#9 – Brazilian Churrascaria

The Brazilian churrascaria has to be one of my most missed Brazilian eating experiences since I moved back to England.  The barbeque and then some concept …the most delicious steakhouse …and then the added bonus of the rodizio – where the servers bring a potentially never ending stream of meat to your table until you can eat no more and turn the green ‘feed me MEAT’ tag over to the red “I’m about to explode” side!  A truly Brasilian eating experience!  So what better way than with three friends from Brazil, ‘três brasileiras no coração’ even if none of us were actually born Brasilian?

After a day wandering Haarlem we took a train back to Amsterdam and headed for the restaurant Rodizio.nl.  The first important point of the meal was to make sure that the Guarana they served was the one and only Antartica brand.  Our server looked rightly confused that a restaurant would consider serving any other brand!  And so we claimed our plates and went up to the buffet to line the plate with rice, beans, potato etc ahead of the meat onslaught.  Now the trick is not to fill up too much on these items so that you can get your money’s worth / stomach full of MEAT!

Although our servers were friendly they were not exactly quick or plentiful with the meat supply and seemed to keep coming back with the standard stuff over the much awaited picanha.  The place wasn’t that busy and so the atmosphere was limited (though the compulsory TV set was playing brasilian music videos).  Plus many food items normally included in the price we were surprised to discover were charged as extra here.  So the churrascaria itself was not voted as the greatest ever… BUT we did have the token benefit of totally confusing our servers who worked out that we were not Brazilian and yet we somehow all spoke Portuguese! :)   And better yet we got to reminisce and share a Brazilian experience amongst good friends who all know and love Brasil and the churrascaria principle, and who have all now moved away from Brasil and ‘há muito saudade’!

#8 – Visit the Corrie Ten Boom House

I remember reading ‘The Hiding Place’ and ‘Tramp for the Lord’ when I was a child and being impacted by Corrie Ten Boom’s story.  I even wrote her a letter, but later found out that although she was still alive she was already ill after two strokes and completely paralysed by that stage.  Guess that would explain why she never wrote back to me. 

Willem Ten Boom opened a watch shop in this house in 1837 and lived with his family in the rooms above the shop.  It passed to his son Casper, and then to Casper’s daughter, Corrie, who became the first female licensed watchmaker in the Netherlands.  And still today the Ten Boom Jewellers is open for business below the house.  In 1988 the house became a museum and tours are given each day by volunteers. Ever since I heard that the Ten Boom house had been turned into a museum I had wanted to visit it.

On Saturday morning we caught a train from Amsterdam to Haarlem.  The house is in the centre of Haarlem just a short walk from the station and we arrived just before it opened at 11am.  We were in luck, not only was the first tour of the day an English tour but there were also no others in line waiting.  So we got a tour all to ourselves! 

As we sat in the lounge above the watch shop surrounded by photos of the Ten Boom family we heard a little of the family history and it was just such an inspiring story.  To hear how Corrie’s grandfather had begun a prayer group in that very room almost 100 years before the war to pray for Jews, to see how God had prepared so far ahead his plans for this amazing family.  Just to know that I was sat where Corrie and her family had been, and to see the reality of the story I had known for so many years.

The Ten Boom family were amazing and God certainly prepared them but in a way he also prepared the house for the task ahead.  The house was originally two houses which were later put together with a thin windy staircase down the middle making the house is an interesting mismatch of levels.  Quite useful in the end for concealing the hiding place as the house’s irregularities means it is hard to judge what level you are on or where rooms should end.   In the end it was what saved those hidden in the secret room when the police finally raided the house.  The family was arrested for extra ration cards found under a stair.  But the hidden Jews remained in their hiding place for many days undetected by the Germans, before they were secretly released by a Dutch policeman and taken to another hiding place.

Going into Corrie’s bedroom you are able to see the hiding place and a hole has been knocked through the false wall showing just how small the hiding place was.  Climbing in through the hole in the wall was so much easier than through the bottom of the cupboard like those in hiding had to enter.  I had seen photos of the hiding place, and seen how small it was and yet there is nothing like actually standing in it to realise just how small the area was, and that was just with one person in it.  Imagine six people for over 47 hours with nothing to eat but crackers and no idea when they would be able to leave.  It just doesn’t bear thinking about.

