tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50824470308384680972023-11-15T06:44:39.268-08:00Katrina's blogAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-77475975440312396462014-09-09T09:11:00.002-07:002014-09-09T09:24:21.333-07:00Empty nest syndrome when I still have one little chick left...<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mmmm. I have been a professional, I have always had a job: since my first newspaper round at 13 before and after school. And Saturday and Sunday mornings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although some would look at me and say I don't have a job, and to be honest sometime I feel that I don't either - I have been running my own internet business, with lots of ups and downs due to the crisis. But hopefully things are back on the up again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, the point of today's blog was to help me work through some emotions that I suppose come with age and milestones. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am sitting here having been busy with visits from mum and sister, who are now back in the UK - and I am back at the desk working on my webshop. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The house feels and sound empty but there is one little chubster approaching her 6 month milestone, sleeping upstairs and all I can hear is my typing. And my old biddy dog Ramsay breathing. He turns 15 next week. He and I have an agreement that he must stay at least until 15. So far so good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Two things changed this school year. My third bubba is 4 and goes all day to school, and the kids no longer come home for lunch as the school now has a çontinurooster: they all stay at school from 8:25 until 2:30. My two oldest are already at school and enjoy spending the whole day there now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My 4 year old doesn't have to legally go to school here in the Netherlands but we send her nonetheless. And I come to the conclusion that although many parents have no choice but to send their kids to school at 4 due to work contraints, I don't feel I have that pressure as I work from home. So why is she going? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to say that I miss that little girl pottering around the house making mess as she walks, with My Little Ponies dripping from her hands as she walks over to the Duplo box and spills it all out, and then the Playmobil. I miss her demands for "cheese/peanut butter/chocolate paste sandwich", her surprise kisses. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It makes the feeling all the worse when I can hear the school kids playing outside as we live across from the school! Is it really doing her any good to be in fulltime school so young? I know that she needs to stimulation that school gives her, and that she loves being around others her own age. But we have them all for ourselves for such a short period of time, will another 6 months at home really make a difference? I reallywish the school could be fleixible in the first year so that a child could attend school only for a few days a week if the parents felt that would be beneficial. I have at least negotiated her staying at home on Fridays but "only until the Herfstvakantie"..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have at the moment a real feeling of loss, that her and I have been at home together for our first 3 years in this country: and now that period is over. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope that this is just a phase and it is a adjustment that I will eventually relish and that I will get used to just one bubba at home. But I have to say that walking my baby and Ramsay in the forest just isn't the same without the little girl running next to me with her green bucket filling it with acorns, leaves and dead beetles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although it is such hard work lots of the time, enjoy your toddlers while you have them, breath in their smell, and let their lust for life pick you up out of that bad mood - before their school career takes them away to different places. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is time to pick them all up: roll on a house full of kids!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remind of this when I am pulling my hair out by this evening....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PS. Afspreken ended up at my house so I had an extra 2 girls and 1 extra boy. If you have 4 kids at home, you might as well have 7...</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-69179979873706180052014-03-10T10:42:00.001-07:002014-03-10T10:42:43.325-07:00Whole wheat carrot cake - low sugar<div>
My youngest daughter has a smelly but much loved rabbit who goes everywhere with us. Today she wanted to bake a carrot cake for her rabbit. We had much fun and it was an easy recipe for her, she especially loves recipes with 4 eggs as her speciality is breaking the eggs into the mixture.<br />
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I needed less sugar than the recipe used: okay, it uses apple sauce and honey but they are both essentially sugar! I added slghtly more oil as missing out on the sauce and honey means it would be less moist. You could also add carrots...</div>
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<a href="http://www.food.com/recipe/the-fantabulous-whole-wheat-carrot-cake-109547" target="_blank">http://www.food.com/recipe/the-fantabulous-whole-wheat-carrot-cake-109547</a><br />
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Carrot Cake<br />
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2 cups whole wheat flour
<br />1 teaspoon baking powder
<br />1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
<br />1 teaspoon salt
<br />2 teaspoons cinnamon</div>
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1/2 tsp of ginger<br />1 cup of oil</div>
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3/4 cup of brown sugar </div>
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4 eggs
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2 cups grated carrots
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1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)<br />
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You can make a simple powder sugar and water for some glaced icing or you could use cream cheese and powdered sugar for the traditional topping. Both are out of bounds for me just now so I had a squirt of cream instead! No sugar, but yes fatty.<br />
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Directions:
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Grease and line your baking tin(s)<br />
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1Combine the dry ingredients.
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2Add oil and eggs; mix well.
