UK vs. Romania+Bulgaria: REALLY?

Have you heard of the latest international affairs between UK and Romania?

Apparently, in order to discourage Romanians and Bulgarians (yea, they were thrown into the same box) from coming into Great Britain, the UK government was thinking of doing a negative ad campaign in the two countries emphasising, in other words, why the UK sucks. The Guardian's article points out that it would be kinda counterproductive, since the UK has spent loads of money to try and bring its own reputation up for the 2012 Olympics.

Well, quite funnily, readers from "The Guardian" were asked to contribute to the campaign that might be put in place and guess what? Results were (surprisingly?) good. And it's not over yet. Romanians also went ahead and started producing a campaign that basically said "you know what? Definitely don't go to the UK...come here instead". Read and see for yourself: some of the posters are quite hilarious.

Anyway, disregarding the funny side of things for a moment...what is really going on? First of all, should the UK government really spend its time advertising how bad Great Britain is? How could they not predict a backfire of viral proportions in this day and age? Isn't the world is globalised enough that if you tell Romanians and Bulgarians not to come...French, Germans and Spanish people might find out about it and actually do the same? Dear UK, if you don't want that to happen, you might want to consider making your campaign quite specific. You know, maybe try something like: "The sun shines for everyone in ol' England...except for Bulgarians and Romanians that is". Oh wait...that's a tiny bit discriminatory.

Come on....why would you even consider something like this? I understand that a lot of Bulgarians and Romanians are already in the country and if not, might be thinking of coming to the UK...and I understand that immigrants are an issue for many reasons. But, is this how the government really should tackle the problem?

There are already many measures in place so to discourage non-Europeans...and believe me, I know this quite well. Because even if I am European I have had to see my very talented international friends (incredibly smart people with a lot of enthusiasm, positive ideas and courage)...struggle to stay or even leave. Objectively, they would have been a great resource for the country.

But let's not play games here: Bulgaria and Romania are European countries and you cannot possibly change that. The UK already has policies in place that discourage Romanians and Bulgarians to come in or stay: let those speak for themselves. You do not need to think of campaigns to make yourself look bad because the moment you do, you are not only discriminating...but you are bringing yourself down as a country. Literally. On purpose.

This is coming from a European who has been living in the UK for years now...and has amazing English friends and (apart from the weather) is thankful to live here. For now...'cause international policies like these make me doubt the tactfulness and the basic human understanding of the country's leaders. It's not its people, it's not its cities...but dear UK: you need to work on your national hospitality.

A story that never gets old...

While looking into the files of my computer I saw a story I wrote  a while ago (some years have passed). It was about a girl who would leave everything, rebel and move. Reality meets fantasy.
I guess some stories never do get old and some feelings come back.
You feel like you are experiencing something for the first time, but maybe what changes is only the way in which you go through it, not the feeling itself.
In any case, here's some excerpts of the story.

"A time, a specific moment in the life of a person, reveals that reality is not a dream. This moment: frustration and sadness. It is in that instant that the human being understands how few the chances of getting everything dreamt in those night of fine sleep are. Even she experienced this moment, this unbelievable instant. Even she, the childish girl that never wanted to grow up. She…finally understood that it’s hard to make your dreams come true and it’s hard to see the world this way. Now, she remembers everything: the facts, the memories, everything…and she saw, how blind she became. She was living in a dream, not in reality: in a fantastic world where she could always fix what she had done. Aisling was sitting in her bed, not moving, thinking hardly. She couldn’t believe it. She always thought everything could be fixed. This time, there was no one helping her. No one. If she wouldn’t sustain herself, there was no one to help her out. Yes, I’ll leave she thought. There is no other way. I must take my responsibility.

Leaving was not a simple thing. She had to abandon all her hopes, all her dreams for maybe something that wouldn’t give stability, security. But she had to do it.While packing, tears fell from her eyes; soft tears that spoke of truth. She stared at the wall, full of pictures: her dad, her mom, her grandmother…she knew she could possibly never come back. She quickly left a note and forced herself out. She didn’t even look one last time at the house, at her room still full of old remembrances, security but not of happiness.

