The Lemon Tree

In search of the perfect cocktail

The SO and I were in Bratislava, Slovakia (previously the other half of Czechoslovakia) to see an opera. We had read about a well-reviewed restaurant/bar in town with the melodious name of The Lemon Tree on tripadvisor.com. We left our hotel on a gray rainy afternoon to do a little sightseeing and find it. The main square of Bratislava, where The Lemon Tree is located, is a sort of scaled down version of Wenceslas Square in Prague. The opera house sits at the north end of the square kitty corner from the swanky Blu Carlton hotel. Next door to the hotel sits what appears to be a prison or military installation with a barbed-wire crowned chain-link fence, impact barrier-ed gate with armed guards and several black SUV-type vehicles behind the fence—didn't notice any dogs though. Passing by with some trepidation (didn't dare take a picture) we spied an innocuous bronze plaque that announced it as the Embassy of the United States. Next door to that we found the building that houses The Lemon Tree. To our great delight the food was superb and the cocktails a treasure. I had a French Manhattan made with 3 parts bourbon, 1 part Dubonnet with a twist of orange peel marinated in Cointreau. Add a little of the Cointreau marinade for added zing and swirl with a couple ice cubes, don't shake. Mmm! Click on the title for The Lemon Tree website.

                                                  French Manhattan

Postscript: After a somewhat disappointing performance of Don Giovanni we returned to The Lemon Tree for a late night snack. This was In March, shortly after the triple whammy of the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear plant meltdown in Japan. The joint was jumping with the young club-scene crowd. The same friendly young waiter from dinner was still there and served us again. He noticed that my SO is Asian and, in a good-humored sub-Rosa tone, told us that he had heard on the Internet that the earthquake was caused by the Americans who detonated a nuclear device in the underwater fault. With rumors like that, it's no wonder the Embassy looks like a fortress.

PS #2: There are several curious and humorous sculptures here and there in the old town. These have been rearranged to suit my “artistic” purposes. 

                                           Bratislava Castle

                                                    camera shy

                                 paparazzo

Madame Butterfly meets Urban Cowboy II

I've just been fiddling around with trying to get a video of the jazz combo mentioned in the previous post on YouTube. I think I may have figured it out. If it works, it isn't of the greatest quality since it was taken in low light with a rather small and unstably held camera, but can give you an idea of the sound of the instruments. Also, I need to learn how to edit video. I am really a novice in this area. If you click on the title of this post it will automatically link you to the video. 1000 pardons.

PS: If you read this post and the link works for you, I'd appreciate a short comment like: "Yup, it works!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiI9gnrfaKo

Madame Butterfly meets Urban Cowboy

My old friend, Madame Butterfly, invited me to a concert of traditional Japanese music recently. She is an artist of the traditional instrument known as the koto 琴、a kind of harp. Many people in Japan have an interest or hobby known as shumi 趣味, often in traditional areas such as ikebana, tea ceremony, calligraphy, traditional sports such as kendo 剣道, a kind of fencing, etc. English Conversation is another, less traditional, area of interest. Those interested in studying about an interest form groups around a teacher, called sensei 先生, who is a master in the area. Madame B. is the sensei of her group interested in playing and performing koto concerts. I was the sensei of an English Conversation group of which Madame B. was a member. At any rate, pictures are worth 1,000 words, so here are a few pictures from her concert entitled “My Life's Road”.

    Madame Butterfly and me

    instruments include the samisen and shakuhachi (a kind of banjo and bamboo flute)

                                          on the samisen

                                       she's 4-years-old and got stage fright,
                                       but did perform later in the program to everyone's delight

                                                    on the koto

                                          part of an ensemble

    jazz combo combining traditional and modern instruments and styles

    koto, samisen and shakuhachi with voice

The Perfect Con

I consider myself a pretty sophisticated traveler, but, at least once, I took my eye off the ball—or should I say off my wallet. It's impossible to explain. Maybe it was the influence of the neo-gothic horror of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. It looks like Gaudi took the idea of a cathedral and threw gobs of mud at it. Anyway, the con. A youngish woman came up as I was busily taking pix of the cathedral. She had a clipboard and said she was taking signatures for some worthy cause. I forget exactly what it was. So, disarmed by the “worthy cause” I added my name to the list. OK, good deed done for the day. Not quite. The good Samaritan senorita then asked to see my ID to verify my signature. So, I offered to show my passport, but, no, she wanted to see my credit card signature. My SO, having rebuffed the partner of my senorita, was frantically trying to stop me from pulling out my wallet. The partner came over to me saying she was the “professor” of the other one. I should have: 1) realized at that point that I was being conned, 2) listened to my SO; but no, I blithely showed my card but wouldn't let her touch it. Then I put the card back in my wallet and in my pocket.  The two disappeared in the wink of an eye. Some onlookers came up and told me those women had stolen my money. I said: “What!” and took out my wallet. Sure enough, the pickpockets had cleaned me out to the tune of 150 Euros. They either missed one small bill, or decided to be generous and leave me subway fare to get back to my hotel. Take your pick.

