I am from Amsterdam.

Posted on January 29, 2013 by laravangemert

Big news in the Netherlands: our Queen will abdicate the thrown and her son and his wife will be our new King and Queen. From next year onwards, we will no longer have our famous and beloved Queen’s Day, but we will celebrate… King’s Day! I’m sure this celebration will be as festive and orange as it has been the previous decades 😛

Since this is a post about the Netherlands, also known as Holland, I will make use of the opportunity to explain the difference between these two names for my small country :-). I am sure that the majority of Dutch people living abroad struggle with this dilemma as well: am I from the Netherlands, or from Holland? I prefer to say: I am from Amsterdam (sounds much cooler hehe).

So… for once and for all: WATCH & LEARN!

Juice diaries – part I

Posted on January 24, 2013 by laravangemert

My Christmas present: a juicer. I have never made juices in my life before. But is sounds really really healthy. So here’s the result of my first week of juicing… And I’m starting to like my new ‘lifestyle’. CRAZY OF JUICING 🙂

JUICE 1 – 2 apples (red delicious), 2 peaches, 2 grapefruits

JUICE 2 – 1 melon, 1 mango, mint

JUICE 3 – 1 apple (red delicious), 1 beet, 4 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, ½ cucumber, ginger

JUICE 4 – 3 tangerines, blueberries, 4 golden kiwi, 2 mangoes, ginger

JUICE 5 – 1 fennel, 3 carrots, ½ cucumber, red pepper, 3 stalks of celery, broccoli, ginger

JUICE 6 – 1 grapefruit, 2 oranges, 1 mango, 1 apple (red delicious)

JUICE 7 – 450 gram strawberries, 2 oranges, 2 red apples (red delicious)

Sightseeing in TO

Posted on January 24, 2013 by laravangemert

Sometimes it feels like we have to do some more sightseeing in Toronto, so on a Saturday we took the car and drove through the city. We made one cultural stop WOOHOO, and went to Casa Loma (casaloma.org). You wouldn’t expect a castle in the city, on a hill overlooking Toronto! This had to be celebrated with a cocktail hehe.

A woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do. Meanwhile, still on my mission to discover all the best places in Toronto, so hereby an extension of my list of favourite spots. Great restaurant: Weslodge (wedlodge.com), coffee/lunch: R2 (blogto.com/cafes/r-squared-cafe-toronto) and Neuf (leneufcafe.com), interior design on Queen Street West: Design Republic (mydesignrepublic.com) and Stylegarage (stylegarage.com). More interior on King Street East and in Liberty Village: West Elm (westelm.com). Last but not least, fashion: Lavish & Squalor (lavishandsqualor.com). (EN)JOY!

Visitors in Toronto!

Posted on January 10, 2013 by laravangemert

During the Holiday season we had some special guests visiting us in Toronto. What do you show your family and good friends as a real Torontonian? Let’s be honest… after three months of living here we should know!

It is worth the 1.5-hour drive from Toronto to the Niagara Falls to watch these specials falls at the border of Ontario, Canada and New York State, USA. Furthermore, a trip to Canada isn’t complete without visiting an ice hockey game, the most popular sports game of the country. And despite the strike of the Toronto Maple Leafs the men enjoyed a game of the Marlies. Beer and hotdogs, YAY! For our need of culture, we visited the Royal Ontario Museum (rom.on.ca), Canada’s largest museum of world culture. Living in the same country as the Aboriginals makes it worth learning more about them and their lifestyle.

After celebrating New Years Eve with our Dutch AND Canadian friends in Czehoski (czehoski.com), one of our favourite bars in Toronto, it was time to get into our rented mini-van and go to… Haliburton! In Haliburton we resided in a resort, and blessed with snow and sunshine we discovered a new part of Canada by walking and dog sledding. WOOHOO!!