Tuesday update

Hi Fam! It’s Tuesday, so time for a new update. I hope you’re having an amazing week so far, and that you’re slowly moving towards your own personal goals.

Today, I’m quickly going to update you on my current job search. I believe I mentioned this last week, but I had a job interview on April 11th. On April 12th, I had a contract e-mailed to me, asking if I agreed to the terms. After a few hours of deliberating, I agreed. Fast forward to last week, I called to inquire if there were any updates on my (possible) second interview. I get no reply. I wait until Thursday, and I called three times. No reply. On Friday, I get an e-mail telling me that I have not been selected for the rest of the procedure. Based on the information I had, I thought that I had a real shot at a job. So I canceled two other second interviews because the terms of this job were ideal.

This week, I tried to call another hiring agency. I was supposed to hear from them yesterday, but no one called back. (Which led me to believe that they had given up on hiring me). Even today, no one called to update me on the status of my application. The weirdest thing happens, I find out that I am currently applying for the same job at two different agencies. Eventually, I decided to go with the agency that felt right. I just hope that this will not affect the rest of my procedure.

The top of the pistachio cake

The inside filled with pistachio and normal batter

This week I also made another pistachio cake! I gave most of it away because I thought it would be nice for my friend to have some too. Sharing food just makes the world a better place. It makes people nicer too. The leftovers were shared with my family, and I do think that they appreciated it a little!

Here’s a quick update of my favorite plant baby:

Radish number 1

Radish number 2

Aren’t these two radishes adorable?!

I’ve also bought two new books today. The second one is not pictured. One thing that I do want to note, is that the book I am currently reading, shows similarities to a book I read in 2006. Does anyone remember The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes? Some of the lessons I’ve been reading in the book I am reading today, are a good refresher on what our minds are capable of.

Jen Sincero’s 2017 version

Rhonda Byrnes 2006 version

That’s all I have to write about today, I realize that I haven’t shared any pictures of Nova on the blog yet. So I wanted to introduce you to Nova! He’s a 5-year old lovebird (soon to be 6!). Who loves his family a lot. He doesn’t like grapes or dried fruit, but we love him anyway.

This is Nova

I hope you think he’s as cute as I think he is. That’s it for this week’s update, for questions or advice you can always send me a DM or e-mail. For a link to last week’s post, click here.

The job search continues

Hi Fam! I hope you’re having a great week so far. Right now I am in the midst of my job search, and I am hoping that everything will progress as planned.

Last week, I had three job interviews in a row. By Friday, I was exhausted. Two of these interviews were scheduled in The Hague, whereas another interview was scheduled in Amsterdam Zuid. I didn’t think any of them would go well, but (probably) due to the lack of pressure, I currently have options. On Thursday I woke up  a few hours too early, and lied awake until it was time. I had to be at Amsterdam Zuid at 9 A.M., but I wasn’t going to take any chances. Eventually I arrived at 8:50, not bad right? I’m going to wait and see how this goes, and hopefully next week I’ll be able to give you a real update on where I currently stand in relation to jobs!

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen the poll where I asked my followers if they wanted to see my greenhouse. Within 24 hours, 75% responded that they wanted to see what I was going to grow. Even though I have used my Instagram stories for updates, I thought it would be fun to show how things are progressing through the blog as well! Currently, I’m growing: normal radishes, carrots, garden cress, basil, cherry tomatoes and Nigella Damascena. (Not sure the last one is edible). The plants that are currently growing the fastest, are my basil and garden cress.

Basil

Garden cress

I hope that the plant babies have cheered you up somehow. I really love waking up and finding out how much my plants have changed. A few months ago, I bought and read the book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life. The main idea, is to ‘find your passion’, your reason for living. Another piece of advice that was given, was to grow something. I have noticed that I am a lot happier, now that I have these small plants to look at.