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3Stir in the sugar and carrots (and walnuts, if adding)
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4Bake in two greased and lined 9-inch cake tins for 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees (or a large square tin)
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5Cool for several minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.<br />
6 EAT! (or add frosting/icing then eat)<br />
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Overall a nice easy cake, would benefit from some icing of frosting though in my opinion! The chocolate cookie loving boy did not like the cake, but he doesn't like cinnamon. The two "I love all cakes and biscuits"daughters loved it. I did not tell the eldest that there were carrots in it and she hasn't noticed.....<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-21574358034235707712014-03-04T10:05:00.000-08:002014-03-04T10:05:00.941-08:00Yummy whole wheat, low sugar cupcakes by ninerbakes
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<a href="http://www.ninerbakes.com/2013/05/31/healthy-absolutely-yummy-tasting-vanilla-cupcakes/" target="_blank">www.ninerbakes.com/2013/05/31/healthy-absolutely-yummy-tasting-vanilla-cupcakes/</a></div>
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I had and still have massive cravings for Victoria Sandwich cake, which I cannot have under my current diet. I could have one small piece, but I can't stop at one small piece.So I had to find a recipe that fulfilled my need for cake which will not blow my sugar count.</div>
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These cupcakes/fairy cakes using whole wheat flour and hardly any sugar - and they are still yummy and they are HUGE!!!!!</div>
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<li><strong>Prep Time</strong> 10 minutes</li>
<li><strong>Baking Time</strong> 14-18 minutes</li>
<li><strong>Difficulty</strong> Easy</li>
<li><label for="set_servings"><strong>Servings</strong> <input id="set_servings" name="servings" type="text" value="12-15" /></label></li>
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Easier if you have an American cup measurement cup:<br />
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<li>1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour</li>
<li>1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder</li>
<li>1/2 teaspoon baking soda</li>
<li>1/2 teaspoon salt</li>
<li>2 eggs</li>
<li>3/4 cup raw cane sugar</li>
<li>2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or vanilla sugar<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IDLJCW/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005IDLJCW&linkCode=as2&tag=wechooseorgan-20"><br /></a></li>
<li>1/2 cup vegetable oil</li>
<li>1/2 cup milk</li>
<li>Frosting of your choice! Or make butterfly cakes by cutting the top of an squirting some cream on top or making your own whipped cream, slice the top of the cake in two and replace on the cream to form wings.</li>
<li>You can also cut cake in half, spread on some jam and some cream and replace the top of the cake and have mini Victoria Sandwich cakes! </li>
<li>Is als</li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-28500063646104582542014-02-12T01:26:00.001-08:002014-02-12T01:26:35.764-08:00Choc chip cookie that is low sugar and low GI but still tastes good??<div style="font-weight: bold;">
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Looking for a low sugar, healthy cookie that doesn't taste healthy?</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This is a yummy chocolate chip cookie recipe that I have found which I actually reduce the sugar down to 1/4 cup in total and the kids haven't really noticed. You can of course taste that there is less sugar but the choc chips make up for that loss in sweetness. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In one version I also added a teaspoon on ginger and nutmeg, which I liked but I think it could have done with more ginger - but the kids preferred the non ginger versions. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> I am now going to go looking for a wholemeal low sugar Victoria sandwich cake and see if I can be successful!! </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 130%;"> <a href="http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies/" target="_blank">http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 130%;">Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies</span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://sites.google.com/site/twopeasandtheirpodrecipes/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies"><span style="color: #3333ff;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></a></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://sites.google.com/site/twopeasandtheirpodrecipes/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies"><span style="color: #3333ff;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></a></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1/2 tsp baking soda</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1/2 tsp baking powder</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1/2 tsp salt</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1/4 cup dark brown sugar</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1/4 cup granulated sugar</span></span></div>
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</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1 egg</span></span></div>
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</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence or you can use vanilla sugar </span></span></div>
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</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1 tablespoon milk</span></span></div>
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</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1 cup rolled oats</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chopped up bar of dark chocolate</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"><em><span style="color: black;"> </span></em></span></span></div>
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</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (170/180 celsius)</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">- Using a mixer, cream the sugars with the softened butter for about two minutes.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">- Add in the egg, vanilla, and milk. Mix until smooth.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.</span></span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">-
Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, with the mixer
on low. Mix just until flour disappears. Don’t over mix.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">- Stir in the oats and chocolate chips by hand.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 100%;">-
Form rounded cookie dough balls, using about 1 tablespoon of dough. Place dough
balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I flatten the balls slightly too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: &amp;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">-
Bake cookies for 11-12minutes or until lightly golden around the edges.
Let cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes to set up.
Then move to a cooking rack. Makes around 2 dozen cookies.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: &amp;"><span style="font-size: 100%;">They keep for a few days in a tight tin. But they may not last that long, I usually end up making two or three batches each week, as cookie obsessed son prefers these ones to the full sugar versions from the supermarket!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: &amp;"><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-54501383426579843302014-02-10T06:03:00.004-08:002014-02-10T06:06:51.975-08:004 weeks of low carbs and low sugarI just wanted to update on life "without" carbohydrates or sugar.<br />
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I say without but I mean of curse, different carbs and hardly any sugar. I have switched to low G.I - slow releasing carbs or food with no or low carbs in them. After the the new diet and checking my blood count three times a day - my blood sugars are great and can now go back to the midwife, leaving the gynaecologist and hopefully await a straight forward birth. <br />
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I thought I ate relatively heathily but actually I was fooling myself. There are of course plenty of unhealthy veggies out there and I can see now how much of the UK and US is sleepwalking to diabetes. <br />
