Right lane never ends

Johann Sebastian Bach, the Master

2010-07-11T17:45:00.002-04:00

Music has always been a very important subject in my life and although choice is of a virtual infinity, J S Bach is the source of the deepest music connection and feelings.

It amazes me that seven notes of music can create such diversity and allow for any musical talent to compose new tunes, new melodies, new themes, concertos, fugues, symphonies and rarely find a similitude between two compositions.

Seven notes with five variables and the mind of a composer can bring joy or tears, energy or meditation. Potentially twelve notes, with different intervals, scales, values and keys have been charming our ears for hundreds of years.

Early music had such a wide range of structures and of different modes. In our contemporary era, Schoenberg created the dodecaphony, a constant twelve note structure appropriate to the last evolution of classical music, avoiding the use of keys. Still only twelve notes…

The compositions as we hear daily and based on the known and defined keys, gave from the early Baroque composers a structure in which infinitely variable, yet recognizable sounds could be appreciated with the full range of feelings. From religious to secular, from formal to wild, orchestral to song, classical to jazz, we are still discovering daily new deviations as music continue to charm us with countless distinctions.

Of the tens of thousands of composers that have written music, J S Bach is the favorite to many people. Countless interpretations have been played, slower, faster, creating different tempo, rediscovering early versions, transposed for different instruments or using new electronic voices, these are rediscoveries of the same JS Bach compositions, breathing, animated and flowing to our senses the extraordinary beauty of the music of a higher power.

From Glenn Gould, Isaac Stern, Neville Marriner, Angela Hewitt, Vladimir Horowitz, Jean Louis Steuerman, Yehudi Menuhin to Jacques Loussier, Swingle Singers, Walter and Wendy Carlos and many, many, many more who expressed their personal understandings of JS Bach compositions, I believe he would enjoy them all, smiling at the suspicion of a secret code justifying his timeless, structured and spatial compositions.

I believe any beautiful creation can be mentally projected in a box, even butterflies, although I do not believe we can justify, rationalize and codify the immense beauty of the mind’s creation, as it is the product of the mystery of our universal power and collective intelligence that some of us were giving a better access in specific aspects, although with life counterpoints.

Peter Wollny, a music critic wrote: “The carefully worked-out counterpoint of a piece serves, according to Birnbaum (Johann Abraham Birnbaum, a contemporary of Bach, was a professor of rhetoric in Leipzig who wrote a famous apologia on J S Bach’s technique of composition), to correct the imperfections of nature; consequently the complexity of the elaborate intertwining presented in a work determines the measure of its beauty. This concept of musical perfection is probably best documented as far as Bach’s orchestral music is concerned in the concertos for several keyboard instruments. The unprecedented contrapuntal richness of these works is hardly comprehensible in all its dimensions, even after one has heard them frequently; however, the innumerable contrapuntal ramifications and details which constitute the individual movements, fuse into an overall impression which is definitely comprehensible – and this is exactly what shows Bach’s greatness, in that he does not build esoteric castles in the air, but creates expressive and committed master works.”

Johann Sebastian Bach is certainly at the helm of the specially talented human beings who gave us an enduring deep sense of beauty made of seven notes and variations.

Thank you master!

To all the Friends who signed up and read this Blog

2010-07-10T20:26:00.001-04:00

I thank you for your signs of interests, it humbles me and it helps me to go back at it and in consequence I have a few posts I will publish soon.

I realize the Guest Book is a good idea; nevertheless, I cannot contact anyone. If you wish to leave a trace, please comment after a post, you opinion will be welcome.

Thank you again for your interests.

Be humans, not Sheep

2010-03-22T14:11:00.003-04:00

The negative political statement phenomenon is one of the most destructive practice, as one can form an offensive, intentional and calculated argument before hearing someone else’s viewpoint. This is now a new branch of marketing as a science, making us eating, drinking, buying and accepting whatever one had planned for us to do.

Democracy is based on hearing everyone’s viewpoint to form consensuses to be represented, not political parties inducing people with marketing plots to make us think their way for ulterior motives.

We have now reach a such level of systematic reactive fights against the others, including against the Government, that it could ultimately be viewed by outside observers as criminal acts against the functioning of a Nation.

Among industrialized Countries, The USA is the last bastion of careless apathy for their own citizens, incapable of supporting the disfranchised, except anecdotally at Thanksgiving, as if poor people were eating once a year. It is as we have looked in our own mirror for so long that we forgot the World has drastically changed around us and our old arguments are now either funny or depressing stand-up comedy subjects around the World.

We, as a Nation, were not capable of rebuilding a City destroyed by a hurricane and we keep forgetting about it as if it did happen on another Planet. Yes, it is going to cost money to fix 40 years of social political standing still, and it is going to cost even more to fix all the thousands crumbling bridges and hundreds of dams ready to drawn villages and towns, collapsing sewage and water pipes all around the Nation, overloaded dated National electrical grid, outdated power plants and roads looking like minefields.

We disregarded maintaining and rebuilding the infrastructure of the Nation by fear of the money spending finger pointing game. We had one warning of a collapsing bridge not too long ago and we already forgot, distracted by the next offensive argument we bought for the sake of satisfying our emerging national anger fomented by our divisive political parties.

It is going to cost as water flows the river to eradicate the more than 20% of illiterate Americans, a statistic we have been maintaining for the past 30 years, and in good part responsible for the seven and half millions Citizens in jail, representing a shaming 25% of the entire World imprisoned population; although the USA only represent 4.6% of our planet inhabitants.

And it is going to cost so much to lower the count of the few Hundreds of Thousands of People dying each year of devastating and expanding illnesses from our greed of mass-producing dangerous food, drinks including processed water, confusing drugs helping and killing people at the same time, and allowing the air we breathe a few times a minute and everyday of our live to be corrosive.

What it is going to cost to finally take responsibility of the 66% of American people declared obese, making us ranked 42 of the world Countries on this subject? Have you seen the movie Wally? It was barely for kids, as we are getting closer to that world of Trash Mountains and obese boneless people.

We can go on this realistic statistical path for a while, showing how close we are to become the richest Third World Country. As if we, as a Nation, continue arguing instead of acting, we will soon loose any reason for national pride as we could end up being called something else.

Listen to your heart and re-develop your human senses, not political arguments, as they are made to lure you to fight against, whatever against they need for you to fight for their interests at a time. Be humans, not sheep. Freedom is not a one-block package we keep while being distracted day and night with TV, toys and games. It is a malleable form we have to accommodate for anyone around us and fight a peaceful and respectful fight to keep it alive and well, as freedom is a privilege we all have to share, not a right we wave out only when we feel threatened.

New Indy Car or the lack of direction

2010-03-08T14:40:00.010-05:00

We hear spectators, armchair racers, team owners, drivers, mechanics, engineers, the press, and yes, let’s say anyone and everyone complaining about the look of the near vintage Indy car in use. The good news is IRL is - finally - going to change their spec car that has been running since 2003, although the bad news is that we will have to wait until 2012 before knowing if the series did found the magic formula to save the top category of Open Wheel racing in the US and in consequence, open wheel racing in this Country.

Amazing to remember that CART Indy car had 4 different engines, 5 chassis manufacturers, 16 teams and 34 drivers participating to the 1999 championship. Something was new every months and every years at that time. It was the best motor head soap opera in the US and threatening Formula 1 supremacy around the world.

The Dallara chassis still in use today was designed at a time oval track racing was an exclusivity in IRL, with 9 of the new emerging fast tracks of near 1 ½ mile long and 3 older super speedways, leaving space for only 4 higher downforce shorter tracks during the season.

Fast ovals, no street or road course track to compromise with and a head to head competition with another chassis builder, G-Force, led Dallara to design a very specialized chassis with a priority to be Indy 500 specific. Mind you, cars were designed as a three-year generation.

According to the rules, an IRL chassis had to be designed to potentially be used for “right and left turns” type tracks, which certainly was not a concern as it would have been easy to design new parts to create a clumsy but running car on any race track, as long as one could win the 500’s. Ultimate competitiveness on road course was not of any concern, not knowing when IRL would finally decide to expend into international type racing.

We know what happens. Road and Street Courses gradually took over half of the races and one chassis got name the only spec car of the series. The car that was designed to run at 230 mph and only leave a speed sensation to the spectators, was suddenly exposed to close scrutiny, awkwardly taking slow turns at 50 mph and showing its lack of stick in fast road course bends, creating a visual disaster in comparison with CART and Champ Cars electrifying cornering speeds and well proportioned shapes.

But let’s move forward leaving behind enough facts to write a thick book on what did happened, didn’t, and what we all have lost, including many jobs that no one seems to want talking about.

What is IRL thinking!

Here is a reminder of the attributes IRL has defined to select the new Indy car that will start competing in 2012:

Safe: The new chassis must adhere to the league's already high safety standards while exploring new technology to improve safety in all aspects of the car.

Raceable: The new chassis must continue to produce the exciting racing that has become signature of the IZOD IndyCar Series while not affecting other cars on track (i.e. less sensitive to the turbulence).

Cost-effective: The league continues to work to reduce the cost of participation for teams in the IZOD IndyCar Series, which remains an important priority in this economic climate. The new chassis must have a price point that adheres to that goal.

American-made: The new chassis must be built in the

U.S.

, preferably at an Indiana-based facility.

Less mass/more efficient: A lighter chassis with less mass that produces the same aerodynamic effect in an efficient way.

Relevant technology: The league would like the new chassis to be relevant to the future of the consumer auto industry; innovative technology that is born on the racetrack and can translate to consumer cars.

Modern look: More space for sponsor logos, cars easily identifiable.

Green: The Indy Racing League prides itself on its role in the greening of racing and wants to maintain its position as a leader in environmentally-friendly initiatives with this chassis.

"Our chassis is the most complex challenge in world motorsports because of the variety of race courses where we compete," Barnhart said. "It must be designed to run at 235 mph at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and protect drivers and spectators in high-speed crashes. It must be able to run on superspeedways, speedways and short ovals as well as natural-terrain road courses and temporary circuits."

Barnhart said safety is the foremost requirement in design of the new chassis and the league has identified areas to improve through its own research and testing. A reduction of between 40 percent and 50 percent of the current chassis cost is sought - principally through the reduction in inventory necessary to transition between oval kits and road/street course kits (brakes, uprights, etc.).

Additionally, a lighter car reduces the power requirement and enhances fuel efficiency. For the fourth year in a row, the IZOD IndyCar Series will be the only motorsports property to utilize a renewable and environmentally friendly fuel (100 percent fuel-grade ethanol).

"Our drivers take the greatest risks in the world of sports driving IndyCars and it is paramount we have the best safety features designed into this next generation of cars," Barnhart said. "It is also important that we continue to develop more relevance between the new generation of IndyCars and the cars that world manufacturers will be producing in the future. Finally, we have stipulated that the new chassis must be made in the United States, preferably Indiana, to take advantage of more competitive pricing and the existing American supplier network for parts and protect our team from issues with currency fluctuations."

Not so fast!

This reads like a commercial with self-proclaimed product quality, isn’t it?

We have seen renderings, studio concepts, ideas beings put forward by race car manufacturers and even an offbeat advance concept, all of them radical in some aspects and respecting the confusing definition of the IRL recommendations. But let’s look at the guidelines again, point after point, to understand the meaning and its consequences on a designer’s mind.

Safe is in fact one of the two aspects of a race car design. How safe the cars need to be? According to its self proclaimed safety level, IRL mention to follow the high standard already defined by themselves, while “exploring new technologies to improve safety in all aspects of the car”, which support some contradictions in its terms and essentially leave to the car designers to define themselves safety, as it should be the function of the sanctioning body to fully define safety and the various tests necessary to measure and check the extend of the submissions. This should be true even if a back door should be open to allow for some suggestions.

Raceable is a side category of competitiveness, which is the second aspect of race car design. Again, IRL is padding themselves on their own back by writing “the chassis must continue to produce the exciting racing that has become signature of the IZOD IndyCar Series while not affecting other cars on track (i.e. less sensitive to the turbulence).”

This seems to be an advice to conceive a different car as the one “producing the exciting racing”, with better rear vortices definition to allow following cars to keep a better aerodynamic balance in quantity and distribution. It is in fact what sanctioning bodies have tried to achieve around the world and through various rules changes. It seems that IRL has not defined what it would take to achieve this important task and instead has handed the relay baton to designers.

Cost-effective was and still is an important factor now pushing IRL to react with various radical considerations. The omni-justifying economic downturn topic combined with a lack of appropriate ruling evolution is leading the IRL to look at drastic measures that might not solve the problems, as the problems themselves have not been defined in years past.

An American-made car is also part of the new cost-effective scheme.

A new theme is also added, contradicting their long time philosophy of heavier car of more material for more energy absorption is now becoming less mass/more efficient.

It is a logic but short thinking process to propose the cutting cost of cars and racing them without looking first at the commercial worth of the racing to be lifted to a value of return. Ultimately, it would not matter if cars and researches would be relatively expensive if exposures and commercial values were flourishing as it was 10 years ago. Now, looking at it from the other side of the lens, even if an Indy Car would cost the price of a Formula Ford, it would still become too expensive if no sponsor would show up to pay the bills.

