Category: Blog

You Can Do This Instead

mizarwen

Summer has finally arrived and everyone is eager to get out and have some fun. Unfortunately, having a tight budget can put a damper on your summer plans. However, being broke does not mean you should miss out on all the excitement and adventures that summertime has to offer. Here are some of the best ways to enjoy yourself when you are broke and cannot travel.

You just explore what is around you. The chances are that there are several hidden gems around your locality that you have never experienced. Take a walk around your area and scout for small parks, nature trails, or even a small beach close by. You may be surprised at what you will find. When I am broke and want to have some fun with my kid, I take him to explore places we have never been to before. It could be a new park, an art gallery, or even a museum.

The last weekend, we visited a few of free attractions around the town close to where we live. There are several. But two caught my attentions. Thanks to the TikTok I’ve watched the other day. Me and my husband did research within 15 mins away from our house there’s a place where can view two rivers merging in Geneva and a small zoo close to that attraction. So I guess it is worth to visit the place without breaking the bank.

Confluence of Two Rivers

View of the two rivers from the Jonction bridge, Geneva mizarwen
Two different rivers have different colors. Breathtaking!

We viewed the breathtaking atractions from the Jonction bridge. It is the best view to witness this. Two different rivers (from Rhone and Arve rivers) joining together into one.

Before we came to the bridge, we discovered a new small playground with kids pool but it’s a little secluded yet I saw there were families bring their kids to the place although they haven’t open the pool for public yet. If it’s open next time I guess I can bring my daughter here and have some picnic. She can cool off in the water while me and husband pig out. Lol. It is a perfect way to beat the scorching summer heat. I haven’t planned the picnics yet. Perhaps when the summer holiday started then I can plan what the best day to do it. The perfect day is when there’s a little windy and not too hot.

Animal Park, De la Batie

A walkway to go to Bois-de-la-Batie animal park from the Jonction bridge mizarwen.com
Short walk to go up to the animal park.

Next stop was the Animal Park Bois-de-la-Batie, Geneva. You have to walk on the not-too-steep walkway to the top of the hill and walked past a restaurant, Cafe De la Tour, Petit-Lancy. You can take a short rest at the cafe but we didn’t stop there as my daughter urged us to continue our walk😅

Daughter petting a goat animal park Bois-de-la-Batie Geneva mizarwen.com
Attention, mon cherie!

The animal park was just beside the restaurant. I didn’t know where the entrance was but the back gate at that time can be entered by visitors. Since it was unguarded I guess we can simply enter the place as long as we close the gate after we enter.

An unkempt animal park which we can observe numerous species of animals, mostly birds and farm animals. I’m quite surprised that my daughter looked super excited and interested to pet the animals especially the tortoises and the goats there than our last visit to Basel Zoo last time. Luckily they didn’t bite her finger. Lol.

A nice kindergarten is provided as well in the park so it’s a nice spot to visit if you have kids who love animals.

What is your plan for the summer?

Extended Holiday

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Now we don’t encourage parents to do this, but since Mr. Hubby only had his off day after the Easter school holiday and the Muslim month of celebration, Eid’Ul Fitri three days happened right after the holiday, we informed the school that my daughter wouldn’t go to school for that three days. I don’t know if she understood it but she was looking so happy when we woke up a little bit late than usual (Her school alarm is always set off at 7 am)

April 24th, 2023

Mizarwen train ride
Train ride to the unplanned destination.

So we figured since my autistic daughter likes to stay so long on the train ride, we decided to spend most of this day on the train and hop on and off to three different stops Bern, Basel, and Zurich train stations just to stretch our legs. She wasn’t pleased we got off the ride. But it has to be done. If not, our old legs and bum would be numb from sitting too long. Lol.

April 25th, 2023

The initial plan was to get the rest of my daughter Fruitea’s favorite drink from this shop where we ordered and thought they already had it in hand. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Pasar Indonesia, Mohlin they said they ordered just a few days ago when we had been waiting for beverages for months. We weren’t that disappointed despite the three hours ride to find this place. We felt grateful that some of the things we couldn’t get anywhere else in Geneva, they have them at the shop.

mizarwen pasar Indonesia Mohlin

The shop was situated in an isolated place, but the GPS never failed us.

We were greeted by 2 friendly middle-aged women. There are rows of food racks on the left side of the store and other non-food sections on the right side when you walk into the shop. I was pleased to find Belinjo in the snack area. Bruneians called it Tangang. It would be nice if, after you fry them, you mix them with butter and honey like this recipe. A great snack to nibble while watching your favorite K-drama overnight. Lol.

