Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

My sister is vegetarian and this is what i have made for her recently as a replacement for meat in a dinnerparty:

Ingredients
4 big portobello mushrooms
a spring onion
some chives
some parsley
a clove of garlic
grated cheese

Preparation
Preheat the oven, switch on grill.
Remove the stems carefully together with the brown gills, and chop into small pieces, chop the spring onion, squeeze the garlic and fry all this shortly with some olive oil.
Remove from the heat and add the parsley and the chives (both chopped)
Place the mushroomcaps upside down and place the mixture where the gills once where.
Sprinkle with the grated cheese
Slowly fry them in a small pan in some olive oil
Place the mushrooms under the grill for a nice cheese crust.

You can skip the frying part and let them cook in the oven for a while, but i prefer to fry them in order to get a nice and juicy result.

Top 250 Movies Ever

IMDB.com totally rocks and one of my favourite features is the top 250 movies list. This list is based on votes of their users, and there are many many users voting the site: average #votes per movie in the top 250: about 60.500, average #votes for the top 50 is 117.000.

Bwmed !

From: http://0wn3d.dk/owned/ (marius thnx for the tip)

gPhone rumors

According to Crunchgear Google will bring their own phone to market in Q1 2008. The source is someone at HTC, the company google is talking to at the moment about the design of the model.

It will feature a special version of Google maps, with it's own GPS, as well as Google Talk, their free VoIP system. On top of that there's support for Gmail and Google Calendar. The OS will be Windows Mobile 6, or some Linux based system.

Sure hope they release it worldwide without an exclusive contract to some telco.

Cynical quote of the day

Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so?
There's a support group for that.
It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.
Robin Williams

Stuffed Tomatoes

Because of the huge amounts of tomatoes from the garden this time of year, i am trying to find new ways to cook them. This is what i did with another batch last friday, based on an old french recipe:

Ingredients
Tomatoes
250 gr sausage meat
2 cloves of garlic
1 onion
thyme
breadcrumbs

Preparation
Chop the onion and fry until glassy.
Remove the top of the tomatoes and scoop them out.
Mix the sausage meat with the crushed garlic, the fried onion thyme and the breadcrumbs. Also add some salt and pepper.
Put the mixture in the tomatoes, place in an ovendish and cook for 30 minutes in a preheated oven on 200 degrees.

Serve with a baguette and a firm glass of red wine.

Inspirational quote of the day

Ce qui compte dans une vie,
ce n'est pas la durée d'une vie,
c'est l'intensité d'une vie.
Jacques Brel

(When measuring one's life,
it isn't the duration that counts:
it's the intensity.)

Antillean BBQ Sauce

I got this recipe of Jennifer from www.slexip.nl at a nice BBQ this summer. Hopefully there will be some opportunities this year to make this one ! PS slexip.nl has its own google gadget:

Ingredients
1 green paprika
1 onion
15 ml picalilly
15 ml concentrated tomatoes
(lemon juice)

Preparation
Chop the onion and the green paprika and fry them in a frying pan.
Add the concentrated tomatoes and pickles and fry shortly
Add water until the right thickness is accomplished let it simmer for a while to allow the flavours to mingle.
Finish off with salt and pepper + a few drops of lemon juice

BubbleBoard

Microsoft's research center created this cool answering machine:

BubbleBoard uses the metaphor of water bubbles to visualise speech. When a voice message is left, a bubble is created floating to the top of the screen. As time passes, they slide down to the bottom of the screen. Alternatively they can be dragged to the plug hole to be deleted. Within the bubble, an image of the person leaving the message is also shown. How many messages there are, who they are from and when they were left can therefore be seen at a glance.

Sweet !

Caribbean Blues

My brother-in-law is going to curacao for the coming 6 months, to get some work experience so he can finish his studies in communication. Last weekend we had a sit down with the whole family and this is the cocktail i made:

Ingredients
1 part white rum
1/2 part bleu curacao
1/4 part (cane) sugar syrup
lime juice (1 lime for 3 glasses)
ice cubes
slices of lime

Preparation
Give your (f.e. wine) glasses a sugared rim and put some ice cubes in them. Mix the booze, sugar syrup, and lime juice and add some water if you like. Divide among the glasses, finish with a slice of lime.

