One year later...

So, as some of you know, I spent a year in the US in 08/09, and it was great. I had many experiences, made a ton of new friends and I just grew older and “wiser”, if I can say it that way.

I realised that just yesterday, when I read a letter. A letter written by me to myself, one year ago, before I did my exchange year. I had to write down my fears and my hopes, my current problems and what makes me happy, my most important friends and wishes.  And now, after a year, I got that letter and I read it, yesterday evening, late at night.
And it was most interesting
I noticed, how much I really changed. I never thoughed and nobody else noticed that I changed. At least I think so. But I read in that letter many things, that are different to me now.
For example I just noticed, how childish I wrote that letter. Just my style of writing, the way how I said things, was kinda childish. When I read it, I felt like, at that time, I was immature and too humouros. I hope you know what I mean. I was just too laid back when I talked about emotions and stuff like that. Just childish.
Then there were values, that were important to me at that time, but are not as much anymore. A year ago, grades in school were very important to me, as I think too important. Now I still care about my grades and I will still do my best to get good grades, but there is other things that I want and that make me happy, such as just relaxation, hanging out with friends and doing any kinds of fun stuff. Of course also a year ago I had fun when doing that, but I didn’t mention it in the letter, which shows how I grew up in my values, that grades are not the most important thing, not at all.
But there is also some similarities, like my wishes. I still want to do the same job one day and I still have similar “emotional/relationship” problems. And I still hope that this problem will solve some day, but now I handle thing like that more mature, with more thoughts and less panic.

When I finished reading the letter, I had just a strange feeling: “This couldn’t have been me.” or just ” Weird”. It was just surprising for me to read that and see the differences. I just didn’t expect it, or at least I didn’t expect it to realize it when I read that letter. It was most interesting to read this “flash back / deja vu” kinda thing.

And then I wondered: Did I even change?
I think that I didn’t change that much during that year regarding the basics of my personality, but that I just notice, feel, sense things different now, that I have a differnt point of view, that I have different priorities and that I think more about some things. And less about other things.

So, yes, I did change. In a way.

And who knows If I’m not gonna change a little bit the next year?

Welcome to my Foodie blog!

For years I have been devoted to the exploration of different foods and their uses. I have worked in Restaurants from the Mid-West, the South, Canada, and now I can add the New England states to my long  list of accomplishments.

I will be adding recipes, secrets,information about restaurants, tips, and more as I find them or can remember them. LOL, trust me when I say remember since my memory sucks. 

I can remember being 8 or so years old, asking my daddy for money and him telling me to go buss a table if I wanted to earn something. From there I moved into the kitchen and got to play with vegetables. I was hooked! I wanted to know what everything tasted like, how it was grown, where it came from, and how it got to where it was at the stage it was in. I can remember this massive machine in a corner, I came to find out later it was a Hobart Mixer. That baby would spin for hours; whipping cream, mixing dough for biscuits, smashing the potatoes for the mashed taters. I was hooked! Did I say that twice? LOL. I sure did!

I got to watch Joan, our prep cook put together the most amazing items. She could whip up soups with such zest I would wonder what she was doing. Here I thought everything came from a bag. LOL. She would plop this amazing sticky white mess from the mixer, roll it out with this stick, then moving very fast make as many disks as she could. Hell I though that was the coolest! After she threw them on a baking sheet and stuck them into the oven, I was the one being scolded for running over to open the oven door, because damn it I wanted to see what they did. LOL. Afterward Joan would pull them out, lift one off, slather it with butter and hand it to me for the first bite. OH Boy was it yummy as the butter ran down my cheeks and chin.

Then came the freezers, walk-ins, and the pantry. I could stand at the opening of each one, staring in amazement at all the different foods. I was in heaven! I would touch the different meats trying to figure out what was in this box or that box, touch and feel every piece of fruit and vegetable, smelling all the different cheeses. I was in a different kind of toy store. LOL. Later I would figure out it was my kind of toy store.

More tomorrow as I share my journey to the unknown hot grills. LOL

Live to cook another day!

Un "Pasticciaccio Brutto" ad Hollywood

Sulla vicenda di Roman Polanski, fermato in Svizzera su richiesta della Giustizia U.S.A. 36 anni dopo uno stupro su una tredicenne (a cui aveva dato Quaalude e champagne), si moltiplicano appelli al rilascio ed i dibattiti sulla vicenda.