Mizarwen interior and snacks from Pasar Indonesia

Our next stop was the PUMA outlet, Oensingen. Unfortunately, we have not found the Spongebob edition. They provide just a tiny corner of the section. How can that be? We expected much from a place this big. Hmph.

Our last trip of the day was to have our bellies full at IKEA, Lyssach. The furniture mall was not as crowded as in Geneva so it was a pleasant, peaceful late lunch.

Mizarwen lunch at IKEA, Lyssach

April 26th, 2023

The search for my daughter’s PUMA sneakers continued today. We went to the other design factory, Fish Fashion in Schonwerd. A really confusing route to get there. Even though Mr. Hubby was here twice, he wasn’t sure 😀

Shopping design outlet Fish Fashion Switzerland mizarwen

Yet, we couldn’t find the sneaker. Our bellies were groaning by the time we ended the long search. So we concluded this trip by getting our lunch at Singapore Restaurant in Zurich. I guess this is only a halal Malay restaurant. If you ever come here I recommend you the Laksa. It’s delicious!

Mizarwen lunch at Singapore Restaurant Zurich

Productive Ramadhan

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As a matter of fact, that happened long before Ramadhan this year. I felt so motivated to try new recipes of Brunei traditional cakes (kuih) because my main goal is if I succeed in baking them perfectly Id open a food business when I return to Brunei for good in the future.

I was completely hard core trying to do it every week during this year’s Ramadhan. The recipe wasn’t my recipe, I found it on YouTube. These traditional cakes I made last month were…

Made by moi

The Beginning…

One of the kuih that attracted a lot of attention was Serimuka. I’m not sure why. It’s not my favorite. I only chose to do it because my husband really wanted to eat so as a good wife *cough, cough I baked it, and to my surprise on the first attempt it baked nicely. There were so many leftovers that we decided to give them to his colleagues. From there, orders continued to come and my last order (hopefully not the last) was for the open house celebration of Hari Raya at the residence of the Brunei ambassador.

I know I’m still yet to learn more about baking, but I can pick which kuih should I sell when I’m ready to come back home.

The Price

The only thing I feel so difficult at this time is the cost of purchasing the ingredients is not as cheap as when you live in Switzerland. For example, 1kg of flour here is about CHF2.10 but in Brunei, 1kg is only BND1.55 which is converting CHF0.68 only. And there are ingredients that can’t be found, or maybe I don’t know what the packaging looks like here. Many of the baking needs gula apong/gula anau/gula Nipah because the texture is still soft and liquidy when adding this into the mix so when it bakes it’ll not harden the kuih. This is the opposite result when you only use palm sugar, although they said you can replace the gula anau with it. I think only the professional is capable of deciphering the code here. Lol. I’m still starting out, so I need to learn more and more.

  • Serimuka/Bingka Pandan/Bingka Ubi – $1.50 / 5 pieces
  • Pinyaram/Ondeh Ondeh/Puteri Mandi – $1.00 / 5 pieces

Oh, those who are curious to know how much the price of kuih sell in Brunei, here I give you the list of general prices for your information.

They typically sell them in disposable clear plastic containers such as this one.

I hope there are more kuih or non-traditional cakes I could bake next time. I plan on making Mini Chicken Quiche, Raya biscuits, Kosui, and Puding Suji. Yes, there are many of them. Lol. I hope that happens as I hope.

What are your favorite Hari Raya cakes or biscuits?

Oh, Syawal!

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We are still in the month of Syawal. Happy Eid’ Ul Fitri to all my Muslim readers.

This year too, my family did not celebrate this special day because we are not in Brunei. Early morning of the first day of Syawal, I didn’t even greet my husband and in-law because I was waiting for the 2nd day of Syawal where all Bruneians celebrated the Eid’Ul Fitri (1st Syawal in Switzerland fell on 21st April) so that we could feel the Syawal mood together.

It was also my older brother’s 42nd birthday on the 1st Syawal. Through the WhatsApp video call, I could see they had a blast celebration. I was so happy to see everybody smiling and having a good time, including my mom and dad. These are the only faces I want to see first thing in the morning of Syawal.

