We where fortunate to screen this movie at our monthly event Amongst Friends. I’ve been waiting for this documentary for way to long and was mesmerized on so many levels. Jiro is master!

This documentary was more than about striving to make the perfect sushi. How to make the perfect nigiri or omelette……It’s about the drive and spirit behind it.

Jiro and his sons made me think again about practising what you love and to love what you do! This will make your life easier haha Smile a lot and don’t complain about what you do. Do something else or find something to love about in what you already do.

Another thing is focus! I’m from the generation with slashes. You can do what you like, all at the same time and maybe execute it all mediocre… Because you don’t have the time to excel in a few things. Jiro choose for the craft of sushi and focussed on the quality of his fish, how his rice is made, how long his octopus is massaged and how good his mackerel needs to be marinated.

Then strive for perfection in your craft. It’s still a journey for me too. Discovering what you like and what you are good in or not. When you found it, or think you found it. Make it perfect by repeating and experimenting by using new techniques.

This film was such an eye opener in so many ways. And sushi was just a small part of Jiro’s determination. Get inspired and enjoy :)

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Stedelijk going bananas A good friend took me out on a date. First we got some delicious Vlaamse Stoverij, beef stew made with beer from Gollem’s Proeflokaal with fries and apple salad at the Overtoom 160-162 and went of to het Stedelijk, Museum of contemporary and modern art. Temporary Stedelijk 2 organized Loud! evenings with themes like gaming. What interested me more were the other collections about typography by Wim Crouwel, work from other graphic designers like Ted Noten with his banana ring and the Cuban mid 60’s campaign posters designed by Olivio Martinez Viera to revive the sugar industry. Giving a boost to the economy by setting a goal: working for a harvest of ten tons of sugar. It’s just fascinating how people use great design to communicate. You can visit this event until the 9th of October 11pm.

Stedelijk going bananas

A good friend took me out on a date. First we got some delicious Vlaamse Stoverij, beef stew made with beer from Gollem’s Proeflokaal with fries and apple salad at the Overtoom 160-162 and went of to het Stedelijk, Museum of contemporary and modern art.

Temporary Stedelijk 2 organized Loud! evenings with themes like gaming. What interested me more were the other collections about typography by Wim Crouwel, work from other graphic designers like Ted Noten with his banana ring and the Cuban mid 60’s campaign posters designed by Olivio Martinez Viera to revive the sugar industry. Giving a boost to the economy by setting a goal: working for a harvest of ten tons of sugar. It’s just fascinating how people use great design to communicate.

You can visit this event until the 9th of October 11pm.

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Digging in the crates

I’ve been receiving weekly surprise crates from dekrat since June. An ideal concept for people who don’t have a lot of time going to the market, yet love to be introduced with old school local seasonal vegetables and fruit or are bored with same assortment of the regular supermarkets. Strawberries all year long? Doesn’t look right…

Starting with a vegetarian crate for five weeks, followed by a meat-eater crate. The vegetarian crates made me very creative, but had to please Nalden too. Quoting him: Ambar, I’m not a %*&( rabbit!
I received some recipes with each crate, but love to be creative if I have the time, so I’d like to share some quick ideas. No measurements, just to make it easy ;)

Read More

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Focus

Last Sunday @Boris and his lovely wife @TessaS invited us to have dinner at their house with a group of like minded and inspiring people. Most of them internet entrepreneurs with the love for good food like @renn from @getcardcloud.

I heard a lot of stories about @Boris showing his skills during his dinner parties. After experienced a dinner myself I can’t say he was showing off and being a mad man in the kitchen. The one thing I could see was him being in “zen”, in peace and creating the dishes like it was nothing, all natural. Being totally focussed on his home made wasabi mayonnaise for on his entrée with organic salmon, avocado and chives. Focussed on presentation and making something from scratch. Explaining what he served, how he prepared it and why the main course, Rib-Eye with roasted yellow pepper with coriander, sea salt and garden cress was called a Rib-Eye ;)

The reason for not cooking or not enjoying lovely food and seeing food utterly as fuel to survive the day, because you own a business is not a reason not to try it out. I totally respect the fact that you don’t aspire  to become a cook and rather pass out on the couch checking your RSS-Feeds on the iPad haha it’s relaxing too. But the thing with cooking (and also with running) is that you are so focussed without processing a lot of info in your head, it could be totally blank in there. While the info I read, via my favorite iPad app Reeder, needs to be processed in my head so I could do something with it, getting hyperactive and over-inspired a.k.a. sometimes exhausting.

