Home for the holidays - part 1

Every year the debate starts raging around this time...

Should Sinterklaas (the Low Countries' equivalent of Santa Claus) be allowed three weeks of business unaffected by the whole Christmas hoopla... Do we want to already be confronted with the horror of Jingle Bells and Rudolph the red-nosed Rendeer (too much schnaps probably) by the end of November?

You will note that they introduced the Halloween concept (brilliant marketing if you ask me) to bridge the holiday gap. Just so we can spend some more money on some ridiculous decorations.
Even though the kitsch factor reaches unseen, unparalleled heights every year again. Heck, even I have already invested in some white feathers and am hunting for some transparent Christmas ornaments as I write this.

Having a child means you are obliged to go along with this whole commercial rigmarole. Gone are the days when you used to be happy just to have a tree, let alone some decorations and even one gift under the tree.

So without further ado, here is some eye candy for you to get you in that 'fantasmagorical' Christmas spirit... only in America... *sighing and shaking head in disbelief*

Quick fix - carrots/oranges/sesame seeds with salmon

Easy and tasty fix, especially now that autumn is upon us.

Ingredients:
salmon fillets, skin left on (marinade according to taste, my so does a marvellous soy marinade, which leaves me asking for more), fry to your liking

carrots (300g or more)
ginger (5cm, shredded)
1/2 oranges
3 tbsps of cooking oil
3 tbsps of water
sesame seeds
1 tbsp of honey

- scrape the carrots and slice thinly at an angle
- heat up oil in a wok, add ginger, let simmer until the ginger aroma fills the kitchen
- add carrots, cook for 2 minutes with the ginger
- add water, let cook for 5/10 minutes
- slice oranges and add to wok
- add honey
- roast sesame seeds and sprinkle over the carrots and oranges

Such a sunny and colourful meal for those dark autumn days.

The Honourable Rebel aka Decca Mitford Treuhaft

I've been something of a Mitford 'fan' for a good five years now. I can't remember actually when I actually became interested in them. At any rate, they were a fierce bunch., which included the one who tried to do herself in when Britain declared war on Germany, the communist firebrand who launched an inquisition against the racketeering funeral industry, the beauteous Diana whose destiny is forever linked to that of Oswald Mosley, the (Dowager) Duchess (of Devonshire) whose granddaughter is fashion model Stella Tennant, the quiet one who might have been a 'you know what bian' (Decca's words) and the brilliant but tough as nails authoress Nancy Mitford (Lady Redesdale famously once pointed out that Nancy’s letters “usually contain a skillfully hidden dagger pointed straight at one’s heart").

After reading the book about this sisterhood, I landed on a book by Peter Sussman who has been kind enough to edit the youngest Mitford's letters to such luminaries as Maya Angelou, Katherine Graham, numerous Presidents of the US and even Hilary Clinton, as well as to her family members.

With two of England's most notorious anti-Semites as her sisters as well as the highly acerbic Nancy (Love in a cold Climate), it goes without saying that one would have to be quite a wit to survive in such a household. And so Decca Mitford did... starting a 'going away' account very early on in life, developing her own secret language with her sister (Boudledidge), eloping with her cousin Esmond Romilly to war-torn Spain in the 1930s, and taking on a leading role in the civil rights and Communist movement in the US. The character of this larger-than-life red sheep of a family that was related to Winston Churchill shines through in several of her letters.

Needless to say, I'm enjoying all the Mitfordiana, and look forward to discovering the polyphony of all six of the sisters, in their letters edited by Charlotte Mosley.
In the meantime, I leave you this Decca quote, which sums up her personality to a tee:
"You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty."

Belgium on the brink of civil war!

And so we are at 156 days without a government, with the negotiating parties in gridlock. Is Belgium on the verge of a civil war? If so, this is surely what the battlefield would look like. In fact, I think this is what our pols look like at the moment. A bunch of silly potatoes...

Le current mood - le jazz hot

Yes, there's a jazz singer inside of me just waiting to belt out a 30s production number...
I think I'll just go tame that urge with a cup of hot cocoa now, shall I?

Oh, she was gorgeous - Georgia O'Keeffe and others

Sooooo, another week, another beauty for you and me to feast your eyes on.

