Red Bull Cliff Diving Competition 20 June 2009

We saw this event by chance while we were driving back from our grocery shopping last few weeks and decided to check it out. As this event's 2nd tour stop was in Rotterdam, my city in Leuvehaven, which is pretty nearby to my place :)

A country without mountains, cliffs or ravines, it is the most improbable scenario for a cliff diving competition however the Netherlands warmly welcomed her first international high diving competition with high enthusiasm.

Cliff diving first root origin from Hawaii as early as in the 18th century. Kahekili, the last independent king of Maui indulged in this extreme sport in the 18th century which he was famous for the "Lele Kawa", the 'leaping feet-first from a high cliff into water without making a splash' and used this cliff diving as a prove of loyalty for his warriors. As time progressed, King Kahekili's cliff diving shifted focus. It was no longer just a loyalty test for the Hawaiian warriors, but has evolved to become so popular that people start competing against each other.

The tour of cliff diving series 2009 covers 8 stops in different cities in Europe:
1st stop: La Rochelle, France
2nd stop: Rotterdam, the Netherlands
3rd stop: Dubrovnik, Croatia
4th stop: Polignano a Mare, Italy
5th stop: Antalya, Turkey
6th stop: Hamburg, Germany
7th stop: Sisikon, Switzerland
8th stop: Athens, Greece

The day finally arrived and unfortunately the weather was pretty crappy. However, despite the off and on rain and strong, cold wind, there were 15,000 spectators including my Hubs and I out there watching the competition. We stood in the rain in our water-proof jackets and an umbrella waiting for the competition to begin. The rest of the crowd were covered with rain ponchos. We never took our eyes off the platform mounted 26m above water on a historical crane in the old port of Rotterdam. The water temperature today was approximately 18 degrees. I guess it was pretty cold.

There will be 12 divers competing for this championship. The first challenge in Rotterdam would be their first contact with the gigantic yellow crane where the platform is placed. To reach the 26m high platform, divers were secured with a complete climbing gear - helmet, harness, rope and carabiner. It was quite an exhausting 100 steps to climb followed by an aesthetic cooling!

We did not stay until the competition ended at 4pm as we decided to grab a quick bite for our long overdue lunch :P

The victory goes to the dark, handsome good looking, 9th time world champion cliff diver, Orlando Duque from Columbia :)

(Orlando Duque in his warm-up dive)

Luchtmacht Dagen 19 June 2009 (present on that day)

Fri, 19th June, windy with relatively good sunny weather and a short drizzle in the afternoon: We started off early on Friday as the event begins at 9:30am however when we got to the neighbourhood of Volkel airbase, we were stuck in a long queue going into the parking area. On the other hand, we were pretty lucky with the route that we took to Volkel as my brother-in-law and family were stuck for hours before arriving in Volkel to join us!

Finally we had arrived at the entrance - met up with the parents-in-law, set up our chairs and enjoy the rest of the show :) The place was huge...filled with throngs of people! Sun deck chairs, portable stools, tents, snack kiosks, sponsors and military's tents littered the whole place. It was like as if a quarter of the whole Holland's population took a day off/medical leave to attend this event.

Watching numerous air force teams from international and local performing in their fighter jets with their stunning demos and team formation in the air was absolutely out of this world! The sound of the powerful roar of all the fighter jets' engines was deafening! Ear plugs were a definitely must-wear on that day without damaging too much of your eardrums ;)

Friday's programme was the best as the crowd's favourite team, Patrouille de France (France Air Force) and Red Arrows (British Royal Air Force) were present as both teams will be departing from the Netherlands after the event.Patrouille de France team (pic above) Red Arrows (pic above)

I've never been a big fan of airplanes but my Hubs grew up with it as my father-in-law and perhaps the whole family were a big fan of airplanes :) They recognised planes on sight and the teams while I was busy doing other things..... like gaping at the planes and hopefully can catch a few glimpse of some pilot cuties hahaha ;) (but unfortunately no suck luck :P).

I must say, Patrouille de France and the Red Arrows performance were absolutely fantastic and flawless! Seeing them performed on that day was so exciting and you can see all the cameras were busy clicking away during their performance ;)

The rest of the participating teams were equally good in their performance and style. Turkish Stars, Turkey Air Force was not too bad themselves ;)
There were also several solo displays of F-16 and a dummy airport attack demo which was definitely an eye-opener! We stayed till the event ended at 5pm and walked down the field to view some planes parked at the hangar. At the end of the day, My Hubs and I were quite tanned and let's say for my Hubs, he's quite 'well-done'. Right now he stood out with his bright red face and boy he's going peel later on :P. Poor babe! Despite the changing of our skin colour, it was a great day!

PS: The 2-days event attracted 220,000 people. On Saturday itself, a weekend, there were 145,000 people at Volkel and it was recorded that the traffic was horrendous.

Baking Skills?

Nah...that's something I don't have...baking skills or any hidden baking talent :P I've tried to make a non-bake cheesecake yesterday and let's just say that the cheese filling didn't turned out what it supposed to be :P I know it was my fault....I used fresh cream instead of double cream *aarrgghh* That's why I suspected the filling wasn't thick enough to hold so now I have to scoop the 'cake' to eat it like eating ice-cream from the tub :P

I have a feeling that the 'cake' will also meet its end soon....in the trash bin :P My Hubs doesn't really fancy cheesecake though I love it ;) Trust me I don't think I can finish it one by myself :P And I was wondering where can I buy double cream here? If I recall correctly I did not see any supermarkets here selling it? *sigh* another hurdle..

