Life Is Just Sooo Good With Me

Yesterday, I got extremely lucky, because I learned that I will get 2 tickets for sold out concerts:

• Depeche Mode on the 28th March 2006
• Robbie Williams on the 24th August 2006.

It's good to have friends, who have friends... OK, for one of those tickets, I'll still have to kiss some feet. Nevertheless, my eyes are sparkling like diamonds in champagne.

Untimely Outdated

I know that I can be quite old fashioned. Nevertheless, I reckon that my friend Georgyboy acted a bit premature by reserving a place for his child at a crèche before his girlfriend has even conceived. Or do I just have difficulties, handling pathological optimists?

Cocinar con Chilo

Passion has found a its Garden of Eden at Cocinar con Chilo. This is the new joined blog by Toño aka Gatín and Gomad aka Osín.

This spanking new online journal is named after Chilo, one of Toño's bonny sisters. Chilo lives in La Huacana, México and is widely known and appreciated as an ardent cook. We hope that she will share her erudition with us. That is why we named that blog after Chilo and dedicated it to passionate cooking.

So brush up your Spanish and join us on our journey to mastery.

Impossible Yoga

I'm not sure if Madge is still doing it, but everybody seems still doing this Yoga thing. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from my praised flatmate, who tried to delude me into a beginners class. I have to admit that I pondered the idea of me joining this class. However, suddenly I discovered that the lady, who will be giving this class, was citing Lord of the Rings. Sorry, there are certain lines I won't cross.

Reassurance

It is quite reassuring when you're in a lonely place but get the confirmation that this is or you are pretty normal.



Although, everybody keeps saying: "I was born when you kissed me, I died when you left me, I lived while you loved me."

Wet New Year

I tend to steer clear of New Year resolutions (although I stopped smoking on a New Year, but I was bored of it anyway). Maybe I have to consider one this year, even though with a bit of a delay.

Yesterday, My beloved Gatín and myself went to the pool for the first time this year. Surprisingly, the warm-up double kilometres went pretty well. The other surprise was that the Zürcher Sportamt for once did not further restrict the opening hours, but widened them significantly. It is now possible to do a pre-work swim.

Should this (the pre-work swim) be my delayed New Year resolution because it's doomed to fail anyway?

At The Edge Again

I used to be an innovator or at least an early adopter, who tried to avoid to belong to the majority or even being a laggard. Whatever, I'm becoming older and maybe because of that loosing the grip of the edge of things.

That's what I thought until I've read an article by the BCC, which reminded me that I'm obviously unconsciously ahead of a trend: Mexican Wine.

Mexico is neither really a wine country nor a coffee country. Although both are part of Mexico's cornucopia. It's easier to get a beer or a tequila. If coffee is served, it's most likely made out of Nescafe. If you order wine in a restaurant you have to choose the vino tinto - that is, the only red wine available in the house. After the order, the staff usually spends the next fifteen minutes searching for the bottle opener and cleaning the dusty wine glasses. However, Mexican's wine makers are being kissed awake by the prince and things are emerging rapidly.

If you want to be among the innovators then you should look out for the wines of the Bodega LA CETTO or the Bodega de Monte Xanic. Both are highly recommended by my beloved Gatín, who is the expert in the family.

Read BBC article in English or Español.

Hairy Discovery

Expat Traveller has written about weird things about herself, among which is her affinity to shaved male bodies, especially of swimmers, bikers and triathletes. Her words reminded me of a discovery I made recently:

But first I have to admit that I was a bit lacy lately or too busy doing other things and neglected the trimming of my bodily hair. This slackness made it possible that I found out something weird about myself too (the only thing, really): I love to look at my arm hair wiggling in the current after the turn while gliding under the water before I resurface. *blush*

Maybe I will never trim them again.

It’s The Lime, Stupid

Even though I like fruits (no pun intended), I could never understand the fuss people make about Papaya, until I was told in México that one should not eat this fruit without having dribbled some drops of lime juice over it. The enrichment in taste after this simple procedure is amazing. I highly recommend to enjoy Papaya only in the combination with Lime!

Brought Up To Date

Coming home from México, I had to learn that my praised flatmate...

• is in hormonal disorder
• is afraid to sleep at home due to the fear of a wooer's jealous (maybe not so) former sweetheart with a Sicilian background
• was again on television.

Not Actually A Christmas Tree

I'm back from México. It was my first trip to Hispanoamérica, and hence a personal discovery of a continent. My beloved Gatín introduced me to bright colours, extensive family grids, open-hearted hospitality and a cuisine full of tasty surprises. Travelling in Christmas season brought also some close encounters with Mexican Christmas habits, e.g. one could hardly walk five steps without stepping on a Nativity Scene. A bit special, however, was the lighting of the Christmas Eve dinner:

Holding Up The Walk-in Flag

It's a virtue to be a good citizen and this year I'm early on the good citizen track by having already ordered the Photo of the Swiss Federal Council 2006:

¡feliz navidad y un próspero año nuevo!

