CURRENT MISSION

To become a specialist in fine food and food of the world through tasting the world, both literally and figuratively speaking!

ABOUT ME

I guess they definitely would say I'm passionate about cooking, that's what my whole life is about, food in the broader sense of the word. Some would say I ask a lot of questions, due to my inquisitive state of mind I presume, I believe it’s so important to have a broad field of interests and to share that with others. Especially that sharing part I like in particular; friends of mine remembered us that “happiness is only real when shared”, a philosophy I’ve been carrying around ever since and that can be applied on various situations. Be generous, not only in a material way, that’s perishing, but also take the time to share a meal around the table, invite friends for a lovely walk to admire nature’s pure beauty, … Nature is our most precious world heritage, we should treat it with respect and learn to live in harmony with what it offers us. Having that said, I could go on for hours, but maybe we should do so in real life?!

PHILOSOPHY

The sky is the limit, never stop exploring! I'm always curious to discover new places or to try new things, but I guess that's probably the philosophy of basically every couchsurfer, since that's what couchsurfing stands for. But of course there are different ways to do so, and that might be filled-in a bit differently. Exploring also means not being afraid of taking some steps backwards when needed, in a way that it allows us to grow even better afterwards. Maybe that's what we need to do when to our overproduction; we should go back to producing less and more qualitatively, and start living at a slower pace again so we can take the time to enjoy the moments we are given on earth. I believe in a constructive society where we focus on the people and his relations rather than on his possessions and professional achievements. I believe in a greener future for all of us, if we start building it together. We have tried a consumption based society, now it's time for the next step, with a local focus we can grow to global success, a pity money and power always put a spanner the works... Nevertheless I always remain optimistic, you would be surprised where a simple sincere smile can get you!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I guess I still have to discover how far I will engage in the program, but I do intend to host couchsurfers interested in getting to know me and discovering our city and local culture, and to surf couches myself of course, I'm curious to find out where it will take me!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I finally had my first couchsurfing experiences in November 2014! I got introduced to couchsurfing by my openminded and active couchsurfing housemate. Through him I've had the pleasure to take part in his activities when he was hosting travellers. I've taken some of the couchsurfers around town and truly enjoyed guiding them through our lovely city. I guess it doesn't harm anyone when being a bit chauvinistic, it adds enthusiasm and dynamism to the tour :-)!

Surfing experiences
2014
Anna and Barbara in Girona, Spain

Hosting experiences
2014
Chris from Denver, US
Paula from Mendoza, Argentina

Interests

My interests are quite well-spread, but as for everyone, some are more prominent then others... My life is somehow dominated by food, in the broader sense of the word, and it somehow succeeds to always involve in anything I do. Well, I do believe it gets the attention it deserves, I'm sure you all are familiar with the roman saying "mens sana in corpore sano", food does take an important role in that. As does sports, if you don't take it to the extreme of course. I'm a recreational tennis player, furthermore I love playing squash a lot and I hope to get back to playing field hockey one day. But what keeps me fit the most, is cycling, I couldn't live without my bike and start missing it after a couple of days without. Wouldn't it be nice if I could combine couchsurfing with cycling and cooking? Well, I do am seriously considering that! Besides sports and cooking and baking, I'm interested in nature, and again in the broader sense of the word, as it includes ecology, gardening, travelling, but also the overwhelming beauty of the fauna and flora we can witness throughout the world. Seems like I'm writing quite a lot about my interests, but that's just because I have quite some, I would also like to add culture, and reading, whenever I have time for it. Finally I would add photography, design, music and writing to my list of interests. That's it I guess! Oh ok, two more, sociology and social psychology, especially in relation to marketing, because that's what I studied for in the first place.

• culture
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• chocolate
• organic food
• walking
• traveling
• cycling
• tennis
• field hockey
• ecology
• geography
• history
• languages
• psychology
• sociology
• squash
• food
• nature
• sustainable agriculture
• cacao

Music, Movies, and Books

To start with my favourite movies; V for Vendetta, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, The Bourne trilogy, Meet Joe Black, James Bond, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, Beauty And The Beast and of course Into The Wild, ... I could go on, but I'm not that good at remembering which movies I've seen and which are my favourites, I do appreciate different types of movies, from fantasy and adventure over animation and comedy to even documentary and action.
When to books, I haven't read that many yet, but I did like The Hobbit a lot, the others I read were more about personal development, and then of course, I've started a modest collection of cooking books. And I like to keep it that way since I think of it as a waste of precious paper when I would not use it for cooking...
And last, but not least, I do listen a lot to music, one Belgian radio station in particular, but I do sometimes put my own favourites on; Mumford And Sons, The Killers, Of Monsters And Men, Florence And The Machine, Sigur Ros, Kings Of Leon, Birdy, The National, Lana Del Rey, Eddy Vedder, Fleet Foxes, Ben Howard, Empire Of The Sun, Ellie Goulding, Amatorski, Coldplay, Elbow, Julien Clerc, Editors, ... Any other suggestions?

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'll need some more time to figure out what particular amazing thing I've done or seen since I feel I'm still standing at the very beginning of my travelling experiences... However I must admit I've been quite overwhelmed by the beauty of Norway, in particular when we were walking up the 1848m high Skåla from zero.
But I prefer defining amazing not as something others would call amazing, but rather as something one has done which took a lot of courage or a great amount of effort to do so and which has given you in particular this awesome feeling of satisfaction and pride for accomplishing whatever you might have achieved or realised...
In that definition I ought to believe that starting and developing my own business will be the most amazing thing I will have done so far, as it has kept me awake for countless nights and preoccupies me day in, day out.
Still, two things I’d love to witness that might be considered as amazing; the Aurora Borealis in Northern Norway and Machu Pikchu in Peru.

Teach, Learn, Share

What I would love to share is my passion for food, whether it is through cooking local specialities together or taking couchsurfers around town to the local producers and traditional pubs and tearooms where we love to hang out.
I can teach Dutch or French, or maybe just some typical sentences we use...
What I would love to learn? Anything about cooking; skills and any knowledge about food and beverages. But furthermore I would like to improve my Italian and learn Swedish or Norwegian and learn to take nice pictures, I've had it with the automatic functions :-)! Of course, feel free to teach me anything about your culture, I'll be all ears! The same applies to history, geography, astrology, sociology, and many others. As you can read, I'm quite interested in a bunch of things. I almost forgot, I would really really really love to learn to play the guitar and the piano!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Czech Republic