When in Rome...

back to Rome

2011-10-13T21:38:00.007+02:00

Here I am , three years after, back in Rome.

Lovely warm autumn with very few clouds and a special treat at our arrival: 27 Celsius degrees at 7 PM. A shock, even if we were back from Mexico City, where winter or hot summer never comes.

A lot of exhibitions advertised on the streets and buses: Mondrian at the Vittoriano, Filippo Lippi and Boticelli or Georgia O' Keefe? Soviet art or street art? Plenty of time to discover it all.

In the meanwhile, I've discovered that at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the other weekend, there will be Mahler and his Symphony of a Thousand. I shall be there.

I won't be talking about politics, it is really complicated to me to readapt to Europe and its struggles. There will be a way, I am sure.

2009-05-04T20:30:00.003+02:00

due to the flu, i am blogging only in Romanian, here. *(why would that be a reasonable reason?)

i can have what i want here

2009-04-04T02:53:00.002+02:00

extrapolation we organized a party last night. the posh kind. a reception, come on!

police car outside, called by ourselves, doorman tipped to be at the entrance until everybody leaves etc.

The first guests arrive in time, they are not Mexicans, what did you think?

Me, near the door, busy with the flowers I got, somebody rings, I open, the posh lady that comes in ignores me (yes, normally the muchacha opens the door, why a muchacha will wear an expensive black dress, jewels and high heels i don't know) goes right where the people are, talks with them for some minutes, I imagine she is related to one of them, she then turns around and leaves. I don't remember who opened her door, the muchacha inside me didn't do it.

She was going at the Alliance francaise, one block away, and she ended near Allianz Fondika. I blame the taxi driver. And the policemen. And the doorman. Come one, how could she pass all those filters just because she was elegant? Nobody cared where she was going to!

I intend to become a party breaker. And to go to all kind of posh dinners, just because I will dress the way I will dress.

PS: it would have been so cool if the lady realised she wasn't at the right party only after midnight!

Monica in the Silver City

2009-03-19T04:48:00.006+01:00

As we had a loooong weekend in Mexico (it's the Benito Juarez day on the 21st of march and for some years every monday before is a day off, as many other Mondays, in fact)we got out of the city. As you go out of this big tortilla city for other reasons but sightseing: one of them, and an important one, BREATHING (pollution and high altitude!).

Compasses, friends' suggestion, what we read in books, guides and magazines made us say Taxco and Taxco it was!The silver city.

It's up in the mountains, near the silver mines, and it has no more than 150 thousand inhabitants. And it's really cute!

We were lucky enough to be able to go there on the highway (still horrified with the roads we saw in our way to the monarch butterfly mountains)

So, what's going on in Taxco and who is there to testify?

Thousand of tourists who come to buy silver jewellery or oth

er souvenirs (it's not a cheaper one, but at least it's 925 or even 950 type silver), or to linger in the main square (Zocalo, as in all Mexican villages or cities), or to eat in the few places that the guides recommend, to listen to some music, on Sunday, or to swallow what the buses', taxis' and dozens of cars' exhaustion pipes produce as there are people who seemd to have been born in the car, if they cannot climb the city hill by themselves.

There are also museums in Taxco.

I was really sad when I realised the Humboldt House was closed, there was a witch stuff exhibition there that I missed (after the Cuernavaca one featuring torture instruments used by the Inquisition). But I visited the Silvery Museum and I found out that indigens used to work metals way before the Conquista, as precolumbians used silver for religious purposes and not only.

And yes, I came back with a wonderful pair of earrings.

___________

PS> 10X for the Spanish to English translation down here!

help me understand mexicans

2009-02-18T05:56:00.003+01:00

Here I was, this morning, at the Club where we go, waiting for the Aquqgym teacher to arrive. Like the past Friday, she didn't show up neither at 11 when the program say we should all begin move our bones deep into water, nor at 11.40 when I realise the all the classes began until now (what if the sun burns harder?)

Here she came at sharp 12, telling me the class will not begin because, please sit down- I don't want my readers to faint- in 15 minutes they will charge her more for the parking. I was this close to tell her: here are 15 pesos for that damn hour, but I couldn't move, speak, think farther. Here it is anot so cheap club, here is a coach paid to hold classes every day, here she comes telling me I don't know what Mister Vasconcelos talked to her for more than half an hour, and then the parking bomb.

Chapeau, LaChapelle!

2009-02-10T05:04:00.006+01:00

Thanks to Gorgeoux, I didn't do I don't know what on Sunday, but went to the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso to see David LaChapelle's exhibition here in the DF.

