The Deity Known to the Mortals as Lana Del Rey.

Why I love Lana Del Rey?
Because she gives us, or at least me, hope that nothing is impossible... especially when you don't really have the talent needed in the business you want to be. Uhhh, I'm talking about me not having the talent though I didn't dislike what SNL people tried to sell after she performed there.

Back to nothing is impossible, what matter is the penetration. Of the market. Or whatever it is in your market strategy. By the way, in case you don't know this yet, again at least for me, she is the friendliest entertainer who spends a great deal of time interacting with her fans. She signed tickets, posters, photos, that those who stood closest to the stage brought and took pictures with them.

This is from last night in Arena Geneva.

Hair of Marina Abramovic and Ulay

This is a piece from Klara Kuchta of the famous hair of Marina Abramovic and Ulay in 1978.
Marina and Ulay were in some kind of relationship and then decided to separate after their relationship got in the way of their artistic sides. Of course artists had to separate in a unique way: each started the path on the China great wall, from a different point, and met in the middle to say goodbye.

Have you seen how they met again last year in MoMa? The Artist is Present.

Piet Mondrian Cake

This is like soooooo cool!
Girls making modern art cakes and here's on the video is Mondrian cake.

This is THE tart.

Whoever said that for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them, was a genius; I did not realize that the whole time I spent in the kitchen to have a piece of tart closes to what I could only remember as a treat in my childhood was a learning process.
Mommy is never so keen to see her son being in the kitchen but hey I can't help it… the desire to go back is what rouses the soul.

Pop Up Restaurant - Josefwiese

I was supposed to see Broken City tonight but had been drinking Gespritzerweisswein since it was hot and became too lazy to cook so we went out looking for a restaurant with patio. Here we are, having grilled Kotelett with couscous for only CHF 15 in this "pop-up" restaurant in the park behind Viadukt. I missed the movie but it's okay, this place is awesome.

Zürisee

Today we want to see Sechseläuten, how locals burn the snowman puppet to welcome the spring/ summer. But before that, let some friends burn their own calories on this pedalo.

Does it make you wanna come to Palma de Mallorca?

I want to ask why do the people here want to leave this beautiful island and live somewhere else just because they could make more money in the strange land and then I remember that I live in the strange land too. I deserve a slap on my face but none wants to slap me, so I guess we can forget about this and just focus on the picture. Does it make you wanna come to Palma de Mallorca?

La Seu before an hour in the vintage train to Sórell.

I went to the Cathedral La Seu, which was build on a pre-existing Arab Mosque according to Wikipedia, but even though Antoni Gaudí did a part of its interior, I did not get "the feeling" when I was there. 

That was when I decided to take the vintage train from Plaça d'Espanya to Sóller for a day trip. The view during one hour in the train was nothing amazing, okay, perhaps a little bit mesmerising for a minute or two when it passed the orange and olive trees, but the destination was really something! I had a really good time enjoying the sunshine over Sangria whilst surrounded by caliente people. 

The Es Baluard

The modern museum Es Baluard in Palma de Mallorca is definitely a must visit in this island. This upside down house welcomes you before you step your feet into the front yard of the museum.

You might fancy the Picasso Ceramics but Têtes de Sardines (1999) by Miquel Barceló is my favourite in this museum. Têtes de Sardines belongs to the Duality selection from five artists whom are connected to Mallorca.

This mixed media on large size canvas caught my attention as if the dead Sardines were real minus the stinks. I do not know if in the future we will have such artworks that give the scent to complement the visual but would it not be nicer?

These are sculptures from the famous Llorenç Ginard. You would notice and might as well relate to the extra meat on the belly, no? Sometimes I think people should not call themselves artist unless they can sculpt. 

Bruselas

We planned to have dinner at another restaurant but they served only if one had reservation and we did not, so we came to this place that was 10 meters away. The steak fillet with foie was ravishingly delicious paired with Ses Nines, the local red wine. It looked tarnished, wet, but it was because I liked the meat rare. They opened until midnight, other restaurants were already closed around 22.30. And of course the wifi here was free!

Majorca

I have a page of many things to do in Majorca but would only go to La Seu Cathedral and the modern museum Es Baluard because... I wanna focus on my tan!

