Expand the wine culture
This 2020 there are 366 days to extract the best flavors of the world, life and people and enjoy them with greater pleasure. There are as many days as they say there are cheeses in France not to repeat or recipes in Portugal for the fascinating bacalhau. Let us extend, then, our cheese culture and atlas, turning the 2020 transit into a milky way through Puerto Rico, Europe, where unique cheeses are produced and with the identity of the territory, or the state of Oregon, land of the Rogue River Blue, chosen a few months best cheese on the planet.
Expand the wine culture to better appreciate this exciting food. How about learning about oenology in Paris? Less known than other French producing regions, l'Île de Francein the past it was a producing destination that the La Winerie Parisienne project seeks to rescue. To do this, it established an urban winery on the Tour Eiffel itself where until April millions of visitors will be able to learn about the production process. An apprenticeship that can be combined with attending the expo that the Louvre on the multi-faceted and epicure Leonardo Da Vinci will carry out until February 20 , and with a tour of Bustronome, a gastronomic bus on board of which you can get to know the relevant sites of Paris while They taste exquisite wines and French menus.
Dodge the tariffs imposed by the United States government on certain European wines. With alcoholic contents higher than 14% alcohol demarcated by this measure, sherry and port wines are two anti-tariff and meditation options least used by oenophiles, and also excellent gastronomic harmonies and cocktail ingredients, without counting on spilling living history in every sip. Be cautious and stock your cava in prevention to any new measure that could affect them.
Eat healthier and reduce cholesterol intake. Countless are the healthy properties of olive oil, of which in Puerto Rico there are extra virgins of magnificent quality and origins, but perhaps less known are those of acorn-fed Iberian ham, which a medical study conducted in Spain revealed to be beneficial to health cardiovascular of those who daily ingested an ounce and a half of this delicacy, which is not a bad idea to include in our diet to increase the blood concentration of good cholesterol and reduce that of bad.
Be eco-friendly. How about betting on textiles such as cork or banana fiber, a material of natural origin, biodegradable and waterproof that can be used as packaging, food wrapping or even fabric for footwear, such as the banana fiber slippers created by Indianes, a Catalan company that focuses on ecological footwear?
Bet on the sustainability of agriculture and local economies. Create your own garden, consume food from your environment, grown with little intervention and respect for the environment such as vegetables, chocolates or organic and biodynamic wines, made without chemicals and guided by the energy of the universe. Also explore new products, including vegan ones, like seaweed or plankton, two foods and condiments from the sea pantry.
Live your movie. This year the steps lead down the trails 007 that premieres "No Time To Die" in April , the last appearance of Daniel Craig as James Bond.To do this, he returns to Jamaica, the sensual natural paradise where the author Ian Fleming conceived the most famous secret agent in a bucolic terrain, today converted into the luxurious GoldenEye resort. There you can enjoy in a collection of exclusive private villas and a spa with unique treatments with coconut milk, Jamaican rum or the famous Blue Mountain coffee. Of course, enjoying the bubbles of the special edition that Bollinger champagne created to harmonize with the film.
Improve the investment portfolio.Therefore, you have to take a look at the bottles of wine and distilled spirits as an investment or build a cava at home as an important home improvement. You can buy rare and select bottles through auction houses such as Sotheby's, Acker, Bonhams or Christie's, or by personally bidding in summer in Auction Napa Valley, in autumn in La Part des Anges in Cognac or the most famous of all, the Hospices de Beaune, which takes place in November in Burgundy.
Stock pantry for hurricane season. Ideal are the premium canned vegetables and seafood, since they allow you to make complete, healthy and tasty menus, without the need for cooking.
Be good Samaritans.And therefore, starting in April, visit La Samaritaine, a century-old department store that the LVMH group renovated in Paris to house a luxury shopping center with stores of its brands, restaurants and a five-star hotel of the Cheval Blanc brand , with views to the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral.
Eat from a multi-Michelin star chef. If you are short on time, you will probably be able to do it in the Dominican Republic, where anticipated chefs will return in 2020 to participate in Gastronomic, a series of pop-up dinners that have already brought influential chefs such as Joan Roca, Massimo Bottura or Virgilio Martínez to Quisqueya. to capture on the table the best of his talent and flavors.
Take a gastronomic trip. How about a wine trip or the Epicurean Road Trips , a program of The Luxury Collection that creates gastronomic experiences in the main hotels of this brand such as cocktail classes, visits to wineries, fish smoking classes and others? Or a gastronomic cruise on some of the European rivers? Or a gourmet train tour? Or some agro-experience of collecting truffles or saffron? Or some gastronomic festival like the Aspen Food & Wine Classic ?
