Saturday, May 03, 2008

The Broth

The opening of Peter's Confirmation Meal was a Beef Consommé Celestine (Flädlisuppe). First I had to make a proper broth. For 5 litres of stock I used:



1 kg veal feet and bones
1 kg marbled boiled beef (though not boiled yet), such as breast core
500 g bright vegetables such as leeks, celery, onion, turnip autumn, radish, parsley root, cut into pieces
2 handful of parsley
2 tablespoon tomato purée
5 litres of cold water
2 bags of spices with pepper seeds, cloves, thyme or rosemary, bay
2 teaspoon salt

Blanch the veal feet and bones briefly, remove and cold rinse. Put them with the beef, vegetables, parsley, tomato purée and water into a pan and boil it up. Yes, it took pans to deal with this amount of ingredients.



Boil it without lid at low heat for 1 hour. Remove the foam on the surface with a spoon several times.



Add the bag with spices and salt. Boil the broth half covered further 1-2 hours at low heat. Let the broth cool, and pass it through a sieve. Put it covered into the fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight), then remove the fat layer.

For the Flädli: Whisk together 4 eggs, 2 dl of milk and 2dl of water, add 200 g flour and blend until smooth. Let it rest for half an hour. Heat a crepe pan, brush with clarified butter and cook about 8 crepes, only light colour. Cool to room temperature, roll and cut into chiffonade.

Put some Flädli into the plate and fill up with hot broth.

Sugar Buzz

Ms. Mac kindly asked me for my opinion on Madonna's latest sugar dripping piece of art. Well, Ms.Mac's wishes will ever be my command:



Candy Shop
Sticky and sweet, like a hot horizontal limbo.

Four Minutes
Too American for my taste. However, it is the Americans who should finally get the message anyway.

Give It To Me
This is my favourite - a catchy sing-along. I can't way to dance to it in strobe lights.

Heartbeat
The necessary calmer after Give It To Me - a solid song, though.

Miles Away
Excellent track - this one could enchant us for years on the radio waves.

She's Not Me
Totally camp - Madonna never gives up.

Incredible
This one did not caught me yet. I just don't like the beat. It does not work for me.

Beat Goes On
Well, this I call the right beat. Funky track.

Dance Tonight
You don't have to be beautiful, rich and famous? However, this is the better track with Justin than Four Minutes. Funkier and sexier.

Spanish Lesson
Soy un caso perdido con el Español, esta canción también.

Devil Wouldn't Recognise You
Dark and solid

Voices
Who is the master and who is the slave? Justin, do you really have to ask?

How many stars would I give it? It's Madonna, she never deserves less than the Milky Way.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Züri-Hegel

Do you remember this? Even bureaucrats sometimes mange to shove some paper. After they processed it for over two and half years, Toño finally received his citizenship certificate:



We celebrated this event in a traditional Zürich tourist-trap (in the company and at the cost of some top Cypriot wine makers).

Although, I had lived in Zürich for 25 years and 10 days when Toño was naturalised, he now refers to me as the foreigner, since I'm citizen of Märstetten. This village lies in Thurgau, a former colony of Switzerland which was liberated by Napoleon (e.g. my place of birth was built in the colonial era).

Toño is now entitled to apply for a Swiss passport, which he should receive in a fortnight.

Don't Try This At Home



I did learn this the hard way. Don't iron while watching a DVD and wearing only briefs! I once burned myself badly doing this. It took weeks until I could swim again without pain.

Talking about briefs and aussieBum... They just offered the world the first boxer shorts that even I consider quite hot... and I kind of like the song too.



These shiny and smooth to touch, sleek black boxer shorts feature our new 'boosterJock' technology that lift and enchance your assets naturally whilst providing support where it's needed most.

Monday, April 28, 2008

The Confirmation Meal

On Sylv's request, here comes the menu of my nephew's confirmation meal. It will be prepared and served by Toño, Tina and me this Thursday (a.k.a. May Day, a.k.a. Ascension Day, a.k.a Peter's Confirmation Day). Since this will be lunch, we will restrict ourselves to four courses.

Soup
Beef Consommé Celestine (Flädlisuppe) based on a home-made broth.

Salad
Iceberg lettuce with cucumber and melon balls at a Sbrinz dressing.

