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

Poor Wednesday

Good evening,

It seems that Wednesdays I forget about the blog... it is usually the day that I volunteer at the civic center and when I get home I am quite tired of standing around. 

If you have no plans for this weekend, maybe you want to check out the Amsterdam Art weekend with different venues and plenty of choices for everybody (think photos, paintings, sculptures, etc.)

On their website you have three routes you can follow if you don´t want to miss a thing! 

On a warmer note I have to say that it is snowing in Spain and over here I am getting quite used to the weather (or it has been warmer this last days?!) If you want to see some pictures of the snow, check this link http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2013/11/28/album/1385629751_100086.html#1385629751_100086_1385650832

Saludos,

Irene

Coming up...

Good evening,

This market is coming up and I will be there so please do come by! All information http://huisvandewijklydia.nl/_media/agenda/kunstmarkt_flyer_30_november_2013b.pdf 

There will also be a table from the cake baking group I volunteer for so it will be sweet :)

Saludos,

Irene

Weekend top 5

Good evening,

How was your weekend? this is my top 5:

1. Little girls birthdays can also be fun!
2. Going to the movies to watch the last Hunger Games film (though we seemed one of the oldest people at the theater).
3. Doing some much needed winter shopping (believe me, "winter coats" from Barcelona don´t work right now in Amsterdam).
4. Working on projects.
5. Reading

Have a good week!

Saludos,

Irene

The weekend is here

Good evening,

Now, you must be wondering what keeps me so busy? Apart from my volunteering activities I am making lots of hand made products for the creative market that will take place the 30th of November at the Huis van de wijk Lydia. As you can see I am using a Christmas theme:

It is around the corner so I need to speed up "production".

Saludos and have a lovely weekend!

Irene

IDFA and other things

Good evening,

On a side note, first mention of snow in the country!!! ok, wet snow, whatever that means, but for me it already feels like winter so I have no clue what to expect from January onwards...

Today and until the 1st of December is the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. 

You can see the films at several theaters in town like Pathé Tuschinski, Eye Filmmuseum or Het Ketelhuis. Ticket price is 10€ but you have several discounts, for example with the CJP card.

And on a more commercial note, there is a big sale from the underwear brand Hunkemöller that starts tomorrow till Saturday (up to 80% discount). Check it out!

Saludos,

Irene 

New week

Good evening,

As you know Sinterklaas is in the country, we went to see his arrival with our own eyes on Sunday. Now children will get an update about him every night with the Sinterklaasjournaal or the News of Sinterklaas (how cute is that!)

Today I baked chocolate cupcakes and they turned out delicious (if I may say so myself). Thanks to my friend from El Baul de Gretel for her tip on the recipe from this other blog Objetivo Cupcake perfecto. I used this recipe in case you want to try it at home, simple ingredients and instructions: http://www.objetivocupcake.com/2011/03/el-post-que-contiene-una-foto-que-hara.html   

Saludos,

Irene

Things to look forward to

Good evening,

Reading our neighborhood newspaper I found out several things to look forward to:

- Open air ice skate ring at the Leidseplein, opening the 15th of November.
- Open air ice skate ring at the Museumplein, opening the 29th of November.This is a big one, 1400m2!!!

You are now thinking, whoa! Irene is so well integrated in the Dutch culture that she can skate. No way, I find it very frightening, specially on natural ice, but I do love the atmosphere, the lights and drinking hot cocoa.

And last but not least, Sinterklaas is arriving to The Netherlands this Saturday! The intocht van Sinterklaas is the arrival by boat of Sinterklaas for the 75th time (the tradition says he arrives by boat from Madrid, where he lives the rest of the year) You can imagine how popular I am among Dutch children when I say I grew up close to Madrid.

For the ones who have no idea what to expect, here is a picture from the site mentioned above

Monday I will tell you more traditions related to Sinterklaas that I particularly like. For now, enjoy the weekend!!

Saludos,
Irene

Make it up!

Good morning,

I was thinking, what am I going to write about today after yesterday´s blank post!! 

There is an art market coming up at the social center where I volunteer (Huis van de wijk Lydia) so I need to start working on my projects:

- I have home made soap (does it ring a bell?).
- I am making Christmas cards (hope my taste matches the one of the Dutch).
- I have lots of paint chip cards, maybe I can do one of these projects http://www.brit.co/paint-chip-diy/? Ok, the easy ones.
- I also thought of perfume sachets (made with Christmas prints).
- And maybe some pins with felt.

