TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

Because I got booted out of the 100-year old Chinese mansion hotel I stayed at (they have no permit allowing foreigners to stay with them), I moved to a hotel just down the road which does not offer breakfast. Not that I mind though. Bian Rou Wonton noodle soup in Xiamen. The dumpling noodle restaurant is on Zhongshan Pedestrian Road on the corner of Jukou Jie street. The best landmark is the street gate beside it on Jukou Jie. This is perfectly fine for me as this will give me the excuse to splurge on a brunch. My idea of splurge does not mean expensive, exclusive and eating large amounts of food by the way. Splurge for me is when I have the freedom to try out new things, and in this case, Chinese food. For this brunch, I was searching for some warm noodle soup. I was craving. Noodles are my favourite dish in the world. I make a lot at home at home, sauteed or soup style. The Dutchman loves them as well. The only difference with the noodles I make is that I add a huge ...

I am going to start a new series on this blog, which is really born out of a personal need to document a part of my normal daily life in the Netherlands. It is a promise to myself you know. Something that I hope to look back to with amusement and contentment when I am old, gray and cranky, haha. Having my favourite gelato flavours, pistachio and lemon in the city centre of Utrecht in March of this year. We are driving to Friesland here (last June) to visit friends. From the very beginning, like more than a decade ago (2004!), this blog was really created to journal my then new (expat) life in the Netherlands. I posted about my observations, my struggles adapting to Dutch culture and much more, but over the years, I have become so seamlessly weaved and integrated into the Dutch life and society that I began identifying myself as a local. The shift of the theme of the blog as well has been made to accommodate my hobbies which are about travel, the love of food...