My new dutch word: Gezellig

So I was feeling a bit homesick,but it was more homesickness about Filipino food...so f who is super nice to me, decided we have to do our own version of lechon macau! So today, off we went to the butcher (who was an organic butcher, by the way--I dont think we have that in Manila), then went to the Asian store to get all kinds of sauces! So we got kikkoman soy sauce, sweet dark soy sauce, peking duck sauce and chili in oil!



Then we proceeded to cook our pork belly in our oven, and see this!



Isn't it perfection?

We cooked rice together with our lechon, with the sauces of course and also baked chocolate brownies! we dont have pictures of the brownies because when it finished baking, we kind of ate it already off the oven and i forgot to take a picture. Sweetness indeed!

It was a very hearty lunch, i felt i was back in Manila, eating home-made food and its a nice evening for a hot bath. Gezellig. :)

Alicante old town door

2nd recipe: pinoy beefsteak!

so for this week, i cooked beefsteak or pinoy bistek as we call it. yumyumyum. next time maybe i'll marinate the beef longer so it becomes more tender. otherwise it was a 2nd success! f loved it! not so bad at all, mommy will be proud!

Castillo Santa Barbara

Here is what the Castillo Santa Barbara looks like, it sits atop of Mount Benacantil in Alicante.



here's me on one of the pathways going up the castle, it took me around 20minutes going up... (and look they got grafitti in Spain..not everything in europe is so clean mom!)



And here is the view of the whole city of Alicante at the top of the castle.

I felt very like Scarlett Johannesson in Lost in Translation. I was touring on my own and went around taking pictures and using the self-timer button on my camera.
Its not so bad, I had a good time. :)

ola!!!

here is the exterior of the Mercado--or wet market in Spain...it doesn't look like a wet market at all from the outside.



Inside, we bought several sausages, chorizo, blood sausages, iberian ham..yumyumyummm



here's f buying me fresh strawberries... more yumyumyum!

spain is both very familiar and different at the same time. it felt very familiar--- chaos, not so clean streets, people making chismis on the street, traffic, all these spanish words which i could understand! But at the same time, I dont understand when they are talking-- I just know the words. And its nice to eat rice again, we ate authentic paella valenciana, which i forgot to take a picture of because i was so hungry. :)

lost in translation

i was touring on my own and became an expert on self-timer cameras.

kohle family reunion in ehningen

I had a lovely day with the kohle family in germany.they live in ehningen, which is a small town near stuttgart.




Then walking around Ehningen, we saw this curious statue of an old man...do you think he's naked underneath all the snow?



f having fun like a kid, going down a snow hill using a small sledge. He cursed going all the way down! haha! but he had fun and did it several times. I was too scared to try it.



Finn is such a cute boy! he kept on taking to me in baby talk german though..and i can only smile and say danke. :)