Flavours From The Past

09/28/21

I can’t really recollect what happened this day… will you all be able to make it? Not knowing the details of a day of my life?! 🤪 

As far as I can recall, I was actually not feeling fantastic, aching and having some very bad headaches throughout the day.

So between unpacking, laundry, Lake tending, showering etc. the day passed by.
Mike had went out and purchased supplies to make supper during my and Lakes nap, as Inge was working that day and we had no plans for the evening. He purchased what we’d have typically gotten some random day for a meal back when we lived in Europe.

Four, breaded and seasoned pork schnitzel €5.00

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Pre – chopped and seasoned potato’s €0.89

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Bagged lettuce, tomato’s and mozzarella €3.00

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Garlic baguette €0.50

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Mike also did most of the preparations for dinner ☺️💗 

Because he’d been bound to the house for most of the day, aside from him grocery buying expedition, he ‘needed’ to get out 🤪
Thus, meaning he wanted me, to go out with him too 🙄🤪
I suppose I should be flattered but really he just can not relax in a space… where I prefer to become a part of a space 🤪🙈
We opted to go to a nearby restaurant to grab a drink while Oma and Lake went for an evening bike ride.

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Since I still felt a bit under the weather, I ordered a mint tea and Mike got a hot chocolate.

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You probably know by now that I don’t advise tea drinking, but if you do it, the way they do mint tea with the actual leaves/stems, is rather a nice way to partake of the tepid, slightly confused water style drink 😉

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09/29/21

Oma Inge had the day off of work, and when that would occur, she’d urge us to make use of her grandmotherly abilities of babysitting 😉
Zevenaar was the town we decided to go explore for a little while, as well as begin some of the purchasing of items we desired to take back with us.

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We began with fries and ice cream. Knowing we’d be regretting it if we didn’t take every opportunity we had, to indulge in those two simple pleasures 😉🤪

As we wandered along the street, a sign for a men’s clothing shop that was having a closing down sale, caught Mikes eye 🤓
He entered in casual attire and left with a new suit and dress shirt in hand 😅

Unplanned and mostly unneeded, but the joy on his face while he tried on suits, was nearly worth the price tag 😜🙈

Oma paraded Lake around while we where out. Biking, walking, visiting neighbours etc. keeping him (and herself😉) ever entertained ☺️

Lake’s great Oma and Opa were over when we returned and Opa was quickly interested to learn which shop Mike had gotten his suit from, so he too could go shopping the sale 😉🙈
Such a different genre of men then I am accustomed to having grown up around 😂
Where the very idea of suit shopping would cause great unease 🤪

09/30/21

We three, along with John and Inge, drove to Utrecht to do some exploration. 

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A place in line was found outside of Broodje Mario.

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A restaurant that’s been around since 1977.
A ‘ Broodje Mario’ sandwich was ordered, being made up of cheese, salami, chorizo and a kind of coleslaw mix.
John said he would go and get the same thing when he was growing up near there.

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As the sandwich was shared, it didn’t do much to dent the hunger and not much farther along, some loempia’s were purchased and then a little further, a five guys burger 🤪 The two previous foods were much better than the burger 😬

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It wasn’t the nicest of days weather wise, being overcast and a bit windy, but we walked in and out of enough stores and down enough streets, to stay decently comfortable.

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We walked past the building John’s father had grown up in and it was interesting to see a couple of the places the generation(s) pre Mike, had experienced ☺️

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A drink and snack were gotten before we walked back to the vehicle and drove back in the direction of the house.

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I got another mint test, but as my unwell feeling had left, so had my enjoyment of said tea 🙈


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I snoozed a little during the drive to our next quick stop at John’s brothers office to say a quick hello, to combat the car sickness that taunts me all around Europe.

863F09D2-73D3-4501-9B82-C1F16B6C3C47Once we got back home, Inge mixed us up a salad for dinner and Mike went out to eat and watch a Vitesse soccer game with his cousin. He’d said I was welcome to go with them, but I respectfully declined 😜
Lake was tired from the day out, so he went to bed decently and I used that opportunity to chat with the sister back home 💗

Gaining – Both Weight & Elevation

Day 2 – July 24th, 2020

It was a fresh morning with some light sprinklings of rain as we left our Airbnb room and headed off to find breakfast.

