Swimming in the canal

It's of course not news that the Dutch are not afraid of the water. Not of ice-cold water, not of murky water, not of muddy water. They start the year by taking a dip in the ever freezing North Sea in Scheveningen... and come September they take a swim in Amsterdam's canals. There is even a video going viral of a couple getting rather gezellig in a canal in Delft. 

Anyhow, yesterday as we were walking around Amsterdam we stumbled upon swimmers arriving at the finishing line after their long swim. I am quite impressed. I think it's really admirable that all these people took the swim. The days have been warm but I don't think the water is very inviting. It was such a happy sight, seeing the swimmers being greeted by their friends and family members as they reached the end.

All in all it was a very Dutch day... we found the original Van Dobbe eetsalon and could not resist a broodje croquet (a roll filled with a fried and bread-crumbed meat and bechamel ball, normally eaten with mustard). We lost some time at a bookstore, got some candy and then some chocolate at Puccini, after which we visited some friends.

How was your weekend? Also: thanks so much for all your lovely messages and comments :)

I hope that bike does not end up in the canal.

Our huge little miracle

 I have been wanting to write this post for what seems a very long time. Now that the time has come though, I don't know how to start. Our ICSI (IVF) treatment in June worked and I am 14 weeks and 3 days pregnant. As I write this I think of every person that is hoping for a baby. I know how hard the in between is and how difficult to handle pregnancy announcements can sometimes be for those who have met the infertility witch, its awful dark side. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. I also don't want to be naive, I know the baby is not here until it is here. It all still feels very surreal but we are so incredibly happy that this is finally happening. That there's a little growing baby inside me.

Now that I am finally able to write about this, I want to go back to the start. The two week wait after our embryo transfer was probably the most stressful. We had very high hopes,we were happy and joyful and expectant but the last two days I was freaking out. I did not really have symptoms, no dizziness or nausea or implantation bleeding or anything. But I did notice my bras were starting to feel very, very tight and my boobs felt very full and heavy (though not sore or painful or sensitive, just big). That had us hoping. I also felt very strong pulsations in my lower abdomen and I thought this could mean my period was on its way. The IVF clinic instructed us to take a home pregnancy test 2 weeks after the embryo transfer. They don't test HCG in blood (beta) or care to watch the concentrations double... which we were grateful for, I am not sure I could have handled more number-induced freakouts. We were supposed to test on a Thursday, but we tested the first time on Wednesday because I could not wait any longer. I could not believe my eyes when, still in the toilet, I saw the faintest line appear. I teared-up, ran to Mark who was still in bed and kept frantically saying "there are two lines, there are two lines, do you know what this means?". But he was not buying it. He did not smile, or hug me or believe it. He went to go get the instruction manual instead and had to check for himself. (Turns out he was expecting a + sign... and was not sure that one line was enough, no matter how much I kept repeating that we-had-a-positive). After verifying by himself his eyes teared up too, and we hugged and just basked in the surreality of it all the whole day. I kept going back to the stick to see it and smiled like a crazy person. The next day I took another test... just for fun (and to be sure). I had always wanted to take one of those digital tests that indicate how long ago conception took place (even if, duh, we know the precise date when it happened).

 We called the clinic and they gave us an appointment at 6 weeks. This is where we would see it for the first time... and look for a heartbeat. It was amazing. As soon as the probe was in we saw it: a big black bubble with a white blob inside... and the excited doctor telling us that there was a heartbeat. At first we could not see it, it was barely noticeable, and then yes... the little bean had a twinkling star inside, flickering fast and going off and on every second.

I still had almost no symptoms. My boobs were still big... I could not tolerate wired bra's and had to stick to soft ones. In the meantime I have bought a couple of new ones but that was pretty much it. To be honest, I was expecting the first trimester to be very, very difficult but it hasn't been the case. When at week 7-8 I was still not getting morning sickness I started freaking out, dreading something might be wrong... but the doctors reassured me that the baby was fine and that not everyone gets nausea. (My mom also told me that she did not feel very nauseous either). I did get symptoms, but very random ones... mostly tiredness. Or scrap that, exhaustion. I need to take naps in the middle of the day. I'd be reading and suddenly I was not able to concentrate and just feel the need to sleep. I only seldom get a motion-sickness like feeling when my stomach has been empty for a long while (usually at the end of the day, while waiting for Mark to come back from work). I have only thrown up once in the whole first trimester.  At the beginning I really craved steak and all the red meat. I also really crave oranges and in some days beans. I haven't lost my appetite, on some days I am actually very very hungry... and find myself going for seconds. I want to eat all the food. I have noticed though, that very spicy or oily food (Turkish pizza, Curry, Roti) makes me sick immediately, so I avoid it, even if I do feel like it. I can not pass a Doner Kebab shop without wanting to try it. I also had migraines a few times and pregnancy rhinitis. This had me scared, because I thought I might be getting the flu, and getting a fever may be harmful for the baby... but I just had a stuffy nose and throat. Oh and I have to go to the loo all day long and in the middle of the night.