LaChapelle's Mexican debut, called "Delirium of Reason (Delirios de Razón),"features, as you can immagine, some of the photographer's works, done in the last 13 years.

45 pesos for a colourfoul hour downtown, plus some funky photos in the LaChapelle style our friends got taken at the Colegio's Taller. Inside.

looking for yoga classes?

2009-02-07T17:12:00.005+01:00

I know the feeling. While in Romania , I was looking with almost fear to the flyer announcing yoga classes in my neighbourhood. (A long scandal not solved yet, linked to a Romanian Guru.) Then I found a class held by Irina, a Romanian who spent many years in London. All OK, except the cold in that room. I simply didn't wish too much to continue. Then my private teacher, with the techniques that helped me heal from a horrible disease. Then Mexico. Yoga classes almost on every street. Neither in the day/on the hour I wish. I found the AgoraLucis place,here in Polanco, on La Fontaine, where they have classes even in a glass pyramid. Cool, but then we joined a Club where I could do more than yoga, so I had to leave. Yoga every day at 11! What a blessing! There I was, Araceli was teaching us almost the same asanas that were good fo my health problems, we were there, relaxed, who could be more happier. Me, going there, last Tuesday, jumping like a grasshoper, until, as I was late, I realsied the people weren'tt using mats and the woman in white named Araceli was a man in black. No, it was not a holdup, a TaiChi class which I couldn't attend, as I went there barefoot. Then the Club's programme changed, the classes are only 2 days a week, not all 5, and here I am again without yoga as I dreamed: every day, the I want, not too early, not too late, in a lighted warm room.

Going to the club, now, to get the programme for February and see what can I do with my life.

By the way, you could do yoga at one of the dozens Instituto Mexicano de Yoga schools too. Just search the areas they cover.

If you are based in Condesa and you are looking for hatha yoga classes on Saturday, here's a tip.

sand, birds and boats

2009-02-02T01:42:00.003+01:00

Empty Jack Daniels bottles, trance rythms, burnt faces, nachos on the beach, boat parties a few miles away, Pittsburgh Steelers vs Arizona Cardinals and one sorrow: in February night comes earlier, even on the beach.

Greetings from Playa del Carmen!

¡Viva Don Vasco!

2009-01-31T01:56:00.007+01:00

We went to Morelia. The last weekend. My reaction when I heard where we could spend the weekend was: so what's going on there?

Let's see: 4 hours away from the DF, on the highway,there's this city, capital of the Michoacán State, who's name is, obviously, taken from Morelos, the revolutionary. Just because Morelos, the Mexican State,and the dozens of Morelos streets in Mexico City weren't enough. OK, I come from a country where the cult of personality was something special. in a way much people don't want to remember.

And I didn't say anything, even if I wrote half a page:)

OK, a university city, 600.000 inhabitants, a beautiful central plaza, the Zocalo, a UNESCO treasure, a lot of festivals, no security problems, lovely climate, blue sky, a colonial downtown, portals, old tram, information points for tourists and, the most important in a country with so many polices yet inefficient, the Tourist Police.

The sweets market, where I got waaaaaay before the merchants, is what I didn't expect, in fact, hoping it will be different from what I've seen in Mexico so far. nuts, pistachio, almonds, raw, fried, in chili or caramelized, the famous Alegrias, figs, dried fruits, tamarind and so so on. All uncovered, guarded by people who, at 10 AM, was that breakfast or almuerzo? digged their noses in the plastic plates with steamy tamales, chilaquilles or God knows what it was. I imagined, of course, in my twisted mind, all kind of greasy drops on the sweets so away I went, with fear.

Souvenirs, then. As here in the DF I could see all the colourful things artisans in this little country do, nothing impressed me in Morelia's market. Not even the tiny little leather booties where you could keep your Tequila glass, neither the "Remember Morelia" Eco bags, nor the cowboy frogs with sadist smiles, who knows why.

11 AM and the sun was burning so hard that i wanted to throw my coat. I kept walking, though, as all my pockets were filled with phone, ID, money, batteries, Kleenex, all necessary when you are alone in a town you don't know. No map!

The shoe cleaners in the Zocalo were busy bees working hard. I felt compassion for the one who was paid to dye some ex-trendy pink boots in the sades dullest black I've ever seen. But the one who wasn't working yet was somehow more depressing. Or was it the one totally ignored by his client? Don't know, I clean my shoes myself.

