The plans are still as vague as ever but it was interesting to have a look at what is possible.
zondag 31 januari 2010
Glass in Lead workplace
Since we went to the Tiffany Girls exhibition in April there have been vague plans to sometime maybe do some sort of glass-in-lead course. On Saturday there was an open day at a workshop place in Baarn so Janneke and I went along to have a look around there.
The plans are still as vague as ever but it was interesting to have a look at what is possible.
The plans are still as vague as ever but it was interesting to have a look at what is possible.
Bull Terrier Club Walk on Scheveningen beach
I'd heard about the walk via the online forum and went along to see this mass gathering of the clans. I knew I was in the right place when the first van I saw had a Bull Terrier logo painted on the side.
Saw a huge variety of animals and talked with different people about their dogs.
Great variety of colours - I'd seen brindles and whites before but the black/white versions and the tri-colours were new for me.
A young English Bulldog in amongst the Bull Terriers.
I really enjoyed my walk on the beach and seeing so many of these wonderful dogs together. I've been thinking of maybe getting a Bull Terrier as my next dog. Since my canoe trip last year with my 2 lodgerdogs I'd like to have a dog small enough to do the same with. However the full-size dogs are heavier than I'd imagined so I'm now thinking more along the lines of a smallish bitch or maybe even a miniature version. Met a few of those today and they're not as small as I'd thought they'd be. Around 20 kilo in weight, which is just about the right size I think.
Saw a huge variety of animals and talked with different people about their dogs.
Great variety of colours - I'd seen brindles and whites before but the black/white versions and the tri-colours were new for me.
A young English Bulldog in amongst the Bull Terriers.
I really enjoyed my walk on the beach and seeing so many of these wonderful dogs together. I've been thinking of maybe getting a Bull Terrier as my next dog. Since my canoe trip last year with my 2 lodgerdogs I'd like to have a dog small enough to do the same with. However the full-size dogs are heavier than I'd imagined so I'm now thinking more along the lines of a smallish bitch or maybe even a miniature version. Met a few of those today and they're not as small as I'd thought they'd be. Around 20 kilo in weight, which is just about the right size I think.
zaterdag 30 januari 2010
The Marmite Crisps have landed!
Snow is back and Christmas has apparantly returned too, with the 
arrival of a parcel full of Marmite crisps. Showing remarkable restraint I have as yet only eaten one packet.
arrival of a parcel full of Marmite crisps. Showing remarkable restraint I have as yet only eaten one packet.
vrijdag 29 januari 2010
Huis van de Poëzie
On Thursday evening a part of the luxurious Karel V hotel was transformed into a House of Poetry. A number of bedrooms and function rooms became the setting for a variety of poetry readings. 
The highlight of the evening was without doubt 'The Darkroom' where about 20 of us were handed sleeping masks to put on before we took our place in one of the bedrooms.
Elsa and I got ourselves the best places on the huge bed (after having been jealous of the ones who'd got this ideal 'seat' in one of the other rooms earlier) and settled back onto the pillows in a room full of strangely penetrant esoteric scents. We put our masks on, the lights went out and the music and readings began. This time no 'live' poet but a recording, including Reve himself waffling on about Catholicism. What a wonderful voice he has. 
The last poet of the evening upstairs in the lecture room was also well-worth hearing. A high-speed hyperpoetess who could certainly teach some of the more draaaaawwwn out readers a thing or two about delivery.
I think my next Literary Outing will probably be to this new museum for which I picked up a few free entry tickets.
The highlight of the evening was without doubt 'The Darkroom' where about 20 of us were handed sleeping masks to put on before we took our place in one of the bedrooms.
Elsa and I got ourselves the best places on the huge bed (after having been jealous of the ones who'd got this ideal 'seat' in one of the other rooms earlier) and settled back onto the pillows in a room full of strangely penetrant esoteric scents. We put our masks on, the lights went out and the music and readings began. This time no 'live' poet but a recording, including Reve himself waffling on about Catholicism. What a wonderful voice he has. 
