Archive for November, 2010

Eating spruitjes (Brussels sprouts) again

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

Spruitjes, heel veel spruitjes

Part I

Does the following sound familiar to you: your meals this week are roughly the same as last week. Probably, huh. And not just because stuff with potatoes seems similar (up to a point) to other food with potatoes (ditto for rice, couscous and pasta). Naah, we also all get lazy and fall back on the easy-to-cook stuff. Possible escape routes: invite someone(s) over for dinner (pushes me to make a bit of an effort), or just buy something in the shop and see what you can make of it.

Part II

I was in the shop the other day, and brussels sprouts (spruitjes) were on offer. Now seriously: when is the last time you had some?? Not that you hate them (well, can’t speak for you, but I don’t), but it’s just that… well… they’re boring.

Wikipedia is heel goed voor plaatjes om je blog op te leuken! :)But, since it had been ages, I bought a pack. A kilo-pack at that… that was the one on offer. That gave me a new problem: I know one way to prepare them (boil, add potatoes and meat, sprinkle some nutmeg (nootmuskaat), and enjoy. No way on earth that you’re doing that more than once a week, if that much. (I did say “boring”, right? Should’ve said “booooooo-ring!” :). Luckily, the boss came up with a good suggestion: just stir-fry ’em with some onions, leek, bell-peppers, carrots, etc. and add rice. Sprinkle some curry powder to finish.

Seriously, you wouldn’t believe how yummy a sprout can be, if it is a tad crunchy. Yummy enough to have more than once a week — a good thing, because I managed to finish before they went bad on me :)

So here I am sitting, after a medium portion, wondering if I’ll have another round or not. Had you told me this 10 years ago, that I’d voluntarily cook spruitjes myself, and that I’d ponder seconds, I’d’ve laughed in your face.

I guess we all grow up — a bit at least ;-)

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Movie galore

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

We’ve been watching quite a bit of movies lately, and I wanted to give you my/our view in a nutshell.

  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

    Extraordinarily disappointing.

  • Shoot ‘Em Up: Exactly what it promises. I’ve seen it twice now in a week. This is a movie that defies explanation. Watch it. Watch it and be a different person from hereforth.
  • Howl’s Moving Castle: better than I remembered. Good to watch again.
  • Blood & Chocolate: not as bad as expected. It’s more about werewolves than chocolate though. But watching it with chocolate is good anyway :)
  • Iron Man 2: More of the same — which, in this case, isn’t bad. Lighthearted and lightweight entertainment
  • Prince of Persia: a movie that takes itself too seriously, which ruins it.
  • Ocean’s Eleven: a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, which saves it.

Actually, those final two remarks apply to more of these movies. All of these are very lightweight films. Nothing deep going on here. The League: takes itself too serious. Shoot ‘Em Up is laughing at itself almost as hard as it is laughing at the audience. Howl’s… okay, that isn’t so lightweight entertainment (though it isn’t that deep either, but compared to the rest…). But the difference was painfully obvious between Iron Man 2 and Prince of Persia. Neither has a story worth a damn. Both have the obligatory hot chick, the hunky lead character, and action aplenty. One is good, the other one really isn’t. Why?

Not only because in the one the hero is an arrogant c..t where you can’t help feeling good if the bad guy hits him (but trust me, that helps). It’s also because in the one movie, you feel as if they’re not taking themselves too seriously. Iron Man gives you the impression that they realise they’re making the equivalent of a popcorn meal. No pretense there. Prince of Persia, on the other hand… it’s like they’re trying to make it into a big action-adventure thingy a la the old Indiana Jones movies. Well, fail.

To conclude: see everything on the list (again if already seen recently), except Prince of Persia. Avoid that like the steaming pile of manure it desperately struggles not to be.

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