Going back to drastic cost reduction, to what extends amortizing the installation of a complete race car manufacturing facility in Indiana and/or subleasing the services of existing facilities is going to reduce manufacturing prices in comparison with producing race cars in existing and already paid facilities and adding shipment cost, is debatable. I know, we talk about the rate of exchange between Europe and the

, as if it was a constant factor. In effect, a stabilized rate of exchange, which is about the case now, is normalizing costs with products becoming less expensive in Europe to end up loosing their advantage through exchange rate. In any case, the real final production cost would need to be justified before knowing a benefit has been made.

The lack of cost scrutiny might have been a bigger factor than some easier excuses. I believe a range of solutions covering the various aspects of cost would help more than reacting with drastic measures that, even to satisfy friends at local shops, might not control enough what became the black sheep of Open Wheel racing today.

High quality and rare materials in use to make Indy Cars are always going to be expensive and labor will remain a specialized more expensive labor to be paid. Research cost is not going away, if one wish for research to be part of this type of racing, past the pre-production study.

Nevertheless, if need be, a cost-plus system as practiced in the aerospace and defense industries would help control some of the expenditure problems, providing the cost part of the equation is well defined, as it is not always the case in defense programs.

An overreaction has never been the best solution to any problem and generally hides something, whether of past decisions, or lack of knowledge of the subject, or anything else one can imagine and suspect.

The relevant technology concern of innovation, born on the racetrack that can transfer to consumer cars, is an old dream of non-engineer mind, thinking that one can invent new features that would be effective on a race car and could be used in the automobile industry, all of that at the lowest cost racing can be.

I understand, it is a good idea but it shows so much the lack of technical and engineering mastery expressed by over-reacted and inexpert minds.

The technology, as expressed here is most of the time techniques, as well as the use of existing technologies and applied in different environments.

It is always possible that new thinking would lead car manufacturers to use these ideas in production. In this case, rules would have to open, allowing for the inventive mind to expend freer, which in return would increase cost. The Formula 1 teams were complaining about the cost of the KERS devise development, when they effectively spend 10 to 30 times more money than any top Indy Car teams.

What are we seeing so far?

All published projects have some caricatural looks reminiscent of Hot Wheels or Star War vehicles, while Formula 1 is following their rules and looking as advanced as it can be. Asking designers to define themselves a “modern look” is leading them to expend on style instead of fine tuning the consequences of well defined rules. A modern look could simply mean that a new car would have the look of having been designed in 2010 instead of in 2002. The Panoz DP01 Champ Car was a modern looking car when it was raced in 2007. Today, new collective ideas are in every designer’s minds and would create a de facto modern looking car without searching for some stylistic look, as these bright people are, in any case, not studio designers. It seems that every designer did fall into the search for a hypothetical look, maybe to satisfy some unclear emphasis on “modern look” and have a chance to be retained as a potential IRL chassis supplier.

Green is one of these terms eventually meaning nothing, or why not the consequence of mixing yellow and blue colors, or whatever we want to show as image in tune with consumption and renewable energy.

The danger of wanting to be so called green with no definition can reveal a lack of depth later. Using ethanol made of sugar cane is an apparent good thing, although when we count the energy consumption of production and transport by trucks, jumbo boats and trucks again, all burning vast quantity of oil, one can find that the green concept is rapidly fading. Worst is to be aware of the mega deforestation necessary to create farming land, itself burning vast quantity of oil and ultimately reducing the needed World conversion of CO2 by plants.

I know, paying attention to energy consumption is very important, although it has to be true savings. Mr. Rudolf Diesel had invented his engine in the late 1800’s and was looking at using available combustibles such as coal powder or various vegetable oils. His first engine was running on peanut oil. Today, we know that diesel engines can run on fast food recycled oil, raw rapeseed oil strait out of an extracting mill and who knows what researchers have found recently in converting algae and yard grass into carburant.

The development of hybrid cars and now heavy freight trucks could lead race car engine manufacturers to expend their researches into racing applications that would lead to more experiments and developments, and back to production after having been exposed to different and extreme conditions. And this might be where the transfer to production can happen; not in chassis and aerodynamic designs, as they are too specific and of a too drastically different environment than street cars.

If the series want to show "green" interests, it might be time to systematically recycle paper, cardboard boxes, bottles, cans and plastics of all kinds being thrown in trash containers, and sometime around them, during every race weekends and by the tons daily. Showing example to spectators and encouraging them to do the same would be "greener" than many other para-green ideas.

All of that is really confusing!

Green? Yes but not just for the sake of carrying the name as a label with untrue gain.

It is odd that a very conservative series, or at least the thinking behind, having kept the same car for 9 years, increasing weight for safety reasons, is suddenly opening the door to outside thinking of safety and transferrable technologies when cost is the primary concern and leading to impose manufacturing to be 40 to 50% cheaper than the actual car cost. In a short sentence, more expenses yet far cheaper!

I would assume that IRL still intent for high quality carbon fiber, resin, curing processes, high strength steel, aluminum and advanced manufacturing techniques to be used, not wire welded mild steel tube chassis and suspension.

It seems as if the IRL technical leadership is lacking of defined intentions or expressed knowledge to lead manufacturers conceiving the new generation of Indy Car.

One more concern: a unique car manufacturer and one engine label will not renew the spectator’s interest as it was more than 10 years ago when constant changes and dramas of all kind were triggering people’s interests and siding for a chassis, an engine, a team, a driver and even a technical leader or any combinations of all the variables. Believing that a new car and new engine will change the face of this type of racing is showing a lack of connection with spectators and aficionados.

FIA and FOTA went both their way out to understand what spectators are expecting from the Formula 1 championship, and combined with their expertise and decisive directions, propose one exiting championship, towing behind full ranks of GP2, Formula 2, Renault World Series 3.5, Formula 3 and GP3 championships. Here, we just lost Atlantic and Indy Lights is dying with a car that has never been of great balance and interest, born of compromises and financial interests.

Europe got hit by the economic downturn more than the US, as they were already at a tougher position with eventually more pre-crisis unemployment than we ended up here post-implosion. Yet racing has continued evolving.

It would be insane for us to think adding a new Open Wheel racing series today, yet Europe had Formula 2 debuting last year with a full count of drivers and just got GP3 starting now and directly competing against the venerable and popular Formula 3. At the very first test of this new series, this past March 4th, thirty one, read again: 31 drivers were at work testing their new car.

Fourteen (14) drivers were testing at the first Indy Lights test a few days earlier, not all being confirmed to start the season. And the respected highly competitive Formula Atlantic series is gone, mismanaged and condemned by IRL as a non-viable stepping stone for young drivers. Afraid of any competition, IRL did destroy everything on their path, including themselves.

I hope someone is going to understand or accept the real reasons of the American Open Wheel racing’s demise, although, it is interesting to notice that Star Mazda is still going strong.

I think history has now enough depth to define the problems and allow pinpointing more precisely how they were generated.

The tough subject will be to find and put in place the right people to implement wise technical changes and regain what was the best Racing in USA.

New Indy Car Concept direction

2010-02-15T14:09:00.003-05:00

It is interesting to follow the opinions of Indy Car fans through the various blogs, poles and forums. Recently, an overload of concerns has been expressed on the subject of the desirable look of the future race car, at the time the Indy Racing League is accepting project concepts from race car builders. Some lessons can certainly be taken from what we read and should be treated as an element of consideration among others for the IRL to make decisions.

On one hand, the Indy Car Honda concept car presented some time ago in 2009 shows some characters that mix traditional lines with futuristic appendixes. Nevertheless, let’s remember that this is a non-engineered styling studio elaboration with some unrealistic features. On the other hand, the race car manufacturers such as Dallara, Lola and Swift did introduce a few days ago some aggressive styles that, in some cases, could be impractical or costly. Most of the styles are reminiscent of ‘Hot Wheels” and ‘Star War” looks, which has not grasped major interests among the public. Of all the projects presented so far, the Delta Wing car mockup produced by the association of some Indy Car teams might be the most advanced and engineered concept vehicle to date, yet represent such a drastic change from a race car look and general architecture that it seems to be rejected by the public as a potential Indy Car replacement.

In any case, and without adding any oil to some of the already burning fires of controversy, I believe that the public taste should be an important element of the direction race car designers need to take. After all, FIA and FOTA did reached fans to understand them better and the public did like it. Nevertheless, we also have to remind fans that race cars are not conceived in design studios as a stylistic exercise. These vehicles are fully engineered with all forms and parts justified by defined functions based on the two main principles of performance and safety. The final “look” of a race car is the consequence of various integrated options that have virtually showed to offer beneficial outcomes.

It seems that the Delta Wing project is an expression of the needs for change, and not only in the car look and architecture, but in the managing of car and parts production and cost control, as well as the need for a new direction in more competitive racing, essentially meaning more potential for passing as well as diversification in winning teams and drivers.

I believe the answer to these needs is in a well conceived definition by the IRL of the direction to take, based on properly defined engineering concepts and understandings that will naturally define a style, not a style creating a vehicle with compromises to be engineered. In various instances, sanctioning bodies have lacked in engineering principle knowledge, dealing mainly with mechanical senses and reactionary fear imposing conservative rules.

Maybe the new Indy Car concept has to start by the capacity of the series to define the directions to take from which race car constructors would present projects. And as much as I understand the reasons of a one car manufacturer in managing production cost, I strongly believe that a variety of designs – two would be better than one – would help draw some interests back from spectators. This would be true as well with more than one engine manufacturer.

Ultimately, spectators are motivated by diversity, routing for a complex combination of drivers, teams, owners, car manufacturers, engines and even race engineers as performance contributors, as it has been the case by the past and still true in Formula 1 with designers. NASCAR did put forward drivers, car numbers, teams, car manufacturers and crew chiefs. Today, these cars seem to be looking the same with a spec-like chassis and almost identical shapes. One major element of the variable combinations got lost and so some fans did desert the tracks.

Who would run to an ice cream parlor if only 2 tastes and one cup size were available?

Still Crazy after all these (Racing) Years!

2010-01-19T01:25:00.038-05:00

Difficult to fathom!

Forty height years of Motorsports. Although, I was already around Sports cars 9 years earlier, fascinated by their beauty… a dismantled engine under repair… an Italian fabricator forming a fender from a flat sheet of aluminum. I had my own mentor, patient with a kid. He was a French Basque and had been a master mechanic at the Bugatti factory. What a start in the racing world before knowing it!

I was 16 and the sparks in my eyes gave confidence to the chief mechanic, allowing me to port a Triumph TR2 cylinder head before a national rally. I was nicknamed “Alain-le-malin” (Alain-the-clever) as I was already searching to perfect anything I could have my hands on. I loved carburetors then… just like NASCAR even today!

Let’s see… Formula Junior 1000cc. Formula 1 without wing and skinny tires. Formula 3 1000cc, Triumph TR2, TR3, Abarth 600 Rally, Formula Vee, Formula Ford, Abarth 850 coupe, Alfa Romeo Giulia. Formula 2 with tubular chassis in 25cd4s and Formula 2 with aluminum tubs (drainage not included!). Lotus Elan GT. Porsche 904-6 Racing tested at 2:00 am in the streets of Brussels. Porsche 911 Carrera driven to Le Mans and back to Brussels after winning the GT category ahead of 14 similar cars including the factory... Did it a second time, although using an open trailer. Volvo 122, Porsche 914-6, Mini Cooper S with rubber or liquid suspension, Super Vee, Ford 2000, Formula 3 2000cc. Hill Climb Formula 3 chassis with Formula 2 engines. Group C. 5 times Le Mans with 2 category victories and more glories. A long list of Touring cars of all kinds and sizes including Front Wheel drives oversteering like an Escort Rally. Nissan GTP as project, team manager and race engineer. Restoration of vintage Shadow Can-Am and Formula 1. Years of CART Indy Cars, qualified 6 drivers at the 500’s and counting 2 fastest rookies of the year. Won a championship in the CART version of Indy Lights called “the real one”. Race engineer and aerodynamicist (chief, mind you!) in Formula 1, Ayrton Senna era. A few GT1 with unexpected results. IMSA WSC redesigned and championship winning and at Le Mans, qualified second a 12 year old Group C transformed in WSC at 1 tenth of the pole and on 4 laps only, as the same engine had to be used for the race. IRL with 1 win and other podiums on 7 races. Restoration of glorious vintage Sports cars. Designed and built a Sports 2000 with composite chassis. Champ Car with surprising results. Various Formula Atlantic with dominating results. Formula BMW. I know, I must forget a few…

While working in Open Wheel racing, people were talking about my experience in Sports car as an oddity. While working in Prototype, people were perceiving me as a hyper Formula car kind of guy. Lucien Bianchi and Vic Elford were my ultimate type of “pilots” capable of competing on top in F2, F1, Sports Prototype, World Rally and International Rally Raid, sometime during the same season. The real breed…No ballerina shoes here!

Mechanic, engine assembler from 2 to 8 cylinders (I miss the 12's). Fabricator, machinist, composite technician, shock engineer, track engineer, design engineer, research engineer and aerodynamicist (I did create new features including wings, still in use today, even in F1… or banned by the rules…). Team manager, project manager, chief engineer, general manager… Almost forgot: driver, technical auto journalist, reporter, PR, truck driver… Who knows what else!