We decided to take up our old habit of sharing one order of food, not even for the sake of prices but more so we can eat more flavours per day 🙈
Stopping one place, eating, moving on to the next and so on 😉👌🏻

‘Toast Culture’ had many good reviews and an appealing Instagram page so we were looking forward to it.
Though the service was good and the food fine, it wasn’t that burst of flavour we’d hoped for.
Having to generously salt and pepper the food and paying $17.00 for the one dish that was mainly a bowl of potatoes.
It was fine and we FELT good after eating the fresher style of meal apposed to some fried platter but it just didn’t impress us as hoped I suppose.

Since we weren’t really filled from that experience, I looked up cafes/bakeries nearby… the desire for a ‘coffee like’ drink ( since hot coffee lost its appeal over a month ago #pregnantproblems) was strong, I think due to the slightly chilly morning.

‘Chocorrant’ was found a moment away and we readily ordered their lemon meringue and crème brûlée croissants and a hazelnut coffee.

The croissants were delicious 🙌🏻🤤

Just like croissants we’d have eaten in Europe but with the added enjoyment of flavourful fillings, of two of our favourite things.
They made up for the breakfast bowl 😉

We could then begin our 4.5 hr drive to Jasper.
I succumbed to sleeping the first 2 hours away, pretty quickly.
Mike listened to another ‘Father Gilbert’ and said he actually didn’t mind it… he’s not usually big on audio books/radio dramas but having nothing to do but drive or talk to a sleeping wife, must have set the right tone 🤪

We paused for a bathroom/refreshment break at Starbucks in Hinton and that’s also when I pulled out ‘the butt pillow’ 😂
I borrowed it from my sister, (not as gross as it could unintentionally sound 🙈) who’d used it during their road trip from The States to Canada back when they moved.
It’s a gel type pillow that is meant to raise the sitting position for short people, so that the back of the user actually sits in the right spot on the vehicle seats.
It definitely helps 👌🏻

Compressions socks were also fought back on… not the easiest thing at any point in life but for sure not with a baby belly, in a vehicle, when the small person is up in your ribs. Mike may have been roped into sock putting on/removing during future wears 😜

Mountains finally began edging nearer but we didn’t see a single animal besides some fenced in Bison way back at the beginning of Alberta 😜

Personal size fruit cups that mumsie had sent with us were eaten…

I only had my little gold spoons from home to bring with and those, along with my silk pillowcase, made for a rather posh looking road trip moment I thought 😉😋

We detoured a couple minutes off our main route, stopping at Annette Lake, as I’d read it was a good one to do a little walking at if one desired and that was an accurate description.

With beautiful blue and turquoise waters, sunshine’s and mountains in the foreground, it made for a lovely ‘first stop’ and we wondered down the paved path alongside it for a little stretch.

 

We got to our hotel in Jasper not long after, ‘HI Jasper’.

A newly built hostel style complex and it was done so very nicely.
Clean simple lines, lots of windows, a nice dining/shared kitchen area if you needed and our room, though a little sterile, was clean and spacious 👍🏻

We rested there awhile, stretching our vehicle contorted bodies while searching for where we wanted to try going for supper.

We went to The Raven.

First that is 😜

The prices seemed high, which we pretty much expected but none of the meals really jumped out at us either.
By that point it felt awkward to leave as we’d already been served our waters, so we ordered what sounded like a very tasty Brie and baguette appetizer. Brie, rhubarb date chutney, candied pecans, garlic butter spread baguette and pickled grapes. It was very little but VERY flavour filled and tasty, if not actually filling 😜

We walked around town a little more, trying to decide if we should share another meal elsewhere, get snacks and head to the campsite where we’d be meeting friends for the evening or if we needed more food at all.
Turns out we did need more and it was found at ‘Alba’ 🤓

Mich got his ‘once a trip’ calamari order and I wanted gnocchi but decided to try the duck pasta instead, since I can neither cook nor easily order duck easily at home.

