Cooking with Beer.

No no,  there’s not going to be any recipes where you add beer.  That’s just silly. 

Well,  there is that one Chicken Risotto recipe where you add white wine,  and there is “Beer can chicken”,  but I’m getting way off topic here.

It’s just that I realised last night as I was about to start dinner,  that I quite often accompany that endeavour with a glass of beer.  I’m pretty sure it doesn’t help the cooking any.  Once in a while I’ll switch it with a glass of red wine.  

Everyone needs a change once in a while.

 

This weekend was pretty uneventful.

Well,  there was that bomb scare.  You think I’m kidding, don’t you?  We’re not really all that sure that there actually was a bomb.  All I know is,  Saturday morning once I got back with the car after dropping off Travelling Companion at work,  I was hoofing it down to Neubaugasse on my normal morning jaunt,  and was stopped dead in my tracks as I rounded the corner by two of Vienna’s finest,  who were taping off that part of the street.   Seems someone had left a wooden box under the seat of the bus stop.  By the time I got back with the camera, (dammit!  need to take the camera every single time!)  that corner was back to its normal busy self.   I didn’t hear any explosions,  and the bus stop was still there,  so my educated guess is that it was only a wooden box.  Or,  maybe the same bunch that deal with unexploded WWII bombs came by and ferried the thing away?  Not sure.

And yes,  if you “host” a war,  there’s bound to be unexploded ordinance.   Just part of life here.

 

 

And I mentioned that I took Travelling Companion to work?  Well yes,  she worked all weekend.  Saturday night until some time after 8:00.   Then on Sunday she worked from home,  but her system kicked her off after 12 hours.  I had dinner ready by then,  so that worked out.

I shoved some food and drink in front of her throughout the day.

 

We don’t have an actual office set up here,  even though we have the two spare bedrooms.  The internet hub is out in the living room,  and working from there isn’t that much of a big deal.  If it happens to be during the week and she needs to be on a conference call, that’s usually the time I make myself scarce.  Too much talking.

She’s not overly keen on having her mug on the internet,  but that is her there.  Trust me.

 

 

There was a wee bit of irony on Saturday afternoon around four,  when I fully expected to hear the Hare Krishna bunch go by (just saves me from checking the time is all) but instead was grooving to the beat of a bunch who were out doing a little protest march.

 

By the time I grabbed the camera the noise making part of the entourage had passed.   Darn it.

 

The cops had what looked like quasi riot gear.

 

This could very well have been an addition to one of those, “we’re the 99%”  type of protests?  You know,  the ones who are going on about occupying Wall street.

 

Now,  the irony to me is,  most of us are in the 99%,  since that’s the way capitalism works.  Unless you want to be one of the 100%,  and that would be the theoretical way that communism works.  I say “theoretical”, since there are always going to be the “glorious leaders”,  who turn out to be just as greedy as the 1% left over from the 99.    If you don’t like being in the 99%, then that’s just too bad.  Even a guy like Steve Jobs (I think he would have been in the 1%?)  couldn’t escape death,  so in the end it doesn’t matter one iota.

It’s ironic on a couple of levels.  First of all, in a system where everyone is supposedly going to suck on the teat of society, (which I guess is what these people want)  there would be very little chance of protesting ANYTHING.   Well, they might protest “once”,  but the concept of totalitarianism comes to mind.   Stalin had a wonderful vacation spot all set up for anyone who wanted to disagree with his version of things.

The other irony is that,  although she’s certainly not in the “1%”  (whatever that means)  Travelling Companion finds herself in the dubious position of being one of the decision makers in the Company that Cannot Be Named.  Too bad she wasn’t here to watch the protest,  but instead was WORKING.    Kind of mind boggling,  really.

 

I’ll hear back tonight whether all her weekend efforts will have paid off,  since she’ll be presenting her version of how business is going to go for 2012 today at two.  It’ll still be another late night,  since after she gets that off her plate,  there’s another issue to be dealt with.  And another,  and another.

 

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Buy hey!  It’s a sunny day here in Wienerland,  which will at least keep Bob out of the doldrums.   Sure glad we have all those windows!

Never a good idea to be on the seventh floor if you’re not in the best frame of mind.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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