:: @ Choepie’s ::

Chop 2 toes of garlic and an onion into very small pieces, color this in a wok for 1 minute, add 2 spoons of coconut pulp, 1 Nigerian chilli peper (chopped in small pieces, use gloves if you like to play piano the upcomming week), add 2 teaspoons of ginger, 1 spoon of dark vinigar, 1 spoon of olive oil and 2 spoons of water, let this boil a bit (2 or 3 minutes). Let this cool down. Serve as a dressing for a asian salad (sojabeans, paksoy, red peppers, red onions, green beens, selery,…).

This was one of the 3 plates I made with Jon for having Natxo and Isabel over for dinner on Saturdaynight… this dressing together with an gamba curry was really the hottest food I’ve ever prepared… but it turned out great. Jon was helping me out in the kitchen and we really enjoyed cooking, Ana was a bit lost as she’s not very used to have kitchen access restrictions :-). But she was happy with the hot stuff we made. Natxo is, besides one of the best dive buddies, a professional cook, so I was a bit nervous when it came to preparing food for him, but seeing his face when having a bite of curry, did the trick, I passed the test. Only a bit of a panic when it turned out he was very alergic for coconut, but he’s still alive, so I guess the chili won it over the coco.

We finished the night with finishing a 1,5liter bottle of Duvel, a bottle of Irish cream, some shots of Akwavit Patershol (some spirit from Belgium), an emtpy fridge (talking beer here) and half a box of Belgian chocolats. A great evening !

Friday we had a rather easy night out with Nico and Marta, celebrating Nico’s 33 birthday.

Sorry for the amount of ‘comment’ that are still in ‘moderation’… I have a spam attack and will avoid at any cost to make publicity for any kind of penis enlarger the US might need. (you noticed that all penisenlargers are US based ? ) that’s why they have such a big mouth

Anyway, I’m still trying to recuperate from one of the biggest hangovers I suffered since long… last Saturday was plain brilland : after having a couple of drinks around Tribunal, we went to the OUI bar to enjoy Lutz playing the decks. A lot of friends joined so we had a good time and I met some friends I hadn’t seen in about a year. Afterwards Jon, Nico and me had to queue up for a short time to be able to enter Low, where Ellen Allien was performing… oh my god, it had been a while that I went out on a good technoset, so I really enjoyed it. Despite the breakfast I had on my way home, I still had a huge hangover… I normally don’t do hangovers, I’m actually against it, but this was way over my limit. Ok, I had my part (a Caipiriña, a Daikiri, 6 beers and 3 or 4 gin-tonics) but then again, not exceptional. Jon and Nico as well suffered a lot next day, but that’s no reference… I still think the Daikiri is to blame.

No for me, but for most people I had contact with this weekend. Whatever, I had a great one. Starting of on friday to a Filipine Restaurant in my neighborhood for a find dinner with Ana. Saturday , after seeing the Scotland - Wales Rugby game in ‘The Irish Rover’, went of for a nap before hitting the night. Craig Richards (Fabric, London) was about to play in Mondo Saturday night. Mondo is on Saturday what The Room is on Friday. A lot of places in Madrid host more than one club in the same spot. So depending on the day the style is different as well. It was an excellent night out. Jon, Ana and me went out that night, as a lot of people canceled joining for various reasons, but all to stay home or similar.

Sunday, after an excellent Ireland - France (were France won at the very last 30 seconds !), Noa and Alma joined us for some chatting in Molly Malone’s. Alma has a bit of a rough time lately so she could use some cheering up.

I had some thoughts this weekend and realized the friends I have in Belgium are on a very different level than the ones I have in Spain. It’s relax in Belgium, my friends are there and will always be there. In Spain it’s most of the time easier : it’s better not to care to much. It’s like taking a taxi. They are always somewhere and you call one when you need one.

I might sound a but down with this, but I’m not at all, I’m having a great time with Ana. It looks like we are getting back on track and that’s the way it should be. I do enjoy the regular messages from Gareth from Australia and can hardly wait to grab some beers with him when he finaly comes back. I realized that I have to travel a bit more in order to visit some other friends around Europe as well… Got 3 different spots in Italy to go to, got to go to Prague one day, London’s calling as well, but I’m afraid I have to wait for Andy to come back in this area as he’s somewhere in Asia at this moment. Don’t forget to check it out on www.whereisandy.net and leave some nice comments.

Ana asked me if I still had some Bob Dylan Cd’s missing… actually I do, but failing to name them all, I looked them up… and realized 13 were missing. I do have 6 cd’s that aren’t ‘official’ I thought I had only 2 live bootlegs, but no… anyway : here’s a ‘Bob Dylan wish list !’

As promised to Gareth I went over to Kitty’s to watch Wales-Ireland last Sunday for the 6 nations. Pretty nice game but Wales lost unfortunately, upcoming Sunday, Wales meets Scotland, So off I go again this weekend.

In meantime I kept up with the rehabilitation sessions every day from 19h to 20h, went over my scanresults with the traumatologist, I actually have a little bone broken in my back, as long as it doesn’t move there’s nothing we should do I also lost all of my houses in Madrid while playing Monopoly (Madrid version) with Jon and Ana, I went to see ‘Blackbook’ or originally ‘Zwartboek’, a Dutch movie from 2006, playing in Madrid right now, and I must say I really enjoyed it. Great movie.

Did I already mention I learning to play piano as well ? I try to practice at least half an hour a day. It’s not easy to free time for it, but it’s very relaxing once I’m on it. So that is a good thing to do. Relax myself once in a while.

Oh and last but least. I’m 18h50m smoke free at this very moment. I finished my Camel lights yesterday at 16h and I decided not to buy any more cigarettes. I must admit I do use Nicotine patches. Well, use only the psychological effect of them…. to be honest.. I have a Nicotine patch in my wallet. I will glue it on my body as soon as the urge to smoke becomes impossible. Up untill now, it’s not unbearable so I leave it in my wallet and will try ‘Cold Turkey’. 3%-5% of the people trying to stop cold turkey do succeed. I think that’s pharmaceutic bullshit.