I find my pleasure in experimenting in the kitchen, so I can be clear in my head which is necessary to achieve great things. It’s not a bad thing to try it out, entrepreneurs out there. Why not try it in stages. Bring your iPad into your kitchen to check recipes and tutorials out for the cooking part and if your fingers start to itch just tap your other apps hahah

So, what did I learn from this dinner? Except for tips how to improve your business and exchanging experiences. That you could look for an activity like cooking where you could be in total zen. Something which has nothing to do with your profession, yet make a positive change in your head, your business. It doesn’t make sense anymore to be obsessed with your passion and running a business without taking care of yourself.

I say…prepare something nice tonight and take five ;)

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Good reads There are a few Dutchies who are “going good” in the food and lifestyle area. Marije Vogelzang, food concept designer is one of them: google her!I was reading @nalden’s contribution for J.Brand’s and Anne van der Zwaag’s awesome book “Color in Time” and read another good piece of Marije Vogelzang. She wrote a piece on culture, food and color. More about this and other good columns…get the book haha.  Her other projects and her view on food are inspiring too. For example how smell and taste can bring back memories. In my case, good ones. That’s what I have with food. I have some weird photographic memory. For example: I smell brownies, which bring me to a memory where I had a good one. I can even remember the place, everything I ordered, what my friends ordered and sometimes what kind of outfit I had on. But most smells remind me of moments like watching my mother and aunts cooking Indonesian food for hours, seafood reminds me of cool holidays with my love, good buttery croissant reminds me of my university canteen and the smell of nasty omelette a lot of sleepless flights and movie marathons. Well, what fascinates me is that Marije Vogelzang made a research out of this in a cool way so her work doesn’t look like boring scientific studies. If you dig her concepts I recommend you to check her other projects out, read her book Eat Love, visit her restaurant Proef Amsterdam (funny website!) and buy the latest de Groene Amsterdammer (21th of July 2011).  Inspiring even if you don’t have the hots for food, but appreciate graphic design and art.

Good reads

There are a few Dutchies who are “going good” in the food and lifestyle area. Marije Vogelzang, food concept designer is one of them: google her!

I was reading @nalden’s contribution for J.Brand’s and Anne van der Zwaag’s awesome book “Color in Time” and read another good piece of Marije Vogelzang. She wrote a piece on culture, food and color. More about this and other good columns…get the book haha. 

Her other projects and her view on food are inspiring too. For example how smell and taste can bring back memories. In my case, good ones. That’s what I have with food. I have some weird photographic memory. For example: I smell brownies, which bring me to a memory where I had a good one. I can even remember the place, everything I ordered, what my friends ordered and sometimes what kind of outfit I had on.

But most smells remind me of moments like watching my mother and aunts cooking Indonesian food for hours, seafood reminds me of cool holidays with my love, good buttery croissant reminds me of my university canteen and the smell of nasty omelette a lot of sleepless flights and movie marathons. Well, what fascinates me is that Marije Vogelzang made a research out of this in a cool way so her work doesn’t look like boring scientific studies.

If you dig her concepts I recommend you to check her other projects out, read her book Eat Love, visit her restaurant Proef Amsterdam (funny website!) and buy the latest de Groene Amsterdammer (21th of July 2011).  Inspiring even if you don’t have the hots for food, but appreciate graphic design and art.

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Inspirations by Tony Le Duc

A few weeks ago I visited Antwerp to check out what’s going on and to have a peek at some awesome museums and places to eat.

Unfortunately the exhibition about food photography I’ve visited called ‘Hungry Eyes’, at Foto Museum (FoMu), has ended. But I think you’ll need to check the photographers Tony Le Duc, Valerie Belin and Dimitri Tsykalov out for some inspiration in the kitchen or for your photography.

I loved the book from Tony Le Duc called Food Photography: Since 1985. Above some shots from this book made by the man himself. Hopefully my photography and yours will get as beautiful as his!

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David Sykes Such pictures makes me very happy! A true inspiration for an easy breakfast of fried eggs, some (vegetarian) würst (bake in a frying pan), white beans in tomato sauce (heat it up) with a tomato. Add some baked mushrooms, toast some bread and let your weekend begin!  Or end…Enjoy this hangover meal! More awesome, creative and smart food and non-food related pictures on http://davidsykes.com (check the one out with the cake in the mirror haha)

David Sykes

Such pictures makes me very happy! A true inspiration for an easy breakfast of fried eggs, some (vegetarian) würst (bake in a frying pan), white beans in tomato sauce (heat it up) with a tomato. Add some baked mushrooms, toast some bread and let your weekend begin!  Or end…Enjoy this hangover meal! More awesome, creative and smart food and non-food related pictures on http://davidsykes.com (check the one out with the cake in the mirror haha)

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