Fun in the Kitchen

It looks like I'm multitasking this week. Christina at had this wonderful real German Cuisine recipe challenge I simply could not resist. She wants us to mess experiment with German cuisine and asked us to ruin prepare Rahmgulash this week, a creamy veal goulash. In Belgium we call it Hungarian Goulash.
I really don't know why, but I have never made Goulash before in my life, so I promised her I would participate. And then I remembered I had signed up for Fun Monday as well!

But given the fact that both challenges happen in my kitchen ... I'm doing them both!



Ari is our host for today, and this is what she wants to know:

It's time for show and tell. What does your kitchen counter look like right now? (And no fair cleaning just for the picture!) Do you have any favourite or unusual items on your counter?

Now, all of you nosy sweet Fun Monday people who want to know what mess I made while doing this awesome recipe what my kitchen counter looks like, you'll better scroll down. Now GO! Shoosh!
But ... it would be such a pity to miss out on such a delicious recipe, don't you think?

So here's the recipe:

By the way, you can click to enlarge any of the collages, okay?


You'll need:
2 1/2 large mild onions.
2 cans of peeled tomatoes
3 tablespoons of clarified butter
About 1/4 liter of beef stock ( I used a stock cube)
1 kg of veal for goulash, cut in bite sized pieces.
150g of heavy cream.
2 tablespoons of Crème fraîche ( sour cream)
salt, freshly ground pepper.
1 tablespoon of sweet paprika powder.
a sprinkling of hot paprika powder.
1 tablespoon of citrus zest. ( I used the zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon)


Gently melt the butter on low heat, to clarify.
Use the oily part of the butter only to brown the meat in.
The oily part of the butter supports much higher temperatures without burning.
Brown the meat ( in small portions ) on a high heat.

Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onions.
Add the chopped onions to the veal, and let it cook for a minute.
Sprinkle everything with the paprika, and let it sweat for a moment.

Heat the beef stock.
Drain the tomatoes and chop them roughly as well.
Add the stock and the chopped tomatoes.
Cover with a lid and let it simmer on a gentle heat for 45 min to an hour, until the veal is tender.


Stir in the cream, salt, pepper and citrus zest.
The original recipe did not specify what kind of zest to use, but referring to an Italian Osso Bucco recipe, - which is also veal in a tomato-ish sauce - I decided to add some orange zest as well.
Cover with the lid again, and let it simmer for another fifteen minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the side dishes.
We had steamed baby potatoes, a green salad, cherry tomatoes and grated black radish with lemon and sour cream. Sprinkle some chopped parsley on it as a finishing touch.


There was no denying. It tasted delicious!

Okay. Now STOP DROOLING!!


This is what my kitchen counter looked like afterwards.
Anyone care to do the dishes for me?
Thanks.



What? Show off? Now don't give me that!! You did get dirty pictures as well, didn't you?
Of course it's clean, I can't stand a dirty kitchen.
And what about my favourite stuff? All of it, actually.
Let's see, I really really like my espresso machine, and the steamer right next to it.
And I love how my utensils are all within reach.
And yes, I do have a lot of stuff. There are three pepper mills and three salt mills there, that's correct! And I do use all three of them!

There, that's it from me today, now go off and snoop in somebody else's kitchen now!
Visit the other Fun Monday players here .
And don't forget to drop by at Christina's for the German recipe challenge, okay?

Fun Monday, Show your Feet

My compatriot Gattina offered to be our Fun Monday host for this week, and this is what she wants us to do:

Please show us what you wear on your feet inside your home ! Do you wear slippers, flip flops, shoes or nothing ? just take a picture and show us your feet !

Oh, I thought, that sounds easy, all I do is take a picture of my feet and I'm done!
So I signed up, and then I thought, oh no!!
What have I done? I have to show my feet! NAKED feet, eww!
And my pedicure is only due next Thursday? Ewww!
So I took a shower, (okay, I do that every day, but still, I gave them some extra care and attention. Some extra feet balm, washed my hair, put on my make up...
Now WAIT a minute, why on earth am I putting on make up to take pictures of my feet eh?

When all that was done, I took my camera to the bathroom to do a photo shoot.
And I was lying on the floor doing macro's of my flip flops when my husband walked in.
" Fun Monday" I mumbled, giggling.
"Oh" he shrugged, and walked off.
Well to be honest he HAS seen me do some silly stuff before since I'm blogging.
Remember that time I posted a picture of my bra? Yeah, right!
(yeah, go on, click the link if you haven't seen it)

Okay, well ... without further ado ...
Here's the result!

