Our very first home-grown radish! It was delicious!
I took some pictures of our friends house for AirBnB. Click here to check it out, if you’re ever in Haarlem or Amsterdam I recommend staying here!
My favorite picture of us. I’m thinking of framing it.
One of our dreams is to one day publish our own cookbook. Slowly we’re collecting recipes. As part of our research we rarely eat the same meal twice and we try to cook something new at least 4 times a week. This week we made this roasted parsnip and apple soup. Surprisingly tasty.
Every sunday a bunch of food trucks gather near our house and cook up delicious things. This sunday was curry, ravioli and quesadilla’s
Nick and the ravioli.
What do you call a food truck that serves drinks? A drink truck? A beer truck?
Nick never fails to make me laugh, even when I’m in the middle of a big gulp of beer.
Our friend has the best kitchen in the world and a house to match. Today we went over to her house to snap some pictures for her AirBnB profile. I’ll share the link with you as soon as it’s up. When you’re ever in Haarlem or Amsterdam, rent this house. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
Every time I miss a blogging deadline, which is often, I think about quitting this blog. I want to quit because I let myself and you down. But at the end of the day, I love blogging (and you) too much to quit. I believe in the power of blogging, sharing all that I love and building a tiny internet community filled with awesome people. And you know what, it’s all about showing up. So here I am. Posting a weekend link pack once again on a Monday night. Enjoy!
Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don’t know about. Limit your ‘always’ and your ‘nevers’ // Life advice from famous, painfully awesome women
Some Anthony Bourdain travel tips, because the man travels a lot // How to Travel
We were in Switzerland a couple of years ago but we didn’t capture it as perfectly as this girl has // Postcards from Switzerland
Amsterdam is a city most people visit for just a few days. For some people visiting Amsterdam is a spur of the moment decision, for others a trip they’ve been planning for a long time. Whatever kind of traveler you are, it can be hard to find your way around Amsterdam. There is so much going on: bikes everywhere, all those canals and don’t get me started on the language.
One thing we missed when we were traveling, was really knowing where to find the best brunch, bites or beers in the cities we visited. If you ever felt this way and you’re visiting Amsterdam any time soon, this one is for you. We made you an Amsterdam eatinerary. This eatinerary takes you out of the city center and into parts of Amsterdam that are not to be missed.
This place is very cool. It has an amazing breakfast/brunch menu, the service is outstanding and the food is beautiful. There is a queue outside and they don’t take reservations. We only had to wait ten minutes before we were seated but if you have to wait longer, do it. It’s totally worth the wait.
A Michelin-star chef who now does hot dogs. With a veggie option. They have a great terrace looking out over the canal and they serve champagne and gin & tonics.
Biertuin means beer garden. Which is exactly what this is: a garden filled with tables where they serve beer and good food. This is a spot where you’ll want to stay all evening so don’t make any other plans.
If you’re ever coming to Amsterdam and have any questions on where to stay, what to do and where/what to eat, don’t hestitate to send me a message!
[disclaimer: This piece is part of the momondo experiences series. Momondo asked us to find a unique local experience and to write about it. All opinions are our own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make Sparrow in Space possible]
Us, about a year ago at Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia.
We didn’t buy many souvenirs when we were traveling. As you can imagine, the little things we did buy have a lot of meaning and value to us. So when I dropped our Chinese tea cups yesterday and they broke into a million pieces, I was devastated. With the cups I saw our memories shatter across the floor. “How are we going to remember China without our teacups” I asked Nick in between tears. “I was going to drink tea from them forever”. Nick, who is glueing them together right now, said to me “Babe, we’ll always remember China, no matter what.” This story has nothing to do with this picture.
These links are for the weekend and the weekend is long over. But here they are anyway. Enjoy!
A really good blog post about how travel changes you, but not always like you expect it to happen // The End of the Road
(these pictures are taken with my iPhone because I forgot my camera, hence the quality)
Are you an Easter fan? I never really was. I didn’t like chocolate, eggs or bunnies when I was younger, so there wasn’t a whole lot for me to like about it.
Nick and I normally don’t ‘do’ Easter. But this year we figured we might as well enjoy it. And we did. We had such an incredible day. I wish for many many more days like this Easter. We spent the day strolling around a design/art and a food market in Amsterdam, where we had delicious homemade hotdogs and drank locally brewed beers. I even got a sunburn. Can you believe it? It’s only freakin’ April and I got a sunburn!
Looking back, I can’t tell you exactly why we had such an amazing time. Was it all the beer we drank? Was it the sun? Or was it all the delicious food? (look at me eating those nacho’s). All I know is I wish it was Easter every month!
These two. They melt my heart. Ever since we got back from our trip, Nick and our dog have been inseparable. They take long walks in the forest together and for the first time in six years, we have a dog that actually listens.
I hope you have an amazing weekend, filled with forest walks, sunshine and tranquility.
