7D7N Amsterdam with the Baby

Tulips in Keukenhof

It's been a fun week, it's not easy to travel with an infant, but it wasn't that hard too, not as eventful as I thought it will be.

Bringing a baby slows everything down, we achieved only one destination everyday, take our time to stop and rest and enjoy the day.

Below is our itinerary before I go into details of everything, well maybe not everything, just things I think it's worth the mention.

Day 1:

• Arrived in Schiphol Airport at 7am
• Got our luggage, and bought train tickets to Amsterdam Centraal (Euro5.10 per pax per trip)
• Westerpark to check in to our apartment for the week
• Went groceries shopping for the first thing, bought baby diapers and water supply
• Went to Amsterdam Centraal to get ourselves OV Chipkaart for public transport in Netherlands
• Went to Prinsengraght to have lunch at Pancakes! Amsterdam (Euro19.70 for two)
• Walked along canal, stopped by Dam to buy shoes, Singel for Flower Market
• Got simple groceries, and got home for dinner

Day 2:

• Have breakfast in Piq Niq in Joordan (Approximately Euro17)
• Took bus to Haarlem 
• Had lunch in Stempels (Euro28.80 for two)
• Visited Teylers Museum (Euro12 per pax including audio guide)
• Took train to go back to Amsterdam
• Had dinner in The Pancake Bakery (Euro 28.70)

Day 3:

• Breakfast in Winkel 43 (Euro 14.70)
• Took bus to Keukenhof (Euro 28.50 per pax for combi ticket)
• Had lunch in Keukenhof (carrot cake, hot chocolate, herring, sandwich with ham and a beer)
• Went back to Amsterdam
• Had dinner in Kop Van Jut (Euro 46.20 for two)

Day 4:

• Woke up way too late, bought bread from Westerpark Bakery to have breakfast at home
• Went to De Kas for lunch (Euro 66 for two)
• Enjoy some snacks at Museumplein
• Sunbathing in front of Concertgebouw
• Had dinner in De Blauw Hollander (Euro 37.75)

Day 5:

• Woke up super early to catch at train at 7.17am to Antwerp
• Enjoyed the architecture of Antwerpen Centraal
• Visited weekly exotic market at Theatreplein
• Had lunch at Cafe 't Putke (Euro 25.50 for two)
• Visited Cathedral of Our Lady (Euro 6 per pax)
• Visited Plantin-Moretus Museum (Euro 8 per pax, Euro 2 for an audio guide)
• Had dinner at Maurice & Dietrich at Grote Markt (Euro 24.60 for two)
• Took a 7.30pm train back to Amsterdam

Day 6:

• Woke up way too late, and bought croissants from Albert Heijn Market (because Westerpark Bakery was closed) for breakfast
• Had lunch at Cafe-Restaurant in de Buurt (Euro 34.60 for two)
• Visited Rijksmuseum (Euro 17.50 per pax)
• Had dinner again at Cafe-Restaurant in de Buurt (Euro 43 for two)

Day 7:

• Had breakfast at home
• Walked to Westergasfabriek and enjoyed King's Day
• Had hotdog in the park (Euro 5)
• Had a super nice latte in Espresso Fabriek 
• Walked around the town just to immerse ourselves in the festive mood
• Bought cheese at Kaasland
• Walked back to Westerpark
• Had dinner at Bella Storia (Euro 20 for two)

Day 8:

• Woke up early, prepared ourselves and went to airport
• Said goodbye to this wonderful city

一对鞋子

新旧鞋子

我平时对我的衣物鞋子没什么留恋。可是这一次，我决定为我的一对鞋子，写一写。

这些年买来买去都是一些非常简单的平底鞋。出得了场面的高跟鞋也不过一双，凉鞋也只有一双。最贵的，就是跑步鞋，也只有那么一双。还有一双，就是我旅行必备的皮鞋，就是照片里灰色的那一对。

但是，2015年4月21日，我把它扔在荷兰了。

姐姐对这对鞋子应该有印象，因为，它就是在桂林救我一命的鞋子。2009年春天，我和姐姐到桂林旅游。什么叫尽信书不如无书，是我们当时深深的体会。旅游书上写的，桂林四季宜人，冬暖夏凉，四季皆适合旅游。我们深信不疑，订了三月份春天到桂林去。

结果，上出租车，司机大哥竟然说，春天冻死牛啊～～

＊晴天霹雳＊为什么？？？！！！～～～～～

春天的雨老下不停。一路以来，我都是穿波鞋旅行的。不过遇上桂林绵绵不断的雨，我的波鞋湿透透，还没有过完第一天，双脚已经冻得快变紫色了。为了让我可以更舒服的度过接下来的十天，我们到商场买鞋。

我当时发誓一定不可以买布鞋，一定要皮的，而且里边最好毛茸茸的，暖啊！就这样败了这双牛皮鞋。它也这样伴了我这些年。

因为够暖，这双皮鞋这些年陪我到过两次冬天的上海，秋天的西班牙和法国，春天的美国，还有春天的荷兰和比利时。没想到，荷兰，就是它的最后一站。

这一次荷兰之旅，第一天找吃的途中，我的鞋底终于决定掉了下来。男人用我的鞋带帮我缠着，勉为其难的吃完午餐，赶紧逛街买新鞋。要找回和这对一样又暖又便宜，实在很难，最后在Espirit的促销买下一双欧元39的布鞋。

我把新鞋当场换上，走到大街上，把手上的灰老的皮鞋看了一看，感谢它陪我度过这些年不少的旅行，然后“嗵！”一声，丢进垃圾桶，从此不见天日。

这双灰老的皮鞋，是我到此为止，最有感情的鞋子了。

Happy 12th Anniversay at Pizzeria Mozza

8.5th of April is our 12th anniversary!

