Vienna for the first time

Think of me: I liked it so much that I cannot help telling you some little secrets you might want to know.

First of all, I proudly announce you I've been to Vienna with 100 Euros!

Well, thanks to Skyeurope and a ticket reserved two months in advance, I made it at 30 Euros, place included.

Lodged, then, in the fresh Meininger hotel, opened in the Columbusgasse, 30 meters away from the Kepler metro station.(U3) Brand new, as I said, IKEA furnished, with an all-you-can-take breakfast (1ox for the lovely brown buns!) plus 10 minutes free internet for everybody in the room, if the reservation is made online.

What other expenses you should keep in mind: the CAT - train that takes you from the airport downtown...9 Euros/person. BUT! If you go with friends and you are 3, I suggest you reserve a cab, online of course, here. The price from the hotel I was lodged in to the airport was 25, 5 Euros, so less than 9 euro/person, if you are three. I had to take it in the morning, since my plane was leaving at 6 AM, I made the reservation in time, a month before, and with no other phone call or email, ten minutes than the hour I was expecting the cab, the driver was there, waiting. For going around in the city, the 72 stunde (72 hours) ticket is the best, at 13, 60 Euros. It works on all buses, trams and underground trains, for 72 hours, as it is called.

Places to eat: accidentally we've had our first meal at Cafe Diglas, which proved to be in our guide, so our 6'th sense is still working.

Nice huge courses, choose a menu but only if you understand German, otherwise the waiter doesn't seem to keen to explain what it is all about. I had a potato-celery soup with thyme, and some ricotta ravioli, while my companions had a Kaiser schnitzel with chalots sauce with chestnuts and a Buchtel in vanilla sauce as desert, and some veal and mashed potatoes with beet and horse radish sauce plus a vanilla sauce over a baked apple stuffed with nuts and raisins.

*The menus were numbered, so the waiters dropped at our tiny marble table saying 1, 4, or 5 :).
The last day we dropped again at the Diglas, since it is very closed to the Stephan's Dome, for an apfel strudel. Very good, as we guessed watching on a wall screens how the people make it.

Sacher?

Of course! It was on my plan from the beginning. In a not so warm room, though atmosphere was cosy, *heat, people, the room, heat it!, we tasted the famous cake and watched the pictures on the walls. Keep in mind, the prices are high but any cent worth the hmmmm yummy cake with natural plain cream. Some 4 Euros a slice, 1 euro the wardrobe, and the 10% for the waiter, since in Austria service is not included on the bill.

Sissi!

Sissi is everywhere, in Vienna. So we decided it's the Schönbrunn Palace where we'll get to meet her better. As you can see on the Palace's website, tickets are available online. For those who don't want to spend their life in the small quite humble I would say palace (come on, I come from Becali's land!) there is an Imperial Tour, for half an hour in the most important rooms of the building. 9,50 Euros. For 12 Euros, the Grand tour take the visitors to another wing of the palace, important, as well, for history stands in small pieces, no?

Christmas!

Isn't it lovely to arrive in Vienna before Xmas? We loved the Christmas tree and market at the Schönbrunn Palace but we enjoyed more the Xmas market in front of the City hall. Plus the huge doughnut (I asked vanilla cream, got apricot jam, yikes) and the punch, yummy in a cold winter night.

For I forgot to mention: Vienna is really cold in november/december keep that in mind when you plan to see it during winter. But it's such a lovely place!

how you get to Scream

Montain Dew Ad

Agency: Graffiti BBDO

Location: Bucharest

Creative Director: Ema Prisca

Copywriter Dan Stanescu

Art Director: Cosmin Simionescu

hey

My Munch Scream obsession came again, while I was reading about the National Novel Writing Month in the US, a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing, whose goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Munch is one of the participants, horrified he didn't finish the novel. Drawn here

virtual Xmas list from a naughty girl

what would you ask Santa Claus to get to your little girl, this being the list?

for girls who travel

luggage mustn't always be dull, grey, black!

look here.

mine looks very much the same. not so expensive, though.