The coffee, a real blessing for my half-opened eyes (to too much light or too few oxygen- the altitude is not much lower comparing to the DF)- was taken at Lilian's Gourmet, in the chlorine flavour of the stuff one guy used to scrub the floor so vigorously that I suspected a murder took place there, the night before. I chose the place as at the Conspiraciòn the doors were closed. Conspiracies have nothing to do with the daylight, it's more and more obvious for me!

I bumped into Melchor Ocampo's,statue too. A man who is so many streets, like Morelos, in fact.**

A dauntless man with a cruel end, who strongly believed, as the plate is saying, he did for his mother country what he judged it was better. Another moment when the local patriotism strucks me in my head.
I took a deep breath to recover and then, like any normal human being with a stomach, no barriers and fresher air in his lungs, I was hungry. As I never go hunting without my gun, I searched the web looking for The Restaurant, I ignored the guides who, one night before sent us where some guys were selling the tables and chairs of what was once las Viandas de Don Jose. So we went to Fonda Marceva.Then we walked, say a beautiful tree

a strange guy,

we realised the little green man runs hard here, when it's his turn, of course, and we noted that it's hard to get bored on a Saturday evening in Morelia. We saw a tram that does the city tour so we decided that could be a nice thing to do, even if near the Zocalo there were two different concerts. We paid our tickets, waited for our guide, met a family who was really prepared to do the tour (with fried potatoes, sweets, coke, popcorn and toys for the kids), saw where we could leave the tips and we waited. And waited. And waited, until the tram driver told us there's no way he could leave, since the tram is empty.

So we climbed our hotel's roof, sat down, listened to the music and watched the fireworks. And the lights on the Morelia Cathedral . And the people on the street.

_____________

*Don Vasco de Quiroga, born in Spain, came here some 500 years ago. A great man. Details here.

** There's no happier moment than the one you get lost in Mexico City, just because in every colonia there is a Morelos, Ocampo, Revoluciòn or Londra street!

useless mexican police

2009-01-15T01:39:00.003+01:00

While people are assaulted on the streets, while drivers are left without the cars at street corners, while families are left without children for weeks and get a piece of the victim's ear or finger for some million of pessos, I was stopped at a corner because I claxoned. I did it because at every corner somebody jumps on my car to clean it. My car is cleaned every week with proper products and I don't intend neither to get a scratched or dirtier car, nor to see a pistol pointing my head. I claxoned, the policeman stopped me and asked for my papers. This time I was lucky. Next time I could be killed. Policemen are there only when you don't let the guys "clean" your car. Mexico has ten kinds of "policias". Could I know, please, what are they doing?

this is not a dead blog!

2008-10-18T20:19:00.003+02:00

I just didn't have too much time to blog in two languages, with all the things that happened, in the last months.

Briefly: I am in Mexico City and I intend to share with you my experience here.

It's so much fun and also some fear. Yeah, the security blah blah, my paranoia and the rest.

I did see some of the city but it will take months to visit everything. Not to mention the time one'd need to discover the whole country.

keep you posted!

PS: that's me, on one of the beautiful benches on Passeo de la Reforma.

first 2008 post

2008-07-11T22:17:00.003+02:00

Gosh, me addicted to blogging, no more than two years ago, realized today I have no stories online for 2008. The truth is I blogged more on my Romanian one, though I haven’t been a graph maniac there either. Life!

Promise: October will bring more stories from more interesting parts of the world.

PS: I don't remember where I was telling stories about the spiders in my house. The fact is for more than three days two of them are on my left. Well, a good housewife would have cleaned the spots immediately. I and some other Romanians are superstitious. First: seeing a spider in the afternoon or better in the evening brings good luck. Seeing one in the morning, the opposite. The most important thing: never kill a spider. So there they will stay until the cleaning lady comes! I wonder what they eat and if they wander around, while I am not here.

PS: my two little ones are not dangerous, thanks for the good thoughts!

Vienna for the first time

2007-12-05T19:40:00.000+01:00

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 with 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, some one 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

2007-11-19T17:48:00.001+01:00

Montain Dew Ad

Agency: Graffiti BBDO

Location: Bucharest

Creative Director: Ema Prisca

Copywriter Dan Stanescu

Art Director: Cosmin Simionescu

hey

2007-11-13T15:22:00.000+01:00

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

2007-11-12T13:36:00.000+01:00

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

for girls who travel

2007-11-08T19:12:00.001+01:00

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

2007-10-30T09:32:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-19T23:15:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-10-19T15:21:00.000+02:00

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?

