The Sweet Land

It was a cold dry summer. The wind blew the country and above my head I saw dark thick cloud winked, 'SURPRISE!'.
 
Surealistic, you tought, yeah... Welcome to the Magritte world on which summer can be so sober and winter may be unexpectedly warm. Oh, I should not forget my umbrealla and thick jas instead of a thin cardigan, I sighed.
 
No idea why I entered the shop.  It's colorful, sweet with tutti frutti aroma, a lolly shop. 'Hearts & Flowers' is one of two candy shops that we can find in the city center of Leuven. Since I had not been in the shop, I looked arround and I just saw things that I've never tought before. It looked more like an amusement park of confections. I was sure there must be name for all of them. Jelly beans, snickers, m&m's and lollipops are the familiar sweets and plus cuberdon from Gent, .
 
"Where are they from?" I was curious.
"Most of them are from The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium", answered the shopkeeper.
"Are there enough children that buy them?" I asked.
"Not just children, there are many adults too coming here foor sweet." 
"Like ice cream, any particular time when you can see the top period of seasons?" 
"Fall and winter, how darker the days, how more customers we have."

Hmmm.... Does a lolly boost our serotonin level to compensate our mood because of the cold and the dark? In social psychology class, de professor told us about an effect of warm drinks to our gloom. 'If you are sad, or it snows, make sure your heater works well and a cup of warm tea is with you. 

Hearts & Flowers has three shops in Belgium. Leuven, Hasselt and Genk are three locations whre we can find the shop besides their online shop in which we have so many choices.        
    

A LUXURY problem, een luxe probleem

Imagine that you are a woman (or if you were a woman) with this collections. How long do you need time to choose between 5 or 10 cm heel, between dodger blue, aqua, cyan, light cyan or turquoise, between leather, syntetic or suede, and between Christian Louboutin, Prada, Steve Madeen or Manolo Blahnik?

Well, you chose one and you whispered to yourself while putting them on and breathing deeply, 'I'll take a risk with this!' You obviously doubted that they were the best choice for a morning meeting. You thought that you could look better but on the other hand, the time was too short to consider and went back to your shoes drawer.

During the meeting, by coincidentce, your sight hit your toe, and this time, you wanted to scream, 'WRONG! How come that I'm so stupid to wear this ankle strap heels!' you cursed your silly self. You looked people arround, your colleagues who normally say not much instead, they merely smiled. 'Do I look like a bitch? Or half a bitch?' you begged an answer, frustratedly.

''t is wel een luxe probleem!' (it's a luxury problem!) is one of common utterance that we in Dutch (Flemish) use. Personally, I find it quite interesting since in my language we do not have the same utterance. It just sounds funny to translate it literally. So I come to conclusion, that it happens because we do not have the context or because we do not experience the context.

A friend told me, just like a shoes analogy. 'It is actually not a problem at all. We have all here', he said. 'Why we should think that it is a problem, since we can choose what we want. We are happy.'

Perhaps he's right, but the reality often show us different. Is that that easy to be happy?

I know a person who just changed his old TV with the same age as him with a brand new Samsung flat screen. 'And where will you throw away your brother?' I asked.
'I keep it in my garage just anticipate if something wrong happen to my TV then I can change it easily'.
'You mean your new TV? If something wrong with your new TV?' I asked again.
He nodded.

I do not get it. In this free-piracy country where all electronic product get at least 3 year guarantee, in which I never ever experience blact-out, someone still thinks something not bad but worse can happen. I just don't get it? What should we have to feel safe, to feel secured? 10 years guarantee? or more? Can it make us free from the fear of uncertainty?

In a lazy afternoon, I sipped cinamoon hot chocolate a coffee bar near public library in the city. Observing the barista behind his coffee machine, I saw his facial expression when he poured the well frotherd milk seriously to make a latte art. He smiled with a satisfaction, I guessed, but I was suspicious, was he happy? So easy? Really?



INDONESIAN root in the BELGIAN RED DEVIL, Radja Nainggolan

"Radja Nainggolan is de duurste Belgische voetballer in de Italiaanse Serie A." (Radja Nainggolan is the most expensive Belgian footballer in the Italian Serie A) wrote het Nieuwsblad in his website 12 hours ago. He earned 1.8 million euros after his transfer to AS Roma from Cagliari.   

