old.evening

last day of 2015.  other than you made it to skating once again, it's pretty much a normally annual happening.  you skate to burn off more calories to make allowance for tonight's dinner.  you're not cooking, other than making a soup and a pudding. the cooking is your mil's department and as usual, she cooked up for a village while in reality you're just 5 adults and 2 kids.

 that being said, it's already less extravaganza than previous year...

 the food that she cooked up resembled your chinese new year eve's meal but that amuse you much as you know it's not cny yet.

dessert spread on the lighter side, a pandan chiffon cake made by your sil and a christmas stol pudding made by you inspired by tiramisu.  that put the stale kert stol (dutch christmas bread) in good use.
2015 comes and goes, you stop doing the self evaluation and nor you set new year resolution for yourself.  this year has been quite intense work and travel wise, but you feel the sense of accomplishment as you have His divine guidance on every step and decision you made.  you're thankful and blessed.

political.line

a vist to kunsthal rotterdam for keith haring's political line.  his arts are often untitled, bold, expressive and some provoking.  he expressed his discontentment about the society, his view on religion and materialism.  it's interesting browse despite of a crowded day.  you also spent sometime at the other exhibition on red revolution of russian industry revolution and end your visit sharing a piece of dutch apple pie at the kunsthal cafe.
that's your arty fix and sweet ending to a day out!

::ice.skating::

the greatest achievement or challenge that you finally accomplished today is stepped into an ice skating ring and pick up skating again.
you skate before, more than a decade, while you're not great you know the basic of skating and the last time you skate was in germany if you remember correctly.

needless to say, the skill has been unlearned, you're blessed to have a thoughtful nephew who stand by your side for the first 30 min while you warm up and trying to get back the sense of skating.  within 30 min, you're able to move slowly and independently along the wall, not before long you've the courage to cross the circle without your nephew standing by your side.

when the skating ring becomes too busy waith kids, you move to the oval ring, where it's more for speed skaters but open for public.

in short, you have great sense of achievement today.  you're so happy that you have the courage to pick up this sport and loving it.  you fall once but that's nothing compare to the number of rounds you completed and the amount of calories you burned.

festive.catch-up

since you're not going anyway during the festive period, you decided to host a festive gathering with your close friends.  some of them you only see once a year, so with this gathering, you're able to catch up with many of them living in the northern part of the country.

the prettiest pink cocktail that you've ever blend.  pomegranate juice with bubbles and ginger root beer

 afternoon tea with mostly your haul from parma or milan and curry puffs made by your friend.

 it's good to catch up over small bites and drink, with giggles and chatters...

 another batch of red velvet cupcakes you baked, trying to use up the cream cheese. you make sure the batter is only 3/4 of the cup case and result in a more even looking cupcakes...

 another haul from parma, it's leg of italian cooked ham. so easy to compose with root vegetables from friend's garden, a spring of rosemary and off to the oven 180c for 30 minutes and it's done.

 the dinner spread with some dishes made by you and other dishes bring along by friends....

it's merry and happy meal, the spread on the table is meant for the dutch other half who cannot take spicy food that you prepared for your friends.

 the highlight is really the sarawak or kuching laksa that most of your friends have asked for second helping

and dessert is the sexy dates pudding by your sexy talented artist friend. it's a tad too buttery to your liking but everyone else loved it.
it's a great day, you enjoyed yourself thoroughly even though you're hosting, with some preparation and clinical executing you still have the time to really mingle with your friends and everyone else.

::miro::

cobra museum is currently showcasing joan miro exhibition.  you seized the festive holidays seasons and went for a visit. you know miro's work from 2011 where you paid a visit to the foundation of joan miro in barcelona.  it's refreshing to pay a second visit to his creation in the dutch interpretation comparing to other dutch artist like appel karel. his work is always playful, while you missed those colorful sculpture that he created in barcelona, the paintings curated in cobra is quite abstract but playful too.

::oranje::room::

this is probably the most dutch-able boxing day ever. you have an appointment to visit the orange room which is currently open for visit before the dutch king moves in. to visit, you must first secure the tickets via online reservation.  it's twelve noon visit for your but you're almost too late to admit.  anyhow you made it to the guided tour and while the orange room is quite small, it's actually quite fascinating with all the paintings.
photography is not allowed but to get an idea of the orange room nor the surrounding of the huiz den bosch palace.  for the idea of the place, please follow this link

merry.christmas

 starting with a festive breakfast, swapping your oatmeal for pancake with pomegrante and pistachio

 you didn't go to the christmas service since you're hosting christmas dinner this year, and out of the 5 guests you invited, 2 didn't turn up due to sickness, so it's a comfortable and easy dinner for 5.

 you served some italian biscuits with some truffle dip

 and your party go to comfort snacks, prosciutto wrapped potato wedge and glazed with apple vinegar and maple syrup

 starter consits of pannetone toast with foie gras and grilled aubergine with pancetta, anchovies and grated parmesan cheese

 pickled radish in vinegar, some spices and turmeric powder

 roasted purple brussel sprouts and radish

 confit du carnard parmentier

 pannetone pudding

and limoncello to end the meal
merry christmas everyone!

;::project::cupcakes:

 chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache

 and the names of God is written on the cupcakes

 mini christmus fruit (cup)cakes, with white chocolate ganache and candied peel as decoration

 red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle of mint (green) or lavender (purple) sugar

carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle of chopped pistachio nuts

you baked 80 cupcakes in 3 days, of which you have to supply 60 cupcakes to an outreach dinner that organised by your church. it's a bit stressful to cope with baking and working at the same time. but thanked God you manage to deliver them in time.  a pad to your own shoulder
now you can sit back and relax, it's almost christmas!

takumi

 you arrived just past 12 noon, yet the line already forming and you have to line up for 30 min before you finally get in

karage, gyoza and each of you a serving of noodles, this is best japanese ramen meal ever in europe, hands down!

happy winter solstice

it's the time of the year again, just 3 days before christmas, while in asia, this is mostly known as winter solstice. in fact from where you grew up, there's never a winter season but your mum still cooked up a pot of glutinous rice flour dumplings in white and pink, forcing you to eat at least one or drink a bowl.
many years later, now that you're here in europe, winter solstice become real to you, as it's also the day with shortest daylight in the year and also marking the official start of winter in dutch four season definition.
today you made a small portion of dumplings using mostly yam, yellow and purple sweet potatoes. a taiwanese recipe inspired by your recent trip to taipei where you had the best ever taro and sweet potato dumplings at jiufen.  you finally recreate the texture and you like it this way as no glutinous rice flour is used, only a bit of tapioca flour just enough to bind the dough together.
stay warm everyone in north hemisphere.

::shilla::

your friend recommends you to try korean at this restaurant located at the old town. you make a reservation and went there in the evening, but was a bit disappointed by the standard of the meal. the portion is not big but enough for the four of you, but the kimchi was extremely salty, imagine a korean restaurant cannot get the kimchi right. likewise the bulgogi, we're expecting it to be grilled but it's stir fried.
your conclusion is japanese meal is better in dusserdolf.

dusserdolf.christmas.market

some sights and scents of dusserdolf christmas market. it's nothing new as this place is almost like your annual pilgrimage.  the only exception is that this was the rather warm christmas market compared to past years.