I spoke too soon!

The weather has taken a turn for the better!  Hooray!  My friend Linda and I took advantage of it and took a long walk together this morning - it felt so good to get out in the sunshine.

Yesterday I spent nearly 5 hours in the car, driving my kids to and fro to various activities...it's actually highly unusual for me to use the car so much but it just so happened that there were several things on one day and there was no way around it.  The funny thing is, there was just an article in our newspaper this week where it said in Belgium we spend the most time in traffic jams, compared to all other European and North American countries; and according to the research cities like Antwerp and Brussels are even worse than London, New York or Paris.  Well, either that article cursed me or I guess it must be true...

But it wasn't all bad.  I saw a good part of the French speaking part of Brabant, too.  It's funny how just a 15 minute drive from our house puts us over the language border and feeling like we're in another country.  Everything is subtly different, and of course, when we stop somewhere we get to practice our French!  So that made the driving around actually interesting.  And slightly more bearable...

You call this summer?

From what I hear, the US is having a big heat wave right now...we definitely are not!  It's raining and 13 degrees celsius, not what I'd call summer weather at all!  I think it's supposed to get better next week - I could really use a few nice sunny days...

So...I trucked myself off to the gym.  I haven't actually been to the gym in almost two weeks - between being on call at home for my studiers, and last week actually getting sick, I never got there.  The only thing I've been able to do for the past week is walking, but I've managed about 2 kilometers every day, which is better than nothing.

I'm still on antibiotics but was feeling somewhat more normal this morning (and frankly buggy to get out of the house), so I decided to try a laid-back version of my usual Monday routine: a hill walk on the treadmill, some upper body weights, and then the elliptical.  The funny thing is, I quickly felt that I was going to have to cut back on both intensity and duration - after about ten minutes I started getting that cold and clammy sweaty feeling, so I took the incline and the speed back down and ended up doing a rather leisurely stroll for 20 minutes.  Same with the weights and elliptical - shorter and less intense than usual, paying attention to how I felt the whole time.  Just 15 minutes on the elliptical and that was definitely enough.

Am I disappointed?  A bit.  But what can you do?  All I care about right now is getting back to 100% before our big vacation in a couple of weeks.  And I figure a little bit of moderate exercise is probably the best thing.

13 Today!

I'm now officially the mother of three teenagers!

He looks the part, doesn't he? ;-)

He's Back!

Inspiring! Watching Matt dance with people all over the world again reminds me of how uplifted I felt when I first saw the original video in 2008. Here's his latest one:

Blog Virus?

A friend of mine just told me she gets a message from her antivirus software that there is a virus on my blog when she pulls the page up...has anyone else had this when visiting this blog (or any other blog)?  I've been trying to figure out how to fix it, so if anyone has any information to share, I'd really appreciate it!

Lettuce Soup

Yesterday I got a free head of lettuce at the grocery store (they have a deal on Saturdays where if you buy four different fruits or vegetables, you get a certain veggie for free - so yesterday it was a head of lettuce).  I still have some really nice lettuce from my friends Christine and Jonas, and this free one wasn't really the kind I like (frisee) so I thought, what am I going to do with another lettuce?  And then it hit me - lettuce soup!  I don't know if this is a Belgian specialty but I've certainly never had it anywhere else.  But it's incredibly simple and really good.  And a great way to use up lettuce when you don't feel like making a salad.  And surprise, surprise - the kids slurped it all up!

Here's how you make it: wash your head of lettuce and tear it into rough pieces, and then let it drain in a colander while you roughly chop an onion.  Sautee the onion in about a tablespoon of olive oil until soft and then add the lettuce.  Give it a good stir so it wilts down a bit and then add about a liter or so of vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil and then simmer gently for about 20 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper, and a bit of nutmeg.  Blend with an immersion mixer or in a blender until smooth and if you like, add a tablespoon or so of cream (soy, oat or otherwise).  Enjoy!

Getting organized...

One of the plus sides to being relatively home bound during exam week is some time to get some long overdue projects finally taken care of while my boys are studying.  For example, my laundry room was starting to look like one of those rooms on "Hoarders", so I tackled that yesterday - what a great feeling to get the piles cleared out!

Today I've been going through my recipe folders to copy some to bring with me on our trip this summer.  We'll be visiting friends and family and I want to be able to contribute to the cooking!  There were a couple of really good recipes that I had to translate from Dutch to English and so I thought since I went to the effort of typing it out I would share one of my favorites here.  I've made this twice already and I really love it - the dressing is amazing and really makes the dish - I also served it to my friend Christine and she approved, so it's definitely a keeper!