You can click on the picture to enlarge it, okay?

No big secret, I wear flip flops all year around.
I have to have naked feet when I'm in the house. I can't stand shoes or socks when I'm inside.
So each year, when we go on holiday in France, I buy some new ones.
It's part of my holiday fun!



Which ones I choose to wear depends on the mood I'm in, the hour of the day or what kind of chore I'm doing.
At the moment I'm wearing the red ones. Red ones, in honour of Valentine's day!
But they are rather noisy, so in the morning when I wake up, I prefer wearing the ones on the top right in the collage. They're very worn and rather torn, but they're very silent, just the thing you need when you get up early like I do. The ones on the bottom right are the ones I use when I clean the house. They're old ones. And the white ones are very soft, they feel nice.
And I use the black ones when I'm cooking. They're a little bit higher, I switch heights as well.

So there. Now you know.
Want to find out what other people wear?
Go on over to Gattina's and find out!

Fun Monday, This is Where I Live

Pamela, from thedustwillwait is our host today, and this is what she wants to know ...

Show me in pictures or tell me in words what defines the place where you live.
I want to leave the interpretation open to include any possibility.
I'm looking forward to finding out more about the place you call home.

I tried to find as much video's and pictures as possible to show what life is all about where I live.
You can click the links if you want to, and you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them as well. Enjoy ...


I live in the municipality of Schoten. ( click on the link to see the Wikkipedia page. I'm not going to bore you with history and facts and figures and all that stuff)
Schoten is a lovely place not too far away from Antwerp.
As a matter of fact, the bus across the street takes me to Antwerp in less than twenty minutes.
This is the skyline as seen from my patio.

Shops are just around the corner from where I live, look ...




Yes, well okay, it was made around Christmas, but it gives a pretty neat idea what I'm talking about. Oh and um, it is not custom for us to walk in the middle of the street when we do our shopping. There are no cars in the video, it must have been filmed on a car free shopping weekend.

Is there a college or university close by that seasonally changes the way your world operates? Or maybe a winter influx of retired snowbirds?

No, no retired snowbirds I'm afraid, but we do get to see some exotic people from all over the world each year in Summer. Schoten is very famous for it's Folklore festival, an annual folk dance festival that has been held here for over fifty years now. The slogan they use says: " You can see the world in Schoten". And it's true ...

Did a famous person put your town on the map?

• Bob Mendes, writer of thrillers and detective stories (b. 1928)
• Michel A. J. Georges, biologist and professor at the University of Liège (b.1959)
• Marijke Hofkens, television actress (b. 1963)
• Marie-Rose Morel, politician (b. 1972)
• Véronique De Kock, Miss Belgium 1995 (b. 1977)
• Geert Steurs, professional road bicycle racer (b. 1981)
• Thor Salden, a.k.a. Thor!, singer (b. 1997)

I found this list of famous people from Schoten on Wikkipedia, and I was amazed we have so many! There is one person I would like to add to this list though.
His name is Dos Winkel. He's a world traveller and an amazing photographer and he does some very extra ordinary underwater photography. Among other things he photographs fishes' eyes!
This link will take you to his website, to the page with the astonishing fish eyes.
(Click on them to see them full size)
Reproductions of this work adorn the walls of our new police station by the way.

Oh and one other thing...
A jazz event called Schoten blues. They're great!

Is there something about your neighbourhood that makes it unique. Good or bad?

It's beautiful ...
This is very unique to me. It's the old windmill. Or what's left of it.
This is my view from my kitchen. Regular readers have often seen it appear in my pictures.
I think it's still very photogenic, despite the fact there's but half of it left.

Our neighbours live in there. It used to be much much higher, but they took the top off years ago. The walls of that mill are so thick and the building was so tall, that when they took the top off they built three small houses with the bricks that came off it.
The next pictures were not taken by me, I've found them on the net while I was looking for old pictures of that mill. But the funny thing is, this one has my car on it. Well, this used to be my car some years ago. And for one reason or another, I don't think I have one single picture of that car, ... until now!

The building on the left is the apartment building where we live.
But this is how it used to look ...
Awwww ...
From days gone by ...

Fun Monday Come on in...

This week's host for Fun Monday is Julie, and this is what she wants us to do:

I have decided to put a twist on the traditional Fun Monday. Instead of standing in your front door and taking a photo of what you see outside, let's turn around and take on of the inside. Maybe that will prompt some of us to pick up a tad (you know who you are). :)

Okay, come on in!
I'll give you the grand tour ...
You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them a little bit more, okay?

