Author Archives: Irene Tang

Belgium, Health, Numbers

Dry February

Last day of Tournée Minérale today. Twenty eight days without a drop of alcohol was not difficult at all. For the entire month of February, I probably craved for a glass of cold beer once. It was a fleeting moment, which I managed to wave away instantly.

I shall continue not drinking if there is no need to do so. Good for health, good for my wallet, good for the environment. Same goes for meat… and it is Lent.

It is literally a dry February in terms of the weather as well. We have not seen much rain in this part of the world. Not good.

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Jibber Jabber

Grass Patch

The new raised vegetable bed was moved half a meter away from the shadowed side of the shed. That means that I now need to grow grass on an empty patch of earth. Since yesterday, I have begun to lay the dug up tuft onto these bald spots, gradually turning this part of the grounds into part of the back lawn.

First thing I did a week ago was to remove and relocate the mint, a young hibiscus and the bulbs of a purple-flowering plant from the side of the shed’s entrance. That corner is a grass patch since yesterday afternoon. 🙂

I started on the patch where the old vegetable garden used to be this afternoon. But damn, the chilling gust was too much. I had to stop after laying just a few centimetres of grass. Well, better that than nothing at all. Project to be continued…

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Food & Drinks, Simplify

Bisque & Geutelingen

Yesterday, I used up the four boxes of grey shrimp shells I have stored in the freezer. The recipe I used makes a delicious, simple and frugal shellfish bisque. The cooked and strained shells were then discarded into the trench compost hole I have at the back of the shed. In a few weeks time, the shells plus the other kitchen scraps will be turned into organic fertilizer by Mother Nature.

This afternoon, D and I went to the town of Asper to purchase some geutelingen. Yep, it is that time of the year again for these special pancakes. Yum yum!

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Belgium, Human Nature

Traumatized Refugees

‘Work if you are able to. Make sure that your children go to school. But one day, we will need you to return and help rebuild our country.’, said the Ukrainian ambassador to the European Union on De zevende dag. Damn, such heavy words…

And here, we have the clowns and their idiotic opinions. Clowns who claim that the jobless foreigners are lazy and taking full advantage of the country’s generosity. Higher up clowns who deny people of any decent jobs because they do not speak the language. Does one really need to know Dutch in temporary jobs that do not require speaking? Well never mind me, I grew up with housekeepers/caretakers who do not speak a word of Cantonese, what the hell do I know???

And oh yeah – the classic – these foreigners are going to grab all the good jobs and we the citizens will be left unemployed and poor. An endless barrage of nonsense.

Clowns, do please slap yourselves in the face!

Let us start somewhere. Please feed and provide shelters to fellow human beings, starting with your own poor and homeless people. Hire your unemployed 50+ and 60+ who have waited too long for decent jobs. Here is the thing; unless we are willing to wipe the asses of our elderlies and our own children, farm and cook our own food, clean our own toilets; we really do not have much right to comment about ‘the jobless foreigners’.

People who fled their homes and ended up here in Belgium are usually traumatized by wars, natural disasters, and God knows what else. As for the Ukrainians, they are now asked to bear the responsibility and burden of returning home one day to rebuild their war-torn nation.

What are we asking from these people?

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Food & Drinks, Simplify

Restjes

This evening, D will not be eating dinner at home. So, I dedicate the day to eating leftovers I have in the fridge and clearing up some of the pantry items which I have neglected for too long.

The things I ate throughout the day are: rice, lentils, curry, miso, nori, tofu, napa cabbage, and celery. I only managed to finish the rice and lentils. The rest are for the next few days. I am not a pig…

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