Have fun in curacao berry !

Image Resize

Absolutely briljant ! Really looking forward to when this will be widely available.

Hyves

Hyves: a cool social networking tool: in holland more popular than MySpace.

Yesterday i created one for my favorite bar, feel free to join !

The Internet is for PORN!

Original by Avenue Q

Breaking News: Tax Raise

Yesterday the tax plans of the dutch government for 2008 where leaked to the press. To collect 200 million discourage teenagers to drink alcohol the tax on beer will be raised with 22% and wine with 11%.

The taxes on breezers and liqour (popular among teenagers) aren't raised. I'm glad to see that after 100 days of 'listening to the people' their visionary plans are becoming clear...

Inspirational quote of the day

I'm gonna hit you so hard I'm gonna
knock you into next week!
Mr. T

from: the Mr. T Jibba Jabba archive

Dog Alex Rescued

Alex the dalmatian was caught in a a landslide, but saved by his owner after two days of digging...

Inspirational qoute of the day

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein

Uncle Eddo's Meatballs

The city of The Hague has a large indonesian population with a very diverse and spicy kitchen. Our traditional kitchen is quite the opposite, rather dull and simple, without much variation. Sometimes these two blend in nicely and the following recipe is just that: truly fusion !

It comes from 'Uncle Eddo' a famous indonesian-ducth guy, at least in the Hague, and this is his recipe:

Ingredients
500 gr minced meat (beef)
500 gr butter
4 red onions
2 eggs
2 cloves of garlic
3 dried chili's
60 ml of gingersyrup
60 ml of kecap (indonesian flavoured soy sauce)
2 teaspoons of mustard
2 teaspoons of curry powder
2 teaspoons paprika powder (paprika = sweet pepper)
half a cup of breadcrumbs
some flour

Preparation
Chop the onions and the garlic
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with your hands and roll about 8 meatballs
Heat up a fairly large, thick pan with some butter.
Pass the balls through the flour
Fry them in hot butter until golden
Remove the balls from the fat, add the rest of the butter to make gravy (you can also use a cup of broth and some maizena for a healthier alternative)
Add the balls again and cook lightly for a few minutes before serving.

Serve
with (mashed) potatoes and french beans (traditionally dutch) or with rice and some gado-gado or sayur lodeh for a more indonesian approach.

Selamat makan !

Stewed Anglerfish

A bit late but this is what i did with some of the tomatoes on saturday:

Ingredients
1 kilo cleaned anglerfish: filets, fishbones & tails
a handful of tomatoes
1 onion
grated cheese (old italian)
oregano
olive oil

Preparation
put some olive oil in an ovendish, and place the fish in it
chop onions and tomatoes julienne (lengthwise)
place onions and tomatoes on top of and around fish
add cheese, some pepper, oregano & a little more olive oil
Place the dish in a hot oven and remove when there's a nice crust and the fish is ready.

Inspirational quote of the day

Life is what happens to you
while you're busy making other plans
John Lennon

Pwned!

Harvest time

Just came back from holidays and this is what i harvested from the balcony.. Tomorrow i'll show you what i am going to do with them. Shout out to Franky V. for the guest blogs, you rock !

happy birthday Autobahn

This week the German autobahn celebrates it's 75th birthday. Let's wish it the best and a lot of great years of "freie fahrt" to come.

Inspirational quote of the day

Are you quitting on me? Well, are you? Then quit, you slimy fucking walrus-looking piece of shit. Get the fuck off of my obstacle. Get the fuck down off of my obstacle. Now. Move it. I'm going to rip your balls off, so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world. I will motivate you, Private Pyle, if it short-dicks every cannibal on the Congo.
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Full Metal Jacket)

The Boondocks

For all you Simpsons and Southpark lovers. There's some new cartoon "The Boondocks". I've just watched the first eppisode. And I think you interesting people might find this some interesting stuff, to kill some sparetime. The mangastyle drawn cartoon about some litle gangsta kids livin' with there grandpa in a white suburb is larded with a soundtrack of very phat hiphopbeats.

The show is braodcasted bij Adultswim its an adult (not X-rated) channel of Cartoonnetwork. I found the whole first season on some well known t..r.nt network.

