Thursday 23 September 2010

Next destination, eh?



Taking a break. Flying to Vancouver, but going via London and meeting OH at the check in counter. Apart from the small suitcase, I'm also carting a large bag full of stuff for my sisters that includes my body weight in chocolate, cheese and salami, eh?

Very much looking forward to the break, the food, and being 9 hours away timezone-wise which automatically means I won't be able to contribute much, work wise. But, I'm happy with that, eh?

In the meantime, you'll have to put up with the linguistic twitch, eh? Until I'm back via Brussels, then it would be all normal again, une fois?

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Wednesday 15 September 2010

As we like it...

So, after 3 pints of beer for a colleague's pre-birthday drinks, I evade the secretary and jump in a cab. As I'm gathering my groceries that have fallen on the floor of the cab, I try to remember what to say bet the taxi is already moving.

"Erm, bitte shoene..."

"Ja, wohnen du ab Am Wasser?"

"Erm, ja, danke..."

Wait... The cab driver knows where I live?

And that is how I know I take too many taxis.

in Switzerland.

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Wednesday 8 September 2010

Hoping for the remnants of summer...

Over at Refrigerate After Opening, my friend in NY reminds me that I've been awfully lax at updating my food blog. In fact, I can remember that the last time I updated it was back in April, and for that I feel guilty as its meant to be a joint effort between my eldest sister and myself. So, in the meantime, I'm posting a short recipe here that has elements of summer in it, but also a gentle segue into the autumn season.

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Beetroot, Goats Cheese and Rocket Salad



Cooked red beetroot, sliced or grated
Fresh goats cheese
Rocket
Pecan nuts, toasted and crushed
Ground black pepper
Balsamic vinegar
White truffle infused olive oil

Arrange the sliced beetroot on a plate, or if using grated beetroot use a timbale/cookie mold to hold in a round shape. Slice the goats cheese thinly and arrange on top of the beetroot. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the assembled plate, followed by drizzling some of the truffle infused olive oil. Scatter the pecans over the goats cheese and top with a handful of rocket leaves. Grind some black pepper over the leaves and serve.

This dish is wonderfully simple, and the truffle infused oil imparts a rich, earthy flavour that supports the earthiness and sweet edge of the beetroot. A hint of autumn on the palate.

En guete!

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Tuesday 7 September 2010

I Say Tomato...

Sometimes things get lost in translation. For some reason this used to happen to me quite a lot when I lived in London. I'd be at the market asking for a pound of beans, then when I got home I'd find that I had a pound of potatoes, or peas instead of the Borlotti's I'd asked for.

Now, given I'm in a foreign country, the propensity to be misunderstood is even greater. Just over lunch I went to the carvery station at the supermarket, and pointed at what was clearly a hock of roast pork. In my best German, I asked for 3 slices, with my Swiss German colleague next to me giving an encouraging nod.

I get back to the office, looking forward to assembling a roast pork sandwich. On the label it reads 'Fleischkäse' which roughly translates as 'flesh-cheese'. I'm confused: only last week I had roast pork and the label had read 'Schweinebraten'. Suddenly I've lost my appetite.

Much later, I'm hungry and decide to brave the fake roast pork. Turns out, its a bit like meatloaf gone through a blender, centrifuge and cement mixer and re-set in a baking tin. Its the consistency of frankfurter.

It's not so bad with liberal dashings of Tabasco, especially once you've stripped the layer of tastebuds off your tongue.

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Friday 3 September 2010

Friday Pop Tarts



Back a couple of months ago, my youngest sister came to visit and we headed out to the Atlantic Coast of France to stay with some friend on an island. This song by Blondie turned out to be the soundtrack of the summer.

A few months later in NY, I managed to take a picture of where this video was supposedly recorded:



Happy Friday all!

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Wednesday 1 September 2010

Bi-wine curious




After almost a year of radio silence I am back once again. Somehow I
managed to lose focus on priorities in life and let myself be
overwhelmed by the career.

This, in itself, shouldn't have been the case given the constant promotion of the elusive work-life balance. However, in my defense, I was doing a 9 man job and at the end of the day was just too exhausted to even turn on the TV, let alone the laptop to type in a blog entry. Things have now improved, and instead of a 9-man job, I'm on a 4-man job and managing 5 others.

Managing people is somewhat akin to having internal arguments with your subconscious. Sometimes things well up and you want to shout, but you can't, so you take a step back and try to reason with your not-conscious. However, unlike with your subconscious, the worst case scenario you think of then proceeds to act itself out in front of your very eyes.

A recent trip to New York unearthed some absolute gems of overheard conversation, which really had to be heard in person to be believed:

Boy1: I really really like wine

Boy2: yeah, I really like a full bodied red.

Boy3: (hesitatingly) I like wine too, but if you really REALLY like wine, can you like both red and white?

Later...

Boy 2: whites are good, but I only like really dry whites. Like a good chardonnay. Not a riesling though, its not dry enough.

Later, after more fuckery in a similar vein, OH and I left following a conversation involving the new word 'superiocity'.

More to come, and by god its good to be back...

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