Both meals were very enjoyable 👌🏻
Mikes being crispy little strips with a zesty lemon garlic sauce instead of chewy rings and my pasta having a savoury, brown gravy type sauce.

We did not share meals that time and our stomachs protested due to that fact but not in an all together displeasing way 😜

Before leaving town we found a pop machine to fill up a reusable plastic bag boughten from a dollar store at home.
It worked perfectly as an ice pack, as was my intention but I wasn’t sure it would work as hoped 🤪

Standing, laying and walking don’t cause too much pain but sitting has proven to result in much upper back/rib pain for over the last month, so I’d been concerned about the icing options.

Leaving Jasper we headed to find the Lucerne Campground to meet up with our friends and family. We drove too far due to lack of cell reception for our google maps but by doing so we got to see the picturesque ‘Moose Lake’ ☺️

By the time we got to the campground, it wasn’t long until the sun starting retreating and we spent our evening around the campfire and under stretched out tarps, due to light smatterings of rain.
Suffering from smoke inhalation and enjoying the conversation until heading back to our hostel after midnight.

Which is probably one of the latest nights I’ve had during this whole pregnancy 🙈

The Sweet Taste Of Guilt

Saturday Nov 4th –

Snow had fallen throughout the night, so it was a fresh, clean palette that greeted my eyes that morning.

I impatiently waited for a fresh cup of java to brew, so I could gather strength to go into town with Mike, to try to scratch things off the fairly lengthy, ‘needed for house’ list 😏

 

 

There was a lot of looking and perusing and also finding out that picking cutting boards, can openers and garlic presses, is much harder than I would at first think…and also, most toasters are ugly 😜

There are limitless options for those items and a vast price range… so how does one even go about picking???

I’m even more grateful now, for the huge amount of kitchen stuff I already have from the shower/wedding presents 😬💕👌🏻

 

I did find this rug I really like and think it will go in the kitchen.

Continue reading “The Sweet Taste Of Guilt”

Fabrications

Monday Oct 16th –

We worked at the house all day and Mother joined us part way through as well, to do some caulking in the kitchen area, as that is a task neither Mike or I feel confident doing 😜

Much else was also worked on 😏

It’s so close to being done, that I truly want to keep this last bit as much of a surprise as possible, so no more pictures or details of what is being completed house wise, until we are DONE ✅ 😁 🏡

Continue reading “Fabrications”

Adulting, Sensibly

Wednesday Oct 11th –

 

A trip was taken to the ‘big city’ and our first stop was ‘Jysk’, where I went about purchasing a couch.

 

Now, I know you are all thinking, ‘Hold up, she bought that red antique-ish couch I thought?!’.

She did, but in the excitement she didn’t measure it or really take into reflection that the comfort level was rather low and the cost to buy chalk paint rather high, as well as the risk levels 😬

It hurts deeply to say that no, I won’t be repainting it and yes, I’ll probably have to put it up for sale.

Being a sensible adult, isn’t the most fun thing I’ve ever done 💁🏻

 

I love it so much and I can just picture it now, in all of its turquoise/peacock-ish blue glory… but I can’t justify the risk for the cost/comfort.

RIP to my dream of having a jaw dropping statement piece of vintage furniture.

Maybe I would have been to vain about it so that’s why it couldn’t be 😜

Continue reading “Adulting, Sensibly”

A Happy Stomachs Heart

Sunday Oct 1st –

Breakfast by Bob and then off to church. 

It was communion service that evening at church, so we had been invited for lunch and to spend the afternoon with friends at the home of a lovely human, whose cooking  I haven’t gotten to enjoy for a looong time 😉👌🏻

Borscht soup and a ham, apple, cheese and pear butter sandwich filled my plate and my heart was very happy 😁🍴

 

 

Or would that be my stomach? My stomachs heart? 😜

Anyways, it was delicious and followed by the second choice of soup, lemon chicken rice and a caprese style sandwich 👌🏻

A leisurely afternoon of visiting followed until it was time to head back to church.

It’s always an uplifting evening and many share testimonies of what God has been doing in their lives 💕

Psalms 26:7 

That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Your wondrous deeds. Continue reading “A Happy Stomachs Heart”

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