We are in Amsterdam and have some news

First of all, the big news is that today I'm 6 weeks pregnant!!! We found it out on February 28. I had my blood tested twice before leaving on this trip. Both times, HCG levels were good and kept growing. Hopefully, everything goes well on this trip and I'll go for my first u/s when we come back. Fingers crossed!

Now about Amsterdam. It took us 3.5 hrs to get here from Moscow by a plane. The flight was very early so we slept only for about 4 hours. The flight was very comfortable. It was the first time we flew KLM Dutch airline. We got to Amsterdam very early and the first thing we noticed was LOTS of bikes everywhere!! You won't believe how many people ride bikes here!
We are staying in the center of the city. Our room has a very nice view of a canal. The hotel is called Banks Mansion. It used to be a bank and in 2004 it was reconstructed and became a hotel. The rooms are not big but very comfortable. They provide complimentary drinks in the room and in the lobby unlike other hotels around.
We were able to check in around 11 a.m. Before that we went for a walk and stopped at a local bakery for a cup of tea and freshly baked meat pies. Then we went back to the hotel and took a loooong nap to recover from our sleepless night.


In the evening we decided to head out and get something simple to eat. Surprisingly enough we went to a burger place :) Not healthy, we know. Well, lately my food choices are very limited. I cannot think or hear about food. But if I want something to eat it will be very specific like today. I wanted french fries, Chris wanted a burger. Anyway, we came across a very cool burger place - Burger Bar. The burgers were outstanding and french fries were the best. By the way, last year we've been to Bruges, Belgium, and learned that they eat their fries with mayo! And they also claim that they invented fries and that they should be called Belgium not French :)
At Burger Bar they also served fries with mayo. So after our unhealthy dinner we went for a 30 min. walk. Again, people on bikes are everywhere! At the same time, it's kind of quiet for a big city. It was nice to walk along canals and bridges. There are Coffee Shops everywhere! "Coffee Shop" stands for a place where you can smoke weed. We could actually smell it walking around and passing by such places.
We stopped at a mini market to get some fruit, cheese and crackers for our room. We are quite experienced travelers and we like to be independent i.e. have some food for breakfast in our room even if/when they serve breakfast in a hotel.
We came back from our walk and sat by a fire-place in the lobby. As I said they serve complimentary drinks: champagne, wine, beer, strong drinks and they also serve quite a good selection of cheeses and sausages. This hotel is really good!
Anyway, it's our 1st day here. So far we like Amsterdam. We plan on visiting a couple museums and just relax. We'll be here 6 days and then head out to London.

Defender's Day = Success!!

So My Dearest Defender was very happy with his day! On Monday night I took C. out to dinner to his favorite steak house. We had such a fun time! Chris had foie gras and I had pork ribs in orange sauce as appetizers. For the main course we both had steaks with fried potatoes and mushrooms and cream spinach. Of course, could not resist the dessert: chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream for C. and strawberry cheesecake for me. Awesome dinner!!!!
On the actual day (Tuesday) we stayed in which was a great idea! We watched movies, played Scrabble and poker. Scrabble was pretty funny as I was leading the whole time and in the end C. came up with some weird words :) such as "wino" and "din" and scored a lot. I said weird as I never heard them or saw them. Great times! Of course, we tease and put down each other sometimes and cheer up depending on the situation.! He was happy to win on his day and take revenge as I won the last time. When we play Scrabble, we play a handicapped version: I can use a dictionary, Chris cannot use a dictionary as it's his native language. It makes us equal at our chances to win. Then I practiced at playing poker with C. He is trying to teach me popular card games. He made a cheat sheet for me with all kinds of combinations and their ranking system. So far I like Poker but I need lots of practice, control over my emotions (the hardest) and I have a loooong way to go :)


I cooked some awesome food for us to snack on during the day. These are the pictures! The first round was: tomatoes with mozarella and basil in balsamic/olive oil sauce, then rolls with smoked salmon, cream cheese and spring onions and the hot appetizer was one of our favorite: baked mushrooms stuffed with fried onions and mushroom mixture topped with a drop of mayo and some cheese! Yummy!!!!

The second round was: onion tarts, pear salad and chicken fingers. Agent, if you are reading this, thanks a lot for your recipes for onion tarts and pear salad! We really loved these new things I made for the first time. Pear salad was very unusual for me and great. I say unusual as most Russian salads are mayo based and consist of boiled eggs, ham, cheese, boiled carrot, potatoes, beet etc. Most of them are heavy.

Now I'm introducing myself to American salads which seem lighter to me. Again, it depends what salad I'm talking about. I never understood how a salad with bunch of grass (lettuce) and occasional nuts or pieces of meat can be good? I thought that it would be very boring and tasteless. When we decided to eat more vegetables I looked more into healthy American recipes and I keep finding new fresh ideas for great salads with bunch of lettuce and vegetables. They are not boring at all and very tasty.
So C. loved all the food and was impressed by how much I cooked. I like to make him happy!