X things to know about Rome

Rome is a city of ruins, churches and baroc squares. the guides also speak about Vatican, Fontana din Trevi and other two, three maybe ten big touristic attractions. Thousands of other little things can make a trip to Rome richer.
Walking around the city. Rome is big for thousands of years. As the old romans, you could have a walk near the Imperial Fora, starting from the Colosseum and Constantine's Arch, to climb, then, the hill to Domitian's Imperial Palace. Look at the Circus Maximus. An amazing panorama! Don't forget about Via Appia Antica. So beautiful, by sunset!
Rome is the Vespa city but it's more beautiful if you see it by bike. With only 11 euro, uou can rent one for an entire day (more on http://www.ecomoverent.com/) and you can go from downtown to the outskirts, on the Tiber's banks.
No need to talk about the big piazzas, they are in all the guides. My favourite is Piazza di Spagna. The little squares, though, have a special scent. On my list: Campo dei Fiori, downtown, near Piazza Navona, from where, on a very narrow street you can get to Piazza del Fico.(now in refurbishments)

In that area too is Piazza di Pasquino, where you could go by day, to read what are the roman citizens complaints. For five hundred years, people come here to tell what bothers them, in verses or prose, on little notes called pasquinade which they attach to a statue. Conceived in the roman dialect, the little tirades generally attack the Pope and the governants.
Coffee, coffee and coffee again. Tip: if you drink it for the daily caffeine dose, you better ask for it at the bar. A ristretto vanishes in two seconds on the addicted's throat, so no need to pay almost the double price, just to sit at a table. Attention: the romans are drinking cappuccino only in the morning, so don't ask for it at noon or worse, in the evening. I am not claiming you won't be served, but in Rome we behave like romans, no? Ask for a cornetto near the coffee. Or for some aragostine ( filled with Nutella). For a richer sensation, I fully recommend the sorchette. They can be found near Porta Pia. The translation is vulgar, the pleasure not. A puffy dough with a chocolate and cream icing on top, the sorchette are famous around the students that spend the weekend nights in the clubs near Porta Pia. It is a real custom that before they go home, they fill themselves with these goodies, from the la Lambiase. A proof: the dozens of cars parked near the building.
(Lambiase Antonio Laboratorio Pasticceria Via Cernaia 49 A, Roma)
Rome is the city of angels. On the walls, on a bridge that is only theirs (Ponte degli Angeli), in the churches, everywhere you can see the beautiful creatures that are watching upon us.
Caravaggio without a cue. Possible! Just go to the Saint-Louis des Français church, between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Three works of Caravaggio, all consacrated to Saint Matthew cand be admired in the chapel that bears the same name.
You can discover another Rome if you go to EUR, the quarter the fascists built in the 30's. Few tourist know about it, but, if you have time, you can go there to see how the architects of the early XX century saw things, then. If you get there, you could see the Collosseum in a square variant.
At table: waiters in Rome are generally rude, so don't take it personally! You cannot leave Rome if you haven't tasted the Italian wines . If you want to try something not so expensive, go to the Enoteca Cul de Sac (73, Piazza Pasquino) and wait for a free table. To the ladies, I recommend a Braccheto d’Acquim, because it is sweet, bubbly, and not so alcoholic. The enoteca menu consists of hundreds of wines from all over Italy.

full article in Romanian here, in Timeout Bucharest.
all this wouldn't have been possible without Silvana, Andrea, Dana and Poliana. Mille grazie a tutti!

glamour at the HM

unexpected!

The fall collection has some Roberto Cavalli in it. Much, in fact. OK, Rome not, but Budapest or Vienna shops can open the doors for me. I'm just looking, of course!

after November the 8th.

HM blog!

home alone!

one good thing to do, since you are living on your own/ home alone, pick what you like most from the muesly jar. Then what you like most from what was left. And then again!

Me-> first: nuts. then seeds. then corn flakes( not healthy at all, but what the hell?).

The rest will be drownd into soya/rice milk with a fresh apple or the raspberries that occupy my freezer.

soup anyone?

