Thoughtful Friends

Our neighbors and friends the Ambting family went away on vacation for a week to Belgium. They had a wonderful time and based on their experience we might have a future vacation planned.

They eagerly showed up at our house  to give us some small gifts they bought for us.....so thoughtful!

Ella's slippers that resemble a pair of wooden shoes are so stinking cute! You should see them on her!

Doug received a wine cork screw......how fitting for him!

It is a symbol for the Manneken Pis, (click on this name to see a picture) which literally translates to  "Little Man Pee" in Marols,  a Dutch dialect spoken in Brussels, Belgium  It is a famous Brussels landmark, consisting of a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. It dates back to 1619.  

My gift was a cookbook for making all kinds of cupcakes and.......it was in ENGLISH!!! I have found cooking and baking to be one of my most challenging adjustments (besides speaking Dutch) to life here. At first I was mad at the fact that everything you buy is in ml and grams and all package directions tell you how to cook the food at a temperature in degrees Celsius. It is very hard to take EVER recipe that I enjoy making and is written according to the Imperial (English) measuring system that uses pounds, ounces, gallons, cups and degrees Fahrenheit and have to convert it over to the Metric system. But after awhile I have gotten very good at it and often remember what the conversion would be without having to look it up. And most importantly I have come to the realization that I am not longer mad here, I am mad at America! Why are we the only ones (besides Australia) that has to be so different?!?!

However, I am very eager to try some new cupcake designs. It was fun looking through the book at all the different kinds. I even found my famous "Ant" cupcake design I had made for our July 4th celebration. 

Anne-Marie had helped me a little with those cupcakes for the party and enjoys baking as much as I do. We have joked a little about designing a website and selling our own cupcakes! I think it would be a lot of fun...she could take the orders in Dutch, I could bake and then together we could decorate!

I think this is going to be my next creation......for Ella's little birthday party here in Holland. We will see if I can find the correct ingredients first!