Den Haag

Den Haag , a set on Flickr.


I figured since I'm not friends with my mom or dad on Facebook (Mom, Mother's day is coming up!!!) I would post some pictures for their enjoyment! 

Bon Appetit

Well nothing interesting has happened to me lately. Except that I went to make my sister's chili today even though she refuses to give me her recipe (Melissa seriously it's been over a year...I'll send you my address) so I went to the grocery store (that doesn't carry popcorn so I wouldn't label it as a grocery store) and went in search for some chili-like ingredients. Being the chef that I am (okay I'm at least better than Chelsea Farrall and her cottage cheese and ramen noodle mixture) I figured I didn't need a recipe so I just picked out some beans, corn, onions, peppers, spices, and tomato paste because I faintly remember a recipe on Pinterest involving that. Now time for the meat. Oh great I forgot I can't read Dutch. Let me whip out my iPhone and get on google translater. Ugh I remember I don't have wifi. These first world pains are really getting out of control. So I just pick a meat like substance hoping for the best. I go back to my apartment expecting to make this world-renowned chili because I'm afraid the people at the Gyros place are going to start asking me "You want the usual?" when I walk in. But who could blame me because their sandwiches are heavenly.

I'm trying to limit myself to 4 times a week. It's going to be a struggle. 

So I start cooking the meat (which actually turned out to be beef says Google translator!) and adding the onions and really patting myself on the back for how it's looking. Then I figured I was doing such a good job I would just kind of add everything in the pot because that's what my sister does. After I added the tomato paste things just were not looking good. I start to panic and go back on Pinterest to see what I did wrong.  

Ingredients:

• 3 cans (14 – 15 oz each) black beans
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 diced chipotle chili pepper (canned in adobo sauce) or a pinch of ground chipotle chile powder
• 1 – 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb very lean ground beef (less than 10% fat)
• 1 medium red onion, very finely diced
• 1 tbsp regular chili powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp ancho chile powder
• Pinch ground chipotle chile powder
• 2 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 cups beef stock or 1 (15 oz) can beef broth
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Besides me missing a "few" ingredients I quickly realized I made two major mistakes. "2 tbsp tomato paste". Two. Tablespoons. I just added an entire can of tomato paste to my chili. 

Besides that unfortunate mishap I thought eh, it will still taste fine. Then I realized I forgot the beef broth. This turned out to be a major ingredient. So I leave the apartment in search of beef broth, after first peeking out of the kitchen to see if my roommates' doors were open and then casually sprinting past their rooms with the offensive pan of tomato paste chili to hide in my room so they wouldn't see. Once I was in the clear and out the door, I remembered it was 7:30 and all stores close at 6 p.m. While this was extremely inconvenient, I figured Friends convenience store would definitely have beef broth! After searching endlessly for beef broth and realizing they weren't as convenient as they made themselves sound, I come across a can of whole tomatoes. A-ha! This will definitely make it better. So I sprint back to my apartment holding a single can of whole tomatoes, just so excited to finally enjoy some chili on this blustery day! I retrieve the tomato paste concoction from my room, and add the can of tomatoes to the pot. At this point I realized I really needed something to make the chili more liquified (like I don't know, beef broth) and I faintly remembered a Pinterest chili recipe involving spaghetti sauce. Crossing my fingers, I added some spaghetti sauce thinking it would be my saving grace. Then I looked at my dinner and realized I would be eating a can of tomato paste with a few beef crumbles, some beans here and there, and a couple corn kernels. 

So I threw it all in the trash and ate a bowl of bran cereal. Next time I think I'll follow a recipe...or get a gyro. 

RAVENS WIN THE SUPERBOWL

THE STREETS WERE PACKED, PEOPLE WERE DANCING ON TOP OF CARS, A STEADY BALTIMORE CHANT COULD BE HEARD ECHOING THROUGHOUT THE STREETS, HELICOPTERS WERE CIRCLING OVER HEAD!!!!!! Okay not really. This is a more accurate depiction of how much the Super Bowl means in the Netherlands.

 If you're a Ravens fan put your hands up!!!!

 But I do have to say after asking the people who were even watching the game who they were rooting for, they said the Ravens (after first answering they didn't care)!!!! At least we all know my mom was having a good time.

And while I wish I was in Baltimore for this fantastic night, celebrating with people who know our quarterback's name, at least the fun meter made its first appearance in the Netherlands. And I successfully converted Broncos fans to Ravens fans (notice the purple shirt?! oh yea) GO RAVENS! 

Dang you karma

*Scratch scratch scratch*
This is the sound I heard yesterday as I was making a delicious (if I do say so myself) dinner of salmon, broccoli, and sweet potato. Which is oddly similar to the sound my family would hear when Walter #1 was living in the couch. There is, without a doubt, a rat living in our kitchen. I don't know if it's funny, ironic, karma biting me in the @$$, or all of the above that yesterday I was making fun of Sarah and Maddie for having a rat in their apartment and now here I am with my very own pesky little problem. Maybe I really am the pied piper.

I think I'm going to pursue Photoshop as a career path.  

Three not so blind mice

As we all know, I have had (R.I.P. Walter #2 and Gus Gus!) two pet rats.

Honestly, could they get any cuter?!

