Ingrid

Off Pitch and an Irishless Coffee

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Monday after work I had a movie date with Ingrid and Nienke. Getting off work I headed for the cinema where Ingrid was already waiting. Nienke, who came by bus, showed up a little while later. First we went into the cinema to get Nienke registered for an Unlimited card, and then we got our tickets. Since we had more than enough time left before the movie, we then sauntered up to Subway for dinner.

Afterwards we went back for the movie, which was Pitch Perfect 2. I had high hopes for the film, since I really like part one. Part two had a lot of good things, but I missed spark for about two-thirds or so of the movie. I’ll probably watch it again if it’s ever on TV or something, but it’s not a favourite.

Coming out of the theater we had some time left before our bus would go, so we decided to have a drink. At first we decided on a coffee place further up from the cinema, but it was closed 🙁 So we settled on a Spanish themed café-restaurant called Cerveseria Catalana. With the others going for some beer and wine, I chose an Irish Coffee. I always like that. Too bad, though, there was decisively little Irish in that coffee. Kind of a shame, considering the price…

While we were enjoying our drinks, we figured it was a good idea to take a later bus and sit and chat some more. So that’s what we did 🙂

Around the World in a Handful of Towns

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20150412_155757Sunday proved to be a day of moderate adventure and great fun 😀 Eva’s little boy had his birthday earlier this week, and Sunday they were celebrating.

So early in the afternoon I traveled to Groningen. I met up with Mellien on the train, which helped ease the half hour wait for the next train. We then boarded for Grijpskerk where Ingrid picked us up to drive to the farm.

20150412_155915We chatted, drank tea, ate tasty cake and gave presents. I’d bought a couple children’s books in Frisian and Gronings for him. Two for him directly, and one and a audio book first to Eva as he’s not old enough yet. Both parents and boy seemed to like it, so I call it a success 😀

They had bought a pair of young rabbits the day before, and on Sunday Eva’s brother in law was bringing two more young rabbits as a birthday present. They are very handsome, but turned out to be a weeee bit larger than expected.

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Hop Hop Hynke, Frisian rhymes and songs

Instead of about the same size as the others, they’re about double that. Which made the cage that was supposed to be their home for a day or two rather on the small side.

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Sikko kleedt zich aan/trekt zuk aan, about a goat who wants clothes

We left at the end of the afternoon as Ingrid, who had come from Leeuwarden, had to go back there as well. However, as saying goodbye is wont to do, it took a while before we set out. We then had the bad luck of finding the bridge open, which resulted in Mellien and I missing the train.

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In Nije Stjer, a Frisian tale of the Three Wise Men

After comparing options, we decided to ride with Ingrid to Buitenpost to grab the train there. This was more fun, because more time with Ingrid, and left us a half hour wait in Buitenpost as opposed to waiting an hour in Grijpskerk.

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De Bruorren Liuwehert, and audio book version of the Astrid Lindgren book by theater company Tryater

Fortunately the weather was fairly nice so the wait was easy. And once back in Groningen, I treated myself to a milkshake to pass the half hour wait there for the train home. So, quite a trip, but it was worth it!

 

Wild

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image-2efe98dd-9dc5-4ba3-b190-650e2d77a652Yesterday, Nienke and I went to the movies with Ingrid for that second movie for her birthday last year… The plan back then was to go see Step Up 5, but we couldn’t plan it before the movie stopped showing. And now all three of us wanted to see Wild.

I met up with Nienke after work, and we made our way to McDonalds to meet with Ingrid, and eat. It had been ages since I’d been there, so it was real fun to go. I had some of the newer things they introduced since last I’d been there.

Afterwards we headed for the cinema and saw Wild. I liked the movie, but it didn’t really speak to me. The scenery was very nice, Reese Witherspoon did a really good job as she ususally does. I understood the character motivations, rationally and emotionally, and the flashbacks were good. The secondary characters were okay to good. But the pacing felt off somehow, a bit too jumpy? Too many short bits in a row maybe. I can’t really put my finger on it.

After the movie we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways home.

Ljouwert

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20150306_121843I spent last weekend in Leeuwarden for Anne’s birthday party. I dragged a weekender bag filled with airbed, sleeping bag and some other necessities with me to work on Friday, which looked ridiculous. Then after work Ingrid picked me up and we drove to Leeuwarden.

