Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a great ending of 2011 with lots of good food and even better company. I’d love to hear how you all celebrate the beginning of 2012.

Looking back to 2011 we have lots to be thankful for. I made some great friends online who continue to inspire and amaze me. I have a loving hubby who is the just the best. We’re in it for better and for worse and so far it’s just getting better and better. If 2012 is as good as 2011 then there are no complains.

We ended 2011 by flying over to the States on the last day of the year. We had a direct flight to Houston and landed just on time at 14.00 hours. It was great being back in the States after the last time 2 years ago.  We got picked up by one of my hubby’s best friends and of course headed straight over to have some banh cuon and che. Darn it’s sure good to be back. Wish we could do this every year. With the twins in Vietnam and the rest of the family in the States we have to divide our time and holidays by flying either to Vietnam or to the States. This year it was time for the States.

Miss Lou and her hubby throw this awesome New Year’s party that started the evening we arrived so we made it in time. There was plenty of food; appetizers, bbq ribs, fried rice, several salads and as dessert pecan pie and coffee/coconut jellies.

As usual there was lots of poker games involved and fireworks as well. The adults and kids had a blast lighting up the sky. At midnight we toasted with some champagne. It was a great beginning of 2012.

Today we woke up quite early and I made a start of getting more healthy and back to shape. I’m so proud of myself that I went for a short run this morning. It was only for 15 minutes to get back in the routine, but it surely felt good. My goal for this year is to lose the 10 kilo that I packed on after losing it in 2010 and maintain it. I know I can do it, I just have to get things straight in my mind. Last time it took me 3 months and a low carb diet to lose the kilos and to feel better so hopefully it will work this time as well.

I am on 64 kilos now and I have to get back to 55 at least. Next to getting myself and the hubby healthier I want to make more time to get to know my fellow bloggers better and to blog more myself. It will be quite a challenge to change the way I think about food, but it’s just something that has to be done. This love affair has been going on for too long and it has to change for the better.

For now I just try to run a bit every day and to make the best out of our holiday.

What are your goals for this year?

Season Greetings 2011

Happy Holidays fellow bloggers,


This is Joe, I am the virus Yen previously mention. :) I just hacked into her account and would like to share holiday greetings. Her laptop is back to optimal state so she will be able to blog again when she has time.

During the next few weeks, we will be enjoying the beauty and pageantry of the holiday season. We hope all of you likewise with your love ones.

I recently glanced at Yen's blog and noticed many well wishes upon her eyes procedure.
I am glad to update that everything went well and she is very happy and no longer required
contacts or glasses. I would like to thank all of you for supporting her blog and providing Yen with positive encouragement.  She is a very creative and inventive; willing to try all sort of combination of ingredients and cooking techniques. Sometimes I feel like a crash test dummy (food junkie) but it is my way of supporting her endeavor. I have to admit the only dish on her blog that strike fear into me is the "Bitter melon" incident. Perhaps it the horror of my youth or the taste just doesn't suit me. Everything else is as the Dutch say "Lekker Lekker" !!!

In closing I would like a share a short piece about my wife. Sometimes a reminder of how special we are can provide us with the extra step in our daily walk in life.

My "secret trophy" wife

When I close my eyes,
my senses are awaken
I can hear her laughter
I can feel her joy
Her sweet whisper
drops upon my ears
Can no one else hear?

When she enters the room,

her scent fills each breath
My memories are a playback
to when we first met.

Her gentle touch
confirms her presence
The sweet taste upon her lips
plants reassuring thoughts
that only we share.

My eyes open and I realize
It is best that others
can only see her as my wife
A secret I'll gladly keep
for the remainder of my life.　


Joe



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone

New Year Celebration

It's been 11 days since we had our New Year celebration and it feels like it was ages ago. Everything turned back to normal so quick.

We ended 2010 with lots of food and good company and we welcomed 2011 the same way. This was the first year we actually celebrated New Years in our new house. End of 2009 we received the key for our newly build house and this year it was party time. Since our Portuguese and Greek neighbors were celebrating their first New Year in Holland I decided to organize a little New Years Party at our place with lots of food and drinks. Every family had to contribute by bringing 3 kinds of snacks and one dessert.  

My hubby spent all day cleaning the house and making everything look nice. After I came home from work I could start making my part of the party food right away. The day before I made salsa from fresh tomatoes, one small diced onion, some garlic, half a lemon and a handful of cilantro. I asked mom to make her famous chicken wings. I made some puff pastry stuffed with minced meat and a big pan of tomato soup with homemade meatballs.   

The house looks sooo nice and spacious when it is cleaned. Big thumps up for the hubby.

He also set up the table and put all my nice big plates on the table for me to use. And he put some lights on the table to make it extra festive. What would I do without him! I bought a nice table cloth. I thought it would’ve been big enough, but it wasn’t. The table was bigger then I remembered.

Of course the beer was ready for the guys.

I made my puff pastry with meat stuffing two ways. One was simple triangle and the other one was made like a jacket, showing the meaty inside. I got tired of making triangles and find this way very fast and easy. I started by chopping the puff pastry squares in half making two triangles. One of the triangles I folded together to make a stuffed triangle and the other one I folded back to squares leaving some room for the meat to show off. Two same sizes makes at least 2 different kinds of pastry. They tasted so good with sweet chili sauce.

Our Portuguese neighbors came first with their Portuguese snacks (the first 3 dishes on the photo). They had some cheddar spring rolls, cod croquettes and little chicken schnitzels. They brought more, but this is what I remember. The neighbor also made a huge pot of sangria loaded with fresh fruit. It was absolutely wonderful.

In total there were 5 or 6 different Portuguese snacks.

My sister made little Dutch cheese cakes (kwarktaart), but she also made a hug amount of pasta salad and a whole lot of Moroccan meat balls. She didn’t tell me she would otherwise I would’ve told her to bring the dessert only since I was expecting loads of food. She packed her pasta with sun dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, artichoke harts, rocket, raw ham and parmesan cheese. It looked very yummy on my big plate.  
On your right there's a plate with mom's famous chicken wings which she marinated over night and backed in the oven.

The chicken was so good! To bad my salsa is not on in the picture.

Our Greek neighbors came 15 minute later and brought so much food I forgot to take a picture. The whole table was filled! They brought home made moussaka with eggplant, potatoes, minced meat and béchamel sauce, meat balls, feta wrapped in phyllo and two different kinds of Greek desserts. I am sure there was more, but since I forgot to take pictures this is all I remember.

We started eating at around 7 and at 10-11 we took out the dessert. At midnight we all had champagne and we went outside to look at fireworks. The guys lit the fireworks they bought earlier. At around 2 we all ate a bowl (or two) of soup and after giving everyone leftovers to take home we jumped in bed at 3 am. The next two days we were to tired to do anything, but overall it was a great start of the New Year. No better way to celebrate then with good food and great company.

May everone's New Year be better then the ones before!