This week I found myself thinking a lot about beauty, after visiting the exhibition 'British Vision' in Ghent's Museum of Fine Arts and worshipping at the altar of 'Beata Beatrix' by D.G. Rossetti again.


The exhibition focuses on imagination and observation in British art. Somehow my mind drifted back to Ruskin and his idea that art is not a matter of taste, but that it involves the whole person. Likewise, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Who determines what is beautiful? These days beauty seems to be so highly charged and determined by what we see on TV and in the media, that I felt a breath of fresh air was needed.

So today, let's focus on atypical beauty, but still gorgeousness incarnate.

I thought of Georgia O'Keeffe first.

Famously fixed in time in all the freshness of her youth by Stieglitz, I find that her face is all the more stunning as she gets older. The wrinkles, the calmness, her hands: they tell a more interesting tale, of New Mexico, of artistic discovery and exploration and of a fascinating inner life. I love her paintings too.

Then my mind drifted on to another artist: sculptor Louise Bourgeois.

Again, a redefinition of beauty. What's not to like? She's obviously unique, a sense of harmony and balance emanates from this photo and yet her face does not correspond with today's canons of beauty.

And finally, I was reminded of this photo from a photo book by Richard Avedon.

What a difference between 'Dovima and the Elephants' (see Avedon website) and the girl with the freckles from his 'In the American West'. And yet, both are beautiful: Dovima's painted, almost kabuki-like face and the young girl's face painted with freckles.

So you see, the definition of beauty can be extremely wide-ranging... Everyone has their personal opinion of what makes a beautiful woman. In my opinion, beauty equates personality equates those unique qualities that shine through and that render a woman more than beautiful. Simply irresistible.

Surgery central

Far be it from me to bother you with inane details pertaining to my life but sometimes I seem to be able to wrap my mind better around something when I actually write it out.

For some time now, my beloved so has been acting like a fire-spewing creature straight out of the dragon's den. No, menopause has not hit with a vengeance yet, thankfully. Unfortunately she too has had to hop on to the surgery bandwagon and will have to undergo some pretty invasive muck-raking surgery in the spring, followed by 8 weeks or more of recovery.

I am trying to ignore the ramifications of this decision. However, at the end of the day I find myself being terrified by the fact that somebody who is basically a paragon of health (well, sorta) will be knocked out for such a long time. I don't like illness, I hate hospitals and I despise medical practitioners for their lack of communication skills. So, here is our bump on the road: I am terrified of the idea that she is putting her life into someone else's hands (the dreadest anaesthesia), horrified at the idea that they might find something else while they're in there, and I think of the recovery period as filled with gloom, doom and a lot of pain. I suppose that by now, you might have gleaned that I'm the half-empty glass type of personality.

So this is my current mood:


And for those who like men in drag, and a more contemporary voice singing the same lyrics:

Simply must-have no. 4 - Jensen/Jacobsen cutlery

To some of you, I must sound like some relentless coveting design junkie. The contrary is true. I simply try to find the best combination of form and function, so that my life becomes more comfortable.

This brings me to my next project: finding a set of decent cutlery. My plight became all the more obvious this week as I will be hosting the whole family on Sunday for my gran's birthday. Not only did I not have sufficient cutlery to go around (well, we have 18 people coming over) but some of it looked rather shabby (gasp!). Having searched high and low, I finally caved in and bought one of those easy Ikea sets (thus adding another different set to our current mish-mash of silver and stainless steel).

I do however passionately long, nay crave the beautiful Arne Jacobsen-designed cutlery by Georg Jensen. There is of course the slight drawback that every item costs approx. 25-65 USD (thus if one needed a full set for say, 12 diners, one would be spending the equivalent of the annual budget of a large African village, while being able to buy them a whole herd of cattle too).

But look at the sheer splendour of it. Matte stainless steel, a fork that still looks contemporary even after almost 50 years. And although the Philistines at the hotel for which Jacobsen originally developed the cutlery stopped using the cutlery shortly after its introduction (diner to waiter: young man, now bring me a 'real' fork instead of this toothpick!), it is still being lovingly manufactured today.