On Wednesday, I was close to The Hague central, where they have this store named Dille & Kamille. At the store, I found dried elderflower (and by now I’ve had a lot of cups of elderflower tea!). I kept the leftover tea leaves, and put them in a large bottle of water. The fermented leftovers are said to feed the plants, because of the extra nitrogen it adds to the soil. For additional information, you can read more about it on these two sites (1 & 2) . I’ve tried both methods. Some of the jars in the greenhouse have been fed with the mixture of water, soil and tea leaves, whereas others have the mixture added to the bottom of the pot. I wonder if this will help my plants to grow even faster. This is what the mixture of water, soil and leftover elderflower tea leaves looks like:

The mixture from the side (elderflower, soil and water)

Elderflower floating on top!

This Sunday, I wanted to try making a recipe that required fennel. Last year I tried to grow some, but it didn’t live up to what I expected. I ended up with something that bore resemblance to dill. I love dill, but I really wanted to know how my homegrown fennel would have tasted. So today, I set off to find a recipe. I used (and changed) this recipe I found online. I started off by chopping op the fennel and leek, and adding two cloves of garlic. I added a little oil and dried basil to a pan, and turned up the heat. After 10 minutes, I added 750 ml of water and a cube of mushroom stock. After the mixture was boiling, I added a bunch of medium-sized tomatoes (instead of just one). I pureed the mixture and  then added the juice of half a lime, and a little salt and pepper. To top it off, I added some homemade croutons and Korean chili powder at the end.

Finally, the tomatoes are added

Leek and fennel mixture

In-progress homemade croutons!

My fennel and leek soup, right before I dug in.

That’s all I have to tell you this week! I hope that the pictures of the soup and the plants came out well. (If you have any other camera settings that I should be reading up on, feel free to let me know!) Last week, someone sent me a message saying that he found the motivation to start up his own garden again. If you have any plants you’re growing, or advice on how to help these plant babies to grow even faster, don’t hesitate to send me a DM or an e-mail. So before I really end this post, I would like to ask you this: What is the last plant you’ve tried to grow? I hope you have a great week, and until next time! For my previous post, click here.

New challenges this past week

Hi Fam! I hope you’re having an amazing week so far. This week I’ll be talking about two types of challenges I am currently facing. At the moment, I am still looking for a job.

So this time, I will be talking about another job-related event I attended. I hope that in doing so, I will grow my network. The reason why having a larger network is currently one of my personal goals, is because it might help me to find my next job. Last Saturday, you could have found me at the Nationale Carrièrebeurs in the RAI in Amsterdam. Below, you can see the outfit I generally use whenever I have a job interview.

My job interview outfit

At the RAI, I attended two lectures. The first lecture was supposed to teach us, how to approach assessments prior to a job interview. Sadly, this lecture could have been summarized in one paragraph. The second lecture told us about job interviews, and how recruiters see potential applicants. This lecture was interesting, because of the fact that the lecturer provided us with uncommon insights into the job-application process. Currently, I am also thinking about doing a master in International Relations in Glasgow or Birmingham, but nothing has been set in stone.

After the lectures (and my lack of lunch) it was close to 5 P.M. No matter how delicious the snacks we brought were, we were dying to go to dinner. When we made it out of the RAI, we realized how nice the weather was. We were greeted by a pleasant breeze, and the sun was still shining. In a way, it felt like we were abroad, since the weather in The Netherlands is rarely this nice this time of year. We headed to the station, and took the metro for one stop, to arrive at Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena. It’s been quite some time since we last went out and ate there. At Amsterdam Bijlmer, it’s still a 10-15 minute walk from the station, but it didn’t feel all that long. I did feel my feet, after standing around in heels for 6+ hours. So I was incredibly happy, when I got to sit down and enjoy my dinner.

The restaurant we ate at

What we ordered

The dish I usually order at Kam Yin, is called ‘Moksi Meti’ (which translates to ‘mixed meat). This dish is actually a part of the Surinamese cuisine, which is a blend of several cultures that live together in Suriname. As you can see, the dish is made up out of  fried chicken, chow mein, pork belly fat and sausages. I’ve got to admit, that this is one of my favorite places to have dinner at. After dinner, I had another social event planned so I headed back to The Hague.

