zaterdag 30 mei 2009

Honeymoon & bento-shopping?

Well, we came back from our honeymoon last night (Friday), and yes, I went bento-shopping...

We left Monday for Paris, where we arrived around 12.30. We checked in to the hotel, dropped our stuff in the room and went to get something to eat. We walked around a bit, and decided to hit the Champs-Elysees, for the Disney store. We walked around for the rest of the day, and ended up in the Quartier Latin, around the university of Sorbonne. We found a cosy restaurant and had a lovely meal, then went back to the hotel. We're actually quite boring, we don't go out normally, and didn;t go to any nightclubs or anything in Paris either.

Tuesday we wanted to go see the Musee National du Moyen Age (the museum of the Middle-Ages), but when we arrived, it turned out to be closed on Tuesdays. Hmm, bummer. We went for some coffee and a sit down to think about what to do, and ended up sitting next to a lightboard stating the current affairs in Paris. It turned out there was an exhibition on George Eiffel (yes, from the tower) in the Hotel de Ville, and it was free too! So, we decided to walk to the Notre Dame, took a look inside, and went to the Hotel de Ville. The exhibition was really cool, it showed some of the early projects the Eiffel company worked on, and a lot of stuff about the tower. It's 120 years after the Grand Opening, that was one of the reasons for the exhibition. The best thing was a series of photos taken with 15 day intervals of the building of the tower. It showed the progress over the entire build.
For lunch we went to the Japanese area nearby, and grabbed some great food. I had sushi, and we both had skewers with chicken, beef and cheese (which was pretty strange).
And then, the bento-shopping. I was tipped about Komikku, a manga store that sells bento stuff. I ended up buying foodpicks and a mini-steamer. Across the street there's a Japanese grocery store called Kioko, so that was the perfect occasion to get some furikake. I asked the lady in the store where they were, but then standing at the section realised that of course I can't read Japanese, and had no idea what to buy! I ended up with a pink package I figured would be salmon, a yellow one I'd have to ask about, and one with 5 different flavours with pictures on the package. The yellow one was egg, so I hadn't picked badly really!




My shopping done, we didn't really know what we wanted to do next. We walked around some more, and decided to check out the Marais, the neighbourhood where we were staying. It was really nice, lots of people, little shops (mainly touristy crap, but nice ones too), generally a good atmosphere. When we entered Les Halles, the big mall there, we found out there was a Q&A with Eric Cantona, a soccer-player turned actor. We checked it out and stayed for a while, but since Mr B doesn't understand French that well, and it was too fast for me too, we left after we found out mr Cantona wouldn't be doing a signing session. We did take some pictures of ourselves with him in the background...


We found a pub for dinner and had the worst meal I've ever had in france. I had "andouilette", which is chitterling. It wasn't that bad, but they put so much sauce on it it didn't taste like anything but the sauce. Mr B had spare ribs, but they were so dried out, you could have broken a window by throwing them. And the strangest thing about this meal? I added some salt to my fries, and they got LESS salty. I don't know what was in that pot, but it certainly wasn't salt!
This pub might have good beer (I don't know, I don't drink it), but it certainly doesn't have good food!

On our way back, we stopped at the local supermarket for some snacks and drinks, and then went to bed.

Wednesday was traveling and Disney day. We arrived at Disneyland around 11.30, checked into the hotel and went straight to the park. We both hadn't been to Disney in several years, so we did all the things you "have" to see.

"Sleeping Beauty's castle", "Peter Pan", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Indiana Jones", "Big Thunder Mountain", "Phantom Manor", "Space Mountain", "Buzz Lightyear's Laser blast"... Everything except Fantasyland, because we were coming back the next day anyway. We got tipped about having dinner at the Plaza Gardens Restaurant. An all you can eat buffet, but the we found the quality poor. Most foods were either fatty or sweet, and there were too little vegetables for our taste. The canneloni was good though, and so were the chicken wings. Too bad they ran out of jello before we went for desset, I just love the stuff. Hmm, I think I might make some tomorrow...
That night, we went to check out the shops. We're always on the lookout for nice Nightmare Before Christmas stuff, so we were quickly drooling over the nice NBC things... After a visit to the Arcarde we went for a swim. A very SHORT swim," as the water was just freezing, and we weren't allowed in the much warmer jaccuzi for some reason. So, within ten minutes we were having a shower and went to our room.

