Good Spaghetti and Catching Up

For the first time in my life I can say I enjoyed a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese. My boyfriend is totally addicted to the stuff and everytime he needs to take care of diner, spaghetti is on the menu. As I told you before, cooking with fresh ingredients isn't his strongest side, but today he made fresh sauce and I have to admit is was quite good! But it's still not an excuse to eat it EVERY week!
We had one of my friends for diner. Her boyfriend is a spaghetti addict too. It's been ages since I've seen her last, so it was good to catch up! I had a very nice evening! 

Layer Day

Layering today!

Main course: Lasagna (my boyfriend's favourite)
I always make lasagna together with Jeroen.

Dessert: Red Fruit Tiramisu
With this dessert I go freestyle based on a recipe of Libelle magazine. 

Amsterdam

We went for a trip to Amsterdam yesterday.
My boyfriend had tickets to a concert of Good Riddance so we went for a day out. 
He had a few stops planned out. He wanted to go and take a look at the fixies from Pristine and he wanted to go to Cut Throat Barber to trim his 'beard' and cut his hair in a retro way. 
The barber was a guy from New Zealand who's dad was Dutch, so he ended up in Amsterdam to open his shop. My boyfriend wanted to give him carte blanche, but I said he could go a little Ryan Gosling (jumjum). 
His beard wasn't hard work, James the barber just had to groom it and it looked a whoooole lot better and sexy. Now I have my own black haired Ryan in the house. Damn.

After the barber we went for some pancakes at Pancakes! Amsterdam and for a stroll around  De 9 Straatjes. A very nice and cozy neighborhood with small shops where I bought a nice black & white vest at By Fabrio for 35 euros. 
My boyfriend was looking for a shop where they had Haglöfs jackets and found one on the internet that was very nearby. At least, that's what he said. We had to go for a looooong walk to the 'suburbs' of the city. He didn't buy a thing at the shop, by the way. 
After our town walk, where I grew butt muscles like you wouldn't believe, we went for dinner at Royal Thai, nearby De Melkweg, where we needed to be for the concert. 
After the concert we went for a frozen yogurt at Frozz with some friends we went to the concert with. 

My picture of Amsterdam: A hip and fancy city, quite cozy with all the canals and little bridges and people are very friendly.
What I noticed though, was that Amsterdam is often dirty. Shopkeepers don't bother to clean their shop every day, many restaurants look quite old and dirty on the outside, you can already smell public lavatories from miles away and garbage bags are lying on the street, teared apart. If you can look past these little things and open up for the warmth Amsterdam gives you when you talk to the people you will see that it has a lot to offer.

I had a really fun day with my Ryan Gosling and I will certainly visit Amsterdam again.
As I told you before, I love The Netherlands, and there are many cities yet to explore. 
I'll keep you posted on my travel guide around The Netherlands. 

Watermelon

My father-in-law planted a watermelon in his greenhouse.
We got half of the melon yesterday and it as huuuge! It even managed to break a window from the greenhouse.
I just tasted it and I think it's better than a watermelon at the supermarket.
If I'm buying a house, I want a greenhouse too. Full of watermelons!

Share Food

Joey doesn't share food, but I do! Only with my sister and my boyfriend.
I made Wonton soup yesterday and gave the leftovers to my sis. I hope she loves it!

My boyfriend doesn't like it when I try to steal something from his plate.
I always do it when he's not looking.

Burger

I went to lunch with some colleagues today at Ellis Gourmet Burger. They make the best burgers in the world! I chose the Bollywood Delight. A marinated piece of chicken with mango chutney and a mint yoghurt dressing and some vegetables.
Hmmmm.
You definitely need to check that place out! Better than Mc. Do!

Turkish Delight

Libelle magazine always publishes recipes. This week I found one for turkish delights. I didn't think it would be so easy to make it. I'll try next week.

Mussels, but not from Brussels

We've waited a long time, but they're back! I couldn't wait any longer

Jumjumjum!

Second Best Ice Cream

I ate the second best ice cream ever today! 
HMMM!
I remember that one time I ate THE best ice cream ever, but I can't remember when and where...

From left to right: Vanilla - Bananacoconut - Basil - Lychee
Lychee was my favourite on the plate!