2007-10-18T22:50:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-10-18T22:46:00.000+02:00

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

2007-10-04T23:18:00.000+02:00

rome

2007-09-29T10:53:00.000+02:00

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.

2007-09-07T09:15:00.000+02:00

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

2007-08-23T02:20:00.000+02:00

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...

2007-07-24T07:43:00.000+02:00

...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!

2007-07-10T09:32:00.000+02:00

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

2007-07-10T09:30:00.000+02:00

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

2007-06-20T16:13:00.000+02:00

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

2007-06-19T18:59:00.000+02:00

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...

2007-06-10T13:09:00.000+02:00

...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?

2007-06-06T23:46:00.000+02:00

Corelli- Nessun dorma- Puccini

our Palme d'Or

2007-05-27T20:30:00.000+02:00

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

2007-05-26T21:34:00.000+02:00

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

a shame on the chocolate's cheek (ro )

2007-05-26T11:20:00.000+02:00

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

2007-05-04T23:12:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-05-02T19:59:00.000+02:00

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

2007-04-03T17:24:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-04-02T23:17:00.000+02:00

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:(

2007-04-02T09:34:00.000+02:00

happiness and unhappiness

2007-03-18T21:09:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-15T16:05:00.000+01:00

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

2007-03-13T10:31:00.000+01:00

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 *****

2007-03-12T21:18:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-03-08T15:57:00.000+01:00

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!

2007-02-15T23:40:00.001+01:00

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

2007-02-14T13:32:00.000+01:00

gotta have this ASAP as my new chariot arrives!

they have it.

I also like food! Good food is good!

2007-02-11T00:03:00.000+01:00

...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!

2007-02-10T06:45:00.000+01:00

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

2007-02-08T11:42:00.000+01:00

" 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

2007-02-07T12:14:00.000+01:00

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

2007-02-07T10:12:00.000+01:00

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

zen mom

2007-02-06T23:26:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-31T08:57:00.000+01:00

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

2007-01-29T10:57:00.000+01:00

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

...

2007-01-29T00:03:00.000+01:00

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?

no, you're not!

2007-01-28T03:29:00.000+01:00

see here

this is show, people!

2007-01-24T17:52:00.000+01:00

You should see Romanian artists' concerts, to realise why we crave for events, not happenings:)

obsessed, remember?

2007-01-21T05:39:00.000+01:00

Henri fed my Munch obsession with another link. Merci, Henri!

The author is Placide . Take a look at his site, if you really want to have some smart fun!

I give you my heart

2007-01-19T00:35:00.001+01:00

as my heart belongs to them, right now:)
I didn't go to the Hommage a Michel Petrucciani* show this night, I wasn't in the mood.
But Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli managed to keep me company.
J'attendrai- Django Reinhardt and his Quintet of the Hot Club of France
Aren't they fabulous?

*I wanted to go, as I feel guilty about Mr. Petrucciani. He died 2 weeks after a concert he had in Bucharest that I attended. I had the flu, that time. Didn't cough or sneeze, to spread some Fluegge drops into the hall atmosphere, but he died of some pulmonary infection.

I've been tagged!

2007-01-17T13:37:00.000+01:00

the most interesting thing about having two blogs is that you get tagged twice, by people who probably don't know that you are bipolar;)
Pam Pas asked me to tell five things people don't know about me.
Since I am quite new in the blogosphere, I imagine I can tell almost everything, pretending it's something hidden about me.

1. I wanted to be a piano player, I studied piano and I had big concerts with the philharmonic orchestra in my native town. Then everybody told me I could end poor if I don't do something else in life, so I quit. I studied Law and then Foreign Affairs, was on the verge of a PhD in Global Economy but stopped, busy with other plans, see point 4. I still have the piano, though
2. Even if you see me chocoholic, here, I don't eat too much chocolate. Hope to do it again, sometimes.
3. I'm the laziest person you've ever met. I enjoy staying in the house for days ( Thanks, God! my job allows me to do that) reading and surfing the web. So lazy I can't find things in the indoors mess. Being bipolar, at job I am the tidiest person they've ever met:)
4. I've seen death two times, so I am quite used to the idea the Dark Lady might come anytime.
5. I knit ( made my first money knitting pullovers and selling them. Now I knit booties for my friends' babies.) Yeah, cast the stones:)

Departe and Gorgeoux, what don't I know about you?

where to find an orange borsalino hat?