I have been drinking and eating racing… and dust. Sliding on oil, gas, methanol. Drenched in brake-cleaner and boiling water. I have been surrounded by deafening noise. Stoically showered by rain, inadvertently baked by the sun and sizzled by overheated engines and brakes. I have worked 24-7 (don't think I'll do it again!). In freezing cold temperatures and burning 106 degree F. For great and fantastic team owners... dreadful ones as well and every kinds in between. Dealing with lack of money, lack of honesty, lack of understanding how it works. Learned a lot from everyone and still do today. Gained friends for life… many friends for life, thanks to all of them. I have made teams and drivers looking good, very good and better, always improving a car and human capacity.

I am searching for a job…… A place to expend on our human adventure and achieve the best possible results as I always do.

Beside engineering and designing aero, I am a brilliant team leader capable of creating, moving and transforming any program to reach the top, small or big, any championship, any Continent.

Tell a friend; You will be proud of me.

See you soon on a race track… Better be on my side!

PS: Thanks to all the Facebook Friends having read this post. I appreciate your time and interest. Leave me a comment or a message, I will treasure them all.

Lite for a Beer if you wish, not for Classical Music!

2010-01-09T14:49:00.024-05:00

I get disturbed every time I read “Lite Classical Music”. I have never understood the association of classical music and a slang word for lowered alcohol content beer. “Lite” as “diet” soda beverage has an even worst identification, a beverage made with aspartame as sweetener with potential side effects, as this chemical product include methanol converting into formaldehyde under some conditions.

Is the “Lite Classical Music” a hazardous cocktail? An artificial sweetener? A hidden methanal concoction? A milder intoxicating brew? Or is it people trying to define some of the classical music in market term, “Lite” being the easiest to sell? I know, we discovered that cows were producing more milk when exposed to Mozart music, although, I believe Amadeus had no such intention when he was busy writing his composition. I sympathize with salespeople facing art for art; it is tough… the inspiration and creation for the sake of humanity; “what’s the point” they might say!

“Lite” or not, classical music represent far more than what our dismal education has or not portrayed. If we consider the Classical’s as Western music, we already miss the other sources such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and to some extend any formal folk music from around the world, being more of a traditional representation of a musical culture.

Periods such as Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Romantic and Impressionist, to name a few, show very specific characters. The nation of origin among the Western Classicals represents distinctive signs of culture such as Russian composers being unique in comparison with Germans, Italians, French, Spanish, British, Polish… Western music is not limited to Europe as American and various South American composers embrace the same musical sources. I am fascinated by Takashi Yoshimatsu’s compositions as it blends Western and Japanese sounds, themes and orchestration. Classical music has no border as we say.

After all, Asians are avid adepts of Western classical music, expending from their ancient traditions and opening themselves to the world… I guess the opposite of what we tend to practice here… I have seen friends loosing their temper at the sounds of some classical music, asking me to stop “that”. I have seen people catching the temporary tempo of a symphony to find themselves looking wacky after the music abruptly slowed to an unrecognizable rhythm, followed by an acceleration of pace, again motivating our boeotians to get back on the beat and finding themselves once more in an embarrassing position. Some people mis-classify Jazz as "music for elevator" because it has no lyric! Not easy to understand the world and open to it when music only means Rock, whether classic, hart, punk, or Hip-Hop with its variations. Jazz being for old folks and Jazz-Fusion having been under popularized, Country is the genre one tend to love or hate with passion. Ultimately, music knowledge for the general American population ends up being songs of a form or another, no pure and simple music.

Classical music is also often presented as an invariable composition with no concept for interpretation, a sort of Cabernet without Millesime or Terroir… a dark red grape juice with alcohol… "Soothing" music, “Classical Thunder” and other typical commercial terms have no meaning as the music is an expression of artists, not a production aimed to move consumers in various defined forms of moods as a cheap therapy. Classical music is there to be appreciated outside oneself, allowing the music to reach instead of being controlled. It is a moment of contemplation during which one let the composers, interpreters and musicians communicating their combined feelings and allowing their emotions to blossom.

Light classical music would not make sense, as composers would not intentionally write a “less heavier” music for the sake of a lighter digestion or an easier understanding. “Lite” classical music is in reality an insult to the effort and involvement of composers, interpreters and musicians, as nothing “Lite” would have and would be satisfying them; classical music imply a total involvement with no restriction.

Personally, I like micro brew producing more intricate beer taste then “Lite”. Cheers to the Classical Music Lovers.

On Pigs and Caviar

2009-12-31T12:03:00.002-05:00

Expressions are very interesting to hear… and hopefully to understand. French are saying: “ne donnez pas du caviar aux cochons” which integrally translate by “do not give caviar to pigs”, although the meaning of this phrase is worth more than a quick translation.

This expression define the swine as eating about anything one would give, including caviar, having no mind as being an animal and consequently no relation with the value of food or concern about taste. Hogs are sometime used to find the rare truffles in the forests as their olfactory senses are extremely developed and able to smell the uncommon fungus hidden a few inches underground. Although, they are to be very closely monitored as the pigs would eat the rare mushroom in one swoop with no second thought… in fact with no thought at all.

Giving caviar to a pig would be a waist as this animal would eat most anything with the same appetite. This observation have some parallel with people of little or misconstrued social behaviors and not connected with any tasting exercise, “grabbing” food and “gobbling” as it comes to them.

We see these people in grocery stores, going from a sampling stand to another, emotionless most of the time or rarely with a feint facial expression showing some forms of reaction to the basic recognition of sweet, sour, salt, bitter and hot spice. No appreciation for the offer or interest for the brand or recipe, only the most basic pig feeding behavior.

We also see them at parties, “locking on” some “grabs”, reaching the already opened mouth set to process the “whatever” that was captured. Chin up, they chomp the food while instantly returning to their conversation, although keeping an eye on the next feed arrival. Again, very little appreciation, if any, for the food or the taste.

A cheap dip would do well, as a rare caviar would leave them with question marks on why that thing is so expensive to end up tasting fishy and salty. Some “tasters” would know the monetary value as the point of interest but still without a sense for subtle and uncommon palate feelings.

Appreciating a taste takes more than the fraction of a second that commercials led the crowd to believe, as our taste buds on our tong, soft palate, esophagus and epiglottis are processing, from one area to another, each with a specialty, before sending a detailed report to our brain to appreciate the specific flavors. Taste change as we say and taking time to let the nuances being defined by our gustatory system is allowing us to expend to a wider range of appreciation.

The Slow Food movement was conceived to protect local business equilibrium and food quality. We should reflect on the concept of a Slow Tasting movement to restore our capacity to the myriad of savor experiences offered to us on this planet, as a human characteristic to distinguish ourselves from what pigs are and do so well, provide us most appreciated food.

What about concluding with a toast of each protagonists, caviar and pork, Beluga on one and Rillettes on the other, although should we start by eating piggy first? In any case, I’ll begin with a glass of Brut Champagne and decide after that!

Happy and blissful New Year to all.

Italian Pronunciations

2009-12-16T22:13:00.019-05:00

More than one person asked me how to pronounce this or that in Italian. I do not speak this language but will find a way to answer, including for myself. I would start by shortening some of the rules that I have been reading, for the sake of simplifying life and to give a chance to remember. I think one of the main concern is to know what to do with the “C” and the “CC”. Looks like we can extend the rules to “G”.

“C”, “CC” and “G” are pronounced differently whether these consonants are before the first group of “A”, “O”, “U”, “HE” and “HI” or the second group of “E” and “I”. OK, why not saying group one is everything, except "E" and "I" and obviously the second group is about "E" and "I".
“C” and “CC” are pronounced “K” before the first group and “CH” before the second group.
“G” is pronounced as in “Good” for the first group and as in “General” in the second group.

I sincerely hope I am correct and if not, I will have to deal with the impulsive volatile reactions of my dear Italian friends. Love you guys… Guido, my friend Guido, where are you? Please help me… pleeeaaase!

Retro References

2009-12-16T19:27:00.012-05:00

I am meeting a friend at a restaurant, half football field behind a McDonald. Interesting way to locate a place, as each McDonald became a landmark for direction and a football field for a distance.

I am not sure that people would necessarily recognize the size of a football field outside of a stadium, being sober, quiet and at street level. I even doubt that too many people would know the dimension it represents. I hear the field being the reference for a linear dimension and it seems logic that it relates to the length, which is 300 feet, although if we include the end zones, we increase the distance to 360 feet, but no one seems to know which number to consider. I would think it takes some imagination to project a distance into a football field, not knowing exactly which measure it is, although it gives a chance to make everyone right!

Same for a stone’s throw as it refer to someone throwing a stone, which at that point has to do with his or her momentary ability to throw as far away as possible… and measure the outcome. The first writing reference of this kind of distance was made in England at the end of the sixteenth century, with the same lack of defined dimension.

The amusing fact is that stone throwing became a sort of sport of tossing over water. Here, an exceptional distance was established and recorded by the venerable Guinness World Records to 250 feet and mind you, 51 skips. This represents about 83% of a football field without the end zones; not bad!

Tree, standout architectural component, picket fence of a certain color... all of that is now replaced by McDonald as the location marker. Another surprise is that we have now an “Economist’s Big Mac Index” calculating people’s purchasing power of …Big Mac as a reference point to compare Countries!?!

After this, I would be afraid to ask: What’s next?

Coffee Lingo

2009-12-14T12:55:00.028-05:00

We went from something as simple as… a cup of coffee with no other distinction than being black or complemented with sugar, milk or half and half, to a new patchworked world of coffee for blooming connoisseur happy to pay three times the price for a little recognition for their new status. I personally have never liked the fast dripped beverage, making it weak, as the quality, or the lack of it, made it bitter and prone to create urinary urges, generally at the wrong time.

Fast processing made it that way with artificial drying and hasty roasting. I always believed that the cheap drip coffee had more caffeine effect than the European steamed coffee method. And now we read that the good ol’ cup-a- joe has between 115 and 175 milligrams of caffeine for a 7 oz cup, compare to 100 mg for an espresso serving. The brewed coffee, which can be French press made, contain between 80 and 135 mg for a similar cup.

We went from such a cheap hot drink to a mass marketing, labeling the steamed high pressure coffee as a sort of upper class beverage. Italians, and they are not alone, would never understand that good coffee would need to be served in such big cups and cost as much as we pay here. Better than that, they would have a fit, if they had to wait that long to get a cup being served as we do here so patiently… not! Coffee machines are ahead there of what we have here.

What we call barista here with one more class etiquette, is simply a professional bar employee in Italian, really meaning bartender serving any drinks including... coffee. Some of the espresso barmaids or barmen have been handing out more than a million of these small cups, or larger ones topped with frothed milk. Here, in a fast pace living, it seems that coffee drinking got people slowing down, small sips at a time… although still hurrying up for a hamburger and fries gulp fest. Nevertheless, the slow coffee pace didn’t alter the bad habit of using plastic or treated cardboard cups, as it seems that some consumers have the urge to carry that drink to sip while walking and driving, spilling out their way to the land of distracted and stained drivers. Half of the cups are being drank lukewarm if not cold. What a treat for three and half bucks!

Starbucks did an ever dominating job at marketing the reinvented American coffee, although their way and in the mix, decided to start a new lingo now followed religiously by millions of customer asking for a “tall” cup and to receive a short container. Strange world! The next size is a “Grande” meaning tall in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Same name, different sizes! Now, the real tall cup is called “Venti”, meaning twenty in Italian, suggesting the 20 fl. oz. liquid content of the cup. Why not “Dodici” for the twelve oz. and “Sedici” for the sixteen oz.?

We are also using French to order a redefined brew. “Café au lait” is now a drip coffee with hot milk, a far cry from the steamed French roast coffee and milk consumed in France. This drink is also called “Misto” at Starbucks, meaning mixture in Italian or mixed in Portuguese. One would have to assume which misto it is. After all, I wish we would become even more international in our coffee denomination. It might help the population to learn words of emerging worlds. “Qahwa Haleeb” is an Arabic “café au lait” with the powder-like bean grind sticking at the bottom of the cup, if one is paying attention.

Back to known territory with the “cappuccino” served with more milk foam than a classic “caffe latte”, which simply mean coffee-milk or… “café au lait”. Confused yet? The ‘cappuccino” name came from the resemblance of the drink - mind you, served in a porcelain cup - with monks of the Friars Minor Capuchin order, characterized with the top of their head shaved, exposing their white skin in contrast with their plain brown tunic. ...Completely lost the meaning when served in a “to go” cup and covered with a plastic top!

Northern Italians order a “cappuccio”, integral translation of headgear, and end up receiving an “espresso”. A “macchiato” is an “espresso” with a dash of hot foamy milk and a “marocchino” is a small “cappuccino” with some cocoa powder. A “cappuccino d’orzo” is a coffee substitute made from barley. Probably what people were drinking during WW2.

A dash of French vanilla does not mean much as France do not produce the spice. Although, saying vanilla from Madagascar is a little better but should be called Madagascar-Bourbon as the popular name for the Planifolia variety growing in Madagascar, which was a French territory till 1958. This Country is the biggest producer of this tasty bean, although its origin is from Mexico where it was discovered by the Spanish and baptized “Vainilla” for little pod. The plant producing the beans is a variety of orchid, as what the vanilla history is not as… vanilla as some people would think, but in any case, certainly not French.