Time has come to talk about soups. Outside it's so cold that only a hot tea, a soup, a warm wine or a tzuica (for those who are strong) could bring life into Bucharesters stuck into communist blocks. Mine is made of bricks, but I still have to open the window, during day, so the sun warms a little the house or I can put a blanket over the duvet
Back to the soup, so.
I've been eating a lot, during my childhood. Won't talk too much about the chicken soup with little grease circles on the surface that I tried to unify until mom or dad caught me and ordered to finish what was in the plate before it gets cold, the cherry soup or the garlic one, the supă de răzăluşi that only Gorgeoux (her article on good mushroom soups in Bucharest cand be found here)could translate, the asparagus soup I ate though I've never seen an asparagus until then...it was a soup bag granny got from Germany...and the hundreds of soups mom invented, since she is the kitchen fairy, not me.
Soups in Bucharest restaurants are hard to remember. Still have to go with Clitemnestra at Festival 39 to see what's with that maracuja soup in the menu, still have to send somebody to IKEA to get me some rose hip soup. Until then, with a good blender at home, long live Philips, I made the creamiest soups on this planet, with flavours you can't even imagine that can be mixed in a plate. Cinnamon in soup? why not! And this is where I remember the apple soup my mother ceased to make, since nobody in the house liked it.
I was talking about restaurants, for God's sake!
Tomato soups. Few are the ones that I like. A tomato soup has to be sweet, I am sorry:) My friend Diana was of great help, in our university years, when she asked the waiter: please, bring some sugar for my friend's tomato soup. She is from Transsylvania. All these words with an almost ashamed tone. She's from the country. Come on! See the best tomato soup I had until now, at a restaurant that doesn't exist anymore. Or it was sweet because I had it at a dinner with Ambassador Rosapepe? Sweet, creamy, and very consistent! Even if the waiter added pepper with such a liberal gesture, as if the whole Universe needed the black powder at that moment, it was a real pleasant discovery for my tastebuds.
Then comes the tomato soup at le Chocolat, even if it's too greasy (might be my own problem with fat stuff but hey, its healthier this way!). Don't ask for the onion soup here, unless you like puting your hands into the mouth. He who has discovered the polite way to eat a soup that has a huge island of melted cheese on a piece of bread that is floating on the soup surface, please comment and teach.
Then the soups at the Mystic tree [Mystic Tree- Bucuresti, Str. Mantuleasa nr.8. Reservations 0721.077.600 ]. Too bad they are not always fresh. You have to taste the garlic soup here! What a taste!
And what a look! But this for the beans soup at the Szekely Vendeglo [Bucuresti. 76, str. Jean Louis Calderon. Reservations 021. 210. 30. 08]. A soup that is served in a flat plate, for the cook puts it into a round, pumpkin like, home bread. See the picture on the Metropotam.
Enough with soups. Too much soup enlarges the stomach, I heard..

come on!

searching the internet for an article I have to write on internet myths and so on, I found that there are people proud with being keen on shopping (yeah, I have money and I spend!), getting out(Yeah, my parents give me money, I don't work, I get out), wine tasting (Yeah, I drink,m I like buzz!- for none of them is specialised in wines, knows regions and stuff) and so on...
Come on and come on!
books, movies, theatre, dance, ballet, opera died???
shopping?
Come on, again!

to my heart

rome

Since one of my friends who doesn't speak Romanian realised I was in Rome, I will share here some of my experience in the Old Empire .

Of course, images worth more than one thousand metafors...today: the blue, blue sky. the old bridges across the Tiber, the piazzas, the obeliscs, the fountains, the columns and the Pantheon.

the next days, the stories.

I think the mourning in Italy is incomensurabile...
I mean, all that country was singing, for hundred years...
and now, resta solo il canto

i'm the worst mother in the world:( this blog was one year old some days ago and I didn't even care to see when exactly was the anniversary:(

i feel...

...so ashamed when I realise people still put me in their blogroll. First, because I don't know them and can't find time to read everything. Second, because I realise I haven't posted properly here for such a long time. Maybe I could already celebrate one year of Fleurs du Mall. Yeah, Mall not Baudelaire's Mal, but still with a link to the idea. Have to check it. Yeah, I switched to the Romanian one, in fact I have two other places where I post things, plus curatmurdar, luckily in holiday, right now. Plus the writings I do for my job.. I write for a living and write for fun.
And feel so bad whenever I don't have the time or mood to post, especially here, my first blog.

