A Night Out with the Marketing Girls

Working 11 days in a row really gets to you, 10 - 12 hours a day - Yes people, I know I am a light weight for Middle Eastern standards - Dutch standard this won't be even legal!

So when one of my marketing friends invited me for a German evening, I happily accepted! We went to one of the few places you can get an authentic wiener schnitzel and white German sausage with mustard, very nice!

One more day to go and it's weekend -TGIT! Will you be having a Pimms with cucumber and strawberries?

With love from AUH, xx c.a.

Belated Happy Easter!

Hi Cor,

With Friday and Monday off, it felt like a mini-vacation. Of course, ate too much of the chocolate bunnies and Easter cake. Luckily, on Friday went out for a bike ride with my hubby for 5 hours! We drove out off the city to the north and visited Zaandam, Zaanstad and de Zaanse Schans, where they make the famous Dutch mustard and cheese. First time I ever went there. Mini-vacation, indeed!

Big kiss from Amsterdam,
x Ka

Blond Moment #2

How to lose my shopping basket in the smallest supermarket in town....

And walking around clueless for 10 minutes in circles before I eventually found it at the coffee section - especially as I don't drink coffee.

Try it, it's easy, just be chatting on the phone about upcoming holidays! YAY!

So, what do you have planned for Queens Day? Completely forgot about Easter, the only thing reminded me of Easter were the chocolate eggs around the hotel :-)

With love from AUH, xx c.a.

Pink.... As a Lobster!

Lieve K, Another busy weekend in the Middle East...

I tend to forget that my skin doesn't really do sun, even after 2.5 years of sunshine in the ME. This weekend I have been running around in the sun, even though I re-applyied plenty of sunscreen and tried to stay in the shade, my shoulders are now a very lovely shade of bright PINK!

We organized a big charity event on Saturday to raise money for the families in Japan (big success!) and Sunday watched our hotel team participating in the Abu Dhabi Waiter Race (we snatched two prizes!).

After this busy sunny working weekend, a little afternoon of R&R was well deserved and very welcome, so indulged in some Asian tapas and wine at Pearls & Caviar with a beautiful view of the Grand Mosque.

                                                                          Pearls & Caviar

Tomorrow back to the office, have to get my beauty sleep now and charge for a very busy week ahead!
Thursday papa is arriving and have planned some days off! YAY!

Love from AUH, xx c.a.

Spring!

Hi Cor,

Wanted to share these pics with you of springtime in Amsterdam. 

Went to the zoo last Monday and this little fellow told me to say hi! to you: 

Big kiss from Amsterdam,

x Ka

Another day at the office

                                                                          Film shoot at the Beach Club

With love from Abu Dhabi, c.a.

Vintage shopping @ Noordermarkt

Hi dear Cor,

How great that you are planning your trip to Goa! Will definitly ask a friend of mine, think she visited Goa a few months ago.

I just came back from music history class. Tonight we learned about Debussey and Ravel. My head is full with beautiful music.

The weather is still very lovely here in the Netherlands. That's why I decided to visit the flea market at Noordermarkt yesterday. Every Monday morning there is a big outdoor market in the courtyard of the  Noorderkerk (kerk = church).

 

Besides antiques, they sell a lot of second hand clothing. With a little luck you can find some real treasures here. Guess what, I found these gems (and only paid €10 for each of them!):

 

Ladies in Pink cannot have enough pink in the closet!

x Ka

Sushi time!

Hi lieve K, 

Have to share these pictures with you. We were having dinner few weeks ago with my lovely colleagues in the Japanese restaurant in the hotel. Really good food and had a great time, had my usual miso, edamame and sashimi, wish you were there!

                                           Before

and

                                                       After

With love from Abu Dhabi, c.a.

Goa in May

Hi lieve K,

Sitting on my couch, enjoying my glass of wine. It only Hardy's, not very fancy, but it is the cheapest they have in the hotel :-)  You can only buy wine from the store if you have a licence, haven't applied for one yet, bit lazy and get my wine fix from duty free as I am flying frequently to Muscat. So... Room service it is!

Anyway, am planning my trip to Goa in May and looking for a quaint hotel to stay. Goa is a huge area, don't know where to start.  Lonely P is not very helpful either. Tips & tricks are welcome. Hoping to have some beach time with palm trees, eating lovely spicy food and do some cultural sightseeing. It used to be a Portuguese colony. Now, which area to choose, rather not end up in the really touristy or party people area. Keep you posted!

Oh, and managed to get to my apt in two goes tonight with only a little stopover on the first floor... :-) My brain is still in bubbles.

Two days to go and its weekend again!

Speak soon & with love from Abu Dhabi, c.a.

Lovely l'Ozio

Hi dear Cor,

Just came back from a wine tasting at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in town: l'Ozio, which means something like "free time" in English.

