A Week at a Time: Mar 19 - Mar 25, 2011

This past week was filled with new experiences as well as a renewed interest in cooking/baking. Before this week, I was starting to get bored with figuring out what to put on the table for dinner, but for some reason (maybe the abundance of sunshine or the plethora of other events), over the past week, being in the kitchen once again felt exciting.

On Saturday, we finally made it to the zoo, an outing I talked about here. The weather couldn't have been better and Mr. Traveler and I definitely enjoyed our time in the sun. My photo of the day was taken right after lunch as we passed the elephant enclosure. I think the elephant was hoping we would pass him a peanut. Later, we checked out the NEMO science museum and attended a wine tasting. 

Mar 19 - Elephant

On Sunday, Mr. Traveler was supposed to play a baseball game, but found out at the last minute the game had been cancelled because too many players were sick or out of town. For dinner, I cooked homemade vegetable lasagna with fresh pumpkin and zucchini. While I prepared the rest of the ingredients for the lasagna, I roasted the pumpkin seeds for a nice pre-dinner snack.

Mar 20 - Pumpkin Seeds

Monday, I had my first book club meeting in Amersfoort. I enjoyed walking around the city before the meeting and took this picture during my meanderings. 

Mar 21 - Reflections in Amersfoort

Tuesday, I tried to catch up on some of my blog entries and load pictures onto my computer. Rather late in the day, I gathered ingredients to make a soda bread and homemade quiche. Unfortunately, I was too anxious to eat to remember to take a picture before slicing into both items. This poorly focused picture was a last minute capture before the food was piled onto our places. 

Mar 22 - Homemade Bread

Wednesday, the weather was beautiful and I decided to take advantage and go for a walk along to Oudegracht. As I walked, I noticed som epeople in shorts and sundresses and others in coats and scarves. In the evening, Mr. Traveler and I walked to the park to get a better look at the lasers in the sky. Mr. Traveler took most of the pictures during our walk (after all, I do get to monopolize the camera during the week), but he let me snap this one before we left. I like how you can see the stars, the trees in the park, the surrounding buildings, and the lasers all in one shot.

Mar 23 - Sol Lumen

On Thursday, my busy week wasn't over. I met my friend M for a morning of disc golf across town. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the holes we invented going up and down the hills in the park. When I got home, I felt exhausted and my face felt dry and hot. I realized a few hours later that I actually had a bit of a sunburn, an occurrence I hadn't even thought about for months. Even though my cheeks were just barely pink, it was enough to make me feel a little worn down. I laid around for a little while until it was time to go to the grocery store to buy ingredients for tacos. Mr. Traveler stopped at the wine store and brought home a surprise bottle of wine, pictured below with the wine journal we've started keeping.

Mar 24 - Wine and Wine Journal

Somewhere in the midst of this busy week, I found out that my brother and his wife were planning a trip for the following week (they arrived yesterday). I ordered an air mattress for our guests to use, and it was due to arrive on Friday between 9am and 5pm. I spent the morning and most of the afternoon waiting on the delivery, which finally came around 2:30. Then, I ran to the store to pick up some extra glasses, bowls to replace the non-microwavable ones that we microwaved too many times, and an extra key for our house. As I walked back home, I noticed the beautiful flowers blooming on the trees down our street. I took the camera outside and captured the following image -- a pretty picture to wrap up a pretty awesome week.

Mar 25 - Tree Flowers