Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
my first contact with Saigon, that year
Arriving in Saigon, you should always drop by at a swimming pool. An hour in dust and smoke soots the skin and smudges the soul. And if you arrive at the right time, you perhaps will meet with strange creatures: half a girl, half an arm, half a startled eye, broken silhouettes that deepen the blue marbles.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Le fruit du dragon
W: Originaire du Mexique et s'etend jusqu'à l'Amérique centrale, ces cactus aux allures de vignes vierges ont été importés au Viêt Nam par les colons français au début du XIXe siècle. Initialement, les fruits étaient réservés à la famille royale puis à la bourgeoisie locale. Ils devinrent ensuite le premier produit d’exportation du Viêt Nam et rivalisèrent en prix avec le fruit vedette d’Asie, le durian.
L’expérience de manger un pitaya est proche de celle du kiwi. On le mange cru. Les graines ont la taille des graines de sésame et sont disséminées dans la pulpe. Elles sont donc absorbées avec le fruit. On peut en faire du jus ou du vin ; la grosse fleur du pitaya est aussi comestible et on peut en faire du thé.
Le pitaya mesure une dizaine de centimètres et pèse environ 350 grammes. Sa chair est comestible et ressemble par sa texture et la présence de petits pépins noirs à celle du kiwi, avec un goût cependant beaucoup plus doux.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
o the exhilaration of rolling into waves!
Matteo could spend hours at a time rolling into waves.
I can report that the last wave of the day did not bring less exultation than the first. They were both met with open arms and an irrepressible, euphoric roar.
What did the first flying man experience? What feelings did he go through? I suspect something not dissimilar to the feelings of Matteo: a sense of utter, unbridled freedom.
I can report that the last wave of the day did not bring less exultation than the first. They were both met with open arms and an irrepressible, euphoric roar.
What did the first flying man experience? What feelings did he go through? I suspect something not dissimilar to the feelings of Matteo: a sense of utter, unbridled freedom.
Behold the Maneki neko!
The Maneki Neko "Beckoning Cat" is a common Japanese sculpture which is believed to bring good luck to the owner. Maneki Neko first appeared during the later part of the Edo period in Japan (1603–1867) in Japan the earliest documentary evidence comes from the 1870s, during Japan's Meiji Era. Apparently by the turn of the 20th century they were popular throughout Japan.
The sculpture depicts a cat (traditionally a Japanese Bobtail) beckoning with an upright paw, and is usually displayed at the entrance—in shops, restaurants, in this instance, in the entrance hall of Club Med.
In the design of the sculptures, a raised left paw supposedly attracts money, while a raised right paw protects it.
I was quite intrigued by the Fortune Cat when I first saw it, because it has that surreal blend of kitsch/cheapness and spirituality of certain Asian religious artifacts.
Little did I know that I would receive one for Christmas. It's now sitting on my work desk and waves at my dumbfounded colleagues.
It's like Pascal's wager: it might just work...
The sculpture depicts a cat (traditionally a Japanese Bobtail) beckoning with an upright paw, and is usually displayed at the entrance—in shops, restaurants, in this instance, in the entrance hall of Club Med.
In the design of the sculptures, a raised left paw supposedly attracts money, while a raised right paw protects it.
I was quite intrigued by the Fortune Cat when I first saw it, because it has that surreal blend of kitsch/cheapness and spirituality of certain Asian religious artifacts.
Little did I know that I would receive one for Christmas. It's now sitting on my work desk and waves at my dumbfounded colleagues.
It's like Pascal's wager: it might just work...
club med Phuket
A postcard picture of the view outside the resort.
I'd like to say that the sea always looked as pristine as on that last day, but the weather had the fickleness of post-monsoon weeks, caught between two seasons, not knowing itself.
I'd like to say that the sea always looked as pristine as on that last day, but the weather had the fickleness of post-monsoon weeks, caught between two seasons, not knowing itself.
Matteo tames the Sea
The beach in front the Club Med resort soon became Matteo's favourite playground. Matteo has always been in awe of the sea, and had barely dared to even dip a toe up to that point. I think he always found thrilling the notion of flirting with the lapping waves, but when invited to cross the Rubicon, he would firmly turn one down.
I should have recorded the time and day when he decided that the ocean was no more than a lavish over-sized pool, with the added-value innovation of smooth, mellifluous undulations...
I should have recorded the time and day when he decided that the ocean was no more than a lavish over-sized pool, with the added-value innovation of smooth, mellifluous undulations...
Friday, November 26, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Frida in the twilight
the house of anton louis is reminiscent of the old herbert baker street house: narrow long corridors opening on large-window rooms, with the added benefit of an overall structure which has been folded into a U. From the living rooms, you muse beyond the inner courtyard on the semidarkness, secrets and shadows of the outlying rooms.
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