Saturday, September 15, 2012

Bentheim castle

My folks gave me a little birthday pressie. It's a cookbook for hungry men! I like it very much. It's got all the good recipes in it :-)

In the afternoon we visited Bentheim castle in Germany.

It's a cool castle.

Little watchtowers everywhere.

My mom in the castle's chapel.

Bird-stairs.

There were lots of lead glass windows of birds. Somebody must've liked birds.





The castle is still partly inhabited. In the museum part there is a cabinet with photos of people who previously lived there and relatives. Amongst them was this lady. She's Queen Elisabeth of Romania. I don't know why but I love the picture.

We also went to the top of the tower from where you have a nice all-round view.

Ilse and Cassie. I think this is the best picture ever of the both of them.

Lunch. Curry wurst!

On the way home I bought my mom and me some whisky and I got the paper.

Later I baked pancakes.

And then it was monopoly time!

I lost. Badly...

Friday, September 14, 2012

The loot

This is the birthday loot from last night. Many thanks to the givers of these fun things! It's all nice pressies :-)

After work a colleague gave me a lift to Hoge Hexel (close to Almelo, in the east of NL) where my family waited for me in a little holiday house. I'll be there 3 nights with my family and I'm looking forward to it very much :-)

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Happy birthday me!

I was surprised by decorations in my office when I got to work....

Tanja and her husband had been busy with balloons and little flags. I loved it :-)

And I brought them cake.

Awesome chocolate caramel cake. Mmmmmmmmmmmh :-)

My colleague Paul's plant is doing really bad. I took it home to give it new soil and then found out that half the roots are already rotting. I cut off the rotting bits and repotted it.

Now we hope for the best...

In the evening I had dinner with Marjolein, Mic and Gerrit. Later we went to Mulligans where i bought a lot of friends drinks. A fair few people showed up which was very nice!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

New pies!

We got to vote for our government today. I voted the Social Party.

My mom and dad sent me a card for my birthday. Thaaaaaanks! :-)

I made my famous chocolate caramel pie tonight. I made 2 as a matter of fact. This is the start of the caramel. Boiling sugar.

At some point it will go darker. The great caramel flavours are now being made.

Before it gets too dark (which means it's burning) you have to add butter and cream. It tends to get a bit volatile and lots of stirring is required. The mixture might solidify on the spot but you gotta persist your stirring and mixing and keep the heat up until it's all liquid again.

In the end you get a nice pie.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I'm a plant doctor...

I'm now caring for Paul's little plant. It was drowned and started dropping almost all its leaves. A real shame because it was doing really well before. The water was actually pouring out when I tipped it over. Let's see if I can fix it. I hope I can...

In the evening I went to Mic for dinner and squash again.

Monday, September 10, 2012

The photo-cake

The line up at the station bakery was not funny this morning...

The photo-cake I ordered was cool!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

The angels' share

I finally got around to cleaning my kitchen. It's sparkling again :-)

Marjolein and I went to see the movie "The angels' share" and enjoyed it very much. It's funny and just a nice little story. And it's about whisky ;-)

Marjolein showing her new earring. I like them very much! Can't see it really well but they're actually quite delicate leaves.

She b(r)ought me a pressie from belgium: A little water can to pour a tiny bit of water in whisky. We've been looking for one in Scotland during the holiday but couldn't find it anywhere. Now I have one :-)