Fact or Fiction? Other than the the smarter part of course – that is non-negotiable .

The secret to a happy marriage for men is choosing a wife who is smarter and at least five years younger than you, say UK experts. These pairings are more likely to go the distance, particularly if neither has been divorced in the past, according to the Bath University team. The findings predict a happy future for pop star Beyonce Knowles, 28, and rapper husband Jay-Z, 39.

The work is published in the European Journal of Operational Research. The researchers studied interviews of more than 1,500 couples who were married or in a serious relationship. Five years later, they followed up 1,000 of the couples to see which had lasted.

For better or worse
They found that if the wife was five or more years older than her husband, they were more than three times as likely to divorce than if they were the same age. HAVE YOUR SAY Not so long ago the husband had to be older than his wife in order to be able to support a family, but such criteria are not so relevant now women have been educated to be able to command good jobs, so I suggest the basis for a successful marriage should be tolerance Marion Monahan, Bristol . If the age gap is reversed, and the man is older than the woman, the odds of marital bliss are higher.

Add in a better education for the woman – Beyonce has her high school diploma, unlike husband Jay-Z – and the chances of lasting happiness improve further. Those who have never divorced fare better too. But couples in which one member has been through a divorce in the past are less stable than those in which both members are divorcees.

Dr Emmanuel Fragniere and colleagues do say that men and women choose partners “on the basis of love, physical attraction, similarity of taste, beliefs and attitudes, and shared values.” But they say that using “objective factors” such as age, education and cultural origin “may help reduce divorce”.

Story from BBC NEWS

We got really distracted by the FEBO bars whilst we were in Amsterdam, stopping every so often for a little snack. This has contributed to us only eating in two proper restaurants the whole time we were there – and in one of them it was way too dark to even see what we were eating (Vietnamese Restaurant (yes, that’s the name) in the Chinatown area); but the pho was fabulous and comparable to the super delish versions served up in Orange County.

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Ok, lets get down to business. Amsterdam is (in)famous for its crazy FEBO joints – basically hole-in-the-wall operations. Part local takeaway part 7-11 convenience store, these stalls are famous for serving up krokets (or croquettes) that the Dutch seems to be so crazy about. I have heard it described as breaded deep-fried gravy filled with bits of food. In a way I guess it’s abit like a pasty here in the UK. The Dutch sometimes turn their krokets into sandwiches as well, turning it into Broodje Kroket. Frikandel are the krokets that contain meat…there are an amazing range of mind-boggling things that could be turned into a kroket. The kroket is so popular that I remember having a McKroket in McDonalds during one of my three-hourly visit to Schipol airport. It was more like a Broodje Kroket as it was sandwiched between buns…made up on unidentifiable meat/veg/starch. The only thing identifiable is breadcrumbs that coat the kroket. Most of the time anyway.

Back to the FEBOs. FEBOs are more like the Greggs or Ainsley’s in the UK, hawking hand held snack items. I guessed that FEBO was a brand; there were other joints practising the same concept without the FEBO signage and branding. Somewhat like the karipap vendor in Malaysia, grilled sausages in Bangkok and sate in Indonesia. Lovely. However, food items in a FEBO bar are all in a vending machine – you pop in your coins and you get to open one of them small window (it’s heated inside) and withdraw your food which is served on a mini paper plate. Food from a wall, literally. Stab at it with one of the tiny chip forks or just hold it with the mini plate whilst you eat.

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I thought it was really cool! You could just drop a coin in for one kroket as a snack, or have a few as a more filling meal, standing up at the corner with other dodgy characters. As you can see below, the variety is mind-boggling, with choices from sate to plain cheese, cheese with vegetable, veal, mix of pork&beef, cheese with chicken, just chicken fillet….there were also burgers available from the walls but I didn’t try any of it.

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Look at all those mini windows!!! At EU1.40, it’s a cheap snack if there’s a rumble in your tummy. So irresistable…I love opening those mini windows..

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This was the ‘nasi kroket’. Amsterdam is filled with Indonesian influences as Indonesia used to be part of the Dutch Empire. Fried rice in a deep fried parcel – who would’ve thought! It was possibly my favourite kroket

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Speaking of which, they also had ‘bami kroket’ – bami being the indonesian word for noodles. Fab. Again, weird, but nice!

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This was the cheesy curry chicken kroket. Weird huh…

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There was even more than one type of burgers. It’s ‘ de lekkerste’ (the tastiest) according to them! And no, have no clue what grillsauce is…I am assuming its like sausfrite…i.e. mayo with spices.

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I definately recommend all visitors to pop into one of the FEBO bars at least once during their trip – have a kroket, smile at the other patrons and then get on with your journey. Or visit after a trip to De Tweede Kamer – it will squash any of the munchies that you are bound to have, not to mention hilarious to try to insert the correct amout of coins into the slot. To be honest, they are not that tasty, – but it’s definately the experience of eating from the wall – well, unless you really like croquettes, then you would be in heaven

FEBO
Across Amsterdam – Spui, Dam Sq, opposite Central Station ect..

One of the unavoidable ‘sights’ of Amsterdam has most definately got to be the red light district. You can’t avoid it – and neither should you. It’s beautiful in twilight…the surrounding canals reflecting the neon lights of varying shades of crimson and not-so-crimson lights of sex shops, hotels and dwellings…just have a look:

I’ve not taken any pictures of the girls as the pimps minders don’t take too kindly to it (neither will the girls)….suffice to say, there are always bad apples amongst the good. Some of the girls baring their wares just made me wonder at the varying levels of depravity fetishes in the world. There were, of course, those pretty lingerie model quality Eastern European looking girls. In glow in the dark undies, some shaking their bon-bons some shaking their buns. And then there are those that look fairly past their sell-by date and frankly, quite creepy. Then there are those who had one too many croquette (the dutch looooovess their croquettes), looking more like stuffed sausages in a S&M outfit than attractive…..about what this season’s thigh high boots are making my legs look like. None of them were doing boring hobbies like knitting or reading though – guess that ruins the illusion.