Fukjushima Revisited

Everyone enjoys the benefits of the energy generated by the world's nuclear power plants. But, of course, nobody wants a nuclear plant “in my backyard”. A short video clip in the Washington Post filmed in one of the post-apocalyptic “ghost towns” in the Fukushima no-go zone recently makes it pretty obvious why nobody wants one “in my backyard”.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-trip-to-japans-nuclear-ghost-town/2011/11/19/gIQAKVgKcN_video.html

How to balance the voracious requirement for affordable energy in highly industrialized countries with the downsides of producing that energy: Fukushima/Chernobyl type disasters, ongoing energy wars that plague the Middle East, environmental degradation, etc., is probably the most urgent problem facing us in the 21^st Century—if we are to survive it in any recognizably human fashion.  

Fukushima

The mention of the iconic "Hiroshima" probably embodies the fear and horror that the world has about nuclear holocausts, just as the haunting photos in the museum embody the fear and horror we have of nuclear radiation. For the first time journalists have been allowed to tour our modern Hiroshima--another town with an island in its name--Fukushima. "Good fortune Island" has become almost as infamous as "Broad Island". Articles in The New York Times as well as The Japan Times ran stories on the tour. But the slide show in the NY Times taken at Fukushima Daiichi tells it best.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/11/13/world/asia/13japan.html?ref=world

Political Deadlock

I don't normally intend to use this blog for political comment since I tend to be an apolitical non-partisan observer of world events. I am not politically neutral, however. The current political and economic state of the nation (USA) has led the federal government beyond gridlock into a deadly kind of Hatfield-McCoy hatred/vendetta. Rome burns, but the band plays on. There are obviously no simple solutions to the mess America (and Europe) are in. Although no politician will use the dreaded “D” word, we are clearly in a political/economic global neo-depression. It will take years for this monster to shake out all the rot and debt that has accumulated in both domestic and public piggy banks (or, more likely, bare cupboards). The spectacle of clueless scrambling to offer band aids for gaping wounds and sanctimonious finger pointing of partisan blame across the aisle and up and down the social ladder is truly appalling. The Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times!, seems more than appropriate. This is beyond interesting, though, it's morbidly fascinating.

Personalizing Death

We were wandering around Vienna's Central Cemetery one day last January looking at the tombs of some of Vienna's celebrated classical composers—Bach, Beethoven, etc. I began to notice that some of the tombstones were not your usual chunk of granite or marble or what have you. Some are (1) amusing, (2) grandiose; but a couple were quite (3) evocative and (4) moving. Here are the four in that order:

1)

2) 

3)

4)

Beer and other mood enhancers

A budding young writer in our extended family (of man) is trying, when sober I presume, to make a few pennies writing beer reviews. Well, we all have to start somewhere. I washed pots and pans in a crummy Miami Beach hotel once long ago. My problem with beer is that it's too slow and too filling and does nothing for the full-length sideways profile. Wine is OK for a few sips however much oenophiles may rave about bouquet and back taste subtleties. After that it gets a little acrid in the mouth. Nope, make mine cocktails: tasty, strong and fast. Of course, best of all, is still proscribed substances from the flora kingdom. Here is a sample of his beer commercial style. Pour yourself a beer and you'll find a new talent there. http://www.examiner.com/craft-beer-in-boston/pumpkin-beers-are-signs-of-the-season-review?CID=examiner_alerts_article

IPO or...Introducing my new blog

This title is probably about a clear as the peak of Mt Everest in a blizzard. Let me explain. I've been toying with the idea of doing a website or blog for some time. I finally decided to you-know-what or get off the pot and this little blog called "Noilly Prattle",  http://noillyprattle.blogspot.com/ , is my first attempt.  It's basically a kind of newsletter to use for my convenience when traveling, in particular, but anytime something important or interesting comes up, or just to say Hi, maybe. I hope it will amuse you, maybe move you, and that you will feel free to comment or criticize [but not too harshly]. It will be automatically updated whenever I post something. If you like it, you can bookmark it and have a look from time to time. You can comment anonymously if you wish. Or you can email me as usual also more privately. When traveling I will update it more often and probably add pictures I think you might find interesting.

Going Forward

Trying out various images and color harmonies for the Noilly Prattle blog page. Decided to try this image (modified) for the main background.

Getting started

New to blogging and trying to figure out how it works.

http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42423