When in Wanneperveen

When you are in a place as remote as Wanneperveen, you MUST relax and be active at the same time, how? Read on!

Despite of the rain that bound us at home the first day, we got our bikes out again and drove off to Giethoorn. This time it was even more deserted than the day before, good for us 🙂 As you might have noticed in my previous blog post, I’m quite enthusiastic about Giethoorn. Why? because it is such a cute little village. The small pathways along the water are regularly interrupted by even smaller bridges. The other things that make Giethoorn so attractive are her houses, they are built in such an other style than the ‘common’ houses in the Netherlands. And last but not least, the tourists… A while ago, Giethoorn was described in a popular Japanese travel guide as one of the most representative cities of the Netherlands. This was taken over by other travel guides resulting in Giethoorn becoming one of the most popular cities in the eyes of the Asian travellers. However it’s funny to see all those tourists wandering around Giethoorn, you’ll have the constant feeling you’re being photographed. Smile!

After visiting Giethoorn once more, we cycled on through the cornfields (man, they have A LOT of corn over there) to Meppel and without notice, we crossed the ‘border’ to Drenthe, leaving Overijssel (that sounds a lot cooler than it is). Meppel definitely is worth it visiting. It isn’t very impressive and it’s not much different than every other village in Drenthe, but as soon as you enter you notice something’s different. We smelled some kind of tomato soup/cheese bread smell which our Meppel-knower told us was typical for Meppel. And the atmosphere seemed to be different, cosy. A little recommendation, well, actually two: you should definitely visit the local bakery, just because they serve simple but delicious lunches. Also, you should visit the ice cream shop (across the corner), it’s called ‘IJsmakers’ (‘ice cream producers’). They don’t offer a whole lot of choices, but whoa, the tastes they offer are soooo good and creamy! (try tony chocoloney-salted caramel)

All right, that’s it. So… relax, cycle, shop, go canoeing and eat ice cream!

-Nerissa

 

http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/16223485/?claim=7man3fxwchs

Wanneperveen

It’s 11.47 pm., we’re sitting on the cold kitchen floor looking at a boardgame, not actually playing a boardgame. Several hours before, we arrived at the holliday shed of one of us four. We all graduated and my best friends and I decided this would be the perfect time to go on a little vacation.

Wanneperveen it would be. We already decided we would go canoeing, so this place was the right place to go since there isn’t a lack of water in this little town. Having arived to the house, we were quite hungry -duh- and found out we had a little problem. There wasn’t a oven, as we though there would be. BUT as one of my friends accidentally pressed a button on the microwave, ‘pizza’ appeared on the small display, our back-up plans were not needed. And so we eventually landed on the kitchen floor, trying to answer quiestions about the world -‘the great topography game’-.
As you might expect, we got to bed quite late and got out of bed quite late too. It turned out to be raining pretty much all day. So after we picked up our bikes and got to the grocery store in Giethoorn, it was time for another set of games. And… lucky us, it got dry after dinner, so we were able to get onto the water and canoe for a while.

I know it doesn’t sound like much, but when you are in need of a relaxing holiday, you should definitely go to Wanneperveen or its surroudings some time. And don’t forget the ‘famous’ town of Giethoorn (if you don’t mind a lot, and I mean A LOT of tourists)

-Nerissa

Coconut macaroons

My grandma makes the best coconut cookies, and a while ago, I got her recipe 🙂

Lucky extra: these macaroons are gluten- and diary free and if you want even sugarfree

So…. Here is how it should be done:

Mix 300 gr flaked coconut with 275 gr sugar. Whisk 4 egg whites in another bowl until white and fluffy. Then add the egg yolks and whisk a little longer. Mix the dry ingredients with the eggs but make sure the mixture stays a bit fluffy. Plate a griddle with either baking paper or edible paper (Dutchies probably know this as ‘ouwel’ or ‘eetpapier’ :D) and use two spoons to form macaroons on the paper. Shove the griddle into the oven and wait for 15 minutes, the macaroons should now be golden brown and just right (the inside will be a bit sticky and chewy, but I love that). Let them cool down for a bit and enjoy. If you made the macaroons on edible paper, you can break the paper in pieces and leave the paper around as it is or take it away (and eat it all alone before anyone comes in to enjoy the cookies).