2007-01-17T00:55:00.000+01:00

OK, synchronicity beats me, sometimes.
I spoke with a friend about an orange hat to match his purple suit...
I searched the web and, instead of what I was looking for, I bumped into caps, kid hats, chapeaux etc
Now, after a week of not thinking about them, here they are.

Not real Humphie borsalinos but at least very close to... the one near SJP (left) is one to laugh at, but the other one...a thing to admire, my opinion...I bet that guy is playing a guitar...

By the way: do you happen to know a place where my friend could find a men orange borsalino hat?

before bars

2007-01-16T20:50:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I bumped into an incarcerated guy letter. Perfect grammar, coherent message, 15 years conviction for a certain Penal Code article mentioned there. Scanned my Penal Law brain drawer realised he killed somebody.
Some hours after, saw some prisoners telling poems. Embarrassing moments for them, I presume, and for those who were listening. I guess it mattered for their files.
TV, some other hours later, prisoners on the screen. Checked my stats, a visit from somebody coming from a 2pac_amaru blog. OK, two times, a coincidence, three, four times what? Was it my prison day? What about you? Are you obsessed by the incarcerated, detention centers and whatever else linked to the society darkest side? visit Prison Flicks, the premier web site devoted to reviewing and discussing prison movies set in or centered around prisons. High seas adventures, action, even love stories. What can you find here: classics like The Great Escape and The Shawshank redemption, other stuff like Jakie Chan's The Prisoner, Sean Connery's The Rock, Chicago the musical, Clooney's O Brother, Where Art Thou? etc.

What, don't we all love seeing inmates as heroes?
song to listen: Stand by your man, the Heike Makatsch version, not the crying Tammy Wynette one:)

hands behind bars pic found here

longtime no see sweaty palms and racing heart

2007-01-16T20:32:00.000+01:00

What do you do when two men you adored ( * sigh) in your French stormy youth sing together? Publish the song, of course!

picture this!

2007-01-16T13:19:00.000+01:00

"Please forgive me if, in the heat of the battle, I sometimes forget which side I am on."

I got a text message saying this, some days ago..

I've always imagined the rugby piles are like this..You never know who's pushing you...it could be your teamster, can you prove?

pic found here

the chocolate day

2007-01-16T09:55:00.000+01:00

chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner...
who could resist such a challenge?

A whole book for chocoholic kids and parents!
well, chocoholism needs time to develop, huh?
A Sarea in bucate[ro tale] in different words: the story of a kid who wished he ate only chocolate, and his wish came true: he had a chocolate day.

Well, as I read Yday, "have a chocolate day" I didn't see this reverse at all! I can't right now, but plan one ASAP! Only chocolate, OK?
And then 3 days of Lent...pleasure demands sacrifice:( before and after
pic found here

should I feel cruel?

2007-01-14T21:09:00.000+01:00

when I saw my inbox, today, I just pressed delete all messages. Including that desperate cry for help.

Who is she? What does she want from me? How could I have been of any help?

I'll light a candle for her, when I go to church...

Should it be for the alive ones or for those who already passed?

OMG, I could have done something!

why cry over the not drunk milk

2007-01-14T17:30:00.000+01:00

I remember all those days when I used to spill the milk into the sink, to avoid drinking it, since we were told we have to eat everything in the plate (do yo know children in Africa die of hunger and even here in Romania they would give anything to eat/drink this?) but I could never stand milk. Imagine that nasty liquid with a nastier even film that it developed, when hot...Yeah the legends with milk= 100% calcium and we couldn't get calcium elsewhere ruined some of my mornings...well, years passed, I managed to avoid the warm viscid cups and here I am, happy I was right: studies show most of the adult organisms have no tolerance to lactose an I quote one of the studies: "Since in most persons the body does not continue to secrete large amounts of lactase enzyme after weaning, milk is indigestible by a large majority of the world's population. The term "primary adult lactase deficiency" refers to the NORMAL condition for most people in whom lactase production has practically ceased. The decline begins in youth and continues to decline, but the onset of symptoms varies as to age. "

Then here comes the IHT claiming genetic mutation helps now peoples in the East Africa tolerate again lactose. "A research team led by Sarah Tishkoff of the University of Maryland has now solved much of the puzzle. After testing for lactose tolerance and genetic makeup among 43 ethnic groups in East Africa, she and her colleagues have found three new mutations, all independent of one another and of the European mutation, that keep the lactase gene permanently switched on....The mutations have created one of the strongest genetic signatures of natural selection yet reported in humans, the researchers write."