Main Course
Low temperature veal roast with lemon-honey-rosemary icing, soured milk with herbs, potatoes and veggies.



Selection of Desserts
Black Forest cake (my sister's work)
Roulade stuffed with dried pears cooked in red wine and blue cheese, and with port wine gelée
Lemon drizzle cake
Apple-amaretti "tiramisu"

The Wines
White: Assemblage Sequana, 2006
Red: Burgherrewy Pinot noir Grand Vin, 2005
Sweet: Vin Santo del Chianti Rufina, Villa di Vetrice, 1990.

PS: The coffee machine is back and running. Giuseppe Messina repaired it two days faster than promised.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Like An Angel

Yes, it's The night of the year when I'm wearing white socks.



Enjoy the night!

Out Of Coffee!

This morning did not start as I like a Saturday morning to start. Our Jura coffee maker went out of service mere 40 days after the warranty had expired:



Real panic broke out since we will have to cook for 18 people on May Day and we've planned to serve them hot and full-flavoured coffee after the Vin Santo.

There was little hope when I called the help service, where a friendly lady explained to me that I can't fix this and that I have to send it back to the factory for repair. Of course this was no option and I already saw my just received bonus being force-invested in a new coffee machine. It took until three o'clock until we found a shop where we found the answer we sought: "Yes, we have the spare part on stock and we can fix this before May Day".

Who was I to believe that Roger Federer is able to make a coffee machine that last? I should have been warned when I first saw him in an add for those machines. I'm not impressed by this performance.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Sweet Welcome

It was my best decisions of the entire week to bugger off today. There were sweet things waiting for me in the letter box:



There were quite some new releases lately, which are fighting for time with our precious ears (in no particular order):

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds with Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Their best work since The Boatman's Call.

Hercules and Love Affair with Hercules and Love Affair
How every club night should had been.

The Young Gods with Knock on Wood
Yes, it is amazing and it does work without the samples.

R.E.M. with Accelerate
A long time love affair.

Duffy with Rockferry
Duffy's had no mercy and caught me off guard. There are only a few women who've made on my turntables.

What the Hell!

Despite Tom Peters' hellious advices [1, 2], I've had enough and go home now.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Pinzán

One of the discoveries on our trip to México was Pinzán, though, it's official name is Pithecellobium dulce. The Pinzán tree has dozens of names in Central and northern South America, and the Caribbean, Florida, Guam and Southeast Asia.

The Pinzán is drought-resistant and can survive in dry land, which is perfect for the hot spot where Toño comes from.

This is the edible pulp of the Pinzán:



They taste a bit sweet. The pods are similar to the ones of the tamarind, though the Pinzán is not very closely related to it:



The name of the boy is Procuro, he's one of Toño's many cousins. And finally the entire tree:



You can see, it's quite dry here.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

WoZ Takes Over UBS

Swiss left-wing newspaper WoZ has announced that it has started to take over the largest Swiss bank UBS. The WoZ intents to turn this avaricious yet depraved money house into the first decent major bank of the world.



And that's how it works: For every new subscriber, the WoZ buys a UBS share, and so, piece by piece, the WoZ becomes the majority share holder. As I'm typing, only 1'032'998'981 subscriptions are missing. Join the movement!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Sexy Nylon Would Be Back

aussieBum is bringing sexy back and my waistline is nowhere near that posibility. I should have worked out a bit...

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Is the Wife Male or Female?

Two and a half years ago the Swiss citizens accepted the law for civil unions for The Gays™ in a referendum. I took one and a half year until the law could be exerted, because the institutions needed time to modify all those forms as they claimed (Spain needed less than a week). However, this was still not enough time to adjust tax forms, for which they had an additional year at hand.

Here in Switzerland, married couples are punished tax-wise - that is, they usually pay more taxes than singles. Of course, this unjust system has also to be applied for the The Gays™. Fair enough.

Swiss tax forms have to be filled and signed by the man/husband under his name and then the wife has to sign them as well (yes, Swiss politicians still want to keep wives close to the stove).

Well, the combination of both went terribly wrong. The good news is that the Latin part of Switzerland got it actually right. In the German speaking part, only the cantons Zug and Solothurn managed to do so. Most did nothing - that is, one of the couple has to sign as husband the other as wife.

