Archive for October, 2011

Marinaded Chicken Fillet

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

It feels like ages ago that I prepared dinner for Marion and me. So about time to change that…

I decided to go for something with chicken fillet. I made a marinade based on arachis oil (“peanut oil”). I added salt, paprika, onion, savory, garlic, black pepper, thyme and basil (all fine-cut or as powder). I mixed it all very thoroughly.
I took 2 nice pieces of chicken fillet and placed them for an hour in marinade (turning them every now and then around).
I prepared the marinade it a baking dish, so I put all directly in the oven (for 40 minutes on a temperature 170 degrees Celsius).

After those 40 minutes I took the baking dish from the oven and I removed the chicken fillets from the dish. I covered the bottom the baking dish with bacon. On the bacon I placed the fillets again and on top of it all some French nut based cheese.
For 20 minutes back in the oven (again on a temperature of 170 degrees).

Meanwhile I baked some sliced potatoes with bacon. I vegetables I boiled carrots (those nice round ones) and snow peas, which are always a good combination.

It tasted wonderful and it was very easy to prepare. Who needs more? :)

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Highland Park

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Last night Marion and I took it easy. I myself had a very busy week at work behind me and because the party of Friday evening it was late before I found my way to bed.
Marion was also rather tired. Because of someone else caused problems on the airport while checking in, everyone was checked fully. So it took ages before she could leave the airport and head to Heemskerk. Not nice when you are already tired.

Anyway, we spend the evening chatting about everything and nothing. I like that, something good to drink, some nice French cheese and those small crispy toasts.
Marion enjoyed some of my cognac. And I couldn’t blame her, the bottle of “Courvoisier VSOP” that I have currently is very good. I, as so often, went for a good glass of whisky. And there I realized that I never discussed the bottle of Highland Park 12 years that I opened recently. Time to do so…

The Highland Park distillery can by found on the Orkney Islands, which are a group of 200 islands that can be found north of Scotland. Since 1798 the Highland Park Distillery is making their wonderful whisky.
The website of Highland Park Distillery is a pleasure to visit and tells nice to know about whisky, the distillery and the Orkney Islands.

The Highland Park whisky that I have currently is the 12 year one and is the youngest in their impressive line up.
Although not most important, the bottle of the Highland Park 12 year is very nice to see. Nothing to be ashamed of to place on the table when you want to share some good whisky with friends.
In the glass the whiskey displays a wonderful gold colour. The smell is strong, but with a certain sweetness. Very enjoyable.
A very nice mouth coating with sweets, some spice and a nice tingle on the tongue. Becoming dry at the end.
The after-taste is wonderful and lasts at least for a minute. Very enjoyable.

I know, if you read some whisky reviews it is almost poetry how they describe it all. I am not that way, I keep it just short and simple… that is more me :P

Anyway I can be short about this one…. it will have it often at home. I really like it.

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Global Collect Annual Party 2011

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

I was requested to make this article not public available. I honoured that request.

If you want access to the article, please use the “Contact me” form at top of the page.

Thank you,
Rob Berkers.

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Watching “Thor” and having a nice evening together…

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

Yesterday after we battled a huge mountain of spare ribs we wanted to watch a movie together. Together on the couch, something nice to drink and relaxed watching something together.

I am happy that in some ways Marion and I like the same kind of movies. Sure, science fiction and fantasy movies are not on the top of the list of Marion. But she likes them way enough to watch them together with me.
And yes, I am always open to suggestions of movies she likes to see.

So a few days ago I ordered the BluRay with the movie “Thor”…

Of course this movie goes about Thor, the Scandinavian god.. Son of Odin.

In the movie Thor (Chris Hemsworth) gets banned to earth for irresponsible behaviour. Separated from his mighty hammer Mjöllnir he is really nothing more than a well-trained and strong man.
During his time on earth he falls in love with Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). By the betrayal of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) all there is seems to be endangered. But without Mjöllnir Thor is almost helpless and there is nothing he can do…. (no, I won’t place here real spoilers).

I like this kind of movies where legends and myths are linked to the world of today. Nice aspect in this movie is that the residents of Asgard are an alien race.

Great are the sounds effects in this movie and I am really happy that my equipment can play DTS-HD. The visual and special effects are also awesome.

So all with all, I liked this movie. It was fun to watch and I am curious if there will be a sequel.

After the watching the movie Marion and I went for a walk. Sure, it was late. But some fresh air before going to sleep is always a good thing.

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A very nice of waking up….

