PYJAMA LAMA

Last weekend was no-car Sunday in Brussels, and a number of the more commercially minded establishments of this parish were maximising on the footsore and weary wandering the streets to draw attention to their services with the offer of a sit down and a beer or a cup of tea. One of the local pubs organised a street party with barbecue, beers on tap, raffle, bouncy castle, etc.

Even the local Tibetan Buddhist temple was at it. Really. I wouldn't normally have gone in, but as everyone else was having a nose around, I poked mine in too. It was very jolly inside, all bright colours, a bit like the Jackanory studio. It's situated in Olmstraat, which seems very appropriate. There weren't any Tibetan monks in attendance, they may have gone off on one of their weekend jaunts. I saw them piling out of their house into a luxury tour bus a few weeks ago, presumably to go and see their boss who was visiting Paris. Quarsan saw a bunch of them in Media Markt shopping for electronics (MBIAT of 3 September). The centre was being minded last Sunday by a number of nice elderly Belgian ladies, the Buddhists seem to have a joint venture going with the local WI. I ommed and ahhed around for a bit, picked up a few brochures, and departed with my most beatific I've-got-my-own-zen-garden-thank-you smile.

Om-megang? Nalanda Institute in Brussels

Now that Aunty Marianne has buggered off to Central America, I am angling to replace her as Domestic Goddess-in-Chief of Brussels. I was out sourcing material for curtains, and discovered THE most fabulous fabric store, dahlings. Les Tissus du Chien Vert is a veritable Ali Baba's cavern of cotton, linen, pure wool mixes, organza, taffeta, silks, satins, tweeds, ginghams, voiles, chintz, jersey, plaids, gabardine, and all manner of warp and weft. I am not much of a seamstress myself, but Brussels is full of little sewing shops where you can get everything done from a quick hem to a wedding dress, all you need to do is buy the fabric and throw in your own creative touch. The Chien Vert, or Green Dog, has two sister stores - Les Puces du Chien (the dog's fleas) or bargain basement, and Le Chien du Chien (the dog's bollocks!) where the very high-end stuff is to be found for evening gowns, wedding dresses etc. The inside of the posh store is worth a visit even if you're not shopping for cloth - it's quite a surreal experience in itself, with statues, boats hanging from the ceiling and floors designed like the decks of a sailing ship.

Le Chien du Chien - your dog would like it

I have something of the Nigella Lawson in me as well as Anouschka Hempel. My candlelit dinner parties used to be the high point of the Umbongo social calendar. Of course the conditions were much easier then, we had an army of servants to prepare, cook and serve the meal, and to clean up afterwards. Godwin was such a treasure. I wonder what happened to him? Tonight I am relaunching Daphne's Dinners, ably assisted by my Chinese cook Lee Ho McFook, although he has drawn the line at wearing the satin pyjamas I ran up for him with the leftover curtain lining, since, he says, pink isn't really his colour, and anyway he's making a point about Chinese militarism. If he wears his C.U. Jimmy hat while he's serving dessert, I'm sure my guests won't notice that the hundreds and thousands in the sherry trifle spell out "Free Tibet".