blue summer

being back home

Now of course, Rotterdam also has it's benefits. No hills, lovely villages or quiet nature but enough vibrant city activities and festivals during summer. This afternoon we paid a visit to the Bluegrass Festival in the North of Rotterdam. We ate some good fries and sat down with a soda and a beer in the sun, watching people and listening to the music. We'd do everything to extend the vacation buzz :).

our trip to the South of Limburg

We had a really fantastic vacation down in Limburg. Normally we leave our country during vacation time and head to France, Spain or other great places near the sea. But this time we chose to stay in a big tent for one week. We were actually surprised by the beauty of nature, so much green, beautiful hills, lovely villages and just.. silence. We rode our bicycles up and down the hills, buying fresh cherries at farmers' and walked across the meadows and corn fields. But of course, one week is really short and we were back home in a blink of an eye.. We'll go back there some time. 

RECIPE OF THE WEEK: pumpkin & sweet-potato soup

While we are all watching football/soccer and cheer for our teams we made this really tasty (go) orange soup from a recipe by the website magazine ZTRDG. We already made this soup twice so I decided to share this one with you :). 

serves about 3 persons 

Ingredients

∆ 200 gr. green lentils (puy)

∆ some fresh coriander

∆ 600 gr. sweet potato (peeled and diced)

∆ 400 gr. pumpkin (peeled and diced)

∆ 1 shallot

∆ 1 small red pepper

∆ 1 apple

∆ 1 red sweet pepper

∆ 2 cm fresh ginger (peeled and grated)

∆ 1/2 cinnamon stick 

∆ about 400 ml vegetable stock

∆ if you want a thick and rich soup: 1 can of coconut milk

How to

Place the lentils in a pan and add some water, let them boil for one minute and let them drain. Cut the shallot, pepper, apple and sweet pepper. Fry the shallot, apple, sweet pepper, ginger, pepper and cinnamon in a soup pan. Add the potatoes and pumpkin. Add (if you want) the can of coconut milk and fill with broth until the vegetables are just covered. If you don't use the coconut milk just fill up with broth. Let the soup cook for 20 minutes and than remove the cinnamon stick. In the mean time put the lentils back in a pan and let them cook for about 15 minutes. Puree the soup until smooth and taste for some extra salt/pepper. Slice up the coriander and mix with the drained lentils. Pour the soup in some nice bowls and add some lentils and some cream of coconut milk if you have any left. Enjoy!

a first touch of sand

While I'm not yet fully recovered from my visit to the oral surgeon yesterday we decided to go out for a short walk along the beach. We had a great time, we let Pien touch the cold water with her feet and we sat down in the sand so she could feel the strange texture with her little hands. She laughed a lot and of course she tried to eat the sand.. At beach bar The Pit we had some lunch and enjoyed the sound of waves and the warm arms of sunshine :). 

mail: Rinske and Anne

This week I managed to write a letter to Rinske and Anne, yes! I enjoy writing and making nice packages for my dear pen pals, also as a creative part because sometimes these weeks are way to busy to do something creative like drawing :). 

weekend bbq

 

On this white sunday (pentecost) we had a bbq at my dad's in Brielle. When I'm in their amazing garden I can't stop taking pictures of all the beautiful flowers and things around me. Everything looks especially nice in the bright sun. We bought some ice cream, went for a walk around town, picked some fresh strawberries, mint and rhubarb from the garden and sat down with a cool drink for a bbq. It was a lovely afternoon and Pien was such a brave girl, staying up until 20:30! 

family-saturday-morning

Today will be my last day of work until september because of the cultural season's closing down in summer. We woke up quite early, packed a bag and rode to the children's farm nearby. There were lots of rabbits, goats, chickens etc. but also this amazing peacock! He was dancing around a female peacock, doing his thing with his colored feathers. Beautiful colors, right?! Afterwards we went for a quick stop at a monthly market called Rotterdamse Oogst. They sell all kinds of food and drinks that were produced in and around Rotterdam. We picnicked with some fruit and coffee. What a lovely morning :).

a busy morning

This morning we (me & Pien) had to sail, run and ride! It was a busy morning but such a lovely one! I had to bring Pien to Anneke (her grandmother) in Ridderkerk before going to work. We went there by bike: riding along the beautiful Maas of Rotterdam and taking the waterbus to Ridderkerk. We loved the blue sky, high buildings, wonderful bridges and the warm morning sun. Pien was having so much fun, she was laughing so hard when the boat speeded up! I didn't even had to take her out of the seat :). When I returned to Rotterdam I stopped by the Ontbijtbar for an early lunch before heading off to work. This time I chose a sandwich with white bean spread but I'd love to try the oatmeal with coconut milk some time, sounds great!