Palm of Majorca

Tadaaaaaaa. This is the Palm of Majorca. I don't know why I like to look up to the tree. Perhaps because this palm looks like coconut tree? I'm from an island; there are many coconut trees on its beach.. and the coconuts keep falling down for gravity. Of course it's a stupid habit, what if when you look up, the coconut falls down? Anyway, breakfast is in the hotel courtyard, surrounded by colonial style hotel building (Krzys says, renaissance style. Whatever.) and a couple of Palm trees. Breakfast is nothing special but the atmosphere gives me awestruck. The air is fresh and chill like an early morning in an island.

Alex Katz

Alex Katz is a great American figurative artist known for the colourful paintings. The pop artist slash post-abstract painter is currently doing an exhibition themed "Landscape" at the Haus Konstruktiv Zurich. Expect many huge paintings about... landscape here.

I wanted to emphasize the word huge so I took this picture. It was a nice painting worth the effort to wait until other visitors went away and gave the clearance to photograph it.

This is my favourite,  Ada in the Grass (1963).  Ada Del Moro is the wife of Alex Katz, posed for him "in the Grass" three years after giving birth to their only son, Vincent Katz.

Blueberry Field 2 (1959) is quite interesting for me. If you see it close enough, you will see that the landscape is not oil on canvas but watercolour and coloured paper on masonite.

Cat is one of the collage works of his. I am living in a no pet allowed apartment so you would understand how much I want to have this Cat, although I am more of a dog person.

BlackBerry Porsche Design P'9981 for sale (SOLD)

This handsome sidekick is still in a very good condition. It is actually a new unit I received as a replacement of the unit that I dropped last January. Because of this, you will get the BlackBerry with the different pin than stated on the box. The new pin is Pin:2AA10537, still the "special" pin dedicated to Porsche Design units.

The warranty is so awesome, valid until December 2014.

You get a new unit if you, let's say, drop it onto the floor, into the water, or whatever, that makes it not working anymore.

Write me if you are interested in it or have some questions for me.

Ode to Hill and Adamson

If you happen to be in Barcelona between 22 February and 19 May 2013, make sure you visit the Caixa Forum. The entrance is free. I saw the video below for the first time there and I thought, still I think, it is great. The video is an ode to David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, who photographed Elizabeth Rigby in 1874, by Maisie Broadhead.

Chavín

What one has to do to kill an hour or two before watching the Academy Awards?

Keep drinking local wine? Checked.
Have a mouthful bite of left-over donuts from Brunch today? Checked.
Reading a dirrrrty sex-text from our favourite golfer? Checked. Wait, a note is needed here: Anyone calls himself Tiger is for sure a guy who likes to share his private with others. We are pretty clear with the term Cougar, no?


I have not been posting anything here lately due to a mess I created in my life. Questions one has to answer himself honestly about life, lust, and perhaps love. But hey, lets set it aside and write about... suicide.

No, I am not thinking about taking my own life. I am far from the place where I could have the urge to finish with everything here. I do not think death is the celebration of life, unlike Ruslana Korshunova that Kazakh-Russian model who was (self)murdered. Gob bless her soul.

I went to Rietberg museum this morning to see the Chavín exhibition and saw this figure cuts his throat, committing suicide. Long before Adolf Hitler took his own life and Judas Iscariot killed himself. Who would have thought that suicide would be a "good" theme, part of the culture in the past? Peruvian.

Ok, a cute guy came approaching, said "please do not take pictures". I found the "please do not take pictures" is a total Bravo Sierra. Everyone knows that pictures help. Marketing-wise. How could I ask people to see other than the suicide-figure above if I do not have a picture to get their attention? Even in Louvre, they let visitors to photograph Mona Lisa.

Anyway, who wants to present me a brief-opener? I know what I fancy. Hint: look at the photo below.

I'm fuckscinated! #1

What is happening in Switzerland?

There is a phenomena known as "Taxi 144" where your friend calls an ambulance to get rid of drunken you from the club while they continue partying, instead of help taking you home.
It costs you CHF 1200 for one time trip in an ambulance. The health insurance normally covers CHF 500 for the ambulance transport per year. You pay the rest.

