These are a few of my favorite things...

Favorite pastry: Pain au chocolat.

Granted, croissants are good by themselves. I mean, put lots of butter with anything and chances are the taste buds are going to be happy to eat it…Hence the classic French cooking rule-of-thumb that you can never have enough butter. But for me, add in some CHOCOLATE, and then you have the next thing to heaven.

Favorite cheese: Roquefort.

I love the pungent, knock-out flavor. Never mind that there are blueish green fuzzy dots within it, which look exactly like the mold growing on the stale bread in the refrigerator…

Favorite paysage: The view from my bedroom window.

We’re elevated up on the mountainside, so when I look out down below at night, I see the lights of Geneva and the surrounding area, sparkling and twinkling. The pinpoint-sized pools of light are like an exaggerated mimicry/magnified reflection of the stars above. Environmentally-inclined folks would reject it as mere light pollution, but I admire it each night when I close the shutters to my windows. I usually find a grand blinking light making a steady trajectory amidst the stars, coming from an airplane departing from the airport.

In fact, the vista gives a certain rhythm to my days. After getting out of bed each morning, I open up the shutters to let in some light and take a breath of fresh air. On cloudless days, I see Mont Blanc—the highest mountain in Europe—looming out in the distance. It makes for a spectacular sunrise if I wake up early enough, when the whole scene soaks in blends of blue, orange, and pink from the sky.