A fronte di dati (da considerare come acquisiti: i rapporti ci sono stati e la ragazzina aveva più volte manifestato il suo rifiuto), oggi il Corriere scrive:

Il mondo del grande cinema americano si mobilita a fianco di Roman Polanski. Woody Allen, David Lynch e Martin Scorsese hanno tutti firmato la petizione per il rilascio del regista franco-polacco,arrestato in Svizzera per il presunto stupro di una tredicenne a Hollywood, nel 1977. Tra gli altri firmatari ci sono Michael Mann, Win Wenders, Pedro Almodovar, Claude Lelouch, Monica Bellucci, Ettore Scola, Marco Bellocchio, Giuseppe Tornatore, Paolo Sorrentino, Michele Placido, Costa-Gavras e Wong Kar-Wai.

..presunto? Ma come “presunto”? Demonio Pellegrino ha un approccio molto drastico, io ritengo di essere più “morbido”…, ma solo perché – comunque – si procede ad un fermo a distanza di 33 anni dai fatti.

Ma questa analisi realizzata da Salon.com è decisamente cruda ed inquietante.

A Wonderful Wizarding World...

I’m a bit of a Harry Potter fanatic and my trip to Orlando, Florida last year would have been made even more awesome by a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

This all-out Potter-themed park by Universal Studios is set to open around March/April 2010. You’ll be able to explore Hogwarts, Zonko’s, Honeydukes, and Ollivander’s, ride rollercoasters like the Dragon Challenge and Flight of the Hippogriff.

You can finish off a day of adventures in Hogsmeade with a butterbeer at the Hog’s Head or the Three Broomsticks. I don’t know about you, but a whole lot of people will be very excited for this and I’m one of them!

Leveraged Loans and Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs): Markets Stage a Comeback

“The U.S. financial sector’s losses on large loans exploded over the past year, exceeding the combined losses since 2001, with hedge funds and other members of the “shadow banking system” hit the hardest. Regulators’ annual review of US$2,900 billion of “shared national credits” (SNC) – loans larger than US$20 million shared by three or more federally regulated institutions – reveals that more than one in three dollars lent by non-bank institutions such as hedge funds, securitization vehicles and pension funds, went sour in 2008.” (Financial Times on September 25, 2009)

Agenda Rahasia Bilderberg untuk Memasang Microchip pada Warga Amerika Bocor

http://unseenhands.wordpress.com/about/
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Agenda Rahasia Bilderberg untuk Memasang Microchip pada Warga Amerika Bocor
Oleh: Paul Joseph Watson
Selasa, 10 Juni 2008
(Sumber: www.prisonplanet.com)

Para elit hendak memasang microchip pada warga Amerika atas nama memerangi terorisme, penduduk Eropa secara umum menentang serangan atas Iran, para Globalis khawatir harga minyak naik terlalu cepat.

Sumber-sumber dari dalam pertemuan Bilderberg tahun 2008 telah membocorkan detil-detil hal yang didiskusikan di Chantilly Virginia minggu lalu dan poin pembicaraan itu tidak menyenangkan – sebuah rencana untuk memasang microchip pada warga Amerika dengan dalih memerangi kelompok-kelompok teroris yang diidentifikasi sebagai orang Barat bermata biru dan berambut pirang.

Mata-mata Bilderberg veteran, Jim Tucker, mengandalkan sumber-sumber yang secara rutin menghadiri Bilderberg sebagai pembantu dan asisten dan bukan anggota Bilderberg itu sendiri. Informasi yang mereka peroleh tahun ini bisa membuat dingin tulang sumsum orang-orang yang lama menelusuri perkembangan rencana Bilderberg untuk membuat masyarakat umum menganggap penanaman microchip sebagai sesuatu yang menyenangkan seperti halnya kartu kredit.

“Di bawah judul melawan terorisme, terdapat poin tentang bagaimana organisasi-organisasi teroris sedang merekrut orang-orang yang tidak tampak seperti teroris – pemuda-pemuda bermata biru dan berambut pirang – mereka berusaha keras mencari tipe-tipe tersebut untuk dijadikan bomber sinting yang baru,” ucap Tucker.

Sebagaimana telah kami dokumentasikan, barisan Al-Qaeda berambut pirang dan bermata biru merupakan satu poin pembicaraan yang telah ditekankan oleh Fox News dan lingkaran Neo-Con lainnya dalam upaya mengarahkan aparat anti-teror untuk membidik para penentang, pemrotes, dan rakyat Amerika secara umum.