Meanwhile, this is a picture of the latest campaign in reaction to discrimination against people living with HIV / AIDS. They want you to FUCK POSITIVE because under medication they are less infectious if not not infectious at all. For more information go straight, or gay, to their website www.fuckpositive.ch

Crusty cod with lemon and parsley

This is a good solution for a no carb dinner at home, if you do not count the breadcrumbs.

But if you do, 3 table spoon breadcrumbs normally equal around 15 gram carbohydrates.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp sunflower oil

3 tbsp breadcrumbs

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

3 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

2 cod fillets

salt and pepper

Mix together oil, breadcrumbs, parsley, and lemon zest in a bowl until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. Place the fillets on a aluminium foil and cover with the mixture, press it down with your fingers. Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. Garnish with parsley sprigs and fried onion.

Breaking Bad

It did not happen when I climbed up those ruins in Petra last December. It happened only in a restaurant in Zurich in they year of 2013; my phone did a free fall from the dining table onto the floor and managed to bounce to hit the heavy steel legs of the table. 

I just sent it back to have the broken (glass) button fixed. One can only wait and let the Porsche Design team showing him how happy they want their clients to be.

Pannekoeken

I think we all would agree that Pannekoeken is the Dutch word for Pancake. I grew up in the island that was colonized by the Dutch but I don't speak Dutch, so this is the least I could baten from this fact.

Unlike the American pancake, this one is a little bit like crêpe. Well, with this recipe you can make my favorite pannekoeken that is better than american pancake and French crêpe.

You will only need 200 ml of milk, 100 gram flour, 50 gram melted butter, and an egg.
Mix them all together until smooth, then ladle in the mixture. You should be able to make 8 beautiful delicious pannekoeken. Serve with Nutella, Melasse, fruit jam, or your favourite spread.
A hot earl grey tea with extra bergamot sounds good in this cold weather.

Pierogies

I just came back home from a Polish dinner at Jolka Polka, a newly opened Polish restaurant in Zurich. To be honest, I went there to check how good were Pierogies made by a Pole compared to the ones I made. I took competition seriously. :)

Jolka Polka served two kind of Pierogies: the boiled one and the fried one. There were two fillings you could choose: potato and cheese or meat. It costed CHF 19 for a plate of nine boiled Pierogies and CHF 23 for nine of the fried ones.

I thought, look-wise, I made more beautiful Pierogies. We had similar thing in Indonesia called Pastel or Jalangkote, which gave me the skill in pinching the Pierogies to seal it. Or was it just because I, most of time, liked to pinch? :)

The taste was okay. One might think that potato and cottage cheese tasted not much different when mixed in a restaurant kitchen and at home. 

As dessert, they had a Polish style Apple cake, quite interesting. It consisted of Apple purée on the bottom, sort of, and chocolate layer, tiramisu-y on top. 

These are Pierogies I made the other night. Not too shabby made by Indonesian's hands, yes?

With the same dough and your potentially favourite filling: potato, carrot, green peas, and corned beef, you may deep fried it and called it Pastel.

Pan-seared Salmon

Let us pretend that we have to get rid of the Christmas weight and be slenderer in this new year. What is better trick than replacing the carbs with vegetables? Because being vegetarian for me is kind of boring, I pan-seared the Salmon for the love of that rich fatty acid which suppose to make me live healthier and longer on this earth.

Ingredients

Fillet

2 cm fresh ginger, finely grated

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 skinless salmon fillet (assuming you are cooking for two)

lime wedges

Stir-fry

2 small bok choy or your favourite green leaves vegetable

1 bunch of scallions

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tbsp sesame oil

salt and pepper

fried onion

Marinate the fillet with ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil evenly before cook for 3 minutes on each side in a heavy-bottom skillet.

Cut the bok choy lengthwise into quarters. Cut the scallions into thick diagonal slices.

Heat the sunflower and sesame oil in a wok, add the vegetables and stir fry for 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide the vegetables among warmed serving plates, sprinkle the fried onion, and put the salmon on the top. Serve immediately with lime wedges for squeezing over.

13

May our dreams come true but most important is, I hope that, we are being loved in return and that we are happy for everything that we do.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device