I live on the first floor, you need to climb a spiral staircase first.
I haven't photographed that one because it looks rather boring, and it's in urgent need of a good cleaning. Melting snow and snow boots have left there traces, I'm afraid.
Anyway.
This is what you see when I open my door for you.


My welcome moose is still on the door.
I've become rather fond of him and the winter is not finished yet.
I'll let him stay a little while longer. The chair with the wreath is outside.
That chair was put there years ago because of our upstairs neighbour.
He had lung cancer and desperately needed a place to rest halfway climbing those awful stairs all the way to the second floor.
Unfortunately the man died many years ago, but the chair is still there.
Inside is my old sewing machine, a place where we usually put our keys and stuff.
The door on the left is the door of my living room.

So there ...
This is my living room. And yes, my Christmas tree is still up!
The only thing I dislike about it is that there is only one big window in the front,
and the other one is at the other side in my kitchen.
This area tends to be rather dark sometimes, especially with gloomy weather like today.

If you walk past the dining room table to the back, that's where my kitchen is.
It's an open kitchen, and I like that. I can still talk to my guests and see them while I'm cooking.
The kitchen has more light because it's close to the window of my patio.
It's the heart of the house really. When I'm not blogging, I can most likely be found there.
It's also the place where I have coffee with my friends or family visiting as well.


And while I'm at it, I might as well show you the rest.
(Well most of it, I skipped the bedroom and the guest room)
On the left you see my blogging space in the study, and on the right my bathroom.


There. I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my world.
You were more than welcome.


Most of the pictures for this post were all taken today.
That's part of a photo challenge called "Thru my eyes"
I share with my partner in.... um ... no, not crime ... photography and blogger friend Gail.
We have challenged ourselves to try and use that camera every day to get to know it better.

Fun Monday Quirky Stuff

Jan at the Prytz Family is hosting this week's Fun Monday, and she wants to know:

What is the quirkiest thing in your home that you will never give away?

Now this seemed easier than I thought when I signed up.

Collecting things is my second nature I guess, and over the years a lot of "stuff" has found it's way to our home. We started from scratch, my husband and I and we loved searching flea markets and antique shops. Corkscrews, eggcups, vintage kitchen utensils, you name it, we collected it.
Over the years I grew very attached to those findings and I don't think there is much I would want to part with.
So I thought it would be easy to come up with something to show and tell about?

But it was the "quirky" bit that worried me.
Sure, there are some strangely designed corkscrews around, and I could have come up with a Manneken Piss corkscrew or something, if it wasn't for the fact that I already parted with that one! We sold part of that collection and the ones we decided to keep do not fit into that category, so ...
And then there is my doll. I shaped her out of modelling clay and months after she was finished our next door neighbour noticed she had six fingers on one hand. Six fingers could qualify as quirky perhaps and I would never ever want to give her away, but still, that was not what I was looking for either. So I kept looking for something more interesting. Or more quirky.

This morning when I woke up, I had a light bulb moment.
There he was! The one that I've been looking for and wrecking my brains about all week!
Tadaààààààà!


He lives in our bedroom.
His colours have faded and he has been collecting dust since I bought him in the eighties.
If I put him in my washing machine I will surely ruin him.
The red nose, his red clothes, it's a recipe for disaster.
So no, he has never been washed since I have him. NEVER!



I bought this little prisoner to decorate the furnished apartment I had fled to when I left my ex husband. I had met my current husband but my parents did not approve of that relationship and the upcoming divorce at that time and they gave us a very hard time. My father worked as a prisoner guard, and the prisoner doll was a little joke between my husband and I.
I even wrote his own prisoner number on his chest. It was the date of the day we fell in love.



He was our mascot and I could never give him away. He has been in the bin between the laundry more than once, but I can never find it in my heart to put him in the machine because I'm sure it would kill him!



I did a photo shoot with him this morning, so these are also my pictures for today.
Visit Gail and find more pictures Thru my Eyes 2009 here.
For more Fun Monday quirky stuff, visit Jan at the Prytz Family.

Fun Monday , Neighbours from Hell ...

I felt like writing today, but I needed a prompt.
That's why I joined


Host for today is Beyound my Slab

Here is the assignment for the December 1st version of Fun Monday.
Here goes: Tell us about your all-time worst neighbours from Hell.
You know, the family of Irish clog dancers who once lived in the flat/apartment above you?
Mrs. Nextdoor and her banshee-like multiple orgasms?
Mr. and Mrs. Hard-of-Hearing with their television on full blast?
The guys across the street who set off 4th of July fireworks starting in March and didn't stop until the first real snowfall?