Some software solutions did only accept husbands that are actually male - weird since civil unions are also open to lesbians and I've never heard that lesbians don't do computers.

Half way right got it Basel-Country and Aargau, which give you the option to tell whether the wife is male of female (der oder die Ehefrau).

However, only fools expect to be treated with dignity by the tax office.

[Source]

Monday, April 14, 2008

Daft Infected Bodies

If you thought that Daft Hands were weird, you will be shocked to hear that the infection has spread further to entire pairs of bodies:



Even innocents girls and hunks are among the victims. It just gets harder better faster stronger...

Monday, April 07, 2008

Meanwhile... (The Sequel)

We're back in México, D.F. only minutes from going to the airport to return to Switzerland.

The baptism of Luis Edurado was a huge family event. I did not take pictures of the priest performing his duties in the templo (as churches are called here, since the term church refers to the institution), however, I took this picture of Toño with his father, brothers and sisters after hours of feasting and dancing:



The rest of the week we spent in Toño's home town, letting Toño spend some quality time with his godson. We also visited his sister Leo, who works as the dentist in a hospital for the poor in a small village in western Michoacán. The week was concluded with a big quails dinner at his third sister's place in Morelia.

As I said, now we are back in México, D.F. relaxing in the town house of a good friend of Toño's. It's a lovely place, full of art collected in the entire world and surrounded by bougainvillea plants. There is no better place than to say farewell to México.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Meanwhile...

... we've spend some days in Ixtapa at the coast of the Pacific ocean. This is the view from our room at the hotel Las Brisas Ixtapa:



In a few hours we will head back north to La Huacana in the tierra caliente (it was 37 °C/99 °F last Monday) to celebrate the baptism of Luis Edurado:



150 guests are expeted and five cooks will provide sustenance. But first Toño will have to acquire the certificate by the church that he is qualified and instructed in the obligations of a godfather. For that he will have to get back to Morelia, where they have a fast-track procedure. At other places, this takes an entire week.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Carnival and Humiliation

Usually Carnival is celebrated just before Lent. However, in Morelia things are a bit different. Carnival is celebrated at the end of Lent, i.e. on Easter Saturday and Sunday.

The tradition is called Torito (small bull) and has its origins in the Spanish conquest. In times of the Colony, the Spaniards organized bullfights. As an answer to this the indigenous people created their own version. In the centre is the "bull", which is actually an imitation carried by a man.

The freely decorated bull is accompanied by a musica de banda which plays popular folk songs. Gaudy dressed Maringüias are dancing around the bull. The maringüias are usually played by males who are dressed like women. It's one of the funniest carnivals I've ever seen.



Talking about cross-dressing... On Sunday evening, a cousin of Toño and his boyfriend took us to a local gay club. It was a nice place in the town centre which an illuminated dance-floor in the inner courtyard.

Everything was fine until the show started, which was hosted by two drag queens and consisted mainly of playback singing by the vertically challenged one and stand-up comedy by the ugly one.

Well this ugly one decided to choose me as the butt of most of her jokes (my italics). She even dragged me on stage for an interview on her couch (I could have worked a bit more on my Spanish). Towards the end of the endless hour she even referred to me as Gringo.

Well, I might engage in buggery and arms are my bread and butter, however IMHO, being a gringo is definitely on dark side. Clearly the climax of humiliation.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Pepsi-Cola Retro

Just before Easter, we arrived in Morelia, where Toño's brother Tito is running a corner shop. In his tienda, Tito is selling both Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, though the bottles are stored in different refrigerators.

On the top shelf of his Pepsi refrigerator, I discovered something new: Pepsi-Cola Retro.



Pepsi-Cola Retro was release in Mexico in February 2008. I have no idea how it tastes but the label on the bottle claims that Pepsi-Cola Retro is made of natural ingredients. Such as the colour is created by caramel and coffee, and the taste comes from cola nut extract. However, my favourite is that it does not contain any artificial sweetener.



At least the sugar come from sugar cane and not the nasty yet cheep high fructose corn syrup, which is usually used in soft drinks.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Virgen de Guadalupe

Before meeting an aunt and cousins of Toño, we paid a visit to the Virgen de Guadalupe.



