If you read my travel posts about Holland, I’m sure you know that my mum works at hotel-restaurant Rikus. I always mention RIkus as I always go to my mum when she’s working. Do you also remember that in my first post about ‘Holland Groningen/Drenthe‘ I mentioned the artist Elise Klinkert? She makes beautiful paintings, from animals (mainly horses) and also people. Her work is some sort of dreamy and magical. I especially like the paintings with the horses, but there are also some people-portraits I really like. Always when I go, I hope there are new paintings I like and I’ve never been disappointed.This is why I like to tell you about her and her work.
Elise Klinkert was born in 1967 in the Netherlands. She now lives in the north of the Netherlands, with her husband and 2 children. As a child she actually never painted. She was good at drawing, but she never decided to do something with it. She has always been creative though and designed and made other things, like jumpers, cardigans, teddies, lamps and even a wedding dress. Now, since 20 years, she is a stylist for fashion and advertisement photography. For the last couple of years she’s also been active as a photographer herself. Only 3 years ago she started painting and she feels that this is her future. When she paints it feels like everything comes together and this is what she wants to do. She is completely autodidact when it comes to painting. In the back of her garden she created a little studio. It’s very quiet there and she can completely focus on her paintings, whilst looking at an old magnolia tree and the birds singing in the background.
As a vegan I was curious why she chose to paint a lot of animals. But she actually doesn’t have a clear explanation for that. She loves animals and if something touches me she wants to translate that into a painting. ‘It’s that simple’ she says. For me this is a very clear answer of why she chooses animals automatically. Animals touch you, they’re so pure, honest and majestic. Nature and emotion are her biggest sources of inspiration. Most of the time it’s just that one moment, that glance or that right atmosphere she tries to translate through her paintings. She finds it very important in her work. She doesn’t make some sort of plan of what she should paint. She paints what she feels. This means that sometimes she started something, but then she doesn’t touch it for months. Then later on she will work on it again. It also means that some paintings will never be finished and end up in the hearth. ‘That’s part of it’ she says.
She mainly works with acrylic paint, but sometimes also with oil paint (like the ‘White Goat’ here on the right.) She definitely prefers acrylic paint, as she has difficulty with the mediums you use with oil paint. She also likes to use acrylic paint better, because oil paint is bad for your health and for the environment. Depending on the painting and her mood, it can happen that she finishes a painting in a matter of days, but it also happens that it takes months and that she does other painting in the meantime. Elise also does commissions, depending on the clients wishes. If you’re interested in her work, I recommend taking a look at her beautiful website. Here you can see all her art work and all the other things she does. At the moment she is looking for a nice gallery what suits her, so all she has to do is paint.
New York
About a year ago she notices an art competition: The Equus Film Festival Art competition! Everybody who makes art, involving horses, was invited to send their work. As she likes to paint horses and she does it quite often, she decided to send some of her work. She made it into the competition and was invited to join. The first round was choses by the public. Everybody could vote via Facebook. After that, out of the winners, a jury of experts picked the winner. Elise Klinkert won!! She never even dared to dream about winning this. 
It felt all very surreal to her and it was totally unexpected.So last November she flew to New York, with her paintings, to exhibit her work at the Equus Film Festival! ‘You understand, this was an amazing experience!’ she says. The painting you see on the left, used to hang on the wall at Rikus and I saw it many times. She couldn’t bring this specific painting, as right after the news that she was going to New York, it was sold instantly. The painting on the right is one of my personal favourites. In my opinion she totally deserved to win as I’m a big fan of her work. So without any doubt: congratulations Elise!
I want to thank Elise very much for letting me share her story and art with all my readers.