Thursday started us at Walt Disney Studios Park. We went to see "Stitch Live", which was awesome! Mr B is now officially "Crazy M", just escaped from Space Prison. Very nicely done, and really funny.
"Armageddon" was so-and-so, but "Art of Disney Animation" was really cool, and "Crush's Coaster was Awesome, totally! It was a loooong wait though, but worth it. After an hour or three we were kinda done in this park, and we went back to Disneyland. We did "Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast" again, that ride is so much fun! We also did "Star Tours", "It's a small world" (That song is SO annoying!) and "Pirates" again, before having a wonderful meal at the Blue Lagoon restaurant. It's really cool sitting right beside the water, and seeing the boats from the ride come through. The food is caribbean in style, not too spicy and really good! Nice prices too, but I'd have gone anyway.
We decided to do the shopping tonight, so we could repack in peace. We bought NBC bronze statues, salt & papper shakers, pyjamas (they have really cool t-shirts), a shirt, socks, earrings and a book. We went kinda crazy I guess...

Friday we went to Val d'Europe, the shopping mall nearby. We wanted to do some outlet shopping there, but apparently outlets are allergic to anything above a size 8... I wanted some lingerie, but you guessed it, everything was too small. But, I did find something. At the outlet center, there's a stationery store, that had some punches on sale. I bought a star and a flower shape, for 2 euros each (about $3).
Then we were underway home... We had dinner at the Gare du Nord, a rather nice hamburger meal, and then got on the Thalys for Amsterdam. We were in a compartment with a large group of kids aged around 16, and they were pretty noisy. It didn't bother me, but one of the other passengers blew up after asking them to quiet down a couple of times. She got thoroughly ignored, and I can imagine how annoyed she was. She shouldn't have yelled like she did, but I can understand her sentiments.
Around 0.30 we got home, after a very nice honeymoon. We've got a few days off still, and then normal life will start again...

donderdag 21 mei 2009

Our wedding day (watch out for LONG post!)

We're married!!!

Yesterday was absolutely fantastic!

We didn't spend the night together on Tuesday, I was at home, now-hubby was at his aunt's house. I had two of my best friends over, and we finished the last preparations, and watched both wedding Star Trek episodes (You are Cordially Invited - Deep Space Nine and Data's Day - The Next Generation). How geeky are we?
We also tried to hang a light fixture in the kitchen. It didn't work out as planned, we could choose between a working light that we had to hold, or a hanging light that didn't work. So we gave up and put the bare bulb back that was hanging there before.
Actually we had a great time!

I got up around 7.30, checked the weather (blue skies!)hung out the flag outside, had breakfast (two boiled eggs and orange juice... Very healthy. But I just forgot about eating more), walked around a bit and then started make sandwiches with one of the two friends, Christine. My family is all from pretty far away, so the sandwiches are a good way to make sure everyone actually gets something to eat. Around 9.45 my mother-in-law came in to do my hair and make-up. This actually took quite long, longer then we planned, due to the various distractions going on. Our master-of-ceremonies, hubby's aunt, came in around 10.15 with decorations, and two other friends joined us in the general hubbub around the house.
Around 11.00 I went upstairs to get dressed. The photographer arrived with more of our guest while I was getting into my gown. With a lace-up corset top, this took some planning, as none of the ladies present (Christine, mum-in-law and MoC) had ever really laced me up. Christine had helped me with my regular corset once, but that wasn't as delicate, you can really hang on the laces with that one. But, it all worked out fine, and I had nothing to do but wait.

At 11.45 hubby came to pick me up. He brought me a lovely bouquet of white hydrangea and a delicate blue flower that I can't remember the name of. He was also wearing his new glasses for the first time, just like me. That took some getting used to! But they look great on him, and he looked so handsome in his suit.
After saying hi to the people who were there, having something to eat ourselves and waiting for my mum and dad (my mum made a bento bag for me, I’ll post pics later, it’s awesome!), we went to take pictures. We took a walk around the village where we live, and took shots in the park and near the duck pond. Both are really close, and we came back at 13.00 to go to the city hall.

We had received a call to take the side entrance, but as that was closed, we just went round the front. The hall was packed! A lot of our friends had come to see us get married, and extra chairs were brought in. And we still had people standing!
The ceremony was lovely, with a big surprise for me! Hubby sang me a song, a Dutch version of Shakespeare's Sonnet no 130 (click for the original). It was, of course, very emotional, but soooo lovely.
Then the official part. We both said yes, of course, and were then officially man and wife. I was from that moment Mrs. B!