Since roses played a significant role her appearances, Toño brought the Virgen a basket of roses.



Toño had to fight for his roses. The cheeky florist constantly tried to slip other kind of flowers into the arrangement.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Papaya Con Limón

We were pampered well by Lufthansa on our trip to México and arrived save and sound. Even better is that Toño and I could already enjoy some freshly cut papaya with some drops of lime juice.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

¡Felices Pascuas!

Sorry for neither posting nor visiting your blogs nor answering emails. Work has been quite a bitch in recent weeks. However, now we're heading for Mexico*! It's vacation time!! I so need it.



Happy Easter to all of you. We will be back on April 9.

* Business class on miles - there is at least some payback from work.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Schatzi* Was Awful

... however, Eels were delightful.


Photograph: Joel Ryan/PA

We had the chance to be present when Zürich was received in audience by Eels yesterday evening.

Well, it would had been a truly delightful evening, when the audience would not had been massively packed with morons and schmucks who go to a concert for everything but the music. But maybe that was just the straw to break the camel's back, because I was already pissed off by some unnerving colleagues who refuse to pull their weight.

Notwithstanding, both my company (Tina and Toño) and Eels (Mark Oscar Everett with symbiotic and nonchalant yet brilliant stage partner The Chet) gave me great pleasure and delight.

My personal highlight was when E and Chet were swapping between piano and drums without missing a beat: E leaves the piano and takes the drumsticks from Chet, who picks up at the piano where Everett left off. A few minutes later, they swap back. What will you do when you are so good at what you do, and you no longer know how to push yourself?

* as Eels referred to the audience.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Helmet Or No Helmet

A few years ago a SUV refused to yield to my right of way, knocked me off my bicycle and left me with a couple of fractures. One of which was on my skull. Ever since I use a helmet when mounting one of my bicycles.

Reading an article on management of danger in this week's Economist, I gave rise to doubts whether I had taken the right consequences:

In one experiment, a British psychologist, Ian Walker of Bath University, simply got on his bicycle and monitored the behaviour of 2,300 vehicles that overtook him. When he wore a helmet, drivers were much more likely to zoom past him with little room to spare; when he was bare-headed (and indeed when he wore a female wig) the amount of space that motorists left would increase.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Ramsons Quiche

A week ago, I found the first ramsons on the market. Fresh ramsons in the middle of February! And the salesmen insisted that it was harvested in the wild, and - unlike asparagus - from Switzerland.

Well I took life by the balls, bought it and made a Quiche with Camembert and Ramsons.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

The Stars Are Blazing

Pet Shop Boys' Stars Are Blazing remix of Killer's Read My Mind so kept me going lately. This is my tune of the season and listening to it Toño's arms makes the pop glitter sparkel even brighter.



I have no idea why, but I usually prefer a remix version of a song. Or as my guru says: Reframe!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Treading Water from Paycheck to Paycheck

I cant help it but lately, when I'm leaving the office in the evening, I've got the feeling that I done nothing but...

And I'm still far from leaving the office today...

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Love, Passion & Till Death...

Last Sunday, the Roman god of the dead and the ruler of the underworld, a.k.a. Pluto, proposed to my former flat-mate Tigresa and she accepted.



Tigresa will drag a long blood trail of broken men's hearts behind her when she will approach the altar.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Don't Try This At Home

Maybe you remember, I made my mother a Collapsed Chocolate Soufflé Cake for her birthday. It was the first time I made it and I was curious to find out how it tasted, when I was visiting my mother mother yesterday: Don't make this cake again. I was delicious, though, everybody was constipated for days. And your father had painful cramps. I reckon - for once - I'll listen to my mother.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Happy Birthday Marlene

Today, my sister Marlene, yes the Best Swiss Miller, can celebrate her 50th birthday.



She does look far from 50, doesn't she? Well, Toño and I gave he a crate of fine groceries.



But only her horses, dog and cat greeted me when I brought it this afternoon. She has the late shift at the gristmill today. Nevertheless, Happy Birthday Marlene!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Tom Ford For Men

When Tom Ford was working for Yves Saint Laurent, he brought the hair back on men's chests.