Pasta Salad with Puy Lentils and Olives
(from Avalon restaurant in Gent)

For the salad:

½ pound whole wheat spirelli
¼ pound dry Puy lentils (or green or brown lentils)
2 T soy sauce
2 carrots, in julienne
6 green olives, sliced in rings
Fresh parsley or other herb for garnish

For the dressing:

3 T soy sauce
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T roasted sesame oil
1 T olive oil
1 tsp agave
2 T coarsely chopped cilantro or parsley
½ t sea salt
Freshly ground pepper

Bring the lentils to a boil in a saucepan with 2x their volume in water and simmer for 20-25 minutes until they are tender and most of the water has been absorbed.  Add 2 T soy sauce to the pan and allow the lentils to sit and soak it up while you make the rest of the recipe.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Cook the pasta al dente, and in the last two minutes add the carrots.  Drain and rinse under cold water.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.

Mix the pasta, carrots, olives, lentils and dressing in a large bowl.  Chill for at least 30 minutes.  Garnish with herbs and enjoy!

OMG!!!

Look what I found at the grocery store yesterday:

OMG!  Is this the week of chocolate or what?  This could be dangerous...

PS: For those of you who want to go buy this, I found it at Colruyt...and for Christine and Kim, I'm sorry, it's not vegan (contains milk) *sigh*...

He remembered!

Yum!  Just what we needed with all the exam stress going on - some sweet relief! 

While the boys are upstairs studying, I think I just might sneak out for a quick run...because running beats chocolate every time (or is it only us crazy runners who think that?)

Don't forget the balls!

My husband and I managed to get a run in yesterday - a much needed 7 km to the lake and back.  The weather was actually great so I was glad we were able to fit it in.  Then he had to get ready for a trip to Salzburg and I was trying to keep my three teenagers on track with their studying and homework (not an easy task when the European Football championships have just started and there are so many exciting matches to watch on TV) - final exams have started here and will go on til the 25th of June.  Stress for them and worry for me...

My husband left to take the train that runs to the airport and I thought I would have plenty of time to be able to help my 12 year old with the last part of his homework while the older ones studied.  Five minutes later I got a stressed phone call that the train had been cancelled and could I come and pick him up with the car and drive him to the airport...so what else could I do but grab my purse and go?  Thankfully the airport is not too far from our house, and it was Sunday evening so the traffic wasn't too bad.

All in all, no biggie.  But still...with everything that's been going on, I sure hope he doesn't forget to bring home some Mozart balls!  (If you're reading this, dear, hint, hint...)

Little Tornado

Boy it is really windy here!  There was even a little tornado in Limburg yesterday...

Which reminds me - one of my favorite Aimee Mann songs is "Little Tornado":

I went out for a 30 minute walk this morning and almost got blown off my feet!  I was glad to be back home.  Then I did my new circuit - I like to try out new weight circuits at home first before taking it to the gym.  It took about 30 minutes and was really good, actually!   I think this would be a good one to take with me on our trip next month and do whenever we have access to a hotel gym.

Now I am listening to the wind whistle around the house and dreading going out and doing my errands in it...and hoping my kids don't get blown off their bikes on the way home from school!

Stress relief

My youngest is home sick (nothing too serious, a tummy bug).  Luckily I was able to get out for a run to burn off some of the anxiety - and take advantage of the one day of good weather we are supposed to be having this week.  Down to the lake and back and in just 45 minutes I was feeling a lot calmer, and ready to tackle the teas and soups and special treats a sick kid deserves from his mom...

Excuses, excuses!

I did not run yesterday - gasp!  We were out late on Saturday (a play that a cousin of my husband's was performing in); I had three terrible blisters from wearing my fancy high-heeled shoes out; and to top it all off, when I got up on Sunday, it was pouring like crazy and I was just too lazy to get myself to the gym.

So I did yoga (this workout), which worked out well because I didn't have to wear shoes on my sore feet and didn't have to leave the house!

Then we spent the rest of the rainy afternoon watching Belgian hopeful David Goffin give Roger Federer a run for his money in the French Open - really exciting!  Luckily for them it wasn't raining in Paris...

This morning, after being so lazy yesterday, there was no way around it - I had to get to the gym!  I did my usual Monday routine of a fast hill walk on the treadmill (35 min), upper body weights (20 min), an interval workout on the elliptical (22 min) and then abs and stretches before going home.  I've been doing this workout for a while now, and I was thinking that it might be time to change it up...when I got home and checked my email - serendipity!  There was a message from Oxygen magazine with a new circuit that looked like just the thing!  Not that I am planning a trip to the beach or anything, but it looks like just the ticket for the month of June!  I'll keep you posted...

Highlight of my week: Dolma!

Yes, it's about food again! LOL!

My friend Catherine and I headed to Brussels yesterday specially to eat at Dolma, which I've blogged about before.  It's really one of my all time favorite vegetarian restaurants in Belgium and despite the long walk down to it along a busy road, it is totally worth the trip.

Dolma offers a vegetarian buffet consisting of a wide array of cold salads, soup (which I have never tried because otherwise I would be too full for the rest), and then a hot buffet with different delicious dishes.  Finally you get to choose one dessert from a selection of about 6 choices; my friend and I usually each get a different one and then we split so we can try two things.

We had a great lunch and great conversation and we didn't get rained on, so we were very happy when we returned to Leuven.

Looks like some serious running is going to be in order for the weekend again...