sundries

[rm]

Man beaten for being gay in New York City.

I wish Karl Lagerfeld would stop saying so much offensive crap about food and weight (via fabricdragon) (btw, if you read what he has to say a lot, which I do, you can see that his size-ist stuff really comes out of his own issues and self-hatred), because I find him really fascinating and incisive on a lot of other topics. But man, he is such a toxic arse on this topic. Even other people in the fashion industry find his stance on this stuff appalling.

So it appears I'm really going to Zurich. I should have the plane tickets this week. I am... more or less completely zen about it as regards work and my real life and all that, which was not the case when this first sort of came at me. I'm sure I'll still find some reason to be weirded out by being in Switzerland (with my pinstripe suit and my fucking greatcoat) in the middle of NaNoWriMo. Also, should make a note to go over to the Sprint store and see what the deal is in terms of my phone and Europe. I don't want to be unreachable there, and fear I may be without serious intervention.

You folks make me want to have a what are you doing to ruin SF? poll every day. You are all awesome.

I finished Risk Assessment, more later. Thumbs up.

The home Internet is out again. *growl*

Last night (after an emergency B&N Internet run) we ate our baby klari cheese peppers and the paprika that we grew. We're pretty awesome. We've also started cooking and eating together a few nights a week (something we haven't done before, because my dietary restrictions, our food preferences and our schedules has made it hard). It's awesome and time-saving.

This weekend is the Regency Assembly in Connecticut. The weekend includes a night of dancing, period food, and a day of period games and refreshments. It is not too late to join us (period attire encouraged but not required). Info:
Front | Back | Registration Form
(if you decide to register, best not to do it via mail at this point -- comment here for paypal or other info)

Going to marrus's book launch party cabaret thing on Thursday. Now that I don't have to try to fit it in a suitcase, I can get her book.

Some guests have already been announced for Dragon*Con 2010. They are hilarious to me for reasons of embarrassing personal history. Also: I am really glad my hair is short at present (even if it does need a cut). That is all.

Comments

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Probably the saddest thing on the Lagerfeld story is that most of the commenters on the story are spam for weight loss/anti-aging products. >_<

There are a number of folks on my FL who can be helpful with the Swiss experience, primary being evilshell who lives there, just got Swiss citizenship herself, and filkerdave who just finished up a contracting stint there. You are going to need to be extra vigilant regards dietary concerns (I've mentioned this before?) because the Swiss diet tends to ovo-lacto vegetarianism, with bread being a HUGE part of the daily diet. While you might find some gluten-free products, I only found them in the apothocary shops, and pretty sad they were too. There ARE health food stores aplenty - the Swiss invented the Kure Spas, after all - how well do you cope with oatmeal? Some folks with celiac issues cope well, some do NOT. (Biercher-Muesli is one of my favorite things, get the most traditional preparation possible - if you can handle eating something that looks like an ice cream sundae for lunch, as big as your head. It's rolled oats, apple, walnuts, lemon and yogurt. Num.)

Still very jealous. But you are wise to check the phone issue thang now.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've not tried clean oats yet, and I won't try non-cleaned oats, so it's pretty much no.

I've informed conference related people (part of the time I'll be out of the city at a conference) about my food issues, but this seems to reinforce my need to bring packaged goods because of my health concerns (and I'm arriving on a Sunday, which I assume is a trading holiday there (man, I hate that) and won't be able to get ANYTHING). Also, while I love eggs and dairy, they aren't the easiest for me to digest as a celiac, so that's a bit of a hassle too. Aaaaaaaaargh. Italy, oddly, was very easy.

[moizissimo.livejournal.com]

Italy has a high proportion of celiacs in certain regions, due to the various migrations that were part of the rise and fall of the Holy Roman Empire. :) If I take another history class, it's something I want to look at further, because it's so interesting.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

*taps chin* Boy, this could be tough. All my favorite things are either bread, cheese or milk based. I *do* see more 'ethnic' options, Thai in particular (wha?) since I was last there (Google Maps Street View, FTW), but even then I don't expect much respite.

They are familiar with the issues celiacs have - I'd get that on a card in German to have handy when ordering out - and I always found them to be receptive, if not overly involved at times - to food-related issues (remember, I had the diabetic husband while living there).

Ask for Itallian options, if Italy worked so well - they do have a large ethnic Itallian population as well, after all. As I also recall, one of the things they found tasty was tomato salad - which is just sliced tomatoes, a bit of red onion and basalmic vinagrette.

They do a lot of 'salad talers' - which is an assortment of prepared salads. This is also one of my favorites, but could be a minefield if they don't know you can't tolerate something that might be used as part of a prep.

Sundays - everything is closed. EVERYTHING. Everywhere. Period, full stop. You get used to it. You will discover the miracle of vending machines - do get some money converted before going over. It'll help.

Also, chat up Diane Duane if you haven't already. Like potatoes? That's a good fallback in Switzerland, and they do awesome things with them.