Of course, I could splurge on the salad set or the futuristic pie server, but this would mean that we would have to relinquish Nigella's salad hands, which we cherish so lovingly because of their cuteness.

Thus, this is a must-have, but which can only be justified by the purchase of a winning lottery ticket. Alas, no such luck, I think.

150 days and counting - the end of Belgium as you know it?

OK, I'll level with you all. I've sort of been steering clear of the subject of Belgium and the current political crisis.

For those of you who are blissfully unaware of what is going on, let me start by saying that our elections were exactly 150 days ago. To this day, the pols are still in talks to put together a coalition that will work.

So quick recap while respecting the KISS principle: Belgium straddles the boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe. This is not an easy combo, with the Flemish (who speak Dutch) and the Walloons (who speak French) and some Germans (thrown in for good measure to spice up the cocktail) all attempting to co-habit peacefully. Since 1830 they have all managed to do so more or less successfully, with the odd tiff here and there (I won't go in to the fact that for the first 100 years of Belgium's existence the Flemish were treated as second-rate citizens and that many Flemish were in cahoots with the Germans during WWII).

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the state was regionalized, which led to a federation with federal, regional and community governments. A perfect example of what Belgium is actually famous for: the compromise (and beer, and French fries, the saxophone, Magritte, etc. but that again is another matter).

Having read the above, you will undoubtedly have guessed the consequences of this interesting cocktail. Some five months ago we all did our duty and drifted off to the polling stations one Sunday morning to vote. The elections resulted in a victory for the Christian-Democrats and the Liberals, and a rather devastating defeat for the Socialist Party. (I'm leaving out the Nationalists, because they disgust me anyway). However, it being Belgium, we have Dutch-speaking CD's and Libs, and French-speaking CD's and Libs. And unfortunately they are not seeing eye to eye when it comes to the federation as it stands.

There are mainly two issues:
- the fate of Francophone voters, who live just outside of Brussels, in areas that are in Flemish territory but that have a significant French-speaking population, and who are allowed to vote for French-speaking politicians during their election. It would seem that this little set-up is illegal and thus the Flemish want to abolish it, which they did today (triggering a walk-out by the French MPs after the vote in the parliamentary committee)
- the Flemish want more powers for the regions, in part to do away with the flow of Flemish tax revenue to the poorer Walloon region.

So this whole charade drags on. Those living in Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde and the Brussels-Capital region might disagree with me when I say, oh, for f***'s sake, just get over it? But in view of the rising petrol prices, the cost of living, and a cabinet that cannot take any major decisions, as well as a country that is basically teetering on the edge of a giant abyss, I can only shake my head in disbelief. Belgium, and in this I have to agree with Belgian blogger Gerrit Six, the man who tried to sell Belgium on e-Bay, has so much to offer. I love this country, I love its people (well, most of them), its customs, its food, its beers, its architecture, its art and its museums, its cathedrals, its polders, the Atomium (!), and so much more...

So what do you think, boys and girls (I'm talking to you, Joëlle), can we just get on with it now?

* a word of thanks goes out to Raf Casert of AP, who lives in the affected region, and who also managed to explain it in a KISS way.

Oh she was gorgeous!*: Marcia Cross

OK, given the ravage on Cape Cod, Massachusetts this weekend, I thought I might do something good for the Bay State ;-) (Go Sox! and I hope power's up and running again, Mom-in-law, and that your move went well).

Today we give a shoutout to that phenomenal redhead, Marcia Cross, who is from Marlborough, MA . Most avid TV viewers will probably be familiar with her character Bree van de Kamp from Desperate Housewives (not her alter ego, I might stress, but rather a Martha Stewart on steroids). Those who are a little older, like myself, will probably remember the scene from Melrose Place in which Kimberly Shaw rips off that wig.



Then of course, there was the juicy gossip/rumour about presumed lesbianism, which started on Datalounge and took the world by storm.

Anyhow, I'm happy to report that the divine Ms Cross is since married to some stockbroker type and the mother of twin girls, Savannah and Eden.

And may I take this opportunity to express my hope that many more episodes of Desperate Housewives will follow... In the meantime, I will feast my eyes on that pumpkin mane and those wonderful curves for a while longer.