A smidge of nutmeg is also of interest as this nut can transport you to the “Lala” land, although it would require absorbing 5 or more teaspoons of this ground nut to have any psychedelic effect. The problem is that you might have the hangover of your life after dizziness, nausea and paranoia as a few of the side effects. A smidge is good!

When you dab the cocoa powder in your preferred personalized drink, remember that chocolate was discovered at the same time vanilla was by Hernan Cortez’s army in the 1520ies, as for the coffee, it was first used in Ethiopia during the ninth century. The name Mocha used to qualify a coffee quality is a sea port in Yemen, from which coffee was exported to Europe under the lead of Marco Polo. The history of the nutmeg consumption is even older and could have been an incense used by Roman priests and certainly as a spice during medieval times.

One suggestion, try some “chai” tea with espresso and you will have an even older beverage to talk about. Chai means tea in Hindi. Yet more ancient history there! Bunn is not only the family name of the company's founder producing the famous coffee drip machines but is also the name of the coffee bean in Arabic and other Eastern African languages... I wish my name was Gold!

Nevertheless, beside history, fun facts and lingo, a new generation a coffee shop was born in the USA with a friendlier trend allowing anyone to enjoy coffee and life at one's pace. Some shops are better than others and personally, I would favor small businesses as they need all the support we can give. I have found my spot in Indianapolis: BJava, owned by one of the most knowledgeable and coffee passionate person I have met so far and BJ's coffee is one of the very best I have been drinking.

And maybe this is the sign of renewed passion with wonderful smell and taste over money making with no odor!

On French Words, Expressions and Behaviors

2009-12-10T00:01:00.058-05:00

The English language gradually became a “de facto” “lingua franca”. From an early Anglo-Saxon dialect, it endured the infiltration of the Celts, followed by the Viking invasions, the Roman occupation and the Norman conquest, which led to an important influx of French words of about ten thousand. Ultimately the Latin influence that had started with the Romans deepened, weakening even more the little left of the ancient Germanic origin. Fifty five percent of the language is Latin based and probably close to forty percent is Norman-French origin.

No wander why today English speaking people are fascinated by French words and expressions covering a wide range of meanings, although occasionally adapting the definition and having to cope with unusual pronunciations.

Genre is a funny one where the “re” is more pronounced than the “gen” part of the world making it something like “genREH”. In French, the E after R at the end of a word is not pronounced, making it more a “genrh” where the R is blurred, a tapered speaking, a quiet purr, a sexy French purr, not a rogue throat clearing.

Another amusing French assumption-turning-to-joke; well, let me tell you, sometime irritating after having heard the same one the past… 27 years and still going strong. The interestingly famous French “HHAN, HHAN” with the second “hhan” even louder than the first, sort of a horselaugh, not to confound with the French Cancan, a cabaret dance during which the ladies kick up one leg at a time (I am glad for them!), showing off their undergarments to the pleasure of the tourists experiencing the Paris night life.

A French friend who has been living here for a few years, asked me about the infamous “hhan-hhan” that people have been serving him since he got here, saying that he had never heard any French doing so, except maybe for someone sick with a cold and using an handkerchief. Intrigued, I decided to search and find out what is the origin of such a legend. Knowing that some Americans still think of French wearing a beret and listening to Edith Piaf’s tunes, preferably with an accordion playing a sad song, although Edith died in 1963, it gave me the idea that the source of the hhan-hhan legend should be searched in the 50ies or 60ies.

And sure enough, I ended up remembering Maurice Chevalier playing in Gigi, an American 1958 musical film directed by Vincente Minnelli with good ol’ Maurice starring with Leslie Caron and hhan-hhan-ing as much as he could. “Hhan-hhan… my littell Gigi!” He played in so many movies from Innocents of Paris in 1929 to The Happy Road in 56 and up to Monkeys Go Home in 67.

Maurice was an eternal optimist and besides his idiosyncrasies, loved to say things such as: Old age is not so bad when you consider the alternative! Nevertheless, he left us with his theatrical, burlesque character and foibles that have impacted a few American generations to still portray French people as hhan-hhan-ing with a loud and enthusiastic voice. I think Maurice did more single hhan's, although he might have made some triple ones as well...

Looking at French expressions, experts have counted about 150 of them and among which the well known adieu, aide-de-camp, à la carte, and for the people watching the Japanese Iron Chef on TV: à la cuisine (but it is not necessary to throw a fit for such a simple command!), à propos, au jus (please, not “a jus” as read on some menus), au pair, bon appétit, café au lait (which is served mainly with steamed or pressed coffee, not dripped as we do here, although cheap but similar to what we call here “latte” that we pay with 3 or 4 single green notes, as if it was some rare exotic drink).

Let’s continue our short list: chic, coup de grâce (pronounced “coo deh graaass”, not “coop deh graah”, as “graah” could mean fat), crème brulée, cuisine, déjà vu, du jour, encore, esprit de corps (nothing to do with corpse!), faux pas, fiancée, force majeure, haute couture, je ne sais quoi, maitre d’ hotel or maitre d’ as an abbreviation (the capital D is only adding an unnecessary snobbism... that you pay later on your bill), matinée (meaning morning, which makes me laugh every time I find out that the matinee's are scheduled early afternoon!), ménage a trois (I cannot pass this one as the expression was popularized in France after the 1962 movie Jules et Jim, Catherine being the third party of the ménage. The relations between the 3 main characters were more intense than what people might think à priori. Jeanne Moreau, one of my preferred actresses, was sublime in this complex role. She also played in one of my favorite and intriguing movie The Trial with Orson wells, Tony Perkins and Romy Schneider).

Running down the alphabetic order: nouvelle cuisine, papier maché, petits fours (it took me years to understand that the “pettit_force” was in effect the “pehti foor”!!!), raison d’être, RSVP (which means Répondez, s'il vous plait or please answer), soirée, souvenir, touché and the very famous voilà, mainly used as et voilà (meaning "and here it is").

Obviously, the list is not complete and whatever makes the 150 or so counted names or expressions, are used more or less frequently. One term I have not head here, although mentioned as an existing French to English idiom, is nouveau riche and I wish to spend some time with it, as it should be of some interest for any amateur sociologist.

French did use this expression to define people who distant themselves from others by noticeably and loudly exposing material signs of possession as a mean of superiority to separate themselves from people of lesser materialistic ownership. No interest for the soul here! The nouveaux riches can be found in any American towns and cities, buying adult “toys” as they say and any necessary imposing paraphernalia, distinguishing people from people as portrayed by the dominant monkey awkwardly holding a stick as a sign of superiority.

Some of the nouveaux riches have to sell their possessions these days. The American economy… and the French expression did court them by surprise, now to be distinguished for their superficiality. A fatalistic expression might help them coping with the hard times they are experiencing: c’est la vie. And to finish with a kind thought: Bonne chance. A bientôt.

Buying Tap Water at Vegetable Price

2009-11-19T13:05:00.006-05:00

It seems that most grocery customers got convinced that the veggie spaying practice is a good think and in some respect, I believe it is, but for the grocery stores, not the customers.

I have heard and read that spraying water on veggies is keeping them fresh, as if one can freeze time, shower after shower, at the pace of twice a minute and every minutes of the store opening. In reality, vegetables (and fruits as well) are loosing their nutrients from the moment they are harvested and loose even more when washed.

OK, spraying is not washing, although, the quantity of water used in the frenzy process to keep them assumably fresh is certainly equal to a few thorough washings during the few days or weeks they are displayed with this watery sparkling outlook. A little spray every 30 seconds would equate to 1,440 times every day of a 12 hours “water boarding” exposure, or 2,880 times for a 24 hour schedule, equating to 10,080 times per week for 12 hours and 20,160 times for an around the clock opening. A veggie would rot on its roots if exposed to such torture while growing.

I had purchased organic lettuces from a local store, to find out that the pile of this produce was barely going down from one week to another. Three weeks later, the same pile, although smaller, was still for sale, forcefully sprayed with a storm sound warning and enough water to positively wet my sleeves while searching for the best available head, meaning the one that had the least spoiled leaves, which in any case, I intended to tear the bad ones off before shaking the lettuce to remove some of the accumulated water from the past… too many days of a forceful drowning process.

One day, I decided to weigh the plastic bag still containing some of the water I had used to wrap my wet piece of veggie. It weighed one tenth of an ounce and the removed lettuce was still very wet, even if I had frantically shaken the leafs at the store, creating a dangerous “slippery when wet” area around me. If one would take a lettuce from the top of the pile, bag it and collect most of the water in the plastic bag, I would not be surprised that it would weigh about a quarter of an ounce. At $2.45 a pound, the collected sprayed tap water would represent a value of 3.82 cents. At this cost, as water weighs 8.34 lbs per gallon, a regular small water bottle of 16.9 fl. oz would weighs 1.1 lb and would cost $1.35. Not bad for the business; not so good for the consumers.

A few years ago, I worked and lived in Great Britain. Each Saturday late afternoon, the grocery stores were putting their produces, in fact fruits and meat as well, on sales prices. The leftover end of the week had to go, to clean up the shelves and provide space for fresh veggies to start the new week. The shelves were on wheels and carried to a colder storage area during the night. No spray system was to be seen, although the produces were looking attractive enough. One could assume that they were sprayed once, early morning, before pushing the shelves back in place. No humongous stacks of veggies and fruits, although enough to satisfy customers. One could see employees busy re-stocking a few times a day. A good system for the customers and a definite positive concern from the businesses.

Still like sprayed veggies?

A Beautiful Story to Remember

2009-11-12T11:46:00.012-05:00

A few years ago, I worked for a German person who told me a heart-warming real-life story, in fact his story. Let’s re-baptize our German friend Franz to make the story description easier.

Franz was used to take some vacation time in Spain and travel by car from his natal Bavaria. Each year, he was “trying” a new road through France to appreciate the different regions. He was not speaking French but always had found people to converse, with common words and hand signs for all the basic needs, as it is usually practiced in Europe. For that year, he decided to go through Auvergne, a beautiful region with breathtaking mountain ranges and volcanic peaks, giving views of a lunar looking landscape pitted with craters, rock outcroppings and rugged pine forests. History, as usual for any French area, is filled with details such as the origin of the region’s name derived from the Arverni, a Celtic population with its famous leader Vercingetorix.

It was not the easiest way to go to Spain as roads were narrow and twisty but the experience of travelling through was worth it for Franz. Nevertheless, he didn’t projected to find himself on the middle of a countryside with no hotel or restaurant to be found when he became tired and hungry. One more small medieval village to go through with little hope for hospitality, nevertheless, to his surprise, one modest house on the square had a couple of commercial umbrellas shading a handful of little terrace tables protected by a small brigade of old bistro looking-like chairs. This was the first sign of a hostelry Franz had seen for a while and decided that his choice was easy as he didn’t wanted risking to drive for an unknown time with a growling stomach and a tired body.

Franz parked the car like a horse at a saloon, walked to the terrace and felled on one of the chair, ready to use his hands to express his urgent need for food. An old lady came discreetly, looking at him with a smile. She recognized the German plate on the car and asked him with the most appropriate silent mime, what can I do for you? And as if language didn’t matter anymore, he answered with one hand: I am very hungry! Franz knew that small restaurants do not carry a meal choice and one better like what the local food look like and taste, although always fresh from the morning market.

And food was, on a plate accompanied with a glass of red wine and even the rest of the bottle standing on the middle of the table, as a witness of his feast. Reassured and satiated, Franz was leaning back as his hostess came, looking for the signs of satisfaction. He took the opportunity to ask her, this time with two hands, if she had an available bed, essentially meaning a room for him to rest. The answer was positive and he was following the old lady, walking behind at a slow pace, one small step at a time, as if he had aged 50 years in an instant.

Bath room on first floor was shown briefly before climbing the stairs in an even slower and painstaking pace. The bedroom was as if time had stopped ticking in the late 1800 with an impressive sculpted wooden framed bed with poles looking like the towers of a cathedral. Franz thought that if he could climb that bed, he was going to sleep well to way past sun dawn. A massive buffet was ornamented with an antic porcelain washbasin and a huge jug that could contain 2 gallons of water. That’s my antic shower thought Franz before thanking his hostess, closing the door, climbing the bed and almost instantly passing out in a deep sleep.

The sun was so bright, lighting up the room as if he was on the center of a ball stadium during a game. Franz almost felled off the bed having to stretch his legs to reach the floor. Time to get moving and after a quick splash of water on his face and torso, jumped in his clothe, collected his belongings and ran downstairs where the sweet old lady greeted him with a sincere smile. She had a coffee pot full and was ready to pour the hot beverage in a fine white porcelain cup, probably as old as the bedroom and who knows the entire house content.

Franz was directed to the terrace and got served a plate with two fresh croissants; a beautiful white and red shaker napkin was cheerfully waiting. The coffee was, for sure, what we call around the world a French roast, as French would call that simply…. coffee. The croissants were smelling fresh butter and were so flaky that Franz was juggling like a circus clown with the pieces falling off and the firm intention of not missing a single crumb. It was that good.

