Foodpost! Tried falafel for the first time last month and was not too impressed by the taste. Today I got the left over falafel balls from my freezer and I wanted to make them more interesting. So I combined them with string beans, fried some onions and garlic and presented them with home baked pancakes and ketchup...



Looks really nice, but the falafel balls were still a let down, very bland. Meh.

Last Sunday my mom's partner J. celebrated his 75th birthday with a fancy buffet brunch. Here's the food I gobbled up:


A slice of brown bread with fried egg (fried while you wait!) + a croquette + carpaccio (thinly sliced raw beef with parmezan cheese bits) + a small sesamy bagel with creamcheese and salmon + orange juice and milk:)


A small bowl of honey melon and Galia melon with ham + a breadroll with Brie. Oh and a couple of fries, that I had already eaten before I remembered to take a photo:)


A bit of icecreamcake, a slice of carrotcake, a profiterole (cream puff) with speculaas cream, two petit fours, two macarons, a thin slice of spekkoek (Indonesian layercake) and a tiny glass of pineapple mousse with advocaat (a Dutch eggnog with brandy; I only had a couple of spoons of the mousse, then handed the left over bit with the eggnog to my mom;)


One last petit four and a marshmallow dipped in the chocolate fountain:) The end.

Twice a year I move the vertical blinds on my balcony door from the front to the back room because I switch it up with a cover on the door that keeps out the draft in winter in the front and blocks the sun in summer in the back. Last winter one of the stems that holds the louver (vertical slat) broke off in the frontroom, so when I wanted to move the blinds back for summer, I had to repair it before I could hang them back up. Here is a photoblog of how I did this.


I didn't have time to fix it right away, so I had a hole in between the blinds for the past week (I put a scarf on the door to cover it, so the neighbours in the flat across the street couldn't peek through;). In the photo on the right you can see the broken stem.


Carefully took the system apart (and took photos of the process, so I could see how it was supposed to be put back together...)


Fortunately this rail has 11 carrier bodies while I only have 10 slats, so all I have to do is I take the broken one out. To do this I still need to take the whole thing apart. It took me a while to figure out how to disconnect these plastic distance keeper strips*.


I managed to do it, but then after taking the carrier body with the broken stem out from between the rest, I fiddled a lot to connect the distance keeper again and in my struggle I broke one:(


Seeing as there is no tension on them, I figured I could repair it with tape and sure enough: that worked! Then I carefully fiddled some more to connect all the carrier bodies in one row:)


Now to put it all together again... (using the photos I took as a guide in reverse:)


Tadaah!

Shout out to this instruction video by Peter Heine who showed me that the rails could be taken apart and what parts I should be careful with (*his distance keeper strips were metal, so he didn't have to worry about breaking them;)

Yesterday was the first day of my Summervacation and it was off to a great start with a visit to the Efteling Fairytalepark with my mom, sister in law G. and darlingnephew R. Here are some photos of our adventures:)


First up: The Piraña river rapids ride: the water is still calm here, but WATCH OUT BEHIND YOU!


Wild water, wooohoo!


The Efteling's garbage cans are hungry!


Wooden rollercoaster Joris and the Dragon.


Hehehe, my companions were too busy screaming on the ride to notice the dragon, good thing we had already gotten a good look while waiting in line:-D


Dare devil R. is ready for his first upside down rollercoaster The Python!


Two loopings and a corkscrew, oh yes, what a ride!


All four us are excited to go on the Dark ride Vogelrok:)


Another hungry garbage can, the most famous one: Holle Bolle Gijs. He keeps asking for trash to gobble up and politely says thank you when you feed him!


On our way to the exit we have just enough time for a quick visit to Pinocchio in the Fairytale forest. Can you see him?


What an excellent day.

