My Life on this planet.

Saint Nicholas Last weekend was 6 December and that meant Saint Nicholas  day in a number of countries such as Belgium and The Netherlands. This is a day when children receive presents from their parents and at school while even employers can organise a Saint Nicholas celebration whereby the children of parents working for the company can come to collect a gift and enjoy a small party with e.g. facial body painting and sweats. It should be a fun day for everyone, a little like Santa Claus in the English-speaking world (that is based upon the same person) who also gives toys to children during the Christmas period and is now also widely celebrated in other parts of the world. Except that it has become politicised to an extend that some people are calling to end the whole thing and as a result children will no longer receive something on that day although its end will also be cost-effective for society when no longer presents need to be bought - and this ...

Another dish, quickly prepared and nice: a vegetarian pasta. Ingredients Pasta Fennel Red peppers (paprika) Mushrooms Tomato Yellow hot pepper Garlic Red peppers (paprika) sauce Herbs Olive oil Cheese Preparation Cut the red pepper, fennel and mushrooms into small pieces. Place the red pepper and fennel in a pan with hot olive oil. After some time, add the mushrooms and stir so all sides are cooked while it prevents the food from burning. Depending how crisping you prefer the vegetables, heat them for a shorter or longer time in the pan. Just before the vegetables are fine, add pieces of tomato, yellow pepper (if you like it hot) and garlic to the vegetables as well as some red peppers sauce and some herbs such as pepper and continue to heat for a short time while mixing the food. These vegetables don't need a very long time to cook and therefore are added at the end. While preparing the vegetables, cook the pasta for the suggested time as mentioned on the pac...

President Obama, receiving little if any respect from opponents (what may be understandable) but also often loosing any respect from his initial supporters due to wrong decisions so people sometimes wonder on whose side he really stands. Only a few weeks ago President Obama wanted to leave a lasting legacy by announcing a climate deal that should result in a huge reduction in gases that are responsible for causing climate change and this by stimulating investments away from mainly coal. And now President Obama needs to defend himself because he allowed Arctic oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea with the falls argument the economy still needs oil and gas and thus it is better to get this from domestic producers than from foreign import. Falls unless you are convinced that burning oil and gas are essential for the economy and then the argument he uses is correct. One could even accuse the president that he wants to stop the use of coal to promote oil and gas use. Ship guid...

Pope Francis I published his much anticipated encyclical about climate change and the state of our planet . I didn't read the document but read some commentary and it seems it is quite a moderate document although it changes the language by acknowledging that actions are really needed, now. Discussion of document This article summarises the document in eight points and I can agree with seven of them while one point ( point 7 ) shows the pope's age. Indeed, we need new energy sources and mainly renewable energy produced at a local level ( point 4 ). This doesn't mean we shouldn't be realistic by accepting there is a transition period with the continued use of other sources such as gas and nuclear energy but with the need to stimulate investments in new energies and much less in the old ones as they are very expensive ( point 1 ) as it seems President Obama's climate deal is trying to do. Still, the burning of coal should be stopped as soon as pos...

A new veggie dish, this time again with pasta. Ingredients Baby corn Broccoli Red and yellow pepper all'Arrabbiata sauce (Hot chilly) Olive oil Cheese Pasta Herbs can also be used if wanted (the sauce may already contain enough herbs so no more needs to be added) Preparation First start boiling water in which the pasta will be boiled (I used Gnocchi but also other pasta types can be used according to what you prefer or is available at home). Ones the water boils, add the pasta and, according to the cooking instructions that differ according to type of pasta, boil until the pasta is ready. While the water is warming, prepare the vegetables: cut the baby corn and peppers in pieces while take some branches of the broccoli. Wash all vegetables well before use to wash away any pesticides but also harmful infectious species such as bacteria (that may be present because of the droppings of birds). Freshly picked red and yellow peppers (I expected the yellow pepper m...

UK Here a must-read article about how quickly a few years of austerity in one of the richest countries on our planet can disintegrate a society whereby people start to fight with each other for almost expired food and other cheap goods. Indeed, people who are poor and hardly can afford anything, including food, become hungry and, as long as they still have fat reserves and some savings, they can continue to buy some food and forget the hunger for a short period (and this period can be extended by avoiding to meet friends and family and thus spending money). But after a few months, when savings are starting to melt away (and the less money someone has, the quicker it goes down) while the numbers of people who become desperate and need to buy cheap food grow, the more likely it becomes that people start to fight with each other in order to be able to get the cheap products. Certainly when people have children who are hungry, people will start fighting for the cheapest things avai...