Now here comes a letter to editors mentioned above, saying "In short, evidence does not support the evolutionary hypothesis of lactase persistence in human adults as a consequence of selection. A founder effect could be a more suitable explanation to justify this trait, and this mechanism does not need the cooperation of natural selection. "

milk bottles found here

Until the reply comes, all I have to say is: drink milk, if you feel like but don't force others to. It seems that the organism knows how to protect itself and gives enough signals if milk is not tolerated. And you can find enough Calcium in almonds, pistachio, walnuts and other food.

you've got to screaaaaaaaam!

2007-01-13T14:40:00.000+01:00

and when I tell you I see Munch's Scream everywhere....

Thanks to Andrei, I have the pleasure to introduce you Homer, in a not too happy attitude. I presume Lisa announced him she quitted playing the sax, who knows.

Next Munch I put my eyes on, thanks to Henri, Raffarin...Screaming, of course.

Nanny, watch out!

2007-01-12T11:19:00.000+01:00

Well, now that I read this, I can afford going on with my life:)
An American mother of two set up an extremely useful Web site for parents who doubt their kids nanny is a fairy or, on the contrary, want the world to know how astonishing their brats are brought up.

Exactly as some companies display signs on their vehicles asking the other drivers to report unsafe drivers, parents can now put license plates on their baby strollers to get feedback on their nannies behaviour. Adults pay 50 dollars for the plate and receive, if the case, a report which they access on the Web site using a password.

If you search deeper, you might find out who's the web site owner: nobody else but a lawyer who prosecutes child abuse and sex crimes, Jill Starishevsky. She came up with the idea after she saw a nanny in a park who, for at least an hour, ignored the two little girls she was looking for. She says the plates aren't a tool against the nannies but how would you feel if some naughty brats reported you on the web for not letting them play with that cute baby you are walking, Mary Poppins, Maria, Nanny Fine, Nanny MCPhee and especially the NY Nanny with the diaries?

Lilys- Nanny in Manhattan

packing

2007-01-10T23:38:00.000+01:00

since spring seems to come, I am packing my retro stuff and plan a trip to Cherbourg...or Bath? which side of the Channel is more and more attractive?

pic found here
Movies to watch: Les Dames de la côte ( for young Fanny Ardant, among others)
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg ( the same, for young Deneuve, among others)

limericks

2007-01-09T04:00:00.000+01:00

There was a Young Man from Kent
Whose Rod was so long it bent.
So to save himself trouble
He bent it in double,
And instead of coming, he went!

I am, now, into limericks...of course the easier ones are the dirtier...
please excuse meeeeeeeee

The Bloody Irish Boys - Drunk Tonight

guess what

2007-01-07T22:49:00.000+01:00

if you type these three key words on google, the first result is this blog

Referrer
http://www.google.ro/search?hl=ro&q=i+want+to+be+an+anorexic+girl&btnG=Caut%C4%83&meta=lr%3Dlang_ro
Search Engine Google
Keywords : want, anorexic, girl

well, I am not only discouraging anorexia but I strongly advise any girl to eat 5-6 times a day, healthy stuff, drink 2-4 l liquids, no sugar, chocolate or coffee and especially no animal fat. all these, if you want a lean body and a long life.

Dear girl from Baia Mare [RO] who typed I WANT TO BE AN ANOREXIC GIRL, do you know people even die of complications caused by anorexia? keep that in mind!

a special dedication, for the moments you loose your temper when your size 0 jeans don't fit you:

what a year!

2007-01-01T18:47:00.000+01:00

Romania takes Europa, the cow, at a richer grass; some thousand km far, Slovenia joins the Eurozone and adopts euro as its currency. Crossing the Atlantic, Lula da Silva, in Brasil, begins his second four-year term in office; Russia takes over presidency of the U.N. Security Council; Germany takes over G8 presidency from Russia.

As video killed the radio star, internet killed newspapers print version and here we are: the world's oldest newspaper "The Post Och Inrikes Tidningar", in Sweden goes out of print and from today will only be published on the Internet. ( Reuters says three copies of the paper will be printed and stored in university libraries to keep the tradition alive.)

Since I am a Le grand bleu fan, I couldn't let this out: 2007 is the Year of the Dolphin. Go here and adopt one... imagine you could take it home, but let it leave into the warm waters, since the planet needs such cute inhabitants...