Can you see the hands by the head? It was moving so much that all our pics are blurry.

We have seen the little one at weeks 6, 8 and 11, and it is so surreal. We call it hummus, because at the very beginning I kept eating lots of the creamy, lemony stuff. At week 8 it turned its little head towards us. At week 11 it was asleep and we could only see its back, but after a little poking it woke up and started dancing and throwing its tiny buds of hands in the air.  Oh and they let us actually listen to the heartbeat. So loud and strong and happy.

 That's when we were graduated from the fertility clinic... they actually gave us a "pregnancy certificate". Yesterday was our first appointment with the midwife. From now on, until the end, the checkups will be handled by midwives. Which was a shock as I am used to gynaecologists following up pregnancies in Mexico. Over here you are only ever sent to the ob-gyn if they find any abnormalities or risk situations (high blood pressure, diabetes, liver failure). The second shock is that our midwife is a guy. Yup, a man. But I guess I have to get over that as well. He seems to know what he's doing, we'll see how it goes.We do get to see a doctor again at the 20 week ultrasound, but I am not so sure about the rest.

My belly is slowly starting to grow... I did not put on weight yet, and my clothes still fit (though they are starting to feel tight and I tend to prefer stretchy stuff). Mostly my belly feels hard and it seems that it has been pulled up and forward but I think that is mostly due to my uterus pushing my internal organs around and bloat than real baby bump? I am not sure.  According to the fruit chart it's now between a Royal lemon and an orange.

So this explains the silence in August... I was feeling very tired, at the same time I wanted to write about this but was not able yet and I wasn't sure how I was going to do it, as I really don't want to cause any unintentional hurt  (and I hope I haven't done so). We are so grateful.

Rajas con Crema

One of the food items I miss the most from Mexico, aside from avocados which are number one, are Chiles Poblanos. We use them in so many dishes: corn soup, chiles rellenos, chiles en nogada, dried as chile anchos... Unfortunately they are quite difficult to find outside of Mexico (though I think they are not uncommon in the US). On Saturday we went to visit a friend in Lelystad (a city north of Amsterdam) and just by coincidence I found out that the girls from Mexicaanse Winkel would be there at a small market, so of course we wanted to see what they had. I was expecting canned and dried goods so imagine my surprise when I saw they had fresh chiles poblanos! We immediately bought half a kilo. And so, yesterday I decided to make one of my favorite dishes, rajas con crema, stripes of smoked poblano pepper with corn, potato and cream. You can use it as a filling for tacos or as a side dish... it is delicious with rice and grilled meat or chicken.

What you need
0.5 kg poblano peppers (I had 7 chiles)
1 cup corn kernels (if you can get them natural, that's ideal, I used a can).
1 cup diced potatoes
1 onion
250 ml cream
salt and pepper
butter / oil

What to do

  The first step is to roast the peppers, the easiest way to do this is directly on the flame, but if you have an electrical stove, this can be done in the oven, using the broiler and regularly turning the chiles. You want the chiles to develop blisters and become almost fully black, while still staying a bit firm. Once your chiles are roasted, put them together in a plastic back for about 20 minutes, to let them "sweat" and cool down. After this time, check if they are cool enough to be handled without burning your fingers. Peel the chiles (the skin should come off really easily), trying to get rid of all the blackened parts, then open them and get rid of the seeds and veins. If you don't do this your rajas will be extremely spicy, but maybe you like them so.

  Once they are de-seeded and de-veined, cut them in stripes. Our chiles were actually very very hot so I soaked them in water with 1 tsp. vinegar and 1 tsp sugar for 10 minutes or so, but this is normally not necessary.Next cut your onion in long slices / semicircles and heat a large pan. Add a mix of oil and butter and sautée your onions until translucent, watching closely so that they don't brown. Add the diced potatoes and cook until they are almost done. Next add the poblano pepper stripes and season with salt and pepper. When the potatoes are cooked add the cream and the corn kernels and cook everything together until thick and creamy. Enjoy!

The Dutch's national sport.

 No it's not ice-skating. Neither is swimming. Nor biking. It's DIY-ing. Destroying your home to make it yours. The Dutch take so much pride in personally fixing their homes that whenever you visit someone's house for the first time, it is generally accepted to ask for a tour of the whole house while the owner proudly explains everything they did with their own hands. They have huge warehouses filled with all kinds of construction material, readily available for the average customer. In Mexico, you would get this kind of material at small, specialized shops, one for paint, one for screws and tools, another one for plumbing material, etc. Here you get everything in one huge American-style shop and they have several chains of those. If you go on a Sunday, you might get extra discount so it's always full of families ready to DIY on the weekends. They even sell stroopwafels in case you need extra energy while working.