Les macarons Ladurée, a joy for the taste buds!

The Ladurée macaroons I tasted last week, at a wedding in a France castle.

They had a piece montee (pyramid) with four of the varieties*( vanilla, caramel, chocolate and coffee flavored) and the same flavours in the small gift boxes for the guests. You can't imagine how they melted in everybody's mouths! And they were so many that, for the breakfast, we could dip them into the long bad French morning coffee.

To realise what I am talking about, Ladurée has been selected as exclusive “pastry” consultant for the film that Sofia Coppola dedicated to Marie Antoinette... Do you remember the wonders she ate at the beginning of the movie?

And I quote: these small, round cakes, crisp on the outside, smooth and soft in the middle, are made every morning in Ladurée’s "laboratory". With each new season, Ladurée pays tribute to this its most famous creation by creating a new flavour. * Flavours vary with the seasons: New flavour: - Grenadine - From the 22nd of April- Lily of the Valley - From 27th April until 6th of May Flavours that are permanently available: Chocolate - Bitter chocolate - Vanilla - Coffee - Hazelnut praline - Rose petal - Pistachio - Raspberry - Lemon - Blackcurrant violet - Salted butter Caramel - Red fruits - Liquorice. Seasonal flavours : Coconut - Icy mint.

In the pic, what was left, late in the night, from our pyramid.

The problem with the Ladurée is that they are so fragile, the company refuses to deliver outside France. But now, guess what attracts me to Paris?

On the other hand, when in Romania, try the macaroons they make in the Agapitos pastry shops.

where's the good soup

for those who had for breakfast the best croissant in Bucharest and plan to have a good mushroom soup for lunch in the same city, take Gorgeoux's advice!

benefits of living on your own #8

you can walk around the house naked, doesn't matter what time is it, when there are at least 40 C degrees outside and there's no AC inside.

driving through Romania

haven't tried it yet?

you need some medium adventure spirit..if you are one of those lazy drivers who prefer highways when we have the most surprising roads stop reading this right here.

If not, consider driving from Sighisoara to Brasov.

Stops suggested: Saschiz, Prince Charles' Viscri, Rupea, Feldioara

enjoy, then, the road to Brasov, and the view...as you cross the speed limit on the straight way your eyes can just enjoy the mountain panorama...as if the mountains grew from the road...

I had an idea...

...but sat still...I wonder if I believed it could have been put into practice by itself...anyway, nobody in Bucharest did it, so I proudly introduce you to one special Globspotters article: The best croissant in Paris.

As I sometimes forget about my diet, not too often though, the croissant is the dessert I usually indulge myself into, since it's not too sweet....

FIrst of all, you have to know a lot of people here in Romania believe croissants are those sticky things wrapped in alumina foil, with chocolate or champagne (!)fillings, something I would rather call chemical croissants. Then there are the croissants baked in the supermarket ovens, they might be OK, but I really cannot say more, because they are wrapped in plastic, so in about half an hour you get something chewy. So those in coffee shops are something to talk about. Nothing to die for, if I talk about the croissants I had here and there. Very disappointed with the butter croissant at le Chocolat: it is to greasy! The chocolate one is awkward, since the chocolate inside is something solid, though Belgian, meaning good. The almond croissant at Gloria jeans is something more like the Romanian panettone, cozonac, yellowish puffy dough and some chopped almonds spread on top. I never managed to taste the croissant at the Crem Caffe Royal, even if I go there 3 to 5 times a week, they don't have it , the waitresses say, and I wonder if that's not their policy to sell more expensive desserts to those who want something to go with the tasty coffee.

The best I had, though , in Bucharest, is the almond croissant at the Costa caffe. The almonds are inside, not spread on top, in a creamy stuff that makes me realise why many people love marzipan (I don't). If you plan to taste one, pray you have it very close to the moment they are taken out of the oven. I did have the luck, once!

Note to self: Monica, whenever you have an idea, put it into practice, you've seen how successful are your "benefits of living on you own" little stories!