Up until now, we have been very lucky.
We've always had very sweet neighbours.
There were never any real annoying stories, only some funny incidents.
But I think they're worth sharing ...

Our first place in Antwerp was this apartment building.



Two of the six floors were offices, and we lived on the third floor.
But it was on one of the busiest streets in Antwerp.
( This picture must have been taken on a traffic free Sunday.)
Every night we had to look for a spot to park the car,
and try to remember where we left it the next day.
One day, we saw a man get in the car in front of ours.
When he shifted his car into gear, he hit us.
My husband stopped him and they had a bit of a discussion.
The guy did not have his wallet to do the necessary paperwork, he said.
He had left it at home so we told him to go and get it.
When he came back, he started to fill in his home address
and that's when we discovered that he was our neighbour from the sixth floor!

A couple of years later we moved to the countryside.
Our only neighbours were ... cows ...

and sheep, and little pony's.
There was a forest across the street, we had huge trees, it was all so peaceful.
As soon as the cows heard me, they'd come up to the fence,
they wanted to drink some fresh water from a bucket.
I guess that tasted better than their own water?
I loved those cows.


One day I had baked a loaf of bread
and I wanted to put it on the windowsill to cool down.
I stepped outside from my back door,
when I saw one of the cows on our patio.
She had jumped over the fence, trying to escape from the vet!

We had some very happy days there, until ...
The land next to us was being sold and the cows disappeared.
So did the pony's and the sheep.
We got annoying road works and huge machines instead.
They turned out to be our neighbours from hell.
Trees were taken out or damaged as roads and houses were being built there.


And paradise turned into hell ...

Fun Monday Any more Questions?

Lisa, over at Lisa's Chaos is this weeks host for Fun Monday.
This is what she wants to know ...

What is one thing you would like to ask your readers? Come up with a question to pose to your visitors and throw it out there on Monday. As we’re all visiting each other’s Fun Monday posts we should answer the various questions we come across.
OR
Show&Tell me about a bird, I’m easily made happy.

Okay then, I'll show the bird first ...
Eww, does that sound funny? Sorry!

The birds in this slideshow are the parents
of the little birds on the right hand sidebar of this blog.

And this one could be one of the little ones from last year
feeding his or her own babies this past spring. That's how it goes ...

Click on the picture for full size viewing.




Now for the question, the question burning on my lips is:
What object would you take with you
if you could take only one thing with you
on an imaginary journey?
You don't have to worry about food or anyhing, all is taken care of.
Just imagine ...

Visit Lisa, and the other players here.

Fun Monday Favourite Picture

Host for today is AOJ and the lurchers, and this is what she wants us to do:

Show me your favourite photograph and tell me why it's your favourite.

It can be one you've taken yourself or one someone else has taken, a snapshot or a more professional image. Is there a story behind it? Do you love it for the memories it gives or just because it's pleasing to the eye?

Show me and tell me!

When I saw the assignment, I thought this would be easy.
And then I started to browse through my pictures,
and found out it just isn't!
So many pictures, and so many beautiful memories,
picking only one is so difficult.
Pictures of happy moments together with my family,
my parents, my daughter, my husband ...
Pictures from one of the trips we made last year,
Normandy, Provence, Morocco, London ...
The skyline where I live, a beautiful sunset,
tits nesting on my patio in spring ...
All of them beautiful pictures, and memories I cherish.
Every day, and not so every day moments in my life.
I share them on this blog every day,
if you want to see my favourite pictures,
just browse through my posts and you'll find loads of them.


But if I have to pick a favourite one,
it would have to be one from that beautiful September day.
This is the apple tree in the garden where I grew up.
It must have been there almost all my life,
I can't remember that garden without it I think.
We had a swing right next to it,
and I remember sitting in its shadow,
playing with my sister, or reading a book there,
so many memories all connected to that tree.
But I can never remember as many apples on it as last year.



It was a beautiful day at the end of September,
we don't get too many of those here in Belgium,
especially not that time of the year.
We were all together at my parents house,
celebrating my sister and my daughter's birthday,
eating outside in the garden, a perfect family day.
And at the end of that day,
my father picked the apples from that tree.

And this, my dear friends is truly MY favourite picture.
It shows my father like I have always known him,
and that's how I will always want to remember him.