Tip: if you want your cookies to be sugar free, you can replace the sugar with coconut blossom sugar, just make sure you adjust the amount, since coconut blossom sugar is sweeter than normal sugar (I made them with coconut blossom sugar because of the sugar allergy a friend has, that’s why the macaroons in the photographs look a bit darker)

They also taste very good with some rhubarb lemonade ;p

 

PS: I connected our blog to bloglovin, so you can now…

http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/16223485/?claim=7man3fxwchs

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

-Nerissa

Rhubarb

I absolutely love rhubarb in so many ways. And since today is the longest day, I take my chance and make some last-minute rhubarb foodies and drinks. What? Last-minute?

Yes! What only few people know is that after the longest day the sap stream changes direction. The leaves contain a high level of oxidic acid (that’s why you should never ever eat the rhubarb leaves) which will be transferred into the stalks. A little explanation; oxidic acid causes you to not being able to bind enough calcium. By adding chalk (calciumcarbonate) to your recipe including rhubarb, you can take care of the problem. Or you could just prevent eating too much rhubarb after the longest day, which will also help the plant to preserve enough reserve to survive until the next harvesting season. Be aware, I’m not stating you shouldn’t eat rhubarb after today at all!

 

All right, having said this, here are some awesome and delicious recipes 🙂

Rhubarb crumble

Heat the oven at 180 °C. Clean a couple of rhubarb stalks and cut them in one cm long pieces. Also cut some strawberries in quarters. Mix those ingredients and fill the bottom of a medium/large oven dish. Scatter some sugar and vanilla seeds on top of the mixture (just as much as you like). In a bowl, mix 75 gr sugar, 75 gr oatmeal, 75 gr almond flour and 60 gr butter. Once mixed, spread evenly over the rhubarb and strawberries. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes (until the crumble is golden brown). Bon appetit!

PS: you can also divide the ingredients over several smaller dishes or mugs, also this is really good with some vanilla icecream!

 

Rhubarb syrup

Clean and cut approximately 910 gr (2 lbs) of rhubarb and put the pieces in a medium cooking pot. Fill the pot with water so that all of rhubarb is just under water. Cook for 20 minutes and skim any foam that rises to the top (keep doing this all the way to the end). Strain the rhubarb liquid through a fine mesh strainer into another pot. Add 350 gr sugar and put the pot on high heat until the liquid boils. Let boil for about 5 minutes. The syrup is now thickened and perfect for mixing into beverages or with water for lemonade. You can also let the syrup boil a bit longer for other uses. Let it cool down and then poor it into a bottle for keeping it cool in the fridge. It’ll last for several weeks, at least, if you don’t empty the bottle before 🙂

-Nerissa

Not so happy ducklings

We finally got to honour our blog name. While cycling to my dancing class I saw a duck lying on the road, her nine ducklings running around her wanting their mom to get up and to the other side of the road. I got off my bicycle as fast as possible and hurried to the scene as cars were waiting. Picking up the duck I knew it wouldn’t take long for her to give up fighting for her life and eventually die. So now we had to focus on the ducklings who just lost their mom. In the mean time someone else pulled over and called veterinary services. I called Yara for some help and a basket to keep the ducklings in in case we would be able to catch some of them. The three of us followed the ducklings, who had made it to the small pond/river and swam around peeping loud, to make sure they wouldn’t go anywhere. As soon as the men of the animal rescue arrived nets were taken out of the car and they attended to get out the little ducklings. Soon it became clear we would have to find another tactic. So one of the men got high rainboots & pants in one and entered the water. As Yara and I realised he wasn’t able to get the ducklings out, we took off our shoes and got into the water ourselves, our bare feet and not too great weight cousing us not to sink in the bottom as far as the man did. Eventually after at least one hour the tree of us managed to get out all nine ducklings (I left after finding 8/9 because then I could attend my final dancin class for about 10 minutes). The nine ducklings who lost their mom are now being taken care of in the birdhospital and we got invited to come and visit some time soon to see how the ducklings are now.
Sooo… pictures will probably follow!

