Sunday 31 August 2008 at 02:48 am
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 
Friday 29 August 2008 at 07:54 am
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.
Wednesday 27 August 2008 at 08:12 am
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
Tuesday 26 August 2008 at 1:02 pm
"Please, make yourself at home. And don't hesitate if you feel like cleaning, washing up, painting, repairing the downstairs toilet..."
Monday 25 August 2008 at 12:28 pm
"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'."
Sunday 24 August 2008 at 08:12 am
I tend to have a go at shops that go global so you can find them everywhere... Where's the charm in that? Take
McDonalds for example. You can find them in every single country and people still go there for food when on holiday (personally i really really really don't like the taste of that stuff, but that's a different rant). Why? Maybe because it tastes the same everywhere, so it's familiar? But now the following problem has arised: one of my
favourite shops has gone global. So what shall i do? Rant as well? Or be happy that i can get my favourite
deodorant? Or should i stop my rant about companies going global all together? I mean: I can't use double standards now, can i?
Thursday 21 August 2008 at 3:09 pm
There are two kind of people... people where the cluttering starts in the closet (to be recognized by a very organized filing system... and when this system fails their whole house becomes a mess instantly) and people where clutter ends in the closet (those are usually the ones with an organized room and a real messy closet). I'm one of the latter. He's one of first. And whenever he looked in one of my closets, he went crazy. 'So don't look in my closet' was my solution. His was a bit more drastically. We spent a day filing my old bills and paperwork, a couple of hours sorting clothes, an hour reorganizing the bookcase and half a day in the kitchen. Now, whenever I open a closet, I have a distinct feeling there's something terribly wrong with me...
Thursday 21 August 2008 at 10:20 am
Waking up with the taste of garlic and chocolate. Not the nicest taste in the world to wake up with. The result of his b-day present. We had chocolate chicken saté, chocolate puds with vanilla sauce, and chocolate rolls with a vanilla filling... I.e. lots of sugars, fats, and good company. Still don't feel like eating though...
Wednesday 20 August 2008 at 07:53 am
Whilst he was still alive we weren't allowed to do it. Now, for the first time in 9 years I'm allowed to do it. Hope i still know the tricks, since it has been a long long time. I could of course wait till there's a man around. But i believe i'm (wo)man enough to repair my bike's puncture...
Wednesday 20 August 2008 at 01:52 am
okay, i realise it's an unreasonable time to be awake, but i think it's even more unreasonable to play "
I wish it could be Christmas everyday" in the middle of August even at this time of night... (and despite the autumny weather...)
Tuesday 19 August 2008 at 7:49 pm
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...
Tuesday 19 August 2008 at 6:48 pm
Whilst walking through the forest today, i mused about the relevance of
ticks. And why i always need to find a reason behind and a purpose for everything. It needs to be good for something. Why can't i just accept things the way they are? Ticks are just there (or on me for the unfortunate one). But should there be a reason, a purpose for the existence of this little creature? Shouldn't simply 'being there' be a valid reason?
Monday 18 August 2008 at 8:55 pm
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.
Monday 18 August 2008 at 10:40 am
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.
Sunday 17 August 2008 at 12:26 pm
I'm not one for doing that kind of thing, and i do -occasionally- get very annoyed by it. Luckily my friends are aware of this fact and are not the kind of people that forward things often anyway (or not to me at least *wink*). Yesterday, i did forward something. And suddenly remembered an e-mail (yes, a forwarded one) i got years ago. Tried to find it, but obviously deleted it... However, it stated that even though you only get forwarded e-mails from people, they thought of you at that moment in time (*note from the writer* unless they send it to everybody in their contact list of course) even if they don't have time to send you a thorough update on their life. This statement, from my point of view, provides a different perspective on the whole issue...
Saturday 16 August 2008 at 7:20 pm
The problem with names is that foreigners often don't know how to pronounce or spell it. I've got that problem whenever i see a foreign name... And foreigners don't get my name. I've often seen my name spelled the wrong way (lets not start on the pronunciation). However, I've never met a person who consistently managed to write my name differently every time...
Friday 15 August 2008 at 8:16 pm
I want
I want
I want
Way too much...
Lees verder
Thursday 14 August 2008 at 4:27 pm
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?
Thursday 14 August 2008 at 1:52 pm
Worked 55 hours in 3 days. Tired. Going to Lowlands for 3 days. Bad timing.
Friday 08 August 2008 at 5:26 pm
Lots of eyes were following me, a small girl with a huge picture hanging system... or maybe it wasn't huge, but it was considerably bigger than me. I opened the boot of
my car, the smallest car in the parking lot, shoved the hanging system in and closed the boot again, while waving at a couple sweating to close the boot of their volvo. I love my car...
Thursday 07 August 2008 at 7:10 pm
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.
Tuesday 05 August 2008 at 8:59 pm
...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...
Monday 04 August 2008 at 5:02 pm
Time flies when you're having fun. Time also flies when you're very busy. It certainly does fly when you're looking forward to something. But i don't always realise how quickly it flies. Till you've taken that last hurdle. Suddenly the realisation shows up: only 3.5 weeks to go...