We made a stop at the Albert Heijn XL to pick up some stuff for dinner. I decided I might as well stock up on nuts for my breakfast ‘cereal’, and while looking for the various nuts, I came across the cutest packet of mixed peppers. Since we don’t have that in our AH around here, I had to take it. And then I also found a jar of harissa (spicy sauce/paste consisting of about 50% spicy peppers mixed with tomato and such), which I’ve been wanting to try out since seeing it on 24Kitchen.

20150307_002236We managed to arrive at Anne’s place exactly when she herself returned from the gym. We unloaded the car and got our stuff and the two presents inside. After a drink and some chat we gave her the presents, two Ikea lamps, exactly as she had wanted 🙂 I then built the lamps, while Ingrid helped Anne make dinner.

Dinner was a very tasty pasta with a spinach/mozzarella sauce with a few cherry tomatoes tossed in. Later one of Anne’s friends came by as he couldn’t make it on Saturday. When he left, we hung out some more with the three of us and then hit the sack. I picked the sofa for the first night as it’s very comfortable and it saves the hassle of blowing up the air bed.

20150307_181719The next morning we had a relaxed start, and then went into town to get groceries for the birthday. I bought myself some Greek yoghurt as I had run out at home, and I also wanted to eat it for breakfast the next day. So I ended up with a bucket, and a set of portioned cups. I also bought some portioned nut mixes, bacon, and a gorgeously sturdy canvas shopping bag which actually fits the crate on my bike. I hovered over a tiny wooden four drawer storage thing, but thought better of it and left it. Go me 😀

Back at Anne’s, we started prepping the rest as the first of her friends started to arrive. With the five, and later six, of us, we did the dishes, vacuumed and prepped the food and snacks and we’re nicely ready in time before the rest arrived. The afternoon was nice and relaxed, just talking and having fun. When the rest left, the remaining six of us had dinner. I went to the snack bar with two of Anne’s friends to pick up some food and got myself an XXL Meatstick and chicken nuggets. I’d seen it in our local snackbar but had not gotten around to actually buying it. It’s about 30 cm long, and I had them make it “special” to add the onion and sauce.

After dinner we got out the Halli Galli and started setting up a game when the remaining evening guests arrived.  With Halli Galli you each have a stack of cards with different fruits on them, both in number as in type of fruit. One by one, you play a card before you and as soon as there’s a total of 5 of one type of fruit, you hit the bell in the middle. If you’re first, you get all the cards.

If you’re out of cards, you can’t play the cards anymore, but you can still hit the bell. Once there’s only one person left to have cards, they win. If you hit the bell in error, you have to give everyone a card, including the players that have no cards. Because of these rules, the game can have really unpredictable results. At first, it almost ended with me and Esther being the only ones with cards.  The others weren’t paying a lot of attention anymore, so they didn’t really try to hit the bell, except Anne. And just as it seemed Esther would win from me, Anne made a come back. I then lost all my cards and couldn’t get my hand in fast enough to regain cards. In the end, Esther won 🙂

20150307_224658Then we played two rounds of Who Am I. First round was famous Dutch people. I turned out to be Bert Visscher, as given to me by Ingrid, which I figured out pretty fast. We went clock wise with this round, which means I had to think of someone for Anne. I gave her the dude from the commercials who plays the AH store manager. It was tricky, but she did manage to figure it out eventually. The second round was a What Am I round where we were usable objects. This time around we went counter clock wise and I got garlic press from Anne. This was harder to figure out, but I did manage. I turned Ingrid into a record player, which she also guessed. Both rounds were won by Esther, but we did give a lot of hints the second round 😀

20150307_233117After this, it was after eleven, and as two guests left to go home, Anne and the others made ready to go out. I’m not a fan of going clubbing, so I elected to stay home. I was pretty beat, anyway, the continuous presence of other people for two days is rather draining. So while they got ready, I inflated the air bed (long live electric pumps) and readied my bed. I couldn’t take the sofa this night as Esther was staying over, too. When they were ready, I saw them off, wished them fun, and crawled in bed. I played with my phone some, and ended up going to sleep around one, one thirty-ish.

The group came back around four, which woke me up. This was an excellent time to eat some cake before we all went back to bed. We slept in until about noon and then took it easy for a few hours. Esther then left, and a short while later another friend showed up to visit as he also couldn’t make it for Saturday.

Around five we started packing our things together so we could leave half an hour later, so I would be at the train station in Groningen in time for my train back home. This worked like a charm (last time we came from Leeuwarden it was more a nick-of-time thing :D) and I ended up home around seven.

I had a great weekend, met some new people, and had a lot of fun. I am glad, though, that I am free today so I can  regenerate some more.

