BALANCE; BETTER WITH A TAIL

A friend from Ramallah who eats latkes asked what people put on theirs. She favours labne and a pinch of za'atar, most other people mentioned sour cream, apple sauce, even ketchup.
Plus salsa, gochujang, and, gottenyu, nacho cheese.
Guess who said Sriracha.

Which of course brought up mayonnaise, peanut sauce, and zuurvlees.
A horsemeat stew from Brabant and Limburg.
Which Americans can't eat.

The horse meat is first marinated in vinegar, with cloves, other spices, and sugar (in the south they use 'stroop', that being either apple or beet molasses). It is cut into small cubes, browned, and then stewed for two hours. The gravy is finished by the addition of 'peperkoek', a sweet spiced rye bread that thickens the sauce. Many people also put peperkoek in the marinade. Horse meat is traditional, and rather lean, so it benefits from this treatment.

If you are a Brabander, you eat funny. It makes up for so much.


Now, speaking of eating funny, last night I was pleased to see a raccoon quickly scoot out from underneath a parked car and up the side of a building. It shows that nature is adapting, and the neighborhood is hospitable to animals again, rather than just the damned dogs, dog owners, bums, and crack fiends. The abandoned supermarket is taking over the role the abandoned church had several years ago, before they tore it down and built condos.

For while there were no raccoons here, though it is (was) their natural habitat.


I suppose if one snuck in through the open kitchen window I'd panic. What do I do? Do I offer it some tea? The prospect of it bringing friends to party, a small cluster of burglar furballs hepped to the gills on hot comforting caffeinated beverages, does not thrill me.

Neither does the idea of having to shut the kitchen window. The paint on the wood work is rather old and flakes a bit, I cook with strong flavours, and I'd have to s


==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================top smoking in the kitchen when my apartment mate is out. So I need that ventilation.

I did not know that they climbed that well.




==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================