MOVING

It's been a while. Well, on here at least. I've moved my blogging activities over to my portfolio to have everything in one place. If you want to keep track make sure you follow me on my Facebook page to be notified of any new posts!

WHAT MOM WOULD COOK

Since the beginning of the year I have been working on a cultural food blog with my friend Patty van der Aa. As a journalist, she takes care of the wording, while I focus on the images. It's still a work in progress but yesterday we launched our first posts!

Our blog What Mom Would Cook focusses on the stories behind the dishes. Dishes your mother made when you where growing up and that still bring you comfort till this day.

Unfortunately it's just in Dutch for now, but we'll hope to provide an English translation in the future. We are always looking for people that are willing to share their stories on our blog. So if you are living near Amsterdam feel free to contact us!

www.whatmomwouldcook.nl

HET SCHEEPVAART MUSEUM

Last weekend we went to the Scheepvaart Museum (Maritiem Museum) as part of our new resolution to go out and see more of the sights our lovely city has to offer. Boy, have museums changed from when I was a child. These days everything is much more interactive.

 We found the museum itself pretty interesting and learned lots of new things about our seafaring history. And while you are there anyway, the museum restaurant Stalpaert is pretty good.

The above pictures were all taken with my new Samsung EX2F compact camera. I purchase it because I find my DSLR too heavy to carry around on little trips like this, but I still like to have a camera around that can give me pretty good image quality.

MAARTEN

I met Maarten during the Amsterdam-Dakar Challenge 3 years ago and he has been a friend ever since. Last year he started his own business called TripGems. TripGems is a very handy website where people can leave their travel tips and find those 'hidden gems' left by others.

There is so much travel wisdom among travellers about what is hot and what is not, we believe we can unlock this value by providing a platform that works fast and is easily accessible everywhere.

 Check out TripGems and check out my travel tips there if you like!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I'm currently working on setting up a cultural food blog with a friend. This means I'm learning tons when it comes to food photography. We are scheduled to launch in early april and I'm so excited. Stay tuned!

PS. You can find the recipe for the delicious beet soup pictured below here.

A FAMILY TRADITION

For the last 14 years we have gone on a holiday to the snow with my family. Though the family consistency has changed over the years (we kids dated around for a bit) and the destination changes frequently, the week is always filled with warmth, games, cheese platters, wine and laughter. This years trip took us to Les Menuires, Les 3 Vallees in France. May there be many more editions of this lovely family tradition!

NEW YEAR, NEW RESOLUTIONS

And just like that 2013 was gone! And what a special year it has been. But 2014 has many exciting things in store for us. We already have trips to France and Madeira planned, but of course by far the most exciting thing will be our wedding in the summer!

Now I never believed in New Years Resolutions. However my bf (or actually fiancée, but I find that I prefer to say bf) is a big fan of making list and New Years Resolutions. So last year we wrote down our joined and personal resolutions for 2013. On New Years Eve we checked out our list and found we pretty much achieved everything we set out to achieve in 2013. So maybe this resolution thing ain't such a bad thing. Maybe, I should get on board. 

So here are some of my resolutions for 2014;

• Expanding my photography portfolio with wedding and food photography 
• Set up a cultural food blog with one of my best friends 
• Get my motorcycle license 
• Go on a hike with my significant other once a month 
• Explore more of the beautiful buildings/places in and around Amsterdam 

Cheers, to one hell of a year!

MERRY AND BRIGHT

Hope you all had (and have) a wonderful Christmas this year. Ours Christmas ritual consists off; a lovely dinner with our parents, great music, thoughtful gifts and a beautiful boxing day hike.

Pictures are taken with my Nikon D700 & 50mm 1.8D lens.

VSCO Grid

I've been using VSCO to edit my camera pictures for a while now but I finally got a new phone this week which enabled me to install VSCO Cam! Check out my (still slightly empty) VSCO Grid here!

NEW YORK! NEW YORK! - PART II

I found it pretty hard to answer all my friends questions about what my favourite thing was in New York. There's not really one thing. It's not really just one sight.

Before we went to NY, I decided not to take a tourist guide with me. Instead I purchased New York City Notebook by Moleskine (It's if filled with handy maps and empty pages so you can write your own guide) and browsed the sites of some of my favourite bloggers for tips. The result was a great week where we experienced a NY we would have never experienced otherwise.

I used to cherish my lonely planets, but there is no better tour guide than people who love and know their city. So hurray for New Yorkers and Moleskine who made our NY trip all the more special.

Pictures were taken with my Nikon D700 & Nikkor 24mm 2.8 D

NEW YORK! NEW YORK! - PART I

My mother and I try to go for a city break together each year. Normally we stay close to home as living in Europe gives you pretty good access to many great cities. However we've been dreaming about that one city far away for years now. This year we decided it was time to go! And off to New York we went.

I consider myself a city girl, living in the capital of my country, but Amsterdam feels like a village compared to NYC. Nonetheless we had a great time, walked many miles and saw loads of cool things! Six days is nowhere near enough to see it all, so we'll be back NY!

Pictures were taken with my Nikon D700 & Nikkor 24mm 2.8 D