Photos courtesy RobOppy’s Photo stream of croissants) via IHT

LATER EDIT: The IHT correspondent in Paris, Thomas Crampton, who wrote the article that I was talking about, quoted me in his post! I am so happy! and craving for a croissant;)

anybody sleeping?

Corelli- Nessun dorma- Puccini

our Palme d'Or

He is the one! Cristian Mungiu's (pronounced moon-gee-ou) production 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days ," a drama centered set in a small Romanian town during the last years of Communism, where two university students deal with an unwanted pregnancy", wins the 60th edition of the Movie festival in Cannes!
It is not a unique performance for the Romanian cinematography, this year, for Cristian Nemescu's California dreamin' won the Un certain regard prize.
The movie blog is here
take a look at the clip, thanks to Serrart on Youtube.
more details on the AFP

there's a Jesus for all of us

one of them is the Chocolate Jesus, says Tom Waits;)

a shame on the chocolate's cheek (ro )

IceChocoLand, the annual ice cream and chocolate festival started Yday at Bucharest's World Trade Center.
A festival, or how to claim you have an event...nothing new on the choc or icecream market. nothing new for a fair ( I've seen children sing, before). not even attractive prices.
If you go to the next supermarket, just pretend U've been to the festival.
For the WTC event is no reason for delight, in my humble chocoholic opinion.

45 years after

tonight, 11 PM Romanian time, Jules et Jim, on Pro cinema. 45 years after Truffaut made this movie, 15 since I first saw it, and I still love this race!

I like Winney!

Winney dances and makes an old lady dance which is remarcable in my humble opinion (of a person who haven't been dancing for at least two weeks, which is a loss, a terrible one;)
click to play here
Animated cow Winney has featured in Kuntzel+Deygas's work since 1999. Here we see Winney in a contribution to a charity auction organized by Veuve Clicquot, Japan, from October 2006, and an exclusive glimpse of Winney's next performance.
Credits:Winney © Kuntzel+Deygas
Music: Bertrand Burgalat ('Sonata For Three Fingers'), April March ('Charlatan' from album Superbanyair)
Move found on Monocle (those who know Wallpaper know what I mean)

I love paris in the morning

for those who haven't seen Paris, je t'aime, one of the 18 stories in the movie, that I loved most.

time for chocolate!

don't they just look yummy? and they must be! pure cocoa, goat milk...
the creamiest soaps that I can imagine!
Yeah, they are not for internal use...u can find them at the Fetosoap, for about 5$ a piece.
bon appetit in the shower!

I hate birds:(

happiness and unhappiness

Why is Monica happy? because he is coming to Romania, next month.
Why she thinks she is unhappy? Because she isn't sure she will get to do the interview with him
:(
Still haven't seen that Burnt by the sun:(

time for my heart

with two of my favourites: João Gilberto e Tom Jobim - Chega de saudade

or the same Chega de saudade, with Tom Jobim, at Montreal

chocolate, bubble-wraps and addictions

what do you like more? breaking bubble- wraps or chocolate? Both?? thanks to Delice, I discovered there is always a way to pamper yourself...

And it's not only the shape that intrigued me, but the composition. Coming from a country where people believe the real thing is a peanut chocolate, a Macadamia Nut Brittle milk choco or the Roasted Salted Cashews one are quite a thing.

See for yourself, right here. Or taste, if you are closer to them than I am

MD *****

Because I've just seen A Foreign Affair featuring dear Marlene Dietrich, here is something on her, by her daughter, Maria Riva.
I hope you understand German:). If not, just watch it!

Fav quote from the movie:
Erika von Schluetow to Phoebe Frost: You've got so much soap in the United States.

choco comes back!

thanks to her, I remembered I loved chocolate and what people can do with/out of it..

a millefeuille de chocolat or chocolat to take away in a tube?

both, if possible, please!

from Déclinaison Chocolat®

shhhht! Belle de nuit was here!

Got an anonymous comment on my Belle de nuit story...It seems that, in the meanwhile, she came up with a blog.
Unfortunately it is only for those who understand Romanian/ the Romanian actuality.

IN NEED

gotta have this ASAP as my new chariot arrives!

they have it.

I also like food! Good food is good!

...and worths every little penny.