2006 reasons to be happy

2006-12-30T00:39:00.000+01:00

a year to say good-bye to...2006
and more than 2006 reasons to be happy and thank God in heaven for everything:
for my recovery, for so many real and mostly virtual friends I gained and kept these twelve wonderful months, for the chocolate I managed to sneak into the house, though it's on my forbidden things list, for the champagne I had in Barcelona, for the 30 years anniversary spend with dear old friends, for my bro's dog unconditional love shown in fluffy warm hugs, for presents I can't count I got from life, friends, acquaintances or simple strangers, for the few( though) love moments, even for a car I managed to treat badly, badly, badly, for a wonderful job in a very nice staff, for many things I learnt, for the music I listened to and the books I read, for the inspiration I need every single day. For a year that might be the baluster to another 12 months of joy, happiness, hidden sorrow and other things that belong to life.
Thank you, everybody!

now, the song part is extremely awkward...No ABBA Happy New Year's Eve but

this, for the title

this for the melody:

and this for ahh, for everything! especially the last 3 minutes

it's time to..

2006-12-21T15:24:00.000+01:00

..sit by the chimney fire and tell stories..

memories on my [ro]blog
music to listen, here:

Munch, my love...

2006-12-16T16:51:00.000+01:00

he's been following me for years, every now and then...

memories...

2006-12-16T00:45:00.000+01:00

I keep hoping you'll come back to me
Oh let it be
Please let it be
Oh, my love, please end
These sleepless nights for me

Norah Jones- Sleepless Nights

counting days until

2006-12-10T17:05:00.000+01:00

by veralebail

Santa will miss my socks...since I'll be gone,imagine that!
The world is mine, huh?

week end mood

2006-12-08T19:09:00.000+01:00

somebody hold them!

2006-12-08T18:23:00.000+01:00

my parents are decided to set law and order into my native town, Targu Mures..

I told you my dad caught a guy who stole a lady's bag? I did!
now, my mother managed to see some guys who were stealing from a car..

it was about 7 AM, and while she opened the window, she could see a car stopped near one parked outside our house ( thanks God we have a garage, though we did "supply" some of our car content to people who usually buy stuff from car robbers)and some guys taking out from a car the seats, mirrors, everything removable...

well, naughty mommy told something to the robbers, they didn't sketch a move, then she dressed and went outside...that is when the robbers drove away

Mom wrote down the number on the plates and delivered it to the police...

she said * * and I, as in the Romanian name Ion
policeman: Y or I?
mom: do you know a guy named Yon, or what?
policeman: maybe they weren't robbers, but the car owner asked the to fetch him some items in his car
mom: ...not!

If I were the Mayor, I would already note the M. family mighty deeds and keep them in mind for the end of the year awards( not!! they are not doing that in Targu Mures)

Proudly yours, these mighty people daughter:)

Roberto Carlos is not only a soccer player

2006-12-07T01:32:00.000+01:00

a guy with the same name made ladies faint some 30 yrs ago...

let me introduce Roberto Carlos and his Un gatto nel blu

for those who want to sing at least the chorus:

Un gatto nel blu
Guarda le stelle
Non vuol tornare incasa senza te
Sapessi quaggiu che notte bella
Chi sà se un gra dolore si cancella
Un gatto nel blu ecco che tu
Sfondi dal cuore mio caro amore
Fra poco saral negli occhi miei
Anche stasera una lacrima sei

cartoon found here

when it's summer...

2006-12-05T13:11:00.000+01:00

in Siam...

enjoy!

PS: the piano player is mine! I'll take him home! dixit!

ABBAyeah!

2006-12-05T11:00:00.000+01:00

New reason for Monica to go to Stockholm, especially since the Sweddish parl agreed Romanians can travel to the cold country having only an ID in the pocket...

plans: go to Stock, dressed the way I used to when playing with my bro ABBA> white jeans, long T shirt and that band on my head...
first visit: the Museum...the ABBA museum...two guys decided the Supa'troopa needed a place
filled with ABBA’s music, original clothes, history, images, instruments and much more that captures the group’s heyday in the 70s and 80s.

They promise an interactive experience where visitors can participate with all their senses.
yeah! eheeeeeeeeende iiiiiiiii aka I have a dream, as I perceived with my 4yrs old mind, making grandma believe I speak English...

ABBA MAGIC...die!
enjoy!

me and my arrow...

2006-12-01T23:52:00.000+01:00

St Nicholas, please bring me THE POINT, on DVD...I'll polish my boots, I promise!

Polish your boots!

2006-12-01T14:17:00.000+01:00

Naughty kids get sticks, while good ones candies and toys...

I got a tag:) Spiridus asked me to name three things I wish St. Nicholas brought me on Tuesday night...

