experience as a fellow expat, to give you a place to start.
Read the full blog entry from Rosa's Yummy Yums
After having spent one week away recently, cooking uncomplicated meals, not baking at all and hardly being challenged culinary-wise, I was glad to rebound with my kitchen and put my brand new oven to work again. In order to celebrate our coming home, I prepared a semi guilt-free tart* with the last plums (one of my favorite dessert fruits) of the season and my trademark low-fat pastry.
This home classic and personal invention is easy to put together, but it is nonetheless almighty exquisite and deliciously homey. A heavenly treat which is best savored with a glass of quality Porto or a cup of tea and while nostalgically remembering past travel adventures.
* It contains about 95g butter less than the ones confectioned with shortcrust dough.
Plum Tart With Scone Pastry & Mascarpone
Recipe by Rosa Mayland, November 2012.
Serves 4-6.
Ingredients For The "Scone Pastry":
338g Plain flour
2 Tsp Baking powder
1 Tsp Fine sea salt
75g Unsalted butter
38g Castor sugar
Milk, enough to form a firm dough
Ingredients For The "Filling":
250g Mascarpone, softened
120g Light brown sugar
740g Plums, halved and stoned
Cinnamon, to taste
Method For The "Scone Pastry":
1. Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a 28cm (11 inches) tart pan.
2. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, then rub in the butter.
3. Stir in the sugar.
4. Add the milk and incorporate well (with the help of a knife) by cutting and turning the dough until it forms a clean ball.
5. Roll out the pastry and line the base of your tart pan.
6. Trim the edges and prick the base of the tart with a fork.
Method For The "Filling":
7. Spread the mascarpone over the base of the tart and sprinkle 50g light brown sugar over the cheese.
8. Place the plums, cut side up, in neat concentric circles in the tart shell. Cowd the fruits, but do not overlap.
9. Sprinkle the cinnamon and leftover sugar over the fruits.
10. Bake for about 40 to 50 minutes, until the fruits are soft and the crust is golden brown.
11. Cool on a wire rack.
12. Serve.
Remarks:
You can replace half of the plain flour by whole wheat flour and the castor sugar by light brown sugar.
For this recipe I used quetsch plums (the best plums, in my opinion), but any other type of plum (fresh or frozen) or fruit (pluots, mirabelles, apples, pears, peaches, etc...) will do.
Serving suggestions:
Serve for tea time or dessert, with a glass of Porto or a cup of tea.
Drizzle a little runny honey over the top of the tart if you find that it is not sweet enough for your taste.
Author's Bio
Rosa Mayland, the creator of Rosa’s Yummy Yums, lives in a small Geneva countryside village situated in the French speaking part of Switzerland - a few meters away from the French border. She’s an Anglo-Swiss food enthusiast who loves photography, loud rock or electronic music, walks in the countryside, meeting interesting people, cats, books and independent films. When she’s not writing for her blog, you’ll also find her over at The Rambling Epicure, a daily international food chronicle and online newspaper to which she contributes as a freelance writer.
As you can imagine, she is very passionate about cooking/baking and can spend hours surfing the net for inspiration, reading blogs, creating dishes, testing new recipes or going through cookbooks and magazines. She is crazy about flavorful and soul-uplifting grubs, spices and yummy textures, therefore she’s particularly fond of Asian, Caribbean, Mediterranean, South American, Middle Eastern delights as well as regional and traditional specialities!
Rosa has kindly agreed to let us post some of the recipes from her blog on knowitall.ch. Each month we will feature a new dish from her site, but due to space limitations we will only publish the recipes listed in each blog entry. However, you MUST click on the link provided with each recipe to read for yourself the inspiration behind each of the dishes prepared by Rosa and to see the wonderful collection of photos accompanying each dish. Many of these photos have been taken at locations in and around Geneva - see if you can work out where they have been taken!
Personal branding has become a buzzword in recent years and it is commonly accepted that each and every one of us is a brand except we just don't know it…..
But as luck would have it I have just finished reading an excellent book about Personal branding by John Purkiss and David Royston-Lee of Brand You — Turn Your Unique Talents Into A Winning Formula and as the authors state in their book, “Building your brand is about discovering the talents you love to use, as well as your values and your purpose. Everything else – including your goals, objectives, aims and personal brand statement – flows from these discoveries about yourself.”
