Suri Cruise, 3 years going on 30

Most celebrity toddlers are cute and seem fairly normal. Violet Affleck(Ben Affleck/Jennifer Garner), Kingston Rossdale( Gavin Rossdale/Gwen Stefani), Shiloh Jolie-Pitt(needs no explanation). One of those toddlers is way of that normal range though and that is Suri Cruise. Reason for that, her ridiculous parents. Every new picture I see of her I cringe a little more. She is 3 years old and allegedly wears high heels all the time(isn’t that bad for growth and posture), wears huge earrings, is up around mid-night and drinks from Starbucks. It already started with her not wearing coats in the winter to show of her perfect little dresses but it gets worse all the time. I also read in the gossip magazines that Tom lets her do anything she wants because that way a kid can express itself best. Yeah and turn into an egotistical little brat!! Poor Suri, never had a chance in hell.

Bruno

I finally saw the movie Bruno this weekend, half a year later than the rest of the world. I was gonna go and see it with my sister back in summer, but first I got sick and then she was on vacation and when we both had the time and felt like it, the movie was already not playing anymore in cinemas. I was bummed then, but not so much anymore. What an utter disappointment. Maybe my expectations were too high after loving Borat so much.

The first half an hour of Bruno were just excruciatingly unfunny, only slightly funny was him coming on to presidential candidate Ron Paul and then after being blown off saying even Ru Paul was not into him. The whole skit in the Middle East was terrible though. It had some funny moments later on when you see him interact as Bruno with normal people who believe he is for real. The camping trip with the rednecks where he says they are just like the Sex and the City-girls and later on wants to sleep in one guy’s tent, the swinger party where he keeps touching other guys or the boxing match in the end where all the rednecks go crazy the moment they see two men kissing. My favorite part was him talking to a conversion pastor( cures gays) who says his lips were meant to spread the word of God and Bruno said he thought the guys lips were made for sucking cock. Not great by any means but worth watching at home when nothing is on tv?? yes!

Key West

My bf and I left for Key West 2 weeks ago and even though we are back for a week already it is still hard to get adjusted to the New York life. Key West is simply awesome. We went there last year and had  great and active time. We saw a lot of the old houses that are restored into mini-museums now, like the Hemingway house. We went on a dolphin tour and saw cute young dolphins swimming right next to our boat, we para-sailed( scary but lots of fun) and visited the small butterfly conservatory where there is just an explosion of color and movement. This year though we took it easy at our great rental house Viva on Duval, a huge white 2-story house with 3 bedrooms and private pool. It’s an old cuban house with great wooden floors and antiques. If you have the money and it’s available, this place is a huge recommendation. Bring your earplugs though because in Key West, chickens en roosters walk around free and are not afraid to go into your private garden at 5.45 in the morning to wake you up. The weather was perfect for most of the time, sunny and warm(mid 80’s) but not humid like it is in the Netherlands or New York with that temperature. Our two favorite things about Key West are the open-mindedness of the people shown for example in the piano-bars and the many drag-cabaret bars across town.. And number one the fantastic food. We ate at great people watching spots with delicious food like Martin’s( with lots of german-inspired fare, like the irresistable apple strudel) and 915(try the tuna dome!!). For great outdoor seating right next to the ocean bring a visit to Louie’s Backyard in a monumental renovated old house. One of the best lamb-dishes we ever had was at Cafe Marquesa where they also have the nicest staff on the Island. At Pisces they have great french cuisine with a modern twist. Key West has really stolen our hearts and will remain there for a long time, together with Provincetown it is my favorite place in the world.

Picky eaters!!

When I was a kid I was a pretty picky eater, no fish and also not a lot of veggies. My mom never pushed me into eating anything that I did not like with as a result that I know eat about everything. All veggies, all(even raw) fish, all meats. The only things I don’t like to eat are tomatoes and grapefruit. My boyfriend does not care about warm pineapple but really likes everything else. When we had dinner in Key West one night we really had to laugh about how picky one woman was. She wanted a caprese salad but was allergic to milk(yeah right) and could thus for not have the mozzarella in it. She also did not care for tomatoes(that I can understand) and she wanted to have the dressing on the side. So basically just dry lettuce. Why the hell do people like that even go out to a nice restaurant?? The waiter seemed to get really inpatient with her and I can totally understand, if I was a chef/waiter I would have loved to just kick her out of my restaurant.

