A New York concept in Nyon - Healthy take away food from Falaque When Sharin Hossain first moved to Vaud in 2006 she was surprised at how difficult it was to get a healthy takeaway or delivery service in the area. Having previously lived in New York, she was used to the convenience and choice of dial up food delivery services. Finding nothing similar here, Sharin spotted a gap in the market and set about creating her own take-away business. She prepared a healthy selection of Bangladeshi dishes cooked in her own kitchen in the village of Crans, her husband handled the deliveries and the Falaque business was born. After quickly acquiring a loyal customer base for these home-made meals, she knew she was on to a winner. She offered, every Friday, a full dinner with a starter, main, vegetable, rice and dessert, all delivered to the customer's home. The idea worked so well and the food itself was so highly praised, she knew that the next logical step would be to open a small take away / restaurant in the local area. A fresh and modern look for fresh and modern food So she went on the hunt for premises. After a long wait and a few hiccups along the way, Sharin finally found the perfect location in Nyon at the south end of Place Perdtemps. She commissioned a local architect to redesign the space and gave them the brief of turning the place into a modern eatery. “The last thing I wanted was a place with clichéd Indian statues and objects everywhere. I wanted the look to reflect the food which is fresh and fun. Plus, I won’t always be preparing Bengali/Indian food all the time, although my roots lie in Bengali cooking, there will be occasions when I will try other types of international cuisines”. Photo above: Sharin in the kitchen in view from the restaurant Sharin also put in a request for an open hatch to be visible from the restaurant itself so customers could see both Sharin and her kitchen staff preparing and cooking the meals in the kitchen beyond. Another satisfied customer! Sharin’s reputation at providing delicious food cooked at home has now continued at the restaurant and customers trust her to provide a variety of interesting and menus each day. Customers who order a meal are now given the option of an “express” meal, a “sports” meal or a “fun” meal with a simple, basic pricing structure.  Falaque has now become an institution in the area and it has received a lot of praise and happy customers judging by its Facebook page. Living in Nyon has sampled the food, and can highly recommend it! Try it for yourself! New customers get a discount on their first order a nd home deliveries on a Monday and Tuesday are free. Falaque is open every day apart from Sunday. The choice of tasty menus for each day and for the entire week are posted on the website, vegetarian options are always available.   For full details see here

LE Nez - The Nose by Kim Nguyen  Screening today at the Thèâtre de Grand-Champ, Gland  Tuesday 20 April at  15:00 Info and tickets here Film Review from Visions du Réel by Trish Thalman. The Nose Knows! A chef comments that when you have a meal in a restaurant, the waiter asks "how does the meal taste? " The chef believes the waiter should ask " how does it smell ?"  We smell before we taste and a good taste is related to a good smell. Don't worry if you like to have a good smell of your food before you eat it. You'll enjoy what is on the plate more if you have had a good nose down and inhale deeply. The sense of smell is a major part of our being, from the moment we are born and have the first smell of mother's milk. Smell is an overwhelming part of our memory (grandma's cookies when you smell vanilla essence), emotions and desires. Women have a more strongly developed sense of smell, but it is primarily men who are famous for creating the finest perfumes for women. 'The Nose' is a lively, colourful, well constructed film that has us meeting a full spectrum of people speaking in the most captivating manner about smell and how they use their noses.  See trailer below We begin with a woman who, through an accident, lost her sense of smell for some years (it returned), and continue through truffle hunters and truffle merchants, perfume makers, wine and food experts, speech therapists, a saffron collector in Morocco and children being asked to describe the scent of a truffle ("smells like my dog ") . All have their story to tell as to how they use their nose with scents for work and pleasure in everyday and professional lives. We learn that 'outer space' smells "like the smell in the air after a gun has been fired". A scientist takes us through a diagram of how scent/smell makes it's way up through our nose to the olefactory nerve and embeds into our brain. Fast work for the nose, and the memories remain forever, the good and the bad. Another scientist explains to us what ambergris is, an essential product used in the making of fine perfumes. A highly valuable commodity that comes from whales. I learn something new every day. A German perfume maker has created a special 'scent of a woman'. Men seem to like it. One woman broke up with her boyfriend because they were  "scent-ually incompatible". An excellent, charming film, with the right amount of scientific facts to enjoy, even if there isn't 'smell-o-vision' when the elegant bottle of 'Channel No. 5' is shown, and a 'mythical' story about Marilyn Monroe is told.