I have used exercises in this book with countless clients (including myself) and some younger clients too (my boys aged 13, and 17)….and it always works; it always gives clients a richer understanding of who they are and always gives them a clearer indication where they want to be. Most significantly it gives a better insight into their own personal brand, their own identity and their own talents.
Here is what to do
- Start with a blank sheet of paper. In a column on the left hand side, make a list of the high points – or peak experiences – in your life.
- Your high points could occur in any area of your life, including school, university, work, hobbies, travel, time with your family or playing sport.
- The more experiences you identify and note down, the more material you have to work with.
- The second step is to question each high point. Which talents were you using and which did you enjoy the using the most?
- With what kind of people? In what kind of situation? You may notice themes connecting the high points. This will tell you the talents you love to use and the way you enjoy using them.
- Now it is time to discover your values — the things you believe are important.
- On another blank sheet of paper, make a list of everyone you admire. Think of your family, friends, current and former colleagues, famous people, fictional people, cartoon characters and so on. Even if you admire someone for one particular attribute, and nothing else, you should still include them on your list.
- Now note down the qualities you admire about each person. It's entirely up to you what you write. Again, it does not have to be socially acceptable.
This exercise can be done individually or in a group. It is really very insightful.
As they say in their book “once you have an understanding of your talents and your values, you have the basis for building a very strong brand.”
Good luck!
References: John Purkiss is the co-author with David Royston-Lee of Brand You — Turn Your Unique Talents Into A Winning Formula http://www.brandyou.info/
Bio
Sunita Sehmi was born in London and is of Indian origin. She has a Psychology degree and a Post Grad in the Development and Training for Adults from the University of Surrey.
She began her career in the recruitment industry where she worked in Executive Finance Recruitment in the city of London. Upon her arrival in Geneva, she completed the advanced level Cambridge University training certificate (CELTA) and thus began a career in teaching, training and development. She has taught English and Communication skills both in companies and in educational institutions for over twenty years. She is now the founder of Walk The Talk. www.walkthetalk.ch
Sunita lives Geneva with her husband and their two boys. She is currently studying towards a Masters in Career Management and Coaching at the University of Geneva, Lausanne, Neuchatel and Fribourg.
By Diana Ritchie, Spouse Career Center and Swiss Career Connections
Swiss Career Connections recently ran a workshop entitled “Inside secrets to becoming a top candidate”. Held at the Chambre Vaudoise du Commerce et de l’Industrie (CVCI) http://www.cvci.ch/ in collaboration with International Link http://www.internationallink.ch/, the workshop was designed to help those looking for “the edge” on how to secure a job in the Lake Geneva region. Judging by the feedback of our participants, many of our secrets were particularly well received!
One topic that was covered in the workshop was the so-called “Elevator Pitch”. This is such an important part of the job search process that we are frequently asked, as experts on the topic, to provide more information on how it works at local seminars and workshops. So, I thought as a gift to everyone, I would share with you the elements of a successful elevator pitch so you may also benefit.
What is an Elevator Pitch? An elevator pitch, as the name indicates, is a pitch that is short enough to fit within an elevator journey. Why is it necessary? An elevator pitch is seen as a hook that incites the receiver (the person you are speaking with) to say “tell me more”, to pose follow up questions, to ask for your business card, to invite you for a meeting, or to refer you to someone else. Why is this important? Well imagine you are face to face with the manager of your ideal job, or the golden client, or a colleague at work and he asks “So what do you do?” Do you have an answer prepared or will you stumble your way through, perhaps losing an opportunity?
One of our best performing funds within our portfolios is the Coral Student Portfolio.
The Coral Student Portfolio is a managed liquidity fund which targets sustainable returns of 8-10% per annual net. It’s the most diversified student accommodation portfolio in the sector and provides a valuable benefit package for all its investors. Coral offers the first fund-of-funds in this dynamic and ever growing asset class. Investors are provided with access to funds generally only available within an intuition.
Fund Managers John Kennedy and Lawrence Frampton confirm that
“A key element of our Fund’s investment strategy is to target locations offering the best value over a period of time. Their structure lends flexibility in selecting the best opportunities in this popular asset class. This market is maturing and investors focus must be on location and operator pedigree with an emphasis on top-tier universities.”