 

I forgot when exactly I heard his name for the first time. Until last weekend, I heard again his name told by a TV commentator related to Family Day of Red Devil, Belgian National Team. It sounds in donenesian, I thought. For Indonesians the 'family' name Nainggolan is very familiar. Nainggolan is a clan name coming from one of descent of Batak King in North Sumatera. And Radja itself in standard Indonesian written as Raja means King. So Raja Nainggolan means King Nainggolan.   

  

 

pic: twitter Radja Nanggolan







pic: twitter Radja Nainggolan

This midfielder is born in Antwerp 26 year ago from Belgian mother and Indonesian father. Starting his career with club Germinal Beerschot Antwerp - as Vermaelen en Vertonghe, at the age of 17, he moved to Italy. Since 2010 he arrived in Seri A's Cagliari. At the same year, his mother passed away. Nainggolan who speaks Dutch, English and Italian then tattoed his back with the dates of birth and death of his mom.

As one of Belgian assets, Naiggolan really wants to strengthen the national team the Red Devil. Unfortunately he had no chance to play for the worldcup this year. During friendly match Belgium vs Australia on last thursday he played after 63 minutes. According to voetbalkrant.com that put him under the loep Nainggolan showed his excellent playing with passing (7/8), ballrecuperation (1/2), and finishing (1/1).     

 

pic: http://www.voetbalkrant.com/nl

KLIK: Radja Naiggolan

The Housekeeping MANAGER



http://animals.howstuffworks.com

'They are crazy with house cleaning. Especially the grannies!' said a friend when he described Belgians. Is it true? Perhaps... they even have a housekeepingmanager named Tante KAT (means cat) ups.... KAAT!

 

A SURPRISE

 

One day I got a pleasant surprise to find my self in a toilet of a family. In the corner, a one meter drawer standing filled with clean ironed towells (I did opened it). On the top of it, some perfume bottles and flower shape cristal and porcelain decorations laying like in the showcase of a shop. On the wall, a round carved wood mirror hanging reminded me to step mother of Snow White. Honestly, the small chamber didn't smell like a toilet at all. Hmmmm....  I even can sleep here, the idea blew my mind.

 

ONE IS NOT ENOUGH

 

Further, I realize that at home my belgian family has no one kind of washing products but more. One for windows, one for the floor, one for TV and computer screen, one for closet, one for the stopped pipe, one for wooden furnitures, one for leather sofa, and there are some more that I don't want to know what they are for. I have no doubt then that housekeeping is really a big issue here. For those who hygiëne minded, you are safe :) 

 

Who is Tante (aunty) Kaat? 

 

Born in the Netherlands, Tante Kaat who has a job as a fine art teacher has lived in Belgium since 1972 after three year working in South Africa. She is a media personality that ever had some programs on TV's and radios about how to solve huishold problems. Her image makes Tante Kaat becomes a trade mark. Elma Dalhuiysen-Nuis -her real name- often gets opportunity to promote some cleaning products and also projects related to house and environment. The gouden raad van Tante Kaat (The golden advise of Tante Kaat) is one of her books, a collection of mantras that can be helpful as solution for our frustrarion because of stain, lime, rust and dust.

In marketing term, the idea of Tante KAAT is a creative product fitting the national market. Tante Kaat, in her age right now has strenghend her image, not just a brand, but a legend. Tante Kaat is Tante of everyone.  Onze tante, zeg maar! 

curious?! http://www.tantekaat.net/

 



Being less smarter, a risk of city street jogger?

 

Do you have access to parks or jogging track in the city where you live? If not, is dodging traffic and weaving throught crowds a healthy alternative? VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) did a research about this urban phonomenon and came to a coclusion that jogging in the busy traffic make people less smarter.

 

HOW COME?

One of the prominent factors is the air pollution in the city that prevents our bodies to gain exercise-induced cognitive benefits. Besides this, the participants of the research also show the higher blood levels of some inflamation markers. This may cause mental problems too.

 

FORTUNATELY...

Romain Meeusen, Ph.D., FACSM, head of the department of Human Physiology and Sports Medicine at Vrije Universiteit Brussel added that fortunately our body has a strong recovery mechanism so that inflamation can dissapear over time.
 