"I wanted to show a man who represents a natural and relaxed image of male beauty," he said. Well, I haven't heard his quote to the ad of his first fragrance under his own label.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Vancouver Aquarium

Yesterday, we had some hours on hand and well, Vancouver showed its trademark image. Yes, it was raining. The weather man on the radio said in the morning that the rain will slow down. This became, our running gag for the day. Maybe the drops fell a bit slower. Whatever, we decided to use the time for a visit at Vancouver Aquarium.

We saw some cute animals...



... some I fear almost like snakes,



... and some really amazing creatures like the Arapaima, one of the largest freshwater fish in the world.





I've never seen anything like this.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

KLM - The Scond Leg

There is not much to complain about the second leg from Amsterdam to Vancouver of my trip. I felt safe and sound and perfectly pampered. Here are just some points:

The Netherlands are not known as a wine country. KLM solves the problem of Dutchness on the wine list by selecting certain wines from Dutch winemakers around the globe. Unfortunately, they did not have the listed Pinot Blanc 2006, De Kleine Schore, which was actually from Zeeland.

A bit surprising were the choices of the second meal, which were all Indonesian. I guess this was chosen because Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony.

Beyond expectations were the earphones - actually the best I've ever had. They even featured a functioning ambient noise suppression.

If I really have to find a fly in the ointment: Nobody cared to clean under my folded footrest. It was rather filthy down there.

A big silly is the give-away. What do I need a dust-collecting Dutch house for? I took it anyway, because I'm entitled to.



Bottom line: KLM delivers a state-of-the-art European service - i.e. not quite as breathtaking as the big Asians but still better than you actually need. However, we always deserve it a it a little better.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

KLM - Interim Review

I have to fly on short notice to Vancouver. So short, that only KLM could guarantee a round trip without waiting list.

If I recall correctly, I've been flying KLM only on two trips so far. The first was in Summer 1998, when I flew to Kazakhstan. The pilot warned us before the landing that it will be rough: I usually don't land that bad, but this tarmac does give me little chance..

Me, riding an ibex in Kazachien

The second one was to Scotland in late November 2001. We thought that it will rain anyway in Scotland. So going in November could not do any harm. Who were we to know that the tourist infrastructure is closed in November. It was even difficult to find a bed & breakfast. However, I have no memories regarding the flight with KLM.

This time, I'm flying the first time business class with KLM. Let's review my experiences on the first leg.

I'm sitting in the KLM lounge at Schipol Airport. Wireless internet access in the lounge costs big Euro which is a big minus for my KLM experience. Even worse that my virus alert keeps popping up reporting worm attacks.

The other big minus is that on the KLM Cityhopper, three business class passengers were squeezed into a triple coach row. One of which was me.

However, the meal served was a big fat plus. It consisted of a delicious cheese quiche with parmesan cream and assorted fresh fruits in a raspberry coulis. Everything was served in a handy and stylish bento box.

The service was charming, attentive and flawless. A stewardess and the pilot were even unloading the luggage when the ground crew failed to show up. I reckon that was far from their job description. Hoist the skirt, step into the mud and do the right thing. I like that attitude.

Let's see in due course how KLM performs on long haul.

Berlinale - Interim Report

You might have asked yourself how Paula and her film Gardens of the Night were received at Berlin's Film Festival Berlinale. Today's NZZ published an intermediate report, which I read with pleasure.

The reviewer called Gardens of the Night oppressive and deeply saddening. The film's relentless portrayal of paedophilia let to indignation at the festival. However despite the controversy, it is one of the better films at the Berlinale.

Nevertheless according to the critiques forecast, the biggest changes to win the Golden Bear have up to now There Will Be Blood and Elegy. Elegy is based on Philip Roth's The Dying Animal, one of the few books by this author I really enjoyed and actually finished. Penélope Cruz must give in this film her best performance in an English spoken picture so far. I'm looking forward to see this.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Black Day for Zürich's Darkrooms

Not that I frequent such locations, however I'm rather pissed off by today's verdict by the district court of Zürich. It has toppled a Gentlemen's agreement between the Police and landlords of gay establishments on the rules of how to run a darkroom. Or in the words of the court: violation of order and public morals by tolerating sexual activities. Thankfully, the convicted will appeal against the decision. What will be next? Prohibition of toilets on air planes?