Calendar Girls. "Pick your Own" fruit and flowers The Geneva English Drama Society will be performing the play "Calendar Girls" from Tuesday June 18th to Saturday June 22.  The weekday performances are at 20:00 and the Saturday show is at 19:00. There will be a special gala performance on Friday June 21 in the presence of the original Miss February- Angela Baker! Proceeds from the evening will go to benefit two Geneva cancer charities.  Photo below: The "Calendar Girls" of GEDS in rehearsal. The play will be preformed at the  Théâtre Pitoëff, 52 rue de Carouge, Plainpalais. For more details of the production  click here.   For tickets, click here Synopsis of the play: When Annie’s husband John dies, the ladies of the Knapeley WI (Women’s Institute) decide to raise money for a new settee in the family waiting area of the hospital. They realize that they need a more compelling way to raise money than their traditional calendar with views of Yorkshire. As Annie’s friend Chris puts it, “a slight shift from a WI Calendar of Spectacular Views, to a calendar of Spectacular Views of the WI.” The ladies produce a calendar of them performing the standard occupations of the WI such as baking, playing music and knitting. The only catch is that they are all nude!  The amateur rights for the play have only been released for one year in order to have as many productions worldwide as possible for a Guinness World Record. "Pick your Own" - Strawberries and Flowers. The warm weather has finally arrived in Vaud and with it the seasonal fruits have now appeared. There are quite a few farms in the Nyon area that offer a "pick your own" service. The farm Pré-de-Vers just outside Rolle  on the lake road (details and map here ) has lots of delicious, succulent strawberries to pick right now. You can pick them until the 20th June 00 on Monday to Friday from 14:00 to 19:00 and Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 to 17:00. Call 078 691 32 73.   You can either take your own container which will be weighed before you start picking the strawberries, punnets are also provided for those who arrive empty handed! There is also a small farm shop on the premises. There will be  sunflowers to pick from July to September and then tulips in March to April. Photo above - a family from Lausanne picking strawberries. Below: The friendly Madame Bonvin at the farm shop Above - Apple juice and home made jams for sale - Below - You can't miss the sign for the farm shop on the Route Suisse!  If you like the idea of picking your own flowers, the farm called the Domaine de Bois-Bougy (on the outskirts of  Nyon just past the tennis club) is offering  a "pick  your own" service.  Flowers in bloom at the moment are beautiful white, pink and dark red peonies, there are some lettuces too. There are some lilies toowhich are almost ready (this post was written on Sunday 16 June). There is an honesty box next to the field to pay for the flowers collected. There are secateurs  provided.  This farm is also a bed and breakfast establishement. Photo below - Flowers and strawberries picked locally and back at home.

