Dare to be different and learn to be lonely

In my previous posts about this businesstrip to Abu Dhabi in April I already showed some glimpses of the food I enjoyed over there. I didn't even get to try all the delicious things that were served, because it was a LOT! There were massive fancy buffets for breakfast and dinner in the Al Rimal restaurant of the hotel, lunch was served at the conference hall and that buffet was just as enormous. There was so much food on offer, there were even platters full of pretty bites during the morning and afternoon breaks. I was spoiled for choice!
This picspam includes photos of my filled plates, once or twice I started munching before I took a picture, so there are some half full plates as well :-D I often went for seconds (and yes, that means extra dessert(s) too). I was surprised with some treats in my room, and below I included dinner at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam (did not eat my greens). The midnight meal on the plane there is missing, because I was eating that while half asleep. I did save the passionfruit cheesecake dessert and had that for breakfast upon arrival at around 7 a.m. ;-)

There are over 100 photos, so I didn't add any comments, the hover-over text shows the date and time of each meal. Enjoy!

( ALL the food in Abu Dhabi, April 2025 )

J.

Previous Abu Dhabi picspams:
Day 1: DW / LJ
Day 2: DW / LJ
Workweek: DW / LJ
Summary in ten photos on my Instagram

X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/587086.html
Lurk or comment wherever you like:)

Another set of graphic designs for landofart that I worked on in between fandom challenges in the past month. Points for Phase 15 are still being tallied, so I don't know how my team Steampunk did yet. I'm also still waiting for the votes for the Halloween challenge, I will post the final two sets of Land of Art graphics as soon as those results are in. There was going to be a Christmas challenge, but that got cancelled, so I supposed I have no more excuses left to start getting my Xmas cards* ready!

( Colourbars and Bookmarks )

I still have a few Sam & Dean cards left from last year, if you want one, let me know! This year's cards* will be non fandom;)

J.

After spending the first day of my autumn trip exploring Haarlem in the rain, my second vacation day was going to be a mostly indoors day, because I had planned to spend my time lounging (and bathing:) in my luxurious hotel suite:) I only went outside in the morning to buy a bubble bar at Lush and get some buns for lunch, before staying in for the rest of the day. Here's a small picspam of the short walk, and my fancy dinner:)

( Of bathbubbles and fantastic food )

J.

Want to get a good look at that Royal Suite? Check the video from Day 1 [DW]

X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/563161.html

So, on December 26th I had my 50th birthday, wahey! I started my day with my homemade arretjescake for breakfast and opening presents from friends all over the world. Then I build my birthdaycake and read all the messages coming in on social media until my family arrived. Brotherdearest and his girlfriend had delayed their travelplans, my other brother had come over from Australia with my sister in law and darling nephew, and of course my mom and her partner were there; they even brought a big Sarah doll with them, heehee! We had a blast hanging out (I got spoiled with loads of presents:) and in the evening I took them all out for dinner at the nearby Chinese restaurant. An excellent birthday and I was so very pleased with how my candy cake turned out, I want to share that with y'all.



( More cake! )

It's been a whirlwind of a year, but it ended on a very high note, I had such a great day:)
Thank you to everyone who sent cards and well wishes <3<3<3

J.

[Crossposted on LJ]

So in March I bought a scale for the first time in my life. I've not really had any issues with being fat or the way I look, but there are a couple of reasons to deal with my weight right now. (Amongst them: turning 50 at the end of this year and having to find a new job next year). For the past couple of years I've tried to do some sort of regular work-out, not to lose weight, but to stay fit. I have found that to combine exercise with paying attention to what I eat, for me feels like a punishment, so I decided to stop with the daily work-outs to focus on food intake. Because while I don't mind being fat, food is my weakness. I don't drink alchohol or smoke or do drugs; food is my go-to thing for all things emotional, from being bored to being happy and that is exhausting.
So my main aim was to have a better approach to food, getting on the scale would simply be a motivation to do that. I set myself a weight-target without an end-date.

As for my diet: breakfast is still the same: orange juice and a slice of bread with cheese, except a spread instead of a slice of cheese. For lunch I eat knäckebröd instead of bread and I massively reduced what I put on them. I don't take seconds for dinner anymore and stopped snacking in the evenings. That's it. With my very regular job this is easy to maintain, but in weekends I do still have to play a lot of mindgames in between meals because I think about food a LOT. To deal with that, I'm trying new things (but still don't have to eat stuff I don't like, like salads;) and I treat getting groceries like an expedition.
For instance I'm trying to discover all the knäckebröd flavours. I do so like having several textures and tastes during a meal and those crackers are perfect for that (I've already found 11 different flavours!)
I'm not really into healthfood, it's more about portion control and to take time preparing the food. I've posted a couple of fun dinner experiments in my Instagram: Coloured pita bread with shawarma
Making pizza from scratch; sticking spaghetti through hot dogs; Pasta with parsnip (hey, look: vegetables!)

