German Food

The best food to be had in Germany, in my opinion, are the cakes and breads:



This is a cherry cake at a café on Marienplatz in München. On the other hand, savory dishes generally are not so good, in my opinion:



This was a Munich version of Rösti that was totally different to the Swiss version we tried. This was a latke-like potato pancake (but not as good). It was served with smoked salmon (good) and salad with some brown vinegar (not that good).

Swiss Food: Breads and Desserts

Chocolate for sale:



This bread is called "Zopf":



We bought a 700g loaf. I thought it might be a bit sweet like some hallah but it wasn't really at all. This is a rum flavored chocolate truffle in the form of a hedgehog at a cafe/bakery in Bern:

Swiss Food: Savory Dishes

The traditional Swiss dish, Rösti, at the Altestramdepot restaurant in Bern:



This is basically a lot of grated potato plus heaps of cheese. It was a lot better than spätzli, which we also ordered. After this encounter with the native food we decided to try Mexican food in the form of this cactus salad:



It was interesting. A bit reminiscent of some Chinese salads. At the Zurich railway station, Snork Maiden picked up this precisely wrapped pizza:



The wrapping is definitely better than the pizza.

French Food

Two salads ordered by Snork Maiden in Paris. This was called an "Italian Salad":



at a café near the Arc de Triomphe called "Le Comptoir de l'Arc". Yes, watermelon, and lots of Parmesan. And this one is duck and foie gras:



at a café near the Louvre.

Why is Canned Fish in the Fridge in Swedish Stores?

Well at least in the store next to the hotel I stayed in. Jars of pickled herring too. As well as the notorious fermented herring. By Australian standards, prices of food etc. mostly seem fairly reasonable in Sweden. And in Switzerland. I remember when I first went to Switzerland 24 years ago I was shocked by the high prices. Some things are cheaper than Australia and some more expensive. Beer in bars is expensive I'm told. But the price of wine in the System Bolaget store is very reasonable. Of course, by French standards it's expensive. It's the only place to buy wine, liquor, and beer stronger than 3.5% alcohol except in a bar and from 3pm on Saturday to Monday morning it's closed. The queues at 2:30pm on Saturday before they close at 3pm are nuts. They need a security guard to control the crowd queued up outside the store and winding all throughout it....

HFRX Performance for August 2009

HFRX results are in for August. The overall hedge fund index was only up 0.17%. Equity market neutral performed particularly poorly and systematic diversified very well. Other results are in the table:

Preliminary Report August 2010

The MSCI World Index lost 3.46%. We seem to have lost roughly 3% slightly ahead of the market.

Snork Maiden: ATO Refund

I expected that Snork Maiden would have to pay an extra $A13 in tax for the 2009-2010. In fact, she got a $A203 refund. So that's nice!