Le current mood - whoa! Thumping!

Le current mood - annoyed

Sources of annoyance include a skin eruption on my chin that makes Mount Vesuvius pale in comparison (in spite of some very fancy-schmancy new skincare products by some South African skin guru who worked with Christian Barnard), the need for a mani-pedi, a haircut, some relief for my persistent throat ache, some time to do some invoicing, some good TV (it's the year end for Chrissakes), etc.

I'd like to say something more profound, such as, the state of the world bothers me, etc. but tonight I am just in a shallow mood. No apologizing. Nah.

On the upside, we had some lovely pancakes this afternoon at a charming old place, and I got to sit next to the open fire.

We've spent a lot of time at the Antwerp Winterfoor, a nostalgic carnival, with 1930's rides, which the munchkin enjoys.

We're eating healthily (if you exclude the pancakes and syrup and hot cocoa with cream), even though it may resemble prison gruel at times.

I'm reading Charlotte Moseley's edition of the letters of all six of the Mitford Sisters.

A whole New Year is just around the corner.

sunday night quick fix - macrobiotic prison gruel

Risotto with zucchini and cashews

Peel and slice/dice
1 large onion
2 celery stalks
1 zucchini (you can leave the peel on this one if you wish)

Chop a handful of flat-leaf parsley

Ground some coriander in a mortar and pestle

Heat up 500-1 l of vegetable stock

Heat some oil and butter in a large saucepan
Add the celery and onion
Make sure it doesn't catch, while cooking for 5 mins.

Add some carnaroli rice
Add the zucchini

Start ladling in the stock, and stir... and keep stirring while you add ladle after ladle of stock.

Towards the end, when the rice is 'al dente', drop 150 g of cashews in a pan, and heat them (make sure they aren't burnt), until the oil in the nuts is released. Remove from hob.

Add the coriander and the cashews to the risotto when the rice is to your liking. Stir and add salt and pepper if needed.

Spoon into bowls, adding some parsley.

Et voilà, you have tonight's healthy dinner following the Temple Food approach. Be nice to your body, feed it all the good nutrients, and treat it with love.

New Year's Day - the prequel

Following the whole Christmas Day hullabuloo, my charming sister, now known as the Christmas terrorist, as she manages to hijack every Christmas, has decided not to join us for lunch or anything else. The less, the merrier, is my feeling, or does that seem too cruel?

The old adage, you can choose your friends, not your relatives, rings sooooo true.

oh she was gorgeous - Penelope Keith

Words completely fail me when it comes to this woman. I am and have been in love with Penelope Keith since 1979 when she first graced my parent's ridiculously large Grundig TV screen in To the Manor Born.
And now the BBC were kind enough to give us a Christmas special this year. Oh the bliss, oh the ecstasy of it all.



I never was able to figure out whether I preferred Audrey fforbes-Hamilton DeVere or Margo Leadbetter née Sturgess (from The Good Life, another BBC hit series with Paul Eddington of Yes, Minister fame).

My levels of Anglophilia are rising to new heights every day... I am pathetic, but non-apologetic.

And by the way, don't you all think that Marjorie Frobisher is a real fox for being 68???

Christmas - the sequel

Christmas was uneventful, barring my sister's meltdown during dessert and accusations flying about me being the new Nigella (and knowing no limits when it came to food). Pretty rich coming from a gastric bypass patient, who until recently, knew no limits herself.
The fireworks were set off by my extra dollop of double cream on the apple crumble. Tcha.

Attached a photo of the beast before it hit the oven for several hours.

The menu:
Prosecco with a splash of pomegranate

Gravad lax with blinis and sour cream
Olives
Fried cashews with chillis
Parma ham bundles with goat's cheese and figs

Turkey prepped with pancetta and rosemary
Stuffing of pancetta, dates, sausage meat, sage
Oven potatoes baked in goose fat
Brussels sprouts with chestnuts, marsala, and pancetta (yes, we love this particular type of Italian meat)
Brussels endives (for our Belgian link)
Apples with cranberries
Cranberry sauce

Apple crumble

Marcolini chocolates + coffee

wines: 2006 Hermitage (viognier grape) and a 2005 Côtes du Rhône

Needless to say that we are no longer interested in food for a few weeks.

Benazir Bhutto

Here's a photo of Benazir Bhutto during her visit to Brussels in 2000.
Today Mrs Bhutto lies dead in a hospital morgue after some militant decided to shoot her and then blow himself up.
First, let me say that I cannot understand suicide bombers' motives. The idea of unlimited sex with 72 virgins in heaven? As usual, not very woman-friendly, in the sense that 72 poor virgins are to be ravished by an exultant man, as he opens the gates to heaven... And I have to wonder, how someone who murders, is given the right to heaven's door? But that's just my old infidel self speaking up.

I'm not too familiar with Bhutto's politics, but I admired the fact that she was the first woman PM of a muslim state after a life of hardship (including five years under house arrest and the hanging of her father).

