Peek into my life 88

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Zoo-date at Blijdorp

Peek into my life with a zoo-date to begin with! We went to my favourite zoo of The Netherlands called Blijdorp. I like this zoo because of the spacious area that the animals have. And it`s extra spacious for visitors too with the limited amount of visitors per day thanks to the covid-19 measurements. I kind of like that, as I don`t like being in the crowds but who does like that anyways? My date and I went strolling, eating, having a laughter here and there, serious talks and less serious talks. He`s cute in his own way and gentle but at the end we went our separate ways as friends.
Also thanks for making me addicted to The Office show.

My date outfit: a white tee from Uniqlo | skirt in camouflage print from Ichi | red outdoor sandals from Teva

Social picture distancing please.

coffee break

“talk to my back woman - Bokito. This is Bokito. He`s a 230 kilo gorilla who escaped of his enclosure on 18 May 2007, abducting a female visitor and severely injuring her. This crazy female visitor was also the cause of Bokito`s run away.

Pussssssss

Also my date is allergic to cats, dogs and basically all kind of pets. #dealbreaker

My date: why would you snap pictures of food bowls? Me: because I`m a
foodblogger.

My first cup of cappuccino at a café since lock down.

Of course I joined the coffee hype `dalgona coffee`. It`s basically an upside down latte macchiato and though the coffee taste great (make sure you stir the coffee well) the making of it was more pleasing. I even made a little silly IG Story of myself (in Chinese!) making this cuppa.

Condensed Milk

Making my own sweetened condensed milk!

And with the homemade (sugarfree) condensed milk I`ve baked my favourite bakings the millionaires shortbread.

And the Argentinian alfajores de dulce de leche which is basically a sandwich biscuit with caramel filling and coconut. Mine is also salted and it is so delicious!

The texture of the cookie is also interesting and pleasant: shortbread but a lot brittle and more melt in your mouth sensation. YUM

Camera

I`ve done a little testing with disposable camera`s right here.

Chocolate time

Testing a vegan chocolate cake with aquafaba.

Neowise ☄

The start of my Summer Break I have been comet gazing at 1 am to 3 am sacrificing my sleep and it was worth it. For shooting the starry night skies I`ve used my 20mm and 12-32mm lens.

⮙ Homemade asparagus soup and red beet savoury pancakes.⮛

Teacher's life

Life of a teacher. Every year the last couple of weeks before the big Summer break are always hectic. Me as a co-teacher of grade-7 kids I have to deal with their graduation ceremony, schoolcamp although this year it was a small one because of covid-19 again and goodbye gifts etc. I was also in charge of montaging grade-7 goodbye movie. I don`t mind being busy because I love my job but I admit it can be tiring too. But most of the time I get an everyday laughter. Though the last week came with tears as well where we waved our grade-7 kiddos farewel and to their next destination: highschool.

Teacher Appreciation Day

We usually have an annual schoolcamp with the year 7/8 pupils where we basically camp at a campsight for 3 days with lots of fun activities, snacking, no sleep ánd no parents. Because of covid-19 we had to make some adjustments with the schoolcamp. So instead of camping at a campsight for 3 days we`ve decided to camp at school (how awesome!) for 1,5 day.

Where the girls sleep.

Game Night

Go team 7! My team. We also went hide and seeking inside the entire school building which was just so awesome!

Schoolcamp. Never thought I would sleep at school at the school library next to my boss haha.

Total hour of sleep: 4. I hope.

Schoolcamp still. Breakfast with the kiddo`s and colleagues. M. got 6 hours of sleep, that lucky gal.

煎堆

S. and I making sesame balls (jian dui/煎堆) for the very first time! I always thought it was something super difficult to make but it appears to be one of the easy Asian recipe that there is!

The ventilation in the kitchen was sadly broken and we end up smelling like deep fried but the sesame balls turned out nice, crispy and tasty!

During home quarantine I watched movies and one time I`ve made this nice platter with a mix of healthy and not so healthy snacks.

🐇🐣

My Easter brunch with homemade goodies.

Rose water flavoured French macaron with chocolate filling inside. Some turned out super cute and some are not.

Here`s a Dutch cake called ‘𝘩𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘭𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘪𝘮𝘵𝘢𝘢𝘳𝘵’. Perhaps it`s a bit difficult to pronounce (I do dare you) but it`s a meringue based 2-layer cake with mokka/mocha buttercream (best part), roasted hazelnuts and chocolate. I know.

⮙ Mei`s Bakery & Café and her vegetable garden.⮛

One of the skills I`ve been working on during the lock down was working on maintaining a vegetable garden. Also fearing for the lack of food during the lock down has motivated me to start a vegetable garden. I`ve used the leftover scraps from chopped up veggies and the seeds of it. Some survived beautifully like the peppers and spring onions. I`ve also tried carrots but they seems to be tough to keep them alive as 3 of my attempts died.

Pak choi! One of my favourite vegetables and I`m ready to eat this one!

More vegetable dishes

Grilled cauliflower

Ovenbaked fries with seaweed

Trying out this German `schnitzel and it`s good!

nomming on meatless dumplings

Experimenting pretty vegan desserts.

Yarnfood

I love Brussels sprouts so so much. I just don`t understand the many hate on these green nuggets!!

Playing with butter. The first thing I bought from Amazon Dutch that debuted this year March was this silicone piping nozzle set. The next thing I bought was butter (we don`t have Amazon Fresh yet) for buttercream, baked a cake and began testing the nozzles with the buttercream on the cake. Playing with butter is fun!

Spongcake + matcha + rose water = deliciousss

⮙ 3-layer cake with matcha and lots of fruit and coffee cake down here drenched in mocha and Vietnamese coffee. ⮛

Carefully being a random tourist again.

Lunchdate with S. I got myself shrimp croquettes on toast and French fries.

Supporting Local Foodplaces

Katoen To Go || Restaurant Kale & de Bril

Working at home was quite a change in the beginning but over time it became more comfortable. Especially with baked goods around like this matcha pie. That made celebrating the annual Dutch Kingsday at the frontdoor (instead outside at some festival) a bit more bareable as well.