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Cornflakes for breakfast are not great or brown toast and cheese - without checking the package to see if it is real brown bread; hardly any lunch and then a whopping great bog portion of white pasta for dinner and half a large packet of crisps in the evening whilst sitting on the sofa - having done no more exercise than running around after the three kids. <br />
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What I have learnt from living with (allbeit temporary) diabetes:<br />
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Check your brown bread! It may not really be brown! I now check that it is 'volkoren bloem'- wholegrain flour: proper brown; if you don't check, you may end up with white bread which is made a brown colour by adding burnt sugar!! That's what we were eating. Now we are not and the kids haven't even noticed the difference.<br />
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Volkoren/wholeweat/grain pasta is tastier than the white stuff and better for controlling blood sugar as it releases sugar more slowly than the white counterpart. I also need to eat less of it.<br />
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Eating more regularly throughout the day using wholegrain products fills me up so I am not a complete pig at dinner time! <br />
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Sugar is actually too sweet, and you really don't need it - or that much of it (duh!). I find a caffe latte now fine without sugar, and earl grey tea but I just can't get on with English strong milky tea and no sugar: so I have stopped drinking it. I suppose I could use an artificial sweetener but I happen to think a lump of sugar, even with diabetes is better than a chemical substitute; there is that plant derivative Stevia but long term trials have yet to be done and I don't know what effect it has on unborn children: so shall just live without either.<br />
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I make oatmeal, wholeweat cookies with dark choc chip with my eldest daughter every week and my cookie obsessed son prefers the ones made at home - even though they have a quarter of the sugar stated in the recipe. Hurray!<br />
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Check even things like peanut butter: price makes a difference for me but they was such a huge difference between the levels of carbs in the cheapest versus the next cheapest that I left the cheapest on the shelf this time. The cheapest had of course only 51% peanuts and the rest was oil and other stuff. The more peanuts in the fewer carbs (but more fat of course). <br />
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Mashing food that is a carbohydrate makes it release its sugars into your blood more quickly: so mashed potato is worse than boiled potatoes their skins on.<br />
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I can have a treat now and then. The longer I go without sugar laden foods or white carbs the less need them. I had one bar of a twirl bar last night: I didn't need any more. It was too sweet. That was the first bar of chocolate in 4 weeks.<br />
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That is not to say that I don't look at the tompouse in the cake counter; or crave a nice big piece of home-made Victoria sandwich cake. But I have quite a strong will and I know I should steer clear of them: unless there is a special occasion.<br />
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I feel less tired, without a doubt. I have more energy!<br />
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I am now at a higher risk of diabetes later in life so ought to stick to this diet after baby is here; I have found it pretty easy to rationalise this diet with ensuring a better outcome for baby but I don't know if I can out my own health first and stick to this long term. I hope so..<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-63485416837619595472014-01-14T09:50:00.002-08:002014-01-14T09:50:58.754-08:00When you thought you ate healthily but then get a shock...I am 31 weeks pregnant.<br />
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There is a fairly hands-off approach to pregnancy here in the Netherlands and that has at times worried me: only seeing the midwife once a month and then no urine checks and only two blood tests.<br />
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Anyway, that is how it is and I just go along with the flow; I am almost too busy with the other three to even notice that I am pregnant: although you can't fail to see that I am pregnant, as most people ask if I am due very soon and are shocked to hear I still have 9 weeks to go: and that's only if this one comes on time.<br />
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I had a routine check before Christmas and was told that as I was rhesus negative that I need to be checked for anti-bodies in my blood that would show up if baby was not rhesus negative: if baby is not negative then I need a shot of Anti-D to prevent any further complications with baby.<br />
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I rang the midwife to let them know that I had gone for the blood test just after Christmas as they had sent me another form to go and get my blood tested. That is when they told me that by 'blood sugar was on the high side' - I wasn't sure what this meant and she gave no further explanation. So I went and had the extra blood test the following morning at the hospital. After 2 hours my blood glucose was 8.0. That is on the high side. I went to the midwife to tell them the result: it needed to be under 7.8 and now I will be referred to a gynaecologist. <br />
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I was rung today after spending hours on the internet in the absence of any advice. Some say eat carbs, some say don't. There is sugar in everything! But the trouble is I am a vegetarian and already restrict my diet. I don't overeat, I don't like biscuits or chocolate. I do not eat much in the day but I always have a big dinner with plenty of carbohydrate in the evening. We eat a lot of dark green vegetables already and lentils and beans.<br />
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I immediately bought wholegrain products and took all the sugar out of my diet that I can. No more warm milk and cornflakes...<br />
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I had wholegrain bread and peanut butter for breakfast, a slice of sardines on toast for a snack and a bowl of home-made lentil and spinach soup - all low in carbs but I am now feeling knocked out, which rather unhelpfully is a sign of low or high blood sugar!<br />
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What I haven't had today is my hour walk. I had a 60 minute walk on Saturday and Sunday and I miss it today. My daughters came with me yesterday, but they were not keen again this morning..!<br />
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I looked back on my diet: although I have out on weight whilst pregnant I never really fluctuate and tend to eat sensibly -or so I thought. I eat plenty of veg, only brown bread - don't overdo it with sweet things.<br />
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Yet I am now diabetic whilst pregnant. I am seeing the specialist next week and having another echo to check the size of baby - babies with diabetic/gestational diabetic mothers can get too big for their gestation and this leads to the need to induce labour before 40 weeks or have a c-section.<br />
