Life of Brian

That's Brian- Rob's friend from their decade in college- and that's how fast he moved while he was here. In a week he saw six towns, plus Amsterdam. The guy had an agenda. Rob was so tired from trying to keep up that he didn't bother trying to post anything until Brian was gone. We toured Alsmeer for the flower market, Alkmaar and Edam for cheese, Haarlem for the culture, Maastricht for history, and Cologne for the church and an excuse to eat some German food. We'll post more stories and pictures soon, but first check out the Dead Baby Monkey Angel we saw mounted in a spooky store in Edam:

Creepy.

Too Early for the Beach?

The weather this week has been just beautiful and we took advantage of the much needed sun and headed to the beach. The North Sea is about a half hour's drive from home, so we packed a lunch and loaded into the car with Jane, Michelle (our first repeat visitor!), and our friend Elizabeth. We found a nice bench and enjoyed sandwiches and some wine and then joined the other hundreds of pale Dutch folk drawn to the beach like moths to a flame for a good walk. Spring can't come soon enough!

Another Amazing Pasta Post

Erika continues to amaze in the kitchen. This week she made ravioli, stuffed with mushrooms and ricotta. The new pasta maker, coupled with helper Jane (Rob still has his job pulling things off the top shelf, which he continues to be incredible at), has ushered in a new era of fantastic meals at home. Here, Erika scoops the ricotta onto the first layer of pasta:


The finished product, covered with a little ricotta and served with wine and veggies:


And, for those of you out there wondering where all the photos of our wonderful houseguest, Jane, are, well, Rob gave Jane photo (but not editorial!) approval and she is quick with the veto, leaving Rob dozens of pictures like this one of the girls on the tram:


So, we promise our friends in Portland that she is alive and well, but we can't offer much more in the way of photographic evidence...