Luchtmacht Dagen 19-20 June 2009

'Luchtmacht Dagen' 2009 aka Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) Open Days which will be held in Volkel, south of the Netherlands. Volkel AB is one of the two F-16 bases and it will open its doors on Friday and Saturday to the public.

I was surprised that every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit this event. Avid fans will be there to watch the demos and stunts performed by all these air force teams. Hmmm... hopefully can catch a glimpse or two of some of the good looking pilots there hehhehe. Some of the crowd's favourite Patrouille de France, Red Arrows, Turkish Stars and Patrulla Aguilla.

Thanks to my father-in-law who is a big fan of this event, we were asked to join them this year. So on Friday, we will be packing our lunch, portable chairs, ear plugs and food to Volkel. Too bad we don't own a binoculars, that will help a lot when the planes are doing their demos! Just very unfortunate for us that the weather forecast for this Friday will be cloudy and a probability of some rain :( :( This means there will be some demos and stunts that will not be perform on that day :(

Check out this: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=99763662717&h=P56Xw&u=sw8Wt&ref=mf

Happppeeeee!

I got it! Finally a break since I came here! I got a job ;) Though it's a short term contract but considering this economy crisis, I'm very thankful :) :) 1st July will be my first day...well, better start training myself to get up really early as I'll be taking the public transport to work :P

Oh we'll be going out for a nice dinner to celebrate with my Hubs tomorrow evening :) Yoohooo!!

Wonton Mee Attack!

Just a few days ago, I'd a sudden craving for wontons (a type of dumpling commonly found in Chinese cuisines and normally had shrimps/meats filling). Hence, my Hubs and I went for a nice lunch in one of the Chinese restaurant in the city but somehow my craving lingered.... The next day, I'd decided to make my own wontons with noodles ;) Let's just say, it's been awhile since the last time I'd made wontons at home ;).

The final verdict... both my Hubs and I absolutely loved it! I'd used the frozen pure chicken stock that I kept in stock for the soup base and the frozen tiger praws for the wonton fillings. For the noodles, I'd used the dry egg noodles that my cousin brought from Hong Kong for me from her last visit here and mixed it with some sauces. For the last touch, I'd garnished it with some chopped spring onions and boiled "choi sum" vegetables. And that was our simple, delicious and yet healthy Sunday dinner :)

1 BBQ and 1 Wedding Party

You know what people say about attending an Asian and Surinam' BBQ party - you'll never walk out from the party hungry ;)

Last Saturday, we'd a 'Sabahan' BBQ party at one of my girlfriend's house in Rotterdam and later in the evening, we'd to rush to Amsterdam for one of my Hub's ex-colleague's wedding party.

Everybody had a fantastic time at the BBQ party, great company, great food :) My girlfriend aka the hostess made the satays herself and it was delicious!! Plus some of us did the pot luck, each of us brought something to the party ;) We'd mango salads, grilled fish, shrimps salad, pasta salad, avocado salad that went very well with roasted potatoes, fried meehoon, rice, ice-cream with strawberries, desserts, crackers, the super hot sambals..yummy, free flow of beers for the lads and of course last but not least the infamous 'mojito' compliments from one of the guest :)

Unfortunately my Hubs and I had to leave early :( and mind you, when we about to leave, there were still food coming in batches *grin*. And trust me our bellies were quite full already :)

We rushed back home, get changed and rushed to Amsterdam for the wedding party. It was another scene altogether :) The party was held in a docked party boat in Amsterdam. This is my first wedding party in the Netherlands :) The difference between and Asian and Western wedding parties was the dancing part ;) Somehow Asians are a bit shy when it comes to dancing after a wedding dinner but not the Westerners. They revelled on it, everyone was dancing and having a good time including us. The live band was great playing 80s music with their groovy costumes :) The most touching part of the evening, was a group of their friends sang to the bridal couple, I thought it was such a nice gift :) We left close to midnight and the party was still on-going ;)

We were knackered. It was a long day for both my Hubs and I but we did enjoy ourselves.

Raw Maatjes Herring Season is in town!

Raw 'maatjes' herring eating frenzy has begun...The Dutch consume tens of millions of the raw, salty delicacy each year: the "maatjes" herring whose seasonal arrival kicked off last Tuesday as this season promised an exceptionally tasty batch.

Thousand of Dutchies are expected to flock to Scheveningen to celebrate today, 13 June. "The quality of the maatje is excellent this year. It's fat content is particularly high: 26.3% compared to the usual 16%," fish expert Peter Koelewijn told AFP.

The "maatje", derived from the Dutch word for virginal but also known as the Hollandse Nieuwe, is fished in the North Sea for just over a month every year from the end of May to the beginning of July. The hand-sized maatje is prepared to a unique Dutch recipe: gutted and cleaned straight from the net with only the pancreas left intact to provide the enzymes needed for curing. They are salted in a barrel for one to four days, depending on their size, and are then frozen to stop further maturation.

"A good herring has a salt content of about two per cent," said Nico de Jong, Director of the Dutch Herring Wholesale Association.

The fish are traditionally eaten held by the tail with the consumer tilting his head back and chomping away. Some put the fish on a bread roll with finely diced onion, though this practice is frowned upon by connoisseurs. Well....unfortunately for these connoisseurs, there are people out there still eating it with diced onions for the extra ummmphh ;) Eating raw herrings is really not my cup of tea but I know my bro-in-law and my little nephew absolutely loves it!