Do you like Elise Klinkert her work? Is it the kind of art you would get for yourself? Please let me (and Elise) know by leaving a comment below or on Instagram by using #PlanetManel. Thank you! X
This Sunday, the 12th of March, Planet Manel will celebrate it’s first anniversary! Yay!! That means: CAKE! So I made this typical Dutch cake for you. It’s the ‘Authentic Apple Pie’. The cake itself is a bit like biscuits and a bit like cake, with a filling of apples, raisins and cinnamon. It has always been my favourite cake. I only like the home-made ones though, because pre-made, they’re not tasty at all. I actually don’t like any pre-made cakes, so that explains. On every birthday I went as a child and also when I was older, I’d choose home-made apple pie. On all my own birthdays I always made an apple pie. Though they never really turned out perfect. My sister is a lot better at it than me. So when I decided to veganise this pie I was a bit nervous. Very surprisingly the pie turned out to be more than perfect. I was so proud of myself that I finally made a good one after 15 years of trying. Vegan Power!! WARNING: This pie is not healthy, haha! ..but super super delicious though!
DUTCHIE PIE
-Preheat the over at 180C.
BISCOFF SPREAD
ALPHABET BISCUITS 
As you might have noticed (if you follow me on Instagram), I’m in loooove! Last November I met the nicest guy ever and now we’re together, what makes me so happy. I was single for the last 2 years, after coming out of a very difficult relationship. I never thought I would be in a relationship again, but I couldn’t ignore these feelings. He’s so amazing! We had to miss each other for 25 days over Christmas, as we were both on holiday and that’s when I wrote this poem. Missing somebody is not nice, but being able to miss somebody is a good sign. It means you care and you want to be with that person.
The end of 2016 was quite hectic for me. Mainly because I had to find another job before I could book my ticket to Holland. At some points it was so stressful, but in the end I got to choose between 2 jobs. It was hard, but I did it and then I could finally book my flight to Holland for the Christmas holidays.. and a little longer, as my new job doesn’t start until the 16th (yes.. that’s today!). So I booked a flight from the 20th of December until the 9th of January. Steven, my boyfriend, left the 16th for his holiday to Brazil and was going to come back just 2 days before me. So the time in Holland would be a good distraction from missing him. Even though I basically did something every day and it sometimes felt busy, it was also quite a relaxed holiday, because I had 3 weeks. And because it’s 3 weeks and that’s quite long, I will write a little bit of what I did every day, like a journal. Of course I do have a few hotspots too! I will list them in the end, so you can easily find them.
December 20
December 21
December 22
December 24
December 25
December 26
trees to make it fit. It took us 2 hours to open everything, but it was so much fun. I got so many lovely things! Really appreciate them all. The only thing is that I wish that Steven could have been there too, missed him so much! Everybody liked the dinner and to make it even more perfect.. my sister made a chocolate pie with chocolate icing! Deeelicious! I’m so lucky to have an understanding family. My dad and I are the only vegans, but everything was vegan and everybody is ok with that. I feel so grateful for that! We had a very good time at the dinner table. Marsha, who’s so nice btw and a perfect fit for our family, brought her guitar and we sang lots of songs together. Was so much fun! This was one of the best Christmases I’ve had. Would have been totally perfect if I didn’t have to miss Steven though. I hope everybody had a lovely Christmas too. Tell me about it if you like!
December 27
December 30
December 31
looking forward to it. We eat mushroom ragout with pastry cups. My dad always makes it from scratch. He used to make it with chicken, but as we’re both vegan he veganised the recipe and it’s delicious! My mum, brother, Marsha and me played a card game in the evening, what was very fun. After that we watched ‘Ik hou van Holland’ (I love Holland), a game show. They always make a special New Years Evening version of the show and it’s very nice and very funny. We kept watching that until it was 00:00!!! After wishing each other a very Happy New Year, I got a message from my amazing boyfriend. He wished me a Happy New Year all the way from Brazil (where it’s 3 hours earlier). Loved that so much! Then we went outside to 
watch the fireworks and to wish the neighbours a Happy New Year too. Eext is a very small village, but quite a lot of people have beautiful firework. Julian and Marsha had a wishing balloon and they asked me to help them. So we went to the dark field behind the village and we tried and tried, but the wind was just too strong and unfortunately it didn’t work. My hands got so cold, that they were stinging a lot. I was scared they might fall off. Happy to be back in the streets, I joined my mum at the neighbours house and we stayed there for a little bit. Around 2:00 we were in bed, but I wanted to wait until it was 3:00, so I could wish Steven a Happy New Year too. Around 3:30 I finally fell asleep.. cheers to a New Year!
