pancakes vs crêpes

The culinary war between American food (which I for the most part admittedly dislike) and French cuisine is ON.

Could somebody kindly explain to my poor husband what the difference between a crêpe and a pancake is?

My husband's as pig-headed as a mule so he will not admit to his faux pas... n'est ce pas?

Please follow the link and RATE my poem

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A few shags a week

I cannot help but bring you these informative discoveries that are supposed to send you to seventh heaven.

The experts have prescribed that 2-3 shags a week will rejuvenate you and help your immune system keep the nasties at bay. Too many shags though will have the inverse effect.

So to keep yourself looking as youthful and stay healthy for as long as you possibly can shag away but like all things excess will lead you astray...

Keep a calendar and shag in moderation. Your bodies will thank you.

Swiss customs endorse veganism

A close inspection of the amendment to the Swiss customs regulation regarding food originating from animals will leave you with a 'what the heck?!?' reaction. I think Swiss customs regulations now resembles that of a vegan's diet as they prohibit everything that stems from animals including all dairy products, eggs or honey or dried fish...
It must be said though that the prohibition applies only to meat and all animal products that originate from outside of the European Union.

Importers are still allowed to import these prohibited products from countries that are not members of the European Union. It's a hypocrisy because importers have to pay tax on these products and thus are allowed the luxury of charging inexorbitant prices for the sought after delicacies from across the world. On the other hand the average traveller coming back from Asia cannot bring a few kilograms of dried beef into Switzerland thanks to this new law.

The veganistic tendencies of the new legislation leaves me wondering if I am a fish out of water here in Switzerland?

Prostitution is going to be a university course

Within the framework of reform a New Zealand university director of higher education has announced that a course on how to prostitute 'comme il faut' will probably be included as a new discipline reported by 'The New Zealand Herald'. A colleague added that these courses will have to be planned according to the same rigour and criteria as other courses and assuring a minimum standard. The government has yet to see an interest expressed by prospective students, investors, enterprises or tax payers.

What skills do one obtain after such a course? Will the certificate of a degree in prostitution render one a bona-fide hooker or gigolo???

Ode to IKEA (for my husband)

I adore thou o fearless one
Knowing full well thou art
Every handyman's fantasy
All consuming passion


IKEA is on the verge of total world domination with an all conquering concept.

IKEA is to furniture cum DIY cum useless decorations cum occasionally relevant or useful amenagements what McDonalds is to fast-food (or in some instances Food)

Beware an IKEA franchise is

Coming to a location near you.

Things to do when you are pregnant

Here are my favourite things to do without feeling the slightest tinge of guilt during my pregnancies: (in no particular order)

_ Eat to my heart's content.
_ Wolf down a block of dark chocolate (any other type will do when I have a craving) or thereabouts everyday. (Actually that is a slight exaggeration)
_ Have really shitty, hormonally induced temper tantrums and blame it on the increased raging hormones that has somehow engulfed me.
_ Tell my husband that being preggers is wrecking havoc with my normally unperturbed mood thus for him to not be perturbed by my extreme moodswings.
_ Feel absolutely fabulous that my bulging belly is perfectly acceptable and moreover celebrated. I am preggers after all duh !(I might be kidding myself here because I rarely felt this)
_ My normally contradictory self is even more pronounced with an emphasis on contradictory and/or paradoxical. I love being a paradox, that says it all.
_ Have irrational cravings
_ Give my husband a hard time for not being understanding or comprehensive enough about the whole ordeal of being hormonally charged and dealing with a burgeoning belly that is carrying no less than a human life.
_ Cry for no particular reason at all.
_ Having eternal fatigue and able to profit from that. (Although this was only possible during my first pregnancy because I had no other little being to take care of)
_ Taking full advantage of my state of being enceinte by asking people (mainly my hubby) to do things for me. I wish this was true but I have too much pride to ask for assistance unless it's necessary.
_ Taking it easy and putting my feet up. Unfortunately another wistful pensée because I have two toddlers who are turbulent to look after.

I think pregnant women are entitled to any perks they can convoke because frankly all the side effects and symptoms are not all that easy to bear. Morning sickness, nausea, inexplicable itchiness, insomnia, depression,feelings of inadequacy brought on by sudden change in shape/size of their bellies, thighs etc...

So pregnancy is the easy prelude compared to what it takes to raise a child in this oft frightening world. Try it only if you are game.

When night falls

Light illuminates the morning sky
A life began
The iridescent glow irradiates warmth
Vibrant peak glimmers for all to admire
One weeps from overflowing joy
A life is born into the world
The peak of noon soon takes over
Incandescence begins to diminish
Curbed by the distant call
Dimmer and dimmer the sky becomes
mirroring the decline in an almost lifeless body
Ravaged by age and disease
Robbed by the hands of time
Gradual disappearance

Sounds of Silence falls on deaf ears
Darkness.

Amused

My husband's idea of a fun day out is to go and spend hours perusing through his latest preoccupation at the eletronics megastore MediaMarkt. Typical of a male init?

I would much rather go shoe shopping or bargain hunting. Does that just make me a
shoe-a-holic or bargain hunter or a shallow femme?

Mr Freeze

On our recent road trip to Sète in the South of France to celebrate our fifth marriage anniversary I discovered the power of advertisements!
We were walking along the shores of Balaruc Les Bains and saw an ice-cream parlor. They claimed to have 'glaçes artisanales', which means home made. My husband joked that the only thing that was authentic about the ice cream was the fact the industrially made blocks had to be loaded into the display window by human hands.

Petit Suisse insisted on having a raspberry flavoured ice block. I did not know the real reason as to why he was so insistent on having an ice block when there was an array of attractive ice cream flavours on display.

At dinner time we sat in a restaurant having a gigantic seafood platter entourée by oysters, prawns, crayfishes and numerous other molluscs. Petit Suisse started to sing a jingle which all of a sudden sounded familiar.
It went something like 'Mr Freeze, Mr Freeze...' He sang it in a perfectly melodious tune which unfortunately cannot be reproduced on a two dimensional computer screen.
I glanced at the packaging of the now finished ice block and found 'Mr Freeze' written on it. I subsequently asked Petit Suisse how he came to know about Mr Freeze and he nonchalently answered "I saw it on Tele".

Hubby and I looked at each other and with a telling look, Television adverts do sway impressionable kids and that is the goal of marketing and advertising. Target scored! Need I say more.
The next day while we were in the supermarket he adamently demanded we buy the 'Monster' shaped biscuits fabricated by Lorenz which coindidentally he saw on Television.

I have to be careful not to let too many adverts sway my kids into the latest trend, food, snack, toy, gadget and what not.
Damn advertisements!!! I must admit they are effective for the most impressionable audience though and my kids are in no way immune to the floods of ads...