Tomorrow, I'm embarking to Mexico to meet Gatín's family and commemorating the birth of Jesus in a climate that is bit more propitious for my rheumatism.



I dare to cite Kaag by saying "give every day the chance to be a Christmas day".

Cookie Bitching

A colleague of mine has once called me the cookie bitch of my family. According to his theory, every family has one. It is the person, which makes the Christmas cookies. Whatever, this weekend it was again time for cookie bitching at Gomad Mansion™. The process is very simple. One takes this:



...and turns it into this:



This year, my bitching could be limited to the absolute minimum, because Gatín took over the cutting of the cinnamon and chocolate stars. He is much more patient than I am when it comes to handling delicate matters.

Almost Like Common People

Roe used to be the food of the poor. I once heard that in Basel it had to be prohibited by law to serve roe to the attendants every day. Sweet Chestnuts had been a cheep but nutritious food for the poor too, since they were introduced by the Romans into Ticino. Nowadays, both have turned into culinary frills (you will agree if you ever had a saddle of venison with chestnuts).

My beloved Migros has now brought this delicacy to my breakfast table by choosing it as the third flavour of their winter season yogurt collection:

Beware Of Being LONLEY

The The The song on DRS3 the other day brought back a frightening memory. It must have been in 1993, right after The The's Lonely Planet Tour passed Switzerland, when I made the mistake to show up at work with the tour T-shirt, which had very big LONLEY written all over the front. As soon as our late secretary caught sight of me, she grasped me and did not stop hugging me for at least five minutes, while she kept saying "everything will be all right".

La Belle Hélène

In 11 days we can celebrate the 141st anniversary of the premier of Jacques Offenbach's operetta La Belle Hélène at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris. I could not wait until then and tasted already the new Migros winter season yoghurt Pear and Caramel:



This yoghurt tastes like the desert that has been named after La Belle Hélène to promote the operetta back in 1864. It combines the delicious sweetness of caramel with the aromatic acidity of the pear.

A Hug For A Kiss

I've never quite understood what the xxxxx or ooooo at the bottom of a letter or card means until I dared to ask an Anglo-Saxon:

xxxxx: kisses
ooooo: hugs

:-$

Made My Day

DRS3 does not make it easy for me, because they like to play complete bollocks, such as Dire Straits and Florian Ast. Never mind, yesterday DRS3 somehow perfectly hit the vibes of the day by playing This Is The Day by The The.

THIS IS THE DAY

Well, you didn't wake up this morning because you didn't go to bed
You were watching the whites of your eyes turn red
The calendar on your wall is ticking the days off
You've been reading some old letters
You smile and think how much you've changed
All the money in the world couldn't buy back those days

You pull back your curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day
Your life will surely change
This is the day
When things fall into place

You could've done anything If you'd wanted
And all your friends and family think that you're lucky
But the side of you they'll never see
Is when you're left alone with the memories
That hold your life together ... like glue

You pull back your curtains
And the sun burns into your eyes
You watch a plane flying
Across a clear blue sky
This is the day
Your life will surely change
This is the day
When things fall into place

This is the day your life will surely change
This is the day your life will surely change
This is the day your life will surely change
This is the day your life will surely change

See the clip.

In a Vortex of Seasonal Emotions

Love can have an influence on habitats. Switzerland has a bipolar shopping world, which is dominated by Coop and Migros. Gatín used to buy at Coop while I'm an ardent Migros shopper. Nevertheless, Gatín discovered Migros new winter season Yoghurts before I did and brought some home. This morning, I tasted the Apfelstrudel flavour.



Apfelstrudel (Apple strudel) is a traditional Austrian pastry, which consists of an oblong strudel pastry jacket with a filling of chopped apples, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and bread crumbs. The art of preparation is in making the pastry very thin and elastic. A single layer should be so thin you could read a newspaper through it. The filled Apfelstrudel is baked in an oven and can be served warm, usually sprinkled with icing sugar. The traditional way to serve it is with vanilla custard.



Much to my surprise, this yoghurt really tasted like real Apfelstrudel. This seems like another victory for the artificial flavour industry!

Unfortunately, I prefer Apfelstrudel in the time between lunch and midnight and I use to eat yoghurts for breakfast. Hence, this flavour does not fit at all into my unconscious pattern of behaviour.

But maybe I have to change. As Nature reports in its latest issue, the North Atlantic's natural heating system, which brings clement weather to western Europe, is showing signs of decline. This means there will be much more winter in Europe, and hence, maybe much more of this Apfelstrudel yoghurt.