As she hurried down through the street, she couldn’t even believe she was leaving forever everything. She passed the church, the deli, the shop. As she crossed the street, the flower her friend gave her broke and fell, the stem still in her hands.She looked at it for what it seemed like an eternity to her. Then she picked it up and, arrived at the other end of the street, she threw it in the garbage can and continued her journey. It is now summer again, and two summers have passed by since her leaving. After all this time she understood: one can never, ever...even begin to end to find oneself."

Super-easy Chocolate Soufflè Recipe

Today I was invited to a dinner and decided to bring dessert.
I remembered I once made very tasty chocolate cupcakes, but looking back at the recipe, I saw I needed mascarpone but didn't have any in the house.

Since I had no time to buy some, I decided to try something new with what I had, but still following the  guidelines of the recipe with regards to how to treat chocolate when making cupcakes.

To make 6, all you need is:

To bake:
-Cupcake tray (or individual cupcake aluminum holders)

For the mixture:
-A bar of dark chocolate (100g)
-Butter (40g)

-Self-raising flour (30g)
-Sugar (2 tablespoons)
-Cocoa powder (or alternatively hot chocolate mix) (2 tablespoons)
-Milk (1 tablespoon)

To serve:
-A bar of white chocolate (100g)
-Rich tea round biscuits

It's extremely simple and cheap. Here's the procedure:

Preparation:
-Pre-heat oven on medium heat (150-200 degrees, gas mark 6)

-Melt the dark chocolate and the butter
-Mix them together
-Add a full teaspoon of the mixture onto each cupcake holder to cover the bottom of each cupcake

-Then, in another container, add the flour, sugar, milk and cocoa powder together
-If the mixture looks too stiff, add more milk. The consistency should be dough-like
-Finally, add this layer on top of the previous one that you already put inside each cupcake holder

-Bake for 10-15 minutes then remove from oven.
-Just before serving, cook for another 5-10 minutes, always on medium heat.
-Check if dough is cooked with a spaghetti or toothpick and remove from oven if the spaghetti/toothpick comes out clean (after you've inserted it in the mixture)

To Serve:
-As soon as you take cupcakes out of the oven, put a rich tea biscuit on top of each of the cupcakes
-Turn each cupcake upside down with the help of the biscuit (i.e. wider circumference down) on an individual serving plate. [At this moment, the rich tea biscuit should serve as a base for the the upside-down cupcake]
-Put on top of each soufflé a white chocolate square and let it melt
-Serve immediately and Buon Appetito!

Please comment on this recipe and let me know if you like it.
If anybody tries it with gluten-free flour mix let me know!
I think it should be suitable...

London Underground

The ads, the confusion, the pushes and the auditory or visual isolation...
who would've thought the tube could be such a human place.
Everybody is here for a reason: to go from A to B. 
No one speaks and everyone thinks of where they need to be, where they must go. 
Yes, I have been pushed on the tube before. And I've also pushed. 
I've complained against the escalator's unspoken rule of staying on the right hand side and walking on the left...but I've also used it from time to time, even after having thought that no one could ever possibly be in such a rush to need to walk up a never-ending steep escalator. 
I've done it.
And yet...I've also occasionally caught the glances of other people and, even more rarely, have caught their beautiful smiles. On the tube everyone is equal: whether you want to admit it or not...whether you read the paper or not. And when you find out the person next to you is playing your favourite game on their cell phone you wish you could say something like "I love that game too! What level are you at?" without sounding too much like a crazy stalker.

What would London be without its tube anyway? It would be like a businessman without his briefcase, a mom without a child, a blind man without its guide dog. And yes we'll keep on ignoring each other, we'll keep on wishing that that lady doesn't steal the seat in the carriage  that caught our eye, we'll keep rushing and not helping the woman with the heavy luggage going down the stairs...

But we'll also keep showing up, going from A to B. We go underground. Even if we feel not wanted in that carriage because we stopped the doors and everybody is staring. And we'll also keep stealing empathising glances. Be glad we are surrounded by people when we are going home and we don't feel like it. And all this must mean something. We are part of something. Even if it's a split second. Even if we desperately try not to share anything with the person sitting next to us. We are all part of a journey. It's up to us to make the best of it. Yes...who would have thought the tube could be such a human place.

Happy 150th birthday tube.