I'll polish all my boots, so I could find them all stuffed with goodies...

a Westie or a MiniSchnauzer like my bro's... I need a little spoiled fluffy thing that would bark happily when I come home

a ( another) fancy tea pot for my Roiboos parties;)

Candies I've only seen in London window shops...

I hereby tag Iulian to say what he would not want to get, for St. Nikolaus

Eviva ROMANIA!

2006-12-01T10:59:00.000+01:00

big day today..Romania national day...not like 17 years ago, when we celebrated in August with beer, BBQ and marches on the streets...

well, some Romanians will still get celebrations dressed lightly..take NZ, for example: Romanian flag to fly on Auckland Harbour Bridge, in recognition of their National Day. The flag will be flown from 6:30am until 6:30pm.

full story here, flag found here

at last!

2006-11-30T11:48:00.000+01:00

chocolate I am at least allowed to eat, thanks to Xocolata Sampaka..chose the Catala' version, to get into the mood:)

My choice Tableta de Chocolate negro Ecuador 100%..

yeah, no sugar, only pasta cacao y manteca de cacao

Advice is a form of nostalgia

2006-11-30T11:42:00.000+01:00

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine. Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing everyday that scares you Sing Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours. Floss Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own.. Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out. Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen…

my only contribution: getting together song, lyrics and pic
and the idea, of course...

benefits of living by your own #7

2006-11-30T10:21:00.000+01:00

I've realised I haven't been treating this subject seriously...well, life is rich in all kind of experiences...

until today, something came into my inbox.

Not at all funny not even ZEN, as the page would make me think..
but there are some people speaking about benefits of living on you own or with somebody else...

happy St Andrew's day!

2006-11-30T00:28:00.000+01:00

November 30th...St Andrew...adored especially in Romania, where he spent a period of his life...

my favourite Andrew is him: the apple of so many people's eyes( thanks Mr Eckersley for the phrase!)

buongiorno, Principessa!

2006-11-29T12:41:00.001+01:00

memories

2006-11-29T01:56:00.000+01:00

back

2006-11-28T19:42:00.000+01:00

I have come back for two days but I still can't write a single word...

where are those green trees, those happy people and that bright sun?!

...poem to read: an anti-ode to Villon's Ou sont les neiges d'antan?

Bar...

2006-11-22T06:00:00.000+01:00

...celooooooona!

My dear friends, I'm going away for a week..

call me freak but I have a superstition: whenever it's my birthday and I can, I run away as far as possible...this is how I won't be 30 this year, even if my ID says so...the years couldn't find me home, so I'll be only 27...

I'll be with friends: Mona( an almost 30 year friendship ties us, as we first met when we were so little and our mothers walked us)... so don't worry about me!

See you when I see you!

Book to read, in the meanwhile:

Music to listen, as I enter the summer of my life:

what else???

The Booming Cannon went to heaven

2006-11-18T06:42:00.000+01:00

Ferenc Puskas, voted the 20th century's sixth best player by the International Federation for Football History and Statistics, died, last night, in a Budapest hospital.

Part of the Hungarian Golden team, he defected to Spain in 1956, the year of the anti-communist uprising in Hungary...that was the moment when the became history, since half of the country's best players, also playing for Honved Budapest,

decided not to go back home.

He played for Real Madrid, coached Panathinaikos and got the chance to go back to Hungary and coach the national team, after the Iron Curtain fell.

He never managed to bring glory back to Pannonia, but people there and even here, in Transylvania, will always remember the times he and the other Magic Magyars were feared all over the world.

More about Ferenc Puskas here

pic found far away in Vietnam, here

so I am happy!

2006-11-16T13:04:00.001+01:00

Reuters Health says Happy people may suffer fewer colds

Staying positive through the cold season could be your best defense against getting sick, new study findings suggest.

In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny disposition were less likely to fall ill.

Since I can't remeber the last time I caught a cold...a real one...I must be happy!

Advice for the others: shake the disease!!!

je prepare mon champagne...10 jours...

2006-11-16T12:34:00.000+01:00

Do you know this song?

well, the composer is Vladimir Cosma...better known in France than in his native country, Romania...

a great guy, a prolific soundtrack composer and a bon vivant..

I remembered a custom in the Cosma house from Paris... sabrer le champagne
meaning: opening a champagne by violently cutting the bottle neck with a sharp sword....romantic, huh?

Cosma's biography here

Pic and sabrer technique here

where's my mind?

2006-11-16T11:31:00.000+01:00

Pixies song and Arizabaz on deviantart mooooood