The last poet of the evening upstairs in the lecture room was also well-worth hearing. A high-speed hyperpoetess who could certainly teach some of the more draaaaawwwn out readers a thing or two about delivery.
I think my next Literary Outing will probably be to this new museum for which I picked up a few free entry tickets.
zondag 24 januari 2010
Later: The Finished Product
Well, here it is:
Steamed one in a bowl for about an hour and the other one in a hot oven for slightly less. Both had much the same taste and structure but the baked version had a darker outside layer. Anyway, it was rather good. Nothing spectacular but definitely more than 'just edible'. I'd expected to taste more ginger but it was just like a bit of a vaguely fruity crumbly meatloaf. Very filling - I didn't eat as much as I thought I would and have put most of it in the freezer in small portions.
Steamed one in a bowl for about an hour and the other one in a hot oven for slightly less. Both had much the same taste and structure but the baked version had a darker outside layer. Anyway, it was rather good. Nothing spectacular but definitely more than 'just edible'. I'd expected to taste more ginger but it was just like a bit of a vaguely fruity crumbly meatloaf. Very filling - I didn't eat as much as I thought I would and have put most of it in the freezer in small portions.
Alternative Haggis
Tomorrow is Burns Day. 
In the past I have occasionally got myself organised enough to have a proper Burns Supper, complete with Haggis. Surprisingly enough no Dutch person has as yet been as disgusted by it as they had expected to be beforehand. (It certainly never caused such spectacularly horrified faces as when I gave a few pals some maté to try which I'd brought back from Argentina...) But this year I have no haggis in the cupboard but I do have neeps and tatties. So decided to try to concoct something that might serve as some sort of exotic alternative to haggis.
I had a kilo of minced beef in the fridge and an assortment of red and white (sweet) onions. Some sort of grain was needed to mix with it I thought, so meusli would do. Soaked that in some fruit juice while I was chopping the onions. I have a taste for ginger at the moment so put a few spoonfuls of ginger jam in with the last scrapings in a pot of marmite and put it in the microwave to warm up to pouring consistency. Beat an egg with some pepper and herbs and mixed it through the mince and onions. Decided it wasn't gooey enough and put another egg in. In between doing other stuff in the kitchen gradually added the muesli and ginger/Marmite mix. Still thought it was a bit dry and looked in the cupboard to see what else could go in. Spoonful of truffel-flavoured honey and a tin of aubergines in tomato sauce. That was more like it! Mashed it all in with a fork and spoon. Smells wonderful. I found a special plastic (? it looks like plastic but it's made for in the oven, so I suppose it can't be really) roasting bag in the cupboard too, which I once bought because it's supposed to be a good fatfree way of roasting a chicken but I've never tried it yet. Stuffed the mixture in this and tied a knot in it. Haven't decided yet whether to cook it in the oven or to boil it in a pan like a proper haggis.
I suspect the oven version would give a sort of meatloaf effect that could be cut into slices while the boiled version would be more grainy like proper haggis. Maybe I should split it in two and try both? As this is a spur of the moment experiment I'm not actually going to make anyone else eat it. I can always freeze what's left. Or put it on my bird table if it's really horrible... But I'm fairly confident that it'll be edible. Surely nothing a dollop of HP sauce won't sort anyway? (Hope Bobby and Maggie don't read this - they'll no doubt be horrified by my barbarian attitude to cooking.)
In the past I have occasionally got myself organised enough to have a proper Burns Supper, complete with Haggis. Surprisingly enough no Dutch person has as yet been as disgusted by it as they had expected to be beforehand. (It certainly never caused such spectacularly horrified faces as when I gave a few pals some maté to try which I'd brought back from Argentina...) But this year I have no haggis in the cupboard but I do have neeps and tatties. So decided to try to concoct something that might serve as some sort of exotic alternative to haggis.