South Cantonese Sandwich

I know, life is far too short to watch telly. However, I'm happy not to have missed that moment:

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Stomach Italy

Maybe I just always had bad luck. But I've never been to an Italian hotel, were I really felt as snug as a bug in a rug. Like last week, when I was sent to Genoa by my caring employer to evaluate a potential supplier. But despite the nasty hotel experience, I have absolutely no reason to complain. The treat of such trips is being taken to a really good restaurant for dinner, which compensates for a lot. I had:



Acciughe ripiene alla ligure
Trofiette al pesto
Tagliata di tonno al sesamo
Tarte tatin di pere con gocce di cioccolato
accopanied by Rossese di Dolceacqua

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Universal Roten

Michèle Roten is a young Swiss journalist, who writes with the verve of the young Julie Burchill, only a bit more egocentric (yes, this is possible).

The other day, I saw Michèle Roten for the first time in a talk show on telly. I know nobody watches talk shows, or at least nobody is going to admit it. But I have to.

I was a bit disappointed. It was like when you see the film version of a novel on the big screen. It is just not like you had made it up in your twisted mind (not that I would compare Miss Roten with a novel, but I think you get the picture). When I was reading her columns in Das Magazin, I imagined an eloquent young woman with feminine curves. Unfortunately, the real (or TV) Roten is a bit different. Don't get me wrong, she's a beautiful young woman, but who definitely writes better than she talks and she is IMHO an X-Ray of a beautiful young woman.

I was planing to blog about this, yet Miss Roten was faster than I am, by publishing today in her column a quite complete list of labels the rest of the world may choose at one's leisure to refer to her.

All seem to go back to a certain Regula Stämpfli. I can't remeber to have ever heard of this woman before I read an interview with her a week ago in Das Magazin. Judging based on that interview, I did not miss anything by not knowing her.

However, some years ago, this Regula Stämpfli called Michèle Roten Schwanzlutscherin (cock sucker). From pooftah's point of view, there is nothing derogative with this term, but obviously, Mrs. Stämpfli had got and still gets quite some feedback to that labelling. Today, she apologized to Miss Roten and gave her the new label postmodern arbitrariness zealot.

Well based on this, Miss Roten came up with the ultimate list, which I try to translate for you:
  • reactionary fast fast writer
  • nail polishing bra burner
  • over caring pot plant mother
  • neurotic nail clipper
  • bourgeois slapper
  • butt
  • totalitarian shoe dictator
  • smiley Nazi
  • unfaithful telephone autistic
  • anorectic salad fetishist
  • mock member of the educated classes
  • skinny jeans wearing high heels feminist
  • coarse motioned head age kisser
  • sectarian Thomas Mann disciple
  • moody stinking sock
  • snooker tournament watching phlegmatic
  • emotion resistant counter girl
  • anti-social "hi" girly
  • beer motioned opening machine
  • tattooed rap groupie
  • German philology student
  • contacts wearing wannabe blond
  • nervous schizo aunty
  • oversexed dick bitch.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Gong Xi Fa Chai


[Click to see the rat's eyes]

The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat

It has been on my mind for years, but I finally did it. Last night, I finished Ryszard Kapuściński's The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat.*



Machiavelli's Il Principe and Sun Tzu's The Art of War are fine, but when it comes to the fine mechanics of power, nothing beats Kapuściński's reportage.

* in German: König der Könige. Eine Parabel der Macht

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives

It had been eight times on BBC four but I missed it completely:

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives: Documentary which follows Mark Oliver Everett, the lead singer of US rock band Eels, as he travels across America to learn about the father he never knew – quantum physicist Hugh Everett III. Hugh died of a heart attack in his home in 1982, where his body was found by 19-year-old Mark. Even though they had lived in the same house, the two of them were alienated. Only by entering the paradoxical world of quantum mechanics can Mark hope to understand why he was such a stranger to his own father.


See extracts: E in the Rain and E'Journey

Luckily, thoughtful Toño bought the ticket for Eels' concert in Zürich on March 6 ages ago. It's sold out but we have got tickets!

