Life and Cookin' with David, Peter and Angelo

Date : 8th of September 2009
Location : David’s
Chef : Peter

Recipe : Curry Chicken

500 Gram Chicken Fillet
Spinach
Curry Powder
500 Ml Yoghurt
Basmati Rice
Garlic

Date : 9th of September 2009
Location : Angelo’s
Chef : Angelo

Recipe : Sweet Chicken

500 Gram of Chicken Fillet
Pineapple (can)
3 Garlic
2 Teaspoons of Sambal (or use Hot Curry spices if unavailable)
3 Paprika (Red, Green and Yellow)
1 Cucumber
1 Bottle of Tomato Ketchup
4 Spoons of Sugar
½ a cup of warm water

March - April - May 2009

March 2009

I did not keep up any diary, apart from my work diary. So I looked at the photo’s I took the last few months. I could not recommend the horrible Indian Restaurant we tried out in Villingen. Nothing was properly cooked, and the dishes where tasteless.

David, Thibaud and Jos, in the worst Indian restaurant we visited.

April 2009, Easter Holidays

4th of April we left for a short break to the Netherlands. We went with the Eurotunnel, which is brilliant if the price is right. We booked a day return, which is far cheaper then a normal return. So buying two day returns for us worked out cheaper then anything else. We just do not return the same day :) We stayed at my parents place in Maarheeze. On Sunday we dropped the kids of at Linda’s parents place and we had a couple of days for ourselves, staying in the Carlton Hotel in “Naaldwijk”. http://www.hotelcarlton.nl/ The hotel was clean, although old fashioned in our eyes. In between the flower fields of the Netherlands, close to the Hague and Rotterdam. For a 4 star hotel we would have expected slightly better.

First day we went to Rotterdam, which has become a really nice city since my last visit. Even bumped into a Crumpler shop (awesome Aussie bags). We had a nice lunch nearby where we parked our car. We visited the Alexandrium, http://www.alexandrium.nl/ which is a large shopping mall for furniture and beds, just to do up some inspiration for our home. After that we went to Scheveningen, where we had an early dinner at Van Der Valk on the Pier. Surprisingly good food and service.

Scheveningen beach

Next day it was cloudy and drizzle. We went to Leiden, which was slightly disappointing, maybe also because of the weather, shortly after that we left again for Rotterdam. In the evening we went to “Tampat Senang”, an superb Indonesian restaurant in the heart of The Hague. This was recommended by one of the staff at the hotel. The restaurant has been there since 1922, and the atmosphere is absolutely brilliant. Every single part of the restaurant was decorated in the Indonesian traditional woodwork. http://www.tampatsenang.nl/ The food was really good too.

Tempat Senang interior, the Hague.

Our last morning in the hotel we had a long large breakfast. On our way back, we picked up the kids at Linda’s parents place, and drove straight to the pancake house in Lierop. http://www.decoeckepanne.nl/. My parents had their 45th wedding anniversary that day, so the entire family was there (My brother with his family, my parents and us).

"Breakfast in the Carlton"

Next day we went into Eindhoven. Had some food at the Thai place. After that we drove to the furniture mall and had a look around for some more inspiration. We saw a beautiful couch, which we probably will buy the end of this year to replace our current one, which has suffered badly from the kids. We visited my brother’s home that day, and after that we left to our friends in Valkenswaard.

Next day we went to ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In the evening we took out Linda’s parents for a meal in Hotel de Valk near Gilzenrijen. http://www.hotels.nl/gilze/valkgilze/pictures/

Week 2

I had to go back to work, although Monday was a national holiday, so we drove on Monday to Germany with the car. Working during the day, meeting up with the family at lunchtime, and in the evenings we went swimming at Solemar and to Aquasol. Both very nice pools (recommended).

bridge at river Moesel

Friday evening we drove back to my parents in Holland. Saturday we chilled out, did some shopping and visited our friends in Valkenswaard again. Sunday we went back home to the UK

May 2009

A couple of weeks back into work again. My mother turned 68 on the 1st of May. Did a lot of DIY in and around the house.

Senna and Noa at a farm in Southern Germany.

The child in me.....Lego !

After a long time, here's another update. We had a great christmas holidays with the family. Life has not changed that much. Although traveling more frequent, with the result I'm at home more often then last year. Anyways. Here are some pictures of the old Lego from my early days which have been rebuild using an online catalogue (I'm so disappointed I got rid of the original manuals back in the days).

Lego Castle from 1978

Highway Maintenance from 1981.

Shell Petrol Pump from 1981.

Race Car from 1983.

Fire Station from 1983.

We are still looking for some parts (one or two) in the huge amount of Lego we've got here. Still need to organize the colors, as right now it's all in one large storage box. Anyway, still enjoying playing with Lego after all these years. What a brilliant idea from Denmark !

