International feast

I've been putting this post off because it's really the last one I have from The Netherlands. I've been back 3 weeks now but it feels like 2 months. So here's my last goodbye to European life, with a post about our goodbye party/international feast. 

All the interns met at Emanuele's place in Delft and we each brought something from our home country.

I ended up making 7-layer dip (with weird taco seasoning in the beans and jong kaas because I couldn't find cheddar or any Mexican cheese blend, unsurprisingly) and my addictive corn salsa. Here's Sarah and Øystein gobbling it up.

And we barely saved room for the tons of other food. Seriously, there was sooo much food.

JJ, who's from Chicago but has some Filipino blood, made Adobo chicken and eggs.

Adista made Indonesian peanut sauce that I could eat all day on top of anything. I don't know if that linked recipe will come even close, but it's worth a try for the most delicious sauce imaginable.

 Øystein said Norway has a lot of salted meats and fish, so he made us a great salad instead. I've actually made it a couple times since I've been home. It's got spinach, avocado, sunflower seeds, cherry tomatoes, roasted red bell peppers, feta cheese and olive oil/balsamic vinegar.

Nuno's Spanish omelette.

Emanuele made some gnocchi and Giuliana made sangria (which isn't really Italian, but she's spent some time in Spain), but I didn't get any photos of those because I was too busy eating. But here's them arguing in Italian because Emanuele let us drink the vino Giuliana was going to use for the sangria. And I understood the whole conversation. Proud?

And to top it all off, JJ and I introduced them all to S'mores! I hadn't thought about it before, but that's very American, one of those things they'd only seen in movies. This might be because they don't have Graham crackers in Europe. I had to buy them at an ex-pat shop for something like $10 a box.

 JJ was an excellent (and graceful) marshmallow roaster.

Here's everyone stuffed (we also had some desserts made by Nancy and Sarah) after all the food, yet still not quite as stuffed as we were in that office. Is it strange that I kind of miss that place?

Cookin' kuchen

When my parents visited me in The Netherlands, my dad was hoping to find some kuchen, a German cake that his grandmother used to bake. He didn't have much luck, so for his birthday earlier this week, I found a recipe and made it in lieu of a birthday cake. And I don't know whether it tasted like his grandma's, but it tasted good enough that I've been asked to make it again for Easter (yes, we already ate the whole thing).

It's Cinnamon Swirl Kuchen, which is basically a coffee cake and those brown spots are cinnamon, not burns, I promise. The cinnamon and sugar I put in it remind me of the time I thought I had invented a soup. But it was really just sugar and cinnamon and room-temperature water. I wouldn't recommend it.

And even though this is a really crumby picture, I just wanted to show how it somehow magically swirled! I put it in as layers and it came out swirly!

Here's the recipe, if anyone's interested. I'm trying it with a glaze this time.

Holland's tulips (and other flowers)

I know I'm back in the States now, but I can't not post photos of the huge garden in The Netherlands: Keukenhof. It's only open from the end of March to the end of May, so I was just barely there long enough to see it.

Pretty, right?

Flower fields.

JJ and the giant tulips.

Don't you just love springtime?

Amy's baby shower

My nephew will be coming in less than a month, so on Sunday, we threw my sister, Amy, a baby shower. Well, mostly my mom and Amy's friend, Stephanie, threw the shower. I'm just a great supervisor.

Isn't this cake great? Stephanie made it and all the other desserts.

And my mom made these cute owls to go with the centerpieces. I take credit for the idea, though. I'm the ideas girl.

My sister (and my mom apparently telling a story or scolding someone)

My brother...

Stephanie's husband cutting up the precious cake and Tyler (Amy's husband/baby daddy) getting sick of my paparazzi skills.

Amy and Logan

The soon-to-be parents, Tyler and Amy (with a delicious cheesecake bite)

My mom, Amy and Stephanie

Presents!

Overall, I think it went well. Now I'm just ready for the baby to get here! I'm sure Amy is, too.

Paris: Eiffel Tower

This past week has been nice and busy. I got home after a looong flight on Thursday, spent some time with my family and came to Houston for some job interviews. Now it's back to DFW to prepare for my (very pregnant) sister's baby shower!

But I do still have some more photos to show you, so here's probably the last bit of Paris. On the Saturday night I was there, Henry and I went to the Eiffel Tower and decided I couldn't go to Paris without going up to the top. That meant waiting in line for about an hour while pushy salesmen tried to sell us tchotchkes. And then another 45 minutes waiting to go up in the elevators.

But I'd say the view was worth it. 

Arc de Triomphe from above

And as we left (about 2 hours after getting in line), we were just in time to see the sparkles one last time.

Afterward we headed to the Moulin Rouge area for a late dinner and crepes. And I got a disgusting blister on the bottom of my foot from my worn-out Converse.