After frost.. comes autumn

I thought that autumn was over where the frost appeared. Boy was i wrong. Can't blame me, for it is my first autumn here.

So after the frost, we had some rain, and then, a whole week of brilliant weather. Sunny and dry. It was really lovely to see the fall colours.

At first it was greenish still..



Then the colours just popped out! Same place, just 1 week later





Amazing huh?

We also took a weekend out to Veluwe.. and walked in the reserve, as well as to visit the Kröller-Müller Museum museum. The outdoor sulpture garden was awesome.. and they have the most fantastic collection of Van Goghs too. It's so different to see a Van Gogh in person. The colours and paint are so 3D that can't be reproduced in a print.









On a sad note, my bike got stolen. Sigh.. I really like my bike.. and am so upset that it is stolen.

It's getting cold...

Been over 6 months since i've been here. looking back.. the time just flew pass.. and now it's getting cold already. I took out all of my winter clothes, my giant coat. Bought a couple of new sweaters, ski gloves and ski jacket. It's kind crazy how cold it can gets. Overnight.. we got frost..

And i didn't even put up my summer travel pictures. :P








School is going really well. The private lessons that I'm taking is really enjoyable. I learn lots and was able to advance for A1- to A2 for my dutch.. and i'm really pleased. Though due to my fast advancement, my vocabulary is not as good as it should be, but there is nothing much that i can except to read more and learn more words.

Had enjoy picking chestnuts in the forest and making braised chicken with chestnuts.. Yummy.







And making vietnamese popiah too.





And i'm really please how my pictures turned out..

I love these pictures.

I love black eye peas

Been busy with tennis, lessons, and planting.

haahaa..

love the black eye peas..

Greatest flower parade ever

Summer is almost over, and my holidays is ending. However, just before the cold weather sets in, i had the opportunity to visit one of the nicest flower parade, not that i have see many. There's quite a few in Netherlands and the well-known ones are:

Bloemencorso Bollenstreek

Bloemencorso Zundert

Bloemencorso Lichtenvoorde

Last weekend was the flower parade in Zundert. Held every 1st sunday of the year, floats are build using dahlias.

I almost didn't get to make it cos H was hangover from the previous night's party. And i thought that he didn't feel good enough to go. But despite of his headache, he went ahead anyway. He did spend most of the time sloughing in his chair (which i'm so glad that he brought).



The outside air and sun did him good though!

And the first floats arrived.. and they were massive! Over 2.5 stories high!





The details are amazing!

Here's the SeaDevil



3rd Prize winner

This is called the Last Escape.

It was H's favorite and it came in 2nd in the competition.

My favorite and 1st prize winner.

I love how they only used a few colours to come up with the abstract, yet realistic looking rhino!

I can't wait til next year.

Meanwhile, hold on, i'm still doing up my summer vacation pictures!

Mussels, fruits and flowers

I love mussels.. and it's great that it's mussel season here. €6 for 2 whole kg...

The easiest way to cook them is in a pot, with some white wine and soup vegetables..

And... i got suggestions to cook them with Tom Yum..

H didn't like them as much cos he wasn't used to eating mussels with chilli!

Next time..

Oh.. and we went to H's cousin's land.. and there they planted tons of stuff..

Apples

Plums

Grapes for wine

Blackberries..

Flowers!

That's him cutting my flowers for me... isn't he the sweetest?

Dinner parties and cooking

A group of friends decided that instead of going out for dinner, it'd be nice to cook for each other..... a nice dinner with course/theme, like Wie is de Chef? We were so excited by it. The first to cook was I & B... and they set such a high standard for us to follow!





This was the starter.

Eel on a vegetable bed with toast

Yellow pepper soup


Main course:

Lamb..

I normally don't like lamb due to its strong smell... but this lamb was perfectly seasoned and so tender and delicious! I might change my mind on lamb!

And after dinner, we even got a "fashion" show by the men.

It was so funny!!!

In anticipation for my turn to cook.. i bought the following stuff...

i wanted this book for the longest time...David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop

This ice cream scoop goes perfectly with my RED Kitchenaid and its ice cream maker.

And this blender is simply a must have for soups, puree and such.

Immersion blenders are now becoming an essential part of the kitchen. And given that i don't have a blender here, this is a good investment!

Immersion blenders have recently gained popularity among home chefs. It purees large batches of soup, makes emulsified salad dressings, and smoothies at the touch of a button. An eight-inch shaft that is common on most blenders will reach the bottom of deep pots and pitchers. Imagine a quick fresh salsa, gazpacho, or home vinaigrette without the added sweeteners and preservatives. It is no longer necessary to worry about pouring hot liquid in a blender or dirtying extra cookware.

from Best Immersion Blenders.


I had initially wanted the Kitchenaid Immersion Blender... not only it'd match my Kitchenaid, it's also one of the most highly rated hand-held blenders.

