The Coolest Postcard on Earth

I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of what to write here folks, and I still have NINE more days to go.

I got a haircut.

AND A SOCK MONKEY POST CARD!

Kitty Wallhanging- in progress

In my horrifying stack of unfinished projects I have this little wall hanging. Which has really been in the unfinished projects far longer than I care to admit to. I put it on my 26 before 27 list so that I'd have some sort of goal. I got quite far with it initially and then got hung up on how I wanted to do the appliqué stitches. It's felt, so technically it would probably even be okay if I just let it be, but it didn't really look -finished- that way.

I decided to do a blanket stitch around the kitties. I've done quite a bit more stitching on it since I took these pictures, but I think I'm going to pull out the black and do it with one strand of floss instead of two. I did the maroon parts on the grey cat with a single strand of sewing thread and it's a lot less obtrusive. I want it to be visible but I feel like right now it's a little thicker than I want it.

Now since I posted about it, I'm hoping my dear faithful readers will occasionally say "Hey, how's that little kitty wall hanging of yours coming along?" Because then I -have- to finish it. I can't let you people down!

Luchtalarmen

This is a picture of a luchtalarm (an air raid siren). I marvel at the fact that I live in a place that actually -has- air raid sirens. I know that in some of the midwestern states they're used as tornado alarms and the such, but we didn't have them in Utah.

On the first Monday of the month at noon they test the sirens, and though they're now used as an emergency siren instead of an air raid warning, one of us will undoubtedly scream "THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!" If the siren goes off at any time besides noon on the first Monday, you are to go inside and close all the doors and windows and turn on the radio or television to find out what sort of ramp (disaster in English) you are facing and how to proceed. Luckily that hasn't happened since I've been here!

Speaking of disasters... The first time Martijn visited Utah, we were driving to my grandma's house and had to get on the interstate. As in many places you need to go up an onramp to get on the freeway, and so it was nicely labeled in big bold letters "RAMP." So this funny little voice exclaims "OH NO! We're headed for disaster!" I think my friend Liz and I are still to this day laughing about it.

No Bake Cookies

I was frantically trying to think of something to make for dessert tonight that wasn't the standby "go to the store and buy two random flavors of pudding." Since I don't feel that fabulous I also wanted it to be something FAST. So I was staring in the cupboard and it dawned on me that it's been -ages- since I made these babies:

No Bake Cookies

115g butter or margarine (this is the same as one stick in the US... I don't recommend using a whole stick of Dutch butter- your arteries will stop working immediately).
2 cups sugar*
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Before you start, line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil and set aside.

Melt the butter in a pan over low heat.

Add the sugar, cocoa, and milk.

Turn up the heat and bring to a rolling boil.

Let boil for two minutes and remove from the heat.

Add the oats, peanut butter, and vanilla and stir until the oats are all covered with the mixture and the peanut butter is melted in.

Quickly drop spoonfuls (you decide the size of your delicious cookies) onto the cookie sheets and let cool.

I suggest eating these with a very giant glass of milk.

*I am going to attempt a half batch at some point with Splenda, when I do I shall let people know of my results.

Menu Plan Monday- November 17, 2008

click the banner and "Menu Plan Monday" for more menu planning ideas

I have lots of carryovers from last week's plan partially because we weren't around and partially cause we had leftovers one night. I did make enough Crockpot BBQ Ribs for two nights in a row and the Chicken Chili wasn't bad. I might try kidney beans in it next time instead of white beans cause I think they have a more interesting flavor.

This week:

Pasta with Cauliflower and Aged Cheese- I made this tonight and it was good. I had no light for a photo so I'll try to take a picture of it tomorrow when I eat the leftovers for lunch.

Boeuf Stroganof (recipe is in Dutch)- It's Martijn's turn to cook in his weekly dinner "club." Strangely, his turn means I'm cooking.

Curry Sprouts- Still planning on making this one, I really liked it the first time we had it.

Gestoofd varkensvlees met kidney bonen-- Stewed pork with kidney beans. This is a carryover from last week.

Ham and Egg Quiche- I still have the mix for this, might as well use it!

Trekking through Zeeland

Today the weather ended up being okay enough that we could go do our geocache! It was in a nice area along the coast and I snagged a marble out of it and placed a little stuffed turtle inside.

We needed to do a little bit of calculating to find the final coordinate, and since there were no tables handy, Martijn made use of my back. I told him to never say I didn't do anything for him!

I seem to be coming down with something, so I slept a good part of the afternoon and felt a bit better afterwards. I think I'm going to lay low this week and hopefully I'll feel better in time for the Thanksgiving celebration that the North American Women's Club is doing on Saturday. I'm bringing the stuffing and the cranberry relish!

Here are some more pictures of our treks, and a sea urchin (it was dead)!

Zeeland

If you were to gauge how interesting my life is by the amount of traveling I've done in November, you might conclude that it is very interesting indeed. You would, of course, be wrong.

Martijn's folks booked a place in Zeeland for the weekend, and that's where we are now. It's not bad, but I don't find it to be as cozy as the bungalow we stayed at in Texel.

 

Zeeland is the south-westernmost province in The Netherlands and is made up of several islands and a strip of land that looks like it should really be in Belgium. Much of the province is below sea level and is actually reclaimed land. Wikipedia has a rather interesting article about the Delta Works which is the name of the projects built in the southwest of the country to protect it from flooding.

We did one geocache today and then took a nice walk along the beach. Afterwards, we headed to Goes to pick up my sister in law from the train station. If the weather holds out, we'll do another geocache tomorrow and then head home on Monday morning.