Are you from Neverland??

Well, since coming to the U.S for almost 10 year I have heard the most ridiculous and incorrect replies to me telling that I am from the Netherlands. “Oh, isn’t that the capital of Denmark.” “Oh, that is in London right?” This week while in Key West though came this little gem. Me and my bf were taking a pedicab to our restaurant and our pedicab-driver asked us where we were from. After I told him I was from the Netherlands he was quiet for a while and then said. Oh, that is where Michael Jackson lived as well, right?? Yeah, exactly I lived with Michael Jackson in Neverland. I wish, I would be a rich man,lalalalalalalalalalala!!!

Amelie Mauresmo retires from professional tennis

Today during a press conference in Paris the 30-year old French woman said goodbye to tennis in tears. I loved her attitude and wonderful style of play and will never forget the slams she won at the Australian Open en Wimbledon both against Justine Henin. She will truly be missed by many but her results in the last 2 years showed that the fire for tennis was not there anymore and then I do think it is wise to retire. Good luck in the life after tennis!

Inflamed appendix turns out to be baby

A 37-year old waitress from Germany went into the hospital with extreme stomach pains. She assumed the pain was from her appendix but at the hospital it turned out to be contractions. An hour later a healthy baby was born. They woman says she though she could not get pregnant and had not paid any attention to not getting her period anymore. Clearly not the smartest person and also how could you not notice??. Every now and then you hear a story like this and after asking female relative with kids about it, it’s just hardly possible to not notice. Maybe some psychological denial problems as well here.

Thanksgiving dinner at Craft

I am back in New York after a long Europe period. And could there be a better first day to get in the U.S spirit then Thanksgiving? After a week op non-stop great and elaborate meals in Europe( 8-course tastings with amuses mostly!) I thought a rather small meal would be good given our upcoming sun vacation, but Craft only had a Thanksgiving tasting with all the works. Way too much, fairly expensive(115 a person) but incredibly tasty. The restaurant from Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio is decorated very nice. Comfy chairs, great paintings, subtle lighting, very friendly staff and tres chic bathrooms. But the main thing of the place is the great food of course. We started off with a small pumpkin soup amuse that was sweet and rich in flavor. The starters were a frisee salad with cheese, macadamia and pancetta. As great as this was, fresh and flavourful, this was the weakest of the starters(and that says a lot). The scallops with truffle were to die for and so was the carpaccio with dried shallots(best carpaccio ever). All these starters are on their regular menu as well so we will go back for those sometime. As a main we could get the turkey, but being jet-lagged(and not needing any tryptophan) I decided to have salmon instead(not super, but ok) and my bf had the beef. The beef was just perfect, medium rare with a nice crust. As side dishes we had grilled veggies, super tasty mushrooms, sweet and creamy butternut squash, rich stuffing and Brussel sprouts. I used to hate Brussel sprout back home when I was younger because they were always boiled. In the U.S I learned to eat them roasted and then they taste so much better. The grand finale was 5 plates full of desserts. Great rhubarb-crumble, some sorbets/ice-creams(our fav was the pecan) a mediocre pumpkin pie, a great tarte tatin and some doughnuts with chocolate. This dinner was a 8/10 definitely and we will be back at Craft soon!

Viagra-laced desserts

Student chefs in Columbia created a dessert using multiple aphrodisiac-style ingredients, one of them being Viagra. They made a pudding-like sweetness with chocolate, whipped cream and passion fruit that was showcased at a Gastronomy Show in Bogota. Unfortunately it cannot be sold in restaurants because it contains a prescription drug.

80y old Greek ladies in jail for playing poker

Playing poker is apparently illegal in Greece. Not only when playing for money but apparently also for fun.  A neighbor had called to police to inform them about the illegal poker nights of the group of old ladies(what an asshole) and the cops came by to pay the gals a visit during their weekly night of criminality, haha. The cards were being confiscated as well as the chips and the ladies had to spent some time in prison. How ludicrous is that???