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Quote by Amélie Nothomb

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Ni d'Ève ni d'Adam

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Amélie Nothomb

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“I don't think people grasp the real me when they see me on television. I've got the wonderful family, the big house, the flash car. I run several of the world's best restaurants. I'm running round, cursing and swearing, telling people what to do. They probably think: that flash bastard. But my life, like most people's, is about hard work. It's about success. Beyond that, though, something else is at play. I'm as driven as any man you'll ever meet. When I think about myself, I still see a little boy who is desperate to escape, and keen to please. I just keep going, moving as far away as possible from where I began. Work is who I am, who I want to be. I sometimes think that if I were to stop working, I'd stop existing.”

InspirationalDriven By PurposeGordon Ramsay
Book:Humble Pie
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“For months beforehand, I fielded calls from British media. A couple of the reporters asked me to name some British chefs who had inspired me. I mentioned the Roux brothers, Albert and Michel, and I named Marco Pierre White, not as much for his food as for how—by virtue of becoming an apron-wearing rock-star bad boy—he had broken the mold of whom a chef could be, which was something I could relate to. I got to London to find the Lanesborough dining room packed each night, a general excitement shared by everyone involved, and incredibly posh digs from which I could step out each morning into Hyde Park and take a good long run around Buckingham Palace. On my second day, I was cooking when a phone call came into the kitchen. The executive chef answered and, with a puzzled look, handed me the receiver. Trouble at Aquavit, I figured. I put the phone up to my ear, expecting to hear Håkan’s familiar “Hej, Marcus.” Instead, there was screaming. “How the fuck can you come to my fucking city and think you are going to be able to cook without even fucking referring to me?” This went on for what seemed like five minutes; I was too stunned to hang up. “I’m going to make sure you have a fucking miserable time here. This is my city, you hear? Good luck, you fucking black bastard.” And then he hung up. I had cooked with Gordon Ramsay once, a couple of years earlier, when we did a promotion with Charlie Trotter in Chicago. There were a handful of chefs there, including Daniel Boulud and Ferran Adrià, and Gordon was rude and obnoxious to all of them. As a group we were interviewed by the Chicago newspaper; Gordon interrupted everyone who tried to answer a question, craving the limelight. I was almost embarrassed for him. So when I was giving interviews in the lead-up to the Lanesborough event, and was asked who inspired me, I thought the best way to handle it was to say nothing about him at all. Nothing good, nothing bad. I guess he was offended at being left out. To be honest, though, only one phrase in his juvenile tirade unsettled me: when he called me a black bastard. Actually, I didn’t give a fuck about the bastard part. But the black part pissed me off.”

RacismGordon RamsayMarcus Samuelsson
Book:Yes, Chef
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“Only a few hardy Westerners learn to speak Thai and even fewer learn to read it. At first glance it seems impossible and on second glance one would much rather not. The alphabet has forty-six wiggly consonants and thirty-one vowels, some of which are not visible to Western eyes. The language is a mixture of Pali, Sanskrit, Cambodian, and is of the Sino-Tibetan family and it seems to embrace the rules of all even when they conflict. King Rama Khamheng devised the alphabet in the thirteenth century and the writing shows the effect of having been born full-blown of kingly whim.”

ThaiThai Script
Book:Mai Pen Rai Means Never Mind an American Housewife's Honest Love Affair with the Irrepressible People of Thailand
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“The major difference between written Chinese and Thai is that Thai is written with an alphabet: 64 symbols, each with its own sound. When you put them together, they make "words"; there are no characters. That makes it rather easier than Chinese, for in Thai, if you know how a word ought to sound, you can read it when you see it. Writing is not so easy, for the letters must be combined in a particular manner, and for some sounds there are several possible letters; I do not know why that is so. Still, a man can study on his own, with the book as teacher. I know enough of the language to learn in this way because I have been listening to it for years. To learn this way when I first came here would not have been possible. Before long, I shall be able to read and write fluently; if only the Thai wouldn't write their words all run together in a string! That is what they do; there are no spaces between the words.”

Thai
Book:Letters from Thailand
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“È normale,” dice rispondendo alla mia muta richiesta di spiegazioni “non lo sai che le donne incinte hanno voglie e strani pensieri? Il blu non lo posso vedere, fallo sparire da questa casa.” Ora, di cose blu non ce ne sono poi molte – in realtà in questa casa non ci sono molte cose e basta. Ciononostante ho dovuto nascondere il maglione di lana grezza di papà, quello che lui mi aveva messo addosso l’ultima notte della sua vita e che avevo sempre indossato da quel giorno. Adesso sta in fondo a un cassetto, insieme a una tovaglia, una spazzola, due tazze senza manico e una cornice da specchio. Tutti oggetti blu, come le lancette dell’orologio fermo che tuttavia, rischiando, ho lasciato al loro posto. Spero che lei non se ne accorga, e confido che prima o poi quelle dannate lancette riprendano a muoversi.”

TempoOrologioGravidanzaBluLancette
Book:Un piccolo buio
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