Rein's Cookumentaries and other Stuff

Then I would be able to make you all drool again (except for my vegetarian friends, I’m afraid ).  Still feeling the dent in my pocket after the Japanese Splurge, I opted to take a look in my deepfreezer instead today.  Lo and behold, there still was a piece of rabbit lurking behind all the chips, pizzas en fishfingers!  Leftover that didn’t make it to the ‘neighbour dinner’ we had quite some time ago, I remember now.  Well, there’s only that much rabbit 2 women can eat under the disapproving stare of their offspring

As there’s still no offspring here (*sniff* I miss them, especially as it’s Mother’s Day here in Antwerp – yep, only here, we’re special ), there won’t be any disapproving looks either.

I made it in my tajin (best buy ever, seriously!) with a surrounding of carrots, onions, prunes, bayleaves and potatoes.  No defrosting, just bunged it in with the carrots and onions first, with a generous splash of olive oil.  Let it brown, covered on high heat for about 5 minutes, add prunes, bayleaves and the main ingredient, a bottle of brown beer.  Grimbergen this time.  Heh, to be honest, I use that most of the time, it’s one of my favourite ‘stew’ beers   Add some ground pepper, salt and the roughly chopped potatoes.  Let it come up to boiling again and then turn down to half, so it just keeps on simmering.  No need to look after, the tajin drips on the meat and keeps it just right.

Three quarters of an hour afterwards you will be presented with this:

Rabbit stew

As you can see I pricked the potatoes and they’re just right   As they’re usually the last to be ready, the rest will be good too.

I know it’s a weird time to eat ‘dinner’ (it’s 15:41 here now) but during the holidays (and certainly when I’m on my own) we eat when the mood gets us, be it once or five times a day – my body just has to put up with it

I’ll let you know if anything was left

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Report (21:27): it’s all gone now (just had the last bit as a nibble before bed ) and boy, was it good!  Sometimes I amaze myself with my culinairy concoctions   Uh-oh, I just realised that that also means I had about 15 prunes…  I bet no-one wants reports on that, do they?

That’s what most of my daily life revolves around: “What are we having for dinner tonight?”  Sad, really, but well, you have to eat to live

Yesterday I was so totally out of ideas for dinner, that I went to the local Japanese and told them “Just give me a taste of everything!”, which resulted in ‘dinner for 1′, which costed (ouchie!) 30 euros…  I will only buy this once I think >_<

It could have fed 2, even taking my big appetite into account, but I managed to finish it.  I don’t think Japanese the next day is as good as Chinese the next day, anyway…

Japanese dinner for 1 - could have fed 2, really

In this photo going around the clock, starting top left: ‘ordinary’ inside-out rolls – crunchy but very nice rolls with a dot of sauce (cocktail???) – enormous cone, had to use hands for that – 2 more ‘ordinary’ rolls, but right side out – also crunchy, tasted a bit different from the other one but couldn’t define difference (egg?) – 3 sushi rice balls, one with salmon, one with white fish, one with prawn – I think tuna in a tangy dressing/marinade – carrot spaghetti I wonder how they got those very long threads – pink ginger flower – green wasabi, nosewatering strong – tuna – salmon – flattened squid tentacle slices, chewy, not much taste .

On the menu this box was called: Sushi, Sashimi, Maki, Temaki combo, 25 pieces, for 1 person.  They also added a little container with soja sauce, a pair of chopsticks and a little bag of kroepoek (prawn crackers).  Those I ate later in front of the tv

It was a very nice dinner, but very pricey, come to think of it …  30 euros doesn’t sound a lot, but when you ‘translate’ it back to the old money, it’s 1200 Belgian Francs – wowee, 20 years ago that paid for the foodbill of a whole week!  Is life getting that expensive, or are we just not paying attention any more to what we spend our money on?  This will be only repeated on very special days I think and even then we will be taking something a bit cheaper

Sayonara!

It’s that time of the year again – where my daughters go abroad for a few weeks to visit their dad and I’m left at home with the cat, feeling empty-nested…
This time I have had instructions on how to fill my days constructively though, so no wasting time behind the pc playing games of facebooking or any such trivia Only allowed to check mails and chat with them when they’re online – and knowing their dad it will be far, far less then what they’re used to

So what’s on the agenda today?  Making a start with my bedroom – that’s the main project of these weeks and well overdue, really, I hope I will be able to finish it – putting the fish tank back in order, even if we’ve only got the one clown fish now (Ziggy has been returned to the shop as he had outgrown the tank and kept jumping up out of the water and bumping his head on the light O.o) and baking bread.  For a Sunday that will be plenty.

