Thanks for food and those who made it

Hello lovelies!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! I love holidays, whether it's Valentine's Day, or Halloween I love that it's the perfect opportunity to get together with your loved ones and make some solid memories. Thanksgiving is especially special because it's just so cozy! I'm a little sad that I'm not at home this weekend because it's usually when I go back to Ottawa from school for the first time since the summer to enjoy some baking, fall biking, and an overload of hugs. I can't forget the abundance of pumpkin flavoured baked goods and warm drinks! Just for the record I loved fall before it was coined "cool" or whatever. All I had to do was search "white girl fall buzzfeed" and tooooooo many links came up! Shaking my head!! Anyways, in the spirit of giving thanks I wanted to give a few shout-outs to the people that brighten my days.

1. My family. You guys are the best! I am so lucky to be able to Skype you at any moment of the day and you seem genuinely interested in knowing I boiled potatoes and lentils for lunch. 
2. My Bishop's family. Oh geez when I came abroad I had no idea how much I would miss the little bubble that is Lennoxville! I miss it, I really do, and I can't wait to see you all come January.
3. My Hydro Ottawa co-workers. I had the best summer with these amazing people. You know who you are! I've never learned and laughed so much in four short months. p.s. Kelly please make ALL the pumpkin goodies this weekend :)
4. The awesome students on my exchange. I am so lucky to have picked this school if only for the people! You are all stellar people and I'm so happy we get to discover Europe together.
5. Diane from the international office. I know I was a pain and a half to deal with but I can't thank you enough for your constant words of encouragement during my study abroad application process. I'm here now! I actually made it to France!
6. My roommates. I love all our catch-up sessions and hearing about life back in Canada. I can't wait to resume our dance parties soon!
7. My high school friends. It's so nice to come home to Ottawa and be wrapped up in a bear hug and know that we'll always be such good friends.

I'd like to share a recipe that you are more than welcome to make for the people you are thankful for! I made these s'mores bars on my last day of work this summer and they were so good and easy to make.

Oatmeal Cookie S'mores Bars
Recipe from Chelsea's Messy Apron

Ingredients

Bottom Layer:
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup light-brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 tsp. vanilla

S'mores Layer:
- 1 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cup mini marshmallows

Top Layer:
- 6 Tbps. brown sugar
- 6 Tbsp. butter, softened
- 3/4 cup crushed graham crackers
- 6 Tbsp. flour
- Handful of chocolate chips

Instructions

Bottom and Middle Layer:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the base layer. Stir until a crumbly type of dough has been formed. Press this "dough" into the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking pan.
3. Cook for 10 minutes or until lightly browned on top and remove from the oven.
4. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top to melt.
5. Sprinkle the marshmallows on top of the chocolate chips.

Top Layer:

1. Beat together the brown sugar and butter until light and creamy. Stir in the oats, crushed graham crackers, and flour.
2. Scoop the dough over the marshmallow layer. The dough doesn't cover it completely, but will cook together somewhat. Just evenly disperse scoops of dough on top of the marshmallows.
3. Return to the oven for about 5 minutes (it will still be a bit gooey), then remove and allow to cool. These taste great right out of the oven, but take a good hour to fully set. If you don't mind messy bars, then dig in!
4. Top the mostly cooled bars with a handful of chocolate chips

Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving folks and have a lovely fall!!

Gaby
xox

Amsterdam

Hello!

Okay okay I know I promised more writing but it's been hard to find a second to do anything this past month (in the best way possible) between travelling and studying. So far I've been loving everything about being abroad. My initial worries of no Netflix or peanut butter have been resolved and I've found some really nice running paths so it's all good (#priorities). 

Sometime soon-ish (sorry if it's later rather than sooner) I will post about how international my classes are, how awesome everyone is, how I've been managing to cook in a kitchen that's basically a quarter of the size of my closet at home, and how much fun I've had in places like Brussels and Dieppe. For now, all I can think, dream, and post about is Amsterdam!! 

My oh my!! If there's a city that surpassed my already high expectations it's Amsterdam. I'm writing this on the fancy bus ride home and milking the on board WiFi for all it's worth. Amsterdam is absolutely wonderful for a multitude of reasons but for me it was the following:

1. Beautiful men. Now I contemplated not putting this first, but let's be real Dutch guys are perfect. And that little accent... someone fan me.

2. Biking everywhere. I love to bike so put me in a city where everything is centred around biking and I'll be one happy camper. People bike with babies, surfboards, umbrellas, boom boxes, friends on their handlebars, you name it! They also rule the roost which I am not used to. Everyone stops for the bikers and I totally felt like royalty when I was cruising around town on two wheels.