Always busy doing something,
and picking the fruits nature has given him.

And yes, thank God, both my parents are still alive and healthy.
I hope to keep it that way many more years ...


Visit the other players here.

Fun Monday Words

This week's host for Fun Monday is Mothers of brothers,
and this is what she wants:

Words are our building blocks, our stepping stones, and, for many of us, our salvation. We string them together so quickly at times, we often lose sight of how precious they are. So tell us about your favorite word… or if you can’t pick just one, tell us about a few. Are there certain words that feel good the way they roll of your tongue? Do some words make you feel smart? Or silly? Or happy? Which words do you find yourself selecting to put in your posts? Since this response could be a short one, feel free to poll your family and friends and include some of their favorite words as well. If you think a definition is required, please share one. Please keep the words rated G for all audiences. Any language is acceptable, but please provide a translation. And stick to real words as opposed to ones made up along the way. We then challenge everyone to visit the posts on Monday and try to use other bloggers’ favorite words in your blog next week. We can’t wait to expand our vocabulary!

First let me tell you something about myself.
As some of you might already know,
I'm born, raised and living in Belgium
English is not my native speech.
It is Flemish, which is very similar to Dutch.
Similar but different, and I do want to point that out here.
We learn more than one language at school,
and I'm rather proud of the fact that we, humble Belgians,
can communicate with so many people.
I have always been fascinated by the English language myself,
and I started this blog to indeed try to expand my vocabulary,
improve on my writing and get the spelling right.
I know I probably still don't get everything right yet,
but every day I learn a little bit more.
Reading your blogs helps a lot , and I have my dictionaries close at hand.
I don't need them as much as I used to
but I prefer to look it up whenever I'm not sure.
Some of the early comments sure made me need them.
By now I know what "botched up bread" means,



and I know what dandelion puffballs look like,
all thanks to Christine and her lovely comments!

One of the favourite words I learned is "flabbergasted".



I came across it when I did Quilly's alphabet in pictures.
I read a chapter a day in both of my dictionaries
looking for a new word each day.
I illustrated each word with a picture,
then visited the other players,
thus learning new words there also.
There's a notepad in front of me, that's where I write them down.
Every once in a while I try to read them.
I really should write them down more though!


There are a couple more I like just because the sound of them.

" Ambisinistrous" = equally clumsy with either hand.
Well, I am sometimes, to be totally honest.
I can picture myself meeting one of you at a party and say,
"Hi, I'm Jientje and I'm ambisinistrous!"
while spilling my glass of champagne all over your rug
I'd have to drink a couple of them before I can pronounce it though!
And if I drink them, I can't spill them anymore, now can I?

I like beautiful words.
I want to learn to use more, and find new ones.
I don't think any of you will have learned something new here,
but I'm sure I will by visiting all of you.
Me and my notepad can't wait to meet them,
all those interesting, funny witty words ...


Make sure you visit the other Fun Monday players here.

"A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged,
it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly
in color and content according to the circumstances
and the time in which it is used."

Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Fun Monday, What Would You Like to Rule?

This week's host for Fun Monday
is Mommy Wizdom
and she has the following assignment for us:

If you were ruler for a day/week/month/year (your choice on the time) you would...

ex...make coffee free to all citizens. Or you'd abolish the penny. You may also specify if you're ruler of the world or just your country. Have fun with it; be creative.

If you like to dress up, you may also choose to take pictures of yourself in your "ruler" outfit(s) and post them up with your entry.

Okay, as some of you might know, I live in Belgium.
Life in Belgium is not so bad ... except for the weather.
If there is one thing I would like to rule or change here,
it would be the weather.
I know it's fiction, but it works for me.

I 'd let the rain fall at night ...

Blow away the clouds ...

And let the sun shine during the day.
He or she who's in charge of the weather buttons
in my country screws up big time.
I mean really?
Hail and snow at Easter?

Rain and more rain?
Storm and clouds?


Who wants this?


Everything looks nicer when the sun shines.
Sigh!
We had four days of really sunny weather last week.
Four days in a row!!!
However.
It's raining again today,
no wonder it makes a girl dream ...


Update: This post was written this morning,
while the rain was pouring down, buckets full!
It's 1.30 PM now, and the sun is shining again!
Now ain't that a miracle?
Hmmm, maybe I did rule the weather today?
I should write about Belgian weather more often!


If you want to find out what others would like to rule,
go over at Mommy Wizdom's and find out!