Sweet Mornings before the noisy little people wake up

Nooks

I used to have a blog, called Nook and Burrow.  It was my blog from when I lived in Michigan and really loved that I had an outlet to share all of my favorite "nooks" in either my house, or others'.  I no longer keep that active, but I wanted to continue to share a few of my favs from our new house.  Mila & Rémi's rooms.  

First up, Mila's:

And Rémi's little space:

Two years ago, Mila made this for Rémi's 2nd birthday 

Let's EAT

Mangia bene, ridi spesso, ama molto.

There is something about cooking and food that just brings us together and makes us happy.  I'm dedicating this post about making new friends over food and using what you have already to be creative in the kitchen.  Even when you are not feeling it.

It took me about 1 month of being here before I met James Simonelli.

He's my friend and he's an amazing cook.  James is a husband to his beautiful wife, Charlotte, a busy dad of adorable Kindergarten twins, Michael (who's in my daughter Mila's class) and Caroline and also an expat, like us.  He moved here from New Jersey. Which made it the first reason I knew I was going to like him.  Then, I learned that he was 100% Italian...from all "4 sides".  At this point I knew this guy could probably work his way around la cucina.

Aside from keeping super busy co-managing the home-front with Charlotte, he apparently is now running half marathons and oh, also just started his own Italian / American / Fusion cooking courses which he leads from his home.  Ask me what I did today?  (I'm shrugging my shoulders)

Well, I signed up for three of his classes with 5-6 other people.

1) Fast, Fresh and Easy
2) Breads, Pizza and Pasta
3) Desserts

As it turns out, this guy does know his way around the kitchen and has a passion for food that is equal to how important it is to love your kids.  To James, why wouldn't we care about what we put into our bodies?  Why shouldn't it be fun?  We all must source, create and feed.  Make it fun and beautiful.  It is a representation of who we are and what we stand for.

Here are a few reasons why I really dig his philosophy around cooking:

- It's personal.

- It's inspiring.  I think it's always great to see what other people love and do well.  It gives us inspiration and ideas to incorporate new things into our lives!

- He believes that if you invest your time / money / energy to buy only the best of ingredients, it's really difficult to mess it up.

- He learned from his family.  I should mention that I met his Aunt Claudia recently. She visited the NL for a couple of weeks and I got to talk to her quite a bit on the playground.  I kept thinking to myself that she reminds me of an aunt, a cousin, a teacher...someone that I know.  She's a cool lady. Turns out, she's from the great state of Michigan.  I knew she was great peeps.  ; )

- He taught me how to really use my leftover stuff to make a great meal.

The last point made me think more about the way I always seem to cook.  I am in a food rut.  We all have a style, don't we?  I love food and I do love to cook, but I realized that I would make a great list of a few things I wanted to make in a week.  Maybe I got my inspiration from a blog, a friend, my mom, a magazine, one of my recipe books or it was one of my 10 stand-bys.  I would turn up the music, feel all Giada, Ina, Martha, Nigella.  I would pour a glass of vino, make my creation, eat with my family and feel all satisfied.

Then, the next day would be a sad mess in the fridge of what ended up being a bunch of left over chicken breasts, half-gingers, limes...maybe 1 red pepper.  Anyway, I'm not proud of it, but I have always been horrible and looking within the fridge for leftover inspiration.  Don't get me wrong, we eat leftovers ALL the time, but usually it's literal left overs.  The exact.same.thing we ate last night, warmed up and served on a plate (usually with less music, Giada-ness and vino).  It was passé, it was yesterday.  Daaahhhling, it distracts from the NOW.

But seriously, all it took for me was this one Fast, Fresh and Easy class with James and it was such a wonderful reminder that I could throw some quinoa or rice with those lazy, last-meal chicken, lime, ginger ingredients in the fridge, splash on some soy sauce and I had a great, fresh and easy meal.  Day 2.

It doesn't have to be all day cooking to be good.   And friendships don't always have to be life long to be genuine.

Thanks James.

Now, look at these!

BBQ Drumsticks

James

Fruit filled Pannenkeuken (Dutch Pancakes)

Salmon Rolls

One of those quinoa, leftover, soy sauce amazing dishes 

Perfection

Nut brittle

Aunt Claudia!

James & Colleen

Bikes

This post took a little bit of observation and research and weeks of just snapping photos of various bikes around town.  And while I said before that this blog is not a The Netherlands 101 Guide, it is quite hard to not post about one of the single most important cultural references in Holland.

Bikes.

My belief is that Dutch cycling is truly a representation of the Dutch people themselves.  Practical, ecological, "outdoorsy"; biking is not only a mode of transportation.  It's a philosophy.

Bikes here are like Midwestern farmers.  They work hard and are friendly.

They bike.  Rain, snow, sleet or shine.

There are 16.6 million people in this country and 16.5 million bikes with 99.1% of people who cycle.
The average distance cycled per person per day is 2.5 km.

This is a land of bikes and I wanted to share some of the different types of bikes I see.

So, so here it goes.

fiets = bikes.

bakfiets = box bikes (2, 3 and 4 wheeled)

omafiets = granny bikes
opafiets = grandpa bikes

lightweight go cycle bikes

beach cruisers

cheetah bikes

happy bikes

pizza delivery bikes

dead bikes

rental bikes

beer bikes

bike parking lots

A lot of bikes here, especially in Amsterdam are shit bikes (yes - you read that right) = these are bikes that are 4th hand, stolen bikes that have been painted a dozen times over.

Where do these bikes sleep at night?

Let me just say that the Dutch are not like the Americans.  Each bike here does not have a beautiful garage rack, or all of the 27 different accessories / gadgets that we Americans love to pimp our ride with.

Dutch bikes are parked against a wall, chained and the lucky "elite" ones, get a small shed to cozy up next to the lawn mower in.  Rust is a badge of honor.  If bikes are too clean / perfect, the owner looks like a dork.  Or the bike is stolen.

Dutch people (in my observation) also do not prep themselves in gear head to toe to go for a bike ride.  They don't buy special shoes, special Lance Armstrong outfits and (gasp), they don't wear helmets.  Last one, I don't condone.

Women don't seem to slather themselves in sunscreen, take backpacks, water bottles for each member of the family and snacks for their kiddos on the back.  It defeats the purpose of "riding free".

Now, I should qualify this by saying that there are performance riders here.  These guys are usually the ones who are "out with the guys" on a Saturday or who have a super long commute and riding fast "Armstrong style" (speed in KPH, not the drugs) just want to get to work quickly.

My bakfiets, or "Clementine" as my friends here have coined her, is probably frustrated that an American is her mama.  I'm not hard core and practical has never been an adjective that is used to describe me.  I don't use her as my sole source of transport.  I mostly walk, since we live in town and then on really windy or cold days, I bust out the car too easily to pick up the kids from school.

The kids love her.

Hold on tight Clementine, spring has sprung and we've been riding her again.

I do believe there is actually a blog or two out there dedicated only to Bikes.  Lovely Bicycle is my favorite because she has a perspective and an artistic lens.

I'm also partial to The Croatian Bear.  A bike with his own FB following.  Hardcore, mysterious and bad ass.  What an awesome bike.  Just like the dude who developed it.  ; )