3. The canals and houses. The scenery is beautiful in Amsterdam. Every street has such nice houses and after nosily peeking into people's houses they also have an impeccable sense of interior design. 

4. Restaurants on restaurants. Maggie had done some extensive research (i.e. Read a chapter of Rick Steves' Europe) before coming so we ate like queens our whole stay, but even by just walking down the street you could find so many neat looking places to grab a bite to eat.

5. Proximity to the countryside. You can easily get to North Amsterdam by a free ferry that travels all day and night. From there, there are countless little towns and bike paths.  Can someone say quaint?

6. Museums on museums. Amsterdam has TONS of wonderful museums. I went to the Anne Frank House and was blown away, a definite must!

 Now you might realize that my stay in Amsterdam was pretty wholesome. I didn't get the chance to prance through the Red Light district or smoke weed every moment of the day, but that's what makes this city so cool. There's honestly something for everyone! 

So now that I've ranted for 7 hours about how much I love Amsterdam, here's a little look back on some highlights and great tips from our extra long weekend. Hooray for class cancellations!

TRAVEL

Bla Bla Car: This carpooling site has saved us so many times! It's perfect for last minute trips because unlike trains and planes, Bla Bla rides usually come up at the last minute and are really cheap. Plus I've met so many cool people! Think driving with two Spanish students while blasting Bruce Springsteen and Enrique... 

iD Bus: This coach bus is really awesome. We took it on our way home from Amsterdam for 29 euro. There's WiFi, bathrooms, outlets, and comfy seats so you really can't go wrong. 

STAY

Stay Okay Stadsdoelen Hostel: This hostel was luxurious! It was so clean, nice, and safe, and the beds were really private. On top of that they were really well located on a nice canal and there was a huge breakfast included. For 15 euro a night we thought it was an ah-ma-zing deal! 5.0 rating for sure. 

Dutch Cottage: For two nights of our stay we splurged a bit and rented the sweetest little cottage outside the city. It came with beautiful bicycles that we used one day to bike into the city (about 45 min) and the next to bike to a lovely little island with a nice harbour and a clog factory. Our stay was honestly the best combination of city and country. I'd definitely recommend staying in the country and biking around for a bit! 

PARTY

Paradiso: Maggie and I's first night was pretty crazy. We got to our first hostel (kind of a sketchy place) and quickly met a group of other students staying there. After a few drinks at a bar, we headed to Paradiso, a renovated church that played what I can only describe as hipster rap music. It was so so so much fun!!! It also turns into a concert venue, talk about versatile!

SHOP

Episode: Maggie was a stellar store finder throughout our trip! She found THE MOST amazing second hand store I've ever witnessed. They had such good selection and everything was so neatly sorted. The store also alters a lot of clothes to make them more trendy. Imagine a rack of 20 Ralph Lauren polos that have been cropped and the sleeves removed to make cute little crop tops. Or a whole slew of brightly coloured Doc Martens. I was a very bad girl and bought a few too many items!!

EAT

De Bolhoed: A cute little vegetarian/vegan spot that made the best homemade healthy food at a reasonable price. I felt like a real environmentally conscious local dining here. 

De Witte Swaen Pannenkoekenhuis (The White Swan Pancake House): Maggie and I biked to this lovely pancake house from our cottage in the little 17th century town of Broek in Waterland. The houses in the town were everything my Pinterest boards could imagine! My ideal life would be to marry a Dutch man and live here and bike everywhere with little blonde kids on the back of my bike. With that said, the pancakes were so unbelievably delicious! I had the goat cheese, brie, roasted pecan, and honey Dutch pancake (pictured above). Yum yum!

Pannenkoekenhuis Upstairs (The 4 pictures above): I guess Holland is famous for their pancakes, although they are really more like crepes. This restaurant is housed in a tiny building built in 1539. There are only four tables and you have to reserve to get a spot because it's really popular. I had the ham and cheese pancake and it was delicious! Word on the street was that the Real Housewives of somewhere were filming an episode in the restaurant this week.

Bazar: Now this is a cool place! It is in a converted church with a really bumping atmosphere. Did I just say bumping? It was so lively and served really tasty middle eastern food. I had a huge bowl of fish soup for 5.90 euro! It was the type of place you just want to bring a big group of friends and keep the plates of delicious food flowing.

Kantjil & de Tijger To Go: If you're looking for cheap, fresh, really yummy Indonesian takeout this is your place! You choose your base (noodles or rice), veggie mix (steamed, in a peanut sauce, etc.), then your meat (beef in coconut sauce, spicy chicken, etc.) and then voila! Fast and delicious! They have a full restaurant but we opted to just go to the takeout counter.

It was a magical weekend and I'm so tempted to go back!

Have a nice week and don't work too hard :)

xox

G