Peek into my life 84

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babyshower

My best friend A. who I`ve known for more then 10 years has become a mummy of a wonderful daughter lately. Darn, I can`t believe it. I`m very happy of course but at the same time it feels surreal that my friend has a little one of her own now. Slowly but surely most of my age circles is either married, getting married, has a child or has crossed at least one of these 3. Me on the other hand I haven`t fulfilled any of them. Well sometimes I joke and tell people I do have children like 20 to be exact where I quickly add that I`m a primary school teacher. Ha, get it? Anyways, these life matters or milestones are no milestones to me at all. I`m quite content of where I am now. Not forced, single, working, growing and seeing my kids grow too is something I like about my work as a teacher so much. We had a baby shower thrown for A. to celebrate of course. My first baby shower ever actually. I bought gifts and somethings tells me that these gifts wont be the last and that I`ll probably spoil my friends daughter greatly.

it`s a ♀!

My contribution to a party is most of the time homemade (healthy) food. I`ve baked a vegan cake with vegan caramel that is also free from refined sugar.

A little fun joint gift idea of us all: a signature jumper! I wanted to write or draw something on the jumper but at the last moment I`ve realized I didn`t have any fabric markers. So instead I`ve sown a little heart.

⼼♥

Apart from my first time attending to a babyshower my other first timer ever in my life was attending a bachelorette party. This one is from a friend whom I`ve known since the kindergarten. The following week was the wedding and a good excuse to buy new shoes.

I`ve never been to a bachelorette party before so I was wondering if there was going to be a Magic Mike show. I mean, I see these kind of classy activities all the time in the movies no? Long story short: no Magic Mike but a friendly `Greek & Roman` themed girls-only party. We had food, games, had our nails done and danced.

the wedding

It`s been awhile since I`ve been to a wedding. Another good excuse to buy a new dress too!

My friend is an elegant Turkish lady and this all reflected back on the wedding. It was Turkish styled and the venue is just so gooorge! Made me feel I was in dreamland castle. There was lots of Turkish folk dancing which I wish I could join but I simply don`t know how to. Instead I was admiring others and nomming on the yummy Turkish food and other Middle Eastern appetizers.

The chicken dish smelled really good, like really good. The rice was fragrant and salty. The bulgur dish too and since these both dishes were vegetarian friendly I have scooped 2-3 times along with the salad.

The best food part of the wedding is always the cake!

#homemadewithlove

I usually don`t buy baking mixtures like this bread mix but a dear colleague of mine gave it to me and so I`ve decided to give it a go. And because it`s a store bought mix I can`t help but to add something of my own and so I`ve add a little spicy filling in it. Yum!

egg tart in many shapes

Homemade apple pie for the colleagues and apple parcels at home. Apple season anyone? Yes please!

RECIPES

⮙ For all your pies and tarts, I`m at your service!

A while back I`ve made speculaas which can be called as the Dutch gingerbread cookies. It was my first time making them but they came out very delicious! Traditionally they are shaped into Dutch figures but mine are shaped with wooden moulds that are originally meant for the Chinese mooncakes. Speaking of food fusion and I don`t hate the outcome either! Some of these cookies are filled with almond paste.

#yarnlife

What have I been knitting and crocheting so far?

A red ribbon.

Of course soft serves.

Scarf work in progress.

My eating outs

From chic dining to the good ol` McDonald`s. I can`t help but it`s my guilty pleasure.

Trying out the vegetarian McChicken and yep you read that right. The `chicken` looked like it was a real chicken. Overal it was alright-yum but their original vegetarian burger also known as the groenteburger is my all time fav!

I ordered the vegetarian steak at a restaurant. It was first served with a pepper sauce but unfortunate the pepper sauce was made with lamb stock which I thought it was strange being served at this vegetarian dish but anyway. I found out in time and got replaced with a mushroom sauce. A bit bummer to start with and the steak and the rest of the dish was just average. Wont be ordering it again.

My final vegetarian dish and it`s a homemade one! Much more delicious than the one veggie steak I have ordered.

A goodbye present.

A 6-course meal experience

Grinning big because I got 7 dishes at a 6-course meal. Read it all about it at this blog post link!

⛛RØST ♥♥♥♥♥ 

It`s been awhile but I am back again at RØST for lunch and me-time with books.

I`ve Ordered:

- courgette soup with bread - dirty chai latte

The homemade soup was heartwarming and filling and the dirty chai latte which was my first time ever is now my newest favorite caffeine drink!

Take a Break, take a...!

Lately Holland is selling new flavours of Kit Kat. We even have our own matcha Kit Kat in the market! The last one I still need to try it out but here are the ones that I already tasted it.

liek&jp

I`ve discovered this really special shop selling old style/vintage home decor. It`s special because the shop is located in an old Dutch styled windmill. Let`s check it out!

The shop is rather small but nonetheless adorably cozy and homey. It also brings out some inspiration for my future home too!

How`s Work?

My work life is good and I`m quite content actually! I`ve cooked with the kids (yay!) and we`ve ice skated. I used to know how to ice skate but it`s been years and years since I`ve done that. Eventually I end up being scared but luckily a sweetheart of a child was helping her teacher.'

Cooking with veggies

My daughter Kim

This is Kim, my daughter. Kim is a reading mascot from the Dutch reading methods for children called Veilig Leren Lezen. A colleague of mine has asked me to make one for her and I`ve said no problemo! Here`s the process.

Her shoes are soooo adorbs!

New Hair

#homemadewithlove part II

This is a courgette cake with apple on top. It was, special. Yes, special. Needs improvement too.

Mei's cha chaan teng
茶餐廳

Since I`m not in HK currently and I crave for `cha chaan teng` goodies I`ve decided to play for cha chaan teng at home. A `cha chaan teng` literally means tea-restaurant and is a typical low budget eatery in Hong Kong where you can obviously drink tea and coffee but also eat hot meals such as noodles, egg dishes and food with Western influence like toast and the milk in tea to create my all time favorite HK-milktea thanks to the British colony.

My phone, my OnePlus One has finally died on me after 4 years of usage. Well it`s not completely dead but the touchscreen has been broken and the function does not work anymore. I`ve got a new phone now (Samsung S8) but I still need to safe all my stuff from my OnePlus One! How do you do when the touchscreen does not work? You use an usb port + a computer mouse and control the phone from there like it`s a computer!too.

I have a dream...

I was having a dream of having my own shop selling steamed buns. And it was running really well too, haha... It was a dream but this dream made me create all kinds of steamed buns lately. Different shapes, shaping, flavours and methods too. Steamed buns or in Chinese mantou/麵頭 is one of my favorite comfort food as well. Whenever I watch a Chinese drama and I see characters eating a hot steamy steamed bun I get cravings. Now I have tons of them in house for satisfaction.

Shiitake mushroom steamed buns.

Big, small, all purpose flour, spelt flour, animal shaped, with chocolate on top, fillings, blanc, sweet, savory. What is your favorite steamed bun?

♥