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Neither appeal to me so I am taking the diet seriously in the hope that my new mostly brown diet can keep my blood sugars low and I can keep intervention to a minimum...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-13554075708825187162013-11-29T07:16:00.003-08:002013-11-29T07:16:21.795-08:00Vork en Mes - low food miles restaurant in Hoofdorp, mostly veggie food and not expensive.<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vork en Mes </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Paviljoenlaan 1<br />Hoofddorp<br />Tel 023 5572963</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.vorkenmes.nl/" target="_blank">http://www.vorkenmes.nl/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My husband had his birthday yesterday and I wanted to surprise him with a slightly different lunch. We have three small children and don't get out that often! I am vegetarian and he isn't, but he likes vegetaraian food. Where we are in Breda there is no veggie restaurant unfortunately, so when i heard the follwing chef on the radio, my ears pricked up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I few weeks ago I was listening to Radio 1 in the car and heard a really interesting interview with Jon Karpathios, the owner of a restaurant in Hoofdorp.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, that isn't that spectacular in itself but I was heartened and interested in his thoughts regarding locally grown food and knowing where your meat is coming from - and being in touch with nature by eating only what is in season. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are all so used to seeing strawberries all year round, seeing our demand for all year veggies fulfilled by faraway places such as Peru or Kenya. I am never too sure whether that is good or not but what I do know is flying all those veggies around the world creates a large contribution surely to the increase in CO2.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It has to be better to eat locally, thinking of our food miles and keeping in touch with the seasons. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The menu is dictated by what is available in their gardens at the time. And they also work with local farms to provide their meat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The drive to the restaurant in straightforward - not far from Haarlem and not far at all from the motorway. The drive down a what looks like derelict plot only adds to the surpise as you appear in a carpark next to a lake and a park. The restaurant building is on the river and it has a wrap-around terrave where children and even your dog will be happy in the drier days. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We were welcomed, they were expecting us and we were given the menu. What an exciting list of winter vegetables! Joeri and I chose a few smaller dishes to share. We only had the vegetable dishes and there were actually only a few meat dishes. Also some pasta dishes but I was interested in what they were going to do with the veggies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WOW! How can anyone make just vegetables taste so good? We were not disappointed at all, one dish was a beautiful mixture of winter veggies: beatroot, parsnips, carrots - just delicious! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> We had:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The three dishes were enough for a lunch, but we of course followed the meal off with a desert: Joeri had awhite chocolate pannacotta, grapesoup and chocolate mousse and I had carrot cake with walnuts, yoghurt icecream and caramel sauce.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We finished off with a coffee and left very happy. I even received an email the day after asking if I had enjoyed my visit and if I had any further ideas to improve. How many restaurants do that?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had a lovely lunch, and I can imagine it is also a great place for dinner. Well done to Jon Karpathios whose concept is badly needed - we do need to think about where I food is coming from, we do need to be closer to nature and eat in season and there is no need that any of this needs to be expensive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also have the cookbook now, so we can practice at home. Although I doubt that we will get anywhere close to the fabulous tastes we had yesterday. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-4684223346179982312013-11-21T00:55:00.000-08:002013-11-21T07:55:37.297-08:00You can tell a lot about people by the sort of rubbish they throw away...<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have just dropped my youngest one off at peuterspeelzaal (playschool). Over the last few days more and more boxes have been accumulating around certain houses. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sofie and I walk past them today - today must be pick up day because there are mountains of boxes and other stuff outside of some people's houses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not uber green: I wish I could do more: I want to insulate our house because that is the first thing you should do - don't waste energy in the first place. We recycle, we re-use, we repair. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I stupidly thought after hearing for years within Nottingham City Council about how fantastic the Dutch are at biking everywhere that they are too environmentally minded. But I am slowly seeing that Dutch society is not that <i>green.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One indication: I am walking past houses and looking enviously at their rubbish. Almost all of it could be used again by someone with a screwdriver or someone that has little money or doesn't mind re-using. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I see a pink balance bike; I see the biggest box of coloured wooden bricks that I have ever seen; I see 6 black plastic garden chairs (OK, not that fashionable but if you have no garden chairs at all, they are better than nothing!), two lovely tapestry cushions, boxes of shoes, chest of drawers, boxes of books!! All scattered around different houses: so it wasn;t just one thoughtless family: it was all of them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were obviously items waiting to be collected that couldn't be repaired so I have less problem seeing them go to our district heating, removing what metal that can be recycled and then burning the rest to provide heat for a good part of Breda. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I moaned about it to the husband when I got back. He was unusually still home at 9am. He stated that don't be silly, they come round with a wagon and take what can be recycled or re-used first. No, they do not. I have seen this massacre happening before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same bin lorry that takes our weekly recycling and household rubbish away comes down the street </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">( or one very similar) and takes the 'rubbish'away.</span> The staff will pick up each of those items -re-usable, repairable or not - and will throw each one of them into the crusher where they will be crushed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not only a waste of money but also adding to the unneccessary pile of rubbish and creaping carbon footprint of all of us.Each thing that could be re-used or recycled that is thrown away, means that those are then not available for someone else or to be made into something else - which inevitably leads to more resource use. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So along with not doing enough to reduce energy waste/use here in our area (it may be the same elsewhere in the Netherlands), the local council seems not to be doing anything about encouraging re-use or discouraging throwing away reusable goods. The service to pick up items from your house is free, regardless of what you are throwing away.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happily at least I walked past some of those houses to pick my daughter up; the balance bike was gone, as were the tapestry cushions: someone was doing a little bit of re-using of their own it seems, well done!</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-24869147269111679602013-11-20T08:30:00.001-08:002013-11-20T08:30:06.055-08:00Veggie Alternatives Review<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I thought a review of the meat alternatives would be useful. This is the review of just sausage type foods from Albert Hein and Jumbo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Albert Hein:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vege hotdog type sausages:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Positive: states to boil but I find they become huge, to I prefer to fry them for a few minutes. They are versatile. They can be eaten just as a sausage, or put in a tomato pasta sauce or in a bun. They are quite tasty and not spicy so can easily be eaten by my kids. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Negative: there is a taste but they are not that tasty - but again, hotdogs aren't that flavoursome anyway, are they? If they become a staple in your weekly shopping, they can become boring after a while!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Albert Hein Bradworst: I also fry these sausages. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Positive:They are thicker than the hotdog. I find that they have much more flavour than the hotdog, so better for me than for the kids. They are versatile but can more easily be eaten as just a sausage with potatoes or in your weekend morning fry-up! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Negative: Their texture is a little strange, bit airy but the tatste is good. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jumbo - knakworst</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Type of hotdog, they look like a hotdog and have a good texture. But they have a strong flavour and because of that, my children do not like them. i don't mind them but because of their strong flavour they are better eaten alone and not in a sauce as they can't accompany a sauce as well as the plain veggie hotdogs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jumbo - frikandel: looks like a rough sausage! It isn't technically a sausage but sort of looks like one. The texture is more crumbly and it has a nice flavour, this is best eaten as its meat equivalent with chips! My kids don't like the texture but I do! Nice for occassionallly making frites-night more interesting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-88948156689787615502013-10-28T14:32:00.003-07:002013-10-28T14:32:44.933-07:00Sinterklaas and Black Piet<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Give me my soap-box.<br /><br />The pre Christmas tradtion here of "Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet" is causing at long last a bit of a storm. <br /><br />Sinterklaas himself is a lovely story and I enjoy my children having a part and believing it. However it is his Black 'helpers' that make me unformfortable. Many Dutch people take no offence (especially if they themselves are white) in a tradition of allowing a white Bishop (Saint Nicholas) to be served/followed by a large group of Black Piets. Many here see no irony (this land is supposed to be fair, equal and tolerant..) of ONLY white people being 'blacked up', wearing Black afros, bright red lipstick, gold earrings and white gloves. They follow and help Sint Niklaas prepare for his present giving evening on 5th Deceember. the helpers are called Black Piets - they say because they are going down the chimney. They look like the black and white minstrels. They are walking gollywogs. They are mimicing a slave figure from a bygone era.<br /><br />These terms and traditions were unacceptable to any race knowing anything about civil rights and the movement in the 50s, 60 and 70s that made us move forward. Still not far enough in lots of cases. <br /><br />If Black Piet here really has just gone down the chimney and is not a depiction of a slave - then take the afro wig off, wipe the black make up off and put a bit of soot on the face of any race that calls the Netherlands their home. Roll on seeing Piets with heritage from all over the world running around helping Sinterklaas with his very important duties on the evening of the 5th December. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><a href="http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/10/28/anouk-is-voor-het-aanpakken-van-de-zwarte-piet-traditie-zo-reageerden-facebookers-daarop/" target="_blank"> http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/10/28/anouk-is-voor-het-aanpakken-van-de-zwarte-piet-traditie-zo-reageerden-facebookers-daarop/</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-87348900839784595082013-10-21T06:49:00.001-07:002013-10-21T06:49:05.574-07:00herfstvakantie<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before children I used to wonder around not knowing or understanding what school holidays were, or when they were.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now we have school aged children I have the knowledge. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have my own internet based company so luckily I do not have to worry about leaving the house each morning to go to the office - the kitchen table is my office. This brings downsides of course as someone who rings my home phone wanting to speak to the Locker Winkel, may even hear a scream as I am in the middle to explaining that our 3 year old cannot have chocolate before lunch time, she disagrees loudly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, don't need to leave for the office so when the holidays come around I can mostly work around the kids for a few hours each day. They are at the age when they can play by themselves or with each other quite happily - or put a film on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The school day is much more complicated here. There is a lunch break, sometimes the kids are home for lunch in the week. Although it seems like a nice thing to do, it is often stressful: having to get back home, make lunch (we like to have something warm most days not sandwiches if I can help it) then eating lunch within the hour and then getting the kids all revved up again for a return to school. I don't think this break can help them concentrate at school. The plus side is that i know they have eaten well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before kids I didn't realise how stressful a school day here can be. Too-ing an fro-ing from school, then getting them to swiming lessons or guitar lessons or dance lessons. Plus then the negotiating over where they kids are playing straight after school, so warning - sometimes I might have an additional 3 boys at home with us. I already have 3 kids of my own! And then there are the days on a wednesday when the kids only half a day of school. I make pancakes on wednesdays. I have tried to make them in advance - only then to be surprised my having only the little one at home because the older two have gone somewhere else to play and eat!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is rare: it normally feels like I am the one having the children to play...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So actually, even though i have three young children, parents or non parents may think that I dread the school holidays. I don't. I look forward to them. No running back and forth to school (we do literally run as we live in the same street as school and we are always late..), no swimming lessons (only swimming fun), no arguments over guitar lessons or guitar homework. No afspreken (play dates) - just enjoying my own children, who can stay in their pyjamas ALL day if we have no plans, come to think of it - so can I - or at least I can stay in my joggers and wooly socks all day. This is when i relax, and the children also do what they want. If they want to watch 3 films back to back, they can. I don't mind. Not every day, we do try and leave the house occassionally..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But life for them is so busy during the school week, and life for mummy is too. So we all have to completely switch off, especially if it is only one week holiday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we are on our final day of holiday - an it was an extra day too. The go back to school tomorrow - a Tuesday. I am completely realxed despite having all the kids at home at times. I will reluctantly start the rushing around again tomorrow..making fruit boxes, packed lunches for some days and the rushing back and forth to school and the unexpected play dates....roll on Christmas holidays..! </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-79553968177590901412013-10-10T05:37:00.001-07:002013-10-10T05:37:08.397-07:00Maisdoorhof and pumpkin carving - Dongen<h1 class="title-header">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>‘t fazantje Dongen, Brabant</span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.fazantje-dongen.nl/" target="_blank">http://www.fazantje-dongen.nl/</a></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><br />We raced from school to Dongen, around 25 minutes away on the motorway. </span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">We had an invite to come with some friends to find our way through a corn maze and to also carve some pumkins. Nor I or the children had ever gone through a real maze nor had we ever carved pumkins. I thought I would never do this on my own, so I jumped at the chance to go. It sounded like a perfect Autumn afternoon out. </span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">The owners do not speak very good Dutch so you will have to rely on your Dutch. They were however friendly and welcoming. There aren't any snacks or drinks on site so bring some nibbles with you.