Former Chef:
My friend Kristina Johnson (whom I've known for almost 25 years) has started a new blog, Former Chef -- it's mostly about food, though knowing her obsessions, I'm sure it will have lots of travel stuff in it as well. (After she quit her job as a chef, she and her husband took nine months off to travel around the world, in the process becoming proto-bloggers.)
Kristina is still in the restaurant business, but on the management side, which is much better for her friends, since now that she no longer cooks for a living she's actually willing to cook for us. In any case, if you like food, you should definitely check this out.
raimo1@hot.ee
Der Dresdner Bank Krise
Die Spitzenmanager der Dresdner Bank haben 2008 trotz Milliardenverlusten weit mehr verdient als jeder andere Bankvorstand in Deutschland. Laut Geschäftsbericht des mittlerweile zur Commerzbank gehörenden Instituts kassierten die zeitweise neun Vorstände gut 58 Millionen Euro und damit mehr als doppelt so viel wie im Vorjahr. Größter Posten waren Abfindungen von mehr als 24 Millionen Euro - keiner der Dresdner-Vorstände wird nach der Integration des Instituts in die Commerzbank weiterbeschäftigt.
Zum Vergleich: Die Vorstände der Commerzbank verdienten im vergangenen Jahr 4,3 Millionen Euro, die der Deutschen Bank 4,5 Millionen Euro. Weltweit
ist eine hitzige Debatte über Bonuszahlungen an Banker entbrannt, die für Milliardenverluste verantwortlich sind (siehe auch Boni-Streit: AIG geht in Deckung). In den Vereinigten Staaten wird gar über eine Strafsteuer nachgedacht, um die Gelder bei staatlich gestützten Instituten wieder zurückzuholen.
(My one complaint: her latest entry is for a "non-meat" dish - Thai Red Curry and Tofu - which has both fish sauce and chicken stock in the recipe. Of course, hard-core vegetarians who make these recipes at home will just substitute veggie stock for chicken broth and omit the fish sauce, but it does make me wonder whether or not my "vegetarian" Thai food - or any "vegetarian" restaurant food - is truly meatless.)
No, I don't like food. Who does? Recently dead animals. Vegetables halfway to rot. Bits of fungus. Nasty stuff.
theobromophile- you bring up a good point. While I did not specify the recipe was "vegetarian", I probably should mention that the chicken stock can be substituted. However, no Thai recipe that uses Fish Sauce will taste the same without it. There just isn't a good substitute as far as I know. Yes, it's unlikely that Thai restaurants which offer "vegetarian" dishes omit the fish sauce. I'm sure you would have to ask.
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