Glossy

I'm REALLY behind on all the stories and all the action. It always happens when you have stuff to tell, so you wait to put it together in your head... and end up not talking about it. Ok, so good thing they invented cameras. I'll do a pictorial run through of last week and last weekend:



Saturday: Kayaking with the ladies


Sunday: Hike in the dunes with big Vito



Monday: in the Kitchen with chef Vito. He made yet another incredible Indonesian dish called Babi Pangang. SO GOOD! (Sauce made by him from scratch too!)



Tuesday: making carrot cake for the FIRST TIME in my LIFE!! It came out tasting like... carrot cake! Really!




Wednesday: Supah Faaaahhhbulous dinner with Alexis and friends at a snooty restaurant. Taking advantage of the Restaurant Week in AMSTERDAM!




Wohw... and we are only on Thursday!
Ta-ta darlings!

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In the Big Apple...

As we frolic here in green fields among the cows.....

Meanwhile... in NYC...

...there ain't no cows on the green fields of Bryant Park... (Photos thanks to my friend on location.)

Hmmm... personally I think that's how I like NYC... from a distance! NYC and I were having irreconcilable differences. NYC is HUGE, in your face, has ADD and always competes for attention. That did not sit well with me. I LIKE to be the center of attention! NYC and I just can't be in the same town together... there is no room for the both of us... but I'm glad to see the pictures and see NYC in its element.

And now... I present you with a snapshot of my commute to and from work back in NY:

The Staten Island Ferry! This is actually my favorite view of NYC... seeing it get smaller and disappear into the horizon...

I think NYC is like a big rich chocolate cake, it's more delicious when you admire it from a distance, rather then eating it and getting a stomach ache and never wanting to see another chocolate cake ever again in your life. But then again, I'm not really into deserts anyway.

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Lunchtime warrior - princess

There are a number of places to eat around work. There is Indonesian food, Turkish places, a supermarket type deal, and of course a Dutch sandwich shop.

The first time I went there I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich. The lady looked really lost and confused... she repeated: "Ham and cheese!???" while looking quizzically at me.

"Yeeees" I said. She went to go make my sandwich every so often turning back to give me disapproving glances.

Today I went back to the shop and decided to get a sandwich that was already mentioned on the Menu board so as to not confuse the staff... I ordered the sandwich (chicken breast) and asked for mustard. The lady said: "And butter right??" "No, no butter" I said. "You don't want any butter!??" "No, just the mustard" She gave me a suspicious look and made my sandwich.

Maybe next time I will just go and tell her to make WHATEVER SHE thinks would be best for me.

HA! No! who am I kidding, next time I go there I'm going to order some bacon, bree, pineapple and TUNA!!!! DROWNED IN HEINZ KETCHUP!!!! YEAH!!! THAT WILL SHOW HER WHO IS BOSS!!!

;)

I know, a bit rebel without a cause-ish, but just cuz I'm in Holland now, doesn't mean I should give up on the American dream of a house, a dog and a sandwich done how I WANT!

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I wanna see you dancin' dancin'

Now and then I like to do a bit of "Nostalgia" pieces... Today the super awesome Afic Simone!!!! Now when I was about 7 years old in 1985, I danced to this song every day (it was on a vinyl record at that time). But NOT just danced, I went NUTS!!! I'm talking about head spins and jumping of the dining room table...! Also I thought he was just SO absolutely cool with his super white teeth and those dance moves, check out the leg movements and the chair in the mouth spin! Listen to the very very end of the song, the very ending is very important. :)

Ahh those were the good ol' days... :) Now days, for 'fun' I just go to the office and send emails and stuff...

My parents incidentally approved this obsession, so maybe it's with their approval through Afric's fancy leg movements began my love of foreign and exotic lands ;) ...such as Holland... ;) ;)

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1 Week down!

The week went really well! I just have to really figure out my new schedule and when its best to do what activity. That however did not throw off my Thursday night lady's night!


Alexis and Face (Alexis calls her that so I can adopt it also for web purposes, though to italianize it, it should be La Faccia, but ok.)


Well miss Face cooked up an amaizing Southern breakfast for dinner! Hash brown with onions, southern omlette with cheddar cheese, tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms!!! I was in charge of the Mimosas, though the girls quickly switched over to harder artillery such as the Screwdrivers... What a great, great evening!

Friday evening I came home and Vito and I immediately got on our bikes and went over to a dinner at Danilo and Gioelli's house for an Italian dinner where yummyness such as mozarella salad and lazagna were served. For desert.... trio of amaizing ice creams (poached pears, strawberry and rasberry) were doing tango with home made mango mousse! YUM-O! (Thanks for the fraise Rach!)

This now is Saturday "morning", well it's 2pm but for our purposes it's morning as we just had breakfast...

Now, after Vito cleans the house and washes the windows etc etc we're going to a Jazz festival! wheeeeee! Ahhhhh...

Ps: just kidding mama zuli, I'm helping Vito to clean... really...

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the office

First day in the office rocked! Yeeeeah check out the gorgeous bouquet that was delivered for me literally ten minutes into my first day!! My super lovely headhunters sent it, can you believe it!??