After the civil ceremony, we had a church ceremony to receive the blessing of God on our marriage. The ceremony was held in the chapel of an old cloister, which housed a community of nuins until about 15 years ago. It's been converted into two appartement, some offices and some meeting-rooms, but the chapel has held some of it's original purpose as an alternative wedding hall. You can have the civil ceremony there, but we chose to use it as a church. We had an oecumenical service, with most being done by the minister of the protestant church, and the readings (! Korinth 13 and a lovely poem) being read by the pastor of the Catholic Church. We also had a choir, called Sam Sam (sopranos, altos, men, twice)which I was a member of for 10 years before moving away to live with Mr B. It was wonderful! We had chosen songs that match our beliefs, and that were all about love, belonging, respect and how working together we can meet God in everyone.

After the official parts of the day were over, we went into the cloister garden for coffee, cookies and congratulations. Mr B's grandmother wa so proud! Mr B is her eldest grandchilsd, and the first to get married, and we were so happy she was there! An old friend of the family, who is like an extra grandmother too, was also very pleased to be there, and was beaming just as much as we were!

At 16.30 the car arrived that would take us to the party location. A lovely 1930 Chrysler in deep burgundy. We took pictures in front of the car with the family and our best people (the Dutch system lets you choose one or two people who act as "witnesses". They sign the wedding register at the civil ceremony, and are usually people you are very close to. Mine were my sister and Christine, Mr B's were his brother and one of his best friends), and left for the reception at 16.45.

And here's us! My father in law gave me his pics, so I can share this one with everyone :-)


The reception was really nice. So many people came to see us! It turned out to be extremely busy on the roads, so a lot of people came in later, but we had family, colleages, friends... So many people, so many good wishes, we felt truly blessed.
Dinner was supposed to start at 18.30, but there was a slight hitch and we started about half an hour later. Something always has to go wrong, but since this was the ONLY thing that did, that was fine. It gave us a chance to talk to some more people anyway.

When dinner did start, we enjoyed a buffet of fried rice, Indonesian noodles, vegetables, chicken with a very nice spicemix and satay, accompanied by prawn crackers. It tasted really good, and several people went back for seconds and thirds, which says enough about the reception of the food! We took the leftover satay home, which will be great to put in my bento's, as it's already cooked and tasted nice cold too ;-)

And then: the party! After dinner we went over to the room the reception had been in, which was now transformed into part dancefloor, part tables. The DJ was still setting up, but as people were just arriving it didn't bother us, he'd put on music as soon as he could and was just working on his lights. To make a long evening short: it was FAN-TAS-TIC! Evryone enjoyed themselves, whether they were dancing, talking or sitting ourside on the terrace. The atmosphere was so relaxed, it was great.
We started of with the cake, which consisted of 7 seperate cakes, M&M shaped, in the flavours Strawberry (red), Lemon (Yellow), Orange (well, orange, duh), Pistachio (green), Blueberry (it was actually purple, but who cares) and the most divine chocolate bavarois I have ever tasted. It was like having chocolate explode in you mouth. Every last crumb was gone, and I heard that a lot of people swapped bites to try all the flavours. Another resounding success!
After about an hour and a half I was convinced by some of the guests to "open the dancefloor" by singing loudly to "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf together with Mr B. He wasn't too keen, but we were joined by the others after about 10 seconds, do it wasn't that big a deal. Someone did tip the DJ about our dance lessons though, so we ended up doing a proper dance as well. The whole evening for me was dancing, singing extremely loudly with the music, laughing, just plain enjoying myself. Mr B's night was somewhat more quietly spent in talking to our guests, and the occasional foray onto the dancefloor, including being stood in the middle with everyone surrounding us singing "You'll Never Walk Alone".
We ended the evening with Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” after which I did a little speech thanking everyone for what they had done for us today. We were all offered coffee, and as most people were leaving mine was lukewarm by the time I remembered where it was ;-)… Then nothing was left but to go home, where our house was still in reasonably good shape (just a bit of a mess, nothing we can’t handle in the morning. We decided to open our presents and read all our cards, which took us quite a while! At 04.30 we literally fell into bed, and lapsed into a deep contented sleep as husband and wife.

I looked back today, and can honestly say I couldn’t have wishes for a better day. GREAT weather, even better people, what more can a couple getting married hope for?

vrijdag 15 mei 2009


Boven: Sla, wortel, omelet
Onder: courgette, gedroogde tomaat, champignon, sla
Links: pesto-tonijn


Muziek omelet!