Corrie Ten Boom and her family were not Jews, and therefore were not in hiding themselves, but they took great risks every day in hiding and protecting Jews and underground workers.  They showed what grace and obedience to God really means.  Corrie was the only member of the family to survive the war and be able to tell the story.  But the tour made me realise that the story was not hers alone.  She was raised in a family completely committed to God, to prayer and to loving others.  As early as Willem Ten Boom the actions and attitudes of the family were reflected in their open house.  For them their actions during the Second World War were just the reflection of this history with its foundation in their love of God. 

Although we did many museum tours and packed lots of action into our three days in Amsterdam this visit was, and still is, my highlight of the trip.  I came out feeling inspired, encouraged and feeling like there was hope even in the darkest places.  As Corrie and her sister Bessie used to say: “There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still”.   Quite the testament when you consider the deep pit they both knew.

#7 – Reinvent the wardrobe

It is sometimes assumed that all women love to shop ...but for me this is definitely NOT true!  I hate to shop.  Don’t get me wrong, I love having nice new things, I just hate the process of acquiring them.  The racks and racks of fashionable clothes which I simply do not like, or the styles which were not designed with the human body in mind, the clothes I do like and get excited about only to try on and feel like a whale or just wonder what was I thinking!  Or even the too many people squeezing in between endless lines of clothes, the horrible lighting and overheated changing rooms.  Many a time it has all combined to reduce me to tears!  So when I do buy new clothes it has generally been a quick easy purchase based on a safe design or in a tried and tested colour (black or blue); I have many clothes that I have owned for a VERY long time and many are just not that flattering (because either they never were or they are just too old and worn).

My original idea for my list was to buy a really nice dress and wear it to some nice, slightly posh event.  But then I decided that better than that was to reinvent my wardrobe, but making sure that dresses were included.  So first I had to find a shopping companion…

My first trial shop was on Christmas Eve with Steph after our annual Christmas hot chocolate at Marks and Spencer.  We wandered over to Outfit and wandered around the different store areas picking out interesting items, discussing styles and colours which would suit me and those which would not.  I had not come out with the intention of buying anything and so felt under no pressure to come out carrying bags.  This was definitely good initial retail therapy.  We had fun picking out and mocking some particularly bad items and just wandering.  It also gave me some ideas of what I might want.

After that I did some online browsing to see what shops had clothes, dresses in particular, that I liked and at a price that I also liked.  And so the first shopping trip was born…  though it did wait until the beginning of February!  Corinna, an expert shopper, offered to accompany me to Enfield Matalan which is nicely situated out of any hellish shopping centres or precincts, with easy parking and therefore easy access to an escape route.  The car park looked encouragingly deserted but as we walked in and started browsing I could feel my spirits failing and the sense that nothing I had seen online was looking quite as nice in the reality.  But soon I had a growing handful of possibles to try on, including some "just ry it on, you never know"s that Corinna picked out for me.  After a leisurely meander around we went to try on.  In opposite cubicles there was a constant stream of outfit demonstrations and I soon realised I was actually having fun AND finding clothes I liked and wanted to part with good cash for! 

I came away with 2 dresses, a skirt, leggings and a jumper, still with change from my allocated shopping budget, and a smile on my face.  I have new preeeetty clothes and I even enjoyed getting them.  Shopping trip number two will have a lot to live up to!

Watch this space for further events on this one... 

…(11 Feb 2013) …My second wardrobe reinvention adventure was not exactly a planned venture.  During my holiday with friends Els and Elisabeth in the Netherlands we got lots of snow which was very pretty and all, but did also demonstrate to me just how much my boots leaked.  Walking for hours with wet, cold feet is really not much fun so after a failed solution of sandwich bags tied to my feet we took a break between museum stops for a whistlestop tour of shoeshops along Amsterdam’s main shopping street.   

My current boots have done me proud and I wanted something similar, but more than anything I wanted to walk without squelching.   The first few shops we tried all seemed to have great sales but no suitable boots, some had possibles until I looked at the price tag and discovered they were way outside of my budget.  Then we went into Dolcis’.  First stop the sale section – but yet again nothing and I was beginning to feel quite discouraged at this stage.  But then I wandered by the fully priced section and saw a few possibles...  one even just about inside my budget.  It wasn’t the same as the boots I already had and at first I wasn’t sure, but after a while on my feet they began to feel right.  So now I have a smart, slightly heeled pair of boots and my feet are dry and happy once more!