Monday, February 04, 2008

Soooo Exiting

We'd just learned that our dear friend Paula Huidobro's latest work as cinematographer Gardens of the Night is in the competition at Berlin's Film Festival Berlinale. Toño called her a few minutes ago, and caught her sitting in the plane to Europe. We are soooo exited, but - bugger - can't meet her in Berlin (and be cheering when she will get her golden bear). Toño's Mexican passport is expired and Switzerland still hasn't finished the process to give him a flashy red one.

Read more about Gardens of the Night.

By the way, read here what Paula said about Swiss men.

And we only talked about her lovers when we met last Summer for breakfast in Hollywood...

Sunday, February 03, 2008

How To Be Good

Yesterday, my mother celebrated her 76th Birthday and - for once - I did not forget to be a good son and showed up with a home-made cake. I made her a Collapsed Chocolate Soufflé Cake as recommended by Michelle.

While we visited my mother, we learned that somebody has sent my father 200 Swiss Francs. In an enclosed note, the sender said thank you to my father for taking good care of the standard fruit trees in his orchard.



The pictures show my parents working in the orchard about 20 years ago.

Standard fruit trees are considered far more ecological - contrary to the bush shape, which is more economical (read more about tree shape). My family has about 200 of those standard apple trees, but none of the bush shape. At least for once, they actually brought some money and we can leave the Clintons to the U.S. of A. to clean up after the Bushes.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Minted Beef and Noodle Salad

With the Chinese New Year ante portas (my Latin), we thought going a bit Asian would be wise choice. Our first one was Vietnamese Minted Beef and Noodle Salad.



I hope we will not be roasted on bamboo sticks for mixing Vietnamese Food with a Chinese festival. Things are even more complicated: The recipe came from New Zealand. Mickle in NZ sent it to me a few weeks ago. Here it is:

For 1 serving:
100 grams lean minced beef
1 tablespoon fish sauce
crushed or chopped garlic
finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
¾ teaspoon curry powder
¼ teaspoon chilli powder
finely chopped red chilli (for chilli lovers)

Mix the ingredients listed above together and leave for at least ½ an hour if you can. Is okay to prepare it and then refrigerate for several hours or even overnight.

Next prepare the vegetables and noodles: About 100 grams fine rice noodles, prepared according to the manufacturers instructions

A piece of Daikon radish, chopped
A piece of cucumber, chopped
Handful of bean sprouts
1 lettuce leaf, sliced

To cook: Heat a large pan or wok and add a little vegetable oil. Add the meat mixture, breaking it up as much as you can, and cook until browned. Add the drained noodles and the vegetables and heat through. There will be liquid in the bottom of the pan. It is supposed to be like that. Garnish with your choice of chopped nuts, more fish sauce, more mint, fresh coriander.


As my guru says: Reframe!. Well. Michelle did the same. Here are her notes:

I've also made this using chopped up lamb steak, I just added a splosh of cooking oil to the meat mixture when I prepared it. I use grapeseed or olive oil - just use whatever oil you normally cook with.

Mint - traditionally made with Vietnamese mint which I don't like and is hard to find. Excellent made with Thai basil and/or with plain ordinary mint.

One daikon radish is way too big for me to get through. I just use ordinary red radishes.

Alter the vegetables to your taste. I didn't have any bean sprouts tonight. I added sliced celery and used chopped fresh spinach instead of lettuce. Would also be nice with fresh rocket added. I add the leafy green vegetable last and heat it all until the leafy green is just wilting. I've also used mushrooms sometimes.

Alter the amount of the spices and seasonings to suit yourself. I love fish sauce so add it generously. I loath fresh coriander and can have problems with nuts, so I avoid these. Instead of curry powder you could use tumeric, ground coriander (which I do like) and ground cumin, or whatever you like. I like Thai basil and mint so often add more than in the recipe.

Sometimes I use bean thread noodles instead of the rice ones. Would also be nice made without any noodles and served with rice.


Well, we did not stop there and continued the theme with fish on a bed of vegetables. It's not really Asian, but it looks kind of like.



Gong Xi Fa Chai

Friday, February 01, 2008

Starlovers

There are those days - you hear a song, which takes on your vibes and perfectly matches your mood, and you can't help humming it for the rest of the day. Today, Starlovers by Gus Gus did it for me:



Well, you know who my star is.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Time Travel Networking

Although I neither do Facebook nor MySpace, I've been found by an old mate on the Internet - via Xing.