I do snack on special occassions (like that fabulous birthday brunch for my mom's partner last month) I just don't want to mindlessly stuff my face anymore but really enjoy the food that I do eat.

Anyway, the reason I'm posting about it now is because I wanted to report that I've reached (and passed!) my first target. ( Numbers behind the cut )

Oh, nearly forgot: I've also been trying to add a 'tea' moment in my afternoon, when I get home from work, but drinking tea is hard! (I used to drink a big mug of milk, mmmm milk) I don't like the (after) taste of actual tea, so I've been trying all sorts of herbal infusions to various succes. So far my favorite is an anis/licorice flavour (Sterrenmunt, DE), but I'm also fond of the Choc-Mint by YogiTea. I only need to learn to remember to drink it when it's hot, I tend to forget I have cup ready.
Any tea tips are welcome!

I could not have guessed how big a part of my cruise vacation the food would be. I mean, I knew there was going to be a buffet, but I did not expect the massive amount of choice I would have and how incredibly good the food would be. I also didn't know that dinner was going to be an a la cart menu in a fancy restaurant, every evening. I only ever go out to eat on my birthday, when I take my family to a Chinese restaurant around the corner. (The taste dinner with my mom a while ago was a very special occassion). I was overwhelmed by all the delicious options. The whole food experience definitely added to the fancy feel of my vacation. Gosh, what a treat.

( Cruise Food! )

Gosh, I'm hungry. Having dinner at my mom's tonight. As a reward, I will show her my 1600+ travel photos *grins*

There will be another picspam soon, this time with actual sightseeing;)

J.

Part 1: Exploring the Ship | Part 3: Cycling in Helsinki | Part 4: Art & History in St. Petersburg
Part 5: Cycling and strolling through Tallinn | Part 6: On my own in Copenhagen, Danmark

Oh, if only I had taken a 'before' picture of the hole in my kitchen wall that the lid of my garbage-can put there after I opened it too enthusiastically. Then I could now boast with an 'after' shot showing how beautifully I filled it up and painted over it so you can't see it ever happened at all. I was so happy I saved all my old wall paint since I moved in here all these years ago, no need to mix colours to get the perfect cover.
I did take photos of a fun addition to my kitchen appliances: I bought a cotton-candy machine!!

( OF COURSE IT'S PINK :-P )
SIZE DOESN'T MATTER, OKAY?

I have 45 minutes to kill until my Sauerkraut ovendish is done, so I figured I could do this 99 questions meme I stole from sillie82 and others on my flist;)

1. Real name: Judith
2. Nickname: Don't have one
3. Favourite colour: Turquoise

( More answers! )

I hope to get back to LJ more regularly, maybe later this week I'll finally do a picspam of stuff I've been wanting to share... But first: DINNER, yay, I just heard the kitchen timer ring. Woot woot \o/ *runs to kitchen*

Tonight I made burritos for the first time in my life resulting in a big mess in the kitchen, since I didn't know how to fold them and everything kept squishing out. But I totally did it and they were super delicious. Ha! \o/

I have tomorrow (and Monday!) off, so my extra long weekend starts tonight and tomorrow I will have a tanisafan! We have a lot of catching up to do and with all the fangirling we have planned, I don't know if I'll be able to keep up my daily posts. So just in case I will be too distracted by fun, here's a list of things I talked about in the past week to keep you entertained :-p

A gorgeous sculpture by Wang Ruilin
Fanfic search, does anyone recognise this J2 scene?
Housework, but also a wonderful video of Julie Andrews & Carol Burnett singing together
Teaser for Super_Disney artproject
My collection of awesome artists
Bookrec!
Questions about cloth pads, help?

Now to clean the kitchen and then sleep, so I can get an early start tomorrow and finish my artwork for the smpc this Sunday before I'm going to the trainstation to pick up my tanisafan:)

J.

You know you're in really bad shape when you actually put exercising in your dreams. What the hell. If only I could have a personal trainer/cook combo person in my life who'd be willing to help me out for no money. I could pay in sexual favors, maybe? Win for everyone involved, I would think:)

Hey, did y'all notice Thursday's bookrec or did you miss it due to LJ's shenanigans? Check it out. In the mean time I'll go work on a proper post. Or possibly on another design for the SPN ReverseBang. After I hang up my laundry. Yes. It's probably smart to do that before anything else.