In terms of challenging myself; I tried to bake a cake this week! Usually, I tend to stay away from the oven. But this week I decided that it was time to try something new. If you’ve seen my Instagram stories, you’ve probably noticed that I posted something that looked like a bread. This is because the cake had risen too much, and actually managed to split at the top! I also had to improvise, since the supermarket did not carry any unsalted pistachios. The inspiration actually came from the cover of one of the Jamie magazines I have lying around. To solve the issue, I bought some salted pistachios. Upon coming home, I de-shelled them, washed them and put them in the food processor until I got something that resembled pistachio paste. Last year, I was too impatient and I ended up with a cake that did not resemble the picture on the magazine. I do think that my second attempt went the way I intended it to.

The magazine cover that got me inspired

The cake I made this week!

The first picture, is the cover of the Jamie Magazine that I was talking about earlier. What do you think? Does the cake somewhat resemble the magzine cover? I hope that you will let me know in the comments.

Wishing you an amazing week ahead, and until next time! For my instagram, please follow @allofthesefoods. If you’d prefer to send an e-mail, the adress is: allofthesefoods@gmail.com. For a link to my previous post, click here.

Microgreens and sprouts

Hi Fam! I hope Easter went well and that you’re having a great week so far. This week, I’d like to talk about microgreens and, in my case, sprouts.

If you’ve read this post, you already know that in February, I went to the Flower market in Amsterdam. At the time, I bought broccoli, basil, and daikon sprouts. If you do a quick Google search, there’s an array of websites that talk about sprouts and microgreens. These two groups are not the same thing. Sprouts need water, and they take around 5 days to grow. Microgreens, on the other hand, need 2-3 weeks and they need to be planted in soil.

In the past few weeks, I’ve tried to grow mung beans. I bought a batch of organic mung beans at the Jumbo (Dutch supermarket). And I listened to the internet. Every 12 hours, I tried to wash them and I kept the beans in a no-light environment. This didn’t help. Both times, they wouldn’t grow and eventually, they ended up with small brown spots, and I had no other option than to throw them out. It’s a shame because I’m actually a big fan of bean sprouts.

I’ve got some real-world examples of sprouts and microgreens. For example, watercress is one of the things you might have eaten before. This microgreen can be eaten as an accompaniment to a cheese sandwich, as part of a salad, or used as a soup topper. If my mung bean experiment had been successful, I would have had bean sprouts. These are often used for Soto soup, one of my favorite Indonesian dishes. If we are to believe Wikipedia, my family’s recipe comes closest to Soto Ambon. In a way, the soup also reminds me of my grandfather, since he used to tell me that we’d have to have some whenever we had a cold. Of course, we eat it more often during winter.

Daikon sprouts

Anyways, back to those sprouts! At this point, I have one batch of daikon sprouts that are ready to be eaten. One piece of advice that I’d like to share, is that I always boil my sprouts for 5 seconds, before eating them. I just put them in a cup of water, and I pour boiling water over them, to prevent any foodborne illnesses from coming my way (listeria, E.coli etc.). If possible, I also try to grow them myself. There’s just something satisfying about watching a plant grow. It really helped me when I was feeling lonely in South Korea too. One morning, I headed off to the Daiso (Japanese dollar store) and I found a plant growing kit. Since I didn’t have to share my room in January, that little plant managed to keep me company. (It kept my air clean too!).

Have you ever tried to grow microgreens? I’d really like to know how you experienced the progress, and if you found it hard to remember to water the plants. If that’s not really your thing, feel free to tell me about your favorite soup toppings ;). I hope you enjoyed this week’s post and I am looking forward to next week. Until next time!

For a link to my previous post, click here. You can always send me a DM on Instagram! If you’d prefer to send me an e-mail, allofthesefoods@gmail.com is the way to go.