Listed below are a few musical, sports and other events coming up in the area, plus news of a Living in Nyon book launch on the 4th October!   Music -  On Saturday 24th September Canadian singer/ songwriter Ian Kelly will be playing at the Parenthèse in the centre of Nyon. His second album "Speak your Mind" sold over 40,000 copies and he is currently on an European tour. This is his only concert in Switzerland.  See his website here and details of his concert here Jam Sessions at the Plug and Play Studios - Friday nights -  From the 23rd September the Plug and Play studios in Route de Champ-Colin 10 in Nyon will be holding jam sessions on Friday nights and members of the public are invited to bring their instruments to jam with an existing studio band. This is the first time this venue is opening its doors for such an event.   See Facebook page for more details. Jazz Concert -  Note for your diary. There will be a Jazz concert at the Salle Mingus on October 7th at 20:30 at the COV (Les Concerts du Conservatoire)  with the Michel Tirabosco Trio. The programme includes   Tango pour Claude -Richard Galiano, Suite Buenos Aires - Diego Pujjol, Suite Espagnole  - Joaquin Nin,  Aria Bourré-Badinerie - Jean Sébastian Bach and more. See COV for more details. Read more about the Michel Tirabosco Trio here Male "trailing spouse " Beer Night.  The next  event for male trailing spouses will be held at the Brasseurs pub in Nyon on the 27th September at 20:00. See here for details of previous beer nights.  Rugby Match this Sunday 25th September - The Rugby World Cup is in full swing right now and if you are a fan of the game, then why not go down to the Colovray sports ground in Nyon this Sunday to see  R.C Nyon 11 Vs play  R,C Tcino  at 15:00. See Nyon rugby club site here LIVING IN NYON  BOOK LAUNCH - TUESDAY 4th OCTOBER!  - Regular readers of this site will know that since February 2009 La Côte newspaper (the local newspaper of this region), has carried a Living in Nyon column in its Friday pages. This column is written in English and is a light hearted look at living in the region.  A selection of these columns, together with photos and other articles has been complied into a book called   "Living along Lac Léman".  This book will be launched on Tuesday 4th October at the Villa Thomas in Nyon at 19:00 and readers are invited to attend the launch, where there will be an opportunity to purchase the book.  More details to follow about the book itself and the retail outlets that will stock it  here on this site soon. If you would like to attend the launch, please email cnp at bluewin.ch to register your attendance ( please note - space is limited in the venue).

André Borschberg, one of the two pilots currently attempting a round-the-world solar flight in the plane "Solar Impulse", was recently honoured in Nyon and bestowed the award of "bourgeoisie d'honneur de la Ville". This award was given for his pioneering spirit, his bravery, his contribution to society and for flying the Nyon/ Vaud / Swiss colours in all his endeavours! Since 1719, the award has been handed out by the town to just ten people. André Borschberg has lived in Nyon since 1987. André is an engineer by education and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in management science. His passion for aviation and his interest in innovative solutions led him to team up with Bertrand Piccard to direct Solar Impulse.  Fascinated by aviation from his earliest youth, André Borschberg, born in 1952, trained as a pilot in the Swiss air force.  Today he holds an assortment of professional airplane and helicopter pilot’s licences and also does aerobatics in his spare time. Photo above - André Borschberg © Solar Impulse | Revillard | Rezo.ch Yesterday (17 March ) the Solar Impulse plane landed in Ahmedabad after crossing the Arabian Sea, it had completed the longest distance ever flown by a solar airplane in aviation history. You can track the plane's journey and find out discover more about this fantastic project on the Solar Impulse website you can also follow both pilots Tweets! The plane has now just landed (18 March) in Varanasi and will be heading off to Mandalay in Myanmar tomorrow morning and will be piloted by Bertrand Piccard. Lausanne born Bertrand Piccard comes from a famous family of adventurers.  If you want to know more about their history, you can read and discover more about them in the excellent Auguste and Jacques Piccard collection in the Musée du Leman in Nyon.  Photo above - Courtesy Solar Impulse RTW Photo above - Courtesy Solar Impulse - RTW Local dancers give farewell to pilot André Borschberg before take-off from Ahmedabad.

The weather forecast is looking good for this Saturday, perfect conditions for Nyon's outdoor free music festival - Fête de la Musique. This festival takes place in various venues around the town from classical music being played in the Temple of Nyon, to funk in Place St Martin and rock in the place du Château and more. There's a full programme that begins at 08:00 in the morning until late Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday morning with DJ sets scheduled at the Usine a Gaz. See the programme below  for venues, times, and genres of music at the festival or see festival site here

Saturday night in the centre of Nyon saw a fantastic display of flying fish, walking octopus, floating snakes and other aquatic animals all suspended in the sky as part of the celebrations of 35 years of Paléo . The theatre company, the Plasticiens Volants that produced these fantastic creatures wove their way through the streets of Nyon to the crowd's delight and the evening finished in spectacular style with fireworks above Place Perdtemps. Paléo begins on Tuesday and as in the previous two years Living in Nyon will be there to report on all the action, music and news of this great festival. NEWS! From the beginning of this week there will be a new Living in Nyon! The overall look has remained the same, but the design is cleaner and archived articles will easier to search.  Living in Nyon is also on Twitter too, have a look at the tweets at the bottom of the page coming from Julius Caesar. You will be automatically rerouted to the new site once it is launched. This new design has been produced by Yann Graf,  a local designer from Crassier. Yann is one of the founders of the site Café Vert TV , an environmental site which showcases videos on all that is green and environmental. Some of the videos are fun, some are serious and all are worth checking out. Take a look at the the "expresso" section  which gives you a short burst of latest environmental news. You can also read about and see Yann's own portfolio here .

