Much Needed Update!

/ flandriaman / Leave a comment

Yikes!

6 years, 9 months and 1 day left. Time for a quick recap and… a change or two.

Category I: Never Grow Up (Well, Maybe A Little)

  1. Create a board game
  2. Catch snowflakes on my tongue
    I can’t remember ever doing this. I know! Appalling, right? (15/01/2015)
  3. Fly a kite again: July 2018, baby!
  4. Make a snow angel: If only Belgium actually had some decent snow days…
  5. Make my own lemonade: BE GONE! >> Replacing this with: “Make the perfect lemon ice tea”
  6. Roast chestnuts/marshmallows in an open fire
  7. Build a bottle rocket
  8. Get married (14th-18th July 2015)
    Soon… ^^
  9. Celebrate Father’s day as a father: ticking off this one in June! ^^

Category II: Food, Glorious Food

  1. Cook a dish made up exclusively of home-grown vegetables – I’m allowing store-bought oil for obvious reasons, but apart from that, I’m going Nigel Slater allotment style!
  2. Make 20 recipes from 20 different countries:
    CHECK! Post on its way!
  3. Dine at a Michelin-star restaurant
  4. Cook every dish in a cookbook: Got really into The Mighty Spice Express for a while, then barely looked at it in 2017… Oops!

Category III: Landen, London and Beyond

  1. See the Northern Lights
  2. Go on a road trip with the Mrs (Malaysia 2016)
  3. Go snorkelling (30th July 2015)
  4. Visit the birthplace/gravesite of a hero — Haven’t quite decided on the hero just yet.
  5. Leave Europe (22nd July 2015)
  6. Have Balinese chicken wings… in Bali! (Honeymoon – July/August 2015)
    My parents have been asking me for my Balinese chicken wing recipe for years now (to no avail). I can’t wait to find out whether actual Balinese wings taste anything like mine…
  7. Get a diving certificate and go diving somewhere spectacular > Noooot so sure about this one anymore, tbh. Might get axed.
  8. Visit at least 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites > Still at 22…
  9. Have a cocktail on a white sandy beach (Honeymoon – July/August 2015)
  10. Go fossil hunting in Dorset


Category IV: Très You

  1. Attend a Star Wars premiere
    The Force Awakens, baby!
  2. Visit the United States (New York, San Francisco, LA or… Astoria 🙂 )
    > My wife and I have made a deal, saying we’ll go to NY before or for my 40th birthday. 😉
  3. Fix up the greenhouse… or build a new (smaller) one
  4. Get published (31st October 2016)
  5. Build a bee hotel and/or butterfly house > Axed, as we own both (didn’t build them myself, though). Will have to find a suitable replacement.
  6. See a live performance of Nessun Dorma, Figaro’s Aria, O Mio Babbino Caro or any other aria I feel strongly about.
  7. See the Moon (through a BIG telescope)!
  8. Get a new pet and give it the coolest name ever
  9. Have a fortune teller tell ALL. 😉

    Check! Went to a medium in Ubud. She revealed my purpose in life… Must post!

  10. Watch Alan Rickman’s complete filmography
  11. Complete a 365 photo challenge (18th July 2016)

Category V: Pushing Boundaries

Be it physical or psychological ones!

  1. Take a photography course
  2. Go to a casino and hit the slots
  3. Lose the [private]
  4. Sell a piece of art
  5. Celebrate New Year’s Eve abroad
    If you know how much I’ve come to loathe New Year’s Eve, you’ll realise this one is going to take some effort.
  6. Try 40 new things (big or small; apart from everything else on this list, obviously)
    This one might just be my favourite!

40 before 40 update: #29… or not?

/ flandriaman / Leave a comment

 

#29: See a live performance of Nessun Dorma, Figaro’s Aria, O Mio Babbino Caro or any other aria I feel strongly about.

Last week, I accompanied a merry band of second-year students on their trip to Budapest, where I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the city’s magnificent opera house.

If you take a tour of the building, you’re given the chance to have a 5-minute mini-concert at the main staircase.

Three guesses as to what aria our not-so-fat lady sang? Yup! O Mio Babbino Caro!

The only thing is… the music wasn’t live. So… does it count as a live performance?

I’m not ticking it off just yet! After all, I still have quite a few years to go. 😉

 

In the meantime, still working on many 40b40 list items (despite the dramatic lack of updates — apologies!). Promise!

 

Autumn blues? Time for Broccoli, Gruyère & Chorizo Soup! (BBC Good Food feature! Yay!)

/ flandriaman / Leave a comment

Recipe here!

The Chirpy Chef

I’d always assumed that if I were ever to grace BBC Good Food’s Share Your Recipe section, it would make perfect sense to do so in its annual Christmas edition (C for Christmas Nut was part of my 30 before 30 alphabet in pictures, and for good reason). And so… lo and behold!

In need of a warming autumn soup? Then look no further! Full story in this month’s issue!

BROCCOLI, GRUYÉRE & CHORIZO SOUP (serves 6)

1tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1tbsp fennel seeds
150g chorizo, skin removed, cut into cubes
1tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, chopped
1.5 litres chicken stock
2 heads of broccoli (approx 800g), cut into florets
150g Gruyère, grated
3tbsp double cream

  1. Dry-fry the mustard and fennel seeds over a medium heat until the mustard seeds start to pop. Using a pestle and mortar, grind the seeds to a fine powder.
  2. In a large saucepan…

View original post 148 more words

Yes, I’m still here! 40 before 40 update!

/ flandriaman / 2 Comments

#27: Get published

Not exactly what I had in mind when I compiled this list, but I am SO counting this!

A few months ago, I received an email from the lovely Sophie Godwin, telling me the good people of BBC Good Food really liked a recipe I’d posted in the GF community. She asked me whether I was interested in having my broccoli, Gruyère and chorizo soup professionally shot by one of their food stylists, with a full-page feature in this year’s Christmas issue.

Needless to say, I grabbed my wife and spun her around the room a few times. Joy to the world!

I ❤ BBC Good Food. In fact, we even included a one-year subscription as part of our wedding registry in 2015; so having one of my recipes published in the Christmas edition (C for Christmas Nut, remember?) made my year. YAY!

I’ll be sharing the recipe @ The Chirpy Chef soon!

40 before 40 update: #15

/ flandriaman / 2 Comments

#15: Go on a road trip with the Mrs

This August, Mrs Pomegranate and I hit the road in Malaysia, driving from Kuala Lumpur to the Cameron Highlands, Ipoh, Penang, Belum and Kota Bharu, taking in some UNESCO World Heritage on the way (go, go, go, #21!). See our photo diaries here!