That must mean I loooooove when I see a wild rat crawling around an apartment!!! I'm like the pied piper! False. Yesterday, Sarah, Maddie and I were just trying to enjoy a nice movie when out of the corner of my eye I see a little mouse crawl across the floor.  Now, if you don't know the story about my first pet rat, Walter #1, I will try to sum it up. Here is a rough timeline of what occurred not even 24 hours after bringing home Walter #1 from the pet store (where the worker asked if I was going to feed him to my snake. Rude!) 

• Playing with my new pet ratty, who will be referred to right now as Walter, and feeding him peanuts. 
• Walter crawls off my lap and starts exploring the couch. Who am I to stand in the way of a young ratty exploring?!
• I look away for a single second and turn back to see the tail of Walter disappearing in the couch
• Oh he is just under the cushion! Let me get him before he runs away *lifts up cushion*
• Walter is nowhere to be found
• Panic sets in
• I see a little hole in the couch, and realize that Walter is literally inside the couch
• I place a few peanuts by the opening to lure Walter out
• He peaks his head up to sniff them and then goes back down inside the couch. Guess I fed him too many peanuts -__-
• Start to feel sick as I realize I am going to have to cut out the entire bottom of the couch
• My mom comes down the stairs to find me sweating, hair in a mess, with the couch on its side, and a hole in the bottom
• "You lost your rat didn't you"
• Oops.
• Solution: put couch outside because he will want to go back to his natural habitat
• Bring couch back in after a couple days because Walter is definitely gone
• Get two new ratties!!! Walter #2 and Gus Gus. Can you believe my mom and dad let me get not one, but two more rats?! Me either. 
• All is well in the Darmody household
• A week later and all is definitely NOT well as my mom claims something is nibbling her butt every time she sits on the couch
• "You are crazy mom" say me and my sister as we make faces at each other and laugh
• Another week goes by with my mom claiming Walter #1 is definitely alive and living in the couch, and complaining she can't sleep because she has nightmares of Walter #1 running rampant in our household
• Think about checking my mom into a mental institution 
• A few nights later as I am watching TV, to my surprise I see Walter #1 scamper across the floor with a smug look on his face, almost as if he is mocking me:

Try and catch me now, owner!

• I call in reinforcements and my sister and I get our lacrosse sticks (why?) 
• "We've got you now Walter #1!!" we say as we laugh to ourselves
• But at this point Walter #1 is wise to our plans, and doesn't show himself until we give up
• By now it has been over three weeks and now I'm starting to have nightmares about rats crawling in my bed
• We decide to put the couch up on buckets because then Walter #1 would have to come down for food but wouldn't be able to get back up
• HA! we finally outsmarted a rat
• Then one night I am watching The Office and hear the worst squeal in my entire life, as if a rat was stuck in a trap (nice analogy right?)
• I got my sister and we shined a light in the sun room with the couch (now conveniently renamed the Rat Room) and saw Walter #1 finally caught
• I sprint upstairs to get my dad because at that point Walter #1 was just a once pet rat for less than 24 hours, turned into a scheming, wild rat who was causing emotional distress in our family 
• I never saw Walter #1 again after that

So immediately when I saw that dang rat run across their apartment floor I got flashbacks of rats nibbling my mom's butt and sleepless nights. Hopefully this time we can catch him before he causes too much emotional damage. As of right now, no luck. 

MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED

Today I actually made it to orientation! I got a feel for my new school (only two buildings...doesn't have anything on college park!) and met some new people. 

The Ovaal 

BUT THAT IS NOT WHY MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED. As February 3rd looms closer and closer, and the amount of TVs I come across dwindles every day, my heart starts to break at the thought that I actually might miss watching the Super Bowl. While I'm pretty sure I could stream it live on my computer, I don't think my roommates would appreciate me yelling and screaming at 4 in the morning when we win. Which we will. Then a nice Portuguese man told us that O'Casey's, an Irish pub not too far from where we live is hosting a huge Super Bowl party! Biggest free Super Bowl party in Holland! Phew. Now I have somewhere to wear my Ravens shirt and fun meter. It's going to be a gRAYt night filled with tons of memoRAYs (see what I did there?).CAW! 

Help me I'm poor

          Yesterday me and my two roomies decided we would try and get some groceries to fill our mini fridge. Yes mini fridge. About three cartons of eggs can fit in this mini fridge. Maybe a bottle of ketchup. A mini bottle. Regardless, we needed food so we went to the grocery store down the street and I filled my cart with the smallest items possible. I went to pay with the "international" credit card my dad had given me to use specifically in Europe since I spent all my cash on my "essential items" (wine, towels, and a hair straightener). I went to type in the pin number on the keypad and saw it was all in Dutch but I just typed away anyway, not knowing what it was asking for. I clearly don't know Dutch so it could have been telling me a joke for all I know. The cashier just gave me a weird look when the machine started beeping and looked at my card and told me that card wouldn't work. I was tempted to just sneak a piece of bread because I was that hungry, but then I remembered what Les Miserables and Aladdin taught us.

So I had to leave my beloved groceries behind, and go back to my apartment with empty hands and an empty stomach. All day I just wandered around feeling like Annie in Bridesmaids.