Show ’em What You’re Made Of

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Oh, the teenage memories tonight! I went to see the Backstreet Boys documentary “Show ’em What You’re Made Of” with Ingrid and Nienke tonight. It was shown in cinemas all over Europe at the same time, and then afterwards there would be a small concert of the Boys shown live. I was a pretty big fan of them during their first three or so albums, in my early teens. I can still sing along to most of the songs if I hear them.

I was over at Ingrid’s earlier this week to have dinner and we got to talking about movies, as we still need to go see one with the three of us for her birthday. We did see Begin Again, but we couldn’t make Step Up 5 work with all three of our schedules and the times it was shown. While doing that, we noticed the Backstreet Boys film in the line up for tonight and we were both interested.

Once home, I showed Nienke, but she wasn’t really interested, so Ingrid and I decided to go with the two of us. I reserved us two tickets, which was a smart move as there were few seats left.  Since we had some time between the start of the show and when I was off work, we figured we go to eat someplace. As Nienke was also in the city in the afternoon, we agreed to eat together.

We settled on old favourite Pappa Joe and I met up with Ingrid, Nienke and a surprise Marleen with whom she had been out and about. We had a good time, but then we had to leave to make the movie in time. Marleen had to go the other way, so Nienke walked us to the cinema.

There, she changed her mind and decided that if the seat next to us was still free (we had near edge seats and the single one beside us was still free when I made the reservations), she would also go. We headed for the info desk, as we couldn’t get the single seat from the machine, and fortunately it was still available!

The documentary was fun, it showed the 20 year history of the band and followed them while they were making their last album and world tour, showing both the fun times and the struggles. Nothing earth shattering, but a glorious view back in time to my teenage years, and a glimpse into the lives they had and have now as people, and not just Backstreet Boys.

Afterwards, it switched to London, if I remember correctly, where the Boys were present for the European premiere of the movie and where they would do a short a cappella concert. They sang about seven or so songs, both old favourites as well as things from their last album. They still sound really good, although their voices have changed some as they have grown older which sounded a little bit strange sometimes especially with the older songs where certain parts are so ingrained in memory.

Going Out

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20150204_204008Went out to eat with Eva, Ingrid and Mellien again. We went out to eat at Het Koetshuys in October, which was a great evening. So we set out to repeat it and after long planning, we settled on tonight, at Kaap Noord.

I met Mellien on the train, and then we met Ingrid and Eva at the restaurant. I’d never been to Kaap Noord, but it’s a very rugged and rustic looking place. I like it.

I had a salad of smoked chicken and bacon with a chutney of pineapple, red peppers, and cilantro as a starter. Then for the main course I went with a Groninger mustardsteak with herb butter and finished with a cherry mon chou cheesecake for dessert. It was all very tasty, but the dessert was not my favourite. The cherries were kind of dominant, and I didn’t really like the crumble they used for the crust.

After dessert we spent a long time just talking, which was great <3 So long even that I had two cups of tea 😀

When we finally did decide to call it a night, Eva got to her car, Ingrid to her bicycle and Mellien and I headed for the nearest bus stop. Unfortunately, we missed the bus by a minute or two.

Waiting for the next one would mean standing still in the cold for half an hour or more. So we decided to turn back and walk to the train station. We ran into Ingrid who had to ride in the same general direction so she kept us company as we walked. It was a bit further than I thought, though, so that wasn’t very pleasant. We did manage it, and caught the next train home.

Waylon

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I went to see Waylon perform at the Oosterpoort yesterday with Kim and Ingrid.

We met up at Mr. Mofongo’s to have dinner first. I had this awesome beef tenderloin with roasted vegetables (red onion, paprika) and chorizo, on a bed of seasonal vegetables (haricots, parsnip, yellow beet, red beet puree, pumpkin and roasted chestnut) with baked potatoes and orange mayonnaise. It was absolutely delicious!

Dessert was a crème brûlée with red berries and raspberries and a glass of amaretto.

20141129_202703We then headed for the Oosterpoort and, once there, found ourselves some good seats. Most people were seating themselves near the stage or standing in front, but we went for a little further away and up. Since he was playing the small room, this was still close enough to see everything, and by sitting a bit higher up, we could see over the rest.

The concert itself started a little after eight and for the next three! hours, no break, Waylon sang, and talked, and it was fantastic. He played songs from his newest album, songs from his previous album and even a Common Linnets song. I was a bit disappointed, though, with that one specifically. It is an emotional song, and one of my personal favourites. He did most of the song very well but decided to mess up the last few lines, in an attempt to be funny, which so didn’t work for me. Besides this minor thing, I loved the rest. I definitely recommend going to see him if you can.