As what our family tradition would always be, (when we were not yet married) early morning around 6 am together with my siblings, we prepared last minutes all the cakes and biscuits on special crystal containers to be served to the guests who later coming that day. We always wear our new sometimes old or new baju kurung (traditional female Malay costume) whilst my brother and dad wearing their baju cara melayu (traditional male Malay costume). My mother always the one who turns on the radio and takbir (proclaim the greatness of Allah s.w.t. which is recite during first Syawal) could be heard early in the morning. I was also my mother’s co-cook and kitchen assistant, preparing ingredients, doing the food tasting, washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen afterwards. FYI, my parents are great cooks. So first Syawal they usually cook Chicken Kurma, Curry Beef, and Mixed Veggies. These are the main dishes and are well known for the delicious taste among our relatives. Once all is ready, it is time for me and my siblings to ask forgiveness for our past bad deeds to both my parents. No angpau (green packet contain money varies from $1-$10) be given unlike what you see in the Raya Tv commercial. We never expected that from them, and I don’t think we have to. But now that we were all married and have a family of our own we give the angpau to our nephews and nieces and the kids who come to visit the house. It’s a different vibe if you’re away from your family. I miss that moment so much. Wish I was with them now.

My first Eid’Ul Fitri in Geneva, as usual, just like any normal day, but this year I was given a task to make Serimuka, a traditional cake made from sticky white rice with pandan layered on top. My first attempt surprisingly, was successful, but never have I expected the Brunei ambassador wanted me to make 3 trays of Serimuka for the 2nd day of Eid-Ul Fitri where she invited some guests to come to her residence. I had to do all 3 of them a day before and only around 2am I could finally go to bed.

Serimuka I made

So my Muslims readers how you celebrate your Eid’Ul Fitri in your country?

All The Way From Brunei

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This is a long-due post which supposedly posted last 2 months.  Unlike an ordinary day,  I received a parcel that came from my country,  Brunei. It was a parcel that contains cute stationery,  a gift from my old blogger friend, Aznur. 

I’m super excited to receive them even though a few of them were secondhand. She said it would be wasted for her to throw them away so she gifted them to me. I was kinda feel guilty although it wasn’t me who really want this (but still feeling excited) I wouldn’t make her send anything to Switzerland because the shipping as big as this parcel may cost her over 50bnd. 50bnd is like the price of eating sushi for 2 persons in Brunei, you know. How can I repay such generosity? I used to be a traditional bullet journaler but I migrated myself to digital and I’ve been using this method for 3 years already so I think I already know what to send to her back. It’s been in my mind long before she sent this to me.

But, I guess I keep that a secret for now. Hehe.

Spring, Ramadhan and updates

mizarwen

Hello, lovelies!

I apologize for not giving you any updates about life, uh, not that anyone would even care, but I guess seeing this site still exists and the plan still running I feel obliged to write something.

Chirp! Chirp!

Spring’s here. Yet I’m not ready yet to let go of my sweater (or my winter jacket). The crispness of the cold air still embraced me and the warmth of the sun crept only for a few days last week. So sometimes I get confused:D Do you feel the same as I do?

Ramadhan Mubarak

Image to show I baked something for my blog mizarwen.com

Despite the strange weather transition, my family and I are fortunate that we do not have to fast Ramadhan in the summer as in previous years. At least we didn’t feel that thirsty and agitated since the weather is still cold. The sungkai (as Bruneians said when they break the fast) time is not as long as during the summertime when we have to wait until 10+pm to break the fast. 8+pm is nonetheless doable.

I have so many plans for food that I want to cook for Sungkai. It’s the only time when I feel the motivation to cook and try new recipes is at its highest. I didn’t even feel embarrassed if the attempt failed in front of my mother-in-law. Lol.

The Lost

Sad it ever happened. This is the answer to my hiatus that happened last August. I couldn’t constantly produce many stickers every month since then because my father passed away and we had to go back to Brunei the next day after we heard the news. My brain could not function properly at that time and I felt so unproductive. The loss was so sudden as to truly open our eyes. And since my mother-in-law only had him in her life and now he’s gone, we are the one who needs to take care of her. We brought her to live with us in Geneva. Hence, why I mentioned her earlier.

The Online Shop

I don’t want to give up yet selling my stickers on Etsy. I said six months, that’s the only time I put this up for trial. If there aren’t any sales, I’ll close the shop. Then six months went by, and STILL no sales. I have no idea what I did wrong. Is it because my stickers are not cute enough? Are they expensive? Or I didn’t do a lot of promotion?

Those of you who have the answer, please give me some advice and I allow you to criticize my shop so I can make a few improvements. Check my Etsy here and please leave a few reviews here. That makes me happy.

Webtoon

I have talked about it many times and I have postponed the release many times. Those who have been waiting for so long that I publish my webcomic on Webtoon, I truly apologized. The process took longer than I thought and only in the first month of this year I was back on the job. I now safely say that it is left for the proofreader aka my husband to check the comic before I posted it on Webtoon. So stay tuned guys for the update😉

Happy Spring and Ramadhan Mubarak to all, wish you all a happy, safe, and blessed Ramadhan❤️