Monkeys in the House
Oh it's been busy in my life lately! Work and travel for meetings - so busy. I can hardly believe it's the middle of the year.Last Thursday I invited a friend over for dinner. At the last minute, another friend called and said he was in the neighbourhood and would drop in if I had time - I remember my friend Holly once named 1998 the year of the 'drop in' - or was it 1999. Either way - it's kinda nice to have people stop by just to say 'hello'. Back to that connectivity thing - making sure you touch people and communicate, laugh, hug.
Luckily I had 4 of the meatiest brochettes ever from a great butcher shop near Parc Cinquantenaire. I love these because one is plenty for any dinner serving - and there's a tiny, tasty, fresh garlic and herb pork sausage popped on the end. I had two guys with hearty appetites - although the slighter one ate more than the large one - I had just enough food. Served with big salad of arrugula, sweet tomatoes, slices of buffalo mozzarella and my home-grown basil, balsamic and olive oil, sea salt and lots of cracked black pepper. Just right. Between the two men, they drank every beer in the house. I mean it. They just stayed and stayed and stayed at the table in my garden and talked into the night.
I guess they enjoyed themselves.
Saturday I was a bit more industrious. My Italian/Flemish friend came over to have a relaxed meal back in the garden. I made strips of courgette rolled with a ricotta, garlic, and chives stuffing as an appetiser. Coquilles St. Jacques (scallops in white sauce and cheese) for entree and for the maiin course, a beautiful monkfish with black olives, tomatoes, shallots, garlic, baked in white wine. Roquette dressed with lemon and extra virgin olive oil on the side. Strawberry and apricot tartlets for afters.
We finished the evening watching the Mexico v. Argentina World Cup match which went to overtime and then we walked Bunny Dog around the block and dropped my friend at his car. Was perfect.
It's been rather cool the last few days. Like Summer has decided to take a break - either that, or it's over - which is a possibility in Belgium. But I don't think so. :-)) Either way, cool weather keeps 'the babies' quieter and if it's raining - they are INSIDE!
'The Babies'. The neighbours on the first floor. (2nd floor in US) The ones with the baby farm - 3 babies under 3 years old - all live in a studio-style apartment with a terrace overlooking my garden. The apartment is huge with very high, beautiful ceilings and gorgeous period moulding and features, but still a studio!! The bedroom for the twins is below on the ground floor - that's weird - and a bit inconvenient for the tenant across the hall from them - he just leaves the building until after 'bedtime'.
They are nice people for the most part, but - a family of 5 just doesn't belong in that apartment. They spend every waking hour on the balcony terrace to feel like they are really outdoors. It always feels like there's people in my living room when I get home from a hard days work. He 'works' at home - although not sure what he does or when. So they are always there - always. Sometimes when I am in a bad mood, I call them the Monkey family - to myself of course. Mean ain't I??
The twin boys throw their cars in my garden every night. Usually, I come pretty close to getting plonked on the head with a Matchbox racer - last night I counted 16 scattered throughout the grass. Good thing I was out - would have been hard to avoid that car shower.
The babies scream and yell and cry which reverberates through the yards bouncing off the brick walls behind all the buildings. You can hear people closing their windows when one of the babies throws a fit.
The Mom usually lies in the sun all morning on Saturdays and Sundays (and I am sure all other days) and ignores the kids who are basically bored to death. They need to get fresh air and exercise. I have known whole weekends where they haven't taken the kids out of the apartment and off the deck the entire time. I guess it's too much bother with twin boys and a very small baby girl -especially if you're lazy.
The parents used to fill little dishpans with water and put them on the porch and let the twin boys frolic in the water. The boys' arms and legs hanging out and their bums submerged. They would throw cupfuls of water all over the place with plastic measuring cups. I got them a small inflatable pool. They love it. The Mom loves it. It fits right on the deck and both boys can sit together and feel like they are - well, a little more submerged - it's brightly coloured and fun. And Mom can sit in her tanning chair right next to them and do the minimum.
I can deal with kid stuff, but the adults are the kind of people that accumulate, dump and spread. Know the kind I mean? Their stuff starts to pile up everywhere - in the hallway, on the stairs, out front, in the cave, in the storage room (but not stored in boxes).
They take advantage of you too - the kind of people that march in and ask for garbage bags or tape or ladders or to use your ice cooler, or leave the kids in the garden without asking - and then never think to say 'thanks'. The kind of people who happily return an extra outdoor table they 'borrowed' in fine condition - and now it's got two wobbly legs and doesn't stand up straight anymore.
They claim they won't re-sign the lease because the trees have been cut down and it's not pleasant anymore. But I can't see them motivating to go anywhere anytime soon - that would take effort - monkeys.. :-)
OK - enough of me being cheeky
Have a nice day
posted by Brussels Confidential @ 3:54 PM
<< Home