January 2
January 3
sit upstairs, where you can find benches and comfy chairs and downstairs you can sit at a long table. You can also plug in your laptop at the work tables next to the windows and work from there. Very popular with the 347962352 students living in Groningen. We ate our delicious croissants there and talked about all the holidays we had together when I still was a child. Lovely times! On our way back we popped into this very nice store called ‘Yantra’. You can get all sorts of nice jewellery, Buddha statues, singing bowls, crystals and a lot more. Such a beautiful store. I got myself some lovely smelling incense. Just before we got in the car I was able to quickly take some pictures of the many graffiti art around that place. Love it! In the afternoon I introduced my mum to the series of ‘Sherlock Holmes’. Steven introduced it to me and because I miss him so much I like watching it again. Luckily my mum loved it! We watched the first episode, but then we had to get ready, because we planned to go to Odette in the evening. Nicki (another nice colleague of my mum) was going to pick us up. Odette lives above Rikus with her boyfriend. ..and OMG! I love her house. It’s so cool. It’s one big space, but with just a few build-in walls to make a bath- and bedroom, overlooking beautiful fields and the forest. I’d love to live like that one day. We put on some facial masks and we watched ‘The Proposal’, with lots of chocolate, crisps and other snacks. A real girls night. So much fun!
January 4
January 5
the UK. I’m forever thankful for the amazing life Pamela had with her. It was lovely to see Esther and her boyfriend and wonderful to cuddle Lucy. She also got me some very nice gifts. I’m very excited for her to come to me in April. Yay! In the evening Rudie and Renske were picking up Blessing again but they also stayed for dinner. Surprise surprise.. I made the aubergine curry again! I also made pasta with a home made tomato sauce. They absolutely loved it! I knew that for sure as Rudie had 5 plates.. I don’t know how he did that, it was impressive! They stayed in the evening too and we all had Chai tea with Oatly Foamable, yum! It’s always so much fun with them.
January 6
January 7
January 8
January 9
I landed safely though and who was waiting for me there?! Steven! Gosh I love that man! I was so happy to be back in his arms.. best surprise ever!
In the Netherlands, every year, we celebrate ‘Sinterklaas’. A lot of people confuse this Dutch tradition with Christmas. Some people even think we celebrate Christmas earlier in the Netherlands, but Sinterklaas is very much separate from Christmas. Though there are similarities: It’s both in December, Sinterklaas en Santa Claus do look like each other a bit, it’s important you’ve been good all year, it’s also with presents and nice food and children love it. We celebrate Sinterklaas on the 5th of December, but as we officially welcome him to the Netherlands about 2 weeks before this date, there is something else we do. You can put your shoe in front of the fireplace, sing a song, leave some treats for his horse and write him a letter if you like. The next morning it’s swapped for a present. So exciting for children!
On the day itself a lot of people have a nice meal together and after that it’s time.. The presents are waiting at the door and somebody(a family member, friend or neighbour for example) will ring or knock the door really loud. Children will run to the door and of course there is nobody there. When the presents are all inside it’s time to open them and it’s just so much fun! A typical sweet what is given by his helpers, are ‘pepernoten’. It’s like little biscuits. They’re delicious! I thought it would be nice to give you a little recipe today for a ‘pepernoten milkshake’. Very simple, very yummy!