My brother-in-law just rented an apartment and the whole summer has been spent fixing it. At first I was in great shock that ALL this work would go into a place that is rented. Shouldn't fixing it be the responsibility of the owner or agency? Who am I kidding, I am still in shock and it is taking what seems like every second of our free time (with the exception of birthdays and meet ups with friends that had been planned beforehand, thank God for those). It is quite the cultural shock... to spend SO much time, effort and money on a place that is not even yours. Anyhow, it seems like the place he rented had only been inhabited by an old lady and it had not been renovated since the 50s. There was old flowery wallpaper, most of which was damaged, stains on the walls... no stove! And to top it off there is no floor. Yeah. When you rent an apartment in The Netherlands people take the floor away and sometimes the curtains and the kitchen too (even if those are often customized to the exact meausurements of the apartment). So there has been scraping down the old wallpaper, painting doors and window frames, putting up new wallpaper.... choosing the floor, changing the toilet seat and the piping under the sink... It seems like the never-ending story, and it's not over yet.

This cute bird appeared while taking the wallpaper away.

But this is only a shock for me. This is perfectly normal in the Low lands. How is it in your country? Are you allowed to make such drastic changes in a rental apartment? Are you supposed to do so? Or do you just choose a place and move in with your stuff (maybe change some minor things... like I was used to?).

Summer holiday

It has been incredibly hot for pretty much all of July over here. We have to keep all windows open to create air currents, or the house becomes really warm.

Anyhow, this is just a short note to say that I might not be posting regularly through August. But I will be back soon :) And of course if I find exciting things to share I will be here. I hope you all have a great time... I will be somewhere around. 

The breakfast club: Olive Dragonfly

As I try to find ways of eating a more healthy and varied breakfast I decided to ask a few of my internet friends and readers to share their favorite breakfast. (My usual breakfast is  almost always the same, bread, butter, tea and some sort of jam). Today I am excited to bring you  the cheerful Bex from The Olive Dragonfly. You will be drooling by the end of the post, such good ideas and such pretty photos. By the way, I would be thrilled if you would like to participate in this weekly series, in which case, just send a breakfast themed post to: poppiesandicecream@gmail.com

I eat weird things for breakfast.  I never fancy anything sweet so cereal is out. I'll occasionally have pancakes as a treat but need to have a little something savoury first, maybe a small slice of toast with Bovril.  Yes, Bovril on toast, or in a pinch, Marmite.  What I most like for breakfast is leftovers.  I'll eat any leftovers for breakfast - curry, spag bol, noodles, anything that can be reheated.  I've even been known to make a tuna sandwich if there's no other choice but cereal.  I even prefer croissants to be savoury with ham and cheese or marmite and cheese!  (I basically love anything with cheese!)

We do have cereal in the house but I prefer it in the evenings or as a snack.  If I'm really hungry, I'll have porridge after something savoury as a sort of breakfast pudding!  You can't beat a two course breakfast!  I really love my fig recipe served with pancakes for a sweet breakfast course, they were perfect after smoked salmon bagels on New Year's Day.

Smoked salmon with garlic & chive Philadelphia on a sesame seed bagel

Figs in spiced sauce with mascarpone

Perfect with Scotch pancakes!

Anyway, I do eat more normal things as well and when I'm trying to be healthy or am generally just organised, I love to have a proper cooked breakfast.  I say healthy since my preferred choice of breakfast consists of some kind of combination of grilled veggie sausages (ideally Quorn "chef's selection" or Cauldron), grilled bacon medallions (I love Morrison's NuMe bacon - see also below), scrambled eggs, grilled mushrooms and sometimes baked beans.  I'll sometimes have a slice of wholemeal toast or bread as well.

You can tell hubby was there that morning, he always makes me shapes on my latte :)

I particularly love eggs in the morning as even when I'm not organised, I can stick some eggs on to boil and squish them up on a slice of bread for a breakfast on the run or even make a super quick omelette.  (Although my favourite omelettes are the ones my husband sometimes makes on the weekend, occasionally with smoked salmon.  They're always better when he makes them!)

Omelette with light babybel & tomato with mushrooms

Lately I've been loving smoothies as well, I love making different concoctions of fruit to enjoy on the side of whatever it is I'm eating that morning and it helps fill me up more so I'm less likely to snack at 11am.  I rarely eat fruit as a snack as again, I tend to prefer savoury options so a smoothie is the perfect way for me to get my vitamins and fibre!

I think you can tell I quite like breakfast.  I can never skip it as even though I can't usually face eating when I first get up, I can't get past 9am without eating something or I get very grumpy!  On weekends, I love to plan nice breakfasts or brunches with my husband when he isn't working.  

A particular favourite was Huevos Rancheros which I'd found online somewhere.  

My savoury muffins also make a very nice breakfast combined with boiled eggs and a cuppa.

I also LOVE a BLT for breakfast.  I make mine with NuMe bacon and plenty of lettuce.

Sorry this post has turned out to be pretty epic!  When Amanda asked me to write about breakfast I knew I'd be able to deliver ;)   I'd love to hear of any more savoury breakfast ideas you have?