Cramming it all in....

Nothing like waiting until the last couple of days to get everything in, I guess a month wasn't enough to go where I haven't been, eat, what I haven't eaten and visit who I haven't visited with. I do believe I have mentioned in the past my tendency to procrastinate. Why should I be any different now that I am in Holland?

This weekend was action packed, hence the delay in blogging, I'm sure you will understand. Friday night we went to a barbecue, that would be Rob and Pam of the infamous peanut sauce. Let me just say, they know how to host a spread! Not only did they have satay and peanut sauce, there was spare ribs (by the time those came out I had already gorged, shoot!), shrimp skewers wrapped in bacon and grilled fish! I was so full, LOL. I told Rob that people are clammering for his recipe and he's promised to provide it, but he has to translate some of the ingredients because they are indonesian. As soon as I have it, I will share.

Saturday was family reunion day. Nes' dad and her aunt get their families together once a year. They're called the Swedes cause they're half swedish, I wonder if they call Nes' family the Flips, LOL. Anyways, bowling was the game of the day. My family also enjoys to bowl together, some of us are good, some of us are not? I fall into the not category but somehow that doesn't keep me from talking a lot of crap! I know, big surprise! I had warned Nes ahead of time because her family is as competitive as mine and they're serious bowlers. Nes and JK actually met at a bowling alley! Shades of Grease 2? Anyways, the goal was to win, us against them but first off, everyone needed a bowling name. Apparently they don't do that in Holland but they got into the spirit of it. My name, the Queen, of course. But some other fun names were The Dude, Nes' brother Chris and The Stryker, her dad, LOL. I think they had fun with their names. Too bad we didn't have matching shirts, that would have been even better!

So, you know how I warned them ahead of time that I can't play? First frame, I bowl a strike! Trust me, I was as shocked as you are! Don't worry, I made up for it with 2 gutter balls the next frame, LOL. I know, I crumbled! Other then the double gutter balls I have to say, I played not too bad. I wasn't last either game. I actually had 3 strikes in 1 and a half games! I couldn't pick up a spare for the life of me. I finally got a spare the last time I bowled, but I was bowling for Nes, arggghhh! Oh well, I'd rather have a strike anyway. We won and the bowling turned out to be a lot of fun. I won't mention the fact that Nes wasn't as impressive as I expected her to be. Oh wait, did I say that?

Afterwards, it was time for dinner. We were using hot stones to grill on. Of course, I am a pro at cooking at the table since I love Korean food. They didn't have chopsticks which would have made it easier. Then the kids decided to head out for a drink (or two) since we were already in Amsterdam. We went into the Square and sat outside, enjoyed the weather, people watched, chatted and drank, it was a lot of fun.

There were street performers (not that I saw around the people around them) and there were bachelor and bachelorette parties (what better place to hold one?). In fact, there was this bachelor party from England and the groom to be came out in this leather get up that only covered his chest, barely covered his crotch and was butt floss as well as a leather face mask, leather collar, red satin gloves and red clogs! What a riot! It's a great place to people watch.

Afterwards we went to the Bourbon St bar to listen to some live music. I was more interested in going to a bar where I could sit down which is why we didn't stay at the first bar they picked, I have my priorities, LOL. After a few more drinks, it was time to call it a night.

Which was a good thing because first thing this morning Nes and I had to get up to go back into Amsterdam. Why? Because we were meeting Kelly from Belgium, otherwise known as BookieMonster, an online friend from RBL. How exciting it is to meet another RBL (Nes is also one). I've always instantly clicked whenever I've met one of my RBL sisters and this time was no exception. Of course, Nes and I almost missed our train to meet her, we cut it a little close. It was pulling up as we got there, I even ran a few steps, I think I'm just now recovering. The info lady told us the wrong platform for where Kelly was coming in, thank goodness for cell phones!

After a few hugs and squeals we headed out of the station to go to the American Book Center. Obviousley, there are not a lot of stores with American books in Europe so Kelly wanted to go there, she brought a collapsable backpack for her purchases, LOL. Of course, we also wanted to do some eating while we were there. Nes loves the fast food but I'm not spending my last full day in Europe eating KFC, BK or Pizza Hut (yes, Nes ate at all of those places today, LOL). So I had a brie sandwhich from a bakery (it was only ok) and pancakes which is a big dutch thing. They eat pancakes for lunch and dinner also, mixed with meats but Kelly and I split one that looked like a giant thicker crepe with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, it was heaven.

It was fun being in the bookstore because you know we spent ages talking books, what do you think of this author? Have you read this? OMG, you havn'e read this?!??! We talked Kelly into buying Whitney, My Love (she had never read it!) and we talked Nes into getting the JR Ward books. She's not a big paranormal fan so it should be interesting to see what she thinks. Then Kelly went over the shelves, again and again, just in case she missed something. Let me tell you, Amercian books are extremely expensive here. The Euro is stronger then the dollar and most paperbacks here go for around 12 euro, gulp! But Kelly needed instant gratification so she bought about 10 books, luckily some of them were on sale!

Nes called JK to come pick us up so that we could go into this little Dutch village near the sea (actually a lake, JK explained) to eat some more food because I have not exprienced some more traditionally dutch food. Who am I to argue? So he came and got us and off we went. This was a totally quaint village (and I can't remember the name). Lots of tourists there but lots of fun.

Our first stop was the herring stand because that is very dutch. It is raw but hey, I love sushi! You hold it up over your mouth, head tilted back, sprinkled with onions and a side of pickles and you eat it down. Nes is not a fan but JK, Kelly and I enjoyed it. Then it was time for the smoked eel! I love the sushi version of eel so I had no doubt I would love the smoked version, and I did! The sushi eel is usualy one or two little pieces, here I was taking apart the eel, it was pretty cool. The eel was about a foot long, you peelback the head then peel off the skin and eat it like corn on the cob. Kelly said she was only going to have a little piece, yeah right! The eel is very fatty so more then one is a bit much but I thoroughly enjoyed my traditional dutch food!

Now it was time for traditional dutch clothes!

Unfortunately, I have a plane to catch so the rest of the day will have to wait. I will try to get back tonight to finish posting about my trip and to include pics. I'm hoping to spend most of my plane ride sleeping. Wish me luck!

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About Leiha

I love to eat and sleep. One thing is more fun to blog about than the other. In between eating and sleeping I love to travel, spend time with my family and talk about myself. :)