Their rooms are another matter. It looks like something off Prison Break. Gone are the illusions, a bare tiled room decorated with a single bed, a basic sink and a toilet bowl. Oh, some of the rooms had sunken baths…probably more expensive.

I’m not too sure if it’s because of the credit crunch, but there are loads of rooms for rent. Yes, the sort of red-lit rooms. It’s strange – the credit crunch would’ve essentially pushed more girls into the world’s oldest profession, but on the other hand, the punters would be cutting down on their ‘treats’, therefore more fishes in a smaller pool thus ‘vacancies’.

I do wonder though if they have some sort of union – I believe that the price of the room comes with the protection of a minder, probably some big hunk working in the peep show shop next door.

Tonight saw me conjuring up a childhood favourite – my mom’s blend of not-so-secret delicious curry. I have only attempted this a handful of times, but tonight’s go probably turned out the best from the lot. With the outlaws saddled with a bumper crop of chillies (more than 1kg!) being way too caliente for them to handle, I was given the gift of spice. Mmm…this played a huge part in me conjuring up the curry – chillies here are ridiculliously expensive at about £0.70 for about three or four. Whenever I make this curry I tended to be very conservative with the expensive chillies = don’t taste the same. Tonight was different, I could add as many chillies as I like to my hearts’ content and have leftovers (about 1 kg!). So off I went shopping for the other ingredients, including a very large chicken (about 2.5 kg).

I twit-piced my chicken bubbling away on the stove, and @them_apples asked for a recipe, so here it is! A word of warning; if your chillies are anything like the outlaws’ crop, be very, very careful how many you put in and do not follow my suggestion! Basically, if you’re more of a korma person, this recipe’s probably not for you, or you could use 1-2 chillies instead of 15.

To blend:
6 shallots (large ones), diced
3 medium red onions, diced
10-15 very red chillies , de-seeded and de-plithed
1 stalk lemongrass, thinly sliced & leave off the hard bark-like bits

Be very CAREFUL de-seeding and de-plithing the chillies…use disposable gloves if you have any. I make sure I wash my hands at least 3 times throughly before I touch any other parts of my skin. Once the above is all blended to a very thick paste in a food processor (add a little oil or water if it’s too thick to blend), taste to make sure that it’s not too hot. Add more shallots if it’s too hot – alternatively, add chillies slowly towards the end, making sure that the heat is bearable before adding another one.

Incorporate the below once you’re happy with your chilli/onion level.

To add:
1 tbs tumeric powder, or 1in knob fresh
1 tsp salt – or to taste
I tbs curry powder

Incorporate the above ingredients until well mixed….I just pop this into the blender with the paste above. Make sure that there are no chunks of tumeric powder and everything is well-incorporated. Heat up your wok, with about 1-2 tbs vegetable oil. Do not use olive oil as it burns way too easily. Once the oil is heated , tip the blended mixture in. Over low to medium heat, slowly heat it up…your kitchen will start to smell wonderful with the fresh ingredients releasing their aromatic oils as it reacts with the heat. Your paste is now ready.

You will see now that this recipe makes quite a large portion of paste. Depending on how big your chicken is/how spicy you like it/if you’re adding potatoes/coconut cream, you may want to scoop some out to keep for another serving – it keeps at least a few days in the fridge. I must say, I have kept the fresh paste in the fridge in a tightly sealed container for a few weeks and it was still fine. Yeah, if it’s too spicy you can add coconut cream at the end to temper the heat down. This would also be a good time to conjure some rice up to soak up all the yummy curry later.

It is now time to tip your chicken in. I chop mine into about 8 -9 pieces, and took the skin off as well. Turn the chicken pieces around until well-coated with the paste – you may want to keep the wok going on a low heat so the paste does not burn. Once the chicken’s well coated, thin it out slightly with some water, about 150ml. Now leave it bubbling away uncovered for about 20mins if you’re cooking pieces of chicken on-bone, less if you’re cooking chicken fillets/breast cubes. After 20mins of cooking uncovered, the water should have reduced to reveal a thick-ish sauce. I would restir and recoat the chicken right about now, and leave it covered on low heat for a further 20 minutes. At this time, I also added about 4 tomatoes - because I had some growing on the vine – you don’t have to if you don’t have any, the juices from the tomatoes sweetens the curry slightly.

And voila. I was starving, so not much of a picture.Top it off with some coriander would be my preferred way of serving, but as usual, I didn’t have any on hand…hehe. It is also delicious cooked with potatoes (add diced potatoes in immediately after adding the chicken) and/or coconut cream added towards the end of the cooking time to make it silky smooth and temper the heat of the chillies slightly.

If only I cook like this every work night…..

Remember on #me2sydney week2 when I came up with that fabulous Sydspired collection? And my efforts in vain to sell off my super-awesome (yes, so modest as well!) creations in support of adopting a shark? And NONE of you *yes you reading this* emailed me to purchase my items!! Aaargh…!

Well, fear not fluffy, as promised in week 5′s challenge (ableit slightly late) I will personally be adopting a shark with the remainder of the budget given to me to throw a Sydney inspired event …. plus a top up from my paypal account of course to make up to the AU$75 cost. And I feel very proud to be supporting such a worthy cause – if you are thinking of supporting a charity this year, please make saving fluffy a priority. And oh, the Sydspired collection is still up for sale – with the full payment heading towards the Adopt a Shark programme.

Thank you Tourism NSW for making this a possibility