When I read that the UN Security Council 'unanimously condemned' the attack on Bhutto, I found myself wondering, like my SO, what the world has come to. Pakistan is in complete disarray, and the world, as usual, just stands there and looks on. No reaction. Dictatorship thrives. Oh well.

oh she was gorgeous - Emma Thompson

It's the weekend once again and I find myself craving an Emma Thompson movie. I don't know what it is about this woman, I just can't put my finger on it, but there's something inordinately sexy about her. From the moment she first burst onto my retina, in the Tall Guy (with Jeff Goldblum, if memory serves me well) to subsequent movies such as Peter's Friends, the Remains of the Day, Sense & Sensibility (for which she wrote the script as well as acting the role of Elinor)... then there was her pole dancing with Ellen, Nanny McPhee, Dolores Trelawney (in the Potter movies), Angels in America (where she got to kiss Meryl Streep)... Needless to say I like watching movies with the great Emma...

But what makes her so interesting? I just can't tell you. Except maybe, if you look at Love Actually, where her character listens to a Joni Mitchell song of the CD that she received from her husband, who is two-timing her... She simply stands in her bedroom, next to the marital bed, listening, as her world falls apart, picks herself up, smoothes out her skirt. And in that precise gesture lies the genius of Ms. Thompson... It's that unique blend of down-to-earthness and her ability to portray characters who are shaken by deep, inner conflicts.

And what better way to start 2008 than in the knowledge that she will be Lady Marchmain in Brideshead Revisited... That and the fact that she's also a friend of Stephen Fry... Oh, and, unconfirmed as yet, the filming is to take place at Chatsworth, the homestead of the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire aka Debo Mitford. I love it when things come together like the pieces in a puzzle.

'tis the season to be jolly - but not in Belgium, we're code red!

Look at all the shiny, happy people in this photo*. Incredibly enough, our Kingy has sworn in a new government this morning. Wonders will never cease. You would think that this would be cause for joy, but nothing less is true.

Incredibly enough, Belgium is 'on edge' after a thwarted Al-Qaeda jail break... which could have led to a possible terrorist attack... Are you also laughing at all the potentials in that last phrase? Cos I am.

Fourteen suspected Islamic militants were arrested this morning. Apparently they had been planning an armed attack to free the convicted Al Qaeda member, Nizar Trabelsi, a former Tunisian footballer, who is suspected of plotting attacks on US targets in Belgium (specifically an airbase in Belgium thought to house US arms). Now all of this has never been confirmed, mind.

Anyway, our threat level for the Yule period has been raised to critical on the premise that if these people managed to acquire the necessary heavy-duty arms to free a suspected terrorist, they could also plan a terrorist attack. Police is now swarming the streets, Christmas markets, airports, stations etc. and the public is asked to be vigilant (not vigilante, we're too busy living up to our reputation of being bons vivants in this country and spending money on Christmas gifts). SO is already grumbling, as she's in charge of the turkey but she's also on call on Christmas day, meaning that if something happens she will have to be outta here at cruising speed, leaving me with an uncooked three-course turkey dinner and hungry relatives on my hands.... Ack.

On a brighter note, I broke my Christmas shopping record this year. As always, I wait until the last three or four days to do ALL my shopping. I managed to find 75% of all my gifts in one hour flat. I could have managed 80% were it not for the barista who was preparing my frapp' yacking on her mobile.

So as we ready ourselves for the onslaught of Christmas, we look forward to two weeks of relative peace and quiet, as you can see. The munchkin is tired from a whole term at school and it's beginning to show. Lots of long sleeps, low immunity (ear infections are back, so a visit to the ear surgeon is in the works) and a slew of new words (such as stommerik or schtoopid). Lovely. SO is counting down the days to her surgery, which will result in improved health conditions for her. Even catso has a cold, prompting a visit from the vet and homeopathic remedies. I'm the last (wo)man standing!

* Photo courtesy of Thierry Roge - Reuters/Yahoo News. Belgium's King Albert II poses for a family photo with the members of the new government at the Laeken Palace in Brussels December 21, 2007.

Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue

SCORE!!!

OMG, at last. After 192 days we have a government.
Well, sorta... à la belge, it is as usual a compromise.

Belgium's new intermediary government will be sworn in on Friday. Not the final government of course, because they have until March to negotiate that one.

Interestingly enough, this government is made up of winners and losers of the past election, and it is asymmetric (meaning the number of parties is not equal on either side of the language divide, as the Flemish socialists declared that they preferred to be in the opposition).

The new prime minister is the old prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt.

And the French liberals must be feeling extremely blue that the French-speaking socialists somehow managed to wheedle themselves into this government, in spite of considerable wrangling on everyone's behalf to keep them out of the coalition.

So where does the borrowed part come in? I think we could say that those are the French-speaking incontournable socialists, who were used as some kind of super glue to make this coalition work.

Enuff' said: time for some decision-making. And there are a lot of hasty decisions to make: before the end of the year an agreement has to be reached with GPs so that next year they cannot charge up exorbitant amounts for normal care... before Friday, Belgium has to request an exemption from a European Directive regarding the non-discrimination in insurance, or women's insurance rates of every type will soar through the roof... and the list goes on...
Nose to the grindstone dearies!