Ik heb mijn oude ounches voor kaartenmaken te voorschijn gehaald, en voor nori werken ze prima! Het plakt niet, omdat het droog is, en je krijgt mooi gedefinieerde vormpjes. Ik ga nu op zoek naar meer punches, maar ik vind ze wel vrij duur. Toch maar op Marktplaats zoeken denk ik...

woensdag 13 mei 2009

Bento 13-05-09 + mini-reviews

Allereerst: mijn bento van vandaag


Links: champignons, tonijn en toast
Rechts: gele paprika, wortel, courgette, Ardenner boterhamworst


Close-up van de worst-figuurtjes

Mini-reviews!
Ik wil, als ik iets nieuws heb gekocht en gebrue toevoegen over wat ik ervan vond. Altijd handig als je zelf op zoek bent naar iets leuks of lekkers maar niet zomaak wat wil kopen, toch?

Fruit flakes: Bij de supermarkt vond ik deze snackzakjes met geconcentreerd fruit omhuld met yoghurt-coating. Ik verwachtte eigenlijk gedroogd fruit, dus de smaak was minder intens dan ik hoopte. De textuur was een beetje als hele dichte winegum.
Ik vond het uiteindelijk wel erg lekker, maar dan vooral de framboos. De smaak was wat uitgesprokener dan de zwarte bes. De coating was het soort coating dat je ook wel ziet op mueslirepen, vrij standaard.
De verpakking bevat 5 portiezakjes, met ieder een handjevol fruitstukjes. Zoals gebruikelijk zit er meer lucht dan snoep in...

Score: 7 uit 10.

Snijvormpjes: Bij de actionshop heb ik een doosje klei met vormpjes gekocht. Het doosje kostte het grandioze bedrag van 89 cent, inclusief klei...
Er zitten 6 vormpjes in: hart, ster, olifant, zwaan, vlinder en een of andere vorm met drie ronde uitstulpingen. Heeft dit een naam? Geen idee.
Ik was bang dat het plastic te dun zou zijn voor het snijden van groenten, maar zoals je hebt kunnen zien aan de bento van de 12e, was dat geen probleem. Vandaag heb ik de ander 4 vormpjes gebruikt, en ook die doen het prima. Nadeel is dat de zwaan een erg slanke hals heeft, waardoor er onthoofde zwanen overblijven, en er een opening tussen de hals en borst van het lieve beest zit, waardoor er restjes eten in blijven zitten. Ik vind de zwaan ook niet zo mooi uitgevallen, maar dat is smaak.
De olifant vind ik echt geweldig, mooi gestileerd, maar wel duidelijk.

Score: 8 uit 10, als ik zeker had geweten dat ze in de afwasmachine mochten was het een 9 geweest.

dinsdag 12 mei 2009

Bento 12 mei

Vanochtend heb ik mijn trouwjurk opgehaald!
Samen met Liesbeth, de ceremoniemeester, heb ik in Alkmaar mijn jurk opgehaald. Liesbeth heeft hem meegenomen en komt hem volgende week de avond ervoor brengen.
Spannend!
We moeten nog wel een aantal dingen regelen, puntjes op de i werk, dus nog een paar dagen heeeel druk en dan is eht voorbij... *snif*

Maar naar belangrijkere dingen: eten!
Mijn bento van vandaag:

salade van rode en gele paprika met courgette en sesamzaad, sate-gehaktballetjes, olijven, ketchup en fruit flakes.

De balletjes zijn echt lekker geworden!
Je neemt een pond gehakt, voegt een ei, twee flinke lepels pindakaas, een scheut sojasaus en evt. gemalen knoflook toe, flink kneden, balletjes draaien en bakken in de pan!
Ik heb ze nu in een bakje in de diepvries gedaan na het bakken, dan blijven ze lang goed en kan er steeds een paar meenemen.

Wat ben ik blij dat we sinds kort een tweede diepvries hebben, nu hoef ik niet alles meer in een klein hokje te proppen!

maandag 11 mei 2009

Bento 11 mei

Vandaag niet alleen een bento, ook een recept!

