How much does it cost? (2)

Finally, the moment at least one of you has been waiting for... the return of HMDIC?!

Since the dollar has stabilized around "just slightly depressing" our sticker shock has subsided somewhat. You can only live in panic for so long; after a while you stop caring and go on buying yourself cheese. But still, there is no reason for any of us to forget how relatively expensive this protectionist bubble of a place actually is.

4 large organic eggs

origin:  Switzerland

I wonder if the US is the only country that operates in dozens when it comes to eggs. Hmm... Happy guessing!

All this talk of dairy products reminds me of this Sesame Street bit which, like dairy products, has a special place in my heart.

Proud macaroni

Perhaps because I've been daydreaming about Thomas Jefferson lately (more Jefferson in Paris than Jefferson on the two dollar bill, note), I recently had the tune "Yankee Doodle" in my head (the flute version). Which led me to wonder for the first time ever: What does it mean? I think I understand all the words in the song individually, but together they're like a bad macaroni salad (though perhaps that's a redundant turn of phrase).

Let's review the lyrics as I remember them:
Yankee Doodle went to town, a'ridin' on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.
Yankee Doodle, keep it up!
Yankee Doodle Dandy!
Mind the music and the step,
And with the girls be handy!

A bit of research seems to suggest mine is the grade school version (the real one having many more painful stanzas). It was originally sung by the British in mockery of New England dandies who tried to be sophisticated but ended up looking like doodles (feathers apparently not cool). Macaroni (or maccheroni as it is actually spelled in Italian, interestingly) was the derisive term for well-travelled Brits whose grand tours around Europe made them really stuck up and annoying with their affected foreign culture and manners ("I don't know, I just feel so naked without a scarf on at all times").

Oh man, Americans have never liked being called gauche. The only choice was to appropriate the song and sing it back in their pale little faces. ("We're from America, couldn't be prouder. If you can't hear us, we'll yell a little louder.) Which is how Yankee Doodle came to be part of the Americana medley we sang at our fifth-grade pageant, "Fifty States Night" (I representing the noble state of New Jersey). And to be stuck in my mind at this very moment. 

It won't make History Detectives but it's nice to know.

Well informed

We recently received a full-color pamphlet in the mail entitled "AlpTransit in Ticino" – 12 full-color pages with updates on all the public construction projects in the area. The Swiss passion for public works involving tunnels cannot be bridled.

I will admit to indulging in some semi-cruel laughter at the expense of this sincere little booklet before I considered how nice it is to know that someone is actually working on the highways and not just closing lanes to torment us like they do elsewhere (no doubt in retribution for all those highway workers we drivers apparently hit so often). I've already misplaced it or I would show you how classy it is. 

Side note that for some reason I am making very small: Although I have always thought trucking to be an interesting occupation which I would consider had I a willing partner and no other tempting employment, I will go on record to say that being a trucker in Europe seems like the worst job ever. Wait, drive through a tunnel, wait again, sleep by law, wait in line, wait in traffic... Maybe in Italy the truck stop food makes up for this, but I'm not sure how it could be worth it elsewhere.

Successfully introducing American food products to Europe: Six universally applicable tipps

1. Find a popular American product that is only somewhat processed and could be construed as natural. (If they happen to be chips, be sure to make them at least 25% smaller, since they will be eaten after dinner.)

                 

2. Add paprika.

3. Create a brand name out of some English words (add an apostrophe, warranted or not) and put it in a really original logo (avoiding carefully the use of mustaches or other facial hair which, American or not, is unappealing).

4. Design a distinctive package for your product.

5. Add two layers of extra packaging (to make it seem American). 

6. For maximum sales, include "Bio," "Nature," "Energy," and/or "Sport" on the label.