Weekend Passed

Another weekend passed in Southern Germany. What happened in a nutshell ? Friday we had a leaving party from one of the people in the company. Got pretty wasted, but went home early. Next day Got up at 07:00 to pick up Jos and Mikael (a new guy) to go to Strasbourg, France. We had the train at 09:00 from Villingen Station, and had to get out at Offenburg, where we missed the next train as we didn't get the extra tickets for the train that would take us to France. So a two hour wait, we decided to go into Offenburg. It was anicer then expected, and there was a nice market. After a MacDonalds meal we left for France. The journey was smooth, the landscape boring and not very interesting unfortunately. We had a laugh anyway. Strasbourg is not very impressive, although some parts have some nice architectual buildings (such as the cathedral). We left on time again from Strasbourg back to Villingen. Once returned, we got in contact with Steffan, as they where going to a party where a director of the company was performing on the stage (DJ Size). We went with Rainer, Steffan, Jenny, Jos and Myself. The location was in Schwenningen, next to the Station. Good atmosphere, good 80s music and a top night. More people later on joined, and the party ended at about 03:00. Today I went out early and wanted to visit the Mercedes Benz museum in Stuttgart. But that went not as planned.....Got on the train, had to change at Rottweil, but there was no connection there. So decided to go back to Villingen and went down South to Konstanz. The weather was beautifull, and totally relaxed walking around, taking pictures and had some food (of course). Went back at about 15:00, and am back in Villingen again where I bumped into Stef and Jenny at the Opal, which is a bar next to the Station (best spot to catch sun all day, if there is any sun). Will make some spaghetti now, as it's the only thing left in the cupboard :) Shopping again tomorrow. And end of this week FLYING HOME !!! One week to go for yet another year !

btw, for more images you can also visit : http://angelo-bod.hyves.nl/

Although for the people that are not fluid in Dutch, well look at the images only :)

Weekend again

Listening to my Ipod Touch running the 2.0 OS. Downloaded some really nice free programs on the APP store. Eating some toast and a pint of Apple Juice, sitting next to the open window overlooking Villingen City. The Turkish restaurant still closed, where we went yesterday for lunch. They have a great lunch menu, just the normal menu is a bit pricey. It has been a really busy week, as the game I'm working on has an important milestone coming up end of August. A lot of assets are coming in, and are populating the game right now. Many more to follow. Last night had a long walk around town, and after that I had a take away Doner Kebab, which is massive here and only €3,-. Have to do some shopping, as my fridge is running empty.

We signed another deal with a new client last week, and doing some exciting female character work for them. All in the Final Fantasy 10 style again. The guys are really excited to be working on this, and so far it's going really well. I'm looking forward to get the first one finished, so we can move on to all the other characters and accessories we have to do.
Another project is running smoothly, although we had a hick up in our resources, but thanks to Shaf that's all sorted now again. The third project we have running is running very nice, so it's all onwards and upwards.

Okay enough for today, finishing my breakfast and off to Edeka (the local supermarket)....

July, Summer Holidays are coming up

From a rather cloudy Villingen, another update from the Black Forest.
My parents where visiting yesterday accompanied by one of my aunties who turns 80 this year. They left the Netherlands last week to relax in a hotel in the Northern part of the Black Forest (nearby Offenburg). What did we do ? Had breakfast in "Raben", which is an Italian Ice Restaurant. After that we had a walk around, and later the day we had lunch / dinner at "Die Ott", 200Gr Angus Steak, with brattkartoffeln, salad and a bruschetta for a starter. They left at about 18:00 again back to the hotel where they were staying.

What else happened last month ?

Workwise we have a busy milestone ahead of us, but everything is going smoothly so far. And we planned our holidays as well, which is something we're all looking forward to. Our own business is expanding, as we started up a business offshore in Capetown, South Africa. As we signed another deal last week we simply had to expand in order to get the workload done on our side. So let's see where the future will take our company. "Onwards and upwards!"

I went home last week to visit my family, and on Saturday we went into town where Noa got a Red Nintendo DS. As the white one was broken, and has to be repaired. Went to Bluewater in London on Sunday, as it was a rainy day. Visited the lego store and some other places. Just a relaxed weekend really.

My friend Jos is now on a holiday with his parents. Visiting Hitlers Eagles Nest in Southern Germany, and then off to Toscane, Italy. Hope he will enjoy his trip over there. They planned a long roadtrip.

have been updating my Hyves, hard to keep everything up to date with all these sites we're on. http://angelo-bod.hyves.nl/ It's all in Dutch, but there are some images on there too.

More images will follow with the next update.

Another update from Germany

Sitting in my "Fatboy", which made the trip in the car from the UK all the way to Southern Germany, I'm writing a small update. I finally moved out of the hotel, after six months. So we have an apartment now here. Had some issues when I moved in, as the hot water wasn't working, the heating wasn't working, so dishwasher was wrongly connected. But that's all fixed now. Only thing I need now is furniture. Last week Linda and the kids came over for a visit, as they had holidays. The weather was really nice, and we enjoyed every day of it. Went swimming a couple of times with the kids in Rottweil, a really nice pool called "Aquasol". During the day I had to work, so the kids went out with Linda to local places such as a farm, Triberg (the waterfall about 15 minutes drive from here).

Triberg, near the waterfall in summer.

On Saturday we were invited for a barbeque in Schwenningen by Thibaud. It was raining when we arrived, but the weather cleared and we had a nice afternoon. Thibaud was improvising with the own made bbq, and the food was delicious.

Closeup from the table.

Got my internet here sorted with KableBW (a 16Mb connection with telephone), works like a treat. And yesterday I installed the netgear wireless, so now I'm not tied anymore to any wires. Nothing planned for the weekend really, wanted to go to Schwenningen to look for some furniture. As Jos his car is broken, we depend on the public transport, but that's okay. Will see if he's already awake. Tonight it's kickoff for the Euro 2008 !