If I haven't had this Oblomov like day, ended watching Nikita Mihalkov's Oblomov, of course, I would have gone out, to brunch, lunch or dinner, either of them.

Too bad I didn't make a reservation to the Mezzaluna, in Bangkok, before I read about the "Epicurian Masters of the World II" dinner. An experience valued at one million baht ( approx. 30,ooo $) that broke out such violent reactions ;)

Anyway, the restaurant manager said, according to the IHT, they were not selling a meal, but a whole experience. Some fifteen international high-rollers from the world of real estate, casinos and shipping whose identity was not revealed by the hosts, at their request, benefited the experience of the black-tie dinner and so did Médecins Sans Frontières and the Chaipattana Foundation — a rural development charity set up by the king, where the money would be going to.

The event wouldn't have been possible, of course, without the six three-star Michelin European chefs skills, and some of the world's finest wines, that were flown in specially for the 11-course extravaganza at the rooftop restaurant.

They say though, that the best food in Thailand costs just 30 baht and is cooked in a wok welded to a street cart and served at a fold-up metal table on the pavement.

More about Mezzaluna here, where I found the pic too

have a nice Saturday!

Judging by yesterday's temperatures, I should jump into the car now, with a picnic basket and enjoy the Saturday somewhere at the seaside...
Like they did!

Kaolin- Partons vite

love and the desert

" Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well, yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless." The Sheltering Sky

She and him....
Voyagers, not tourists...Tourists in the seek of their love..those days and these days..from a hotel to another...mysophobia in a glass of ice, for the coke that couldn't be diet. Fever, shivering, love cried in a hotel door.. a cruel bullet shot from the hills, blood, love shown in a small, dark house.
Desert as you could see with your eyes.



Two couples in Africa, in the verge of their separation. One shown by Bernardo Bertolucci in The Sheltering Sky, one by Alejandro González Iñárritu in Babel.
The American artist couple Port and Kit Moresby travels aimless through Africa, searching for new experiences that could give new sense to their relationship. The Journey leads, yet, only deeper into dispair. The typhoid fever kills Port, the journey throuhg the desert ruins Kit's minds.
Excellent acting: Debra Winger,John Malkovich and wicked Timothy Spall.
Lovely scenes: Kit and Tunner dialogues, Kit trying to find a hotel for ill Port, Kit held hostage.

Susan and Richard travel to Morocco, trying to reinvent a couple broken by the death of a baby.
What was the Japanese guy doing in Morocco? Why did he give his riffle to his guide, as a present? Why did the guide's kids take the riffle and then play on the hills, shooting cars? A shot, and the whole world shivers: Susan, American mother of two, is hurt. She and her husband are not able to get home, in time, to their kids. The nanny can't go, now, to her son's wedding, in Mexico, so she takes the little ones with her. And the Japanese's daughter is the one that found her mother dead, after she shot herself in the head, with the same gun. Each storyline deals with family and conflict from the inability to communicate or to understand.
Excellent acting: Rinko Kikuchi, Gael García Bernal ( still haven't seen the La science des rêves :( ), Elle Fanning ( yes, Dakota's sister) and especially Boubker Ait El Caid( playing little Yussef, the plot and bullet trigger)
Lovely scenes: Japanese deaf girls in the disco club, Richard helping Susan pee, American kids discovering Mexico, Debbie's and little Mike's faces when they see the headless chicken .

I've seen both movies in the same day...and the same half moon over the same desert.

Exactly in the day I programmed to see again Casablanca.
This is synchronicity, huh?

pic found here
Music to listen: something from The English Patient sountrack, in Count Almassy's mother tongue

prepare your tastebuds

New-yorkers who like to try something special every night are welcomed, as NY Times says, where the walls are marigold, the tablecloths goldenrod and the egg yolks spilling into moist corn-colored mamaliga: yellow, yellow, yellow at Acasa in Sunnyside, Queens.

Proudly introducing you traditional Romanian food, go here and read but especially Acasa, to try!

pic taken by Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

sunny day

getting into the black and white mood. Preparing for Casablanca. Later...

zen mom

There is really nothing you must be and there is nothing you must do. There is really nothing you must have and there is nothing you must know. There is really nothing you must become. However, it helps to understand that fire burns, and when it rains, the earth gets wet.