And Big Chef Vito cooked me up a gran Bami dinner and dished out some desert as well.... ;) ice cream... Yummiheheheeeee

Working life... so far, so good!

Now I'm going to bed, I'm totally BEAT!

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I'm getting ready for starting work. How? By bringing out my outfits and putting my summer play clothes away... I also tried on my favorite Miss Sixty jeans and they actually fit!!! Wow.

And now here is a random yet exclusive inside look into Vito's parents' garden...

Ahh... to sit among the rainbow blossoms bathing in mid day sunlight... to sip the honey sweet ice tea... aaahhh... soon soon summer will be carried away...

note to self: buy that villa in the Caribbean

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Caffé a La Tinaja

Do you like drinking coffee? A nice delicious cup in the morning?? Or if it's hot and muggy a nice BIG cup of ICED coffee with a ton of sugar!??? I love it, the other day I used the blended to make a crushed ice cappuccino type thingi and thought that was a bit too much work...

Well these pictures show how they make coffee in a little village somewhere in the middle of Dominican Republic called La Tinaja. This town hardly shows up on a map even. This was taken by Jorge director or Nazarite Children's Missions on their last trip to DR. It's in a town just north of where the organization is helping to build homes and set up a school.



How they make coffee

Anyway how cool, why don't you guys do like Angelina and just sponsor a kid over there, or two!? http://www.nchild.org/sponsor.htm

Nazarite Children's Missions really do their stuff and every single donated dollar is accounted for. They literally give you a breakdown of where your donation goes and you can see an actual result! I know organizations like Unicef do tremendous amounts as well, but what motivates me is seeing that even a little bit can make a big difference.

See their blog I recently put some updates on it :)

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Fun in the sun!

The weekend was absolutely gorgeous! Starting Friday it was sunny and warm ending up as HOT by Sunday. Friday la mamma di Vito took me for a nice little (3.5 hours) ride around the nearest towns and lake. What a gorgeous, gorgeous bike ride! I love seeing dutch towns because it's always a mix of really old built houses and new architecture...

On the lake you could see a number of sailing schools practicing. Danielle, pay attention, this is where you're going to go for your lessons when you're here!
The beach was a ZOO all weekend...!!! I've never seen so many kids all at once in the same spot. If the population growth rate is dipping in the entire Europe please be sure to note that it is NOT dipping here in Holland. People are popping them out like hot cakes!! Or... pancakes!! Yes I know, not very respectful of the whole child baring process but there are just so many kids here. AND they're all PLATINUM blond!!!! How do the parents tell which one is whose??? I mean after a day at the beach where all the blond kids run around yell and scream the same way with their little pink and blue plastic buckets, how do you know which one to take home at the end of the day!??? Maybe it's a good idea to tag them. Actually would be kinda nice to have one of those self retractable leashes so at the end of the day you just press a button and the kid is just sucked back to your blanket. Yeah that would be useful.
Speaking of kids... Here is Big Bad Vito getting in touch with his childlike inner-self. We met up at the beach with Ranirio and Bernadetta to whom I was able to complain about how Vito is one scary dude who tells me what to do. They just confirmed that yes indeed that sounds like Vito and suggested I rename my blog "It's Scary all the time!" Well... Vito decided to soften his hard image just a bit and allow for some playful activities like ice cream licking. (P.S. I like Vito telling me what to do... sshhh don't tell anyone!)

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Ohh beeHaaaive...!!!

Or... "Don't let Ale and Vito out in public because they can't behave in the presence of gentle company".

Last weekend we went out for a leisurely afternoon with one of Vito's friends Barollo and his lovely French girlfriend Madellina.

After a few very elegant pints of Belgian beer we were all taking turns visiting the restroom...

scene: at the table Ale and Vito are having a loud conversation with hand gestures... Barollo comes back from the restroom and sits down next to Madellina.

B: What's going on? What did I miss?

M: They're fighting again...

Ale: OF COURSE IT WOULD BE ME!!!!

Vito: But I'm a GUY!

Ale: I'm a GIRL!!!!!

Vito: It would be me, I'm hotter!!!

Ale: WHAT!? NO WAY!!! I'm HOTTER!!

B: What are they fighting about this time??

M: Who gets to make out with Scarlett Johansen first.

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A: How do you say in Dutch "blood circulatory system"


V: Kata kata laka takatatka


A: Hmm... is there any other way to say that?


V: No... what's wrong with saying it this way?


A: I don't like the way it sounds, it just doesn't sound like it means blood circulatory system.

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Tira mi su and su and SU!

The tiramisu turned out tasting... yummy! Well my test subjects were Vito and his parents. We stopped by at his parents for a very lovely dinner featuring "Coq au Vin" which is chicken cooked in red wine, super french, and tasted delicious! After dinner the tiramisu came out and I kinda watched them for any signs of "bad tiramisu effects" but all said it tastes good!!! And had seconds... !!

I guess it's hard to mess up something that is made with lady finger cookies and sweet creamy filling. I do know exactly what to fix next time. For one, I thought I'd be able to BEAT skim milk into becoming whipped cream... That didn't work, even after the beating I gave it. Also I could also use a bit more alcohol, my tiramisu came out a bit virgin.

There is no stopping me now!!! Whats next!???? Maybe... carrot cake?

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