Friday, October 21st, 2011

As I knew that Marion would arrive early in the afternoon at my place, I arranged that I was free of work (or rather, I worked from home during the morning and I had taken off after noon).
Mostly on Fridays I am earlier at my house then she is. Which is logical, because she has still to travel back to The Netherlands after the working day. But some times she can leave early… and because these occasions are rather rare I always try to take off.

So today, I have worked from home. The morning passed by very fast. Quickly did the last things to make the house all tidy. Some fresh flowers on table of course…
At some moment I was all done and ready. I knew that Marion already landed on the airport of Schiphol (she always sends me an SMS when she is on the ground again), but it still would take some time before she would arrive in Heemskerk… Checking out, some shopping, travelling to my place…

I was looking very forward to have her near again, but I was also a bit tired. So I decided to lay down on the couch for 10 or 15 minutes…

Some how I must have slipped away into a deeper sleep…

I remember so well that I waked up by a soft-spoken words by a voice I know so well. A gentle touch on my cheek. When I finally opened slowly my eyes I was looking straight into the smiling face of Marion.

What a wonderful way to wake up!!!

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“De Stompe Toren” and “De Stal”

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

September last year Marion and I have bicycled in the Spaarnwoude area (close to the city of Haarlem). During this very nice trip we found a small church called “De Stompe Toren”…

This church is not used as church anymore, but has found a new purpose in exhibitions and small concerts. Last year we already said it would be nice to visit it again. But as so many things in life, you forget about it…

That is until somewhere last week we remember “De Stompe Toren”. And this time we did what said more than a year ago.

Today we visited “De Stompe Toren”. There was a concert of Close-Up, a vocal group doing a very impressive acapella concert. We both enjoyed it a lot.
There was also an exhibition of work of Jeffrey Zijlstra. Very colourful and imaginative paintings. Maybe not completely my style, but still I like it. Marion really loved the paintings.

It was still a bit early for dinner, so we made a walk through the very lovely area. It is very nice around there. Quiet but still full of life. Which is nice to experience in the hurry and stress of every days life.

We had dinner at “De Stal”, which is very close to church where we visited the concert and exhibition. This restaurant has a great country-side atmosphere. We both felt right away welcome. It was not too busy and that is the way I like it when Marion and I have dinner together.
The food was very good. As apéritif we both had a carpaccio. As main course Marion had an entrecôte and I went for a rib-eye (both served with baked potatoes, different kind of vegetables and a salad). As dessert we both wanted the same again, a Dame Blanche. And of course to make a good end to it all, a nice cup of Cappuccino.

A very well spend Sunday, I could not say anything different…

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Uitgeester Lake

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

Yesterday the weather was very nice for the time of the year. So in the afternoon Marion and I went for a nice on our bicycles. Some time ago I noticed on a map of the area a very big lake near the town of Uitgeest. And that is where we went yesterday…

Some pictures…

Certainly a place to visit more often!

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Life can be so enjoyable

Saturday, October 15th, 2011

It is easy how an evening can become an enjoyable evening. This evening Marion and I spend together watching a movie.

And the movie? A thriller this time. “Edge of Darkness” is the title..

The movie is about a police agent whose daughter gets shot right before his eyes. At first they think that he was meant to be shot and not is daughter. But slowly it starts to show that this is not the case and that they were really after his daughter. And then starts to show how big companies are involved in things that cannot stand the daylight and how they do everything to cover that up.

A limited edition… A BluRay in a metal case. Nice, but the thing I really love about BluRays is the high quality of video and audio… if you have a system that really supports it and my media centre does.

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Barbecue….

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

As Marion and I heard that the weather would be extremely this weekend we decided to have a barbecue together. It could be the last change for this year to have one outside…

It is not allowed the have something with open fire on your balcony. So a normal barbecue with coal is not permitted and that is why I bought last year an electric barbecue.

Rather early in the morning I went to one of the best butchers here in this area to get some nice meat. We assumed that more people would have the same idea and it would be a pity if all the better meat would be sold already. But I was in time.
Later on we went to a supermarket close by and bought all the other things need.

One thing we both don’t like are those BBQ’s with only big hunks of meat and nothing else. The meat must be of good quality. And there must be more to it like salads, chopped raw vegetables, slices of paprika, cucumber, French bread and such.

We took our time for the barbecue. There was no reason to hurry. It was fun to talk while enjoying all the nice things on the table. The wine tasted very good (the wine was a Chateau Ferrande Graves Rouge that Marion brought along… a very nice and elegant Bordeaux).

If this was the last barbecue of the year, then at least it was a good one! I think I say for us both that we enjoyed it a lot. And as Marion said, as the weather turns bad we always can have a Gourmet or a fondue. And right she is :)

And oh… if it is up to me the weather stays like this! I just love to see Marion in her bikini :P :P

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