Like I said in my 
took a little longer, as I think my order was given to somebody else by accident. I really didn’t mind because the staff was so friendly and they apologised. In the meantime I ordered a cupcake for dessert and an apple juice. It was all very delicious. I was so hungry (I didn’t really have breakfast) that I ate all the fries and the whole burger until the last crumb. Then I was so full, that it was impossible to eat the cupcake too. So I had that take away to enjoy later. The fries were definitely one of the best fries I’ve ever had and the sauce that came with it was ahhhh-mazing! The burger itself was a bit like a falafel burger and the bun it came on was lovely and fresh. I so enjoyed this meal. Dophert is not only a restaurant where you can eat, they also do catering and you can order cakes. You can go to their 
and the bagels are delicious. In the same street I found something so nice, called ‘The Tea Bar’. A store all about tea!! I’m a sucker for tea and I love the idea of a tea bar. They have more than 100 unique flavours and also lots of nice gift ideas. Next time I’m in Amsterdam I’d love to go here, but I was just too full at that time to even have one sip of tea. So I walked towards the Prinsengracht and then I just got so lucky with the weather. The clouds were dark grey on one side and the sun was fully shining on the beautiful autumn coloured trees from the other side. It gave such an amazing contrast that I was able to make some lovely pictures. Then a little bit later it started raining and I was blessed with a rainbow. Rain, sun, rainbow, autumn, Amsterdam, canals, boats.. it really was my lucky day! I loved the rain on my skin as I walked past the canal.
‘Bolhoed’ and I really liked that I accidentally found it. I heard about this restaurant a lot and it must be really good. Next time I think I’m going to have a meal over here. It’s a shame I couldn’t stay in the evening, otherwise I could have had my dinner here. A little bit further I found this lovely shop called ‘Varsana’. A shop with everything you could possibly need for yoga or pilates. I really loved this shop and I think anybody who is into yoga will love it too. The last thing I found on the Prinsengracht is the ‘Tulip Museum’. For only €5 you can learn within 20-30 minutes all about tulips. You can also buy a lot of tulip things, including tulips itself. I love tulips and because it’s not that long I think it could be a nice thing to do.
I walked via the Westermarkt and Raadhuistraat to the Kalverstraat. The Kalverstraat starts at Dam Square (most famous square in Amsterdam) and is the biggest shopping street in Amsterdam. You can find all the well known shops like H&M, Blokker, TheBodyShop, Forever 21, Lush and River Island in this street. If you keep walking straight, you will end up on Rembrandtplein. This is a square with a statue of Rembrandt, surrounded with a lot of bars and cafes. I walked back via Rokin where you then come back on Dam Square again. From there, via Damrak, it’s only a 5 minute walk back to the station. At the station I discovered a little cafe called ‘Yoghurt Barn’, where you can get yoghurt with the most amazing toppings (think ‘mango, brownie and walnut’). You can choose any yogurt you want and it turned out they have 2 (!) vegan options: Soy and Coconut. They also have coffee, tea, smoothies and juices. It looks great! Next to Yoghurt Barn you can go downstairs and the first shop on your left is ‘WAAR’. I did post about this amazing shop before, because there is also one in Groningen. I love this shop. It has such lovely gifts (what most probably ends up in keeping it yourself) and they sell (and I bought) the ‘Tony’s Chocolonely’ chocolate. Theeeee best!
In the next train we directly opened the Lifebars and shared it so we could all try every flavour. Omg, they are so nice! My favourite was the ‘Brazil Guarana’ and my mum agreed with me, but my sister liked the chocolate one the best. It didn’t take long before we arrived at Rotterdam-Blaak and when you get out of this station there is a lovely architectural surprise waiting for you. The ‘Cube Houses’. It’s an amazing piece of architecture by the architect ‘Piet Blom’. When I was studying Interior Design I’ve been inside one of them and it was such a cool experience. If you like to go inside yourself, you can, because there is one open for the public. The real reason we came to this station was because here is the ‘Markthal’, what literally means ‘Market hall’. 
