Protea.

I found this incredible flower on Rotterdam market the other day and couldn't resist buying one. The name of it is protea, and thanks to wonderful wikipedia we can all learn a bit more about it: 

Protea ( /ˈproʊtiːə/)^[1] is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of South African flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: suikerbos).

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protea

Those petals look like feathers!

Centrum Christmas party.

Pretty lively considering it was Monday.

Friday Music.

On Tuesdays we go swimming.

We woke up to a layer of white.

MIrrored.

Very still water in Kralingse Bos. 

Family visit.

Having Floyd so far gets hard because I feel I'm missing out on his childhood. Every day he learns something new and it's fascinating to see him grow up and understand the world around him. Thank you, Helen, Dill and Floyd for your visit! Hopefully there will be more to follow!

On our way to the Kinderboerderij in Kranlingen. Floyd liked the way there, but the rainy way back was a bit too Dutch for him. 

Rainbows on Floyd's face!

Hello, goat.

Enthusiastic donkey. 

One of the softest things I've ever touched. 

Sista. And great mother. 

Oink.

On our way back. 

It's easy to make Floyd laugh. 

Breakfast time. Floyd loves peanut butter!

Agua, agua!

Short but sweet visit. 

Money.

“If you say that money is the most important thing, you’ll spend your life completely wasting your time: You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is, in order to go on doing things you don’t like doing — which is stupid!”

- Allan Watts

Hungry Phil.

Apparently all those pintxos weren't enough food for Phil. 

3rd Pintxos Championship - Rotterdam.

This year was the third one this exciting and challenging contest is held, mainly by a big bunch of the Spanish community here in Rotterdam. The level keeps getting higher every year, this one being the most gourmet of the three. My stomach didn't think it was such a great idea to mix so many ingredients together in one single night, so unfortunately I had to abandon the pintxos route before it was over, but I did manage to try all of them except two. 

There were over 30 of us participating, divided in about 10 groups. We cycled around town, each house hosting all the participants, imitating the typical basque pintxos night. Over there it's done in bars. But unfortunately we can't find those kind of bars here. 

A special thanks goes to Carmen and Javi, the organizers. 

Eneko was the one who came up with the whole idea three years ago because he missed this way of eating from the Basque Country. He's now living back there but came specially to Rotterdam to try out the pintxos. 

We were all unusually on time. We gathered at CS Rotterdam. 

Marcos drew this cute map. 

Off we go to the first house!

Yummy cod buñuelo and escalivada. 

Deconstructed Russian salad. One of my personal favorites. 

Everyone eating our clam soup after cycling in the cold rain. I would say our dish was the best timed. 

Bloody Mary muscles. 

Jelly shots with lime, ginger, cucumber and other secret ingredients.  

The most surprising pintxo! It exploded in your mouth!

This one too! The creators advised to shut your mouth once it was in there. Good advice. 

Its' an original idea by the master chef Ferran Adrià. 

The unquestionable winner: pintxos of quail eggs, black sausage, pine nuts and slice of bread. DELICIOUS!

The winners!

More black sausage. It was quite a popular ingredient this year. 

Also lots of sea food. 

Very tasty lentil soup served with a little appetizer of black sausage. 

The pintxo I couldnt' try. Apparently amazing... :(
I'll let you know what was in there.

Prediction TV.

Amy has taken her final project for her master's degree at Piet Zwart a step further and will be in Showroom Mama until the end of the year with her Prediction TV. Go and check it out!