Foodtruck Boulevard

 Last weekend we went to our first Food-truck festival of the year! Summer is coming when we can do that again! It was at a beautiful venue on the country side somewhere you would not expect to find street food, but it worked and we ate burgers, hot dogs, fries and drank some fresh juices to ease our conscience. Perfect thing to do on a Saturday afternoon with our little family. Now back to healthy food!
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The Saturday Food Files: The Spring Menu

 After a mind-blowing week with horrible things happening over here, it was time to enjoy some much needed quiet family time, some rays of sun, some springlike food and this kid. She makes us smile every single moment, she is so funny, happy, sweet, cute and we are so lucky to have her and to have eachother and we should be thankful for that every single day. So we welcome spring with a big heart and with faith for the future.













 




That's what makes us girls

 This girl cracks me up so many times a day. This weekend she was all into cooking. We could not put a step into the kitchen without her wanting to help us. She cut the cheese, the zucchinis and on top of that she made her own scrambled eggs for breakfast. She broke the eggs, whisked them, put pepper and salt and moved them around in the pan until they were ready (under close supervision of course). She was so proud of all she cooked this weekend. 
The other night when I came home, her stuffed dog sat in front of her door, because he guards her when she sleeps, but she thought he would be bored sitting there all night, so she brought her books to the door, so he could read while she sleeps. So cute.
Last week she came up to our room in the middle of the night wanting to sleep with us and when I asked why she did that, she said that it was normal, as I have 3 pillows in my bed, one for me, one for her and one for daddy. It is always a bit scary when you see a girl in a princess dress standing in the middle of the room in the middle of the night. And the kid does not stop moving for one second.
Before she goes to bed, she always makes sure her baby doll is tucked in with his toys and his bottle, he takes a bath every day, she rolls him in a towel and puts him on the heating, she cooks for him. She is gonna give me lots of grandbabies.
She recently learned how to write her name both with her hand and typed, so cool!
She loves lipstick and dressing her dad like a pirat.
She is turning 4 soon, damn. I'm not ready.
Best thing I ever did is grow this kid in my belly!

And yes, I still like twinning! As long a she doesn't protest I will keep doing it.

Shirts from raine.nl

Photodiary of Lisboa


Friday
This weekend we went on a winter city trip to Lisboa with friends. We left Friday night and after a smooth flight with Vueling (happy with their services), we arrived in rainy Lisbon. We ubered our way to our B&B Cheese & Wine suites in the Santos district. Beautiful guesthouse with all different rooms styled with design and taste. It was really pouring outside but we wanted to meet up with our friends for a late dinner. We sheltered in a typical Portuguese restaurant where you cannot move a cm because there are so many tables crammed in a small dining area. After dinner and a rainy walk back, we fell asleep in our comfy bed.


 Saturday
After a good breakfast we wanted to take a tour on the famous 28 tram, but as it was
 cloudy and raining, we were not the only ones with this bright idea - so we abandoned 
that plan for now. Instead we went for lunch at The Time Out Mercado da Ribeira- a food hall with hundreds of 
options, but also there not easy to find a spot to sit, because also there we were not the 
only ones with this idea. We decided to go to the Oceanàrio de Lisboa, a giant aquarium 
with all sorts of fish (also giant moon fish, sharks and such), penguins, sea otters (too funny). The kids enjoyed this to the fullest, but us adults also had a great time, since 
watching fish swimming by has such a calming effect. From the Oceanàrio we took the telecabina to another part of the city where we could catch a metro to our dinner place 
Cantinho Lusitano - a small restaurant (20 places) with typical Portuguese dishes. Opinions about this one differ, so I do not know whether to recommend it. They play a lot with textures and special cooking methods. We ubered back home, which is soooooo convenient after a big meal and some 
vinho verde (Light wine with just a little sparkle).
 

 Sunday 
the sun was out (Finally) and we met up at the Belem tower area and walked in the fresh spring air along the waterfront. It is beautiful there. We took the tram and did some 
conservas’ shopping and walked to the praça do comércio where we found a terrace with a good restaurant Can the Can, and we indulged in pulpo and squid. And then we saw so many cocktails coming by, so we had to try some. We spent a good few hours there on the terrace in the sun. After we made our way to the beautiful Alfama neighbourhood and 
explored the little colourful streets and alleys, we had our apero at one of the viewpoints 
overlooking the city, Miradouro de Santa Luzia.
We had a wonderful dinner at Cantinho do Avillez, a bit on the expensive side, but very 
good nonetheless. Their scallops and avocado starter, so good! We ubered our way back 
home, such a fan of this app!






 Monday
We started the day with a morning walk through the center and then we tried the 
Tram 28 again (this time we still waited 30 minutes) and we had a place to sit! Some 
streets are so narrow and the tram is so close to the houses that you can ring the doorbell if you stick your hand out of the window. Olivia had her head of the window most of the 
time and she loved it. After this adventure we gave the kids some time at the playground at the beautiful Jardim e basilica da Estrela while we sat on a bench in the sun. 
Once back down town we had lunch with sardines and bacalao bruchettas and a bottle of vinho verde. 
We took one last look at Lisboa and took the metro to the Airport.



















The Positive: Friendly people, lots to see, terraces in the sun, Portuguese is a beautiful 
language, affordable uber, pasteis de nata, a cool vibe combined with the traditional is a 
good combo, good music everywhere (Love that!), Lisbon has kept his cultural heritage
alive.

The Negative: crowds at everything you do, public transport not very well organized
 (we had to let a few buses and trams go because they were so overcrowded), not super 
easy to find good food -plan ahead as traditional restaurants are super small.