Yang tidak menyenangkan, sumber Tucker juga mengatakan kepadanya bahwa Bilderberg mendiskusikan pemasangan microchip pada manusia dalam skala besar, yang akan diperkenalkan dengan dalih memerangi terorisme di mana “orang-orang baik” akan dibiarkan pergi secara bebas dari bandara-bandara selama microchip mereka bisa di-scan (dipindai-penj) dan informasinya tersimpan dalam sebuah database.

Tucker mengatakan gagasan tersebut dianggap menarik atas dasar bahwa itu akan turut membantu pegawai rumah sakit mengobati pasien dalam situasi darurat karena pemindaian chip dapat menyediakan akses instan terhadap rincian informasi kesehatan.

Tucker menggarisbawahi bahwa yang dibicarakan Bilderberg adalah penanaman chip di bawah kulit (subdermal) dan bukan chip RFID yang disimpan dalam pakaian. Pembicaraan ini berlangsung di aula konferensi utama dan merupakan bagian dari agenda, dan bukan sekadar pembicaraan sambilan di bar hotel.

Konsep aneh seperti itu mungkin terasa sulit dipercaya bagi sebagian orang, tapi dalam sepuluh tahun terakhir terdapat lusinan contoh mengenai orang-orang yang menerima penanaman chip dengan beragam alasan.

Pada tahun 2004, jaksa agung Meksiko dan 160 orang stafnya ditanami dengan chip pelacak (tracker chip) untuk mengontrol akses menuju area-area penting di markas besar mereka.

Baja Beach Club di Barcelona dan klub malam lainnya di seluruh dunia sedang menawarkan penanaman chip kepada para pelanggan yang ingin membayar minuman dengan ayunan tangan dan juga mendapat akses menuju area-area VIP di club lounge.

Bilderberg bersikap skeptis mengenai serangan terhadap Iran

Sumber Tucker mengatakan kepadanya bahwa Menteri Pertahanan AS, Robert Gates, benar-benar menghadiri pertemuan Bilderberg meski ia tidak tercatat dalam daftar tamu resmi.

Tucker mengatakan bahwa sumber-sumbernya menceritakan kehadiran Gates adalah untuk mengemukakan alasannya mengadakan perang atas Iran, namun mayoritas anggota Bilderberg menentang penyerbuan untuk saat ini.

“Warga Eropa secara umum menentang invasi atas Iran – Gates menjalankan latihan propaganda perang tetap tentang bagaimana Iran merupakan ancaman nuklir bagi semua orang,” ujar Tucker, sambil menambahkan bahwa para anggota Bilderberg Eropa mengeluarkan komentar sindiran mengenai keberadaan pasti senjata nuklir tersebut dan pada satu titik mereka berkelakar bahwa mungkin senjata itu berada “di kuburan Saddam Hussein”.

Meskipun Bilderberg menentang, Tucker mengatakan bahwa pemerintahan AS masih mempertimbangkan penyerangan sebelum Bush menanggalkan jabatannya pada bulan Januari.

“Setidaknya 90% warga Eropa menentang perang, mungkin hampir 100%,” ujar Tucker, sambil menambahkan, “sejauh ini sebagian besar warga Amerika bersikap pasif dan menghormati Menteri Pertahanan dan gerakan Condoleezza Rice menyangkut Iran.”

Tucker mengatakan bahwa sebagian besar warga negara Amerika yang menghadiri pertemuan itu menentang penyerangan atas Iran tapi mereka tidak selantang warga Eropa.

Energi dan harga minyak

“Salah seorang anggota Bilderberg mengajukan pertanyaan ini – ‘Haruskah kita menghentikan kenaikan harga minyak, akankah kita memperoleh keuntungan yang kurang,’” ungkap Tucker, sambil menambahkan bahwa Bilderberg memperhatikan bagaimana rakyat Amerika menukar-tambah mobil SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle-penj) mereka secara besar-besaran dengan mobil kecil dan hemat energi dan menggunakan lebih banyak transportasi publik guna menghadapi harga bensin yang tinggi.

Sumber Tucker mengatakan bahwa Bilderberg memprediksikan harga bensin per galon pada akhir musim panas ini adalah $5 dan minyak mencapai $150 per barel, tapi ini merupakan batas tertinggi dan harga minyak kemudian akan mulai turun karena mereka menganggap kenaikannya terlalu cepat terjadi.

