Daylight Carbs

Trends are there to be obeyed and so we finally cut back on carbs after dark... but there are the occasional daylight meals.

So later today we are invited to a birthday tea. Since we have never been to such an event we have no clue what is being served, we thought stocking up on carbs for lunch might not be the worst of ideas...

Penne with broccoli topped with cherry tomatoes slow fried in sage and butter from milk of Piedmontese cattle.

Dealing with Cutlery or the Lack Thereof

I am not talking about the basic differences of dealing with cutlery by Americans and Europeans. Others wrote about that conclusively (read about). I am talking about my intercultural competence being constantly challenged by the lack of basic cutlery here in México. At home in cosily boring Switzerland my cutlery concerns are being restricted to occasionally having to eat with a knife, of which the handle is not hollow (and thus not well balanced). Here in México I'm hardly given the opportunity of a knife at all. If so, I'm not even expecting a sharpened one anymore. What one can expect is a spoon or a fork at best. If you address this subject with Mexicans they point out that the tortilla acts as spoon in their culture. Fair enough, but I still find it rather challenging to eat bone-rich meat with just a fragile plastic spoon and a floppy tortilla.

Location:Morelos Sur,La Huacana,Mexico

Stylish Carry-on Shorthauler?

Frequent business trips are part of my work life. For short-haul overnight stays, the aim is to avoid check-in luggage at all costs.

Surprisingly, I find it rather difficult to find the right choice of luggage that allows to do this with style. Most business travellers do this by choosing one of these small trolleys sized 55x40x20 cm, but honestly, they look just silly, especially when being towed by a fully-fledged man. But what is the alternative?

Knowing the requirements is essential in my job. So I try to make a list of what I want:

• no wheels
• big enough to hold everything I need, but small enough so I never have to check it in.
• easy to handle at airport security
• keeping my computer scratch- & shock-free
• space for some files and newspapers
  
• space for briefs, socks and dress shirts for next day's meeting
• space for essential toiletries
• space for the travel book
  
• strap for shoulder on the airport "workout" routes
• made of light-weight durable material, ruggedized enough to survive more than a couple of years of travel
  
• last but not least: it has to cause envy of my taste.

But now, where is my carry-on shorthauler?

Trapped Organically

Switzerland is bipolar when it comes to grocery supermarkets. The big two Migros and Coop share about 80% of the market*. I'm a Migros shopper by choice. Coop's shops are just a tiny bit too clean for my liking (I don't like to shop in hospitals) and it is difficult there not to buy organic products (I usually go for Integrated production).

However, Migros is catching up on the organic front. Though while Coop sticks to the copper-wool-bast-tree-hugging-taliban kind, Migros goes for the European-Union-style-lowest-common-denominator kind of organic production.

Migros did this catching up by putting an identical design in earthy colours on all their organic products. Apparently it worked admirably well on my subconscious. Our fridge is stocked up with organic Migros yoghurt that cost at least 33% more than the ordinary ones with the juicy fruits print on them. And honestly, I can't detect a difference in taste. Why do I buy them?



* both Migros and Coop are customer owned co-operatives.