Quaintr

I kept my curiosity under lock and key till we were 5 mins out of the coast and then i opened the presents. And i guess i'm still as confused as i was before. i got a magic book and pictures, memories, etc, will apperently appear out of nowhere... Since i do believe in magic books i guess i'll just have to wait some more and practice my patience. Since i've got no clue who's involved: a general 'THANK YOU' to all of you! It's great to have such friends! Going to miss you but we'll catch up soon(ish).

PS. No, i'm neither angry, nor dissappointed

Okay, I hardly ever make a bet (actually it has only happened once). Maybe it's because i don't like to loose, or maybe i was just raised properly. But since i found this one an interesting one i decided to break the rule. And by putting it here i won't be able to conveniently 'forget' about it.

Okay, so what did i bet? My friend bet me that i will gain 5 kilograms over the next 6 months.

The stakes: a proper home-cooked meal.

Don't you love the books you hate? Well, I do. This time it's 'the road less traveled' by M. Scott Peck. His definition of love got me upset, the statements he makes made me want to close the book and never look at it again. But it turned out that after a few pages he tends to give the opposite of the statement he made on the previous pages and i started to appreciate it, learning not to judge too quickly... I held on. Suddenly at page 270 he makes the statement the book has been leading to (or so it seems to me). And suddenly i can see where he's coming from. And can apply it to my own struggle. Not sure what the result of my struggle will be, but he seems to reinforce something in me, something i really needed...

However, i still don't agree with his definition of love

"Don't you want to have any peas and carrots?"

"No thanx"

"But you haven't had any veg today..."

"Yes i have. Onion."

"Yeah right, with your 'patatje oorlog'."

Loads of new experiences, most of them good, all of them memorable. Here are just a few of them (I can go on for hours if you want to):

ELBOW. WoW! By far the best of Lowlands 2008. Actually, by far the best concert I've ever seen...
Lykki Li. Extraordinary musical talent (and a spectacular band too). Artistic.
Ane Brun. Relaxing. A good way to wake up...
Franz Ferdinand. They performed better than ever before. Good new songs and recognizable old ones. I had fun. They had fun. (I know 'coz his smile was so big he couldn't sing at the same time.) Although some seem to disagree...
Lucky Fonz III. Somehow I had the impression he was naked on stage... just him and a guitar. No band to back him up. No one to support him. But he doesn't need it... he's got it all. Loads of humor, good songs and an enthusiatic audience. Again, a great way to wake up...
Lowlands University: Michael Braungart. Will talk about this later...
Earplugs. 55.000 people make a lot of noise. A concert consists of a lot of noise (105 dB). So when you combine... yep... you wear earplugs day & night.
Mud. 'A liquid or semi-liquid mixture of water and some combination of soil, silt, and clay.' Have I got news for you... you don't need water to make mud... mud can also be a liquid or semi-liquid mixture of beer, urine, sweat and some combination of soil, salt, food and garbage.' Juk. And trying to get it out of my pants as we speak...

So on Thursday, the four of us got together. It was the only day we could make it... in the morning... So we had a nice breakfast with lots of nice things. I'd been experimenting with making vegetarian paté and no-sugar-muffins (and made houmous which didn't turn out the way i wanted so we'll leave that one). Since i thought it was a success and making them doesn't take up a lot of time (for the busy ones amongst us) i'd like to share the recipes with you.

Mushroom paté:
100 g shiitake mushrooms (i used normal ones)
100 g feta cheese or tofu
5-6 spring onions
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of salt (if using tofu)
Method: place all the ingredients in a blender and process until very smooth.

Muffins (makes 10-12):
150 g brown rice flour
75 g fine oatmeal
1 level tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 eggs
175 ml milk
2 tbsp cold-pressed oil (preferably containing mainly mono-unsaturated fats)
100 g carrots, coarsly grated
75 g raisins
50 g sunflower seeds (i used mixed seeds)
Method: set the oven to 190 degrees centigrade, and grease a muffin tray. Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients. Put the 2 together, mix well, and put into the prepared tray. Bake the muffins for 25 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Told my pants to go and sit in the corner. Took a long, hot shower (without fifty ladies watching). Enjoying the silence of the big city (even without my earpluggs!) Feeling strange not to have to queue up for the toilets.

Lowlands definitely changes perspective.

I want

I want

I want

Way too much...

Before i leave there's lots of things to do. Finishing off articles, writing a proposal, get the funding application done, and the thing that's bugging me most: what will i take with me??? Searching the internet i found some lists with 'useful' hints... The general consensus seems to be "less is more". I couldn't agree more, but to be honest: which girl can survive with ONLY 2 skirts?

Worked 55 hours in 3 days. Tired. Going to Lowlands for 3 days. Bad timing.

Everybody has a own cooking style, some use recipes, others don't. I'm one of the persons who finds a recipe, disagrees with the recipe, changes every measurement and some of the ingredients in the recipe. And still says she has to use recipes...

The same with the following... the original recipe uses way to much sugar to my standards (and a bit to much butter, to little carrot, etc, etc) So here's my version: carrot cake with the subtle sweet of carrot.

Finely grate two carrots. Stir in an egg, 30 grams of sugar and 50 grams of melted butter (real butter, not the toxic one). Sieve about 75 grams of self raising flour and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Add this to the mixture together with 25 grams of raisins. I added a splash of milk, but it depends on the consistency of your mixture. In the oven for about 40 minutes (150 degrees). Cool. Mix 25 grams of butter, 25 grams of sugar with 50 grams of cream cheese. Decorate the cake with this icing. Cool again. Serves 4.

...hot chocolate. Actually, I haven't found the best yet, but I've made some pretty good seconds. White chocolate milk with coconut is one of them. Creamy, velvety, soft and thick, with a subtle sweet of the coconut. And some pieces of coconut, unless you sieve it. (That's why it's not the best, don't like to chew my hot chocolate.) Dark chocolate milk with chili powder is another nearly-the-best, great for the cold days. (Sadly, today's not a cold day and I was a bit careless with the chili... ) 

The great thing about not having found the best hot chocolate yet, is I'll have to try again. Planning to try some with milk chocolate as a base or with added vanilla, cardamom, ginger, rosemary or whatever I can find in my cupboards... I hope this search never ends...