Sebagaimana telah kami laporkan sebelumnya, Bilderberg menghendaki agar harga minyak melonjak naik pada tahun 2005 sedangkan saat itu harganya hanya $40 per barel.

Saat konferensi di Jerman, Henry Kissinger mengatakan kepada hadirin bahwa para elit telah memutuskan untuk menjamin adanya kenaikan harga minyak dua kali lipat selama 12-24 bulan berikutnya, yang memang benar-benar telah terjadi.

Saat pertemuan di Ottawa, Kanada, pada tahun 2006, Bilderberg setuju untuk menekan harga minyak sampai $105 per barel sebelum akhir tahun 2008. Setelah target tersebut tercapai beberapa bulan lalu, kenaikan sampai $150 telah melampaui target Bilderberg, itulah mengapa para elit mengungkapkan keinginan untuk meredam harga minyak setidaknya dalam waktu dekat.

Dua hari setelah meninggalkan pertemuan Bilderberg, pimpinan The Fed, Ben Bernanke, beserta George W. Bush dan tokoh lainnya, mengungkapkan dukungan terhadap penguatan dolar dan Bernanke mengisyaratkan bahwa tingkat suku bunga kemungkinan naik, yang dengan serta-merta telah menyebabkan harga minyak turun sejalan dengan konsensus Bilderberg.

Bigwig economist Stiglitz' message to world leaders: still too much risk in banks

Joseph Lazzaro | DailyFinance | Sep 14th 2009 at 4:50PM

A year into the G-20 effort to stabilize global financial markets, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz is not exactly giving leaders of the world’s major economies high marks. In fact, the professor of economics at Columbia University argues that bank problems are bigger now than they were before the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year ago. “In the U.S. and many other countries, the too-big-to-fail banks have become even bigger,” Stiglitz told Bloomberg News during an interview Sunday in Paris. “The problems are worse than they were in 2007 before the crisis.” Stiglitz’ view mirrors that of former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who has advised President Barack Obama to decrease the size of banks. Nevertheless, in the year after the U.S. Federal Reserve and Treasury allocated more than $23 trillion in public funds to stabilize the financial system, re-liquefy credit markets and shore up troubled banks, Citigroup (C) is about as large as it was before the crisis and the Bank of America (BAC) has grown. Stiglitz said the U.S. government’s reform effort has run into powerful banking and financial service lobbies in Washington, who has extensive Congressional support in both the Republican and Democratic parties. Stiglitz’ hope is that next week’s G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh will lead to increased pressure on the U.S. to widen oversight of banks and further reduce systemic risk created by the size of financial institution operations.  

“We aren’t doing anything significant so far, and the banks are pushing back,” Stiglitz told Bloomberg. “The leaders of the G-20 will make some small steps forward, given the power of the banks” and “any step forward is a move in the right direction.” A former economist for the World Bank, Stiglitz, among many other economists, has called for a decrease in the size of financial institutions. The fear is that institutional size could continue to create companies that are “too big to fail,” leading to more perilous situations. One logical remedy is to decrease their size so that they don’t create systemic risk and don’t need government bailouts. A second reason G-20 leaders may focus on bank size is their efforts to limit bank executive pays and bonuses are going nowhere. Many in part blame “perverse incentives” for helping to create the excessive risk during the 2005-2008 leveraging bubble. Germany favors pay caps, but France has called them unworkable, arguing that bankers would simply find loopholes, The Independent of the United Kingdom reported. Meanwhile, the United States and the United Kingdom are opposed to caps on pay.

Economic Analysis: Although Stiglitz brings up good points, he may have been embellishing his arguments somewhat. There’s no doubt that major reforms are needed when it comes to systemic risk, the size of institutions, bank capitalization, and how banks’ compensation plan affect risk. But it’s somewhat of a stretch to argue that the financial problems facing the world’s major economies are bigger now than they were one year ago, at the outset of the crisis. As a result of the infusion of public dollars, the U.S., Europe, Asia and other regions clearly are in a stronger financial condition today than they were 12 months ago. The problem is the global economy remains in danger of a repeat. The rules must be changed to limit both systemic risk and change the psychology of institutions that believe the government will and must bail them out if they fail. Investors, obviously, know there are no quick and easy solutions to this problem. There will be winners and losers. But solutions must be found. Put another way, if unchecked excesses continue and government intervention is required again, so much of the private banking sector will become public that the term “capitalist economy” may very well become meaningless.