Lauching my oenophile page

Another blustery week comes to an end in Munich, no snow but quite cold. It is nice to be back especially since I have not had the fleeting feeling of leaving my suitcases unpacked as I was perpetually getting ready to fly to Malaysia. Though I am still flying back to KL this weekend though comfort in knowing that its only for a few days. One thing I like about Munich is the fresh air, its always so crisp. Much seems to be happening in our offices, many have elected to take layoff packages and consequently quite a significant portion of the office will be empty soon. Retrenchment packages seem to be very lucrative. Rumours abound that we may have to move locations, probably making my commute a little more inconvenient but it becomes close enough so that I can bike to work. Hopefully things settle down soon, all this change does not bode well for office morale though things are on an upswing. I went for a Townhall meeting with our senior management and found out firsthand how impressive our CEO was as a speaker. He was particularly tactile in handling blunt questions and minced no words in expressing what was needed in setting the company right, tough talk for guys leading 65,000 people in 110 countries. He certainly has the necessary qualities to lead , might I even dare say - Inspiring! Our Nigeria trip seems to be in a bit of a bottlespin state now with some confusion on how to get our visas, my current travel schedule and scheduling my driving test but I am determined to go. Pleasantly suprised to find out that all Nigerian visa applications are online and need to be filed electronically followed up by a personal visit to the embassy in Berlin. Planning to go for 3 weeks, Priya will probably be around for only 2 weeks. Looking forward to many rounds of Golf and a nice safari. My drink of choice nowadays is wine preferably red. Given the lack of coordination between my taste buds and alzheimer riddled brain as I can never remember which are the 'good' bottles of wine that I get pissed on, I figured it would be a good idea to write down those vintage indulgences. Now that I have a 3G phone, what better place to do so than put it up at http://www.cherickel.com/! Since I am in a Chianti frame of mind nowadays, I have a setup a list of the Chianti wines that I have drunk in the last couple of months and rated courtesy of my palate. I hope to keep updating as time goes by at www.cherickel.com/wine/Chianti.htm . Dinner was a bit of a feast as we had a friend over and I did not cook:) Priya made appam, lamb stew, fish curry and cabbage thoran - I am still slouched over from overeating. Its clock change time again here in Europe, so I can sleep in for an extra hour but still be up at 5:30 am to make my flight. Goodnight folks..

Snowing in Munich...

We had our first bout of snow this weekend though the snow did not stick but it certainly froze the town. Last winter was a mild one and we only had a few days of heavy snow. However this year will certainly be a cold one, new winter clothes would be money well spent. Hopefully we will get a few weeks of repreive when I go to Africa/India to visit my folks. Of course this left me thinking, where did the summer go? Answer - to Kuala Lumpur. P has consistently been beating me at working longer hours the last couple of weeks, so I am not really seeing much of her even though I have been at home the last couple of days. This is expected to go on till the second week of November, should I be going back to KL?? I made some fish masala last tursday, I am not very good at fish but it turned out quite OK. So emboldened by premature success, I did some fish/meat shopping at our usual Turkish stores near the main train station yesterday. Cleaned, gutted and marinated the fish for sunday lunch. Come sunday morning my nosy wife who declared that she is not going to cook till november could not resist stepping in and taking over (I call her the kitchen control freak) lest I messed up fishy meal. In the end she did prepare a better meal - Squash for vegetables, fried fish and a dried coconut fish curry. Burrrppp!

Unsung hero of the Sky - Austrian Airlines

I am flying Austrian again tonight and I was glad I was because its usually my favorite option to fly. Today I am not so sure because for the first time in 2 years of flying my flight got delayed for more than an hour. This time its 6 hours. I guess my luck was gonna run out at some point, it was a good run though. As I was saying, Austrian is my favorite European Airline. Service with a smile and delicious food. They serve 10 kinds of different coffee on board after dinner. The first from the bottom has to be KLM, the service and the airplanes are so poor that it makes Air India look stellar. When I lived in Nigeria, we always tried to fly KLM because the service was always outstanding and I looked forward to the food they served. However once the french took control, the quality took a nosedive. Even their planes are quite scary, bit of a shame and certainly won't make you proud if you are Dutch. Lufthansa signifies a standard german product, predictable with no frills and if you are very lucky you will run into the odd grumpy blonde too. Though to be fair, once I gave up my aisle seat for a middle one and the staff gave a bottle of Champagne at the end of the flight! Little details make all the difference. I also think most European airlines are better than American ones and probably best in class are the Asian ones. Singapore Airlines is exemplary but also a bit pricey, Jet would be a good second in my books. Went to little India and did some CD shopping last weekend while I was in Kl. Thought it would be disrespectful not eat some Puri while I was there so I gave in. I am glad to be on my way back home, miss home. Don't think I will see much of home this year, with trips to Nigeria and India lined up for the end of the year. Looking forward to going back to Nigeria, its been too long.

How does a mid-life crisis begin..

Spent another hazy weekend in KL, hopefully the last for a long time. Spent most of saturday morning hunched over my PC vainly trying to do some work but was bored out of my mind. Growing up in Nigeria, saturday mornings usually meant doing household chores that I always managed to do extremely slowly (or get up really late) to get time to pass and get to lunch because it was always a scrumptuous meal. Usually very traditional and almost involved some fried fish. Feeling nostalgic, I went down to India town here and chowed into a banana leaf meal. Was invited to a friend's house for dinner on saturday, so got the second great meal of the day consisting of Argentinian steaks and some very fine Malbec. However the best part of the day was not the food, it was getting the grand tour of my friend's house. Very tastefully finished house spruced with the right kind of art and very nicely laid out. He has this huge fish pond that was built on the side of the house designed so that half of the pond was visible when you are sitting in the living room through the glass. The pond itself had lots of very large Koi fish (5-6 Kilos) which seduced us with their graceful swimming and their colorful bodies. One of the fish also a did jumping act, found the whole affair very relaxing. Must have in my house. Visiting his house really set my head ticking, I realised that all my hard work is actually towards building something like that but with no idea where I would build a home like that. Almost felt like a little mid-life crisis creeping up on me. Would say that was the most impressive house I have seen so far (also had a nice pool). Slept in a little on sunday morning, caught up with another friend for lunch and did a repeat performance of the banana lef meal (we did this on sundays also at home :)). Over coffee after we had destroyed lunch our discussion turned to the topic of midlife crisis and the question when it actually starts. I seemed to think it was more professionally driven though my friend seemed to think it was otherwise. His hypothesis was that it kicks in when sex stops in married life. Could explain why people buy yellow corvettes and go to a bar every night when their mid life crisis kicks in. He seemed to think that most men actually don't realize but different phases in their lives are driven by their sex drive (I know a few women who would agree). Food for thought eh?