 

pic: wikipedia.org







 



Balls & Glory, let the balls surprise you

It was in March this year when I visited  Gent for a public speaking seminar. I still had one hour before it started. And a bad news was that I was super hungry.

Seeing arround I just found a conventional donker cafe where any time we could get croque or spaghetti. But no way, it was too silly to eat them in Gent, a city of belfry.  As a good eater, I want more, an experience! 

You get what you think! And there on Jacobijnenstreet I passed a big aquarium with a long big table where people talking laughing and eating meatballs. Oh Bakso Tennis, I thought, it was not new for me then. Balls & Glory, handcrafted meatballs, written in a big letter.

Entering the restaurant I faced an cooking 'island' where two big casseroles were placed. "Is it your first time? Do you know the concept of our restaurant?" asked the garcon. I answered no, and he explained what he said as a concept. Everyball  has its own filling. We are free to choose between cheese or champignon. All the glory balls are served with massed potato and sauces. Ying and yang sauces, I named them myself. As a dummy, I'd like to prove the cheese ball.

Less than ten minutes, he came to me with a white round plate and a round massed potato with meatball in the middle. And the yin and yang sauces. Hamm.... it look like a hairdoe of Aurey Hepburn :)

Slicing the ball into two, I was surprised with the running cheese paste caming uot like a perfect moelleux. The meatball was soft and the massed potate was very rich with mixed vegetables. The yin yang sauces were a bit sweet and a bit spicy, pittig. 

When I finished my massed potate, the garcon came back asking if I want to have extra massed potato and the sauces. It was a nice experience. Believe or not, I came back there two weeks after with my family to tase the champignon one. Again, it surprised me.

Let the ball surprise you. Just click http://www.ballsnglory.be/ 

Miss FRUIT (candidate), still juicy with no hair?!

Are pears, appels, cherries and melons look less beautiful (with no hair)? If your answer YES then a fruit like my favorite RAMBUTAN (means hair) is a Miss Pigeant winner in the fruit world.

As a large fruit exporter, Belgium deserves to crown her Miss Fruit Belgium of the year. This year they welcome a striking candidate having no hair. A 21-year-old girl, Isabelle, from Zoutleeuw suffering from tricotillomanie. It is a sickness with symptom that a person has an excessive urge to pull out hairs.

Having ambition to be a professional model, Isabelle gets supported to overwin her sickness from her friends. However, just like what she said to Het Belang van Limburg, 'I'm still not yet cured, I still urge my hair."

This sickness started two years ago. One day she found a bald spot on her hair and then she got a feeling that hair grew everywhere in her body. Since the time, her life started to be uneasy. No matter that she is bald, she is bold too. In this contest she intentionally let people know about her story.     

For the organizer of Miss Fruit Belgium it is not a new thing. They ever let a super skinny girl and a girl with anorexia to take part in this contest.

Will they let Isabelle win the contest? We will see ;-)     

French fries or Belgian fries???

Five years ago I was in Paris for the first time with a list of questions, Is Eiffel Tower a romantic place like on the movies? Are parisians really fashionable? Do they eating french fries like crazy?

Well, the answer for the last question made me surprised since unlike in Belgium where we can find 'frituren' of 'frieteries' growing everywhere like mushrooms, in Paris we just find french fries in Mc D's of KFC's. And tell the truth, if you are the loyal customer of a 'frituur' and 'well trained' already for what we say as an 'echt GOEIE friet', then you'll easily be dissapointed with what you get in those francises.

Coming from Indonesia, Belgian fries is the first beloved food that I can say Hmmm.... Yummy! crispy like 'krupuk' and soft like 'pergedel'.  The rest of foods here are kinds that I've to learn to eat, except chocolate, ice cream, and home-made spaghetti bolognaise :)

Belgian says that they invented fries. They have 'friet revolutie' and fries is one of major national exports. In book Dag Vlaanderen!  written by RTBF journalist Christophe Deborsu, we can find an argument of the fries invention. Based on the story that he quoted from  a Flemish art historian Paul Ilegems, fries was invented by people in Dinant, Andenne and Namen arround 1680. Since they had no fish to eat during winter, they cut the potato in a form of small fish and fried them in the oil.