Time to leave. Franz was feeling some regrets as he felt comfortable in this retro home but his trip to Spain was calling him to burn more rubber before destination. He was showing his opened wallet to the lady as a sign of readiness to pay. Strangely, he felt that something was wrong at the view of the shocking expression of his hostess, as she got animated with her two arms, pushing the air in the direction of the money, as if the odor was affecting her breathing. « Non, non! » she kept saying; « c’est ma maison, je n’ai pas besoin de votre argent ! Vous êtes le bienvenu chez moi ! Vous aviez besoin de repos et nourriture pour continuer votre chemin ! » (No, no, this is my house, I don’t need your money! You are welcome in my home! You needed to rest and be fed before continuing your journey!).

Franz was shocked. Not only he understood more French than he even though he would but he also realized that this old lady had given him hospitality in her own home... not a business. He hardly believed that one person could be so kind to him, even after the long lasting memory of the last war, forty five years ago… His parent’s generation invading a Country with people like his hostess… It took him a few minutes to hide his tears and find his breathing pace back to thank her and hug her, asking for her address, as he wanted to remember her for the rest of his life.

Franz has sent letters and post cards to his preferred and dear old Lady and has never missed to tell the story as a reminder that kindness is the greatest quality of humankind.

Cheers to you my friends, as thanks-giving has one more meaning and at anytime of the year.

Moving

2009-10-21T19:51:00.000-04:00

We have planned to move at the end of this month and the first question we get from most anyone is: to where? Interesting to hear people’s understanding of moving implying moving in, as moving out is automatically included.

In our case, we are just moving out, which intrigue our friends and family to the point of frightening some of them. I can concede that moving entails a destination, unless one would create a perpetual movement...

OK, no worries, we are going to be embracing the Gypsy life only for a while, until we have a clear understanding to where we want or need to be. Our friends the Roms have been on the road since the 11^th century; we will make it shorter, I promise!

I remember a trip through Spain in 1964. We were so tired that we parked the car along the road and slept for a short time during the early hours. A caravan of Gitanos went by, almost silent and respectful of our condition. The carriage was older than the first American’s wagons, with two enormous plain wood wheels of about 2 yards of diameters, covered with a rudimentary canvas to protect the travelers and an impressive hitching ox. No barking dogs! Once they were ahead of us, I felt in peace, as if we had connected our souls for a moment.

Today, I would opt for an old VW camper, preferably with a peace sticker at the back. I’ve never wore tie-dye shirts but I might try, just to complete my new image.

On Health and Education

2009-10-19T15:03:00.006-04:00

While politicians are debating whether or not and how the USA should follow the established and experienced lead of Industrialized Countries in covering all their Citizens with Health plans, we keep missing the enormity of the fact that we have, by far, the biggest Jailed population in the world.

It is certainly legitimate to look at how to care about the health of the Constitutional People when a system such as ours is now letting lobbying Corporates dictating laws in the background, as our reflection to the world is surely not on health as we bear the heaviest population in the World with 66% of declared obese and life expectancy ranking only 42 on our planet.

Bad food and bad nutritional habits leading to a sick and overweight population needing to be treated by the Health network including drug companies; it is as if people’s healthiness is an upsetting subject for the striving 17.5% of the US Gross Domestic Product dedicated to what we call ironically health industry, as it should be re-baptized sickness industry, although not as appealing, one might say!

Health is a priority, not only in healthcare coverage and management but also in food quality, as factory mass production processed food is predominant on our market, as well as the prevailing fast food industry, both dispensing the foundation of health problems, whether by lack of vigorous quality or potential for abuse through pressing marketing and behavioral manipulation.

Nevertheless, if health concern is of essence, the lack of Education is the source of the encompassing problem of our Society, as learning should connect to knowledge in healthy conducts and Societal behaviors, and its deficiencies are leading us back to the American jail population.

Near 7.5 millions Americans are imprisoned or nearly 2.5% of the

citizens. If this is not bad enough, our jailed residents represent about 25% of the World jailed population as we make only 4.6% of the Earth inhabitants.

After taking care of the people’s health, we certainly need to press on education, although it is important to understand that it represents a very long term investment in future generations to promote better integrated Americans with a wider knowledge of subjects such as world history, national and international ethics as well as languages.

This more opened and diversified knowledge should lead to a greater understanding of Self Discipline, Respect and Responsibility as individual and collective concept on all subjects and Freedom as a variably circumstantial idea.

Who are we stepping on this time?

Food Stroke

2009-10-07T12:30:00.020-04:00

It is as if a third of the United States population has a stroke. Strangely, not all the time… thinking of it… yes, I am almost sure… it is when people are eating. I can see them…eating and, yes that’s it… they talk at the same time, stiffening one side of their lips to keep the food in, while trying to talk from the other side. I got it now! It is not the consequence of a severe collective embolism, only people wanting to talk while eating.

Of course, I was joking or unless I have had a recent ischemic stroke myself, which is thankfully not the case. But that was also an introduction to this ugly habit that seem to have received some educational, I mean TV commercial recognitions to become a sort of fashionable behavior.

Frightening to think that commercials are so pervasive that they literally became the point of authorization for collective behaviors, such as the stereotypical food tasting: our foodie pointing frantically downward 4 to 7 times at the food source with the utensil used to fill up his oral cavity, at the same time hastily frowning his face upward while trying to gulp some food, as time is ticking away, to finally and invariably saying “h’as greah't”. Anyway, how many performances have we seen on commercials setting strange protocols being suddenly acknowledged and followed by a large public proudly wearing the "as seen on TV" stamp of approval.

Eating and talking at the same time, besides great risk of involuntary food redistribution… if I can say so... is reducing the potential for understanding what the food, I mean the person is trying to say, taking a chance of having to repeat all over the painful mouth contortion and the peekaboo food viewing. I think another point of greater importance is that the act of eating becomes an accessory to our need to voice our opinion at any cost and anytime.

Eating is very important and highly respectable. Marginalizing the primary role of food sustaining our life is a bad communication to ourselves, as if we were reluctant to be treated right by our own conscience.

I have learned a long time ago that the so called good manners have a superior meaning as to conform to some kind of unwritten rules that grand-parents were trying to impose on our freedom of doing anything we want the way we want. Eating with respect for the food we absorb is the primary reason of not talking at the same time, not the concept of having to portray some attitude or adhere to a predefined idiosyncrasy.

Bon appétit and now shut up and eat!

No taste like Licorice… or not.

2009-10-04T23:40:00.004-04:00

Few people seem to know that a drink tasting what they call “Liquorice” is in reality Anise. Most Americans would know about Ouzo but should know that the taste is from Anise essential oil used in the confection of the drink. No Liquorice root!

The Arak found in Lebanon and many other Countries in that region, is made with grape and Anise seed, not the Liquorice root.

The French Pastis is made with Star Anise and the forbidden Absenthe was made with the Artemisia Absinthium herb. No Liquorice.

The Sambuca found in Italian bars is made with Star Anise essential oil. When served in a restaurant at the end of a dinner, the drink can come with 3 floating coffee grains, representing health, prosperity and happiness. No Liquorice here either!

Let’s keep Liquorice for the root stick to chew, for a Liquorice infusion and for the black twisted candy… please!

Anise is the world! Say after me: Hmm! Taste like Anise!

Just for the sake of avoiding a monster headache next morning after drinking Ouzo like drunken sailors, let’s fin out a little more about the drink and its traditions. First of all, it is a 40 to 45% alcohol beverage. It can be served as an aperitif, generally cut with water and ice which turn the drink into a milky white color, to accompany appetizers. Interesting to know that it is considered to be a poor form of drinking to absorb Ouzo without eating food in Greece. The shot of ice-cold Ouzo is not a Greek tradition. No wander! Maybe it was not made for that, or unless one is on a WW2 Kamikaze mission with a Greek drink...

A Mediterranean Cuisine Chimera

2009-10-01T16:44:00.010-04:00

I hear and read more and more often about Mediterranean Taste or Mediterranean Cuisine, as if the Sea had created a universal gastronomic region, a sort of steaming exotic soup with Italian tomatoes, Lebanese chickpea, Spanish olive oil and a blend of Far East palate blazing spices, served with flat bread baked in the burning sand of Libya and a spiky looking grilled fish of an unknown name, transporting anyone tasting to a scenes of “Laurence of Arabia” with “Zorba the Greek” music theme in the background, dogs barking at the shadow of gypsies passing through in the moonlight and sudden timbales preceding a belly dancer with veils swirling like a whirlwind.

I wish it was that simple!

If one dares to look at the various Countries, Ethnicities, Cultures and lingering History to find the different cuisines around Mediterranee, one might be surprised to see the variety and diversity to be found on any of the hundreds of beaches, villages, towns and cities around the big Sea.

And so we will go around.

First, about the title. Chimera refer to an impossible or idle fancy, as we would know, and it fits well with what I want to express, but it happens that another meaning is fitting even better, although a strange way, as it represents a fire-breathing monster in the Greek Mythology with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a dragon’s tail, impersonating in this case the combination of different foods from different Countries and Cultures.

But let’s get moving.

Spain

is our starting point. Everyone would name Paella as a national dish, although it is originated from Valencia as a local specialty. In our counter-clock round of our culinary expedition, we have to make a quick step back to look at a Country within the Country, as Catalonia was a Principality in the Middle age with its own language (ok, don’t be afraid, they all speak Spanish as well!), its culture, its specific cuisine and has now its own government.

Try an Esgarrat or salted cod salad with tomato and onion, or a Tonyina en Escabetx (tuna escabeche) with sauteed whole tuna cut in blocks with skin and bone, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, salt, vinegar and olive oil. An escabeche preparation is allowing for an acidic base such as vinegar or lemon juice to finish the cure of fish, poultry, small game and even pork in cold temperature, after having been poached, sautéed or fried and served cold the following day. Try the Ollada, a stew of potatoes, carrots, artichokes with beans and Embotit, a local dry pork sausage. Finish with a dessert such as a Peres de LLeida, made of peeled pears cooked in a kind of light Crema Catalana and served cold, covered with meringue and decorated with cherries.

You will have an amazing list of local wine to choose from, as Catalonia has 11 qualified wine-growing regions producing most anything one like, including the well known Spanish sparkling wine. Let’s add the local cheeses which are as diversified as the wine list and you will understand that you were in a world on its own.

Going back to

Valencia

, we need to know that the Moors did introduced the rice to the region during the eighth century. In fact the Spanish word for rice 'Arroz' derives from the Arabic word Ar-ruzz. Today the marshland bordering the Albufera is one of the main rice productions in Spain.

Fideau is a variation on the Paella theme and cooked with noodles, fish stock and stuffed squid with tomatoes, onion, ham, and sometimes apple.

Have a Chufa, a sweet drink made from tiger nut milk called Horchata. The nuts are ground down and mixed with lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar to create a refreshing drink.

One more main region in Spain, along the Mediterranean Sea is to be visited before landing in Africa. Andalucía is also rich in tradition. You should know well the Gazpacho, which locally has 3 other variations: Salmorejo (riped tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt and hard boiled eggs), Porra (same as Salmorejo but add black olives, cucumber and chopped ham) and Ajo Blanco (the white version with blanched almonds, bread soaked in water, garlic, olive oil, Sherry vinegar and white grapes).

Try the Sacromonte omelette, the Ajo Colorado, a fish stew made with red garlic or the Perdices en Escabeche translated in partridge escabeche. Again, you will have a choice of local wine to be made and try the typical cheeses.

Hey!, we just got through east costal Spain in a hurry, two – counting Catalonia – of the 22 Countries encircling the Sea! A whole lot more to taste and discover, as each region encompassing 2 or 3 States and sometime more cultures, are as different as Massachusetts and Georgia… without the corporate eateries.

Sorry but Casablanca is on the Atlantic Ocean. Tanger is also one small step outside the Sea and we have to go past Ceuta to be back on our Mediterranean track, but this time on African land and in Morocco. This last town, Ceuta, is still a Spanish dominion, as well as Mellilia a little further east. Strange territory division when you know that, a few miles west, the Gibraltar rock and the City of the same name on Spanish land are still owned by the British. It’s like if the Russian River in California was owned by… Russia!

The food to be found on the coast is mainly Moroccan, not necessary specific to the Sea, although fish is part of the protein, as further inland, sheep, cattle and poultry are more prevalent. This is true for other Countries east of this kingdom. The most known dish is the Couscous served with vegetable, meat or fish. Different Couscous blend, different name, such as Kseksu Bidawi, an imperial couscous dish with seven vegetables.

Ferakh Maamer is a meal made of spring chicken stuffed with sweetened couscous and enhanced with raisins, orange flower water, almonds, sugar and simmered in a sauce made of honey, onion, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, and saffron.

The Merguez is the spicy lamb sausage and Mechoui is the roasted lamb, both served with other dishes. Some of the red Moroccan wine is very dark but has a beautiful earthy taste and full of sun.

So much more to say but we have to go on and cross the border to Algeria, where food is very similar, although with specific distinctions. Traditional Algerian cuisine has a colorful combination of Berber, Turkish, French, and Arab tastes. Food can be either mild or packed with flavorful seasonings. Ginger, saffron, onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, parsley, and mint are omnipresent in an Algerian cuisine.