-Zen saying

got it by mail, from the daily Zen stuff...

is my mom behind all these words?

busy for 7 Saturdays from now on

Or how to live again wonderful moments, stareing at a TV screen for hours and hours.

Pro Cinema, the only Romanian movie channel ( except for HBO, Hallmark, Romantica and others, that came here from abroad) is keeping our Saturdays busy with 7 marvelous movies, all involving Nikita Mihalkov, the Russian cinema Tzar.

An Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano , A Few Days in the Life of I.I. Oblomov , Five Evenings Without Witness , Stranger at Home, Slave of Love and A Cruel Romance /Girl without dowry( with a special mention here, as I saw this movie probably in 1985, all I remember, besides a scene where everyone was feeling miserable- I can hardly wait to see again the movie, with an adult eyes!-the cinema was so crowded people were sitting on the stairs, and I felt a terrible need to go to the toilet and I was so afraid not to loose anything from the action. Can't recall if I went or waited the movie to end...)

Don't count on me next Saturdays, as I don't have a VCR to get those movies on a tape and the DVD player is, DOH, a player.

A black Russian tea, some biscuits or even cernoslivs* and here is Monica spending her winter nights at home. Who wants to join me?

more about this here, in [RO]

pics found here

*or a Roiboos tea, some baked apples and dry plums, for me, in fact

nuit vs. jour

According to Evenimentul zilei, a mysterious Romanian woman reveals her sexual fantasies in an erotic diary signed Belle de Nuit. Yes, Belle de Jour lives in London, the night corespondent here, in Romania.
The publishing house, Editura Trei, is the same that brought in Romania The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, so the recipe is easy to follow:
In October 2006, the editors got some excerpts of a diary called Intimate Adventures of a Bucharest Call Girl , from an author that preferred to remain anonymous.

Lily Flower, as she called herself, the author says Belle de Jour inspired her. Her identity is still a mystery for the editors, who negotiated the contract with a lawyer. In fact, the editors were the ones that proposed the Belle de nuit nickname, predictable , huh?
The speculations around Belle de Nuit began, then: porno stars, journalists, female writers and even male ones, who is behind Belle de Nuit? Dan Sociu, who signs the introduction says the book is well written and the fact a lawyer was sent to discuss the publishing conditions proves he/she is not far from this world.
But, of course, the editing house could know very well who Belle de Nuit is, after all this is a game involving money, isn't it?

Belle de Nuit- Exile, for you

Another thing: Belle de Nuit is not blogging, as Belle de Jour is.

full article here, in [Ro]
picture found here

...

yeast free bread toasted on a grill, almost freshly squeezed olive oil, blackcurrants, almond&rice milk, Siberian pine seeds, chicory coffee sweetened with honey, orange+grapefruit juice squeezed, of course, by Monica herself...

I eat a lot, almost all the time, to answer Dan's questions, but I quited a long time ago the live to eat slogan for the eat to live one*. Eat to live better, if possible. And it is, if you take into consideration some simple rules I realise Jews or even Ayurveda medicine applied thousands years ago. Not mixing food categories, knowing when you could afford to eat something( don't do like other unhappy creatures that squeeze lemons all day long, for example) and mind the quantity. The organism knows when to stop, do you?

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants...for more details, see Michael Pollan's article in today's International Herald Tribune.

Another news that comes today from the same IHT is that yoga is more and more encouraged in India public schools. If you knew how classes used to start, in Romanian schools, 18 years ago, with all the children singing the national anthem (a very long and dull one!) you could imagine the difference: classes in India begin with the Sun salutation.
But even if this is the country where you could find the most important religions in the world, people still don't want school and religion mixed. Of course they haven't arrived, yet, to something like The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols (or even the Orthodox icons in the Romanian classes scandal, last year) but this is only because the Hindu nationalists are governing many of the Indian states.

Namaste!

* That doesn't mean I don't crave for other stuff, especially for chocolate, but believe me, a proper diet "ruins" the tastebuds, even bananas seem too sweet to me, what to do with a cup of creamy, thick hot chocolate?