Blogging, Beethoven and Alain Passard

Haven’t blogged for a long time. Facebook came in between. You can find me there . I got addicted to Farmville too. Short and fast are the advantages on Facebook (and on Twitter), but at the same time it’s a limitation. What if you want to say more things at once?
We planned to go to Manchester these days but snow came in between. We had lots of quiet and secret time at home.

Work & studies
Work is partly very troublesome and no fun at all. In a way it is a dead-end situation. Twice lucky: I was allowed to get a coach and I got myself another temporary job for 2 days a week in Utrecht. And what about my English studies? I passed my foundation course and that’s why I keep writing in English. Practice makes perfect. Native speakers: if you find mistakes, don’t hesitate to tell. My monumental performance: I finished writing ‘my book‘ and even did all the final editing. Now it is waiting for the publishing party.

Knitting
In between working, writing and studying not much time was left. Still, I finished one pair of socks. There will be more! After all it is the holiday time.

On it: the little acorn necklace that she made as a Sinterklaas gift. Check out her website, she makes beautiful things.

Roll over Beethoven…
We did a lot of concerts. We started with Jonathan Biss. Nice guy, great player. We saw Yevgeny Sudbin. They taught him to play the piano virtuoso, but forgot to teach him to laugh. And then: David Fray. I especially loved his interpretation of the second part of Beethoven’s 15th Sonata (Pastoral) for piano.
Ever since all that Beethoven we  play Beethoven at home or on our iPod’s and we watch dvd’s about the man’s music and life. So here’s some Beethoven for you too…

It’s Valery Sokolov (violin) and David Fray playing Beethoven’s Sonate N°6.

Haute Cuisine
We will be home for Christmas. So nice. We plan to do serious cooking, because for once we will have enough time. I plan to do a lot of Alain Passard. My new Chef Hero. L’Arpège is his 3 star restaurant in Paris and he is specialised in vegetables. I bought his latest book ‘Recettes and collages’ and it’s awesome. You have to find out a lot by yourself, because the book is illustrated with collages made from the photos from the dishes. Read about the book on Papilles & Pupilles (in French, with recipes).

I can really recommend his recipes. Truly vegetarian and truly haute cuisine.
One thing I have to mention: don’t forget to go to Het Nationaal Ballet: the Sleeping Beauty is a beautiful and festive ballet.