A downside that rather became an upside to the story, while mixing my burgers I noticed that I was using minced lamb and not the actual beef I had in mind. I just changed the seasoning and it resulted in an exquisite unexpected chilli lamb burger!

Ingredients for 2 servings:
4 whole-wheat buns
4 slices of Mimolette cheese
1 tomato
4 pickled green peppers
Some lettuce leaves

For the burger:
300 gr of minced lamb
1 clove of garlic
1 sprig of parsley
1 fresh red pepper
1 TS of dried basil
1 egg
extra fine breadcrumb
salt & pepper

The burger: Undo the pepper from it’s seeds and chop it up. Chop up the garlic, the shallot, and the parsley in tiny pieces, put them in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. (Make sure you chop up the garlic; don’t press it!) Mix everything thoroughly. If your mixture is too moist add some extra breadcrumb for consistency, you want to get a sticky and firm paste. Roll the paste into meatballs and flatten them to get a real burger of 2 cm. put the burgers in the fridge.

Build it! Fire up your bbq. Put the burgers on a hot grill and grill them for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, for the last minute add a slice of Mimolette cheese on top of each burger. -Start drooling- While you are grilling, slice the tomato and chop up the green peppers. Start with the base, add some mayonnaise if needed, add the burger with the melted cheese, top up with the green pepper and add some lettuce and en slice of tomato, close it up!

Bon appétit!

Ts = tablespoon
ts = teaspoon

Afterwards, luckily for us, he changed direction and moved his focus to fashion. Not being afraid of flesh and emotions he rapidly set his trademark and started to work for renowned clients as GQ, American Apparel, Mini. His latest masterpiece is a photo shoot called “Poolside” for the upcoming issue of the American Playboy magazine. Don’t expect bikini babes in this teaser video, expect Arto Saari, Tony Alva, Brandon Biebel and Stevie Williams to see them do what they do best: riding’ some backyard pools and looking sharp, ra-zor sharp while doing it.

Arto Saari is rocking my favourite pair of Oakley’s: mirrored Frogskins!

I definitely could see me wear his outfit.

Give it a try, don’t forget your pen and paper though!

The ingredients:

a dash of dry vermouth
6 cl of Bombay Sapphire gin
2 pickled silver skin onions

Pre chill a martini glass with crushed ice. Fill your mixing glass with ice cubes, a dash of dry vermouth and the gin. Stir for about 10 seconds. Strain into your pre chilled martini glass and garnish with the pickled silver skin onions. And for the adventurous, you guys could add some juniper berries from the pickle juice.

I worked my photography skills on this one, what do you guys think?

Cheers!

Blazer: H&M – Paisley shirt: Penfield – Sunglasses: Ray-Ban Clubmaster – Pants: Levi’s 511 commuter Belt: Closed – Shoes: Nike SB Stefan Janoski – Bag: Freitag F46 Clark – Bracelets: DIY

Like said before, I’m in a floral state of mind. Is it because of the street trends that flow on a floral vibe the last few months? Or is it because I just love bombastic prints? Anyway, I’m on the next train: Paisley! A clean floral inspired print: twisted teardrop-like petals with Persian and Indian influences. I love it! And I’m pretty sure this will become the new print trend for the next few years on the streets. From shirts, shorts, and pants to even briefs: the print as seen on “grandma’s scarf” will be back in full force!

Last week I went shopping and bought me this clean blue Paisley shirt and I couldn’t resist to match it with my current floral print love. So… I also bought me these phenomenal Nike SB Janoski’s: FLORAL CAMO GALLORE! I think they match my outfit perfectly don’t you think? Oh and please, anyone, find me a gorgeous 6-panel Paisley snapback!

Pictures by the lovely Jamie-Lee Sienes. Be sure to check out her tumblr!

A small titbit about this retro colourway: these Air Jordan V “Grape” have to be the most anticipated colourway without never actually been worn in-game by Michael Jordan. So maybe it’s because of Will or is the cover of the 1990’s Air Jordan Flight Collection look-book the reason?

