Bikini Challenge- Part 3

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I failed miserably and thought ah to f*ck with it!

However...... I just tried on my bikinis and I will need to do something about all that extra flab or my mother-in-law is going to end up looking heaps better than me 0_0

From tomorrow onwards:

i) All-bran cereal for breakfast
ii) Rye bread/ ham/ smth boring for lunch
iii) Salmon or smth for dinner
iv) Snacks will be cherry tomatoes or similar

Ugh. I effing hate limiting myself.

The World Cup and Sunny Weather

= not a lot of cooking. We get a lot of takeaways, barbecues (about 4 times last week!), drink copious amounts of rosé and the occasional dinner out for me (girlfriends and what-not).

I am pretty excited about our holiday next month. We just CANNOT wait anymore. The Dutchman in particularly is feeling quite stressed over work and needs a holiday. I am technically, already on holiday. No more school, although I still work part-time (but that's only for 5-20 hours a week and even that is over next week!). Speaking of work, I introduced a classmate to my employers and I am somewhat torn about it. I want them to have childcare during the 6 months I'm away but I also want a job when I come back! I have been with one family for almost 3 years, have a great relationship with the little girl and am also paid exceedingly well. Now, I'm giving this away to my classmate. I guess I'm just being selfish. If it works out for them and they choose to keep my classmate, it just means I'm not good enough and that would ultimately be my fault so can't blame anyone!

 Roast Chicken Breasts

Back to the Holland-Slovakia match, bye!

HUP HOLLAND HUP

Dinner at the Fushion Food Bar in Arnhem

Bread with a garlic dip and crushed pistachios

Starter: Vitello Tonato (disappointing)

Rack of Lamb with Middle Eastern Spices with couscous and Lebanese Ketchup (this was my favourite)

American Carrot Cake (again, quite disappointing. Even the one from Starbucks is loads better!)

Dinner with the Girls

at... *drum roll* Humphrey's AGAIN.

I am so bored with that place but the price is unbeatable. Food was a disappointment this time. However, the fault is ours as we were late and had an hour to chomp down 3 courses (in NL, dinners out take the whole evening). We kept badgering them to bring the food, as our boat was to due to leave at 7.30p.m.

Starter- Carpaccio

Main- leg of lam with glazed carrots

Dessert: Marinated Pineapple with Limoncello Sabayon

Happy!

I'm going to do my internship at a Fortune 500 company back home:) Very happy!

We did not have a paper today so to celebrate the weekend, I threw a little tea party after a paper yesterday for a few girlfriends.

 Strawberry Tart

Yummy Greek Yoghurt Tart (both the strawberry and this tarts are from de Bijenkorf)

Farmer's apple pie for the unadventurous ones (in the end, no one wanted this one!)

In a Bind

I have an offer from a company in Australia. The company is tiny. It will not look good on my CV and I am not really interested. However, the place it is situated in, is absolutely gorgeous. My school is pushing me to take this one as it will fulfill my one-semester abroad requirement plus it's one of their usual clients.

I have 2 offers in Malaysia, both are internationally recognized. However, one pays nothing and the other is not a definite offer just yet. Money is not a problem as interns usually get paid RM200-RM800 per month which is nothing in euro. My student grant will cover my stay in Malaysia. The problem is: doing my internship in Malaysia means I will have to go abroad (probably somewhere boring like Belgium) next year and I am hoping for a really big company like IBM, Shell or Unilever (getting those companies mean staying in Malaysia would be worth it). That said, I only started applying there today as I was concentrating on other countries. I doubt I'll receive a reply by tomorrow. 

I need to give the Australian company a definite offer by tomorrow at the very latest. :-(

I have nothing but the leftovers because of this last-minute administrative issue. The other students applied in December and all the good ones are gone already.

Please let me get a good internship:/

O Mundo in Wageningen

Dutchman surprised me with some gorgeous flowers this week

There's this new uhm.. event (for lack of better word) called Dining With The Stars. It basically allows you to dine at a Michelin star restaurant for about 1/2 the price of a usual meal there. Dinner at a 1-star Michelin restaurant will cost just 50 euro p.p (without drinks) for a 5-course meal from June 7th-June 13th. Initially, we reserved a table at Het Koetshuis. However, June 7th-13th is exam week for me so I thought I'd better cancel!

To make it up, we decided to have dinner at another Michelin star restaurant. O Mundo in Wageningen is very reasonably priced (52.50 euro p.p for 5 courses so almost the same price as the discounted dinners. A normal meal at a Michelin star restaurant is 80-120 euro) and not too faraway from home.

Pre-dinner (aperitif: rosé cava)

Amuse #1: truly my favourite out of everything we had, such a simple ingredient but SO amazing: a cherry tomato with a hard glaze, black sesame seeds and who knows what. I really should take notes next time.

A posh take on the kroket: made from Iberico pig

Smoked salmon ( I think) with quail eggs, poffertje and some really yummy vegetables. The green lump on the left is guacamole, the yellow bit on the right is parsnip puree and the orange/yellowish sauce in the middle is some kind of onion thing (my favourite).

Second course: a shrimp mousse with who knows what. It tasted good. The prawns were definitely fresh. Served with a German riesling (I think)

Cod with a nut crust, very yummy vegetables. This was nice but boring. Plus, we were quite sick of seafood by then.

Main: Duck with some kind of duck pastry, black lentils, glazed carrots and a butter mustard sauce. Beautifully done. Paired with a really fragrant Portugese red wine which I really enjoyed.

Pre-dessert: coffee creme brulee. Very good. Best creme brulee I ever had.

Dessert: Local raspberries with riesling cream, cruesli, and riesling ice cream.

Coffee & Sweets

Total bill: 175 euro (Dutchman did not drink wine, only the 1 glass of cava before dinner)

All in all: a great dinner but I prefer the Schultenhues because the Schultenhues is more innovative. O Mundo on the other hand just makes simple dishes with premium ingredients. Service at O Mundo was less stiff which is nice. However, it's also less polished (for example, the waitress took away out pre-dinner snacks which were still more than half-full without asking). Would I go there again? Probably. It is reasonably priced (compared to other Michelin restaurants) and the food is tasty enough. This would be a good place to take someone who isn't into weird-sounding combinations.