</span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> The kids were given a list of letters that they had to find which made up a sentance in Dutch. They also had to look out for TV characters along the way. My kids are aged nearly 8, 6 and 3.5. They had a fantastic time racing around the maze and really tried to get as many letters as possible. Once they had found almost all the letters and could find no more, we found our way out of the maze. There are no markers to help you make your way out but the kids seemed to know exactly where they were going! </span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">After that we were able to pick 3 small pumkins and the lady told us how to get started. Getting the top of is tricky as the knives we were given had no grooves in them. However I did it for the kids and they then scooped out in the inside with a large spoon. Even the 3 year old managed quite a bit. We were then showed some ideas for carving - two of my kids wanted scary faces and the little one wanted windows and a door. To my amazement, since I had never done it before - the faces and windows looked good. I couldn't wait to get them on!</span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">We paid 2 euros per child for the maze and 5 euros for the pumpkin. They also had a huge selection of 'display'pumkins - those that you can put with the scary ones to make a nice display for the Autumn. </span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">After bath and just before bedtime we let the kids light their pumkin candles and they were amazed at how different they looked shining in the darkness. Well worth the drive and well worth the effort. I now feel that I could do this myself at home! </span></span></span></h1>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-24798077125564602942013-09-19T13:06:00.002-07:002013-09-19T13:06:23.222-07:00Am I too politically correct??<br />
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Ok, I have a very political background - studied politics, did local politics, loved every minute of it.<br />
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But that environment can remove a person from the real world - or can it? I am comfortable when I don't feel I have offended anyone, I so try and be 'politically correct', some people might call it.<br />
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In my political world, people in Nottingham were "local people", some were from "low income brackets/families"(poor?) or middle income brackets, middle income family - some were even high income earners (RICH!)<br />
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People in Nottingham were from different "ethnic groups", we had communtities of "ethnic minorities". Some people had an <i>Afro- Carribbean background</i>, people were <i>Black</i>. Some people were White, some had a Pakistani background.<br />
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Some people in Nottingham has a <i>disability. </i>A hearing imparement, or has a visual imparement.<br />
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Happily in Nottingham's mix was also a <i>Lesbian, Gay and Bi Sexual</i> community. You were a member of the <i>Gay</i> community.<br />
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So, in all walks of life there were what we thought were non offensive words to describe people that has a different background or had different physical or mental capabilities.<br />
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Imagine my shock horror on moving to what I thought was an open and liberal society, the Netherlands. Behind all this of course is a deep puritanical streak.Some of this language may offend people, and I do not mean to. I am just showing you how some cultures you may assume are way ahead in rights, are aactually way behind in terms of language.<br />
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One of my first horrors was that in this country there are still people -even in phrases- are still using the word for people of the Black community - Nig**r. THAT word is associated with the awful past and slavery and denegration or absence of himan rights for the Black community. It is nt a word that should be allowed in common language. My Dutch teacher even used a phrase "sat in a row like 9 little Nig**rs". When I asked her if that was really allowed, she said "yes, it is only a phrase and is not Rascist"!! I have also recently heard it even with some councillors here. You should know better.<br />
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Also - here, in Ulvenhout where I live there is a bike ride here for Charity - it is called the Spaci - Bike Ride, raising money for the Spastics Society. I am sure we in the UK stopped using that word years ago..rightly so.<br />
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Here if you have a disability (there are mostly"cared for" in Special Centres, so to be fair you don't see many disabled people around - especially not in a wheelchair). You are still described as 'handicapped'- also a word that in Britain was removed a very long time ago.<br />
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One of the other words which make my toes curl here and the LBG community seem not to be bothered by the word is 'Homo'. You are not Gay here, you are a Homo. The Homo community. It just sounds like something out of the 1950s...and should be long gone.<br />
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The other words of ways to describe here which I find offensive is the colour of people's skin - people here can be described as 'having a tint', they can be a 'light brown colour' or be "dark-skinned". <br />
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You are also, if you are not white, often described literally here as 'non-native" = allochtone. The dictionary description is "non-native"meaning not born here. So I and my children should be allochtone, but that's not what it is about, because if I use that word to describe myself in political situations or within school, I am looked at in a weird way. I am not allochtone (non native/not born here) - I am White.<br />
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A person can have Surinaam or Turkish great grandparents, and each generation after that could be born here and thus Native - but because of the colour of their skin, they are much more likely to be described as 'allochtone'- not born here/non native.<br />
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Why does there have to be a technical description of people with different backgrounds that has got annything to do with being born in the Netherlands or not? <br />
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So, I got all that off my politically correct chest. Don't even get me started on the Big White Bishop getting his little "Blacked up" helpers (slaves) to do all the work....that time will come in the next few weeks....<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-90684689482113644342013-09-13T05:50:00.002-07:002013-09-13T05:50:18.274-07:00Monkeying around, do it or not do it?<b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Soft Play in Breda</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have small children. Although my preference is for being outside, it isn't always good enough weather to play outside, although puddles can be fun. So to get active play without being outside, soft play can be a nice convenient alternative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There are around 3 soft play areas in Breda - and although some soft play areas can be souless, if they are kept clean and modern, they can be safe, fun places for young children to play and be active in. Being active is always a good thing for most children. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My hierarchy of sofy play centres goes like this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> For parents: I find the Vossenburg in Gilse the most comfortable for parents and the menu is quite good. There are also lots of newspapers for those having children that don't tend to bother mum/dad/oma/opa too much whilst playing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For kids: <b>the Vossenburg</b> is good on two levels, because it does have an outside area too for those days when it is dry, but maybe not that warm. It is good to have the option of fresh area if the day becomes brighter. This location is also good because on the bottom floor there is the soft play, baby play area (smallish) and the cafe but on the top level there is space for older children to play with large Lego blocks, crafts and a woorwork and paint area. These areas are sort of supervised but not that much. However this is excellent if you have children of different ages but need a place that will keep all of them entertained. The below can cater for 0-7 and the above floor for 5/6 to 10/11. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There is of course the outside area with trampolines, sandpit and lots of other outdoor equipment. You can't always see the kids when they are at the top of the equipment though, and small ones can wander out of baby area if you are not watching. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.devossenberg.net/" target="_blank">http://www.devossenberg.net/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Monkey Town</b> -good parking, in the centre of town so therefore accessable for everyone. You can get a bulk visitors card for 50 euros which allows for 11 trips. The place is very new so you can see all around from the central sitting area. The cafe is fairly good, but can't always count on fruit being there as we found out today. Nice coffee and tea. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The baby area is quite large for a soft play, which makes it nicer for those with very small children. There is also plenty of room for the adult to sit in this space too. There are climbing things and slides within the soft play and also indoor trampolines. There is not an outside play area. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There is lots for the kids (0 to 7/8) to do and they seem happy here for hours... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.monkeytown.eu/breda" target="_blank">http://www.monkeytown.eu/breda</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><b>Joepie, Breda North</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This is the oldest soft play in the city, and used be the place to go. It now however feels quite old compared to the other two now. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It is better located for those living north of the city, there is not a lot of parking and can sometimes get full early on in the afternoon. Go in the morning! They have kiddy discos here on some Friday evenings, which is quite a nice idea if you don't mind the kids being up later occassionally. And of course unlike any UK soft play area, you can get a wine and a beer here as it obviously doen't matter too much if you are drunk in charge of your child/ren.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">You cannot have a good view of the two different play areas whilst sitting. There is a huge bouncy bubble for the kids, and they love it. There is also a kick about area quite high up which is also impossible to see from your seat so you have to join child/ren up there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The cafe is ok, no healthy options - chips, panckakes. Nothing for veggies. The adult area is not that comfy, static tables and plastic chairs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This company also owns the Vrouwenhof in Tilburg </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.joepie.nl/" target="_blank">http://www.joepie.nl/</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-12595007880954201702013-09-11T02:02:00.002-07:002013-09-11T02:02:46.814-07:00A time full of berries..!<br />
Over the last week we were lukcy enough to be given a delicous large bucket full of Oma's balckberries, which were enormous and almost sweet (for blackberries!). I set to work making an apple and blackberry crumble.<br />
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Luckily mum had brought over a large tin of custard last time and crumble and warm Englsih custard is so heart warming, especially at the end of summer when evenings start to get a bit chilly. I can't say if it would have been the same without the custard, and Dutch vla is not the same thing. <br />
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I was also lucky enough on Sunday to meet a friend and her daughter with my smallest daughters in Ramdonksveer, Brabant. She had found a moutain of bambles, full with small but sweet balckberries. It looked like we were the only people picking these berries! I have now a new enormous bucket of them and wondering what else to do with them.<br />
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My kids and I often go into the forest behind us at this time of year to pick the local berries, and also we seem to to be amongst the very few picking! Why do the Dutch seem not to pick wild berries?? It is free food, and that is always good. Especially as berries can help us make so many delcious cakes, puddings and jams!<br />
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So, I am in a dilemma: another crumble, or make a jam or freeeze them for later in the winter?<br />
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SPRANKENHOF: I also felt I had to show you this wonderful spot, although of course it is not free but they grow all srts of seasonal berries which as also organically grown. This includes in the summer, blueberries. There is a smal cafe and also a trampoline and swining tyre fr the kids. It is a very lovely place to spend a few hours pikcing berries and teaching the kids that food does not come in packets. It is also in a very beautiful setting, just a few minutes from the Loonse Duinen. An enormous natural sand forest, with cycle paths and also horse riding routes that seem to go on for miles...so you can spend the morning picking fruit, wander on down to the sand forest and have a picnic or go tot he neighbouring restaurant for a nice snack and a beer. <br />
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<a href="http://www.sprankenhof.com/2/homepage" target="_blank">http://www.sprankenhof.com/2/homepage</a><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-76015721437444526542013-09-09T07:24:00.001-07:002013-09-09T07:24:37.892-07:0099% not..??<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">How is it when something positive happens to you and you should be happy, you are not. There is still a a worry or concern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When are good odds not good odds?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">If someone gave you you 99% chance of something having a positive outcome, one would normally be very happy with that sort of outcome. You would put money on that bet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But what if someone says that in their experience, anything higher than a 0.5% chance of failure, is a high risk bet, and that in your case there is a 1% risk of failure, of a negative outcome. I would normally say, don't be reidiculous. A 1% chance of a negative result is a <i>good </i>result, surely?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I guess when you want something to happen, you are happy with 99% but when you don't want something to awful to happen, even a 1% chance is a risk. After all, you could be that 1%. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I guess for now that I have to be happy with 99% chance of the negative outcome not happening. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It is hard not to go into detail about this. But maybe I can later on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-12142168791561195482013-09-05T05:39:00.001-07:002013-09-05T05:39:08.267-07:00Aardbei Terras, RijsbergenHet Aardbeienterras, Rijsbergen<br />
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<a href="http://www.hetaardbeienterras.net/" target="_blank">http://www.hetaardbeienterras.net/</a><br />
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Well, are you looking for a nice relaxed outing for you and the small kids? If you have children from 0 to 7, I would fully recommend this for a few hours.<br />
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It is a pick yourself strawberry farm, which uses a small child friendly scissors to cut off the strawberries. You are shown where to clip the strawbs from and you get on with filling your box full. For 1 euro extra you can get a Strawberry Picking Diploma for the kids in their name, which is a nice thing to do. A full box without diploma costs 2,50 and strawbs are usually available from mid May onwards - ring ahead or check their website if you really want to pick strwberries.<br />
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What is extra special about this place is the space to play. They don't have posh latte coffee, just normal filter coffee and tea, but they have cold drinks and ice lollies too. But they have an enormous outdoor play area for the little ones and even if it is chilly they have a poly-tunnel to play in which swings and slides and sand. You can sit happily enjoying your strawberried and tea whilst the kids can easlity play for an good hour running around or going on the low trampoline or other toys. <br />
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If you have older kids 7 and above - they can come and enjoy the strawberry picking but the play stuff is really for those children 7 and under, I would say. <br />
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So all in all, it a lovely place for a few hours out.<br />
