Thursday, August 17, 2006
What we ate for dinner and Cultural awareness for Wimps
Dinner tonight was:
- Prosecco aperitif
- chicken with madeira and shallots
- accompanied by garlicky mushrooms sauteed in Semillon and chives
- with butter-sour cream mashed potatoes
We drank a Semillon with it and then moved on to a Rotlan Priorat and then to a Haut-Medoc
- Salad of spinach, beets, cucumbers, and heirloom tomatoes with a Dijon-Champagne vinaigrette
- Dessert was a Chocolate-Rum Pudding cake with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream (did not make the ice cream; ran out of time but Stoney Farms makes a decent one without high fructose corn syrup in it)
- Dessert wine: Banyuls
What I had planned for tonite was not was we had, except for the dessert. My plan to make a watercress, beet, and grapefruit salad, and duck breasts with a port-cherry sauce with mashed sweet potatoes. But there was no fresh duck breasts to be bought at the store and no watercress. Still dinner turned out great.
Our friends from Basel came by for dinner. These were friends who used to live here and then we moved to Basel and then they moved to Basel and we moved back here. Funny, we really began to hang out together after we moved to Basel.
It was great to see them and we always have the greatest conversations. Because we were all from diverse cultural backgrounds: me (a Hong Kong born Canadian having lived in Swiss-land and now living here in the USA), Richard (an American who moved every 3 yrs as a child with his family and then stayed in Austin for 20 yrs, lived in Swiss-land and now here in USA), Cornelia (a German who grew up near Muenchen, lived here in the USA and now living in Swiss-land) and Andreas (same situation as Cornelia but I think that he did not grow up near Muenchen but another region of Germany). We talked about cultural differences and even though we had experienced some frustrations living in Basel, apparently, they being German did as well. They told us about a friend of theirs who lives in Nuremburg and visited them in Basel, he was shocked at how happy the Swiss people all look and by how friendly they were. (Richard nearly fell off his chair at that because he always had a different impression). We talked a lot and Andreas said that the only way to know who you are and how your surroundings influence you is to actually live in a few places. But does that mean I know who I am? Not really sure about that.
Faux pas: I asked the cashier at Whole Foods if he was well, meaning I asked him how he was. Because in german and in french, asking someone how they are and if they are well, mean the same thing. I did not realize that by asking he cashier if he was well, I was implying that he was unwell. Yup, the cashier looked taken aback and asked me if I thought he looked ill or something. Boy was I ever embarrassed.
- Prosecco aperitif
- chicken with madeira and shallots
- accompanied by garlicky mushrooms sauteed in Semillon and chives
- with butter-sour cream mashed potatoes
We drank a Semillon with it and then moved on to a Rotlan Priorat and then to a Haut-Medoc
- Salad of spinach, beets, cucumbers, and heirloom tomatoes with a Dijon-Champagne vinaigrette
- Dessert was a Chocolate-Rum Pudding cake with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream (did not make the ice cream; ran out of time but Stoney Farms makes a decent one without high fructose corn syrup in it)
- Dessert wine: Banyuls
What I had planned for tonite was not was we had, except for the dessert. My plan to make a watercress, beet, and grapefruit salad, and duck breasts with a port-cherry sauce with mashed sweet potatoes. But there was no fresh duck breasts to be bought at the store and no watercress. Still dinner turned out great.
Our friends from Basel came by for dinner. These were friends who used to live here and then we moved to Basel and then they moved to Basel and we moved back here. Funny, we really began to hang out together after we moved to Basel.
It was great to see them and we always have the greatest conversations. Because we were all from diverse cultural backgrounds: me (a Hong Kong born Canadian having lived in Swiss-land and now living here in the USA), Richard (an American who moved every 3 yrs as a child with his family and then stayed in Austin for 20 yrs, lived in Swiss-land and now here in USA), Cornelia (a German who grew up near Muenchen, lived here in the USA and now living in Swiss-land) and Andreas (same situation as Cornelia but I think that he did not grow up near Muenchen but another region of Germany). We talked about cultural differences and even though we had experienced some frustrations living in Basel, apparently, they being German did as well. They told us about a friend of theirs who lives in Nuremburg and visited them in Basel, he was shocked at how happy the Swiss people all look and by how friendly they were. (Richard nearly fell off his chair at that because he always had a different impression). We talked a lot and Andreas said that the only way to know who you are and how your surroundings influence you is to actually live in a few places. But does that mean I know who I am? Not really sure about that.
Faux pas: I asked the cashier at Whole Foods if he was well, meaning I asked him how he was. Because in german and in french, asking someone how they are and if they are well, mean the same thing. I did not realize that by asking he cashier if he was well, I was implying that he was unwell. Yup, the cashier looked taken aback and asked me if I thought he looked ill or something. Boy was I ever embarrassed.
# posted by hy : 12:15 a.m.
