Grote Markt, Napoli and Whiskey tasting from "Liquid Gold"

This past Saturday morning we went to the Grote Markt (the large market downtown) and did a little shopping. There is a stand there that sells English pot pies, 3 for 10 Euro. Soooo, we bought three....2 steak and 1 thai chicken. Delicious!!!

It had snowed a little more early Saturday afternoon....enough to cover everything with a white dust! 

Saturday evening we had reservations for dinner at Napoli Restaurant. Andrew's coworker, Wouder, and his wife, Isabel, met us at the house at around 1830. We had a glass of champagne, then walked over to the restaurant around 1945hrs. We had a very nice dinner together....We all ordered the Pasta Napoli...their specialty! Wouder and Isabel are such a sweet couple. It was such a relaxing evening. 

 Ahhhhh.....yesssss...parmesan!!!

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Sunday, January 27th

It rained this morning......which melted most of the snow. Can't say that I'm disappointed actually!  I grew up in Minnesota, where winter lasts for months. I loved it when I was a kid...skating on outdoor rinks, snowmobiling, building snowforts, etc. When I was 18 I joined the U.S. Army and after getting out I stayed In California and lived there from 1976 till 2012. Soooo, I'm no longer used to living in an area where there is snow. I did spend one winter (in 1985) in Minnesota while my first husband was in the hospital in Minneapolis, but I was so busy and worried about other things the weather didn't really bother me. I do remember one morning though....the windchill factor was minus 75 degree Farenheit...(YES!!!  Ugh!) and my truck wouldn't start because it was frooooozen!!! I learned that if you buy a heater that you can plug in it keeps the engine block warm so it won't freeze up! Who would've thought?!?! 

Now, I'm looking at winters with different eyes!  I know that when we go back to the States I don't want to live in a place that gets buried with snow...and where winter lasts for months with subzero temperatures!  We shall see where we end up in 2014!!!

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This afternoon, at 1400hrs, we went with our wonderful neighbors Bruce and Linda, to a whisky tasting. It took place at the Hotel Die Raeckse in Haarlem.

Here's reference to BOB again.... Linda told me that BOB is the "designated driver".

We didn't end up buying anything there....but we did enjoy tasting whiskeys from small distilleries, and spending time with Bruce and Linda!