Still dreaming..

Good morning,

Still dreaming of the delicious dessert we made for Chirstmas... a "kerstboomstam" or as de French say "buche de noël". The recipe came from http://www.ah.nl/allerhande/#/recepten/1021358/kerstboomstammetje/?rq=kerstboomstam in case you want to replicate!! Really easy to make and delicious...pity I won´t be able to make it at home since we have no freezer (or maybe better for my health?!)

This is how ours looked like

Saludos and have a nice weekend!

Irene

Christmas Eve/ Nochebuena

Good evening,

Ready for Christmas Eve? In Spain we celebrate this evening with a big dinner with family (the ones that are around, ejem, shout out for my brother in the Caribbean working on a cruise ship). 

Tomorrow, lunch to celebrate Christmas and afterwards siesta or a long walk... but everything is so delicious that you can´t pass it up! (what a luxury problem really).

How are you celebrating?

Feliz Navidad!

Irene

Weekend and almost Christmas!!

Good evening,

I want to wish you a peaceful weekend so you can all recharge your batteries from all the excitement, food, family meetings, presents, etc. that is coming up next week!!!

I will relax and hopefully if the weather is like the last two days (cross my fingers) we can go for a walk in the sun, oh yeah!

Saludos,

Irene

Weekend plans

Good evening,

Already thinking what you want to do this weekend? me too! Here are a couple of ideas:

Saturday 21st of December: Winter Warehouse Market at Amsterdam Roest, a huge warehouse with a special Christmas market edition. Free entrance, you will find gifts, crafts, music and food. Opening at 13.00 till 20.00 with an after party for the ones who can´t go home!

Sunday 22nd of December: Pure Wintermarkt at Frankendael park from 11.00 till 17.00. A good idea to do some grocery shopping and get some inspiration for all the Christmas cooking coming up.

Saludos,

Irene

From now on...

Good evening everybody,

I haven't been busy with Christmas presents, planning meals or even better, attending crazy Christmas parties.  I've been home resting and it seems I will be doing so for a while, sight! My mind is all there (though my boyfriend tends to defer) but my body isn't cooperating.

So I will get my inspiration for the blog from things I have close by (I am actually reading lots of magazines with great ideas for the holidays) and I keep my fingers crossed hoping my inspiration doesn't decide to have a Christmas break as everybody else.

Since I have lots of free time I wrote all my Christmas cards and posted them yesterday (yes, I did the walking myself and I am that old fashioned) Today I am finishing my last present but I am out of ideas for tomorrow, anyone?

Saludos,

Irene

Free entrance Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam

Good morning,

The Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, as part of the Illuminade walking route during the Amsterdam Light Festival, will be open from 17.00 till 22.00 for free starting the 12th of December and until the 5th of January.

Image from dehortus.nl

In de Hortus you will find light sculptures by Wouter Brave, Carla Monchen and Hagar Elazari & Liat Segal. 

Saludos,

Irene

Christmas at Keukenhof Castle

Good evening,

Starting tomorrow and until Sunday the 15th of December you can enjoy a wonderful Christmas fair on the grounds of Keukenhof Castle.

Located in Lisse you can walk around the Christmas stands, do some ice skating, listen to carols or warm up with some hot chocolate! There are special activities for children so you can bring your little ones.

You can get there by car or public transportation (there are busses departing from Leiden train station, for more information check their site)


Saludos,

Irene

Always happy...

Good evening,

I am always happy when I cook for a big group and 1. I can manage not to burn or under cook things and 2. people like what is on the menu.

This Sunday we had some family over for Sinterklaas game (everybody bought 3 presents for a small amount of money, then with dice we play a game where you can get the presents from the pile or steal them, give them away, etc. At the end you get 3 presents but if you are still not glad people are more than happy to exchange) and dinner. 

I cooked red prawn and mango curry from the chef Nigella Lawson (I had done it before so I knew it was really easy to make). This time with chicken, to stay within our budget! We also had a side salad and lots of sweets for dessert. 

Since I didn´t take any pictures, this is one from the site where you can find the recipe: 

Hope you have a good week!

Saludos,

Irene

And more events

Good evening,

Just before the weekend I wanted to let you know about another event going on in Amsterdam:


Amsterdam Light Festival, from the 6th of December till the 19th of January. A winter light festival that gives some much needed warmth to the city in this dark days. There is a water color boat route, illuminated buildings and bridges, and concerts. As part of the Amsterdam Light Festival you can find the Grachten Festival winter special! Hit the link for more information on location, tickets, etc.


Saludos,

Irene

So you think...

Good morning,

So you thought I was going to forget about Wednesday as usual, surprise! there is so much going on in town that I wanted to let you know what you can do this weekend already, both events on Sunday:

Pure Winter Markt at the Amstelpark from 11.00 till 17.00. Artisan products both Dutch and international. The entrance is on the Europaboulevard, in front of the A.J. Ernstraat.

Isn´t the flyer cute?

Image from  www.puremarkt.nl 

Aanother market, this one at the Museumplein. The Museum Market is from 12.00 to 18.00 and you can find art, design, things for the house, food, etc. Hopefully this time they will have more luck with the weather than last time (pouring rain).

Image from www.museummarket.nl

Saludos,

Irene

Christmas concerts coming up

Good evening,

Christmas is coming (ok, first Sinterklaas but that will be this Thursday and then he will go back to Spain until next year) and I really like carols so here is a round up of Christmas concerts in Amsterdam:

14th till the 22nd of December
Misa Criolla at the Nieuwe Liefde Church. Concert/mass starts at 16.00 and 20.30. You can expect a Latin American service, with Bolivian, Peruvian and Mexican music from the XVIIIth and XIXth century.

18th of December

Image from the site of the Muziekgebouw

Choir of the New College Oxford at the Muziekgebouw aan ´t IJ. Concert starts at 19.30 and you expect classic and modern carols from a choir that dates back to the XIVth century!

23th of December
Händel´s Messiah at the Concertgebouw. Concert starts at 20.00.

25th of December
Kerstmatinee at the Concertgebouw. Concert starts at 15.00 and has a more classical feel thanks to Wagner and R. Strauss. 

26th of December
Paradiso´s Kerstmatinee: Jesus is coming. Concert starts at 16.00. The Paradiso orchestra offers a more informal atmosphere with glühwein, humor, karaoke, etc. 

There is much more to do but that should give you an idea, right?

Saludos,

Irene

Weekend top 5

Good morning,

This weekend was busy but fun! At the kunstmarkt I didn´t sell a lot but that means I have lots of Christmas presents and Christmas cards ready to use. Have a look!

Tree decorations and some small boxes.

Christmas cards, home made soap with lavender essence, sachets filled with potpourri, etc.

The cake stand, on the other hand, did very well!! At the end we sold all the carrot cake and the butter cake with ginger. 

You can recognize my cupcake garland from this post and the chocolate cupcakes from this other one!!

Now I can focus on Christmas shopping and decorating the house in preparation of Sinterklaas.

Saludos,
Irene