Spring time

The trees have blossomed, flowers fill the Saturday markets and it's hard to pass up the opportunity to decorate the apartment with tulips, roses, sunflowers, or some other pretty blooms for a mere five or so euros. After what seemed like a long winter, we're glad to be welcoming the longer daylight hours, less rain, and occasionally sitting outside to enjoy or drink or meal in the sun. We received the Jamie at Home cookbook from my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas, and after a leisurely day at our local Saturday market, Cessy cooked up a delicious roast from the book....it was a slow roasted leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic, roast vegetables and a delicious red wine vinegar and fresh mint gravy. Spring flowers and some spring lamb, a perfect combination.

My wishlist....

I'm dreaming of....

Roast pork with crackle and apple sauce, an outdoor barbie, hot bowl of laksa noodles, roast leg of lamb with lots of fresh rosemary and garlic, beef and guinness pie, stir fried lobster noodles with ginger, a huge plate of sashimi and sushi, bowl of Vietnamese beef pho, seafood hor fun, Peking duck, feshly shucked oysters with lime dressing and of course, my mum's cooking.

Just thought I'd share all the yummy foods and dishes that I'm craving from back home.

Football, football, football

It's that time of the year..... Champions League, UEFA Cup, English Premier League....and every other European league. It's non-stop soccer on the TV during the weekends and most weeknights. Cessy is in soccer heaven over here. He's away tonight at the PSV v Fiorentina match in Eindhoven. I guess we have adopted PSV as our Dutch team since we first lived in Eindhoven when we moved over here, which of course, is a no-no when I talk about it at work. My workplace is in Amsterdam and over there it's almost 100% Ajax. Anyway, it's nice to see Jason Culina doing well for PSV. Here are a few more Dutch soccer facts:
* Ruud van Nistlerooy started his soccer career with FC Den Bosch (yep, our home town) and he's from this region;
* Graeme Arnold made a name for himself in the Netherlands playing for Roda JC and NAC Breda;
* Pim Verbeek also played for Roda JC and NAC Breda;
* the furthest the Dutch team has reached in the World Cup was runners up in the final in 1974; and
* Being a good foreigner living in the Netherlands, Paul now owns the Johan Cruijff documentary.

My colleague was not very impressed when he talked about Johan Cruijff and I said 'Who's that?' I now know who he is and that he's like royalty over here.

A White Easter

Driving in snowstorms was not so fun and a little bit freaky but the upside is that the snow on the slopes in Austria, was plentiful, soft and powdery... so it was nice and comfortable for the occasional fall (not so ocassional in my case). We woke up on Good Friday to a beautiful view of the mountains and our car covered in snow. Got a few snaps from the chairlift of Paul skiing down the mountain....It's hard to tell in the photos, but the dot in the orange jacket is Paul. And the apres ski was fun with some gluhwein, beer and people singing cheesy German songs that people sing during Carnival.

Paris with friends

Photos from Cologne Christmas Market

Have pinched some photos taken by a friend from our trip to the Cologne Christmas Markets in December last year. The atmosphere was festive and we are fans of the gluhwein, hot dogs and gingerbread.

The last couple of weeks

It's Friday night and we're taking it easy at home with Greek takeaway and a few dvds. Ahhh...the lazy Friday nights when there are no plans..it's just deluxe.. It's been a busy couple of weeks. Paul's been travelling overseas every 1-2 weeks for work....sounds all very glamorous but it's also hard work with tight deadlines, long hours during the trips, high expectations of deliverables and early morning starts to catch flights. Having said all that, Paul does also enjoy being able to jet around Europe and I joined him on a trip to Milan two weeks ago and we had a long weekend there which was fun. My work has settled down since the craziness of December and January and the hours have become a lot more regular.

Oh yeah...we finally got our Dutch drivers' licences...unfortunately, it came at a cost....we had to hand in/exchange our Aussie licences in order to get the dutch ones (and they don't give you back the Aussie licences). But I can't complain because thankfully, we didn't have to go through any theory or practical exams...

Time to watch the dvd now and put the feet up on the couch....til next time.