I love finding Ted Talks like this that really teach me something new and make me think things through. (I know that is the whole point of Ted Talks but today I watched one about sex in the animal world and all I learned was that ducks have a corkscrew penis) // We Need to Change the Way We Think About Changing the World
I lived in a shipping container turned student home for a few months. But that looked nothing like this // Shipping Containers
I’m a very picky croissant eater. I haven’t tried these yet but I’m hope they are yummy, making them soon. // How to Make Croissants
I had already picked out all the links for this For The Weekend, but then I saw this and I knew I had to add this. Incredibly inspiring. If there is only one link you should click, this is it. // The Story of Maggie Doyne
You know what? I’m going to be honest with you. The only reason I started this new style series is because I was looking for a way to show of my boots. I’ve been looking for the perfect boots for years. One late evening I stumbled upon these Frye boots and I fell in love. Shoes never fit me quite right, they’re always too wide or just uncomfortable. But these baby’s, it was like they were made for me. They fit so perfectly. So here I am, showing you my new boots. Aren’t they GREAT? Instead of buying a lot of clothes I’ve been looking to buy quality pieces that will last a long time and that are timeless. These boots, I hope, will last forever.
Oh and let’s not forget Nick. Nick is the most awesome guy I have ever met. This Christmas he got me a necklace and it is the greatest necklace ever. Why? Because he really got out of his way to get me something Angie-like. He succeeded.
What is the best piece of clothing you ever bought?
A dear friend gave us this cookbook Home Made Winter for Christmas and we love it. It’s not just a bunch of recipes, it’s a collection of things you need to know when making everything from scratch. We also own Home Made which tells you how to Home Make just about everything. It’s by a Dutch woman so it includes a lot of typical Dutch recipes. Such as this Ontbijtkoek-recipe.
Ontbijtkoek (click here for pronunciation) or pain d’epiche is literally translated breakfastcookie and it’s a lot like gingerbread. In Holland, people eat it for breakfast, lunch or as a snack. Because it’s kind of sticky, people eat it with butter.
We’d never made ontbijtkoek before, but we like how it turned out. Here’s our version of Ontbijtkoek. We altered the original recipe a bit. I like my ontbijtkoek spicy.
Ingredients
400 grams of self-raising flour
2 teaspoons of ginger powder
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of coriander powder
a pinch of allspice
a pinch of salt
200 ml of whole milk
100 grams of brown sugar (see note)
75 grams of honey
75 grams of maple syrup
Heat up your oven to 150°C. Butter up your baking tin.
Get out your mixing bowl and add all the ingredients. Mix it with a whisk until the batter is smooth. Pour it into your baking tin. When your oven is ready, put your Ontbijtkoek in the oven for about an hour.
When done, let it cool on a rack. Cooled down? Wrap it up to make sure it stays nice and sticky. As with most cakes, it’s better the day after baking so control yourself!
Note: This recipe calls for basterdsuiker. Basterdsuiker is a typical Dutch product. It is made by adding invert sugar and caramel to fine white refined sugar. This mixture helps to achieve certain textural structures and keeps baked goods moist. There are three varieties, white, brown and dark brown. Although there is some discussion about this, I’m of the opinion you can use muscovado sugar to replace it.
I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who loves to see how other people live. So , here are some pictures of our new house and of how we are living at the moment. We’ll keep you updated as we settle down and make this house our home.
When we left home to travel, a year and a half ago, we sold everything we owned. Thinking we would never come back, it seemed like the best thing to do. And it was. It still is. Letting go of all of your belongings is incredibly freeing and knowing you’re carrying around everything you own is scary and amazing at the same time.
A while back I wrote about starting over and how excited I was to invest in some great stuff for our home.The furniture you see in the living room pic is not ours, we only have a mattress at the moment. Turns out, you don’t need much. We don’t have plates and eat every meal shared on a big cutting board. It’s one of my favorite moments every day and we would never have had this moment if we would have had plates. Maybe I’m scared of buying a lot of stuff, because it makes the rooting-process so real. I believe that once you’ve traveled you will never live without travel anymore. It’s always there, that small voice in a tiny part of your brain. And when I feel stuck in life or work, it tells me to start looking for cheap tickets to one of our dream destinations (Mexico! I say. Skiing! says Nick).
When I started writing this blog post I was planning to write about our new house. So I’ll end with that. Here’s some quick info:
Six years ago, we walked by this street one day and I remember telling Nick ‘I wish we could live here’ and now we do.
Because of the skylight, the kitchen is flooded with light and I love being there.
We have enough space to transform one of the bedrooms to a home office! No more working on the floor! My back will be so grateful.
Our bedroom will be up in the attic. It’s going to be romantic as fuck.
Bathtub. ‘Nough said.
This house is a rental, so we won’t be doing any mayor renovations
Any thoughts? Anyone else who is sort of freaked out by how serious it feels to go shopping for a couch?
I love documentaries and wish I could make more time to watch some of these // 12 Documentaries
For all the Dutch people: Great affordable and organic shirts and sweaters // Geiten Wollen Shirts
Something I’ve been doing for a while, just not that radical – Radical Honesty
And some things I’m loving offline right now:
// blood oranges in ridiculous amounts
// riding my bike around town
// my amazing new boots (more on these soon!)
// Nick making great playlists of our iTunes library. He is like a cool underground indie dj nobody has ever heard of.
// working by candlelight