Relax, renew and rest.A good year-round anti-stress antidote is going to a wine or beer spa, or undergoing hydrotherapy and then staying fit with enocosmetic products that take advantage of all the grape's antioxidant properties in skin or hair treatments.
Drink more water. With or without gas, the sophistication between waters is such that there is no excuse to stop hydrating. Bottles of very unique design or origins characterize the new waters, which, according to their mineral composition, also have digestive, purging, diuretic and sweat properties, help regulate body temperature, the circulatory and immune systems, and benefit hair, nails or the skin, by promoting collagen production, slowing aging.
Savor the shopping experience. Nordstrom Broadway is the newest gastro-destination in Manhattan with six food and beverage concepts that validate the strategy of other department stores, such as El Corte Inglés , to bet on gastronomy as an engine to reinforce the shopping experience.
After two years of recess, after Hurricane Maria passed through Puerto Rico, the “New Year's Wonderland” event is held again at the Caribe Hilton Hotel.
The return of this party is given in time to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the inn , which features newer facilities and areas, after a multi-million dollar renovation.
"New Year's Wonderland" was founded in 2002 as an alternative to the offer of end-of-year parties at hotels in Puerto Rico at that time, said Carlos Cobián, producer of the event.
The event, which brings together over 2,500 people, divides the hotel into six different areas, each with a different setting and music. Attendees will enjoy Latin and urban rhythms, as well as an indoor and outdoor disco overlooking the Condado lagoon. A lounge area in the gardens and an iconic hotel lobby will also be available.
“The offer of this event is unique. It's like being in an all-inclusive adult Disney World . You can enjoy in any of the six areas and you will not be bored. It is an extraordinary experience that has allowed us to celebrate this activity successfully for 16 years, ”added Cobian.
One, two, three, four ... military trucks, that was the image on which a BBC narrator confirmed the veracity of the news that traveled on all social networks. In a solemn voice, he explained that the vehicles transported around 60 coffins from Bergamo to other Italian cities in order to be cremated.
The roar of the engines and the reporter's words could be heard. Only the deserted and silent street had permission to dismiss the duel. Mourning for children, grandchildren, family and friends living at a distance from the thousands of lives that COVID-19 has claimed.
One, two, three, four ... until I stopped counting, the grief did not allow it. It is essentially the pain within the pain.
The transmitting caravan of the dead is one of the cruelest faces of this pandemic. Hundreds of people enter the emergency rooms not knowing if they will ever feel the hug, the touch, the heat or a kiss from someone they love. Devastating.
The suffering of those who stay at home is even more heartbreaking. Isolated and fully aware, they are unaware of the evolution and possible recovery of the one maintained by a respirator. Lives must be saved and there is no human space to report the progress of the sick.
Those who fail to overcome the crisis will receive a lonely goodbye. In some cases family members can say goodbye to their dying people by videoconference. It is the only thing that isolation allows. Impossible to clasp hands, kiss foreheads or receive caresses.
The saturation of funeral services is so high that there is no other option but to transport the corpses to other cities or to spaces that have been enabled as transitory morgues so that little by little they can be buried or cremated. It is shocking to think that the Ice Palace, a skating rink in Spain, filled with the echo of frolics and joys, is now filled with mute victims of the coronavirus.
To the already painful process of mourning today one more sadness is added. The rites, so important in our culture to emotionally digest the death process, are delayed by a system that has collapsed due to the overwhelming number of deaths. These ceremonies are also controlled. Sobs cannot be comforted, nor can tears be shared. There is no impossible, nor can there be contact. Only a limited number of people, at the distance stipulated by the isolation, can visit the chapel or participate in the services.
For those who survive and their families when the reunion finally arrives, those kisses will be life itself.
This that I narrate is the reality of Italy and Spain. Countries that are eight or nine hours away from the area, but that in this global scenario are too close. Why do I count this and not the songs on the balconies, the birthdays on Skype or the "happy hours" on zoom? Simple. So that those who still think that this COVID-19 is an exaggeration and go around barking sterilely, in open defiance of death, know this balance that only solidarity and responsibility can stop. Social isolation, although difficult to bear, is the most effective for us to win this battle.
Be sensible. We do not want a caravan of the dead in our land.
I listen to podcasts and audiobooks. Most of the time because I'm interested in topics, but I also turn to them when I just don't want to hear my thoughts. The whisper of other voices is always there to calm your own. It is the perfect escape.
And it has been in these last weeks of pregnancy in which I have had to initiate a home confinement, a little before the pandemic forced us all to rethink the way we move and relate in space. The quarantine and the confinement -with the enormous exception of the fear that the disease generates- does not feel like a new experience. Last year while completing a manuscript for a book, I lived about six months in monastic mode. I would get up at dawn, take a little walk in the park, eat breakfast, and not leave my desk until two in the afternoon. Then he would have lunch for half an hour and return to write until seven at night. At that time I would go out to take a Pilates class and return, eat something simple and return to the desk until midnight and so on every day.
