Tom has left us  -  he will always be in our hearts.

Tom had saved this poem as draft, we believe he would’ve wanted us to share this with you…

My candle burns at both ends

It will not last the night

But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends -

It gives a lovely light

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Back from a family holiday in France where we spent two weeks in a rented castle. It was great fun and we lived and ate like kings. The girls each brought a friend and KH and his wife Karin from Frankfurt, as well as my brother-in-law Gerrit and his daughter Inès from South Africa later joined us. KH is an excellent cook and my bro’ Gerrit is an expert braai-master.

That and the fact that there was a well-stocked French supermarket nearby (foie gras, fresh lobster and fish, regional cheeses, nice big cuts of Charolais beef, fine wines; you get the picture), ensured that the culinary delights were on par with the cultural ones (Château de Chenonceaux, old towns of Tours and Poitiers, Beaune, Macon, Nuits-St. Georges and a lot of other famous names in the Burgundy wine-growing region). My darling Milena did a fantastic job navigating us safely on over 1’000 miles of country roads full of lunatic Citroën and Peugeot drivers – think “Trafic” by Jacques Tati.

Below is a picture of the pile we rented. It was very romantic, but not very clean (eh bien, les Français..).

To end our holiday in style, we went to the Montreux Jazz Festival and saw a fabulous concert by Kool and the Gang. More about this later. So we all got back a few days ago, happy, relaxed and with a few extra pounds to carry around.

Unfortunately, where there is light, there is shadow: I was having strong headaches during the last weeks and my Oncologist suspects that the old Gliobastard is on the warpath again. An MRI next week will hopefully show. In the meantime, quadrupling my daily dose of Cortisone has at least alleviated the pressure in my head.

Cheers and a happy summer to everyone,
Tom

For his 40th birthday and because we both like to eat well, I invited my friend and business partner to one of Zurich’s most exclusive (and some say most expensive) restaurant, Petermann’s Kunststuben. This venerable establishment has been around for over over 20 years and proudly displays two Michelin stars.

We decided to get the menu, consisting of six courses with two to three little goodies each, so that we would be able to sample a broad selection of Horst Petermann’s art. Here’s what we had:

An amuse-bouche consisting of a boiled quails egg with a vegetable jelly, a wild mushroom mousse topped with mushroom espuma and a crayfish pâté

A starter course with steamed shrimp on a vegetable tabouleh, scallops in a crispy bacon cover on lentils with mint and a lemongrass cappuccino with coriander and curry

A  slice of pepper-crusted salmon on a salade parmentier and a herb vinaigrette

A quail breast lacquered with honey on a red-wine risotto, green asparagus and sautéed foie gras

A slice of poached beef filet with sea salt and mustard oil with a mushroom ravioli and thyme espuma

A selection of cured French cheeses

A chocolate and nut pudding on a pineapple carpaccio with coconut cream and a sesame seed and caramel ice-cream

The whole of course washed down with some delicions wines …. espresso and a very fine digestif ….

A variety of homemade breadrolls were slso served throughout and the very young maître was as attentive and knowledgeable as you’d expect him to be in such a restaurant.

So, you will ask, what was it like?

The restaurant itself is rather small, so the seating arrangements were a bit cramped and it was quite loud. The food variation resulted in some repetition, e.g. 2x espuma, 2x mushrooms. I’m not really a great fan of espuma, the legacy of Ferran Adrià of “El Bulli”. Seems like every cook now has to try out something molecular. If I want something resembling frog spawn on my plate, I’ll order frog spawn.

Yes, but what was it like?

I’ll  sum up my impressions in three categories:

The good: steamed shrimp, quail breast, beef, cheese, dessert – all excellent, cooked to perfection (except the cheese) and impeccably presented

The bad: pepper-coated salmon (pimiento in the crust?), the foie gras was totally overcooked, mint and lentils are probably not such  a good idea, but maybe that’s just me

The ugly: lemongrass cappuccino which looked less like a fresh cappuccino but rather like a glass of yesterday morning’s milk coffee. The taste was quite nice though

Overall fair performance, given the size of the kitchen, the food variety and the fact that almost every seat was taken.

