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Friday night fog

Spending Friday night in a fog was something you did a lot in your 20s. (Not that I was ever super wild. I was in the choir, remember?) But in my 30s and in Amsterdam, that Friday night fog gets pretty literal.

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This was the scene last Friday, when the streets of Amsterdam were covered in a heavy, misty fog. It reminded me of weekend drives to the beach when I was a kid, and stopping by the Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay for lunch. Tagaytay was the only place remotely near Manila where you could see heavy fog, and it was the biggest thrill.

We’d be driving, the car would suddenly be enveloped in fog, Mom would turn on the headlights and wipers, and we were instantly transported somewhere gray, foreign and cold! (Note: it couldn’t have been more than 26℃ or 27℃, a hot summer day in Amsterdam. Haha.)

Marlon and I practically leapt out of the tram into the fog, instantly kids again. I swear I don’t know how we’re going to be parents in three months. While Daddy played Assassin’s Creed…

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Mommy played dress-up with her new wool cape (a.k.a. the anti-maternity winter coat) and self-made knitted cowl (based on this pattern).

Cape and cowl

If you’re ever going to go swirling about in a fog, I highly recommend a cape and cowl. (Note that my recommendation is purely based on the fun factor.) Something like a superhero costume or Sherlock Holmes-type outfit seems fitting when you find yourself living on Jack the Ripper’s street.

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Mist and mystery aside, one thing I love at this time of year is walking with the glow from people’s windows lighting my way home. Even if I’m freezing, this sight makes me smile—although depending on the temperature, the smile could look like a grimace.

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How are you spending your Friday night? Whether it’s in a fog (literal or otherwise) or totally in the clear, hope you have a good one. Happy weekend, folks!

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Posted on November 30, 2012
Category: Life in Amsterdam · Labels: , ,

Sinterklaas’ warehouse

It may be Christmas in our house, but beyond these four walls, Sinterklaas rules. Though we opted not to join the parade welcoming him to Amsterdam from Spain (see last year’s photos), at this time of year, Sinterklaas and his sooty-skinned helper Zwarte Piet are inescapable.

Sint and his hardworking crew caught up with us during a weekend visit to Het Scheepvart Museum, the Maritime Museum. The museum officially serves as Het Pakhuis van Sint Nicolaas, or St. Nicholas’s warehouse, in the run-up to Sint’s big day on the 5th of December.

Scheepvaart-Het Pakhuis van Sinterklaas

Het Pakhuis van Sint is where kids of all ages can come to whisper their wishes to the Big Baas (boss) himself, and see where he stocks his presents.

Presents from Sinterklaas

Of course, where Sint is, his team of Zwarte Piets is sure to follow.

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The Pakhuis is where the Pieten meet and greet curious kiddies…

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hand out pepernoten (ginger spiced cookies), and generally do all sorts of fun stuff…

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with their special place to sleep and rest in between all that hard work.

Slaapkamer voor Pieten

Best of all: Sinterklaas’s very own steamboat is parked out back!

Sinterklaas boat

This is how Sint gets to Amsterdam from Spain, where he spends most of his year (I don’t blame him). If I wasn’t already set to fly home for my yearly dose of sunshine, I would be sorely tempted to stow away with Sint. Especially if there were pepernoten to sustain me on the journey.

Drop by over the weekend for more of our visit to the Maritime Museum, which is great for Amsterdam with kids (or kids at heart). And read this hilarious letter to Sint by British expat blogger Stu—so clever, it warranted a response from the Man himself!

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Posted on November 29, 2012
Category: Life in Amsterdam · Labels: ,

Minimalist Christmas

I have a confession: our Christmas decorations almost didn’t make it out of their boxes this year. Shameful for a Filipino, I know! Marlon and I are spending Christmas back home as we always do, so we won’t be here to enjoy the lights and decorations. Plus, we’re supposed to be packing up for our big move, which takes place as soon as we get back. So it seemed impractical to decorate the house.

In the end I couldn’t stand it. I needed to have something—anything!—to make the house feel a little more festive. We agreed on the bare minimum to make packing up easier. So out came our glass jar of pre-loved Christmas ornaments, which I first wrote about on MangoJuiced last year…

… and a string of rice LED lights, which I left massed haphazardly around the glass lamp on our steel cabinet. I kind of like the bareness of it.

The paper star lanterns, our parol substitute, went up in the windows…

and more rice lights were stuffed down our big vintage glass jar on the floor. I am not sure if this jar is going to make it to the new house, so I might as well enjoy it while I can.

