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!
It’s not hard to understand why Grindelwald has been a tourist attraction since the early 1900s. Nestled in one of most stunning valleys of the Jungfrau region of Switzerland, impressive glaciers and waterfalls can be spotted in every direction.
We took the relaxing and eco-friendly option of the train to Grindelwald. Once there, the summer cable cars and regular yellow ‘postbus’ services offer transport to places you can’t access with your own car.
Our hideaway was the friendly Berghuas Bort www.berghaus-bort.ch, situated half-way up the mountain, away from the hustle and bustle of Grindelwald. It’s a 1.5 hr hike, or 10 min cable car ride up the Firstbahn. You can book a double or family rooms (four, five or six pers). There are also two very comfortable 10 person dormitories. The young chef serves up delicious dishes while you dine on the terrace with a breathtaking view of the north face of the Eiger.
By Sarah Frei, Brillantmont International School
The sun is shining and it’s that time of year when we’re all thinking ahead to the long awaited summer holidays, daydreaming of a break in the routine, whether in colder or warmer climes.
Swiss Public schools break for summer in the next couple of weeks, but children in private schools, may already be on holiday. This means a break of anything between 7 to 12 weeks, depending on the kind of school they attend.
Some would argue that having worked hard all year and in some cases prepared successfully for examinations, children deserve to spend their holiday weeks lounging around. Of course, we all need some rest and relaxation, but there’s no reason why the summer holidays should mean switching off completely. Let’s not forget too, that many working parents may have limited or no holidays so they put their childcare juggling skills to the test!
When you employ a nanny it is important to put put together an employment contract to ensure both you and the nanny are protected legally. In Switzerland, there are Standard Employment Contract regulations for Domestic Staff including nannies. Please bear these in mind when drawing up a contract including minimum salaries.
Below are some key points to include in your nanny contract:
- Full name and addresses of both the employee and employer, contact details
- The start date and whether the contract is open ended or fixed
- The duties and responsibilities required in detail
- Salary and contributions / deductions
- Room and board provision if relevant
- Working hours, overtime etc
- A Confidentiality Clause
- Grievance procedure
- Termination, notice and probation clauses
- Holidays, illness etc
- Contact details to call in an emergency
- Special clauses / agreements
Disclaimer – Rockmybaby ® is not an employment lawyer nor specializes in employment law and strongly suggests seeking advice from a lawyer when drawing up an employment contract.
Guest blogger's Bio
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Tanya is Swiss by Nationality and lives in Zurich with her husband, Russell, and her two little girls.
After having her second baby, and understanding only too well the challenges of working and having children (with no family support as they are all back in South Africa), Tanya is determined to provide a service, through her franchise business, Rockmybaby, that will help make life a little easier for families when it comes to childcare. She strives to help parents feel confident in the care of their children so that they can have some well-deserved time-out’s for themselves.
Over her career, Tanya has worked in corporate environments, providing recruitment services to clients across different industries.
Jim O’ Neill has been called the “rock star of economics”, a pragmatic man, a visionary, and a Manchester United enthusiast…oh well you can’t win them all :-D. But perhaps he is best known for creating the acronym BRIC. Originating from a global paper he wrote in 2001, Jim predicted that Brazil, Russia, India and China would dominate growth in emerging markets. Jim worked for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. from 1995 until 2013. Before joining Goldman Sachs; he was head of global research at Swiss Bank Corporation.
Above all these tributes he is open, honest and talks a lot of common sense! I was very fortunate to chat to him and I hope you enjoy the interview as much as did.
Sunita
By Hiba Giacoletto, Healthwise
This Crustless Spinach-Feta Pie makes the perfect healthy, easy addition to your picnics this summer!
This recipe uses frozen spinach. Frozen vegetables (without anything added) are a convenient and healthy alternative to fresh vegetables as they are flash frozen just hours after being picked, ensuring the greatest amount of nutrient is retained.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can have all the ingredients handy and whip it together last minute. I always make sure I have frozen vegetables like spinach in the freezer and Feta is one of my staples as it lasts for months in the fridge. I also always have eggs, as they make the perfect healthy fast food and often keep my garlic peeled in a jar in the fridge.
Quick, simple, tasty and with no extra grocery planning needed – what more to ask for from a recipe?
INGREDIENTS
- 500g frozen spinach leaves (with nothing added)
- 2 medium-large eggs or 3 small eggs
- 2-3 cloves garlic (depending on their size and your love of garlic)
- 1 block Feta cheese, chopped into small pieces
- Salt, pepper & ground nutmeg to taste
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Take frozen spinach from the freezer and place in a pot with 2 tablespoons water. Cover pot and leave on medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While the spinach is cooking, chop the Feta and peel the garlic.
- Once the spinach is cooked, crack the eggs in a bowl and whisk to mix, adding the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the mixture to the spinach and stir, then add the chopped Feta and pressed garlic and stir well again.
- Transfer to a pie dish and press down the mixture with a spatula so that it is well packed. Try to include as little liquid as possible when you transfer the mixture to the pie dish.
- Place in the oven for 30 minutes then take it out and leave to cool before serving.
Author's bio
Hiba Giacoletto is a Certified Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) with a Masters Degree in Psychology
Hiba helps people lose weight, feel more energetic or take control of their eating without diets or deprivation. She believes that no one way of eating or living works for everyone and that it is about experimenting to find what truly works for you. She uses a unique blend of NUTRITION + PSYCHOLOGY + COACHING to help people start trusting their body's wisdom to make food and lifestyle choices that enable them to look and feel their best. She is convinced that regardless of what you might have tried in the past, she can help you get unstuck, overcome self-sabotage behavior and find your mojo!
You can book a FREE 45 minute Health Chat via her website, www.healthwise.ch to find out whether Health Coaching is right for you.
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