-Nerissa

Disneyland parc

Day two of our Disney adventure.
As we enter the parc we see the giant castle that represents Disney. The long road that leads to it is crouded and surrounded by all kinds of Disney themed shops and small restaurants. Oh well, crouded isn’t the right word to use, as it rains most of the day it is relatively quiet.
We intended to use the same strategy as day one, but failed, no fastpasses for us today.
Just like the Studio’s, Disneyland park is also devided in several parts. Aventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Discoveryland all have their own theme, as you can tell from the names.
As before, I’ll give you my top-5 attractions:
1. Space Mountain: Mission 2: This ride includes a lot of speed -my friend wiped the tears of her sheeks afterwards- and darkness. You’ll be launched in some kind of tunnel, after witch you get through several looping and spins. On your way through, you get to see planets and comets, joined by matching sounds.

2. Sleeping Beauty Castle: Nope, this isn’t really an attraction, but it is totally worth it paying a visit. As you get upstairs, you can follow the stained glass pictures that tell the story of Sleeping Beauty in a stunning way. (Don’t forget to take a look outside too)

3. Le Pays de Contes de Fées: Not much of an exciting attraction too, but good for some rest. A boat will take you to several miniature settings of Disney story’s and films.

4. It’s a small world: I know, you wouldn’t expect me to recommend this, but I do. Through the years I’ve experienced quite something of this small world in the Efteling – the Netherlands-, so I was kind of expexting somewhat the same. But it wasn’t at all! It was so much bigger en more extravagant. Oh, for the ones that don’t know ‘it’s a small world’, you get to travel around the world in a boat, floating along several landscapes and figures repesenting different countries.

5. Alice’s Maze: Feel like Alice for just a moment. It’s not nerve wrecking, but super fun to do and to take photo’s in there.

In the evening, there are two things you MUST see at least once. Firstly, the Disney Magic on Parade. Disney figures standing on themed wagons make their way through the parc while making a true show.

Secondly, the Disney Dreams show, in which Peter Pan leads you through several stories projected on the Castle. Also fire and water adjust to a spectacular show. This show is at the end of the day, just before closing-time, so make sure you don’t mind mass-walking to the exit or leaving just before the show ends.

Concerning the food, we ate at Café Hyperion this evening. The burgers served were just delicious, also for vegetarians 🙂 AND… there is a Jedi college-ish thing which is amazing. The younger children get to dress up like Jedi, are being teached how to fight with a lightsabor and eventually get to fight Dark Vader.

LOVED IT!

Disney Studio’s

We decided to split our Disney visit in two, as there are two parcs.
The Disney Studio’s is the smaller of the two parcs but at least as fun as the other. When you enter you get in a Hollywood-like hallway -Studio 1- with restaurants at both sides. Walking through, you definitely should take a look at all the details, as you should actually do in both of the parcs in total.
The Studio’s are devided in several ‘worlds’  you can visit: Production Courtyard, Backlot, Front Lot (which is Studio 1 in its total) and The Tune Studio.

Studio 1

I recommend you to get your first fastpass as soon as you get in the parc. It will tell you what time to come back and prevents you from standing in long lines. You can have only one fastpass at the time and you never know what time will appear on the card.
Then the attractions itself, some of them will be closed as they are repared, so I can’t tell about all of them. Here’s my top-3:
1. Ratatouille: You are drove around in a mouseshaped car while you are wearing 3D glasses. At first I didn’t know quite what to expect, but I loved it. You make a trip though Gusteau’s kitchen, storage and restaurant, just like in the movie. The ride is a combination of 3D movie and actual decor. You’ll move along giant sausages as you see panicing shef’s running around on the sidescreens. In one word AMAZING.

2. Crush’s Coaster: Remember the turtle in Finding Nemo? In this attraction, he wil thake you on a tour through the underground watersystem. Also, parts of the movie are shown in addition to the experience. There’s just one disadvantage, the fragments are in French only.

3. The twilight zone, Tower of Terror: I don’t like to say this, but it actually was pretty scary. You have to wait in line partly inside the old hotel, then you’ll hear a story and you’ll be challenged to re-experience the journey of the people in the story. You enter an old service elevator and will be raised and dropped in the dark, this doesn’t seem too scary, but the fact that you can’t really see where you’re going truly is.

Now, there’s only one thing left to tell. As it gets later you’ll eventually want to find yourself a place to eat. We googled some places in preparation months before our department, so we got some backup (A lot of the restaurants happend to be closed). We ate at Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost -in Dinsneyland itself-, which was a bit disappointing. The pizza menu was as big as two pizza’s and some pasta’s and the pizza’s we ordered were quite cold already. Not the best choice for us.