The Holiday's

Sorry for our long absence from the blog. We hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and are surviving the build up to Christmas and the New Year. We will try to catch you up on what we have been doing this past month.

We celebrated our Thanksgiving together the Saturday after. We made a grocery run to the Kings Market near our apartment, which sells some "specialty" American and British food. There we were able to buy some stove top stuffing (for 4 euro a box!) and other ingredients that we needed to complete our Thanksgiving feast. They had frozen turkeys for sale, but we opted to go with a small chicken instead. The turkeys were about 27 euro for a 7lb bird. Way too much food for just the two of us and much too expensive. Plus, we were unsure how well our microwave/oven was going to do in roasting a whole turkey or chicken (turns out it did a fantastic job on our small whole chicken). The only ingredient that we were unable to find here were the fried onions for the top of our green bean casserole. We tried using some panko bread crumbs instead to give it some crunch, but it wasn't the same. I think we were both glad that we took the time to make a Thanksgiving meal and celebrate in our own way. This adventure has really shown us how lucky and thankful we are to have such a wonderful family and friends.

On the topic of being grateful, Tracy found a job just before Thanksgiving. She is going to be a nanny for 6 month old twins (a boy name Milan and a girl named Laia). It will be a full time job, but hopefully the schedule will be four 10 hour days, Monday-Thursday. The mom has some flexibility in working from home and wants to have some days with the kiddos by herself. They live four tram stops from us and right next to our gym. So it is really close and convenient. It will be a much different change of pace from what Tracy is used to. But the kids seem wonderful and she is very excited to once again be employed! She has worked a handful of days here and there since Thanksgiving and the family is now back in the U.S. for the holidays. But she will start full time in January after we are back from Paris.

Nick continues to enjoy his new office. His Dutch co-workers have taught him a few Dutch phrases to aid in his integration. He's made progress in many of the areas he had hoped to and is optimistic about finding the right new hire or two soon. 

We've had some beautiful days here earlier this month. It snowed off and on for a good week and a half, which made for some really pretty scenery. It has warmed up quite a bit, so now we're experiencing typical Seattle weather here. Rainy and dreary. We have noticed that it doesn't rain all day long here, like it can in Seattle. The rain will move in and then stop. 

Early morning snow fall.

We have done some more exploring of Amsterdam and the Netherlands. The other week we went out to dinner at Tempo Doloe. An Indonesian restaurant that was featured on Anthony Bourdain's tv show. We were very impressed. The waiter we had was really friendly and walked us through what we should order. We ordered a rice table (which is what they are famous for) and the ajam di boeloe (chicken in basil sauce). Both were delicious. The spicy dishes in the rice tables are no joke though. They are spicy! 

Two Saturday's ago Nick had his work Christmas party. It was quite a bit different than the corporate holiday parties in Seattle. It was a casual occasion held at a bar not too far from our apartment which made for a great way to get to know his co-workers outside of the office environment. Plus he walked away with a panini maker and an Ipod dock. Coupled with the open bar, he considered it a successful evening.

While Nick was at the Christmas party Tracy met up with Bridget, one of the ladies she has become friends with through Amsterdam Fit. Bridget lives in the Jordaan, a neighborhood located in Amsterdam to the west of all the main canals. They first went to a cocktail bar called Vesper. It was a really cute small space that specializes in nothing but cocktails. The cocktails were delicious! After Vesper they went to a cafe called Scout for a couple more drinks and some bitterballen (the perfect drinking snack). It was a very fun evening overall. 

Last Monday our ocean cargo shipment finally arrived. It actually got here earlier than we had expected. So that was a great surprise. Also a pleasant surprise, everything made it in one piece, despite some beat up looking boxes. It's great to have some of our stuff from back in Seattle. Mainly, sharp kitchen knives, the dutch oven, and warm winter running gear! Rocky is loving that "his" two big pillows have arrived as well. Now he has multiple beds in each room. He uses them all. Such a spoiled cat.

Some of our boxes that arrived.

We were ready to get into the Christmas spirit and had been toying with the idea of jumping on the train and heading to Cologne to check out the Christmas markets. As the weekend approached we just had too much going on to make the trip worth it. After a little research we discovered a Christmas market in Dordtrecht, a town in the Netherlands just outside of Rotterdam. We decided that we would take a small road trip Saturday afternoon to check it out. After talking to Bridget at AMS Fit Saturday morning she opted to join us for the festivities as well.

After a little more than an hour journey south in the car, some searching for the free park and ride, and waiting in line to catch the free shuttle bus, we finally arrived at the Kerstmarkt. We were definitely impressed by the size of the market and the crowds. It was located in a really pretty part of town as well. Most of the booths were lined up on the canals with gorgeous houses on the other side of the street. There was a wide range of stuff for sale in the booths. Some had cute crafts that people had obviously worked hard to make by hand. Other booths had stuff that you might expect to find at garage sales. It was fun just to walk around and take it all in. We of course, purchased some warm gluhwein to sip as we walked around.

One of the busy streets in the market.

The church in Dordtrecht. The market was centered around it.

In other news, we got our wedding pictures back earlier this month. If anyone is interested in them let us know and I can send you the link and password. Here's one of our favorites. Both sides of the family and ALL the kiddos. We love it!

We are sending out Christmas cards, but made the mistake of ordering them from Snapfish U.S. Apparently an international delivery can take up to 25 days. So our cards might be Happy New Year cards instead. But we haven't forgotten you!