Further we can link this story to what some people believe that the name of french fries given by American armies that arrived here during the 1st World War. When they tasted the fries, they supposedly called them FRENCH fries since at the time french was the official language of Belgian army.

However, some people doubt about this story. The first story about the invention was not relevant with the historical background that potatos just arrived the areas in 1735. Another argument said that it was almost impossible during the economy crisis in that century to find  oil to fry the potato.

Well... which one is true and untrue, the truth is that here is Belgium we find the world best quality fries. Crispy from outside and soft from inside.... with mayonaise and a bit salt... hmmm... 'hemels' (paradise).

Ex Miss Belgium teaches SEX ed. for British kids

Goedele Liekens, ex Miss Belgium will be on the screen starting this month on channel 4 BBC for SEX IN CLASS, a program about sex education in British schools.  

 

WHY?

In a variety show Manneke Paul last year she told that the fact that England is the leader for teenange pregnancy in Europe is the reason of SEX IN CLASS.  

 

WHO?

As a prominent figuur as a sex expert in the low lands (Nederland & Belgium), Goedele is also a writer, magazines editor in chief  for Goedele (2010) and GDL(2012) and a TV personality, this is the next international career she does besides  working for Dutch TV's.

 

HOW? 

I was in SEX museum, Amsterdam, when I found her books Het vaginaboek and Het penisboek. "She's Belgian!" said a friend. Five years ago when I saw her on TV for the first time, I thought, is that her?  She was a bit hyperactieve.  

 

WHAT DO THEY SAY?

A Belgian mother told me, Goedele is all about, 'What you see what you get! Goedele is Goedele!' Hmm... OK, I nodded.   

 

And this morning when I watched her 'long time ago' program on Dutch production house SBS 6 'Over Sex Gesproken' Talking about sex on youtube. I just discovered another side of Goedele. That's her! Unlike common Belgian, Goedele is not that humble and it suits her with Dutch public.  Her questions were sharp but 'clean'. In her hands, sex becomes a proper public discourse.

 

SO? 

 

So, I'm really curious about her debut for British public. The chanel 4 executive Liam Humphreys promoted her to Guardian,"The way she (Goedele) looks at the world and sex education is going to be the most marvellous culture clash with even the most liberally minded British teacher. Some of the things acceptable [in other countries] – teaching 10-year-olds all about masturbation – is obviously going to stretch the boundaries of what is acceptable over here, but if you analyse what she is saying it makes complete sense." Further, Humpreys said that Goedele was like 'dynamite' and 'a real star in the making'. 

 

WILL SHE?

'Will the Queen watch yout program?' asked a teenager in a talk show to Goedele.

 

  

Experience ANTOINE by Patrick Aubrion



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It was four weeks ago when I passed Tiensesstreet in Leuven, my sight hit an unfinished shop covered with big letters, 'Who the fuck is Antoine?' I was curious.

 

 

A week after, I came back and saw some hanging balls in the finished shop. It's too early for Christmas, isn't it? I entered the shop and there behind the glass showcase stood a warm-hearted lady offering me a purple small ball.

'Chocolate?' asked me stupidly while chewing it.

'It's a truffle!' she smiled.

 

What I ate was a soft viola covered by dark chocolate and viola sugar.  

The day was a start of my search in chocolate world. As a dummy, I want to know more about this one of Belgian pride. People say that Belgians are burgundians. They love eating and  drinking. And the most important, they make great delicatessen that we just can thank to live here. 

ANTOINE, the shop's name, introduced me to the name of its creator, Master Chocolatier Patrick Aubrion. He's the dozens time champion in chocolate world. Working as consultant for some major factories, he established his own company, Aubrion Sweets, in 2010.

 

ANTOINE is his first shop offering us a new experience in enjoying a marbled look truffles. There are 13 soorts that with distinguished filling (like champagne, caramel, framboos, coffeee) , covered by ingridients like strawberry, milk chocolate and casis, viola sugar, light cacao, hazelnut and other inggridients  and the chocolate bases like white, milk or dark chocolate. 

 

One thing for sure, in the hands of Patrick Aubrion chocolate is more than something to eat. It's an art object that we look, smell, touch, and finally unbearably put it into our mouth. Hmm... it's an experience. It something I ask to people with 'Have you EVER....' in stead of 'DID you .... ?  

 

So, are you ready to experience ANTOINE?