Won Ton Soup

Have I told you how I love Asian Cuisine? I probably did, many times!
I make noodle soup on a regular base, but this time, I tried to make Won Tons along with it. It was my second try to be totally honest. You can buy frozen won ton pastry at the Asian store, but I defrosted it the wrong way last time.

The soup:
Make a broth with some cubes and your vegetables.
I use carrots, paksoi, shiitake, oyster mushrooms, beans, baby corn and dried wakame. (Carrots and dried shiitakes first! Paksoi last!).
I always add coriander, sesame oil and soy sauce. Then I add some garlic and mixed spices. You can also add chili oil if you want.
Let it boil for a while.

The won tons:
I mixed some prawns together with some coriander, sesame seeds, a liiitle bit of sesame oil and some spices. You can add a bit of egg white if you want to let it stick together. When you get some kind of paste with still a few pieces of prawn in it, it's ready.
You take one square of pastry and stroke two sides with egg yolk (works as glue). You take a teaspoon of filling and place it in the middle of the square. Now, fold your square to a triangle, pushing the air out. Make sure they are tight.

Add noodles and wontons last to your soup. Let it boil for a few minutes. Don't stir too hard, because you can tear the pastry like that!

READY :-) !

Have a nice meal!

Free Ice Cream

Work was great today!

The Combell ice cream car drove by today!

Combell is a hosting and webhosting company and last year they drove around Flanders with an ice cream car as a publicity stunt. They visited some SMB's and larger companies, where employees got their free ice cream. In return, they had to get their picture taken and tag themselves on Facebook.

Because their publicity stunt was quite a success, they did the same this year. If you really wanted the ice cream man to come over to your company, you had to register.

As a good colleague (and a big fan of free ice cream), I told them to stop by our building.

There weren't as much colleagues at the office as I thought and not everyone was as enthusiastic as I was (see picture), but still everyone enjoyed a fresh and cool snack on a hot day like today.

Good job L.! Scored some points there!

Warm Weather Equals ...

Warm weather
= Soaking up the sun
= Good company
= Fresh fruits (heart shaped strawberry)

:-)

50 Years

Family get together on my boyfriend's side of the family... The couple was married for 50 years and threw a party.
We were invited to the dinner party too. Always fun when you're invited to dinners like this. Very classy and a variety of tastes.
And I'm not talking about the dessert yet!
Dessert is the most important! You need sugar to rock the dancefloor...! I'm not that much of a dancer, but it's an excuse like no other to loosen up the belt and dive into all those treats!
I'm high on sugar right now. So high I even got the courage to ask my boyfriend's grandfather to dance. A nice slow :-) ! It was a great evening and I enjoyed myself very much!
Next party: 27th of July. Wedding of an ex-colleague of my boyfriend. Looking forward to the dessert ;-) ! But until then, no more sugar! At least, not as much as today...

Microsoft Food

I had a meeting at Microsoft headquarters at Schiphol, The Netherlands. 
One word: Impressed!

The interior is quite cozy and modern, but that didn't impress me the most. What did impress me was their lunchroom! They have an even bigger lunch room than my Ctac colleagues in Den Bosch, where you can eat EVERYTHING that comes to mind AND they have a coffee 'corner'. I felt like standing in line at Starbucks. It wasn't as good as Starbucks, though, but it was OK. I took a Frozen Cappuccino with whipped cream and caramel. At lunch I ate wok with noodles, chicken, prawn crackers and a peanut sauce accompanied with a kiwi smoothie. Bad combo, I know, but I wanted it sooo bad!
Jumjum!

Cheese

Sunshine, great company and cheese :-) !

Melo-Cakes

I lied the day before... 
When I said I had my last sugar for the week...
I have sinned today...
With Melo-Cakes...

:-) 
:-)
:-)
:-)

It's wedding weekend anyway, so next week, new try!

Carnival

Last day of carnival at Herselt.
I had my last sugar until this weekend, wedding weekend. Friday and Saturday!

Birthday Girl

It was my birthday today!
My boyfriend surprised me with a fancy diner!
I love him!

Healthier Snack

Jumjum!
I went to our local Asian Store and got me a healthier snack than my usuals...
How I love Asians and their food!

Tough Cookie

I wasn't feeling so well today at work. I think my lack of sleep from the past few weeks and the past weekend has something to do with it...
But I went spinning anyway! HUUUUUOOEEH! Tough, huh?!

Normally, I award myself with a cookie, but today I'm extra tough and skip those extra calories this time.