It’s an amazing building and inside there is a market, some restaurants and there are flats where people are actually living. It opened on the 1st of October 2014, so it’s quite a new concept. I love the building and then especially what they did with the inside. If you look up they decorated the ceiling with massive flowers, fruits and vegetables. Lovely! In the end I was slightly disappointed with the lack of vegan options though, especially because my hopes were up high walking inside and vegan treats was the first thing I saw. Silly me forgot to remember the name of the company that sells them, but if you use the entrance closest to the station, it’s right in front of you. I did like the big range of tropical and rare fruits and I got myself some red bananas which were delicious. Also there is a juice bar and a ‘Jamie’s Italian’, but overall it wasn’t what I expected. On a cheerier note, behind the Markthal is burger restaurant ‘Burgertrut’, where they sell yummy yummy vegan burgers. They’re not 100% vegan, not even vegetarian.. but they have amazing vegan options!
In the meantime it was lunchtime and we were all so hungry. I wanted to have lunch at ‘Spirit’ as I heard so many good things about this restaurant. It’s about a 5 minute walk from the Markthal and on the way we also bumped into ‘Poké Bowl’, what is a little restaurant with Hawaiian food. It’s actually a fish restaurant, but you can fill your own bowl and the options include tofu, rice and lots of veggies. A lot of people are crazy about this, so I’ll try it one day. Restaurant Spirit is part of a little shopping mall called ‘De Groene Passage’ and there 
is also a health supermarket called ‘Gimsel’ and a shop what is called ‘the Wereldwinkel’, where they sell all fair trade stuff from all around the world. But first lunch.. omg, they were right, Spirit is amazing! It’s a vegetarian buffet, but almost everything is vegan too. I was being so greedy and I wanted to try it all and I ended up with a very big plate of food and it’s not very cheap. I had to pay €20, what was a bit of a shock, but I also didn’t really care as it was my holiday and I really wanted to try all these things. I forgot all about that 
price too when I tasted it, because it was soooo good! I really want to go again, haha! Big pieces of seitan, things with seaweed, tempeh, corn cakes, fried veggies, chunky guacamole.. I’m seriously getting hungry writing this all down. My mum and my sis really liked the food too, but they both got the same drink which they didn’t like at all. It was a ‘matcha latte’ and I agree the matcha was wayyy too strong. Only after a while the matcha sunk to the bottom and though the taste was still quite strong, I actually liked it. It was just not possible to drink the last few sips. I can’t imagine that anyone will like this, so maybe a little less matcha powder is an idea?!
After our tummies couldn’t even stand the thought of another bite we went to Gimsel. It was a good tactic, because walking inside I knew straight away that walking around here with an empty stomach was a bad idea for my bank account. It was a lovely supermarket with lots of great products. You could taste oat yogurt, what my mum and my sis hated, but I absolutely loved (I had to taste it twice.. hehe..). In the end I did buy 3 things. A ‘wooden toothbrush’, what was on my shopping list since forever, ‘dried grasswort’ which you can use as a salt substitute and what do you think they had there too? Lifebars! I was hoping for the ‘Brazil 
Guarana’, but they didn’t have it. They did have ‘coconut’ (hallelujah), so that was that, easy decision. I loved it btw.. this flavour was very tasty too. I didn’t see them in London yet, but I’ll keep an eye on it. We also did have a little wander around the Wereldwinkel, because it’s a lovely shop and my mum and sis bought some Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate. Can’t blame them. On our way back to the station we passed ‘Foodelicious’ and that looked so nice and bright that we had to go inside. You can get so many nice things here. They have a big range of lovely oils, vinegar, tea, beautiful bowls and dishes, books and so much more.. and a lot of very nice gift ideas too.