Plus, we are also having a table with sweets (from the Tuesday baking group) In this case the money will go to the social center. Our carrot cake seems to be selling well, so maybe we can add something like cupcakes or something of that size.

Will post a reminder when the date comes, Saturday the 30th of November, so you can all come!

Saludos,

Irene 

Surprising...

Good evening,

Surprising...that it rains and that I can carry on whatever I am doing (as opposed to staying at home as my southern mentality told me to do not so long ago), that it´s 9 degrees Celsius and I find it to be nice weather (people, I moved from Barcelona where it´s 20 degrees Celsius as we speak), that I go to a work interview (yes, still looking for work) and half of the people working there are Spanish and even from my home town (what are the odds!), that I am looking forward for Sinterklaas (no Santa Claus or Three Kings in Holland but Sinterklaas the 5th of December), that I started a blog and keep up at it and that I am discovering new things about myself (creativity, volunteering, etc.)

Any surprises on your part?

Saludos,

Irene

Sint Maarten

Good evening,

Today is Sint Maarten! for those of you who don´t know this Dutch tradition it´s about the Saint who gave half of his cape to a beggar to keep him warm, though I am not sure how the lanterns come into play. 

This evening children will go from house to house with a lantern (usually with home made decorations) singing songs and getting sweets in exchange. It is not celebrated in all parts of the country but in Amsterdam you can go to the Vondelpark this evening: 

Picture from www.hetvondelpark.net 

Enjoy!!

Saludos,

Irene

Friday

Good evening,

It´s Friday!! What are your plans for the weekend? 

I would like to get to practice on my driving skills (but not in Amsterdam, crazy traffic here!) and relax maybe with a walk in the dunes close to Alkmaar.

Today I discovered this crazy store at the Albert Cuyp market where you can buy lots of things related to sewing and hand made projects...I could spend hours in there! The store is called Jan de Grote Kleinvakman and it is located on the Albert Cuypstraat 203a.

Think of something like this:

Picture from their website.

Saludos,

Irene

Delay

Good morning,

Sorry for the delay but I need to make time for the visitors (no complains here, I am more than glad to show them around!)

I said last Monday that we made soap at home, in case you are wondering we made it based on the recipe my mother learned at a workshop from The Modern Crafters, a store in Alcalá de Henares (Spain). 

The store is really cute, have a look! They sell candles, soap, tea and of course have very interesting workshops.

Picture from their blog.

Here you have the information for the workshops of November, in case you are around:

Saludos,

Irene 

Weekend top 5

Hello,

This is my weekend top 5:

1. Surprise family reunion (I love surprises and didn´t see this one coming!)
2. Catching up with old friends.
3. Enjoying some typical Castilian food (think lamb, potatoes, vegetables... hungry yet?)
4. Making home made soap.
5. And of course, working on my almost none existing tan.

Saludos,

Irene

Movember

Good morning,

The first day of November and that means Movember!!! 

This world wide initiative was started to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer. The idea is that you start the month clean shaven and grow a moustache (no beard or goatee!) for the whole month. I know some people might find it difficult, since they don´t have a lot of facial hair!

On the website you can find a lot of information on how to participate, raise money and awareness, etc.

Saludos,

Irene 

Sunday Market Amsterdam

Good morning,

I have another tip for this weekend, the Sunday Market Amsterdam at the Westergasfabriek.

From 12 to 18 expect to find live music, workshops and lots of original jewelry, fashion, bags, etc. If the weather is not that great, don´t worry! Part of the market will be inside at the Zuiveringshal West.

Saludos,

Irene

Coming up, museum night Amsterdam!

Good evening,

This Saturday (2nd of November) is Museum Night here in Amsterdam. 

50 museums are doing special shows, live music, art projects, workshops (cocktails, dancing with zombies, photo booths...), etc. from 7pm till 2am.

Tickets start at 17.95€ giving you access Saturday night to all locations and free public transport plus another day to one location of the list until the 31st of December, in case you don´t have time to see it all.

The official website recommends going to their facebook page if you are looking for information in English.

Hope you enjoy!

Saludos,

Irene

DYI birthday cards

Good evening,

No, I didn´t make these for my own birthday, it´s just that October is a very popular month :) I tried to keep them simple since the background print was busy. The part with the cute flags is actually a name tag for presents but I thought it was a cute reminder of the garlands you can hang up for children birthday parties.

So, what do you think of them?

Saludos,

Irene

No top 5 but great weekend

Good evening everybody!

Even with a storm heading our way (in case you haven´t heard we have hard wind today in Holland which is affecting traffic) I am happy to be sharing something sweet from this past weekend. 

