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Claudia does her shopping at a biological farm near our house. When they offered her a customer card, the shop assistent discovered she was the 1000th unique client, and today they had a small reception for her at the farm. There were some journalists, and she got a nice hamper filled with vegetarian and bio food.

Here is a list of all the nice things we will eat in the weeks to come:

- vegan Panda licorice
- muesli cookies
- apple & pear juice
- Allos Amaranth chocolate muesli
- Women's Balance Yogi tea
- La Bio Idea - Minutini pasta con carotta
- Lima tomato/basil crunchies
- Pajottenlander apple/pear juice
- Pizzolato organic prosecco
- De Rit peanut butter cookies
- Ekoland wallnuts
- Whole Earth organic sparkling apple & raspberry fruit juice
...and lots more!

After loading our entire luggage in the car, we started our trip in Grimbergen at 10 a.m. We still had to go to the Abdijstraat and after saying goodbye to Frank’s parents we left without any traffic jams. The trip itself was fine, of course we had to stop several times to change and feed Caitlin. Today was probably the most problematic (traffic-wise) since we had to cover the long distance between Belgium and the North of Germany in one day.

At around 6:30 we arrived at our hotel, an Etap hotel with the typical practical Etap design. This means it is one star more than a Formule 1 hotel (a little bit more comfort, an acceptable breakfast buffet and free internet in the rooms). The toilets and bathroom (separate) reminded me a bit about those in a train wagon, and cleaning them will probably take 30 seconds with a high-pressure water gun and some disinfectant.

We unpacked, rested a bit and left for my friend Tinchen and her mother Anni, a friendship that dates back to the times when young kids had pen pals and sent them real letters… We were welcomed with warmth and first of all exchanged some news about what had happened in our lives. Old memories were revived too and on top of all the nice conversation we were served a delicious gratin with meat, peppers and tomatoes.

Caitlin was her usual friendly and curious self, only quite late did she get tired and a bit cranky, so we decided to go back to our hotel room and went straight to bed. Having Caitlin sleep between us proved very comfortable. Maybe we shouldn't bring our travel bed anymore next time.

Tomorrow we will test www.bewelcome.org in Rostock

With nothing better to do (and after dealing with some heavy financial calculations) we decided to sit down for the Eurosong Festival 2009, which this year is being held in gay-unfriendly Russia. This song contest (often called the Kitsch and Camp-festival of the year) brings us 25 songs from as many countries.

Here my views on some of the contestants:

- Finland: up-tempo song with a silly rapper, and I'm afraid they won't manage the same surprise Lordi did a couple of years ago

- Turkey: Flemish singer Hadise delivered a good performance, although the song was a bit weak. Still I think a Top 5 position is possible

- Germany: Very silly song, but with a gorgeous Dita Von Teese. What else did you expect from a group called 'Alex Swings Oscar Sings'

- Estonia: a beautiful singer with a beautiful voice...unfortunately not the kind of song that will win the Eurovision Song Festival

- Ukraine: My favourite, a very kitschy up-tempo song with beautiful women, Roman gladiators and funny lyrics. My favourite for the first place.

I'm going frugal and decided it was time to make my own yoghurt. Just a little bit of left-over yoghurt and some milk will produce loads of yoghurt.

Here are the instructions, I hope you'll give it a try as well:

Yogurt is a healthy food that can be made at home. One way to make it is to first buy some yogurt from a store or purchase dry yogurt culture. Add two small spoonfuls of the yogurt to two cups of milk. This will be the starter for your own yogurt. A cup is about 24 centilitres.

When making yogurt, it is very important to have clean equipment, clean hands and good temperature control.

Pour eight cups of milk into a large cooking pot. Heat the milk to eighty-five degrees Celsius. Then cool the milk quickly to forty-three degrees. To do this, you can put the cooking pot in cool water.

Keep the yogurt at forty-three degrees and add one-half cup of the starter. The remaining starter can be kept for later use. If you want a thicker yogurt, you can also add one-third of a cup of dry milk.

Cover the pot and keep it at a temperature of forty to forty-five degrees Celsius for four to six hours. After that, your homemade yogurt is ready. It can be left at room temperature for up to twelve hours if you like a stronger taste.

You can add fruit, nuts, honey or spices.

Source: "how to make yoghurt" leaflet from our local bioshop

The Official Line-up for the Couleur Café multicultural festival has been published, and it looks awesome!

26/06/2009

BEN HARPER & Relentless7
AYO
AMADOU & MARIAM
KHALED
KEZIAH JONES
ROHFF
NNEKA
BABYLON CIRCUS
ZIGGI & The Renaissance Band
SELAH SUE
NTOUMOS
COSTANZA (DJ's)

27/06/2009

ARNO - special project
EMIR KUSTURICA & The No Smoking Orchestra
ALPHA BLONDY
MAGIC SYSTEM
SHAMEBOY
MAMADY KEITA & Sewa Kan
THE SKATALITES
OI VA VOI
SAULE ET LES PLEUREURS
OZOMATLI
MOKOOMBA
BALIMURPHY
GORI KA DANCE ORCHESTRA
LOWDJO (DJ)

28/06/2009

BENABAR
CESARIA EVORA
ZAP MAMA
GROUNDATION
PATRICE
RZA (Wu-Tang Clan)
NEG' MARRONS
KASAI ALLSTARS
TERRAKOTA
BEN'BOP
DYNAMIC
KEL ASSOUF
PRIMITIV
TUPOLEV SOUND CRASH (DJ’s)

I will be there, you too?