Same about

Tunisia

. Let’s not forget that the Country was a French territory from 1881 to 1956 and, as being close to Italy and particularly Sicily, these influences can be found in subtle food differences with the other ex-French territories such as Algeria and

Morocco

. Phoenicians had established their dominance on what is modern Tunisia land in the 12 century B.C., from which the powerful city of Carthage, was found later and from which Hannibal went to invade Rome.

You can find a variation of the couscous but also the Salade Mechouia or roasted vegetable, as well as the Tajine, a kind of omelet served cold and the Brik, a pastry filled with tuna, egg, onions, capers and parsley and deep-fried.

Next is Libya with subtle variations and different meals such as the Ruuz, a rice dish with a variety of spices, meat and vegetables and Sharba Libiya, a spiced lamb and tomato soup.

Utshu, a'eish or Bazin is one of the main and most popular dishes, as it has similitude with the Jewish version. It is a traditional and probably Neolithic meal made of dough and sauce. The dough is formed into a ball around which the sauce with vegetables and meat is poured. Lamb chops or beef or fish is added to the sauce, as well as potatoes and pumpkin. While the sauce is poured, it is complimented with lemon juice.

Cooking in the hot sand is a Tuareg tradition still in practice today, specially for bread.

Following on our Mediterranean tour, Egypt loaded with history and culture. We will find dishes that we know to be found in a few more Countries, such as Kebab, Kofta, Falafel, Baba Ghannoug and the well known Baqlawa desert. Nevertheless, a Kushari with rice, brown lentils, chickpeas, macaroni, topped with garlic, vinegar, spicy tomato sauce and garnished with caramelized onions, could be considered as one of the national dish. You might start the day with a Ful Medammas, made of mashed Fava beans, which are slow-cooked and served with olive oil, chopped parsley, onion, garlic and lemon juice. The Malukhiyah is another national dish. It is in effect a rabbit stew made with finely chopped Mallow leaves, garlic, coriander and served with rice. A substitute for the Baqlawa is Umm Ali another national dish which is a milk soaked cake with raisin and served hot.

Hey, keep up! We still have 15 Countries to go and many more different tastes to experience! Israel is certainly another culture all together and I believe we will find other reasons why their dishes cannot be part of Mediterranean food concept.

Jews have been migrating to Palestine before the UN declaration of the state of Israel in 1948. People from many different Countries such as Turkey, Iraq, Kurdistan, Yemen and North Africa all came with their own culinary traditions. Later, Jews from literally all over the world followed and introduced the most eclectic range of food. This melting pot, complimented with the local ingredients, made an interesting blend of… what-on-earth taste good. Don’t be surprised to find schnitzels made from turkey, as the veal was rare to find in the 60ies and a new tradition started, using what was available.

A few other meals came to life the same way. One of them is the Ptitim, which is often referred to as "Israeli couscous". This plate originated in the early days of the State of Israel when rice was scarce. Israel's first Prime Minister asked a produce company to devise a wheat-based substitute. You will find as well local wines and cheeses, all kosher for sure, and a very long list of East European, North African, Balkan, Yemenite and Iraqi dishes to enjoy, as well as Arab influence meals.

Palestine has most of their food in common with what is called the Levant States, such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Northern Iraq and Southern Turkey. This region shared many culinary traditions under the Ottoman Empire from which the influence is still present today.

Musakhan is a common main dish that originated in the northern West Bank. It consists of a roasted chicken over a Taboon bread (local flat bread) that has been topped with pieces of fried sweet onions, sumac, allspice and pine nuts. Maqluba (translated as upside-down, as the meal, once cooked in a pot, is flipped upside down into a plate) made of rice with baked eggplant mixed with cooked cauliflowers, carrots and chicken or lamb. This meal dates back from the 13^th century.

Lebanon

is our next “escale” and again, full of history, traditions and influences as the French took over the Ottomans after WW1 and until the Country achieved their independence. Not surprising to find Croissants, Baguettes and Crème brulee. Nevertheless, a typical meal could be the Mezze, an elaborate variety of thirty hot and cold dishes and consist of salads such as the Tabouleh and Fattoush with dips such as Hummus, Baba Ghanoush or Moutabal, some patties such as the Sambusacs and the stuffed grape leaves. The Manaeesh a small pizza looking like, made in bakeries, traditionally garnished with cheese, Zaatar (dried thyme and sumac), or minced meat and onions. Served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

What about the Samkeh Harra, a grilled fish that has been marinated with chilies, citrus and cilantro. Lebanese are also producing wine from the very ancient Phoenician influence but as well from the French, as we would think. They can use cardamom in their coffee as well as drinking the Turkish version. The Arak is a dry anise alcohol and served with water poured over ice, which is similar to the French Pastis.

Let’s take the boat to visit another Country on an island. Cyprus, a former British Colony before becoming independent in 1960 but still part of the British Commonwealth and member of the European Union since 2004. Village communities on this Island are dated 8500 BC and influence from the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Phoenicians precede the Romans before the Byzantines, Arabs before being claimed by Richard I of England, followed by the Templars, the republic of Venice, the Ottomans and finally the British… What a history! Food has some similitude with Lebanon, although very influenced by the Greek and whatever else they have kept from all their invasions.

Cypriots grill Halloumi cheese over charcoal, as well as olives, mushrooms, Loukaniko, which is a pork sausage and Kebabs made from various cuts of lamb, pork, or chicken. It is typically served into a pita pocket or wrapped in a thin flatbread accompanied with a salad of cabbage, parsley and onions as well as tomatoes and sliced cucumber.

An Ourgouri, made of bulgur and cracked wheat, is a traditional carbohydrate steamed with tomato, onion and the addition of Vermicelli pasta. Along with the Ourgouri, yoghurt is a classic of this Island.

Back on the Asian Continent. Archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth. The land was occupied by Canaanites, Phoenicians, Arameans, Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hittites, Persians, Greeks, Romans and the Byzantines… A passport with many stamps! The Kibbeh is a football shaped, Burghul floor fried croquette stuffed with minced beef or lamb. The Mujaddara consists of cooked lentils with Groat (a grain), wheat or rice accompanied with sautéed onions. A mixture of spices called Baharat Mshakale is widely used for cooking.

Turkey

, the cross roads of Asia and Europe, successor of the all dominant Ottoman Empire, with its specific language, written in Latin alphabet and becoming a full member of the European Union. As far as food goes, one can find duplicates of Greek meals and what we could have found in Cyprus and Syria, but as usual, more specific plates ca be found as well such as the Mahmudiye, a royal specialty consisting of chicken meat mixed with honey, apricots, almonds, currants and black pepper. The Kokorec is made from the sheep intestines is cooked with various spices as a traditional low cost fast food in

Turkey

. A sort of Mc Kokorec!

Arnavut cigeri, a fried liver meal served with onion and sumac, usually eaten as a Meze in combination with other plates such as fava. Edirne cigeri is another famous liver dish, first frozen so that it can be cut into very thin layers to be fried.

And yes, the famous Turkish Coffee is made of beans finely ground to a powder and boiled in a pot before being served in a cup. Served with or without sugar, one has to wait that the fine coffee grind settle at the bottom of the cup before drinking and as one has to pay attention to slow down the cup motion to avoid re-mixing the dregs.

This is reminder that drinking and eating is an art, a discipline, a respect for what has been provided to sustain and enjoy life. Ancient cultures are there to remind us to pay attention to our interaction with food and drink, as a daily thanksgiving… not once a year.

Greece

is like Egypt, It has so much history and influence on later civilizations, including us, through European immigrants. And, after all, Democracy means the Rule of the People in Greek. The first democracy was created in Athens in 510 B.C. This is more than 2500 years ago!

I think we know a lot about the various appetizers such as Boureki, Dolmades, Spanakopita, Tyropita and many more.

Soups can be the Avgolemono, a soup with vegetable, chicken or other meat, or fish broth thickened with eggs, lemon juice and rice. Bourou-Bourou, a vegetable & pasta soup from the island of Corfu. A vegetarian meal could be the Lachanodolmades, cabbage rolls stuffed with rice, spiced with various herbs and served with a light tomato coli or a Spanakorizo, a spinach and rice stew cooked in lemon and olive oil sauce.

Long list of main dishes with meat are available. The Bekri Meze is with diced beef or pork marinated in wine, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, olive oil and cooked slowly. The Giouvetsi has lamb or veal baked in a clay pot with barley and tomatoes. For the donut aficionados, Loukoumades are essentially fried balls of dough drenched in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon and the Moustokouloura are cookies of flour kneaded with fresh grape must (mashed grape). Cheeses are also very common. The Anthotyros is made of cheep or goat whey and the addition of whole milk. Can be eaten for breakfast with honey and fruit, or as appetizer with oil, tomato and herbs. This cheese has been made for centuries.

The next Country is the first on the Adriatic Sea, which is part of the Mediterranee. Albania, an ex USSR dominion is now a democracy and has applied the European Union membership. The Albanian language is characterized as an Indo-European language that could be defined as Balto-Slavic with Germanic influences. It is a nation of multi religions with mainly Orthodox, Muslim and Catholics.

Lunch is the main meal for Albanians. Cabbage is used in many dishes from pickled to salad, soup and main course. The Tave Kosi is a national dish made of baked lamb and rice and served with a yogurt sauce. The Tave me Presh is a baked Leek dish cooked with ground meat, onion, tomato and red pepper. Finish with a Hoshaf me Fiq te Thate, a stew of dried figs.

Montenegro

is the next State going north. Ex

USSR

and now a democracy already using the Euro as its currency. The Language is the Montenegrin with a population less than 700,000 inhabitants. Same mix of religion as Albania. Carry food from Italian influence as well as Hungary and other neighbors such as Romania and Bulgaria. One of the national dishes is the

Brav u Mlijeku, Lamb cooked in Milk. The Rastan, a dark-green vegetable from the Cabbage family, cooked into a stew with smoked pork ribs or Ham hocks. A Pastrovski makaruli is a type of homemade macaroni with olive oil and cheese from brine. A typical dessert can be the Sok od Sipka, a wild pomegranate syrup.

Bosnia

& Herzegovina also look forward to become a European Country. We know the tragic stories of the recent war. This ex Yugoslavian territory has had influences from the Austro-Hungarian ruler. They speak Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian, just like us, English from New Jersey, English from Louisiana and English from Texas! (Not really but I thought it was funny!)

An interesting mix of food, again from the influence of its history and it’s neighboring Countries. The Filovane is fried bell peppers stuffed with minced meat and Paprika. A Sarma is meat and rice rolled in pickled cabbage leave. The Goulash is well known and called Gulas. A sweet finish with Tufahije, a whole stewed apple stuffed with walnut filling can follow a choice of cheeses such as Livanjski, Cincar or Vlasicki.

Croatia

, similar to Bosnia Herzegovina, as it was as well part of the Yugoslavian territory and follows the trend of the other bordering Countries. The language is Croatian, as one would think.

Similar food as previously seen with a few specialties. Looks like wild game meat is common.

The Istrian Stew or Yota is made of beans, sauerkraut, potatoes, bacon, spare ribs with lots of garlic. Would probably be eaten with Mlinci, which is a typical roasted flatbread.

Slovenia

has a tiny little beach connecting to the Sea. Again, same as the southern neighbors. The influence of Austria is certainly more important than with the other ex Yugoslavian territory. The Kranjska klobasa is a national sausage made mainly from pork meat, bacon and some beef. It contains salt, pepper and garlic. Another national dish is the Bujta Repa prepared from the fatty parts of the pig's head, neck, skin and sour turnips. The Obara is a dormouse (rodent) stew with vegetables. Finish with a Prekmurska Gibanica, a layered cake containing poppy seeds, walnuts, apples, raisins and cottage cheese.

What an adventure! Not your classic Mediterranean food!

Next, a big one, with many different cultures within the Country, as

Italy

became a one State only in 1861. The recent history seem to be quite complicated and I wish you good luck to find out what was what, although it is simple to say that Napoleon had pre-unified the Country to be re-divided and finally becoming what we know today.

Let’s go by the regions one after one and see what we can find of uniqueness.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Brovada (Turnip preserved in brandy). Frico (cooked Montasio cheese)

Veneto: Pasta e Fagioli (a dish of pasta and beans). Polenta e Osei (Polenta cooked with wild birds). Sarde in Saor (marinated sardines). Galani (thin dough made of flour, eggs and orange grating, fried and sparkled with sugar).

I am skipping the few regions that are not coasting with the Mediterranean Sea. Too bad, as all of them are really interesting for their regional food. Maybe un altro giorno!

Still going down the Adriatic coast, Emilia-Romagna has a long list of specific food, including pork, as Modena is specialized in treating pigs: Cotechino (stuffed pig's feet). Erbazzone (spinach and cheese filled pie). Tortelli (filled with chard or spinach, parsley, Ricotta and Parmigiano). Pasta such as Tortellini, Cappelleti, Lasagna, Cannelloni are local food as well as Passatelli (noodles made of breadcrumbs, Parmigiano, lemon zest and nutmeg). The list of cured meat is as follow: Motadella, Culatello, Salame Felino, Coppa, Salamina da Sugo, Salami, Pesto di Modena and Ciccioli.