I wanted to surprise my family back home because of my birthday and since they love sweets as much as I do (I had to get it from someone, right?) I thought it would be great to send them some cupcakes. So I got in touch with my school friend Maria who is, among other things, a great baker and has this lovely blog El Baúl de Gretel: she helped me pick the flavors and made sure they were delivered on time.

Now my only problem is that I didn´t get to try them myself! but I heard they were delicious as well as pretty, see for yourselves: 

Saludos,

Irene

Friday!

Good evening,

Today I wanted to share the easy garland I made to give the house a bit of birthday feeling. They are paper cupcakes on a string, you can combine different colors and sizes, it´s really easy! I wished mine were a bit more bright but these were the ones I had at home.

(as you can see it was very sunny here in Amsterdam yesterday)

Have a great weekend!

Irene

Good excuse

Good morning,

I don´t have to try hard to make an excuse for not posting yesterday, today is my birthday!!!! good enough? I hope so...

The sun is shinning so I will head out to the Albert Cuyp market (for those of you who don´t know it, this market is close to the museumplein and the Heineken experience) I love going there because you can find lots of fresh fruit and veggies, bread, flowers, cheese, etc. And I will get some cake as well (as if you didn´t know me :)

As for the ones planning for the weekend I recommend 24H Noord an initiative to show what´s going on in each neighborhood, focused this time on the other side of the IJ river. 



Think of music, brunches, activities for kids, etc. Interested? check http://www.iamsterdam.com/en-GB/experience/what-to-do/whats-on/event-guide/october/24hnoord/programme




Saludos,

Irene

Tuesday baking day

Good evening!

I am finally home after a visit to the all famous Sweedish decoration store (man, I always buy more than planned :)

But what I wanted to show you are the cakes we baked this morning at the "Huis van de Wijk Lydia" (kind of a community center). We bake the cakes for free (ingridients are payd for) and they sell them at the bar to raise some money to keep the center going. The cake is carrot cake, yummy! and the price is affordable...we will probably be changing cakes so come along to try it while it´s there: Roelof Hartplein 2a  http://huisvandewijklydia.nl/contact/start

 

Don´t they look good? they are still missing the topping. Today we only baked two because of the fall holidays.

Saludos,

Irene

Weekend top 5

Good morning!

This is my top 5 of this last weekend:

1. Breakfast at home on Sunday with views of Amsterdam´s marathon!

2. Succesfully baking lasagna in not so new oven (it has crazy temperatures so everything takes longer to bake)

3. Relaxing due to being sick

4. Getting over being sick :)

5. Quick visit to the Van Gogh museum thanks to our "museumkaart" (it gives you access to almost 400 museums in Holland for a year, for only 49.95€) More information? visit http://www.museumkaart.nl/

What did you do?

Saludos,

Irene

Golden Laces - Amsterdam marathon

Good morning,

This weekend we will have the TCS Amsterdam marathon passing our house (on Sunday the 20th) so we are ready to cheer  the runners!!

If you are interested to know where they will go, check this link to know the route http://www.tcsamsterdammarathon.nl/files/2011/12/TCS-Amsterdam-Marathon-Parcours_2013_v2.pdf

Also, if you want to support cancer research at the VUmc Cancer Research Amsterdam you can buy your golden laces and wear them at the marathon (http://goldenlaces.alvarum.net/bestel). At the moment they have raised 4.506€!!

Other plans for the weekend?

Enjoy!

Saludos,

Irene

Hello sunshine!

Good morning (still with Spanish rythm as you can see),

Yesterday I finished my first fall project, a fall leaf garland, loosely based on this one http://liagriffith.com/make-this-paper-leaf-wreath-garland-for-fall/ from the blogger Lia Griffith.

I printed her templates (they are free to download!) and then used my own paper with different motives. The birds I found at the same store as the paper and I couldn´t resist!

What do you think?

I feel in the mood for some more projects so I have decided to make some Birthday Cards!!

Saludos,

Irene

New location...

Welcome (again!),

We moved from http://fortheloveofamsterdamandotherthings.blog.com/sample-page/ 

After a good start but some positive reinforcement I have decided to continue my blog here and in English (hope the Spanish natives don´t get mad at me)

The week has started a bit rainy and sick (me, not the week) but I am positive it will change :)

Today I have started at the cake baking workshop and it was fun! we made carrot cake (very healthy and yummy) Next week I will remember to make pictures, to make you jealous.

Saludos,

Irene