Ghosts

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10271562_10152497273468155_464091770207115951_n. 1-11jpgI ordered a ridiculously large cat tree for my monsters 😀 It’s fantastic, and I think they’re gonna love it!

Wednesday I went to see If I Stay with Ingrid and Nienke. It was a fun movie (insofar a movie about people dying or almost dying is fun). It matched the book well enough, and I liked the actors (especially the parents).

The next day, as if to compensate, wasn’t so good. I felt out of sorts and crappy the whole day, and then when I went home I got annoyed at the darkness (brain: stupid winter), the train (brain: why don’t you leave now instead of on your scheduled time in 15 minutes), the people in line at the Burger King (brain: order faster!) and the people working at Burger King (brain: gimme ma food!).

Luckily, when I got home, I cuddled the cats and made snacks for Friday’s party which made me feel better.

Friday evening we had a little Halloween party with some friends. We’d decorated the house and with the snacks it was all set. To stay on theme, we had Halloween music for background and later watched a Halloween movie 😀

*scary noises*

 

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Intestines and feces

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Pumpkins and stuffed roaches

 

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Severed fingers

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The whole of it

 

In a Mine! In a Mine! Where a Million Diamonds Shine!

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20141026_000544I bought this book recently, but didn’t get around to actually using it until today. The point of the book is to carry it with you while you turn your normal daily life into a scavenger hunt to find the items listed in the book. And when you have found one of the items, you turn around the book and flip to a random page. The edge of the page then tells you what to do with the item you’ve found and then, after you’ve done that, you can register it in the book.

20141026_000602Yesterday I joined Ingrid in going to The Farm to celebrate Julius’ birthday. It was a really fun day with good people and tasty food (they had made a wide assortment of cakes, tea and candies). While walking around checking out the new goats I found a magnificent white feather. And today I realised the book had a feather on the list 😀

As you can see, it has a space to note the time and date and how and where I found it. I wrote in the corner what I was supposed to do with it (Play) and since that isn’t something you can really show, I described it around the feather. And to keep it festive, I taped it to the page with fabric tape.

20141025_213358I also spent some time, yesterday, building my new Warcraft Lego Set. It consists of a Goblin on a rocket and a Night Elf on a sabercat (aka “Barren’s Chase”).

On Friday, Gert and I went to see Pride. This is an historical film taking place in England during the miner’s strike of 1984-85. The movie opens in London during a march for LGBT rights. After the march, a group of friends meet up in the bookstore of one of them and discuss politics. As they get to the strike, they realise that the plight of the miner’s is not unlike theirs. Both are not seen very positively in the public eye and garner a lot of abuse.

The group decides to band together to raise money for the miners. Raising money is very much needed as the union’s funds are getting depleted and social security is limited, so the miners are short on money and necessities.

Thus the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners organisation is formed. It doesn’t always go well, but eventually they have raised a fair amount and go about looking for a way to get it to the needy. They contact the National Union of Miners, but they refuse the donation, not wanting to be associated with the LGSM. At first discouraged, the group decide not to give up and start looking for a town to give their money to. They find the Welsh town of Onllwyn and are ecstatic when they accept the money.

Pride_posterThey pile into their van and travel to Wales to hand over the money. Once there, the atmosphere is awkward at first, as the town had not quite understood they were a gay group. However over the course of the movie, the continued support and interactions show most of the town that the LGSM are people, too, and they gain a mutual understanding of each other that is paid back after the strike ends.

I loved this movie. It takes place in the same time period as The Normal Heart, and touches on some of the same topics (acceptance, gay rights, AIDS) but mostly this is a heartwarming story in a difficult time, whereas The Normal Heart is heartbreaking.

Fun Day

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IMG-20140813-WA0007Today I picked up my new ID card, it is very pretty 😀

In the evening I went to the city to meet up with Nienke and Ingrid at Subway for food, and then on to the cinema for the first of Ingrid’s presents. My bus was late, so I ended up being a bit late, too. Fortunately we had enough time, but they were already done eating. While I was eating my sub, Gert called. Nienke was so kind to answer, and the whole thing ended with Gert also coming along to come see the movie, Begin Again, also 😀

I really liked the movie, it’s an ucomplicated romcom with good actors and a fun story. Ruffalo and Knightlet play off  each other well, the city and scenery is used well, and the other characters are well developed enough to round out the film. Plus, the music is pretty good.