Sneaker pics by Jamie-Lee Sienes

In Amsterdam the girls and I stayed in a lovely loft with a fully equipped kitchen and a view on the most enchanting little garden ever. The moment I stepped in our little pad, I had a feeling that I had to make some burgers for the lovely ladies and if I hadn’t come up with the idea, the girls would have forced me. The loft was given to us by Wimdu: a great website where you can hunt your own little pad in pretty much every cool city in the world and rent it for a desired period of time. It’s better than a hotel: it’s your own little cosy home on the move. For more pictures of our Amsterdam blogger pad check out Kim’s blogpost!

Ingredients for 2 servings:
2 “Vloerkadetten” (a typical Dutch bun)
Some lettuce (any kind you want)
taco’s
Dutch cumin cheese

For the burger:
300 gr of minced beef
1 small red onion
1 small clove of garlic
1 egg
extra fine breadcrumb
salt & pepper

For the guacamole
1 avocado
1 clove of garlic
1 tomato
a splash of fresh lemon juice
salt & pepper

For the salsa:
1 sweet pointed pepper
2 tomatos
1 small shallot
a pinch of thyme
a pinch of paprika powder
a pinch of cumin
a TS of olive oil
4 TS of tomato passata
salt & pepper

The burger: chop up the garlic and the shallot in tiny pieces, put them in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. (Make sure you chop up the garlic and don’t press it, pressing garlic gives a bitter taste to the meat.) Mix everything thoroughly. If your mixture is too moist add some extra breadcrumb for consistency, you want to get a sticky and firm paste. Roll the paste into meatballs and flatten them to get a real burger, you want a thickness of 2 cm. Put the burgers in the fridge.

The guacamole: Dice up the tomato, the less juice and seeds the better. Slice up the garlic. Slice the avocado and remove the pit. Put the avocado flesh in a bowl, add the garlic and tomato, give it a nice splash of lemon juice, season with salt and pepper. Mix with a fork and not with a blender, you want the guacamole to be chunky!

The Salsa: Dice up your tomato like you have done for the guacamole. Slice up the point pepper and shallot. Put in a bowl, add all the other ingredients en mix with a spoon or fork, don’t blend!

Let’s build the burger! With the lack of a BBQ I used a grilling pan. Heat up your pan, grease it with some olive oil and grill the burgers for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
Top the base of the bun with salsa, top with a burger, then the guacamole, a slice of Dutch cumin cheese, another burger, again some salsa, some taco’s, at last again some guacamole and close it up! Ten storeys of pure pleasure!

Bon appétit!

Ts = tablespoon
ts = teaspoon

Floral sweater: Scotch and Soda – Denim: Lee – Cap: Patta – Sunglasses: Ray Ban Wayfarer Liteforce – Shoes: Palladium

These last few months I’ve had an obsession with everything floral: from floral tattoos to floral camo sneaker-prints or even staring at random peonies on Instagram. Floral prints are hot and my urge to buy me something floral grew with the second. But then I stumbled upon this floral sweater from Scotch and Soda and bought it right away. The thing is, I was “afraid” of wearing it: what would other guys think, isn’t it too girly?

A couple of weeks ago Kim, Paulien, Elien and myself went on a trip to Amsterdam to go visit the fabulous “Marie Claire” intern Afrodite. We had a blast! And like you guys can see, I was fearlessly wearing my floral sweater!

When I go on holiday to an unknown city I strangely feel more confident. Maybe it’s because it’s unlikely that someone knows me or that the opinion of strangers rarely affects me. But there is something different about Amsterdam. Something that I could never expect from Brussels or Antwerp.
In one day, I got compliments on my cap, sneakers and sweater, compliments I rarely get in Belgium. Amsterdam is a city that gives you that extra pound of self-confidence. And since my trip to Amsterdam, I’m still wearing my sweater without a sweat.

