I was a few months shy of 25 when I moved to Holland. Yet in the first few years, I would always be carded if I buy alcohol or cigarette. I don’t remember exactly when they stopped asking for my I.D. but last week at work, I jokingly asked a colleague if I still looked 27 and he looked at me confused and sternly said ‘no”, as if my question was the most bizarre he heard that day.

Eleven years of living in the Netherlands and I barely noticed how time changed. I recently turned 36 and since my immigration, the years have been grinding steadily, albeit boringly consistent. I fell in-love, I migrated, I worked, I amused myself with wine, travel and marathons in between, I bought a house, I started a family and since then life had been about motherhood and working to pay the mortgage, debts and house renovations.

(Don’t worry! This is not a quit-my-job-to-travel-the-world kind of post)

Another weekend, another day to make home-made chicken broth. I try to have frozen broth all the time because I don’t like using broth cubes because of its salt and junk contents.

Depending on the time of month (before and after salary) I buy either “regular” chicken or stewing chicken, what they call “soepkip” in Dutch. The first is used for regular chicken dishes while the latter is an old hen which was retired from laying eggs, and the meat has become too tough for normal cooking. Obviously organic soepkip is cheap, it’s sold between €6-10 for about 1.2 kilos depending on where you buy it. Free-range chicken sells twice or even thrice as much. I always buy frozen, whole organic chicken because they are cheaper than pre-cut ones. The downside is I have to make several dishes at once.

bought new shoes, a pair of derby called Farley from the brand Bertie. When my favourite pair finally gave up on me after 7 years, I waited a bit before buying a new one. I wanted the same colour and the same quality.

was walking to the supermarket this morning when I started thinking about this article. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen several posts where I declared that I don’t frequent the supermarket anymore, but I still do my groceries there once in a while. After all, you can only buy so much from a farm or a specialized shop. Cooking oil, rice and such essentials are still easier to find in the supermarket. It’s pointless to burn fossil fuel while buying sustainable products from different locations.

wanted salmon, seared in hot oil until the skin is crispy but still pink in the middle, drizzled with home-made teriyake sauce, served with steaming white rice and stir-fried vegetables, wash down with a glass of Vermentino di Sardegna.