Birthdays

People have birthdays. It's something everybody has. They just need to be remembered.
Joanna. A bunch of people, Mexican music, cerveza, seasoned meat, vegetables, chopping, chopping, chopping, corn tortillas and too much chili. It turned out really good. Tequila, balloons and a cake made of balls. You don't get your "happy Birthday song" in seven languages every day. The beauty of living in an international community. Happy Birthday!

And then..... just another traditional dinner at The Habitat (that's how our crib has been baptized). Plantains, macaroni-cheese and some new hedonistic nasty version of the Brazilian sin.... this time a chocolate chip brownie covered with brigadeiro, along with a white coconut variety of brigadeiro. And a birthday 6000 km away. Some ad hoc candles, a sudden call in the middle of the European night with the happy birthday song. Buon compleanno, Kristian!

Plantains, from Puerto Rico with love

Macaroni-cheese, from Scotland with love

"So Long & Thanks for All the Fish!"

People come and go, exchanging, working, studying, traveling. Suzana returned to the Brazilian warmth, Xavier returned to the mild Catalan winter. We met on a Saturday afternoon at the house he's been living for 6 months in the middle of Newfield woods. A peaceful wooden refuge with two campfires in front of it and two large pans for paella. The calming rhythm of preparing the food gathered around the fire, talking about this and that and looking the raw ingredients slowly transforming into a delicious meal. Eating starts with your eyes.

A quite different experience was the Hibachi Restaurant Kyushu. I made a reservation for 9 at a hibachi table, that means the food is prepared in front of you. So you can admire the cooking ability of the chef. Well..... there was a lot of ability in the performance, but it was more in a circus tone than else.... Sorry that the longest video is too long to be uploaded... Too many "yeah yeah yeah" I guess. Perhaps the audience was not from the right part of the globe to fully appreciate it. Too demanding to amuse. Anyway, we went there to eat, not to get amused. We were perfectly able to entertain us. And we did it. And had lots of fun. Tripped also into the magical world of stuffed animals.

You just HAVE to tip

Welcome to the penguin sanctuary

Today I caught my first snowflake with my tongue. The air is crispy and cold, the blowing wind refreshes my mind and sweeps away the last leaves from the trees. A couple of weeks ago there was still Autumn... Walking around the campus, strolling down the Commons to the Farmers Market. I went from buildings, where you can breath tradition and enjoy the perfect harmony of a blue sky over red bricks and colored leaves, down in the center, where you can hear the melancholic singing of a free street artist aiming at some appreciation of his entertainment in front of the national bank. How ironic. Sitting in the middle of that short pedestrian street with a cup of warm coffee. The more you relax, the more details you start to notice. And the colors of the lively Farmers Market. I think they'd be thrilled to see the daily market in Ljubljana, or anywhere else in Europe that I've been. Here choosing to buy local and fresh and being aware of the quality of your food is something that makes you different from the others. Better. More aware. More healthy. I'd say you're being just normal.....

Willard Straight Hall

October 22, 2004 @ Barton Hall: John Cleese

The Cornell Store and Barnes Hall on Ho Plaza

McGraw Tower

Ho Plaza

Sage Chapel

Baker Tower and Cayuga Lake down the Libe Slope

Willard Straight Hall entrance

Commons

"Child of Ithaca" - an educated young  with a cup of coffee and a book. A student.

.... and I went to the "great" Wegman's, where you can find anything. I stepped through that door and was sucked into a colorful merry-go-round of bread, cheese, international dishes, cookies, bagels, muffins.... and found some known stuff.