I had the leftover kale salad from yesterday for dinner.I think I have eaten enough leafy greens for several people. I modeled the salad after PCC’s Kale Caesar. Here in the Netherlands, kale is called “boerkool” or farmer’s cabbage and people do not eat it raw. They associate it has needing to be cooked, preferably with a hearty portion of potatoes and a smoked sausage or “rookworst”.

I did have enough food for the party yesterday. Joanne made an enormous chickpea and chorizo salad so we made an effort to give people choices other than cheese.Oh wait, there was feta in it! I did feel somewhat guilty yesterday when I was impaling all the snacks on toothpicks. It seemed like everything had cheese in it. And I didn’t even do it on purpose, that’s just how tapas come here.

I think the party went well. I had a really nice mix of people. I know for next time, I need to have more rose wine and less red and I need more wine glasses. At one point I was pulling glass jars out of the cupboards. It was nice to have people in the house enjoying themselves and eating and drinking. I can’t wait until warmer weather when we can use the yard.

People brought me gifts, which I was surprised by. I received two gorgeous orchids, flowers, a snazzy toaster, a full planting of bulbs, a dachshund shaped watering can named Genry, a dishwashing brush in the shape of a pop diva but it suits me more as a microphone, nice bottles of wine, a tea light display board for multiple ones, fancy meringues and some nice bottles of wine. It was quite a haul!

The boys did pretty well with the party. George did try to reach the table on his hind legs and attempt to steal some of the food. I think he definitely licked the rim of the plate so I had to clean that up. Moortje did his walk through and checked out the scene and then went off to sleep. Lientje, predictably, hid behind the curtain in my room.

I am so grateful to have a dishwasher! It makes party clean up so much easier.

I took this picture of an ad on Friday. I have a fondness for toilet humour so consider yourself forewarned. Of course, if you are reading this, you knew that about me already. Its in the pictures folder and it is an ad for Big Bang Beans.

I was looking through some pictures that Joanne took on her visit to Seattle and I found some really great silly ones of my mom. While I was looking them, I easily remembered what we had been doing. And I also realized where I get my quirky behavior from. My Oma could be very silly and my mom was. However, I have held tightly to the belief that I am so serious that silliness is outside of my capacity. Well, looking at the pictures, clearly not. Which makes feel good, to know that I have a quirky streak, just like my mom. I am not silly deficient. I wish she was here to be silly with though. There are times that I laughed so hard with my mom, I am not sure that I didn’t pee in my pants. She could just get me started and it was all downhill from there. When we were in the Yukon in 2012, we were getting ready to leave the little cabin and brave the big outdoors. She started putting on all her layers of gear and started to make typical Mom remarks and then the next second we laughing so hard, I swear they heard us in Alberta. I took pictures of her in the midst of the laughing fits. I’m glad I did because watching my mom laugh were some of the best moments of my life.