Older

I am getting older.

Of course everybody is getting older. It is a fact of life. Time flows in one direction only. Going forward, all the time. I know i am approaching the end of the plateau phase of life. The phase in which nothing much seems to change.

I try to look good. As good as possible. Within the limitations i set for myself. Hardly any make-up. No botox. No cosmetic operations. No fillers. But yes, i do use the Ordinary serums. I do want to use a retinoid soon. I do try to loose a bit more weight. I do think i look alright. For being 56 years old.

But it is not the most important thing in the world. I know that. Your smile, the way you look at people, your openness, your interest in other people, all that is so much more important than the way you look.

Young people have a joy in their faces, in their eyes. Intoxicating. A thirst for the experience of living, an exuberance in experiencing life as it presents itself to you. A freshness of attitude.

Most young people have this anyway. I’m sad for the young people who do not feel like this.

I have been shy. Not knowing what to say. Quiet. Withdrawn. But also happy with myself. Content in living my life as it came. Happy to draw.

I had to learn to pay more attention to the people around me. This didn’t come naturally to me. Now i enjoy watching people. Saying hello, good day, good afternoon when i pass someone on the streets. I enjoy that.

Right now i live in a young family’s house. The sunshine in the house: a toddler girl of sixteen months old. So bright, happy, energetic. Not always, of course. But still, a smile to brighten your day.

The Julia Roberts smile from Pretty Woman was on my mind after a talk i had yesterday with my landlady. The Kylie Jenner images i posted yesterday were posted with the same thoughts. I look with a critical eye, but i also want to keep seeing the innocence in an image or movie. No matter what the thoughts are in the minds of the people making these images.

Published on October 14, 2020 at 6:00 by

A perfect day

Such a day where it felt i couldn’t put a step wrong.

I talked, sat alone in my room, watched some youtube, played with Dahlia, made dinner, ate the dinner together with Jessica, Michael, Dahlia, Caroline and Jan, made coffee and tea, watched a movie, Batman Returns. Never saw that one before. Enjoyed it. Ate some chips. Made a miso soup for lunch. Showered. Washed my hair.

A normal, perfectly perfect day.

🙂

Published on October 12, 2020 at 6:00 by

Vegan sushi bowl

Over the weekend i came across the following video Buddha Sushi Bowl with Orange Sesame Sauce. It stuck in my mind. So this Tuesday morning i propoed to make this dish. Or rather, a dish like this one. I went to the marke and got some vegetables, to the eco shop to get tempeh and sesame seeds.

Ingredients
For the sushi rice :
450g rice
60g apple vinegar
2 tbsp beet sugar
1 tsp salt

For the orange sesame sauce :
1 orange
40g soy sauce
40g olive oil
40g toasted white sesame seeds
1/2 tsp salt

400g tempeh

1 broccoli
1 winter carrot
1 bush spring onions
250g mushroom
edamame beans
olive oil
salt and pepper

2 sheets nori
2 avocado’s

Instructions

  1. make sushi rice. in a small cup, combine rice vinegar, beet sugar and salt then set aside until it dissolves. cook rice and then pour sushi vinegar over the rice and mix well.
  2. in a blender, mix all the ingredients for the orange sesame sauce. pour some of it over tempeh.
  3. cut vegetables in a bite size and drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. put them with tempeh in an oven and bake at 356F/180C for 30 minutes.
  4. Plate sushi rice, nori sheets, avocado, vegetables, tempeh, spring onions, sesame seeds. drizzle orange sesame sauce or soy sauce as you like.
  5. Enjoy!

Published on October 7, 2020 at 6:00 by

Kapitalisme, kolonisatie en cultuur

I’m reading a book i borrowed from the library: Kapitalisme, kolonisatie en cultuur – Arme en rijke landen in historisch perspectief written bij Dick Kooiman. I searched for a translation, but couldn’t find one. I did find summaries and reviews, but in Dutch only.

To me personally the beginning of the book is stunning. It confirms my thoughts about the eurocentric sciences of the past couple of hundred years. It felt to me that in this book, published in 2009, it is simply stated as a matter of fact. I haven’t found a single justification yet.

It is good to read this book, with its clear distance from the old historical writings of around a hundred or more years ago. Highly recommended.

Review in pdf format

Published on October 2, 2020 at 6:00 by