Howling at the Moon

  Last weekend we went for a short trip to the Veluwe, a region in The Netherlands where we normally go to in the summer, but especially my husband wanted to see something different than the walls of our own house after almost two years of working from home, so we decided to go in the winter.  Here's an impression of our trip.  We also brought our little friend James.  Because it was the weekend for Valentine's Day I made chocolate hearts for my daughter and made a charcuterie board. We hiked a short trail over the sand-drift near the village of Kootwijk.  Went for a lunch in Wychen And as is becoming a sort of family tradition: visited a castle. It was just a short weekend, but it was great to be in another environment. 

  This year we went to two different places for the holidays, but again in our own country. I just didn't like to investigatie if there were restrictions, what were the restrictions, what to do to cater to the restrictions etc, because restrictions where different in every country in Europe and could change every day. By staying in The Netherlands my only fear was that restaurants would close up again, because good food covers at least half of what you can call a great vacation, don't you agree? Anyway, the first week of our vacation we went the province Drenthe. My choice because I wanted to see 'hunebedden', ancient burial sites from prehistoric times. They're cultural heritage, but I had never seen them before.       Something else that I wanted to see is former transit camp Westerbork,  from where Jews and other minorities were send to concentration camps elsewhere in Europe, but unfortunately it was booked for the whole month, due to time slots f

 Last weekend I went abroad for the first time since COVID hit us to visit a friend who's living in Ghent, Belgium. After the company the next best thing of city trips and vacation is eating; a trip or vacation can stand or fall with good food, in my opinion.  After our friend picked us up at the train station we went to his house for lunch, prepared by himself. Especially for me, the only vegetarian in our party, he made the most delicious caprese salad ever, made with heirloom tomatoes, burrata, cranberry balsamico and olive oil, the best thing I ate this weekend. This weekend? The best thing I ate in months even!   Beside the lunch, we ate in a lovely restaurant named The Church, which was situated in (you'd never guessed it!) a church. We got 'merveilleux', pastries made of a mix of whipped cream and meringue, at Les Merveilleux de Fred, had baguettes, rolls, cookies and bonbons made by Marijn Coertjens, drank coffee in cute little café's and ended our visit

Last week both my daughters had a day off from school. One of many in a year, as I have told here before. Besides five vacations, variable from 1 to 6 weeks and different holidays like King's Day, the also have around five or six days off when teachers have meetings or seminars. Most of the time my days off from work aren't tuned synchronously with their days off. aren't synchronously at all, so I have to look for someone who can look after them, but last friday we had a day off all together en we went to the Zaansche Schans. The Zaansche Schans is typical Dutch landscape with mills, cows, wooden shoes and the best: the old fashioned Sweets Store. Here are some pictures.