Room in Zurich / Rote Fabrik / Trois Pommes Factory outlet

Yesterday I had my first go checking out rooms in Zurich. I figure it's gonna be tough. Not that the appartments were bad, but out of the three there wasn't really one that I totally liked - plus in each there were around 5 other visitors that checked it out only in the 5 minutes when Eva and I were there...

But from my first impression I gonna primarily focus on Wollishofen, it's pretty green there, close to the lake, and still pretty close to the city.

After we checked out a room there we went to the "Rote Fabrik" to get some dinner. It's a old production site with studios, exhibition areas, concert space etc., but also with a really nice bar / restaurant, directly at the lake. As we had seats right at the window we had a faboulous lake view in the evening and food was really good and not pricey at all. Also it's a really lively location, people discussing, laughing, reading, working, playing, everything... - cool atmosphere. Also they have a big outer area right at the lake, should be really good in summertime.

If you go there don't forget to check out the Trois-Pommes factory outlet which is almost in the direct neighbourhood just some blocks away if you follow the road down the lake southwards, also on the left-hand side like the "rote Fabrik. But be warned: as the have Gucci and Prada and the like, even the checkout is not exactly cheap, but there might be a good deal if you're lucky.

n tables

Wow, pretty cool tables, check out their home page on myspace..





and, a friend of n-tables, "Salcön"... - seems to be a band, and includes pretty cool and weird art stuff... - maybe they'll be featured in the art fair "Liste 2007" in Basel in three weeks time?

mymuesli.com

Up to now, all the projects in this section were direct friends of mine, so this time a novelty by presenting a project of a good friend of a friend of a good friend of mine: mymuesli.com . Basic idea: custom made muesli.


So first things first I wanted to do a reality check to my beloved "Seitenbacher" muesli, and as I am more the "basic" muesli eater keeping it real with almost no add-ons, I randomly picked a more complicated muesli mix from the Seitenbacher shop . It's called Müsli 721 (codename: indulgent mix..) and contains raspberries, blackberries, black currants (Johannisbeeren), raisins and apples plus almond reeds added. Trying to reproduce this in the mymuesli shop I picked a basic mix and ... only found raisins, apples as well as the almonds. Mh. Okay, lets pick three substitutes for the missing berries, I go for figs (Feigen), Mangos and cherries. Going to the checkout this makes 7.00 EUR for 575g corresponding to 12.17 EUR per kg while Seitenbacher is at 3.99 for 750g or 5.32 per kg. Summary: maybe the random choice was disadvantegous, but I didn't get what I hypothetically wanted or would have gotten at Seitenbacher, also it's not exactly cheap, but maybe I picked relatively more expensive ingredients.


Yet to be fair, the choice of other ingredients is really cool and large, and the coolnes factor of customizing your own muesli shouldnt be underestimated, I figure there'S a lot of folks out there who like the Seitenbacher Mix X but always have to go through some pains to pick out ingredient Y or separately buying ingrediant Z and add it.

Further thoughts (consultants disease to always make suggestions..)
- to me it looks like a black socks business model, people need the muesli in some fixed intervalls, so they should probably offer combi-packages for a year or so in addition to the regular shop; I'm not quite sure if this would help with prices because it would have to be mixed fresh each quarter year
- I'm not quite sure about the positioning of the product, from my random sample it looks like it's potentially twice as expensive as a standard muesli, so it'S probably a premium product
- is this scaleable? it's highly customized, so probably a lot of hand-effort

Anyways, I thinks it's definitely a cool idea and has potential.

how to become a gastro expert

Ok, I get this mail in Xing by a woman who is looking for a manager / lessee for her restaurant in Basel, which is currently about to be rebuilt and due to open in autum.

Obviously, I must thus be a reckoned expert for the gastro scene in BAsel. Question: how come? Pretty easy: I've written an article on Xing on the "Basel geht aus" restaurant guide, which now seems to be ranked on google.de on the 7th position when you search for "gastroszene basel" ...
(You're not on Xing yet? - it's free, guaranteed).

Well, being an expert in this field, let me give some recommendations:

- Check out Acqua at lunchtime, it's 20CHF for menu (starter & some kind of pasta + red wine & water a discretion)
- If it's warm enough in the evening have dinner at Don Camillo, on the terrasse. Food is very good as well, but you just can't beat sitting there outside on a warm summer evening
- check out Ono on Petersgraben in BAsel, they don't have homepage yet, but guess who's xing post is coming on 3rd place in google results when searching for "ono basel" ...

Acqua

najo beanies

A friend of Samuel, a friend I go skiing with, makes really cool beanies together with a friend of hers. Got it?

check out the homepage, the stuff looks cool and is definitely unique and hand made: najo



oh yes, Prague pictures are in the pipeline..

blogcamp Switzerland and trigami

A good time to talk about Remo's projects: blogcamp Switzerland takes place this Saturday, March 24th (actually my birthday..) - check out the wiki to find out more. Basically it's a interactive meeting of 200 bloggers discussing any topic related to blogging. It's designed in the barcamp style, a form of gathering established in San Francisco.

There's currently 8 spaces left out of the 200 participant spots, so I you want to go there hurry up; it's free and open to any blogger interested person.

Remo's longer term project, respectively company is trigami . Idea: bloggers post honest reviews and get paid by trigami. But pictures say more than words ... :


also check out Remo's blog with a lot of interesting stuff centered around internet / Blogging topics: http://www.chuchichaeschtli.com/

adrenalin

Finally, I bought my new skiing boots at Trainer Zone Sports in Bern. Basically it's a orthopaedist specialized on fitting skiing boots. A real plus is that Chris Kohler and his father who run the shop are both dedicated skiers, so they know about feet as well as about the special requirements when it comes to the slopes. They have a broad range of boots from Lange, Tecnica, Salomon available and do everything from orthopedical paddings, adjustments of the outer boot and foaming of the inner boot.




So here's my new baby, the 2006/7 Adrenalin from Garmont, looking forward to get some action with it.

vierkant tables

It is not my plan to let the propaganda label become the biggest part of the blog, but this note has kind of a recent motivation, as Florian is currently exhibiting his tables in Lörrach. for directions and opening times check here . the tables are on display till the 20th of February 2007.

You can find (and order..) his stuff on the vierkant homepage . All tables are handmade, and can be individually adjusted in terms of size and material of the top plate (e.g. different sorts of stones or wood ). here's the direct link to the gallery . As you can see in the pic below it's really high quality stuff, and prices are fair, just drop him an email.

pulpo

A lot of people around me are doing a lot of cool things, so I think it's more than fair to introduce the stuff in this blog.

So go check out pulpo . They make really good stuff to get your bath or your warderobe or life in general organized. Funky colors, really stylish, and nonetheless functional. I bought the white "oh deer" warderobe and like it a lot (although, shame on me, I didn't put it on the my wall yet - figured it's not worth the trouble before moving out soon..). Also I'm sure Patrick will deliver worldwide if you can convince him that you won't be able to live with his stuff. And if you know a cool shop that needs a add on to its sortiments, let him know.