Bye bye 2011!

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We went to Maastricht for new year's eve. For some reason I totally did not feel like staying in the Dam this year. I just wanted to be away. It's funny because every other year I've been wanting to be surrounded by friends. Not this year. Maybe because I've been too busy.

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We had a fantastic 4 course dinner in a very good restaurant.

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Then I bought each of us a 15 euro coffee cup with very good champagne that we could take outside ;-)
We watched the fire works from the river Maas banks.

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Above us.

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Happy new year in Maastricht!

Chipsoft 2012 Poker tournament

On the ferry in the morning.

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On the last (working) day of the year ChipSoft organises a Texas Hold'em poker tournament. Every year more people sign up. I started at table nr. 2 with Esther as dealer. Esther is one of 4 professional dealers dealing for us today. The dealers play big tournaments themselves as well and some have worked as croupiers in casinos.

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The whole room had 4 poker tables in it.

I brought a hat and my sunnies for a change. It didn't help. I got knocked out fairly early.

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Table nr. 1.

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Table nr. 3.

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Table nr. 4 with Rolf "Ace" Slotboom as dealer.

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The final table. 9 players left. 7 players will go home with cash. The nr. 1 player is taking 800 euros home tonight!

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Eelke on the left and Wander on the right playing against each other.

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Final shot. Wander became the best player of the day!

The beermats

After work I met Marjolein and we went to a games shop called The Gamekeeper. They had looked at my collection Magic the Gathering cards which i wanted to sell and offered me a 100 euro voucher for their shop. I took it but now I have to decide which games to buy...

The Wagamama in the Amstelstraat is now open! We met up with Gerrit and had dinner there. They were having trouble getting their orders out on time and Marjolein and Gerrit's teriyaki salmon took so long that they got their mains for free! Nicely dealt with I must say. I'm very pleased with a Waga's so close to the pub ;-)

A bluegrass band called Cousin daddy was playing in Mulligans which i wanted to check out. Thank god I was in the great company of Marjolein, Gerrit and mic, who joined us later. The music was NOT a reason for staying to be honest...

We stirred up Garreth, one of the bartenders. He hates it when you turn the beermats upside down. He then wrote beautiful poetry on them. Very classy stuff.

To furthermore show what a classy establishment Mulligans is; here is Mic eating his crisps at the bar.

When i walked home around 1:15, I was pelted with hailstones. They hurt me and I had to seek shelter!

Christmas drove me nuts

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Nuts.

More cards

I received more cards today!

The second day of Christmas

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And on the second day of Christmas we went to visit Marjolein's folks. At the station in Haarlem were a few curious Jackdaws.

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The roof of the station.

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Marjolein bought her mom some tulips.

The other day in Antwerp, I bought this raven staff. I'll make some close ups soon and make a separate blog post about it.

The first day of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas.... Marjolein and i went to visit my folks. My mom cooked a lovely dinner which all of us enjoyed.

The dinner

I had invited Marjolein, Nantko and Gerrit over for dinner tonight. The only thing missing still were most ingredients and a steaming pan. So first things first, I went out to get me a steaming pan. The morning had been quite nice so far but as soon as i stepped outside it started pissing down...

Finally just after noon I had everything I needed and i started working. I started with 2 mini caramel-chocolate tarts.

The rest of the day I spent on an awesome fennel-tomato soup. In the evening I also made roast potatoes, steamed veggies and steaks.

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Nantko, Gerrit and Marjolein, each with their steak.

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My dinner. The steaks were 12 euro's each and I didn't have a good track record when it came to baking steaks. This one however was very nice!

The dinner was lovely and the company great. Afterwards we went to the pub.

The fantastic elastics were playing. They were fantastic indeed.

This was a very well spent day!

Visiting Antwerp

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Marjolein and I took a little day trip to Antwerp today. The station is old and beautiful.

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Station's roof.

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Looking down. The station has 3 or 4 floors!

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There were trees with pressies in 'm.

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The main shopping street with all the expensive shops.

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There was a guy playing a piano.

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And an old man playing an accordeon.

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Also there were pretty things on street corners.

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And a hand...

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And there was a pretty Marjoleintje as well :-)

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The "Onze lieve vrouwe" cathedral.

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This HAS TO BE the most photographed row of houses in Antwerp; At "de grote markt". It's fantastic.

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A small castle on the banks of the river "Schelde".

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The train back got cancelled. Actually both the train there as well as the train back were cancelled. Getting there and going back was all a bit disastrous.

It was nice to see some buildings in town but I have to say that I will not visit Antwerp again in the next 10 years I think. Mostly the city is grey and dull, like many big Belgian cities...

The candles

Some people like Christmas just a tiny bit too much, don't you think?

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I bought some proper candles of my own tonight.

I received 2 more Christmas cards today! One from Australia and one from Marjolein :-)