My mate went with me to recruit school 20 years ago. He had found an old list of our platoon back then and started his search. Well this week, four of us met downtown for lunch. Luckily, one brought some photos, which helped to trigger some of those deeply buried memories. Like this one, which was taken while I was defending my country with my life foxhole:



Did we really wear such glasses in the eighties?

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A Bit Of Unsolicited Advice

If you ever learn anything from me let it be this: When buying an overpriced business shirt at Herren Globus and you care to have a breast pocket on your shirt, always, always check whether the breast pocket is actually stitched to the rest of the shirt and not just loosely enclosed. Because I can tell you from experience that returning to the shop in a righteous manner fully prepared to tell the staff that they sell overpriced flawed garment only to learn that the decision makers on the shirt design did not want to impose on the customers that they have to wear a shirt with a breast pocket and that if you wish to have this enclosed option, Herren Globus sewed it on for free in less than a fortnight is not nearly as much fun as you might think it is.

That is all.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Sauerkraut Focaccia

A recipe on Mickle's request.



Focaccia

350 g spelt flour
1 tsp. salt
15 g yeast
1.5 dl milk
0.5 dl white wine of milk
2 tbsp. canola
1 tbsp. of mustard seed to sprinkle of top

In recent years, spelt became kind of fashionable in Switzerland. However, the recipe should work with run of the mill flour. Mix flour and salt in a bowl and make a dent in the middle. Dissolve the yeast in a bit of milk. Add the rest of the milk, white wine and oil and pour the mixture in the dent. Knead until you've got a smooth and malleable dough. Let it rest at the warm spot under a cloth until the dough's size has doubled.

Knead the dough again a bit and make a disc of about 25 cm diameter. Sprinkle mustard seeds and/or fleur de sel on the top. Put a baking parchment on the baking tray and bake the focaccia for 20 to 25 minutes at 200°C. Let it cool slighted, cut it horizontally and then into eight pieces.

Filling

Spread mustard onto the bottom half, slather freshly cooked or heated sauerkraut lavishly, add prosciutto, crème fraîche and put the upper half on top.

Source: Le Menu

I Don't Want To Grow Up

Zürich has lost Radio Tropic and won Radio 1 the radio for adults only as its tag line claims.



I heard it purely accidentally for only a few seconds and already new that I have no intention to grow up. Wind of Change by Scorpions - the second worst song in music history, only topped by Wind of Change in the Russian version! Even DJ Bobo and Dire Straits are bearable compared to that torture.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Commendable Feasting

This weekend, we are setting an example in seasonal and healthy cocking. We are only using storable vegetables like for tonight's pot-au-feu. And already twice, we had Sauerkraut!

Sauerkraut with Anise



Just cook the Sauerkraut with half a tablespoon of aniseeds and serve with freshly made meatballs. You feel like a small boy playing with mud when mixing the mincemeat with old bred, egg, mustard, garlic and freshly chopped herbs with your bare hands.

Sauerkraut Focaccia



Bake a focaccia with spelt flour. Let it cool slighted, cut it horizontally and then into eight pieces. Spread mustard onto the bottom half, slather freshly cooked or heated sauerkraut lavishly, add prosciutto, crème fraîche and put the upper half on top.

The Asiago Scandel

In 1951 diplomats from Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland met in the lovely town Stresa at the banks of Lake Maggiore to negotiate and sign the so called Stresa Convention for the Use of Appellations of Origin and Denominations of Cheeses. A cheese called Asiago is listed in Annex B which protects cheese characteristics.

Based on this convention, Switzerland limits the import of Asiago cheese to...

Asiago Pressato

... and prohibits the import of...

Asiago d'allevo

The first is a smooth fresh cheese with little flavour. The second is a full-flavoured, crumbly and aged cheese. Since Switzerland also regulates diameter, dimensions of holes and bulge of the body, Asiago cheese makers are forced to produce a special yet boring version that is only sold to Switzerland.

Why is one of the richest countries in the world denied to enjoyed the delicious products of craftsmanship of our esteemed neighbours without resorting to contraband? I just can't come to terms that a country so dependant on exports keeps snubbing on free-trade.