KissKus

Camping is fun/not so fun

Last week after we dropped the children off at the oma's, Michel and I had five days to ourselves. No work, no children... what were we going to do?!
On Monday we decided to go camping in Limburg, which is in the south of Holland (a looooooong way down, an almost two-hour drive!). We brought a little tent and a couple of books and not much else.

The campsite was lovely and almost deserted. We set up our tent... it was perfect!
On Tuesday we spent the whole day reading in the sun and we both finished our book (this was mine, very enjoyable).

Unfortunately, it started raining in the late afternoon, but we decided to take advantage of it and had a wonderful meal in a cosy restaurant.

However when we arrived back to the tent our bedding was damp, the mattress had already proved to be uncomfortable the night before. There was nothing to it than try to get some sleep. All through the night it continued to rain and our bed and duvet went from damp to downright wet. When it was finally time to get up and we looked under under the mattress it turned out that we had been lying in a large pool of rainwater... nice! Apparently, the bottom of the tent wasn't water-resistant.

There was no way we were going to stay another night in an even wetter tent (it was still raining), so we packed everything up and went to the most southern city of our country: Maastricht.

It was an 8o km drive, but because of the rain, accidents and roadworks it took us three hours to get there! When we finally arrived we comforted ourselves with a piece of traditional Limburger cake.

However, Maastricht was lovely and we enjoyed ourselves there and when we came home that evening we still had a good feeling about our little break.

And the best thing was that our own bed never slept so nice!! We have once again proven that there's no place like home!

In full bloom

After an early dinner we went for some fresh air tonight. Luckily the rain had disappeared and except for the fact that we were wearing our coats, you could almost pretend that it was a summer evening.

We went to the heath in Hilversum, the town we lived in until we moved here almost two years.
We lived very close to the heath and therefore we spent many, many hours there. In the snow and in the sun, pregnant, with baby nr. 1 and then with baby nr. 2.

We dragged everyone along with us onto the heath. The fact that nature is rare in the Netherlands and that we didn't have a garden then made us cherish this place even more.

The good thing was that on the other side of the heath there was a nice restaurant where you can get a lovely cup of tea or coffee. Needless to say that we went there often. And we still go there now and then, since it's only a short drive there.

Today we started at the restaurant and walked onto the heath where all the heather was in full bloom... a splendid sight. We enjoyed the sun and the silence and the children said we were on an adventure (again! two days in a row!). A magical moment was when we came face to face (well, almost ;)) with a deer.

Of course, our walk ended at the restaurant where we had a lovely dessert consisting of chocolate milk and cake.

I love it that the children can stay up a bit later because we don't have to rush anywhere in the morning... holiday bliss!

And Amber lost her fourth tooth today!!

There's a big hole where her teeth used to be... it was a bit of a bloody mess when her tooth finally came out, but we're all relieved. The way she looks now is a big improvement on the way she looked earlier in the day, when she was still able to do scary tricks with her dangling tooth... brrrrr.

Today-this week

We went to one of our favourite Dutch towns today: Deventer.
We go there about twice a year (this was the last time we went) and every time we discover something new and amazing.

The first thing we did when we arrived was have lunch at this lovely place.

See a photo of the interior here.
Lunch was delicious and very cosy.

Then we went straight to some back streets that we had discovered at our last visit.

I bought new oilcloth. I'm so in love with the fabric on the left that I kept staring at it on the way back in the car.

We discovered a shop that sold nothing but dolls houses and accessories. Here is a (bad) photo of some things displayed in the shop window.... wonderful!

I love the next photo of Simon. He was thirsty, so he just sat down to drink... things are very simple when you're little!

The last bit of the way home we took the touristy route and enjoyed some of the best things about our country: the grass, the cows and the clouds (do you see that hole in the clouds?!).

We even went on a ferry without really knowing where we were going... the children thought it was an adventure (so did we)!
This hilarious sign was on the ferry:

It says: buy the paper before you read it!

So that was our day today.
You may have noticed that I've been absent this week. There is no real reason for it. Michel and I are both free from work now and we've just been busy adjusting and enjoying. I think I just switched to light blogging because of summer... I'm still here though!
Btw, thank you so much for your kind words about Michel's new job...they're very much appreciated!

Oh, and since some of you so nicely asked... I will translate the recipe soon!

Celebratory dinner

Opa and oma picked up the children today for a couple of days of fun.
After a quiet afternoon I cooked an extra special dinner, because we had something to celebrate. No, not that the children are away ;)
But Michel has a wonderful new job!!

He had the interview last week and the same evening they phoned to say that they wanted him to take the job :) All details are sorted now. It will be a fantastic new challenge for him.
And the best thing is that he will work less hours, but he'll be paid more!

So the dinner... it's called "Kip in the hoed", which means "Chicken in the hat" and it was delicious!! Unfortunately, I'm not very good at translating recipes to English, but if anyone's interested then I could give it a try ;))
Man, I'm stuffed!!

Chilling & grilling

This weekend has been the first in many weeks that we had a bit of summer weather here in The Netherlands. After an absolutely gorgeous spring, the summer up till now sucks big time!
So what do you do when suddenly a warm day presents itself? Well, bring out the BBQ ofcourse!

We spent a lovely Sunday with friends. Went to Weesp with them (longtime readers of this blog will know what we did there ;)) and then had a good old BBQ in the garden.

Amber had her hair did!