And that’s about it. No Christmas tree, no wreaths, no centerpieces. It’s not much, but our minimalist Christmas decor should be enough to sustain me until Christmas in Manila… which is always maximalist anyway, so it balances out. I vow to make up for this next year!

Is it Christmas in your household yet? When do you put up your Christmas decorations?

3 Comments
Posted on November 28, 2012
Category: House & Spouse · Labels: ,

Date night: Gebroeders Hartering

One of the most common pieces of advice I’ve gotten during my pregnancy is not about being pregnant, but about life pre- and post-baby. In three words: “Do it now!”

Here, “it” is anything that’s bound to get more complicated after the baby comes—including mundane pleasures such as watching a movie, finishing a creative project, reading a book, or simply going out for a nice dinner. “It’s not that you can’t do those things anymore,” our parent friends have explained, “they just get harder.”

When we’re not traveling, Marlon and I are happy homebodies, so maybe we wouldn’t mind spending so much time at home, but we decided to take our friends’ advice and run with it. Thus, date night. From my list of must-try places, I chose Gebroeders Hartering, which I discovered via 70 Percent Pure.

My handsome date :)

It was the absolute perfect choice. Industrial details such as factory lamps and wood crates give the interiors a modern look, but cozy touches such as candlelight and wine bottles give it a warm, intimate atmosphere.

Gebroeders Hartering’s open kitchen is an unbeatable appetizer. Not only do you get to see the chefs at work, but you also smell the tantalizing aromas of the kitchen—such as the smell of rosemary and garlic from a slow-roasting porchetta that slayed me that evening. To tease you even more, a long butcher-block counter within the chefs’ reach displays the ingredients that will eventually end up in your meal… and your stomach!

Which brings me to the food.

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Posted on November 26, 2012
Category: Food & Drink, Life in Amsterdam · Labels: , , ,

Let’s do brunch in… Florence

Georgette Jupe is, as her blog says, a Girl in Florence. She’s also the girl who led us to our awesome Notte Bianca experience in Florence, by supplying the only English itinerary I could find online.

An American who’s been living in Florence since 2007, Georgette has a self-diagnosed obsession with food (as I would, if I lived in Italy!), making her a great fit for a guest post about, well, food. I like her blog’s local, not-your-typical-expat approach to everyday life in Florence: its food, wine, culture, humor, language and more. It’s a fun read, and a great resource for anyone Florence-bound—both travelers and immigrants (I won’t say tourists and expats!) alike.

So what does this Girl in Florence have to say about brunch in Florence?

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Posted on November 25, 2012
Category: Let's Do Brunch · Labels: , , , , , ,

Churros con chocolate

Odd fact about me: once or twice a year, I am struck with a debilitating craving for churros con chocolate. (The same thing happens to me with raw oysters.) I get really picky about it: the churros must be perfectly crisp and the chocolate hot, thick and not too sweet.

When I was living in Singapore, I couldn’t find any churros that passed muster. After enduring this craving for two long years, I finally had the chance to travel to Spain and enjoy them there. I haven’t had much luck with churros in Amsterdam either, so I pounced upon the opportunity to have them on my last day in Granada.

I’m starting to think perfect churros only exist in Spain. Maybe, like Icelandic horses, genuine Spanish churros aren’t allowed to leave the country.

Churros

Expecting graceful little loops of dough, Marlon and I sat down at a churreria on the Plaza Bib-Rambla and ordered two servings with chocolate. Boy, these churros gave me the shock of my life. They were immense. Like two huge bunches of bananas!

They were so big that we started giggling in embarrassment when the plate was served. People actually turned to stare; I’m sure they thought we were complete pigs. And we were. We finished every last one of those churros, because they were perfect: golden, crisp, light and airy.

Don’t even get me started on the hot chocolate.

Churros con chocolate

Goopy, rich, and perfect for dipping—the Spanish sure know how to make hot chocolate. One decadent cupful can almost make one forgive them for centuries of oppression. I kid, I kid.

This ends the week on a sweet note, but be sure to drop by on Sunday for this month’s installment of Let’s Do Brunch. Till then, have a great weekend!

2 Comments
Posted on November 23, 2012
Category: Food & Drink, Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , ,

Liebster Blog Award

I returned from Granada to find the nicest email from Gudy Herder of Eclectic Trends, who guest blogged here about brunch in Barcelona. She nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award, a blogger’s way of saying “You’re one of my favorites! Good job!” (Liebster is German for “favorite”). Thank you, Gudy!