What you can do, I can do better!

Once again Alizée. But now you interesting people find this stuff more interesting then the last one.

Holidays !

Next week i'm off to Italy to catch some sun and good food, finally ! Mr. Franky Vitello, quite the chef himself, will be guestblogger.

My last contribution before i go is a cover of one of the best summer hits ever, performed by lovely Alizee.

Peace !

Dough!

Today my man levince gave me this squishee cup from the kwik-E-Mart in San Fransisco. Unfortunately, most of the simpsons stuff was sold out, but he managed to get his hands on this cup for me. Thnx bro !

Check the pictures from his trip

Partyhotel

See the series of pictures from august 4 in the Partyhotel

Inspirational quote of the day

Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream
Malcolm Muggeridge

Artistic Drainpipe

Something else than all these grey and boring drainpipes...

Thinking doesn't always lead to the right choice

dutch only, but a great article !

Nadenken leidt lang niet altijd tot de beste beslissing.

Tagliatelle alla salvia e straccetti di pollo

This recipe came to me from an ex-colleague, Paolo. It is one of those dishes that taste nice in winter but in the summer: it's pure magic !

Ingredients
400 gr. fresh tagliatelle (or fettuccine)
100 cc extra vergine olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
2 slices of old bread
15 fresh sage leaves
200 gr chicken filet, finely sliced in strips
the juice of 1 lemon

Preparation
Press the garlic, chop up the sage leaves, make breadcrumbs of the old bread (remove the crust, use a blender)
Slowly fry in half of the olive oil, until golden.
Remove pan from the heat
Cook the pasta in a large pan with water and some salt.
In another pan fry the chicken with the rest of the olive oil.
When the pasta is 'al dente' remove form the water and put it in the frying pan with the chicken and keep frying, softly, for a few minutes. This way the pasta sucks up a lot of flavour. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve in a preheated dish with the sage-garlic-breadcrumb mixture on top.

Buono appetito !

Worst rally corner ever

Wrong roadbooks i assume....

Return to the River Cottage

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall decided to live of everything the land gave him when he moved to a small farmstead in Dorset a few years ago. He made a great TV serie about it and he really got me thinking about cooking seasonally and 'living of the land'. Now he has a website and an organisation, River Cottage HQ.

"If I had to sum up the purpose of River Cottage HQ, I would say that it is, in universal terms, to promote a better understanding of the nature and origins of what we eat"

Also a preview of the River cottage forever TV series.

Milanese style pork chops

In a nice small restaurant near the lakes north of Milan i've had this great simple but delicious dish. I think it is a variation of 'Coteletta alla milanese'. Anyway, here's how i think they made it:

Ingredients
4 Pork chops (not so thin)
2 Eggs
Flour
Breadcrumbs
Parmesan cheese
a Lemon

Preparation
Use a meat hammer to beat up the pork chops until they are about 3 times as big. Leave the bone on (looks cool)
Take three plates: one with the flour, one with the eggs (loosely whisked), and one with a mixture of breadcrumbs and some parmesan cheese.
Put on a pan with some olive oil and turn up the heat (fairly high)
The following should be done rather fast (but not too fast, cooking = control) for each chop:
- put it on the plate with flour, turn it around so the whole chop is covered
- now the egg plate, turn it around fast and
- put the chop on the breadcrumbs/parmesan plate, flip it and make sure that it is covered, use some more crumbs if necessary.
Place the pork chop in the frying pan and immediately make another one. When this one is also in the pan flip the first one. When you're done with the third the first one is ready and the second one should be turned etc etc.

Serve with a quarter of a lemon.

Buono appetito !

Inspirational quote of the day

If you do what you always did,
you'll get what you've always got.
Albert Einstein

Cultivating Fish & Tomatoes together

A great innovative idea, fertilizing tomatoe plants using waste produced by fish swimming directly underneath them, developped a.o. by Priva from holland. These are exactly the kind of funky ideas we need to stay competitive in the world wide marketspace. Just look at the benefits:

- Efficient use of available space (in holland there isn't much)
- Less use of water
- No need for a separate fish farm
- Reducing the usage of none natural fertilizer
- Fish are farmed animal- and environmental friendly

Also see: dutch article about the subject.