I wonder what this new week his in store for us...
At least a drawing (I didn't forget)... the winners are Katie and PJ! Send me your addresses so I can send your package!
And thank you everyone for your congratulations... here's to the next 200 posts!!

Bringing into the spotlight: poffertjes

I thought I would tell you a little about a typical Dutch kind of food: poffertjes.

Poffertjes really are tiny pancakes that you bake in a special pan that has dents for the batter. To spread that batter evenly you use a flask.

Here I clumsily try to show you how easy it is to use that flask. It isn't so easy when you're trying to take a photo at the same time!

Poffertjes are traditionally eaten with a lump of butter and lots of powder sugar. It is also possible to fill them with jam or cheese.

Poffertjes are mostly considered to be food for children, but I know many adults (myself included) that enjoy a portion of poffertjes once in a while.

I wonder if anything like poffertjes exists in your country?!

Hmm, I'm hungry...

Birthday recap

The birthday girl:

The preparations:

The friends:

The presents:

The refreshments:

The turds:

The longest drawing ever:

The crafts:

The end:

Land of ice-cream

This Sunday afternoon was a perfect moment to go to Weesp again. Our first real ice-cream of the season!
When Simon asked Amber what 'Weeps' was, she answered that it was a land where they sold lots of ice-cream. Well, I can understand why they might think so :)

As I wrote here, going back to Weesp is always a trip down memory-lane for us. And today it was as enjoyable as ever.

We were lucky that the chestnut-trees were in full bloom... so beautiful!

We passed this gorgeous shopwindow that was decorated this way in honour of the birth of Princess Ariane (on my birthday!). I love the red gingham, polkadots and ric-rac together!!

Almost all houses in Weesp have a few steps going to the front door and Amber and Simon had fun jumping off ALL the steps that we passed.

I just had to take this photo of this fantastic bike in front of some kind of casino.

We then took the long touristy way home, where I made a yummy -if I may say so- pasta salad!

This coming week the children will spent five days with the oma's. Unfortunately, I have to work most of that time (not unfortunately that I have to work... I love my job, but unfortunately because it so rarely happens that I have real, undisturbed ME time). However, Tuesday I'm going to Belgium to visit a Kaffe Fasset exhibition with my parents. And Michel and I are planning an evening away together on Thursday, so lots of nice things to look forward to!
I hope you all have something fun planned this week!

Flashback

We had a pretty full schedule in England.
Breakfast, coffee, lunch, dinner, sleeping, shopping and bus rides took up most of our time.
We did manage to squeeze in a few other activities as well.

On Thursday we hung out in St. James' Park and hit the shops in the Piccadilly District.

On Friday I met up with Monica which was lovely. We hadn't sent photos beforehand, but I managed to find her by recognizing her brooch... hurray for handmade crafts! We swapped gifts and she gave me some gorgeous fabric and also one of her beautiful brooches, which is the first one in her post.
Unfortunately, neither of us has any photographic evidence of our meeting, but we had a great time shopping and having lunch.

The rest of that day was spent in the centre of Oxford and we cycled a bit on our rented bikes. We also went to the Pitts River's Museum, where you can find the most unusual things displayed. If you're ever in Oxford it's a real must-see.

We had dinner at my sister's boyfriend's College. As of this summer my sister will move in with him, so it was nice to see where she is going to live.

On Saturday we went to London again, where Michel and I spend some time alone in Harrod's and The Victoria & Albert Museum.

The museum is huge and packed with interesting things. Since our time was limited, I thought it would be a smart idea to just concentrate on the Textiles, but when we finally arrived there that section was closed :((
It did give us some more time at the keys and tins sections.

We then rushed to Hammersmith to experience the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. It was all great fun and very exciting. The atmosphere reminded us of our Dutch Queensday. Unfortunately, Oxford lost the race, which we were told by text messages from The Netherlands.

After a pancake feast and a delicious Easter/English breakfast it was time to go home.
Where the Easter partying continued. First at the one set of grandparents....

...and then at the others.

Simon discovered the best hiding place for the chocolate eggs he found: inside the seat of his car.

Well, so far the flashback. Now I'm all up to date and ready to look into the future again :) And Michel and I have something very exciting to look forward to in our very near future (a couple of hours); we'll be going to a lecture in Amsterdam. No irony there, because it will be held by Ian McEwan, a writer I very much admire.

Have a good weekend all!

Book love & wonky sewing

Michel brought home this book yesterday. I believe it's from Pottery Barn. I don't exactly know what Pottery Barn is...is it sort of the American Ikea? It's filled with beautiful photos of wonderful kids' rooms. Lots of inspiration. I love this.

***

Last week I had a great idea for a flowerlike placemat. I thought it would be so cool. So I drew the shape and cut all the fabrics and sewed them all together...so far so good. But when I added the back-fabric, I suddenly thought it would be nicer to make a cushion out of it. Uh-oh, mistake! This is how it turned out: I can tell you that it looked very different in my head ;) Oh and this is what got this weekend to make up for Michel's maggot eating. Oh I didn't tell about the maggot eating yet?! Well, one day Michel made three crackers with cheese for himself. After he had eaten two, he noticed a little wriggly something on his plate. After a closer look it turned out to be a maggot. Michel looked at his remaining cracker and saw a couple of other maggots in there too...did I mention he already ate two at this point? Soooooo grooooooooosssssss!!!!!!! So I wrote an angry letter and this what we got. Maggots are supposed to be very nutricious by the way ;) *just 1 kilo this week, so that's 8 in total*