However, it was with great disappointment to find out that this model is not available outside of US! Even if i wanted to get it from US, i can't use it here due to the voltage. Which was such a pity.

So i settled for the Cuisinart Smart Stick instead.. for it is also very highly rated. I'm very excited about it!

The best part? I paid using money earned from my websites! Tee hee hee

Llibrary-themed ice-cream flavours

I'm a huge Ben & Jerry's fan.. so much so that even my dog has Ben & Jerry's collar and leash. I think that it's simply too cute.. and also am learning how to make Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavours on my ice-cream maker.

To my amazement.. i have just read that Ben & Jerry's is looking to introduce a library-theme flavours!

Ben & Jerry's is considering launching a library-themed ice-cream flavour, after a campaign by a New Jersey librarian gathered thousands of supporters.

Burlington county librarian Andy Woodworth already has more than 4,400 people signed up to a Facebook group supporting his plan, which he hopes will raise awareness of libraries "in the face of stagnant or slashed state, county, and municipal budgets".

Suggestions for flavours range from Gooey Decimal System to Sh-sh-sh-sherbet. Woodworth writes on Facebook that the logic behind the scheme is that "libraries are awesome, Ben & Jerry's ice-cream is tasty, therefore a library-themed Ben & Jerry's ice-cream would be tasty awesome".

Gooey Decimal System could combine dark fudge alphabet letters with caramel swirls in hazelnut ice-cream, he suggests, while Dusty Stacks could be a layered ice-cream with speckles of cocoa in every layer. Li-Berry pie could mix lime sherbet with raspberry sauce and pie-crust pieces, and Overdue Fine as Fudge Chunk could drop fudge brownies and white chocolate coins into milk chocolate ice-cream swirled with caramel. The fine details of Sh-sh-sh-sherbet aren't pinned down quite yet – it could be key lime, or possibly a vanilla/chocolate combination.

Arnold Carbone, Ben & Jerry's flavour guru, said the company had honoured musicians with its flavours in the past – last year it launched Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road (chocolate ice-cream with peanut butter cookie dough, butter brickle and white chocolate chunks) for Elton John – so a library-themed flavour was a definite possibility.

"From Cherry Garcia to Bohemian Raspberry, some of our best-loved flavours have been fan suggestions. We've honoured rock'n'roll icons, so why not librarians?" said Carbone.

He suggested a Malt Whitman: "a malt ice-cream, with chocolate alphabet letters and two decadent rivulets - one caramel and one fudge - as an ode to writer Walt Whitman". If Ben & Jerry's went ahead with the flavour, it would be the latest in a stream of recent endorsements for America's first "poet of democracy". Whitman is currently starring in a Levi's commercial, has been selected for Jonathan Ross's new Twitter book club, and is the author of JK Rowling's favourite poem, Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances.

Totally brings out the geek in me!

Beer and Pis..

Spent a great weekend in Belgium. It wasn't what i expected at all. I didn't know that Brussels was so beautiful or that many chocolate shops!

But before, i had to visit Hoegaarden, the town.. for the beer!

Did you know that the old spelling of Hoegaarden was...

Hougaerde



Here's a statue that tell you how to pour beer properly!

And there in the courtyard was a lovely little restaurant and they serve food cooked with Hoegaarden. We got this lovely dish..

It was heavenly! By the way, the dutch have a very funny saying when they taste great food.

ALSOF ER ENGELTJES OVER JE TONG PLASSEN

Meaning.. as if an angel pissed on your tongue! :P

Then we went to a 13th century castle

Kasteel Beersel

And then we went to Brussel.. Mannken Pis

Chocolates .. and

Tintin!

Also took the opportunity to visit the Margitte Museum.. one of my favorite painters! I also loved his skies! And Brussels really have beautiful skies!

I never knew that the landmark for Brussels was the Atomium.. shows how much i knew..

Next stop... Germany, Switzerland, ITALY and France.. it's going to be a very interesting trip!

And i just bought this book! Can't wait for it!

Bad and Great service...

i had left my Hong Kong Disneyland Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch) towel behind in Parc Asterix during my trip to France and was naturally upset that i didn't managed to get it back from the hotel despite of the calls i've made. My sister left her HTC phone behind too.. and she didn't get it back either. I seriously think that the housekeeping staff is very lousy. i mean, given that after you check out, the only people that goes into the rooms are the staff from the hotel. How can they not find the left behind items?? It's such lousy service!

Anyway, so for my birthday, i requested for a nice towel and also some nice bedsheets featuring some of my favourite comic characters. And this was what i got.

Now, one of my friends in Singapore saw the sheets and really liked them. As i knew H had bought them from this store, i called them up to check for the price of the queen size sheets.