In that period I not only finished the manuscript, but I worked on the most complex relationship that any human being can have: the relationship with oneself. Creating a routine and adjusting to it with discipline allowed me to have the awkward conversations I had pending with myself. Questions like: is this what I want to be doing with my life? What do I have to do to get rid of that pain, that pain, that rancor? What did I fail in that relationship that ended badly? How much of what I say long for do I really want and how much does it respond to what others expect of me? What can I control and what do I have to accept that is not in my hands? What is the root of this sadness? Where does joy come from when I feel it?
The list of questions is much longer and probably more awkward, but that was the point. Then came the pregnancy and the inevitable exit from the writing cave. Reunions with family, friends and colleagues arrived. The new year came and with it the earthquakes, the third quarter and now a pandemic. Now all of us - and that all has never been more inclusive than now - are called to stay in the caves of the home, facing the recesses of the house in which we have accumulated objects that remind us of those we were in other times; spaces that are so easy to ignore on a daily basis, things that we have always been able to escape.
In the cave, time moves slower not only because our physical movement is less, but because contrary to what we feel when we go out, we no longer go through time, time passes through us in this stillness. It forces us to stop, to look at ourselves, to face the memories and the traces of the lived that our houses keep between furniture and walls. The pandemic has forced us to go home.
And this time it is not to the conflictive or nostalgic house of childhood, it is to the house we live in today, the cave of the self of the present, of the person we have become. This time there is no escape possible. We have to face the cave that we inhabit and that inhabits us.
We will leave this experience changed, not only because of what has already happened and will continue happening in the world or because of the painful lessons of this collective fear, we will leave changed because for the first time in a long time we will communally face our inner home. Hopefully in there we can also wash our hands well.
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen master, said that “when the crowded boats of Vietnamese refugees faced storms or pirates, if everyone panicked, everything was lost. But if only one person in the boat remained calm and focused, that was enough. ”
As the coronavirus spreads and the global wave of closings, cancellations, and economic downturn, we realize that the world really is a scarf that we are all woven into , and what is happening in a far part of the world can truly affect us. personally.
How to survive emotionally?
Addressing our own inner emergency. When we feel our nervous system activated due to news of the coronavirus that seem increasingly closer and amazing, we can begin to think that we can help us @ s mism @ s. Some teachers of mindfulness and "self-compassion" such as Kristin Neff, Chris Germer, Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield have recommended that, in addition to following widely published hygiene measures, we can practice calming our body and mind.
We can follow the next steps:
- Be aware of how we feel and name the feeling out loud. That is: anxiety, fear, uncertainty, fear ...
- Identify where we feel it in the body: in the chest, in fast breathing, in a contracted jaw, etc.
- Put one hand on the heart or any part of the body whose contact comforting us : behind the neck, embrace to us @ s mism @ s touching shoulders, put a hand on the crown (the top of the head) , or on the forehead and exhale letting go of the tension.
- Validate how we feel. Telling us the truth is essential: “This is difficult. I am human and I fear for my life and that of my loved ones. ”
- Recognize that we are not the only people who are afraid. Right now, there are millions in the world who feel exactly the same. "I'm not alone @. I am part of a global family. This is what it feels like to be human on the planet right now. ”
- Desiring that we and l @ s others, we can find a point of calm and security, "we can have peace and serenity. May we get ahead. ”
We can choose to see that, despite the chaos and the closed borders, there are scientists working together for a solution.
As Thich Nhat Hanh says, we can choose to be the Vietnamese who remained calm in the boat when the storm hit. We can turn our new hygiene routine into a mindfulness practice:
- Wash our hands counting the 20 seconds in our minds.
- Apply hand sanitizer with open senses.
- Every time we find a door, stop, take a breath, consider a creative and hygienic way to go through it ( do not touch the knob, push it with your body , etc.).
- Be fully present to the things we touch and pause before saying hello.
- If we have to stay home, it will be tempting to sit down to eat watching a movie marathon. Can we take advantage to reinforce our mindfulness practice with longer moments of silence? Can we talk with our loved Amad @ s ?
Jack Kornfield says that the Dalai Lama wakes up every morning with this prayer: “May I be a raft, a bridge, a boat that helps others cross the river and the flood. May I be a lamp to those lost in darkness. May I be medicine for those who are sick. May I be a resting place for those who are tired. And that I can do this for as long as the Earth, the sky, the stars and the galaxies exist, to be able to contribute to the awakening of everyone ”.
Think about you mism : "I can be a source of serenity for those around me." And he repeats, thinking of all the beings on the planet: “May all beings be safe and free from suffering. May all beings be happy and healthy. May all beings have peace ”.
