ilaga, (approximately translated to boiled) is a simple way Filipinos cook food. It’s basically boiling food in water either fish or meat, together with onions and garlic, mixed with an array of vegetables. The vegetarian version of nilaga is called bulanglang, usually with squash, raw papaya and moringa leaves. There’s also tinola, chicken nilaga with lots of ginger and raw papayas. Mussels and clam fishes like vongole are also great for nilaga.

was in Mechelen for the weekend for one of those spontaneous trips you book in the middle of a difficult week. Some personal issues have been bogging me down for months and I thought a weekend away from child and work would do me good.

Something happened while I was running last Saturday. The weather was  abominable for May cold, rainy, sleet and too much wind. I was on my 12th kilometre, listening to Rammstein’s Rammleid when another strong gust of wind almost knocked me down. I got mad, so mad that I was shouting expletives to the air. I hated everything about running, the pain, the long training hours that’s taking me away from my daughter and this disgusting weather.

here was a time when I wouldn’t flinch buying a €400 designer bag on sale, however impractical , just because I liked the colour. I had no child, no mortgage, no debt, and lots of dispensable cash. And I didn’t stop at one bag.

s I write this, the husband is trying to get the kid to take an afternoon nap, it’s 30 degrees Celsius outside, the bed sheets are hanging on the line to dry, the whole country is perhaps sunbathing on the beach or in their gardens and I’m hiding from the sun in my study room writing a blog post. Bliss, pure bliss.