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Only one thing is that there is no shade at all, so if it is really sunny and who have tiny babies, you will need to think about having an umbrella or some sort of other shade with you.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-72195690681284998382013-09-04T02:05:00.002-07:002013-09-04T02:05:55.864-07:00Abruzzo - what to see and do?<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Abruzzo - Pescara Region.</span><br />
<a href="http://turismo.egov.regione.abruzzo.it/web/guest/scoprilabruzzo/lanatura/zonedelterritorio/majella" target="_blank">http://turismo.egov.regione.abruzzo.it/web/guest/scoprilabruzzo/lanatura/zonedelterritorio/majella</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We are a family of mummy, papa and three young children aged 7,5 and 3. We also have a old dog Ramsay with us aged nearly 14. He always goes on holiday with us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We decided to drive to Abruzzo for our yearly family holiday. I had done a lot of research and this region of Italy had everything we needed: mountains, nature and also sea. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We took just under three days to drive to Pescara. We drove through Germany and Switzerland. We got a Swiss toll pass before we left from the ANWB and it meant we could just drive through the toll tunnel without a problem.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> We s</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">lept in Germany, France and Bolgna on the way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With hindsight, driving was a waste of money (petrol) and also time, but it was part of the holiday to see all the changes in landscape and house styles. Don't stop in Switzerland if you can help it - we stopped for lunch and icecream and used euros as we didn't have any Swiss francs. What an expensive stop that was! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can easliy cheaply fly to Pescara, a beautiful city by the sea from most Dutch, Germand and UK airports. We had Ramsay with us, so we had to drive this time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We arrived at the unassumiing agriturismo,(earlier blog) but once through the gates we saw what a lovely idyliic place this was going to be. Lots of land, pools, animals and mountains in the distance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Go and see the Majella Mountains - drive slowly through the plateau, you might be lucky to see herders with their huge tan cows and big bells. They also have huge white herder dogs with them. We stopped at what looked like someones house but they were serving delicous, cheap food. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Buy some local organic olive oil, the growers are all over the place but you usually have to be brave and ring the doorbell. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Enjoy the fac that are hardly any other European tourists - this place is a real hidden gem!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-2892911265986718042013-09-03T00:29:00.000-07:002013-09-03T00:46:10.171-07:00Skane, Sweden - a lovely weekend away!<div class="entry">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The last time we went away as a couple was 6th December to Dusseldorf. We went this time to Skane, Sweden. I have travelled many, many times to Sweden and even lived there in my eraly twenties for a few years. I love the country and the language. So I was defintely up for another trip, even just for a short weekend. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We flew to Copenhagen and picked a hire car up and stayed our first nght in Malmo</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">at the Mayfair Hotel Tunneln, which was a beautiful hotel, the room was quite small but fine. Breakfast was for Swedish food lovers, brilliant. Filmjolk, knackerbrod, cheese..mmm yoummy! Fresh juice, newspapers..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mayfairtunneln.com/" target="_blank">http://www.mayfairtunneln.com/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">However the main reason to come was to drive through Skane on the way to Ystad and the coast. We were booked in a sea side hotel: <a href="http://www.mossbylund.se/" target="_blank">http://www.mossbylund.se/ </a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This hotel was fabulous, and breakfast in the garden in the morning was just heaven.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> This hotel is in a wonderful setting. You can take a lovely slow
drive from Copenhagen airport/Malmo through the rolling countryside and
forests. Skane is NOT flat as i had thought. The coastal roads are also
beautiful. We stopped by a Loppis, a sort of second hand stall along the
way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Stopped for FIKA (tea/coffee and cake) and then got to the hotel. I
had made a mistake - I had booked a small twIn room, but the staff
quickly found alarger room with a double bed and did not charge us
extra. The room was large, very well decorated and clean. We ate at the
hotel that night. The chef is british, the food was lovely, even for a
veggie like myself. The waiting staff were very friendly and helpful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We
could see the sea from our room Ostra. Breakfast was delicious, warm
and cold choice. It was a bit early for a sunday, have to get there well
before 10. No lie in! But that is because they have a brunch service
starting at 11. All in all, very good quality hotel, not sure I would
have paid the 2450 SEK for our room, it is a little overpriced I feel. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">However they are installing an indoor pool and they also already have a
sauna and jacuzzi and will have a spa centre from next year. So it will
be even better. I can fully recommend and it is so close to Malmo - and
Copenhagen for that matter. Explore a little if you need to stay in
either city!
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-13147769116063826672013-09-02T01:11:00.000-07:002013-09-02T03:44:46.130-07:00July 2013 Trip to Abruzzo<h3 id="HEADING" rel="v:name">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Agriturismo Madonna degli Angeli </span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.madonnadegliangeli.com/" target="_blank">http://www.madonnadegliangeli.com/</a> </span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We had a wonderful week at this farm. The owners are very friendly and
know everything about the area. We were a family of mummy and papa and
three children 7, 5 and 3 plus our old dog. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There are two pools, one
for little ones to sit and splash in and another to swim in. We had fun in
both. The surroundings are breathtaking, really. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Abruzzo is hardly
visited by tourists, yet it has fantatsic vistas, awe inspriring
mountains and clean beaches. Also beautiful towns and cities. It is
2 hours east from Rome. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It is so cheap to eat out, for lunch and
dinner!! We were driving in the Majella Mountains and found by accident a house that was also a restaurant. We asked from some pasta without meat and they cooked us a lovely pasta pomodori. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There are wonderul olive groves all around too, many from whom you can buy some fresh olive oil. And nature is
all around. After some time exploring, this farm is a dream to come back
to. We stayed at The Dolmen apartment, which was clean and spacious. There is a
lot of land so you don't feel like your sharing too much. The turkeys and
chickens run free for a good part of the day. The sheep and their lambs
do too. There is also a donkey. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We love their Lola, a retriever who is
super friendly. And the kids loved their black cat. We loved this place
and can highly recommend it and the location. it feels also very safe as
you can only enter through a electric gate with key. So the kids can
run around safely. It is a long drive from the Netherlands where we
live, but we did it over three days there and three days back. We would
fly if we dodn't have the dog. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There are cheap flights to wonderful
Pescara and the airport is only just over 40 minutes from the farm. I
would recommend for families with young and older children, who like
exploring and relaxing.
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5082447030838468097.post-88814930161430183962013-09-01T01:51:00.001-07:002013-09-01T01:51:59.557-07:00test messageAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03210558014526185123noreply@blogger.com0