So girls, enjoy your holidays and we will see each other on the web

Well, the holidays have officially started with a celebratory dinner, lots of icecream with fresh pineapple and strawberries (and a very apologetic waiter as my steak was bien cuit instead of saignant, so I got a new one and now I’m stuffed as I had one and a half steak and a double portion of croquettes and I still had to finish half of youngest strawberry coupe) and a rented movie (The curious case of Benjamin Button – very good indeed!). We invited the neighbours over and had a cosy evening. Ooh – we forgot the extra tub of Ben & Jerry’s we bought at the movie renting shop! That’s for next time then

And yes,  youngest (the left one) went through with flying colours, no fails all Bs and Cs and an A for english of course Eldest (you guessed it, the right one ) scraped through with an E for maths now but an overall 50%, so she can go to the next year and nope, no holiday work but a sterling promise she will try hard from day one next school year. Oh, but she did have an A for english too

So woohooh and tralaa and we’re off for 9 weeks of sleeping in and eating whenever we like

Mother’s pride and joy – still

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

The girls are growing up fast – I can’t look over their heads any more, certainly not when they’re sitting on my lap (which they still like to do ) Sometimes they’re fighting – like all sisters do – and sometimes they are just too cute for words – like teenagers can be, still Don’t tell them I said so though

This afternoon they will get their final report and I’m sitting here fingers and toes crossed they will pass – maths can be a demon so any good karma sent their way will be gratefully accepted

It’s the big day again. Even when my girls are already well in their teens, they still want to keep the tradition upheld (ha – of course, they’re the ones getting the presents!). But even Sinterklaas feels the pinch of the recession. So less sweets (we still have leftovers from last year, so that was a no-brainer really ) and only a few toys. Only problem is, the bigger the kid, the smaller the toy but also the more expensive :p  But well, I get to play with them too, so it’s not too bad

They’ve got 2 games for the Wii – Monopoly and Rayman Raving Rabbids TV party – and one for the PC, the first extension for Spore . Today they can play, tomorrow it gets locked away. They’ve got exams, so some studying needs to be done. When we had their reports for daily work, they shared a first place, they have to keep up standards after all.

And I’m off building a few monsters now

Birthday present for a 7y old

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

Eldest girl of the neighbours across has her 7th birthday today – what better stuff to give than lipgloss, body glitter, hair ties, a necklace and sweets and all that in a crackly, red, shiny paper? Problem is, her (almost) 3 year old sister wanted it all too, so was bawling her eyes out, until I promised her she would get such a present on her birthday too – which is in only a few weeks

Tomorrow and the day after no post, I’m in London, fetching the girls back – WOOHOOH!!

Let’s hope the weather is a bit clear and not like it is here now – I hope I will get to the Eurostar without looking like a drowned cat

The TV is on too – with half an eye watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing (of course I’m recording it!) They really have pushed the boat out – all very nice of course, but I do hope that later on the people who have been evicted and those in the poorer regions of China will profit one way or another of those games too…

I shouldn’t have complained about the hot weather yesterday Today I woke up with thunder and lightning and the roof being pelted with rain as if a thousand mice were dancing a tarantella on it. Having a modern house with high sloping ceilings is nice, but a pain when trying to sleep when it rains – not as bad as a tin roof, but it comes a close second!

So I’m scratching my head again for a subject for ‘picture of the day’. Maybe I’ll go to the park later, inbetween rain bursts, and see if the deer are out, otherwise I could go to the rose garden for a few scenic pics. I will have to pop over to the shops too. Eldest girl of the neighbours across has her birthday tomorrow – 7 I thought it was – and I have to find her a birthday present, so I can go and give it before I leave for London tomorrow evening. Which also implies no posts on Saturday or Sunday. The kids already txted me they would like to go to Camden Town. If we make that, it should be a good photo opportunity

Proof

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

Yesterday I had a ‘blah’ day and didn’t post a pic – so I got a worried txt this morning from the girls. When they were re-assured I just had a little ‘dip’, missed them something awful and couldn’t sleep as I was missing their nightly noises but would be there on Saturday morning, bright and bushy-tailed, they were quick to ask for the latest ‘Joepie’ (a teenmagazine that already existed when I was young – now that is a long time ago – not that I bought it, I rather went to the library for ‘proper’ books – I know, I’m a geek and proud of it ). So here is proof I went and bought it and – oh joy – no Tokio Hotel on the cover this time!

Today it has been hot, hot, hot. I really should cut the grass, but I rather not scorch to a crisp. If the mower doesn’t get through it, I always still have the strimmer to do it next week

You know what? I can always squeeze a pic of Oki in from yesterday as #14 – I caught her red-pawed when she was on the table checking out Rooz who came out for a nibble.

13-Hamsters all present and accounted for!

Originally uploaded by Reinhilde.

Normally I never do the hamsters. My kids are very good – each looks after their own pet and they’re doing a splendid job. This time though, I have to make sure they’re fed and watered and have a not too smelly house.

So here’s the proof I’m still performing my duty and both hamsters are safe and sound!

I had to chase Oki off the table a few times as she came to investigate, but no animals were harmed during the making of this mosaic!