Back at the station we decided to go to the centre of Rotterdam and that is not even 5 minutes by train. Rotterdam central station is such a cool station. It’s really one of the reasons I love Rotterdam, it has amazing architecture. Rotterdam has a very nice centre for shopping. It actually has 3 shopping streets/areas: Lijnbaan, Coolsingel and Koopgoot. Walking from the station first ‘Lijnbaan’ will appear and then you can via ‘Coolsingel’ go to ‘Koopgoot’, but before we got there we had a little break at ‘Green Delight’. My mum and sis ordered chocolate milk and I ordered the tastiest Chai latte (+ an energy bomb) I’ve ever had. What a lovely place! It’s so different from other cafe’s. We sat in a very comfy sofa and it felt like we were sitting in a living room. On the table there were lots of nice magazines, like the Happinez for example and the atmosphere was just so relaxed. In order 
to go into the cafe you have to go through a very nice shop with amazing goodies, gifts and cactus plants(!). This is a very nice concept, but unfortunately it’s a pop up, so go before it’s too late! After we walked to the ‘Koopgoot’, what is very close from there. I think I like ‘Koopgoot’ the best, because they made it look so cool and there is a Lush. My sis got some new tooth tabs as she nearly run out and I got a new pair of comfy jeans at C&A. Then it was really time to go home, because it’s about 3 hours by train and my dad was picking us up. We didn’t want to make it too late. But before we got to the station we past this really nice restaurants called ‘Freshii’. They just closed it, but I looked them up and I think they’re pretty good. They do burritos, salads, wraps, soups and more.. all fresh and they try to make a lot of sustainable choices. They’re not 100% vegan though, but there are a lot of veggie choices and you can even custom make your own lunch.. so do I need to say more? Great for a next visit!
Last week I was in the Netherlands. I always go back to the Netherlands about 3 times a year. I only went in the beginning of May this year (you can read about that time by clicking 
On Thursday the 20th, very early in the morning (4:00) I woke up to get to the tube station, because I had to go to Liverpool Street. From there I take the Stansted express to the airport. At the airport it wasn’t busy at all and I could easily walk through security. No hassle, I like it! There is a Starbucks at Stansted Airport and I don’t need to tell you that I always go there, haha! The flight was a little bit delayed, but overall it went very well. I was going to sleep one night in Eindhoven for a few reasons. The next day I was going to a birthday party in Woudenberg and because my parents live all the way in Eext and we were going to Rotterdam the day after it would have been so much traveling. Also it gave me the chance to go to Amsterdam before the party, plus my best friend lives in Eindhoven and I didn’t see him for almost 2 years and it was our 5th anniversary this October! And if that wasn’t enough, I always wanted to sleep in the 
The next morning I woke up so well rested, without the airplanes waking me up. They have very good windows. I got myself ready and left the hotel to head to the train station to go to Amsterdam. I will tell you about my Amsterdam trip in my next travel post. So I will skip to the part where I met my mum at Amersfoort station that evening. When I arrived at the station my sister was there waiting for me. They wanted it to be a surprise, but ‘my mum’ was texting me whilst I knew she was driving the car and so I expected my sister to be there as my mum would never text and drive. It was so nice to see them both! I actually saw my mum the week before, because she came to London for 4 days to help me at work, but it was like I didn’t see her for so long. The party was very nice. It was the birthday of my mum’s friend Trudy, they know each other from school, so they have been friends for quite a while. I didn’t see her for very long and it turned out her sister and her parents were there too and it was all lovely to see them too. The biggest surprise was that Trudy made a vegan cake, because she knew I was coming. I couldn’t believe it! She has no idea how much I appreciate that. It was a lime-yogurt-cake and it was deliciousss!! I also really liked that everybody liked it so much, even though people were thinking at first that a vegan cake must come from a different planet. It turned out vegan cakes were not made out of grass, haha! I had some lovely conversations with people about my blog, though mostly I talked to my sister. I know.. but we didn’t see each other for so long, there were lots of things to talk about. Overall it was a lovely evening and I’m so happy I was a part of it. The next day we went to Rotterdam, but just like my Amsterdam trip, more about that in my next travel post. So lets fast forward a bit.. Sunday morning! I was so happy I didn’t plan anything that Sunday, as the last couple of days (weeks actually) were a bit crazy. It was the first day since ever that I didn’t have any plans. So I had a lovely sleep in and in the afternoon me and my mum did one of the things we love best.. grocery shopping! I got the ingredients to make an authentic Dutch apple pie. And honestly, that is the only thing I did that day and it was lovely!