Why 8.5th? Because one of us said it's 8th, another said 9th, so 8.5th it is.

It's been a while we didn't eat out for celebration. We decided to go Marina Bay Sands. Initially we wanted to go Au Chocolat but I only found out that it has moved out from MBS when I wanted to make a call for reservation.

Then, we decided to try Pizzeria Mozza. If you watched The Master Chef, the bold guy who looks more intimidating than Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich is one of the owner of this restaurant.

Here's what we ordered.

antipasti

This.is.simply.AMAZING! We really really love this. I didn't take down the name of the dish, I thought I will be able to find out from the menu online but I was wrong! It wasn't in the menu online. So I will try my best to tell you what's in it instead. There are avocado, sungold tomato, prosciutto. That's the best I can do. It's superb! This dish cost us $17. I will want to order again!

bruschette

This is fett'unta, it's garlic bread. It's fragrant but a little too salty. But it's just way too big so it really took us some time to finish it. Lots of chewing, so tiring. This cost us $7.

Pizza (of course!)

Again, my bad I thought I can find the name from the online menu. No, it was a huge mistake. Again, I'll try my best to recall what's in it, there are bacon (obviously), asparagus, green peas, green onions, on cream sauce based instead of conventional tomato based. This is real good too! We just love it. This dish cost $30.

Usually you'll feel a little guilty of eating a big meal. But not for this. There's lots of fibers in this big meal, I actually feel healthy :)

The restaurant was packed even at 3pm, so make your reservation before you go. I'd really love to go again, I miss my antipasti already!

(By the way, the photos were taken with my new X30, I'm satisfied with the quality. The restaurant was very dark, I've used ISO1600.)

Feed the Mommy——面线汤

清清淡淡的面线汤

煮一碗清清淡淡的面线汤，和煮一碗方便面一样容易。关键就在于提前准备的鸡汤。

上周末在市场买了两块钱的鸡骨，准备滚汤。两块钱，总共有六块鸡骨。我把两块用来滚一锅玉米胡萝卜汤，够两个人吃晚餐。另外四块，加了胡萝卜和土豆，还有日本料理的柴鱼片，小火滚了大约两个小时。等汤冷却以后，把汤上面的一层油捞起，把汤里面的渣块过滤，然后依照一大碗的分量分别收纳。

如果打算收很多天，那就冰冻，要不就不需要。我打算在隔天就煮，所以没有冷冻。

这样煮一大锅的鸡汤，我总共用了四次。煮了一次苋菜，两次面线汤（如上图），最后剩下一点点的汤，我用来煮粥。

买点肉碎，做肉圆，加小白菜和鸡蛋，加入面线或者面条，就是一餐。

简单，快速，清淡，有营养，可以减肥 :)

Feed the Mommy——药材鸡面线汤 Herbal Chicken with Mee Sua

药材鸡面线汤

这也是不费功夫的一餐。真的，超级快速有效，有营养。

材料：

1. 超市买的药材鸡汤一包
2. 鸡腿
3. 小白菜
4. 面线

做法：

1. 把鸡腿洗净，和药材鸡汤的材料一起煮（依据包装上面的指示）。我本身懒惰看火，所以用slow cooker。
2. 把面线和小白菜烫过，再过冷水。
3. 把面线、菜、鸡腿和鸡汤倒进碗里，就是一餐！太容易了！

我煮一大锅，三人份。午餐我自己一分，晚餐我和男人各一份。晚上男人回来照顾孩子。我炒一碟青菜，煮一锅饭，一人一碗药材汤。搞定！

这么容易，别再给自己不煮饭找借口。

Fujifilm X30

NO, I didn't convert from Nikon to Fujifilm.

NO, I didn't change to a new system.

I'm still pretty much in love with my Nikon D7000 which I've been using since 2011. And I'm keeping it no matter what. 

I recently bought a Fujifilm X30 because I need a small camera. We booked air tickets to go for a one week holiday as a new family. Even if you try to dare me to bring my Nikon gears, I will just give up and lose the bet. I can't imagine carrying a 7kg baby in front and another 3-4kg of gears on a sling camera bag, and another diaper bag at my back. I think I'll need physiotherapy after that. 

I was looking at Fujifilm X100T initially, dreaming of it every day and night. But I ended up with X30. Plainly for one reason, $. I could buy two X30 if I bought X100T. X100T is even more expensive than my D7000. After I came into my senses, I chose X30. (I'm on non paid leave now, no money to spend on such luxury items!)

Fujifilm X30, taken with my Nikon D7000 in photobox

The dials

I have only tried to use it a few times now. I'm not gonna write a review for it, there are tonnes of it on the internet which covers everything in such professional way. (How did we buy gears years ago I wonder?)

I'll just tell you what I love of the camera. I love the Classic Chrome mode. One thing I hate about current modern cameras and all the fancy modes they provide. Seriously, they're useless to me. Except for this classic chrome. I miss the good old days, where we printed out our photos. They look simply fantastic. Classic Chrome creates the effect on your digital photos, which was nice in my opinion.

What I hate? The RAW FILE FORMAT!!!! ARGGGHHHHH!!!!!! Fujifilm uses a completely different raw file format than the others. My photoshop could not open it! I am currently using fujifilm software to edit but they're not as nice as photoshop. I'm seeking for solutions! If you have any suggestions, please help me!

I might regret some time down the road, that why I bought this but not the better X100T? I'll just keep reminding myself, it's double the price!