Rive Jazzy, the festival organised by the "Association of the Quartier de Rive" by Nyon's lakeside celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.  This festival  offers 18 free open air concerts on Friday, Saturday and Sundays (apart from Paléo week) between July 5th and August 4th. There will also be special 20th Anniversary concerts on August  16th, 17th and 18th and a Gala Night on 24 August.  See the 2013 programme here  and check out the different venues Photo above - The crowd listening to a Rive Jazzy evening in a previous year The festival is dedicated to traditional jazz, swing, latin and other kinds of music.  The concerts only take place only in good weather and are usually postponed or cancelled  in case of rain .   The bands and artists perform on small stages which are usually positioned next to restaurants or bars so you can listen to the music at the same time as having a drink or a meal. Perfect!

Flying above Kilimanjaro, looking down at the spectacular Andes from a cockpit or landing at Kai Tak (the old Hong Kong airport) are among the favourite memories and routes of retired *Swissair pilot Eric Bieler, now president of the Conseil Communal here in Nyon. Surprisingly after a career taking him across the world, he no longer has the great desire to travel long distances and now has his feet firmly on the ground. “There is so much to see in Nyon,Vaud and across Switzerland, I don’t need to travel far to see beautiful places, they are all on our doorstop.” Like many people who have retired, he finds his schedule busier than ever. “Even more so than I when I was pilot. Once you have landed and pulled on the parking brake of the plane you can pretty much relax and enjoy the city you have arrived in. The only person you have to worry about is yourself, whereas here, as president of the conseil communal, I preside over meetings of 100 elected members and because of this I’m very aware of many of the latest issues.” “I cannot walk around the town without noticing things or making a mental note on issues which council members are concerned about. There are common subjects that we often discuss in meetings: namely traffic problems, urbanism and taxes, but whatever is discussed, like in many meetings all over the world, sometimes we can pass a motion in five minutes that authorises the spending of 1 million Swiss francs, but we can spend hours discussing the authorisation of a small figure such as 5,000 Swiss francs!” “Despite some of meetings which can be long (and which I try to keep as short as possible) we still have a dedicated group of individuals who are willing to be council members and come out on cold winter nights to attend meetings and to vote on and discuss local issues. These members come from all walks of life and nationalities and are representative all political parties. There are members from the U.S, Britain, Kosovo, etc. We have one Swiss lady, Madame Gabrielle Ethenoz- Damond who who has been serving on the council committee for 50 years!” The president of the conseil communal is an annual position (Eric was previously vice president) and along with heading council meetings he also supervises the votations in the local elections. “I do this job happily as I get great satisfaction by putting back something into the community I live in, and I enjoy meeting people. I have been here since I moved from Lausanne in 1981 and although I know Nyon very well I’m always learning something new about the town. “ Even when I was travelling for work I always took an interest in the social side of Nyon life and became a member of various social sporting and philanthropic associations. Eric is married with two grown up children and when not sat in council meetings, he is also president of the local tennis club and president of the Conservatoire. Any free time he has, he enjoys snowshoeing in the mountains in the winter or taking his motorboat for a spin on the lake in the summer. * Swiss International airlines used to be called Swissair ** There is an opportunity to hear more about Swiss national politics and meet some Nyon council members on January 28th, see Swiss Politics for Dummies event on right hand side bar.

