Breakfast with champions

Last night we had Japanese take away delivered and sat around watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Torino until pretty late. It was quite long, as usual, and it was quite fun checking out some of the delegations: one athlete from Bermuda, one from Iran, the absolutely enormous American and Russian delegations and, of course, the huge and well-supported Italian delegation in their bright silver coats. This time they actually provided seats for the delegations as so often we’ve seen them have to stand throughout the ceremony. The ceremony itself was like most of them. The effect of creating the traditional dove out of a bunch of dancers hanging from the sky was quite nice. I had predicted that (Alberto) Tomba “La Bomba” would be the last torch carrier. I was right and I was wrong as is so often the case. He was the last carrier to enter the stadium. But then it was passed on at least 3 more times to the final carrier who was the female Italian skier Stefania Belmondo who has won the most medals. Funny enough one of the things I remember most was the symbolism of Laura Bush sitting next to Cherie Blair in the stands…

The games are being held in Torino, Italy and that just happens to be where Jessica is headed. They were supposed to be there last night but decided to head back there this afternoon. They’ll be in Torino today and leave from there tomorrow to head back home. She should be able to tell us what it was like to be in the Olympic City…

With dinner, as my eating and drinking seemed to be improving a bit lately, I tried a bit of Desney’s wine. I was able to drink about 3 sips this time which is better than ever. It burns a whole lot less. But it does still burn and the pleasure of the taste just does not outweigh the pain (yet) to actually enjoy a glass. I stuck to a nice cold glass of Japanese Kirin beer.

After 3 consequetive nights of uninterrupted sleep (no coughing fits) I thought I’d try something different instead of my everyday breakfast of oatmeal or poached eggs and yogurt. I went down the street to our local bakery and picked up a croissant and a pain au chocolat aux amandes and came back home and made myself my traditional cappuccino. The croissant tasted pretty good. But the taste was overwhelmed by the fact that it’s just too dry for me to eat. I’d have to douse my mouth with water both before and during in order to be able to enjoy it. I ate all of it but it wasn’t easy. The pain au chocolat aux amandes tasted quite nice. It was also easier to eat due to the almond paste in the middle. But it was still pretty dry and the powdered sugar on the top was just unbearable. I keep forgetting that I can’t eat powdered stuff on top of desserts at the moment as it sticks to my throat, dries it out and tickles for almost a half an hour afterwards no matter how much I drink. Again I was able to finish it but it wasn’t as enjoyable as it used to be. The cup of coffee felt good. The taste was a bit more acrid than I remember but I think that’s more due to the current state of my taste buds than anything else. I probably would have enjoyed my everyday breakfast more than this but it was worth a try.

Baby steps forward…