Marche: Passatelli all'urbinate (spinach and meat dumplings). Olive all'ascolana (fried olives stuffed with pork, beef, chicken livers, tomato paste and Parmesan). Local treated meat: Ciauscolo, Salame Lardellato, Prosciutto de Montefelto and Fegatino.

Abruzzo and Molise: Agnello con le Olive (lamb cooked with olives). Sugo di castrato (mutton with onion, rosemary, bacon, white wine and tomatoes). Maccheroni alla Chitarra (narrow stripped pasta served with tomatoes sauce, bacon and Pecorino cheese).

The Apulia region is the heel of the Italian boot, across from Albania. Pancotto (is an ancient dish, common but tasty, made from stale bread, various wild vegetables and fennel seeds, olive oil and chili peppers). Ostriche arrosto (oysters broiled with parsley, garlic, oregano, breadcrumbs, olive oil and lemon juice).

Basilicata: Orecchiette con la Salsiccia Piccante (Half moon looking like pasta with local spicy salami). Pecorino di Forenza (Typical Forenza's sheep cheese). Sanguinaccio (jam with chocolate and pig blood). I am sure this would be an American favorite!!! I reality, this recipe is now rare to find, as it became a sort of dessert pudding without the use of the blood. In other regions, it could also be a black sausage made with pig’s blood.

Calabria is the toe of the Italian peninsula: Pesce Spada alla Ghiotta (swordfish rolls in tomato sauce). Melanzane alla Menta (Eggplant marinated with mint).

The well known island of Sicily: Timballo del Gattopardo (a pie baked with a filling of penne Rigata, parmesan, ham, chicken, onion, carrot, truffles, diced hard-boiled egg, seasoned with clove, cinnamon, salt and pepper). Maccu di San Giuseppe (bean paste with fennel). Panelle (a chickpea fritter).

Sardinia, the other island: Porcetto (piglet cooked with myrtle). Malloreddus (semolina gnocchi with saffron).

North of Calabria, on the Tyrrhenian Sea side, is the next region, Campania, the country of Naples: Pizza Napoletana (pizza topped with anchovies, mozzarella, basil and olive oil). Insalata caprese (salad of tomatoes, Mozzarella and basil). Mozzarella in Carrozza (fried mozzarella sandwich).

Lazio: Carciofi alla Giudia (artichokes fried in olive oil). Spaghetti alla Carbonara (spaghetti with bacon, eggs and pecorino). Saltimbocca alla Romana (veal cutlet, Roman-style topped with ham, sage and cooked with white wine and butter).

Tuscany seem to be the only region known by Americans today, since the movie: Fegatelli di Maiale (pig's liver stuffed into pig's stomach and baked in red wine). Pinzimonio (fresh seasonal raw vegetables served with seasoned olive oil for dipping). Crema Paradiso (creamed bacon).

Linguria is a narrow band of land connecting Tuscany to the French Riviera Coast (Cote d’Azur): Pesto (Probably the most famous recipe of the region, is a sauce made of basil leaves, sliced garlic, pine nuts, pecorino or parmigiano cheese with olive oil). Scabeggio (fried fish marinated in wine, garlic, lemon juice and sage). Torta Pasqualina (a flan filled with a mixture of green vegetables, ricotta and parmesan cheese, milk, marjoram and eggs). Bagnun (a soup made with fresh anchovies, onion, olive oil and tomato sauce. This is a traditional fisherman’s meal).

Not only Italian cuisine is far away from the iconic idea of red sauce meat ball pasta, this Country do not represent the concept of a Mediterranean taste, although Italy has by far the most miles, scusi, chilometro, of beaches on Mediteranee.

Two to go! Monaco is a tiny Country less than 10 miles east of the French/Italian border. We know most of what we need to know about the Principality but still have to mention the national specialties such as the Barbagiuan, a fried ravioli containing blette leave (a white beet), onion, chopped ham, parsley, parmesan and egg. The Fougasse is a type of bread used to make a sort of Calzone filled with cheese, strips of bacon, dried fruit, nuts or olives and goat cheese. The Stacafi is made with codfish, Provencal sauce, vegetables and fresh black olives.

Last but not least, France has a famous coast bordering Mediterranee, the

Cote D’Azur

(Commonly called French Riviera in The US). Although the coast is small in comparison with Italy or even Spain and Libya, we have to make a cultural distinction between the west side boarding Catalonia, as it has the same culture on the French side, and the East side more influenced by the old Italian Culture, with a language called Arpitan or Franco-Provencal, although the entire South of France from the Atlantic Ocean to the Italian Border is part of Occitania with similitude with the Catalonian language.

But Provence – Cote D’Azur is the next chronological region, with one of the most famous dish, a soup or a stew or both in one meal, the Bouillabaisse originated in Marseille, made of various fishes such as the Scorpionfish (Rascasse in French), the red Gurnard (Rouget Grondin) the Conger (Congre), the Monkfish (Lotte or Baudroie), the John Dory (Saint-Pierre), Sea Urchins (Oursins) and Octopus. Some might include the Gilt-head Bream (Dorade), the Turbot, the Mullet and the Silver Hake (Merlan). Other seafood can also be added such as Mussels (Moules), small Crab (Etrilles) and Spider Crab (Araignée de Mer).

The stew is made with an assortment of herbs and spices such as garlic, basil, bay leaf, fennel, saffron and cayenne pepper. Let’s not forget olive oil.

Vegetables are also cooked with the seafood and including potatoes, onions and tomatoes.

The broth is traditionally served with a Rouille, an emulsion made of olive oil, garlic, saffron and cayenne pepper and served on grilled slices of bread. In Marseille particularly, the broth is served first in a bowl with the bread and Rouille. The seafood and vegetables are served separately.

The Ratatouille is another well know plate and consist of various cooked vegetables and layered with herbs and baked all together. The list of veggies includes garlic, onions, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers and the herbs include marjoram, basil, bay leaf and thyme.

The Socca is a specialty from Nice. Made of chickpea flour, olive oil and seasoned with black pepper, filled with various ingredients and rolled like a crepe.

The Salade Niçoise is also a classic. Protein are from seared Tuna and filet of Anchovies and contain cooked small potatoes, cooked green beans, green pepper, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced onion, chopped shallot, olives, garlic and hard boiled eggs cut in quarters. The seasoning is made with a Dijonnaise Vinaigrette (olive oil, Dijon mustard and wine vinegar). This recipe has variations as potatoes and green pepper can be excluded but artichoke hard be used.

Let’s not forget Corsica, just above the Italian Island of Sardinia. This is the birthplace of Napoleon. The Island as been occupied by humans since the Mesolithic age, which could be around 8000 BC. As an Island, seafood is important, but it is also a wild mushroom paradise. Forests of chestnuts (Castagnu) have been part of the Corsican life and used in many different ways, including as a flour to make the local Polenta, some breads and even an alcohol. Pigs and boars are feeding on chestnuts and acorns and many recipes are calling for these meats in various forms.

The Minestra is a popular soup and made with pork fat, ham chunk with bone, potatoes, cabbage, chard, onion, tomatoes, red kidney beans, garlic, pepper, olive oil and stale bread. The most popular cheese is the Brocciu made of goat and sheep milk. The dry meats are very popular and a large variety of local wine are produced as well.

Going around the coast east of Marseille, from the Rhône River toward Catalonia, some specific recipes can also be found in the Languedoc Roussillon region. The Brandade de Morue is a puréed salt cod with olive oil and milk, to eat with bread. The Bourride is a Monkfish stewed with vegetables and wine, garnished with Aioli, an emulsion of olive oil and garlic. And here we complete our circle by adding a French Catalonian meal called Trinxat made with Catalan cabbage and potatoes.

We went around 22 Countries and I am really getting hungry now!

As for any Countries or Regions, one can find many more recipes, but the reason of this food exploration on Mediterranean cuisine is to understand that… there is no Mediterranean cuisine, as so many diverse races, history and cultures have influenced the various people of the Mediterranee to eat and cook differently, using so many special ingredients, preparing them their own way.

Maybe the common denominator would be that they all love their foods, but this is true for any old culture’s populations having experienced food through all the influences they have endured, and embraced, and enjoy.

It has been a long trip, my foodie friends, but allow me to finish with a recipe from Provence called the Crespeou.

It is a very rare repast to find in a restaurant, as it is an old peasant recipe for a meal prepared a day in advance and consumed at lunch time to fill back energy into field workers.

It is essentially a layered omelet, cut in wedge like a pie to eat cold. The beauty of this meal is the desire to be appealing as well as tasteful, as Provencal peasants like beauty and bounty as well. Variations have been made but here is one of the old recipes.

Each layer has its own color.

Green is made with parsley, basil, chive and blanched chopped spinach as well as using the green leaves of a Blette (white beet).

Black is made with black olives (not the one pickled in a can but the real olives from an olive bar).

Rose is from cooked ham and tuna.

Yellow is from cooked white mushrooms and grated hard cheese as well as chopped and sautéed onion.

Red is from sautéed red pepper and tomatoes.

Two or three omelets of each color can be made and layered in a tall round dish or a mold, alternating the colors. On top of the omelet combination, a flat plate is positioned to accept a heavy object to weight down the layers during the night.

This is a good example of a traditional people’s food that is so good and beautiful. I like that better than the idea of a universal Mediterranean taste, don’t you?

Scrambled eggs this morning!

2009-09-26T15:25:00.005-04:00

I am working on a virtual tour of the Mediterranean Sea Countries; 22 of them counting a State within a State and a State that barely get recognition. Anyway, the subject is a surprise and it will be full of interesting food things.

My mind was a little scrambled this morning, which was the perfect time to cook some… scrambled eggs for my wife and me. It is as simple as it can be, although, as anyone cooking would know, nothing is that simple with eggs and in my case, cooking is a way of better life and take thoughts (sometime too much!).

I like to have eggs well mixed… but why things have to become complicated every time I try to explain something? Let's make it simple: The viscosity of the albumen is in relation with age, temperature and mixing rate. While mixing, the viscosity decrease stabilizes after a few minutes and become prone to mix with the yolk fat, while breaking down the membrane. I mix until I have some foam expending around.

OK, I like brown, organic, free range eggs without added vitamin of some sort, the real thing; a chicken roaming in a field and laying an egg a day. Anyway, I salt, pepper, grate some nutmeg and add a little bit of whole milk… and some cheese such as goat. This time, I wanted to add chopped shallot and garlic and decided to sauté them in some red wine, as I remember my old folks doing. I let the wine reduced to almost nothing, added some oil (can be butter) for the egg cooking, raised the temperature to medium high for a short time, turned down to medium low and poured the egg mixture to… end up cooking scrambled eggs.

It was a total feast, as the shallot and garlic cooked and softened in the wine steam were adding and amazing taste, as well as the wine reduction.

Bon appétit!

Automobile aerodynamics reborn, one more time?

2009-09-21T19:35:00.005-04:00

In 1957, Lotus was launching their Elite model, a beautiful light little sports car for which the coefficient of drag (CD) was 0.29, following in-depth wind tunnel testing and aerodynamic concerns and developments. Let’s mention that no CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) program or computer were available then as it is in use today. This recent development tool is the source of major detail clean-up, allowing for usual looking cars to be more aerodynamic (less drag).

A CD of 0.29 was a real feast for any production type vehicle, as cars were more in the high 0.40 range at that time. In fact, it took probably more than 3 decades for any high production car to reach this level of low drag.

I remember study cars in the 70ies. Most manufacturers had their aero development programs, reaching 0.19 of CD or less, and not only Europeans, as Ford was very active in aero researches showcasing with their “Probe” prototypes. The model number 5 was reaching 0.13 of CD, which was among the very lowest of any concept vehicles.

It was common to read a CD number from a car manufacturer as an argument of performance in the 90ies. Although, no national testing norms were established, opening the door to abuses from some manufacturers, publishing unrealistic figures generally from scaled wind tunnel models generating less drag with no internal flow or cooling, etc…

The publication of the CD figure of new models almost completely disappeared at the same time car constructors were switching from aerodynamic efficiency concern to heavy marketing concerns, creating “things”, consumer objects, targeting (or sometime creating) markets to sell to defined and redefined population segments.

Today, we see in the streets cars and SUV designed 4 to 5 years ago looking like army vehicles, designed to take advantage of the war/defense concern among a segment of the population. Aerodynamic attention got blown in the wing, if we can say so, as various marketing schemes of triggering appeals through tricks of “crossing over”, various type vehicles into adult toys, induced people to buy, even, and most of the time, above their financial means.

For some good reasons, EPA has changed their highway consumption rating since 2008 (this is about the official and famous MPG). The tests are now made at 80 mph instead of 60, which suddenly push car manufacturers to reconsider again aerodynamics as a more important subject, although timidly for some of them.

To understand this, let’s keep in mind that the aerodynamic drag generated by a vehicle increase at the mathematical square of the speed. As an example, if a vehicle generates 100 lbs of drag at 60 mph, it will become 178 lbs at 80 mph. 150 lbs of drag at 60 mph will become 266 at 80 mph and a lower starting figure such as 75 lbs at 60 mph will become 133 at 80 mph.

Let’s also remember that less drag a vehicle has, less contribution to the fuel consumption it will have. The CD (drag coefficient or coefficient of drag) is great to know and I am looking forward to see the CD being published again, providing it will be regulated by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) or norms established by SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers).