The price? Don’t make me cry again!

Cheerio,
Tom

Yesterday’s MRI showed some minor growth at the bottom of the tumour cavity. According to my doctors this is no surprise, but the small amount of growth seems to indicate that the chemotherapy with Temozolomide is working to some extent. Nevertheless, we will prepare to go one step further:

Next Monday I will check into a private hospital and have a portacath installed. This is a little titanium box with a silicone bubble for needle insertion. The box will be inserted under the skin in the upper chest and will be used to deliver intravenous drugs  as well as contrast agents for the MRI and CT-Scans. It will also be used to withdraw blood for the various tests which I will have to undergo during my treatment.

This is a small operation and I should be out of hospital again the next day.

On February 10th I will have another MRI and we will decide then whether it will be necessary to top-up my chemotherapy with Bevacizumab. This is actually not a cancer drug, but stops tumour growth by preventing the formation of new blood vessels.

So here goes, I get an artificial bump on my chest and I probably get to try out a new drug with a fancy name.

In the meantime I’ll eat, drink and try to be merry. My thoughts go out to my friends many of whom have been touched by fate in similar ways.

Cheers,
Tom

For our traditional streetparty I cooked up a chili again, which was sold out much to soon; must make more next year!

Texas Chili

5 kg of beef (breast or neck, not too lean) cut into 2 cm chunks
6 large onions, chopped
6 stalks celery, chopped
4 large green peppers, chopped
4 large sweet red peppers, chopped
4 jalapeño peppers, deseeded and chopped
8 cloves garlic, ground
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 tbsp cocoa powder (with no sugar)
6 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp freshly ground cumin
1 tbsp hot paprika
50 g of fresh oregano, stalks discarded and finely chopped
6 tbsp molasses
1/2 bottle of dry red wine
4 400 g cans diced tomatoes, undrained
3 400 g cans chick peas, drained
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

800 g sour cream
600 g shredded cheddar cheese

Put the meat and the next seven ingredients into one or several large pots. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until meat browns. Drain and return to pot.

Stir in cocoa powder and rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

You can serve this right away with the sour cream and the shredded cheese, however, I find it improves if you prepare it a day ahead and reheat it the next day.

Serves 30 to 35 people.

Oh, and don’t forget the beer!

Thanks to my friend Julie who managed to get tickets, we went to the Eric Clapton Concert in Zurich on August 20th. This must have been one of the best!

Clapton and band started out with a couple of soulful songs, of which “Here but I’m Gone” was the most stunning performance in my humble opinion. I also really liked the acoustic set in the middle of the show; a guitar lesson by a guitar god. Clapton was in an excellent mood, smiling at the audience throughout and his fingerwork was just plain incredible. The concert ended on some of the classics like “Wonderful Tonight”, “Layla”, and “Cocaine”. With the encore, it was a good two hours of some of the finest music.

The other star of the evening for me was the incredible Chris Stainton on the keyboard. These guys are both well north of 60, simply amazing!

Dear Friends,

Just to let you all know, I’m fine and will be able to go home tomorrow!

I’ll report more news next week (including the story on how I got 7 holes in my head for my operation).

Thanks for all your help, support and thoughts!

Love,
Tom

Ah, what a glorious sunrise over the lake! It’s 6 AM, the water is as flat as glass, and there are no boats yet to stir its surface.

I thank you all my friends for your concern, your offers of help, your kind, wise and funny words of support and for being… well just friends. This means the world to me!

My stay away from home will start late afternoon today, when I check into the University Hospital here in Zurich. Milena and the girls will of course bring me and make sure I can settle in comfortably. Thankfully I’ve got a nice room with a view (with binoculars I might even be able to make out my house across the lake).

As mentioned earlier, the operation proper is routine and I should be out of the operating theatre by about 2 PM on Monday. The plan is to wake me up from anaesthesia right away to be able to test my neurological responses. Expect my next post Tuesday morning latest!

Cheerio,
Tom