Monday I had another sleep in, yay! ..and then I made the apple pie. Never in my life I made it just right. My sister is very good at making them, but with me they were always too dry or not done. With that in mind and the fact that I was also going to veganize it, I was a little nervous. Especially the moment I was cutting it, but you know what.. It was perfect! I never made such a good Dutch apple pie. The fact that it’s all vegan must have made it perfect. I’ll make sure to share the recipe with you guys soon! In the evening my cousin Mandy was going to come as after being vegetarian for 10 years, she’s transitioning to being vegan. I’m so proud of her and I wanted to share and show all the products I have and use. Unfortunately she got very sad news that morning and had to cancel. I really hope to meet her next time. In the afternoon I watched ForksOver Knives and Cowspiracy with my mum. These documentaries made my dad go vegan. My mum is vegetarian for quite a while already and I would love her to go vegan too. She was very surprised by all the facts and really understands me more after watching it. The things what is stopping her to go vegan too is cheese and that other people will always think she is the difficult one. Though she is thinking about living more vegan and making an exception now and then. What is already making me so happy, as it such a big step in the right direction. I love that my family is becoming more and more conscious. Personally the hardest part of being vegan is that the people I love most are not caring about their own health, animals and environment enough to do something about it. I know I can’t force this upon them, but luckily my family and friends are nice enough to talk about it. I think I can consider myself very lucky with people like that. I could have been in the middle of big meat eaters who don’t want to listen to anything what matters. It meant a lot to me that my mum watched the documentaries with me. In the evening my brother came to visit. He lives in Groningen (for only 2 months) with friends. It was so nice to see him and because me and my mum dropped him back home I even saw where he lives at the moment. It’s an amazing location, in the middle of the centre. Though it’s 3 boys living there and I don’t think I need to say more, haha. Though I really liked what he did with his personal space and also that he really has a good time living there.
On Tuesday I got out of bed at a (for me) reasonable time, because I wanted to go to my mum’s work. My dad has a new car and he let me borrow it, what was super nice. For the people who didn’t know yet, my mum works in hotel-restaurant called 
The next day I was looking after Joëlla and planned on visiting my friend Nienke and my grandparents (they live in the same village). My mum was coming too and so we waited for her to come home from work. She had to work a little longer than expected, but it was so nice to spend some time with Joëlla. We sung songs, read the book ‘The Gruffalo’ twice, cuddled and made pumpkin soup together in the meantime, so we could bring it over for lunch. When we finally arrived Nienke was waiting for us with a set table and we were al so hungry that we immediately started to eat. The pumpkin soup was so yummy and I’ll share the recipe for sure. Nienke has a daughter Annemarie and it really feels like she’s my niece too. She’s such a cute girl! It was the first time I saw 
her walking and she changed so much, that I told myself I should visit a little bit more often. Joëlla and Annemarie played so lovely together and it was hilarious at times, we all had a good laugh. Children can be the funniest ever! Before we left we had to visit their pet pig.. of course!! They have a pet pig.. you understand I’m madly jealous! She’s called Madelief and the kids loved to feed her apples and chestnuts. Lucky piggy! It was a shame we didn’t have more time, but because I wanted to visit my grandparents too (I aways do), we had to go. It was lovely to see my grandparents and again we couldn’t stay long, but for me it’s very important to see them. On our way back we dropped Joëlla (who of course fell asleep in the last 5 minutes) of at her house and then went home 
where I made dinner for my parents and myself. Already the last evening, but another amazing day with my lovely friends and family.
Last week I was in Holland for 10 days and I was looking forward to it a lot as I felt like I didn’t see my family and friends in ages. The last time was with new year, but it just felt a lot longer. I was also very looking forward to it as I was going to surprise my family with my visit. Which is very hard! Especially for my mum. Call it a mothers instinct, but she always knows. Within the 4 year I live in the UK I only managed to really surprise her twice. This time she also had the feeling that I was coming, so I had to come up with a lot of tricks to manage to surprise her at least a bit. I pretended to be at work(sending her pictures to make my story more believable), though I was only and hour away from her. So even though she expected me, she didn’t expect me the moment I walked into the living room! It was great! My dad and my brother walked in not long after that and they were surprised too, I love it!