Eerst mijn trommel van vandaag:

Onder: wortel, paprika, champignons, sla
Boven: 2x2 plakjes ham-olijf cake (zie hieronder), sla
Rechts: olijven


Dankzij het forum van "adventures in bentomaking" kwam ik bij het blog van een van de leden uit, ktycat, die een heerlijk recept voor ham-olijven cake op haar blog had staan.
Hieronder de NL versie voor de mensen wiens Frans niet geweldig is, voor de fanaten de link naar haar blog (haar foto van de cake ziet er veel lekkerder uit dan de mijne):http://bentoblog.fr.nf/

Ingredienten:
3 eieren
150 g bloem
1 zakje gist
10 cl olijfolie
5 cl melk
150 g hamblokjes
100 g groene olijven
100 g geraspte kaas
zout, peper

Bereiding:

Verwarm de oven voor op 180°C. Klop de eieren in een kom, en voeg meel, gist en peper en zout toe. Voeg de olie en de melk toe. Zorg ervoor dat het een glad beslag wordt, de olie en de melk moeten niet zichtbaar zijn. Voeg de geraspte kaas, de hamblokjes en de in stukjes gesneden olijven toe.
Zet het geheel in een cakevorm 45 minuten in de oven.

Op de foto heb ik nog 50g extra kaas over de cake heen gestrooid. Dit geeft een lekkere extra bite. Naar eigen smaak kun je bijvoorbeeld Provencaalse of Italiaanse kruiden toevoegen, gedroogde tomaten of kun je kiezen voor een kaas met een uitgesproken smaak zoals geiten- of schapenkaas.
Als je ingredienten gaat toevoegen, kies dan liever niet voor hele natte spullen, omdat de cake dan gauw klef kan worden.

zondag 10 mei 2009

9 mei: Hoogeveen!

Gisteren, zaterdag, ben ik naar Hoogeveen geweest voor een promotie-event van de nieuwe Star Trek film. Omdat ik met het openbaar vervoer ging, en dus de hele dag weg was, heb ik een dubbele bento gemaakt, lunch en diner.


Salade!
Onder: sla, rode paprika, gele paprika, avocado met sesamzaad
Boven: sla, komkommer, gedrooge tomaat, champignons, geitenkaas
Rechts: olijven


Proteinedoosje: gerookte kip, ardenner boterhamworst, tonijn, fruit flakes (geconcentreerd fruit met yoghurt coating)


Toplaag: sla, "brilbeer"-omelet

vrijdag 8 mei 2009

Week 19

Poeh zeg, dan kom je terug van vakantie, en je bent er gewoon weer aan toe!

Mijn bento's van de afgelopen week:

Vrijdag 1 mei:

Komkommer, wortel, gele paprika salade, toast met eiersalade en tonijn in pesto, aardbeien, sesamkoekjes.

Zaterdag 2 mei:
Geen bento, wel een vrijgezellendag!
We zijn met 15 meiden spelletjes gaan doen en gaan eten, en 's avonds hebben we karaoke gedaan en Mamma Mia gekeken. HEt was echt super! Voor een uitgebreidere beschrijving:klik hier!

Zondag 3 mei:

een lunch en snack bento, met komkommer, wortel, rode peper salade met geitenkaas en dressing, stukjes gekookte worst ,aardbeien en chocoladekoekjes.
Deze bento ging mee naar Groningen, waar we bij de voorpremiere van de nieuweStar Trek film waren. Het was erg gezellig, met veel tevreden fans die de bioscoop uitliepen na afloop van de voorstelling.

Maandag 4 mei:

Mais, rode peper, geitenkaas met dressing.
Kleine bento, ik heb toch maar een boterham erbij gegeten, want het was eigenlijk te weinig voor mij.

Dinsdag 5 mei:
Geen bento, ik was zo laat opgestaan dat het niet meer ging.

Woensdag 6 mei:

Sushi en onigiri, komkommer, wortel, mais.

Hieronder een close up van de sushi:

Ik had tonijnsushi, sushi met gerookte kip en komkommer, onigiri met tonijn, en niet op deze foto, maar wel die hierboven, onigiri met kruidenmix.

donderdag 7 mei:

Sushi en onigiri, wortel, komkommer en champignons.

vrijdag 8 mei:
Vandaag heb ik vrij!
Geen bento vandaag, dat doe ik eigenlijk nooit als ik thuis ben, maar wel lekkere paprika's gekocht op de markt. Lekker paprikasoep maken dadelijk!
Verder ben ik de was aan het doen, ben ik naar de schoonheidsspecialiste geweest, komt zometeen de pastor nog langs om de laatste dingen te doen voor de bruiloft... Poeh zeg, het lijkt wel werk!