Pictures by Kim

Ingredients for 2 servings:
a non-sliced grey “farmers” bread

For the burger:
300 gr of minced beef
1 shallot
1 egg
extra fine breadcrumb
salt & pepper

For the salad:
2 crops of mini Romana salad
2 thick slices of smoked bacon
1 TS of “Sirop de Liège” (or pear syrup)
1 ts of Balsamic vinegar
1 shallot
15 cl of red port

For the foie gras truffle espuma:
80 gr of foie gras
100 ml fresh cream
2 ts of red port
3 gr of black truffle (or 1 ts of truffle oil)
salt & pepper

The burger: chop up the garlic and the shallot in tiny pieces, put it in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix everything thoroughly, if you feel like doing this with your hands like me, feel free! Just make sure you wash them upfront! If your mixture feels like it’s too moist and hasn’t any consistency add some extra breadcrumb until you get a sticky and firm paste. Roll the paste into meatballs and flatten them to get a real burger, you want a thickness of 2 to 3 cm. Put the burgers in the fridge.

The salad, first the dressing: Chop up the shallot in little rings. Pour the port in a saucepan and add the shallot. Let the liquid boil and let it reduce by half. Reduce the heat of the stove and add the balsamic vinegar and “Sirop de Liège”. Let it reduce until you get a syrupy texture. Let it cool down. Now, chop up the salad. Don’t add the dressing yet, wait until you’re ready to build the burger.

The foie gras truffle espuma: Crumble the foie gras into a blender, add the cream and red port. Blend the mixture until you get a homogeneous mass. (Use slow speed, you don’t want to heat up the mixture). If you don’t have black truffle, add truffle oil after blending en stir it through the mixture, if you add oil before blending, the mixture will get to consistent. Pour the mixture into your “Siphon” or “Thermo Whip“, pop one air capsule, shake it and let is rest in the fridge for an hour.

Fire up your BBQ. First, put the slices of bacon on the hot grill and grill them for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, depending on how thick the bacon is sliced. While you are grilling the bacon, you can cut your bread in thick slices and grill them briefly. When your bacon is done, dice it up.
Now put on the burgers and grill them for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. If you have a large grill, you can easily grill the bacon and burgers together.

BUILD IT! Take a slice of grilled bread and top it with a layer of “foie gras truffle espuma”. Put your burger on top. Mix your salad with the dressing and layer it on top of the burger together with the diced bacon. Close it up!

Bon appétit!

Ts = tablespoon
ts = teaspoon

With Damien’s love for the United Kingdom and it’s weakness for English ladies it was pretty much obvious to choose, once again, for a gin based cocktail. This time I went for the world famous Tom Collins, one of the few cocktails I make throughout the year, a perfect thirst quencher.

Ingredients:

5 cl Filliers dry gin 28
2 cl fresh lemon juice
2 ts of extra fine sugar
1 slice of orange
soda water

Pour the gin, lemon juice and sugar into a mixing glass. Fill up your Boston shaker with ice, close it up and shake well. Strain the cocktail into a Collins glass; fill it up with ice and top of with soda water. Stir and finish of with a slice of orange.

As you may have noticed, I used a tumbler glass instead of a classic Collins glass: sorry about that but it tastes as good.

Cheers!

After making the neighbourhood unsafe for several years, we both started working on our careers and our playground changed from the streets to his workspace: The “Royal Sport Nautique de Bruxelles” one of Brussels renown rowing clubs. He runned the bar at the club thus had little time in the evening or weekend. But still, we kept playing: the playground became the “Royal Sport Nautique de Bruxelles”, Lego became card games or billiards and sunshine became twilight.

Damien resigned 3 weeks ago, so as a tribute to our 5 years of reign as Knights by Night of the “Royal Sport Nautique de Bruxelles” and to put a stamp on our lifelong friendship, here’s the new Tales of WaR: Knights by night.