And in my quest to find new and enticing chronicles for this blog, here’s my latest. I have decided to become the world’s best mixer of Martini Dry, that one and only of cocktails. It won’t be an easy feat, considering how many people lost their lives only because of their devotion to the art of the Martini (seriously, no joke).
Here’s my setup, consisting of Gin, dry French Vermouth, a shaker, Martini glasses and olives:
And now off to the kitchen for the first batch.
is soup.
I really should start thinking of stories to accompany my images. Well, here’s one:
Yesterday we went to a supermarket stocked only with the most organically grown and produced items. And it was surreal. In a way it reminded me of the Contemporary Christian Music scene, in that it’s like a parallel universe. For every item in the real world, there’s a corresponding one in the other. In one case it’s music, in the other one it’s, say, salad.
We stocked up on a few things that we usually don’t get anywhere else, but also on some things we could get somewhere else but just thought we should check out there. Which was a bit of a mistake, because unless you’re rich, this supermarket was not made for you. Buying your groceries in that supermarket as you would buy them in any other, will bleed you dry, making sure you’ll soon be unable to live off anything else than organically produced pasta. Without the organically grown tomatoes.
They do have an impressive collection of tofu products though:
Seriously, I wouldn’t have a problem giving up meat if these things actually tasted the way they are advertised. Especially when other supermarkets are selling stuff like that:
Even for me, who’s rather well versed in the meats, trying to discern what exactly they are trying to sell here is almost impossible. And why exactly they have to group it together in that way is absolutely beyond me.
So yesterday was Barcamp.
I had to leave early, so no t-shirt for me this time, but that’s ok, I do have two already.
The sessions I saw were quite diverse, one of which was a lively discussion about the fate of people who keep broadcasting their lives onto the interwebs (like me, or everyone else who’s part of any online social network). I myself think that some people can and will be seriously fucked by the amount of personal information they put up, but I personally don’t have that much of a problem with people having a look at my aggregated content. I am, fortunately, past the age where people with cameras can witness me getting or being shitfaced, so it’s really quite unlikely anyone will ever see anything like that on facebook or anywhere else.
Another interesting session was on what the speakers called “social entrepreneurship”. They referred by that label to entrepreneurs who use their money and influence to do good (and talk about it too). Needless to say, there were a whole lot of critical voices during the ensuing discussion, one of which was that evergreen of arguments: The road to hell is paved with good intentions. I too am rather skeptical when it comes to the involvement in humanitarian causes by people who have made fortunes, for I’m quite convinced that rarely a fortune is earned by being a saint.
Speaking of saints, during the session they defined a social entrepreneur as a combination of entrepreneur Richard Branson and modern-day saint Mother Teresa. Which reminded me of that book about Mother Teresa I read about in Dawkins’ “God Delusion“. Written by Christopher Hitchens, it supposedly tells a bit of another story about her than the usual hagiographies published after her death, including but not limited to donations by embezzlers and crooks. Sounds a bit like she was a social entrepreneur herself.
Finally, here are some pictures from the event. Well, pictures of the food, which as always was really delicious, especially that homemade olive bread (which is not in the pictures, in case you’re wondering).
And this was the venue WerkzeugH, which due to my not-posting-pictures-of-people policy, isn’t easily recognized as the cozy location it actually is. You’ll have to take my word for it:
Happy new one, everyone.
Sometimes after work I get this craving for Döner Kebap. So I go to this place that opened up about a year ago, which serves Döner that is about twice as expensive than the other ones, but it’s really just the best, hands down.
So today I went, and after receiving that little piece of cellophane-wrapped heaven I ambled back to my flat, when from a distance I spotted a female beggar in front of the grocery store. Equipped with at least one crutch and physical deformity, beggars have become quite popular in my district. And lately they’ve started to augment their arguments by exposing their deformities. Crippled feet, scarred bellies, the works.
So when I passed the lady, I made sure to look the other way. Yes, quite antisocial, I know. But I was hungry, I wanted to devour my Döner. And didn’t have any change. Ok, that’s a lie, I did have change. Anyway, as I turned my head the other way, I heard her mutter her line: “Need money, please spare change”. And then she said something that sounded like “cheese sandwich”, and without any chance of fighting it, an image of crippled feet, scarred bellies, cheese sandwiches and a combination of all three popped up in my head.
And all of a sudden that little wrapped packet of grilled lamb’s meat inside a crispy bun of bread didn’t water my mouth at all anymore.
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