With the Liebster Blog Award comes 11 questions from Gudy, and the duty to pass on the award to blogs with a relatively small following. So here goes…

*where do you live?

Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

*cat or dog?

Cat! Rogue is our favorite souvenir from Singapore.

*what do you love about blogging?

I love documenting my life, sharing good things, and telling stories. I love searching for the right words to capture a mood or feeling, and knowing that those words land somewhere. Only recently did I really get into the social aspect of blogging: the fun of connecting with friends all over the world.

*what is the most embarassing situation you ever had?

I’ve had many, but the one that comes to mind is when I was running down a slope towards the cafeteria in my high school. My best friend and I were holding hands and she was running too fast for me, so I let her go.

Then I rolled—yes, rolled—down the slope and landed flat on my face in front of the whole school! The previous weekend, I had just won a school pageant so all eyes were on me. Or at least it felt like it. I wanted to disappear.

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Posted on November 22, 2012
Category: Uncategorized · Labels:

The Alhambra: Colors and patterns

From yesterday’s post, you would think the Alhambra is all pale stone and gleaming serenity. But in reality, it’s full of two of my favorite things: color and pattern!

The most eye-catching surfaces are tiled with rich colors, and the Nasrid Palaces are full of them.

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Alhambra tiles and leather chair

I’m loving these many-pointed stars; I’ve been obsessed with stars lately and this is an unusual way to do them.

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Color and pattern are everywhere: on the walls, ceiling, floors, doors, windows. I can’t be sure, but it almost seems like no two patterned surfaces are alike.

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Even without much color, the carved surfaces compete for attention. Including inscriptions in praise of Allah, repeated over and over, the level of detail is just mind-boggling.

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To think that these were carved by hand, before there was a way to light spaces sufficiently—more than one master carver must have gone blind creating these works of art.

Alhambra niche carvings

Of course, why do just tiles or patterns when you can combine both?

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I mean, if you have an empire, more is certainly more.

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And heck, if that that’s not enough, just throw in a few kickass doors with an awesome nail-head pattern. Just because you can.

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Graceful serenity on the one hand, an explosion of color and pattern on the other. Can you see why the Alhambra is one of my favorite places in the whole world?

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Posted on November 20, 2012
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , , ,

Granada: The Alhambra

Alhambra is one of those magical places that never fade. Built as a defensive bastion in the 10th century, then transformed into a palace by both the Moors and their conquerors, the Catholic monarchs of Spain, al-Qalʻat al-Ḥamrāʼ , the red fortress, has truly lived up to its name. Standing proud throughout history, unbowed by time, and defying all forgetting, it is one of my favorite places in all the world.

I first visited the Alhambra in 2006 and have been unable to forget it since. That’s why I insisted that Marlon and I make the uphill trek (okay, I might have forgotten about that part) to see it despite forbidding dark clouds…

Granada view from Generalife

and later, despite pouring rain. But even the elements couldn’t diminish the Alhambra for me.

Patio de los Leones Alhambra rain

The dark gloom of storm clouds, the clatter of raindrops dripping off tiled roofs, the slick shine of water on marble floors, even the weak light of a rainy day may not be ideal for sight-seeing. But for memory-making, these imperfections are the catalyst that make a place come alive… and somehow, your own.

So you take it all in, damp scarf, cold hands, foggy camera lens and all, and vow to remember.

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Posted on November 19, 2012
Category: Wanderlust · Labels: , , , ,

Granada: Carrera del Darro

Right on the doorstep of our hotel in the Albayzin, a UNESCO World Heritage district with a medieval Moorish past, was the Carrera del Darro—a narrow, scenic path that runs along the Rio del Darro.

Granada Rio del Darro

Lined with centuries-old buildings, punctuated by picturesque stone bridges and paved with cobblestones, the Carrera del Darro is a lovely place for a stroll—especially in that magic hour before sunset, when the sun bathes everything with a sheer golden coat. As you can see, quite a few people seem to agree.

Granada Carrera del Darro

Remember this dress from my first trimester? Something about the colors and print just made it seem like something I should wear in Spain. Thankfully, it still fits and the peplum falls right over the bump.

Maternity style Week 23 Spain

So, come walk along the Carrera del Darro with me! And let’s see what we can find along the way.

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Posted on November 16, 2012
Category: Personal Style, Wanderlust · Labels: , , , , ,