Half Broke Horses

This weekend was uneventful but I did manage to eat some great food. Friday evening Kelly, C, and I all went out for dinner but we wanted something light since we were still full from our amazing lunch. Richard had taken us to a CUTE place on the harbor that served amazing chicken sate. Kelly had a burger that looked great as well. The best part was sitting by the windows looking at the ice filled dock area and icy lake. It is a sight you definitely don’t see in the Southwest.

The building at the end of the road on the left is the restaurant. Super tasty foods!

There is the icy harbor/docking area. Some boats didn't get rescued before the ice it, but that seems to be semi normal. Ice can be beautiful.

This restaurant had some candy to grab on your way out. Richard made his way in search of a particular sucker and urged us all to try one. So Kelly and I both grabbed one, C did not. I opened mine, liked it and it tasted alright. Richard opened his and had Kelly taste the powder that was in the middle of it and she started yelling and practically gagging. She was not happy with Richard. Apparently, it’s no tootsie pop…it’s a black/white. Kelly’s said the sucker tasted like licking the bottom of the ocean floor. Heading that warning, I proceeded with caution. I made me way through the sweet exterior of the sucker and once I started getting the salty, yucky taste I stopped. On the car ride back, Richard told me to ask another one of our American coworkers about this sucker. I took the liberty and asked, apparently, it got the best of him too. He is not a fan, to put it lightly. Lesson learned: the Dutch have an odd taste for sweets.

After all of the lunch adventure, none of us were very hungry for dinner so we decided to go somewhere light. We went back to XO (or first repeat dinner) for their wraps and quiches. It was just as good the second time around. C has a sweet tooth so she talked us into desert and man oh man does this country have some fantastic ice cream! Since I have a special spot for ice cream anyways, it’s just a little slice of heaven in a bowl.

On Saturday, Kelly and I enjoyed sleeping in and we planned on meeting C for lunch. She had a lazy morning and went shopping but we weren’t that motivated. We started walking along the shopping street and there are so many cute deli-like places but they are always closed for dinner so we just picked one for lunch. It was great! It was called Pluk and they had a bunch of organic things and their bread was big thick soft pieces of dark, almost black, goodness. They also served fresh smoothies so that was a nice way to spice things up a bit. Apparently, Americans are not the only ones to have credit card trouble. After C had been shopping all morning and didn’t have any problems with her card she tried to pay for lunch. They don’t accept credit cards. She explained it was a chip card, it still wouldn’t work because it was a credit card, not a debit. We then all had a big discussion because many of these vendors tell us that “Holland doesn’t accept….” when the store right down the street didn’t have a problem with it. I think this country needs to get on the ball and choose a story and stick to it. Either way, Kelly and I are used to it and always carry cash on us now. We then headed back to get C’s luggage and headed off to the airport. She was our first victim of the airport routine, so all future visitors, we are now experienced.

On Saturday I had finished my book “The Friday Night Knitting Club” and it was such a good book! It made me cry! I then started another book “Half Broke Horses” and managed to finish it in one day. It was an easy, enjoyable read. The book was set in New Mexico, West Texas, and Arizona and talked about ranching, the weather, and how hard life was then. It was so fun to read, though, because I knew places like the Hondo River Valley and Lincoln and Capitan. The book was written by the main character’s granddaughter based upon stories she had heard from her grandmother and mother through the days. It also made me realize how little I know about my grandmother’s upbringing. I need to call her more often anyways so I guess now I will have questions for her. I better learn this part of my family history before the opportunity is lost. The book took up most of my Sunday while I read and watched some of the Olympics. Nothing like a lazy day reading, watching the snow outside, and wishing you were off skiing with all of the Olympians at Whistler. Maybe next year……