SaltShaker

 THRONGS OF MONGOLS in resplendent robes of blue, red, and maroon swarm Ulaan Baatar’s Central Stadium. Archers snap bows, bands blow brass music, and the air is saturated with the pungent odor of mutton, the national dish (the older and tougher, the better). Yet all eyes are focused on the field, where scores of burly [...]

 We need to educate our children if we want our continent to prosper, but they can’t learn if they go to school hungry.”
- Cesária Évora, the “Barefoot Diva”, Cape Verdian singer
Buenos Aires - If I were to ask you to tell me a little about Cape Verde, I’m guessing you’d draw a blank. So would [...]

 Sherry… a sickly compound, the use of which will transform a nation, however bold and warlike by nature, into a race of sketchers, scribblers and punsters, in fact into what Englishmen are at the present day.”
- George Borrow, English Novelist
Buenos Aires - I’m going to give you the one sentence basics of sherry, formerly called [...]

 I speak: Portuguese, German, French, English, Spanish, Italian, Esperanto, some Russian; I read: Swedish, Dutch, Latin and Greek (but with the dictionary right next to me); I understand some German dialects; I studied the grammar of: Hungarian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Lithuanian, Polish, Tupi, Hebrew, Japanese, Czech, Finnish, Danish; I dabbled in others. But all at a [...]

 Before the Spanish banned Inti Raymi in 1572, this winter solstice festival was the biggest event on the calendar of the Awantinsuyu Incan empire. It occurred at the time of the sun’s rebirth (around June 24th on our calendar) in Cuzco, Peru, the Inca capital. Native residents gathered to honour the Inca, the first-born son [...]

 The global importance of the Middle East is that it keeps the Far East and the Near East from encroaching on each other.”
- Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice President
Buenos Aires - On to the third post of last weekend’s whirlwind of dinners, and a private dinner. Now, originally, they’d simply booked out the second night [...]

 Pioneer 10 will continue to coast silently as a ghost ship through deep space into interstellar space, heading generally for the red star Aldebaran, which forms the eye of Taurus (The Bull). Aldebaran is about 68 light years away and it will take Pioneer over 2 million years to reach it.”
- NASA, The Pioneer Missions
Buenos [...]

 Etymology: Middle English whirlegigg, from whirlen to whirl + gigg top
Date: 15th century
…
3 a: one that continuously whirls, moves, or changes b: a whirling or circling course (as of events)
Buenos Aires - Yup, that’s been me this week. A little whirligig. Three Casa S dinners in a row, and all with completely different menus. I’m [...]