Nevertheless, we have to be aware that the CD is a dimensionless number that need to be scaled. The next important factor to keep in mind and ultimately to keep track of, is the frontal area or the surface of the vehicle seen at the front as a flat panel penetrating the air. The frontal area is measured from the ground (not from the bottom of the chassis), up to the roof and including every details that can be seen if one is looking at the front of a vehicle from let say 20 yards distance.

The Coefficient of Drag Area as it is called is the CD multiplied by the Frontal Area and represents the factor defining the quantity of drag that is expressed in Force at a defined speed and air density. This is the real number called the aerodynamic drag, making a vehicle consuming more gas faster it goes, or bigger the vehicle is, such as an SUV compare to a car, or less aerodynamically efficient, such as a truck generating major turbulences at the back.

One of the very best SUV today is reaching a CD of 0.35, in comparison to the best CD for a car at the present time, which would be 0.25 for the Mercedes E-Class 2009, the Toyota Prius 2010 and let’s note older productions such as the Audi A2 (unfortunately, only European market) from 2002, as well as the little coupe Honda Insight from 1999.

Nevertheless, let’s not forget that we have to multiply the CD by the frontal area (A) of these vehicles to find a realistic drag factor. An SUV can be from a quarter to twice the size of a car. A CD of 0.35, best for an SUV, is low average for a car, meaning that an SUV is, hands down, a “drag queen”, burning more fuel for no other reason than marketing push.

Let’s look at an example with published numbers. The 2008 Mercedes E-Class had a CD of 0.27 and a frontal area (A) of 2.11 square meters. The effective drag factor (CD x A) was 0.57

The new 2009 Mercedes E-Class has a lower CD of 0.25, which is very good, although, for some reason, the frontal area is now 2.32 square meters, which makes the CD x A climbing to 0.58.

I know, it is not a lot of increase but why creating such a good aerodynamic improvement if it is to erase this advantage by re-designing a bigger car that has a higher effective drag factor?

Mercedes admit to be able to reduce easily the CD to 0.20 and today, with more sophisticated wind tunnels and CFD programs, one could be reaching levels that the study vehicles of the 70ies were attaining, but this time for real. Citroen launched their DS19 in 1955. It was a futuristic odd looking car at that time, although the aerodynamic efficiency was way up (CD of 0.31) and the car became a commercial success above prediction. Many other examples are available to prove that a well designed car is commercially viable. It does not take to mold some population taste or trend into what a vehicle need to look like to sell. Efficiency, through the ages and various industries, has always paid dividends.

The new Ford Taurus has a CD of 0.32, which is not that great these days, nevertheless represent an improvement on the previous model produced until 07. Its CD was 0.34.

No frontal area numbers have been found for either models but it is obvious that, as the new production is based on the defunct 500 car, even with lowered roof line, the surface area is bigger, as the 500 was designed for “high chairs”, kind of looking like a mixture of car and some of the appeal of SUV with which drivers and passengers can still look down to other drivers from a few inches above. The effective drag factor must be higher on the new car as well, which, in this case, is not creating the most efficient product.

Beside the use of big engines, high frontal area vehicles and poor coefficient of drag has distinguished this Country from the rest of the world and created the most gas guzzling nation. We burn more fuel per day than the rest of the world put together (read again, it is true!), meaning more than the other 6.4 billions people from which some are driving vehicles.

Many subjects can contribute to reducing oil consumption, as we will review them in time. Nevertheless, aerodynamics is of great importance and need to be treated again seriously, as vehicles need to become highly efficient to regain their status of automobile and shed off what commercial hypes have made of them: objects that happen to be vehicles and for which we pay dearly the consequences in many ways.

Please, treat Belgian endives better than that!

2009-09-11T14:10:00.003-04:00

These veggies are grown in the dark, like white asparagus. In Belgium and Northern France, they are common vegetables to find on one’s plate, generally steamed, thoroughly cooked until looking translucent or about 20 minutes in the sauna pot. As they contain a high quantity of water, it is necessary to drain them well or let them drip head down in a colander before serving.

Endives are also used in creamy soups or braised. We seem to know their use in appetizers and salad, which has many different versions, including being served with fruits, sherbets and white cheese types.

Nevertheless, you will not be able to appreciate this delicacy if the endives are treated the way I see them being handled in about any stores in the US.

Endives can become bitter if sprayed and most grocery stores are spraying about everything and anything that looks like a veggie, including plastic packed celery and carrots… or herbs… or roots!

Anyway for now, as this is another subject to write about separately, let’s remember that endives do not like to be sprayed, at all, not even a little bit. If you want to eat them uncooked, wipe them with a dry towel, paper or cloth, if necessary

The second element that makes these “white Gold” vegetables bitter is by exposing them to light.

When doing so, the leaf tip turn light green from light yellow and the leafs are gradually separating from the body. In Belgium, they are packed with dark purple wrapping paper and stay in the shipping boxes to keep them covered.

Here, whatever grocers will do with them, I guess it will take a long time to change bad habits. I end up calling the store to know the day they arrive and ask to keep my order separately. That way, they are kept in the best conditions, dry with tight leafs and very light yellow tips.

If you wish to cook them, cut the short stem off (could be 1/8^th of an inch), making sure you don’t release a leaf or another, just enough to remove the hard end. Using a pairing knife or a peeler, sculpt out a cone shape with the tip of your tool on about 1/2-inch deep from the bottom end.

I have one of the most scrumptious lip-licking recipes for you, making it a meal that you will remember for the rest of your life… but you will have to ask me if you want it... and provide me an email address!

Meanwhile, tell your grocer to treat Belgian endives better than that!

The American Lords

2009-09-11T11:08:00.004-04:00

What about making $174,000 a year plus excellent benefits, among them one of the best health plan available in this Country? Any taker?

It represents 4.6% of the declared incomes, based on an extrapolation of 5% of more than $167,000, 1.5% more than $250,000 and 1% above $350,000. Although, these numbers are based on 2006 statistics, today it might be closer to 4.4%.

Not bad and the percentage is getting smaller when we consider that the published income level is for household, not single income. I have not found any data available for individual return versus family and one will have to make a guess to refine the final count.

Let’s consider 60% of the $174,000 yearly income is made by individuals, 75% for the $250,000 level and 90% for the $350,000 level.

The final count is 3% of the American population that could be earning more than $174,000 yearly as individual income, which is what senators, congresswomen and congressmen are earning.

Would it make sense for people representing people and their laws to be closer to their average level, even upper average, not upper 3%?

The last statistics based on 2008 is showing 40 millions Americans living under poverty level and the count is growing fast.

Furthermore, when representatives are questioning the viability of State health plan, which is their legitimate right, shouldn’t they withdraw from their comfy Federal plan and buy into one or another private insurance company to be in tune with their arguments?

Well, I guess the answer would be no to both questions… probably by absenteeism! After all, they are the American Lords, or so it seems!

Is this the richest third World Country?

2009-09-05T13:28:00.009-04:00

I was shocked to hear in the late 80ies that 20% of Americans were illiterate. Such an industrialized and rich Country couldn’t possibly have that many uninstructed people? The question mark stayed in my mind and from time to time, I realize it was making some sense, yet couldn’t acknowledge the truth.

Recently, so many facts led me start writing on the dichotomy of the American society, the richest Country in the World and so many people suffering from the lack of decent income; World leading researchers and illiterates; ground braking sciences and some of the most fundamentalist thinking.

Now, armed with internet search engines, I got the confirmation of what I have heard years ago.
About 20% of Americans are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level.
Nearly 50% of adults cannot read a book written for 8th grade kids and do it so poorly they cannot find an information within a short publication.
According to some alarming studies, the USA is ranked 49th of the world in literacy.

If we were limiting our observations to these facts, my title would not stand, although why successive American governments would not have found a solution to this literacy plague? Nevertheless, moving to other pride hurting facts, the hypothesis starts making sense.

The

civil infrastructure is in a past due state of repair with countless unsafe bridges. Actually, there are about 72,500 deficient bridges in the Country in need of assessment for repair, essentially meaning that they need to be repaired but the lack of civil engineer inspectors have prevented to get to an evaluation. These deficient bridges represent 12% of the structures in the

and it would take in the vicinity of $10 billions a year during 20 years to repair and update them, not to build new ones.

Roads are in bad shape and anyone can make a long list of highways, freeways, boulevards and streets that desperately need repair and in many cases would stand complete reconstruction.

It seems that we have been happy to know that

China

was finally generating more CO2 than us. Nevertheless, we tend to forget mentioning that we have about 4.5 times less people here and our CO2 pollution per capita could still be close to 4.5 times more than in

China

Our life expectancy is now ranked 42nd in the world, as we were11th two decades ago and although political debates continue, Country leaders don’t seem to grasp the emergency to quickly evolve, overlooking the fast evolution of the World around us.

We all know that 47 millions Americans are uninsured, which is not the only alarming statistic to read, as 12.6 millions working adults were discriminately denied coverage. Health insurance premium did increased 95% since 2000, as the average income improved only by 17.5% during the same period.

Only 63% of employers are offering a health insurance plan to their employees, down from 69% in 2000. These statistics are not political statement, only pure reality of a Nation loosing its grasp on reality. It is as if we forgot that the People as named in the Constitution are real people with life, soul, concerns and basic needs that a Nation is supposed to help and protect, besides the elusive territorial invasion.

So much has been said on being the best of this and the best of that, preceding the omnipresent “of the World” qualification, when in most cases the World really means the US World, not the 6.7 Billions people on this planet.

France

is unveiling its new superfast train, a step above the TGV that did transformed life, not only in

France

but in Europe since the 70ies by connecting cities with trains cruising at speeds between 185 to 200 mph, allowing people to live far away from big cities and still work in it.

It took a commitment from the French government, starting in the 60ies, to study, plan and build not only the trains themselves but a new concept of railroad that would be safe with no road crossing and structurally stable to sustain such speeds.

The new train called AGV will have a top speed of 270 mph and cruising at 224 mph, although using 30% less energy compare to the TGV. Various Countries around the world are placing order of these hyper speed trains as they understand the need for fast and easy long distance commutes.

Here, we might have one line, still to be built, between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Although this 13 year old project seem to have stalled.

I know, this Country was built on another plan, if plan was, with sprawling cities, using more land per capita and roads representing the connecting dots for everyone, on their own pace, time and directions. Nevertheless, we pay dearly the price of being - by far - the biggest energy consumer, and here we can say of the World.

Nevertheless, even with the type of town and city layout we have, solutions are possible, but we need our population to wake up to our needs, not our habits, our leaders to believe in our great researchers and take action before it would become an emergency to deal with.

Our 4.5% population of the planet is burning 23% of the World energy and our responsibility on the global environmental disaster, as we are slowly waking up to it, is by far the biggest, yet we do not lead the World to safe what there is left for our future generations to live with.

A handful of years ago, we understood that we could produce ethanol to propel our road vehicles with less pollution impact, as well as reducing some of our imported oil. And we went on a mission to convert the production of corn into alcohol, forgetting that the corn was already produced for something else, inducing food cost increase.

We glanced at the Brazilians who are producing 75% of their carburant needs from sugar cane ethanol, overlooking the fact that their government did promoted ethanol in the mid 70ies, not yesterday, and had to close their eyes on massive deforestation to achieve their goal.

Many other subjects are showing our trend of slipping away from the reality of the World, which seem to be evolving faster with more long term planning and investments into new ideas and new concepts of living on an increasingly highly populated planet.

American politicians are more concerned about their opponents than by their Country and, for some, promote division among their own citizens. I have heard people saying “united we stand”. It must have been a long time ago!

Bad translation 2

2009-08-29T12:23:00.005-04:00

Haven’t we been invaded with gourmet products the past 10 years, or what?
The funny thing for me is to find products I was consuming in Europe more than 25 years ago; good products that anyone could buy in any store at a bottom price, not something fancy that has to have an “etiquette” to be justified; only the pride of a business to make and sell the best quality product they can make for an affordable price.

The Belgian chocolate “Cote D’or” is a Belgian favorite and it is as cheap as any other good Belgian chocolate. No one in Belgium would ever think to add a gourmet label to any of these treats.

Some of the Belgian cookies have found their way in this country and are generally sold as “gourmet” items, essentially at a higher price. These cookies are of a common consumption in Belgium and no one would buy them over there if the price was pumped up as it is here.

I think I could make a very long list of Belgian, French, German, British, Irish, Scottish, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swiss, Austrian, what am I forgetting, let’s say from Europe in general but I am sure from other countries as well, of goods that are labeled as gourmet in USA, only to find out they are simply good, common products that everyone can afford to buy in the country of origin, as bad products would not survive.

I think that we have gradually lost the concept of honest, good and well balanced product, with quality ingredients that, not only taste good but also feel good. It seems that, anything that portray to be of good quality here in the US, and certainly including American products, should than be called gourmet, only to justify the other items of lesser quality.

In reality, we should scrap entirely the concept as we have been misled from the start. “Gourmet” is a French noun with a different meaning, as it defines a person with discriminating taste in food and wine, not the products themselves discriminating the customer’s wallet.

I know, I know… no one could make more money with that!