Archive for September, 2008
A Bass Guitar
September 28, 2008175th Oktoberfest – La Fête de la Bière
September 20, 2008Bread is liquid in Bavaria.
I am a lucky girl. I live 4 train stations away from the most gigantic folk festival of the world. It takes only 15 min by train to get there from my home. This party of the superlative takes place every year on the Bavarian Wiesn.
Fred the Sailorman looked just like Popeye, the comic hero. He was always smoking some horrible stuff. His flat was all yellowish from top to bottom due to his nonstop chainsmoking activities. He was born in Hamburg (Northern Germany). After many years sailing around the world, once retired, he spent the third part of his life in Bavaria (Bayern). That’s where I met him. I became his neighbor. Same flight. Across the corridor. He couldn’t stand the Bayrish dialect, which was easy to understand since he spoke academic German. To people living in Northern Germany, Bavarian citizens appear like they are peasants, which they aren’t, of course. Otherwise, I’d be one myself, which I am not.
Although he loves drinking beer so much he hated Oktoberfest. Too loud and too many people for his taste. He was right about that. If you feel like meditating, don’t go to the Oktoberfest. Not a chance of quietness there.
But can you imagine somebody living almost 20 years 20 min by train from Oktoberfest and never having set foot on the Wiesn? Fred was the guy who did it.
Schuhplattler by Kohlrösl-Buam Gitschtal (Austria)
Touring The Wiesn
To be a full success, Oktoberfest must be real loud. You’ll even hear your heart pounding like hell through the powerful screams of the visitors to this fantastic fair if you ride the big roller coasters.
Happy stay to all visitors to Munich,
a beautiful city in Southern Germany and my hometown !
Japanese Gameshow
September 16, 2008
Good morning, guys !
It never came to my mind that Japanese people could be that hilarious. Now, I know better. After such a good laugh, no wonder that they can work efficiently on their jobs. Need to fight a bad mood? Watch a Japanese gameshow video to cheer you up.
Enjoy your day.
Vietnamese Sandwiches
September 14, 2008They are really delicious. Healthy, rich in colors and full of flavors. They taste best if the baguette is yummy and crispy. The bread crumb should not be too much otherwise in no time you would lie down on the floor and somebody would practice on you the clear emergency instructions of a choking poster.
Never keep your money in your pocket if you encounter a VN sandwich vendor. Give yourself a treat. Spend. Quite affordable ($3 to $4 each depending on the stuffing) Vietnamese sandwiches are definitely worth a try. If you are on a low fat diet, don’t forget to say : “No mayonnaise for me please. Or just a little bit.”
Anytime I am in a Chinatown of the world, I can’t help it, I have to look for a Vietnamese sandwich stand. The green leaves in the video are cilantro (persil chinois-Korianderblätter)
In Paris 13 – Chinatown (France)
You are in New York right now? There are many Vietnamese sandwich stands in New York City’s Chinatown. But try these insider tips :
- A Chau Deli, 82A Mulberry Street – Phone 212.766.332 (9am-7pm)
It is a very small place. They’ve got only two seats for soup eaters. If you are the third one, you will enjoy your soup… in the standing position. But don’t breathe too much freely otherwise you would throw the customer who is queueing behind you to the two other soup eaters seated just behind him. No queue in the shop is longer than 4 persons. On beautiful days, no problem to wait outside.
- The name of this sandwich stand has slipped my mind again. Name, address and phone number coming soon.
My second favorite sandwich place because it is farther located from Columbus Park than the first one. The neighbor next door : a Firefighter Station. So if you enjoy eating your Vietnamese sandwich seated in front of the shop, your back against the window pane, admiring the street life, some time or other, you will see how red firefighter engines come and go. The shopkeepers are nice people. Please, be patient at lunch time, because their sandwiches are in great demand.
- Paris Sandwich, 113 Mott Street, Phone 212.227.7221.
A pleasant lively well-organized place. Enough tables and seats for patrons. Always crowdy. Great sandwich stuffing variety. There is an oven in the shop (what is rather seldom) so the baguettes are always golden fresh and warm. One minus though : I don’t like the crispyness of the baguettes. I cannot explain why. Just give a try.
In Saigon/HoChiMinh – Ben Thanh Market (Vietnam)
Forget about buying Vietnamese sandwiches from restaurants. Since they make money selling mostly food dishes, you’d be very very fortunate if you get fresh bread there. Most of the times, their sandwiches are AWFUL. If you are a gambler at heart, go for it and please let me know about your experience.
I am a severe case of Vietnamese sandwich addiction.
A Firefighter in Senegal
September 11, 2008
saying ‘Hello !’ to his collegues in New York.
FDNY vs. NYFD
This little guy started teaching me his mother language word wise when he was 2 and something. In Senegal people speak many languages. But the two major ones are Wolof and French. He spoke Baby Wolof and I spoke French to him. He certainly realized that I needed to learn Wolof, so he started giving me lessons. If I did not pronounce a word accurately, he told me : ‘Déedéet’ (= no) and with a gesture of his hand, he made me repeat the word again.
I taught him French. As a young kid (2-4) he was very talkative. But only with me. He let me enter his secret garden, telling me, for instance, about the girl he liked. We had very important discussions. The Senegalese adults who could hear us chatting so vividly wondered how we could have so many topics. We were most of the time together, on the road, in African and in European restaurants, eating fried fish with the fishermen at the beach, gardening together, looking for shells in the sand, feeding the dogs Souffrance, Pick Up and Diola.
Montpellier…
September 11, 2008
I have wonderful recollections of Montpellier, a city in Southern France.
On a hot Summer day, Herdin and I, we left Cadaqués (Spain) and headed to Montpellier seated in a spacious dark green Jaguar, one of the most beautiful car ever. There was this invitation to a castle wedding in an idyllic countryside. I no longer recall the name of the castle.
Montpellier – Place de la Comédie
The rather short trip was very pleasant. After the wedding party we drove back to Cadaqués, a small fishing village, a stone’s throw of Salvador Dali’s estate.
My then boyfriend, an artist painter and musician, got so inspired by the trip to the wedding castle that he wrote and composed a song for me two days after we arrived home.
Some weeks later, he meant to paint me nude too. But I did not like the idea so much, staying nude without being allowed to breathe and staying on the same spot many hours long. “Open a Playboy magazine. There are many nudes inside (as if he did not know which kind of magazine I was talking about…). Choose anyone. And put my head on top of the naked body.” He sure thought that my understanding of artistic inspiration was well below zero. He asked me to pose nude for him many times, but all I could say was : “No, thanks”. Maybe I should revise my decision because there is some spare space on a contemporary museum wall which is still waiting for me …
J’étais arrivée à Montpellier en Jaguar vert foncé (une superbe voiture, très racée), venant de Cadaqués (Espagne) pour aller à un mariage champêtre dans un château dont je ne me rappelle plus le nom.
Un beau voyage, un séjour agréable, et qui me valut au retour une belle chanson, mon copain de l’époque, Herdin, étant artiste-peintre-musicien.
Il voulait aussi faire un nu de moi. Je ne voulais pas poser. “Prends une photo de Playboy et tu mets ma tête dessus”. Il n’a jamais été d’accord. J’aurais peut-être dû le faire. Il y a peut-être une place vide sur le mur d’un musée contemporain qui m’attend…
Souvenirs merveilleux de Montpellier.
Feed Feed Feed ! 
Un poquito de vino rojo? 