If you are a Nyon resident and you want to take your recycling to the Nyon déchèterie (recycling centre- dump), from now on you will need to show this this sticker/label in the photo below to enter the grounds. These labels have recently been produced by the council for Nyon residents only. At the moment, people from other communes have also been taking their rubbish and recycling to the déchèterie and it is now reaching full capacity. You should have received this sticker in the post inside an envelope saying "Information aux habitantes et habitants de Nyon -Attention Macarons d'acces à la déchèterie dans cette envelope". Last weekend in Nyon Last weekend there was lots going on in Nyon with L'Interculturelle on both Saturday and Sunday, and the final night of Caribana followed by Caribakids on Sunday. If you missed out on either of these, do not despair as this coming weekend it's "La Fete de la Musique" in Nyon with lots on the agenda, so watch this space for more information. The final night of Caribana ended in superb style to celebrate its 20 year anniversary with large crowds present for both Sean Paul and Madness. Over on the lake stage, fans of Mama Rosin danced away to this very popular Genevan band and their unique sound of Cajun Blues and Rock. The introduction of more seating areas in the food areas at Caribana this year proved popular and the new quieter accoustic stage was also deemed a success. Thankfully the weather stayed fine for the last night which  meant that the moment lead singer Suggs from Madness kicked the set off with "One Step Beyond" , the atmosphere was set to end the festival in an upbeat mood. When they finished with "Our house in the middle of the street", the crowd were ecstatic and happy: another very sucessful Caribana over until next year. The crowd went mad for Madness L'Interculturelle Also on Saturday in the early evening at the Salle Communale, there was a pot luck meal as part of the L'Interculturelle events. The flower displays were decorated in flag serviettes and the tables were full of food from around the world. There was Dolmeh from Iran, Spanish Tortilla from Spain, Bigos from Poland, Nasi Goreng from Malaysia  and much more (including treacle tart and shortbread from your Living in Nyon correspondent) plus scones, flapjacks and cottage pie from the International Women's Club of Nyon . Also at the event were a series of panels outlining the history of immigration to Nyon over the years, it showed the proportion of English speakers back in 1989 and then in 2009. This exhibition is die to be shown again in Nyon in September.There were also photos of old adverts for local businesses too such as this one below for Pizzeria da Mario which is now the Croix Verte! Sharing wine, food and other cultures in the Salle Communale

There are four pairs of tickets to be won to see the Oscar nominated, acclaimed film "Brooklyn" which will be screened in English on Monday 7th March at 20:45 at the Capitole cinema in Nyon. Quick synopsis - An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance. However, when her past catches up with her, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.  See trailer below. To be in with a chance of winning tickets, send an email with your full name to info@livinginnyon.com by Friday 4th March 2016 Names will be chosen at random.  Winners will be informed on Saturday 5th March.

Nyon has a brand new recycling centre which was inaugurated a few weeks ago. This new centre has been designed to make the process of recycling more efficient and faster!  You no longer have to make tricky manoeuvres to get in and out out of a busy car park to recycle your household goods. To gain entry to the new centre, you need to use the official key card (which was sent to all Nyon households - photo below) which opens an automatic barrier leading up a drive to the déchèterie.  The address is  Chemin des Marais 2, in the  l'Asse area of town. Head off towards the Paléo shop and turn right just shortly afterwards. Opening times Monday - Friday  09:00 -12:00/ 13:30 - 18:00  Saturday 09:00 - 18:00 Cars line up and take their turn to recycle, however as you no longer need to separate glass bottles and containers into different colours ie: green, brown and clear glass, (you throw all the colours into one very big container) this speeds up the system considerably! There are recycling bins for vegetable oil and other oils You can recycle neon tubes, tools and some household goods Note - for really big household items (encombrants) there are special collection days that have been allocated throughout 2015. What is an encombrant? Essentially these are bulky items that are too big to go into a normal rubbish/trash bag, items that need to be crushed before incinerated. These tend to be objects such as rolls of carpet, mattresses, skis etc. Items that have a dimension greater than 60 cm. To see the dates of the special collection days in Nyon click here  However some items are excluded from this special house collection: metal chairs, bikes, pans, etc and there is a recycling bin for them at the new centre. There is more information about recycling on the council website click here  Electrical equipment must be returned to the point of sale. Below - Place to return used batteries Places for PET bottles and aluminium cans Place for garden waste Place for used clothes (these need to be tied up in a bag before placing them in the container). Clothes then go towards a charity which recycles them for future use. To find out more about this charity click here