Arti10 and restaurant De Dagvisser

Art by Hella Maas

My bank decided I must love art and sent me two free tickets to go and see the art fair Arti10 in The Hague. Fo more info. (also in English) 
click here.

We happily grabbed at the chance to go and decided to end the day at a fish restaurant in Scheveningen Harbour (for some, celebratory reason or other).

Arti10 was held in the old Fokker Airplane Terminal, consisted mostly out of modern art and we really enjoyed it. It reminded us of a smaller version of the 'Affordable Art Fair' in Amsterdam which we saw a year ago and are hoping to see again this year (click here).

Afterwards, we went to De Dagvisser or  'Fisher(man) of the day' for a relaxed meal. We'd been several times before, but this time there were less items on the menu (only 1 meat dish) and both of us thought that the food had improved.
We had not booked beforehand and were only able to get a table, because we went early. An hour later the place was full to the rim, which is always a good sign.

The waitress, kindly took a picture of us but she was also very busy,  hence the slightly shaky picture.

Celebration at beautiful location

Last Sunday, Eric and I went to a birthday party.
Birthday girl Wilna had invited her friends and entire family to join her and her husband for some food and drinks, at their beautiful 'home'.

This special family (mentioned above) played an important role in my life, when I was in Holland,  'studying' to become a goldsmith.
My own family lived in England at that time and Mary (who was at college with me) decided to take me under her wing, which meant that I spent many a weekend at her parents.
They took me in, became part of my life and it's always good to see them.

The party was a success.
Everything came together beautifully and, seemingly, without effort (How does she do that???).
From fine drinks, hmmmmm-cooked food and cakes to die for, to lovely company.
It was a warm, sunny evening and I decided to take some pictures of them and their amazing home (well...., more like a castle, really. With a tower and moat!).

birthday girl with cakes

gathering in the kitchen

A home with tower and moat

Fairy tale garden

Mini-Reunion at restaurant River Kwai

During our teens, my sister and I stayed at a boarding school/orphanage in The Hague.
There's no sad or sorry tale here. Fact is that our parents worked for Shell and there were no schools for us in the countries where they were sent to.

One can imagine, that being 'plonked' together in a huge house with a lot of (approx. 50) young teenagers can cause some weird and wonderful situations and every single one of us will have some tall stories to tell.
One of the good things that came out of this time, is that friendships were 'forged' which have turned out to be indestructible.

Having returned to Holland I decided to meet up with 3 of my 'Boarding shool buddies'
Some of us had not seen each other for almost 25 years and were a little nervous, but that didn't stop us wanting to catch up over a nice meal at restaurant River Kwai in Utrecht (which I strongly recommend to anyone who likes Thai food).

The evening turned out to be a huge success.
We may not have known exactly what had gone on in each other's lives, but our friendship, humor and way of talking to each other, felt like a warm, comfortable blanket.
It was as if we were the only ones in the restaurant. Stories were being re-told at the top of our voices, old photographs were looked at and loud laughter was flowing freely.

Boarding School Buddies

Animated story-telling

Hans + Alex with photo album

We met in Oman when we were 6

Very Tasty food and drink

As far as the Thai food restaurant's concerned, it was actually very good.
For Dutch info only, click here

The restaurant was chock-a-block.
There is a warm and welcoming atmosphere and it's at a fantastic location, on a canal, in Utrecht.
We had three different dishes: Crispy Fish with sweet & sour sauce, Red Beef Curry and a Thai Green Curry with chicken. As a side dish we had a yummy cucumber salad. All were excellent.

Before we went, we had read some reviews which mentioned that the service was slow and not very friendly.  I have to admit that the guys got a bit impatient having to ask for their Singha Lagers at least three times and we did have to order our food several times, before we got it but we were having too good a time to really notice or care.

10 Mile Run. The 26th 'Dam tot Dam loop'

Last week Eric and friends took part in the 'Dam to Dam run'. They're a great bunch of people and (most) meet up several times a week for training.

The 10 mile run from Amsterdam to Zaandam is a well known event. Many world famous runners take part in it and use it as a warm up for the next marathon.
I didn't run (no surprise there), but went to wave them off at the start and then hopped on the train to join up with Eric's mum and Henk to see them cross the finish line.

The team was sponsored by one of the team member's employer and they all looked very professional and 'snazzy'.

Group photo in front of 'Schreierstoren'

There was a happy, jovial buzz over Amsterdam. There were 2.700 teams in the 'business' part of the run.
The organisers had put a limit of 35.000 on the number of contestants but there were so many applications, that they'd sold out within two hours.

Hordes of runners, on their way to the start.

And once again there were tv camera's and press present on the ground and in the air.

4 balloons and a chopper (uh-oh)

We were standing by the side of the road, close to the finish. There were thousands of people cheering the contestants on and different types of loud music were blasting our ear drums.
There were people of all ages and sizes taking part. I admired them all.

Watching out for the red and grey T-shirts, we first recognised Ron and Sjors and then suddenly, there was Eric. I tried to take a picture of him, but he was too fast. Never mind, here is a happy, blurry Eric, just before he crossed the finish line.
Turned out, he ran faster this year than he had in the last 3 years!

arrival 'zippy'  Sjors

Eric at finish

Well done Lillian

Report to family

Everyone went home happy, satisfied and with a Medal.

Earring-Lovers

All the women in my family are real lovers of earrings.
We find it fun, to see which earrings go best with our outfits or, I'm ashamed to say, sometimes it's the other way round.
However, the undisputed champion of 'color-coordinated-earring-wear' is definitely my sister Marlies.
She 'manages' many, many special boxes with little drawers and compartments in which she keeps them all and, somehow, is able to find the ones which are at least 30 years old, but which are 'exactly right for the occasion'.
Not only do we love wearing them, but I love making them. No surprise then, what they'll be getting for Christmas, this year!
Here are a few I made last week. Click on the pictures for real detail.

(above) Sterling silver studs, with 'peacock' pearls and zircon in silver. The pearls are 1 cm. in diameter.

(above) Studs. Silver cup-shape discs with swirl, beautiful quality pearls and zircon in silver. The discs are 13 mm. in diameter.

(above) Clips. Sterling silver with pearl, zircon in silver and facetted, Labradorite drop. The Labradorite drops are of a high quality and reflect an amazing 'blue glow'. The pearls are 11 mm. long.

Restaurant Flamingo Paradise + family

One of my family's favorite restaurants is the Indonesian 'Flamingo Paradise' in Wassenaar.
Any excuse we can think of, and we're off for a visit to FP (as I've come to call it).
Yesterday's reason? A short visit from my lovely niece Natasha who lives in England but has just roamed around Zambia, looking after wild animals.
So there we were, with the relatives who still live in Holland.

Quite often, tourists visiting Holland, want to try an Indonesian speciality called 'rijsttafel' (translated into 'rice table'). The restaurant offers a wide choice of different rijsttafels but they always consist out of many, different, small dishes.

Looking at the pictures of the food, some of you may think that you've seen it all before, but I have to say that tasting it will make you realise why we like the place so much (that, and the fact that my mum says, "What's really nice is that the owner recognizes us and comes to our table for a nice chat, every time. Such a lovely man.")
The ambiance is warm and welcoming, the service is very friendly, the trees/flowers are real and people who like to smoke (not me) get a covered, open-fire-lit, comfortable outside area to relax in.
Here are some pictures of the food (and us).

part of a 'rijsttafel'

4 kinds of saté

very tasty chicken + cashew nuts dish

family

family/ambiance

'Pin Cushion Pearls'

Gold and pearl earrings. I have named these my 'pin cushion pearls'.