The saleslady promptly told me the price and even informed me that currently, they are having a 40% sale. So, the sheets are 40% off!!! I was like.. "WWAAHH... but i just bought mine 2 weeks ago.. and now it's on sale???!! When did the sale start?"

In an instant, i felt so ripped off, knowing that H had paid full price for it.

Almost immediately, the lady said, "I'll put aside the queen size sheets for you.. and when you come back, i will give you a refund on the sheets you bought. When did you buy them? I'll print the receipt out."

So i gave her the date H when down to buy, she got the receipt off her computer (i didn't even need to bring my receipt down to show) and told me to come down when possible.

And i got my refund... a large enough sum for me to buy some more towels and such..

honestly, i was very impressed by the service given. And felt so lucky that i called them up at the right time. Made me feel a whole lot less upset about leaving my Stitch towel behind.

P/s... i also got a ride for my birthday!

PAAAAATRRRIICCCKK!

So i was in Le Mans a couple of weeks ago. Coincidentally, the visit there was the weekend that the 24 heures du mans was held.

We had bought tickets to view the race over Saturday and Sunday. Having been to the F1 in Singapore previously, i pretty much expected it to be the same but without the names that we so often hear in the news and papers.

To my surprise, when we reach Le Mans, our host, informed us that Patrick Dempsey aka Dr. McDream of the hit TV show, Grey's Anatomy and movies like Enchanted was in Le Mans and racing.

How cool was that?

On friday evening, in the centre of Le Mans, there's be a parade, Parade des Pilotes where all the super cars and drivers of the race come out for some fun.

Guess who i was keeping my eye out for? Patrick Dempsey of course. But before he came along, there was a whole lot to see..

The Pagani Zonda PS

Citroën GT

Spyker C8 Laviolette

Koenigsegg CCX

Wiesmann MF5

Mercedes-Mclaren SLR Roadster 722

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

How cool was that? These were the cars that i only get to see on Top Gear! Which reminds me.. have you heard? Apparently the Stig have been revealed to be no other than Schmi!!

And we saw the Trophy for the Race

And the one whom i was waiting for... PATRICK DEMPSEY!!!

What happened was he went pass.. and i was like.. hhrrmmp.. couldn't get a nice picture, and in my excitement...i SCREAMED, "PAAAAAATTRRRRRIIICCCCKKKK!!!" To everyone's surprise at my volume.. and at Patrick, he turned and wave at me!!

That was one of the highlights of my trip! Besides eating all the french food and Parc Asterix.

So we went to the races

... that's Patrick's car. no. 81 racing past

Being a 24hr race, we simply had to go and check out the racing at night...

It was 3 am when we watch the races. By then, the 2 Peugeots had taken the lead.. and Audi was 3rd.

Oh.. these guys came in 2nd.

Sébastien Bourdais, Franck Montagny & Stéphane Sarrazin


And the drivers of the wining no. 9 Peugeot.

Marc Gene, David Brabham & Alexander Wurz

BLueberry Girl...

I would want to be the Blueberry girl and i got the chance to be one..

Tis blueberry season here and the woods have bushes that are filled with blueberries ready for plucking.

See all of them?

I spent 1.5hours being bitten by mossies to pick the berries.. and there's so many more to be picked.

i figured i got maybe 1 kilo worth of blueberries..

And after getting a recipe for blueberry crumble from here.. i attempted my first attempt at pie making!

I think it was a very good attempt and it is sososososos LEKKER!!!

I love it.. and want to go and pick more berries tomorrow!

BTW, i saw Patrick Dempsey in Le Mans... and got him to wave at me! More updates in a while!!

Went to Ghent

Ghent is such a lovely town. From 1000 - 1550, it was one of the most important towns in Europe. Larger than London and only second to Paris. So much history and so beautiful...

It was a lovely day and the colours was amazing... we had a great day there.

St. Bavo's Cathedral

Oldest hotel in Ghent

The Graslei is one of the most scenic places in Ghent's old city centre.

Loved the fort... however, as it is under restoration, the view of it is not very photogenic. Pity!

At the Citadelpark




Belgium Beer!!! YUM!




And Belgium Frites! I need Belgium mussels and chocolates!

Vermeer and museum

Parc Astérix .. which i will be there in a couple of weeks time.. and

Hergé Museum

René Magritte Museum

Went to Delft over the weekend and visited Johannes Vermeer Centre... it was really nice to learn something about the painter... and i learnt that the painting of the girl with the pearl earring... her eyes follow you no matter where you are standing, earning the painting the nickname, "Mona Lisa of the North"



I love his 'Little Street"

We had perfect weather and the light was amazing. Hence, you can only imagine the light the painter himself saw when he painted.

This is so funny...

3rd happiest place in the world

isn't it great that Netherlands is the 3rd happiest country in the world?

Just some of the things that make me happy