I had a kilo of minced beef in the fridge and an assortment of red and white (sweet) onions. Some sort of grain was needed to mix with it I thought, so meusli would do. Soaked that in some fruit juice while I was chopping the onions. I have a taste for ginger at the moment so put a few spoonfuls of ginger jam in with the last scrapings in a pot of marmite and put it in the microwave to warm up to pouring consistency. Beat an egg with some pepper and herbs and mixed it through the mince and onions. Decided it wasn't gooey enough and put another egg in. In between doing other stuff in the kitchen gradually added the muesli and ginger/Marmite mix. Still thought it was a bit dry and looked in the cupboard to see what else could go in. Spoonful of truffel-flavoured honey and a tin of aubergines in tomato sauce. That was more like it! Mashed it all in with a fork and spoon. Smells wonderful. I found a special plastic (? it looks like plastic but it's made for in the oven, so I suppose it can't be really) roasting bag in the cupboard too, which I once bought because it's supposed to be a good fatfree way of roasting a chicken but I've never tried it yet. Stuffed the mixture in this and tied a knot in it. Haven't decided yet whether to cook it in the oven or to boil it in a pan like a proper haggis.
I suspect the oven version would give a sort of meatloaf effect that could be cut into slices while the boiled version would be more grainy like proper haggis. Maybe I should split it in two and try both? As this is a spur of the moment experiment I'm not actually going to make anyone else eat it. I can always freeze what's left. Or put it on my bird table if it's really horrible... But I'm fairly confident that it'll be edible. Surely nothing a dollop of HP sauce won't sort anyway? (Hope Bobby and Maggie don't read this - they'll no doubt be horrified by my barbarian attitude to cooking.)
donderdag 14 januari 2010
Car Wash
Once a year, whether she needs it or not, the day before she gets her MOT my wee blue van gets a nice bubble bath treat when we go through the carwash together. In the one we went through today I had to park her in the washing bay then go out and type in the washcode in the machine at the entrance before the washing process started. I was a bit dismayed at this as I like to be IN the car when the whooshing noises start. 
I had to run really fast and jump in before the whirly brushes reached her nose. I could feel the spray flying up towards us. But I made it. There's something simultaneously soothing and scary about being in a carwash. It's all very psychadelic and foamy and fascinating, but at the same time there's an optical illusion as the brushes advance that it's the car that's moving forward and that everything is out of control. I always lunge for the handbrake and it's never necessary. Of course I now have had this song in my head all the way home...
I had to run really fast and jump in before the whirly brushes reached her nose. I could feel the spray flying up towards us. But I made it. There's something simultaneously soothing and scary about being in a carwash. It's all very psychadelic and foamy and fascinating, but at the same time there's an optical illusion as the brushes advance that it's the car that's moving forward and that everything is out of control. I always lunge for the handbrake and it's never necessary. Of course I now have had this song in my head all the way home...
woensdag 13 januari 2010
Bird Table
I can just see the table from my desk. 
Usually if I try to sneak to the window to take a photo the birds see me moving and fly off but today I managed to get there very slowly and captured this robin and blue tit, though the robin is skulking in the shadows of the fir ready to flee and not showing his redbreast to best advantage.
Usually if I try to sneak to the window to take a photo the birds see me moving and fly off but today I managed to get there very slowly and captured this robin and blue tit, though the robin is skulking in the shadows of the fir ready to flee and not showing his redbreast to best advantage.
vrijdag 1 januari 2010
Zomer Feest
The traditional Zomer family Hogmanay party in the Bar Upstairs. 
Katie had put ringlets in her hair to complete her Japanese Lolita outfit. She looked like one of Anita's porcelein dolls.
Surprise, surprise, the one-eyed Rottweiler has been taken in permanently... So she'll be one of my future lodgerdogs.
One of the neighbours across the road had spent a small fortune on Belgian fireworks.
Katie had put ringlets in her hair to complete her Japanese Lolita outfit. She looked like one of Anita's porcelein dolls.
Surprise, surprise, the one-eyed Rottweiler has been taken in permanently... So she'll be one of my future lodgerdogs.
One of the neighbours across the road had spent a small fortune on Belgian fireworks.
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