Sunday, September 30, 2007

President of, Singapore

They did it!



I always joked about it, but they did it. One of the reason to restrict cheese importation is the pasteurize excuse. I joked a long time ago that putting a cheese in a can will solve the issue. I never though that they would actually do it.

I know the next question is: How does it taste?
Did not try. Not sure I want by the way. Maybe a religious thing.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Singapore

Back to square two



After having spent a couple of months warming up wandering around, Singapore called back on me. Singapore is a nice place to live in Asia, a great travel hub, and is a place for some amazing job opportunities from the outside point of view. A more timely and insider perspective should give me a better and deeper understand of what it is like to work in Asia-Pacific. My next challenge is to land a job to take off in Asia.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Maine

The Maine road to paradise is not an effortless one to ride but an astonishing to enjoy.


The Lucky Star bus from NYC to Boston was not that lucky when I think about it. Our only luck was to have the last 2 seats of the hourly - 11 AM departure, but that was all. We had to share it with a community of friends that had participated in the Caribbean Carnival in Brooklyn. And their expansion plan took from cigarettes smoking in the washroom, physical affectation attacks to Big Lac smell exposure in a confine area.


Then came the second bus ride from Boston to Secret Place close to the Canadian border. The weather change a bit as soon as we move up North, wind started to chill more, tee-shirts had their sleeves growing longer and hat were placed on top of people head. Nothing unusual if you are used to cold winter and chilling lake-ish summer. Then finally came the last car drive to the Secret Place. Roads became smaller and curvier, trees bigger and taller, houses larger and prettier, and people friendlier and happier.


At the end of the road, the Secret Place was in font of us, hidden between trees, on top of a hill and facing the sea crick. The beautiful wooden house was standing still like a sleepy giant in Mother Nature’s hands. Nothing seems to be misplaced, not the sea view, not the full growing front yard, not the nice green back yard, not the old broken train bridge, not the terraces, not the modernity and comfort of the traditional New England house, not the peaceful landscape, not the cute villages near by, not the cheap shopping mall, not the curves road, not the stone beaches, nothing. Everything was there for a reason and had a reason to be there. The magic painting was fully complete.


Then Paradise became Heaven.

I will not forget that Maine Lobsters before becoming red in your plate are actually blue in the ocean. I will not forget that you need 12 minutes to cook a Lobster in hot steam. I will not forget that Lobsters come always with sauce only if you don’t find the taste good enough for you. I will not forget that Lobster can only been enjoyed with your own hands. I will not forget that you can have Lobster sandwiches with the left over if any. I will not forget that you can eat Lobsters in so many different ways.


But most importantly I will not forget that, Good Food so as Good Wine can only be enjoyed when shared in Good Company. Thank you for this Maine lesson in life.

Monday, September 03, 2007

New York - Brooklyn, Panorama


The Promenade






Brooklyn Bridge

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Brooklyn

The grass is always greener on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge.

When you take the ride to cross the bridge, you immediately realize that you are in a quite similar, yet different place in New York City. Houses, people, and signs are different and everyone will tell you so. I will not try to explain what a true Brooklyn Boy is, but rather try to explain what I felt when I wander around is this great place near by Manhattan.


The first thing you notice is the sky. When walking in Brooklyn you can look up and reach the blue. Buildings are smaller than in the island next door and it feel a more a livable city. Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City (The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island).


An independent city until its consolidation into New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous and diverse borough, with nearly 2.5 million residents. Taking the time to understand the Brooklyn borough helps you to understand American history and its populous tensions that existed in the middle of the last century, when black descendent where fighting for a place under the sun and moved out the Jewish community from the hill of Brooklyn.


You are not from NYC, you are coming from Brooklyn and you are proud of your (multi)color. When you ask a BBB (Baseball Brooklyn Boy) he will not support the Yankees, no his team is in the minor league and he is still happy about it. Brooklyn's most famous team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, (nicknamed "The Bums") played at Ebbets Field and was named for "trolley dodgers," a reference to the many streetcar lines that once criss-crossed the borough.


The blue color (as oppose of the white color from Manhattan) spirit reflect the hard and difficult life that immigrants from each and every country in the world have before joining the big league in Big Apple. The industrial place is now reinvested in loft and other renting place for a better utilization of buildings and other shopping centers.


At the end of the bloc, in a strange place, squeezed between the future IKEA and the concrete garden, the Red Hook food festival resonate for years now. The diversity of the population is characterized by this ongoing fair festival. You can leak your finger after a Guatemalan popusas, or a Nicaraguan tacos or samosas from another Latin place. Nothing will distract the 22 soccer players on the pitch, not even the Minor baseball game next door.


Though a part of New York City, Brooklyn maintains a character of its own. Brooklyn is characterized by cultural diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods, and a unique architectural heritage. The Brown Stone houses are now part of the patrimony of the Brooklyn borough.


Take a long walk on The Promenade at the end of the day. The spectacular view you can enjoy is certainly the one that most of the people from the planet imagine when they picture New York City. Big Apple is the view from Brooklyn. It is almost like the destiny of one is linked to the other. The best view from NYC is from the promenade. Maybe the best way to enjoy NYC is from Brooklyn borough. For more enjoyable sow case, stop by the bridges and the boroughs in Brooklyn.


This place might be the last authentic place in New York City.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Brooklyn address

I did not spend enough time in Brooklyn to collect enough addresses but here are




  • Tota's West Indian
    244 Utica Avenue (Bet. St John and Lincoln Place)

    Best Beef Paddy ever on the planet



  • Zaytoons
    Fine middle Eastern cuisine & Pitta
    Carrol Gardens - Fort Greene - Prospect Heights

    Middle East restaurant with some delicious falafel, and home made hummus