Went on a daytrip to The Hague last weekend, to have a festive lunch with my sister in law G. and darling nephew R. at the Haagsche Snoephuys (Candyhouse:) I traveled back by train with my brother and R., who wanted to draw his own version of the Impala colouringpage I coloured for the Land of Art:)

Ugh, yet again I have an infection in my eyelids; ever since that horrid ear infection this Summer, my right eye is being a pain every couple of weeks. Visited the docter this morning, got prescribed a antibiotic cream and received instructions for an eyewash with baby shampoo. Have already tried the latter; touching your inner eyelids with a q-tip (cotton bud) is ITCHY. I'm supposed to do that for a couple of weeks to hopefully stop this thing from returning. The cream is to calm down the inflammation, I have to apply it IN MY EYE twice a day for seven days...

So who wants to see my snotty eye? Below a photo from Sunday evening and another one taken after the visit to the docter. She had put some yellow stuff in my eye to check the cornea (all clear) - that felt and looked like she squirted iodine in my eye, OUCH!

Saturday, September 16 was the last day of the Potato-Festival in Emmeloord; traditionally rounded up with the Fish-Potato RUN, a running event from Fishing village Urk to Potato town Emmeloord. Brotherdearest and his friend participate in the 12,88 K run and I went to my old home town to cheer them on for the final few meters:)


The Fish-Potato RUN is organized by AVNOP, my old athletics club (when I was a teenager, a long, loooooong time ago;)


On the final day of the Potato Festival there are free fries for everyone, yay!


Ahw, the Poldertoren (poldertower), a landmark that still makes me nostalgic:)

Last Friday mom and I visited Grandma. To our surprise Uncle B. also came over! When we tried to make our traditional selfie, he captured the moment;-)

On Saturday June 3rd I traveled to Amsterdam to meet-up with fellow fangirl FN from Canada. We sat down for pie and strolled through town. Afterwards I cycled to brotherdearest to hang out for the rest of the afternoon and evening:)


Lemon Meringue Pie at De Drie Graefjes. We talked fandom, Skam, YOI and Supernatural:)


See? Fangirlfeet in Amsterdam:)


De Nieuwe Kerk, gorgeous from every angle.


Before getting on the train back home, brotherdearest and I sat down at the northside of the station, to enjoy our Swirls* with view of the ferries. (*Vanilla ice with caramel sauce, chunks of brownie, fresh strawberries and white chocolate \o/)

On Saturday April 22 I went to Amsterdam to visit brotherdearest (who had a birthday on April 19:). Before a family get-together and party, we met up in town for Record Store Day. We went to Concerto to see hear a performance by Spinvis and a lecture about "Singing in the Brain".
Here are some photos of my trip.


View from the train:)


Tulips?


Ahw, this wind turbine lost its wing.


The sky is getting darker, eep!


Love the designs at Amsterdam Central Station.


Recordstore Concerto, Utrechtsestraat, Amsterdam


"Vinylized" Record sleeves, an artproject. The silhouette on the right is a person sitting above us, watching Spinvis. We couldn't see the stage at the top of the stairs, but could listen from below. That was fun too:)


A lot of people left after the concert, so we could find a seat on the floor right in front of the stage! Check out the head of Barbapapa on the wall :(


While we are waiting for the lecture to start, I can look at more Vinylized art up close:)





Erik Scherder wrote a book "Singing in the Brain", about the effects of music on the brain. He was accompanied by Anne Soldaat, who played different sorts of songs to illustrate the lecture:)


It was very interesting and cool:)


Still feeling sad about Barbapapa though.

After the lecture we cycled to Hans' apartment (I had rented an OV bike at the station), had lunch and then waited for company. Mams and J. were the first to show up.


We took a stroll around the Baarsjes neighbourhood before dinner.


Birdspotting at the Admiralengracht.


The bird allowed me a close up of its feet!


So many pretty tiles here.




A discount supermarket Aldi at a fancy location (Senefelder, old printer's building).


More tiles (I couldn't help myself, so gorgeous;)






Cute blue houses at the Slatuinenweg. (A throughway path created in 1675)


Intriguing tree spots at Kortenaerplein


More birdspotting:)


Canal is called the Kostverlorenvaart (Baarsjesweg)

Westermosque Aya Sofya.




View from the Kinkerbridge.

We had a marvelous shoarma dinner before we went back to the apartment for the party. Good times:)
I cycled back to the station around 22:30 and got home a little after midnight.