I started my first morning at my mum’s work. She works in hotel restaurant ‘Rikus’ as a hostess. It’s a converted farm, which now has 9 rooms and an apartment. The thing I love about it most is that they grow their own vegetables. They have an amazing (!!) vegetable garden. Unfortunately there is nothing vegan on the menu, but I’m sure they can make a lovely summer salad from those crunchy leafs growing in the back. I always drink a tea, a freshly plucked one this time, and look at the paintings. The paintings are all made by 
In the mid afternoon I went to my best friends Nienke, Jeroen and their daughter Annemarie. We had a lovely time catching up and of course I cuddled their cute doggies 
On the 4th of May it’s also commemoration day in Holland to grieve for the people who’re killed during wars and everybody has 2 minutes of silence at 20:00. It always has an impact on me, especially now with all the refugees coming at the moment. What would it be nice if the world was in peace. Nobody should have to flee from their home country and leave their house and loved ones. It must be so hard for them. Let’s hope this nightmare is over very soon as everybody has the right to freedom!
I always see my best friends when I’m in the country and today I was going to meet Nicole. We had lunch at I the nicest place in Groningen, Anat. But in the morning we first went to a friend of ours we didn’t see in years. She just had a baby and so we thought it was a great reason to meet. We had such a good time.. and that 10 years later!
Whilst eating I was already feeling sad that I couldn’t go again next week. We both drunk a Chai latte with almond milk, which was delicious too. We had to (had to!) have dessert of course and because there were two of us we could try both desserts. The chocolate cake and the lavender cake. Both yummy, but the chocolate wins.. duhh!
After lunch we had some time left and decided to do some shopping. I always like to have a little wander around the shop ‘WAAR’. This is such a nice shop, all about sustainability. I bought 2 bars of Tony’s Chocolonely, a fair trade chocolate they only have in Holland (why?). I chose the almond and sea salt.. twice.. haha! Nienke already gave me the one with pecan and coconut, so with 3 massive chocolate bars I was good to go. ‘WAAR’ is definitely worth a visit when you’re in Groningen. It’s a bit hidden, in between the Vismarket and the Herestraat. Take a look at their 
Groningen also just got a ‘Dille&Kamille’. It’s my mum’s all time favourite shop as she used to work there as a teenager and just because it’s an amazing shop. It’s all natural things, beautiful colours and a lot of gardening stuff, wooden toys, kitchen tools and so much more. Take a look at their 
Lucky me, the weather was amazing every day and on Saturday Nienke and Annemarie came to me this time and together we went to the lake ‘
On Sunday morning I went to another friend, Esther. She just got a new dog, an English Bulldog, and of course I had to meet her. Her name is Lucy and she is so cute and very beautiful. It was a quick visit, but so worth it. It’s always nice to catch up with her. And not to forget the amazing pink blossom trees in her garden. I’m happy I was able to take a few pics. I loved when it was raining blossoms, little moments of happiness!
Monday, the last day! A day I decided to have for myself. So I packed some sandwiches in the morning and a bottle of water and jumped on a bike. I cycled for about 15 km through nature. I went to ‘
was a mother sheep with her baby and the mum was limping and could hardly walk. But the shepherd was forcing her to walk by directing her with her stick and send the dog. It wasn’t a nice thing to look at. And if that wasn’t enough, 10 minutes later there was another mother sheep and her lam all alone, panicking, looking for her flock. I felt so sad for her. There wasn’t much I could do, but I hope she found them eventually.
Tuesday I did have some time as my flight was going in the evening. I used it to just relax a bit. I made everybody lunch and then my mum dropped me off at the train station. I went via Eindhoven Airport, what means I do have to travel for 3 hours before I’m actually at the airport. I like to do that as I can see Holland from north to south. Watching the fields, the cows and the sheep is so nice. It gives me time to reflect and to be thankful, because what a lovely holiday it was! It always goes so fast though, but I went home with a lot of nice memories!
Planet Manel 