I love this place because of its great food, nice wines and friendly staff. It's also an excellent location if you want to have dinner with a group of people, in the restaurant but also downstairs, where they have a seperate room. Once in every three months they have a new exhibition by different artists and they show Italian art house movies in the room downstairs. In short, l'Ozio is great for the eyes, ears and taste buds!

Oh, I almost forgot... the wine tasting was great too!

Speak to you soon!
Big kisses from Amsterdam,

x Ka

Restaurant l'Ozio
Ferdinand Bolstraat 26
www.ozioamsterdam.com

Wine store Van Krimpen (who organised the wine tasting)
Frans Halsstraat 67
http://vankrimpen.iframe.ch/

Full moon in Abu Dhabi

Lieve K, Looked like you had a fabulous weekend, hope we can have one together soon in A.

My week of work started today, Sunday. It is still a strange feeling that anywhere else in the world people are having a lazy Sunday morning and we are all in the office up & running.

Had to write some press releases, what always takes me a long time to create. Its not that easy to come up with the right words, even though the releases should not be longer than 10 sentences, short, sweet and simple. Any finished three of them, one more to go tomorrow.

                                                             Full moon in Abu Dhabi

Just got back from my walk on the Corniche and my workout in the gym - have to keep up my Dutch cycling routine. Its unusually nice and cool outside at the moment, slight breeze and bit chilly. Warm enough to wear short sleeves :-)  And... A beautiful full moon!

Ok, have to get out of my smelly gym clothes, tomorrow another day: Monday Night is Yoga Night!

Sweet dreams and with love from Abu Dhabi, c.a.

Beer + poetry = Café Brecht

Good morning Cor!

It's a slow Sunday morning here in Amsterdam. That means reading the papers while listening to Mozart and sipping tea. This Sunday is extra slow, because we went out last night. Yeah, you heard it right, the married couple hit the town yesterday! But don't worry, nothing too fancy, although quite nice: we went to a new bar called "Brecht", named after the German poet Bertolt Brecht.

It's a cozy place with armchairs and old-fashioned portrets hanging on the walls. You can sit at the bar or settle yourself on one of the fauteuils and bring your knitting with you.

They have a big selection of German and Belgian beers and on some nights they organise poetry readings. The atmosphere altogether is laid-back, which is a welcome alternative for the hip and trendy bars in town. It's quite popular with expats.

Okay, dear Cor, it's time to get off my lazy butt and enjoy the sunshine! We are going to meet our friend's new baby for the first time. Hope they will serve the traditional "beschuit met muisjes" (Dutch biscuit with aniseed in pink & white (for a baby girl) or blue + white (for a baby boy)!

Big kisses from Amsterdam,

x Ka

Café Brecht
Weteringschans 157
www.cafebrecht.nl

Weekend brunch @ Pekelharing

Hi Cor,

Hope you are enjoying the weekend as much as I do! Last night my sister came to stay with us in Amsterdam and we had dinner at our place. Hubby M made a typical French dinner with oysters, snails and duck à l'orange. I made merengues for the first time and nailed it!

After this very rich dinner, this morning we continued our food fest with a brunch at café/restaurant Pekelharing. This is a pretty new restaurant nearby the Albert Cuyp market. The interior is clean and industrial and the place is bigger than most restaurants in Amsterdam. I love the "Grand café-concept"!

Because the weather is lovely (for Dutch standards!), we ate outside, on the pavement, between all the bicycles. I had a Caesar's salad and my sister had the biggest artichoke I ever saw! 

Miss having brunch with you. Keep me posted on your adventures!

Big kisses from Amsterdam,

x Ka

Friday Night on Yas Island

                                                                   Cipriani

Lieve K, 

Yesterday evening was a fun night out on the town or better on the island (Abu Dhabi is scattered over 200 islands) We started the night off at Stills, had lovely dinner at Stars N Bars, went over to Cipriani for some classic bellini's and finished the evening at Allure with a little dance at their annual masquerade party. 

                                                          

The bellini's at Cipriani were amazing, fresh white peach juice with prosecco, you would love them and they gave us a small selection of desserts, apple cream cheese tart, rich chocolate cake and gooey merengues, loved it. Will be back for more!

                                                                                                 Allure

My head is a little fuzzy now, last day of the weekend and I'll be bumming on the couch watching dvd's and ordering room service. Should go to the gym....

With love from Abu Dhabi, c.a.

Blond moment #1

Lieve K,

How many times did it take me to take the lift the 10th floor?

Three times!

And it's so easy, just press 10. My brain was in bubbles again.

First I pressed M - our executive office - where we have our daily morning briefing
Then I got out at 9 - where I walked around for a while before I realized I didn't have to be here
Finally I pressed 10 and arrived safe & sound at the film shoot

Can you believe it?

From Abu Dhabi with love, c.a.