When you live in another country, you often miss things from home.

Of course, I miss my family and friends. But I also miss things like the Sunday newspapers, some TV programmes, long summer evenings…and chocolate. Especially chocolate!

My family knows that I miss chocolate, so they send me some every Easter. The other day, the postman came to deliver a big parcel of chocolate from my sister.

Of course, I didn’t wait until Easter to eat it. That would mean waiting two weeks!

What would you miss from your home country if you lived somewhere else?

(H)

Hamburgers are heaven. I cook them often. I’ve experimented over the years and think I created a combination that works in this house.  It’s important that the hamburger meat is not too fatty. Otherwise you have a layer pool of fat left in the frying pan. Of course, cooking them on the BBQ is great but where I live that’s a summer option only.

I used to have trouble because the beef I can buy doesn’t have much taste. I have found a way to improve the taste – add chili!

I put Worcester sauce and chili paste in my hamburger mix. About a teaspoonful of chili paste for each 400g (pound) of hamburger meat seems about right. The burgers don’t have a spicy taste, but the chili paste seems to make them taste more like beef. I don’t like chili powder so I use either Indonesian or Chinese chili paste. It’s easy to find in jars at the supermarket.

Of course what you eat with your hamburgers is important too. In my house a hamburger dinner means putting tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, shredded lettuce and fried onions on the table.

What do you like on your hamburgers?

(P)

A few years ago, I read the book called Life of Pi . A friend gave it to me. I don’t think I would have bought it for myself. A book about a boy on a boat with a tiger, would have seemed rather strange. However, when I read it, I enjoyed it very much.

Have you read the book? The story is told by Pi, the hero. When he was still a teenager, his father had a zoo in Pondicherry, India.  His father decided to move to Canada. He sold the animals from the zoo to different countries. When Pi and his family, leave India, they travel on the same ship as some of the animals from the zoo. The boat sinks and Pi escapes on a small lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra and an orangutan. Later Pi discovers that there is also a tiger hiding on the lifeboat.  It’s a very interesting story. I won’t tell you any more because you might want to read it.

Then in 2012, the famous movie director Ang Lee, made a movie from the story. It did very well in the American Academy awards. Ang Lee won the Oscar for best director and the movie also got the top prizes for cinematography, visual effects and music. I think it must be a very beautiful movie, but I don’t know if I want to see it. Sometimes when you like a book very much, the movie version of the story is disappointing.

I think there are two reasons. One reason is because we enjoy some parts of a book, more than others. Then, when they make the movie, they have to cut many parts of the book out. If they leave out our favourite bits – we feel disappointed.

Another reason is because we create an image in our minds of what different characters look like. If the actor or actress doesn’t match our image, the movie doesn’t seem so good. I remember thinking that Cate Blanchett didn’t look like Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings movies.  Of course, she is very beautiful, but my image of the Queen of the Elves was different.

Have you seen a movie based on a book, after you have read the book?

What did you think? Did you think the actors and actresses matched your mental images of their characters?

(P)