It’s time for another type of liqueur! When I was at my parents’ house the other day, they proudly told me about the walnut tree in their garden. This year is the first year it carries nuts, and there are a LOT of them. What better way than to use them for a nice liqueur? Continue Reading…
Last week I went to Amsterdam with my significant other. After going through some books in the cookbook section of a large department store, I discovered an awesome little book about making your own lemonade and liqueur. I immediately got excited about it! Why not try to make my own liqueur? Liqueur is very versatile, you can drink it pure, on the rocks, or in a cocktail, and you can use it for cakes, desserts, sauces, and cooking. Continue Reading…
In the past, the interior of Suriname was a true source of malaria. The most malaria transmission in the Americas actually took place in Suriname. Today is World Malaria Day, a good time to reflect on the successes the country has achieved in recent years. Now Suriname has almost eliminated malaria. This means that the annual number of malaria patients has almost dropped to 1 patient per 1,000 people at risk. The goal is to be completely malaria-free in 2020. Continue Reading…
“Yellow fever has been detected in a Dutch patient. The patient has been in Suriname and had contracted the illness there. That is remarkable because yellow fever has not been established in Suriname for 45 years.” Reported the RIVM, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, a week after my arrival in Suriname. Continue Reading…
When I’m having a busy period, I always find it difficult to take my time in the mornings to have a nice and healthy breakfast. This banana bread is perfect for one of those weeks where you’d rather stay in bed for a little while longer. I love to start my day with a slice of this bread and a cup of coffee. Continue Reading…
This soup is so surprising and delicious, I have to share it with you. It’s olive soup. Olive soup? Yes, really, soup made of olives. I never expected you could make soup from olives, so I was very surprised when my friend Mirjam said that she and her mother, and a lot of her family members, made this soup all the time! The family made it so often, that for a little while they had quite enough of it. Fortunately, since it had been some time ago, they decided to make it when my boyfriend and I were coming over for dinner. Continue Reading…
It’s getting really cold outside and autumn is slowly turning into winter. During these cold winter nights I love to stay home, sit on the couch, crawl under blankets, have a nice cup of tea or a glass of wine :), and enjoy a good movie or television series. What are your favorite television series? Continue Reading…
I want to tell you something about a wonderful nature reserve called ‘The Oostvaardersplassen’. The reserve is situated very closely to where I grew up when I was little. My parents still live nearby, so I can still visit the area so now and then by bike. During high school, my class did a project in the Oostvaardersplassen. It was an interdisciplinary project between chemistry and biology. We were divided into little groups and were assigned to plots of 10 square meters. On these plots, we had to map the entire system of plants, animals, and insects. We looked for poop and footprints and we checked the quality of the soil and water next to the plot. Continue Reading…
Een paar weken geleden werd een van mijn oma’s 87 jaar, feest! Dit werd goed gevierd met drankjes en gebakjes in het voormalige restaurant van mijn oom en tante, de Pieterman in Volendam. Daar kwam ik ook mijn nicht Marleen tegen en die had iets heel gaafs meegenomen, namelijk haar zelf geschreven boek met ijs-recepten! Continue Reading…
People who know me a bit longer than today will all know that I’m studying biology. My specialisation is animal adaptation and behaviour, and my focus lies on mosquitoes. But why mosquitoes?
It all started with a report on malaria in high school. My friend Margot and I were discussing a lot of different subjects. It had to be something that would be interesting for us both: Margot as a future doctor and me as a future biologist. I don’t remember how we came to the idea of writing about malaria, but it’s very likely it had something to do with our planned volunteering trip to Livingstone, Zambia, after our graduation. Continue Reading…
Hi all! It’s been quite some time since I’ve been writing something for the website… but when I promised my housemates to post this recipe for the third time already, something had to change :). Continue Reading…
This weekend we celebrated the 30th birthday of Frank, my significant other. I organised a double surprise party: the first surprise were his parents coming over from abroad, the second one was a party with all his friends from far and wide. The surprised expressions on his face were priceless :). During the day we had to keep him busy, so we send him to the Heineken experience in Amsterdam together with my brother (being a tourist in his own country), so I could make this cake in secrecy…
He likes special beers a lot, he even brewed some himself already! For his previous birthdays we went on weekend trips to small breweries. Now I had to organise a party and ofcourse beer would be the theme. Since the theme was beer, I wanted to make a cake with beer. All of a sudden I remembered the guinness cake we once ate on our trip in Ireland. Continue Reading…