Hundred Days of Happiness - Week Eighteen
Juggling work, parenting, and art adventures in the Netherlands while savoring homemade meals and walks with friends.
Another whirlwind of work, emotions, politics, and life. I feel like I’m lucky to have just remembered to take photographs. Work keeps me incredibly busy while my boss is here in the Netherlands creating partnerships and building allies. I wanted to get this out earlier, I wrote a bunch of this on Tuesday on the train way back from Leiden, but didn’t have time yet to finish. I was a single working parent this week from Tuesday as DH went on a much deserved vacation with work colleagues to go skiing in Austria. I’m glad he’s had fun and I’m glad I have some time now while our son is at his bouldering class to get this finished.
Mar 10 – Day 121
Absolute perfection: A piping hot slice of three layer spinach, cheese, squash pie on a plate, just out of the oven. Takes time to cook everything separately first but once you put it together, easy peasy. I devised this recipe but I also vary it sometimes - sometimes mozzarella sometimes ricotta. It is a classic recipe for a savory tart that you can buy at many bakeries in Argentina as individual slices for lunch. My versions are big, but still small potatoes compared to the massively thick layers that they make. I’m still not quite sure how they do it.
I wanted to make this tart for many weeks and had bought many of the ingredients before our US trip, but didn’t have the time. I had cooked the butternut squash in the oven and strained as much water as I could before freezing the pieces. The spinach I cooked down from massive bunches to a watery bowlful. I made the crust a day before and let it harden back up in the fridge. It all worked out and was delicious.
Mar 11 – Day 122
My breakfast makes me happy. It’s simple, easy, healthy and yummy. I make overnight oats with chia seeds and citrus flavored yogurt with berries. The oats soak up the liquid overnight and are ready to put into a bowl first thing in the morning. I don’t have to think about that I will make, I just have to remember to make it the evening beforehand!
Mar 12 – Day 123
Wednesday morning I met up with women from IWCU to go for a walk around MaximaPark. I started doing this last fall and am happy it has continued and I don’t even have to be the one all the time to lead the walks. It’s not quite self-sustaining, but it’s not all dependent on me either.
It was really nice to walk and talk around the park. The flowers and plants are beginning to sprout up and are really quite beautiful and the sun is coming out more and more which helps everyone’s mood.
Mar 13 – Day 124
Thursday morning I went to a friend’s house for a quick coffee meetup. Her husband had recently been to Israel and brought back real Hamantaschen cookies to celebrate Purim. We got to share some over a coffee before we both started our work day. It was great to catch up as we have all been super busy. It’s still vitally important to make time to connect in person.
Mar 14 – Day 125
Friday I spent the day and evening in Amsterdam with the Internet Archive Europe and our gathering at the Eye Film Museum. It was great to spend the whole day and evening in Amsterdam with the group of very interesting people doing very interesting work. After that event we went to a restaurant for dinner with around 12 people from that meetup and continued having good conversations and making good connections.
Mar 15 – Day 126
Saturday - I had another ‘free day’ which we each get once a month and I went into central Utrecht to meet up with a girlfriend. We went to Centraal Museum and walked around the exhibitions which included a really amazing one focusing on women-hood through art. It felt very validating to be seen.
The exhibition includes sculptures, installations and collages in which Jensen plays with traditional female archetypes and reinterprets them from a feminist perspective. By combining historical images with contemporary elements, she creates a dialogue between past and present, inviting visitors to think critically about the way women are represented in art and design.
After exploring the museum for hours, we moseyed over to Cafe DomKop on the other side of downtown Utrecht for an early evening Open Mic jam session featuring mostly latinos. It was fantastic and the drinks were yummy too. :)
Mar 16 – Day 127
Sunday we hosted my boss Brewster and his wife Mary here in Utrecht. We wandered around, enjoyed a boat tour around the oudegracht and singel, explored the beautiful public library at the Neude branch in downtown Utrecht and then finally made our way back to our home for dinner together. It was really nice to spend the afternoon together in a non work environment and for them to get to know our lives here a bit more in the Netherlands.
My father keeps on making beautiful art. He took photos of the rusted steel at Bolinas Beach and digitally altered them to show colors that we cannot see with our naked eyes. He knows how to add just the right evocative music, in this case "Deyja" by Hampus Naeselius. These photos remind me of Burtynsky's work; he took large photos and abstracted the surroundings, Dad goes the other way and went super small. I hope you enjoy as much as I did.
Thank you for including the tart recipe! I definitely want to try it!