No, we don’t have internet yet, but I am at the amazing Schiedam library, writing some articles, reassuring people that I am still alive and making sure that you are up to date with what is going on at the non-hip hippies headquarters. We have unpacked most of our stuff,which I really enjoy, because when it comes to the book boxes, it’s like unpacking Christmas presents.  I am happy and sad at the same time to realize that we have so many books I haven’t read yet. Enough with the talking. Here are a few pics of out new place.

Our place has a SOUTH orientation. It’s October people and it’s 21C inside without the need to turn on the heating.

That’s a view from the staircase that leads upstairs, to the bedroom, shower and toilet. You don’t get to see a picture of those because they are still filled with boxes.

And this is a view of our garden from the outside. I have heard rumors that we are supposed to mow the lawn but I don’t really get that, since it looks so alive the way it is now.

During the weekend we took a walk to the historical center of Schiedam and saw some of the windmills. It’s a mix between Delft and Rotterdam, in the sense that it was not bombarded, so many historical buildings are standing, but the people are a mix of lots of races, unlike the Delft typical Dutch population. We are pretty lucky because we had no clue how our neighborhood looks like and we never thought that Schiedam was so pretty (at least the part were we live. We haven’t explored the rest of it yet).

Now, time to give you the recipe of my “tapenade”. I put it in quotation marks because it should have capers in it to be a proper tapenade, but it doesn’t. The only reason that it doesn’t is because we didn’t have any capers at home. This recipe was created because my stomach was somewhat upset yesterday and I wanted to eat something light, so I decided to mix a few vegetables in the blender and spread the result on rusks. That’s what it looked like:

The jar didn’t make it to the fridge. We just ate the whole thing right there an then.

…cause it was awesome!

Ingredients

• 8-10 green olives
• 5-6 cherry tomatoes
• 5-6 baby carrots
• a 10 cm long piece of cucumber
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

Just blend. Low speed, for a few seconds is enough. Now spread it on bread or rusks and enjoy. You can add salt, pepper and oregano on top as well. It’s full of vitamins, it’s tasty, it’s light, it’s hydrating. And you can of course add black olives, capers, bell peppers, celery, parsley and whatever else you think would taste good in there. You can make a larger amount and keep it in the fridge as well. I think it should last for 3-4 days, if not longer.

A note on not having internet

It is great! I miss it, but it is great. I have read tons of books these days, we had gone for walks with N., I went to sleep early. It is so tempting to stay internet-less forever and just come to the library whenever I need to work. I do know though that in a few weeks that it will be freezing outside, I will be forever grateful for the gift of internet at home. My point is, whenever you happen to be disconnected, enjoy it instead of being grumpy about it.

Have a great day and stay tuned!