zeedijking ii (nsfw).

"Drinks at 5, Mata Hari" was the directive. The three of us started out inside on the windowfront couch, but somehow the shady, blustery terrace proved irresistible. Eventually joining us at our windswept table were a few friendly Fines de Claire oysters with mignonette (€2.50 each, but kinda worth it) and an attractive plank of lekkernijen (tidbits or treats) arranged with cyclone-defying care: parma ham with arugula; various salami; grilled asparagus, aubergine, pumkpin, courgette, peppers; a Spanish tortilla with potatoes; a very nice piece of homemade cured salmon; buffala with pesto and pomegranate seeds; some above-average calamari rings; some crackers with slightly Indian-spiced pea/mint puree and a sun-dried tomato hummous.

Shockingly, it all tasted just as good as it looked or better. And the plank was totally reasonable at €17.50. This having been our third visit, we can confirm that someone at Mata Hari knows how to cook. We haven't had anything really "fancy", but the quality of everything we've tasted has been way above-average.

Then, despite having already enjoyed a totally reasonable amount of beer and socializing at Mata Hari, the three of us braved the tourists and luxury dildos of the Red Light to "get some sun" at In de Wildeman, because they still get sun at 8pm, Mara knew this. And, she was right, they did, and we did. Unfortunately we also sat down in the sun with the bar staff and continued ordering beer, ensuring that today's goals will involve tiny reasonable things like wobbling downstairs to the grocery store; strenuously opening a can of Coke; slowly selecting DVDs to fall asleep to; carefully putting frozen pizzas in the oven.

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a-fusion + onze eigen willy (nsfw).

This is a record-breaking number of evenings out for me and Dr. Moop. Tonight's adventure started with a beer at Brouwerij De Prael, and then we relocated a couple of streets over to A*Fusion for some little various nibbles. A couple of Singhas, some sushi, a garishly marinated octopus salad (sorry guys), an unusually syrupy but somehow good hot & sour soup, Peking duck pancakes, and cha siu buns, all tasting relatively homemade and not too chock full o' preservativos.

I've always liked A*Fusion. It's a good place to go when you know you want something Asian and can't make up your mind exactly what. Plus it's a way for me to get some Peking duck for under 10 euros. And they have my favorite daikon cakes. And the staff has always been very friendly and ready to laugh. I don't know: the sushi is fresh, everything else seems pretty well-done, you could do a lot worse in Chinatown.

Then a walk through the red light district (maybe I'm getting old, but I had no idea that fisting had become mainstream enough to warrant its own dildo variant, below, on the wall, above the giant penis dildo) to In de Wildeman for a nightcap (Rogue Double Dead Guy and Rodenbach Grand Cru). Well done.

shooting out sparks.

From an open mic performance at Schijnheilig Thursday night. I'm pretty sure he didn't even use a mic, a fact for which he compensated by having his penis visible throughout his "set".

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