Gaia Naomi – Page 7

KEEPING BUSY

Summer is slowly starting to kick in and I’ve finally (hopefully) finished all exams. I wanted to do another blog post because why not so when I went to see what I could post it turned out to be mainly food as always. It’s really not intentional, I just really like to eat. We’ve been having some picknicks in the park, wine and grapes at the beach, fresh fish from Katwijk or a healthy brunch. The sunny days call for a walk through town, this time it was Delft. However, it was more of a walk to Delft to go to IKEA for hotdogs. Unfortunately it turned out to be a very disappointing time because the line to get into the store was so long that we didn’t wait and never even got our hotdogs. After that two hour walk it was quite upsetting. One day I’ll make up for that. But for now I’m going to continue my happy eating and try not to skip my workouts. It’s also time to figure out summer plans and if some kind of traveling will be possible…I hope so!

All this food!

After scrolling down to this I think one thing is quite clear…I have a thing for food. From the market, from the store from the Pizzeria, I love it all. Staying home alone has really gotten me to start cooking and week by week I’m trying out a new recipe. Of course I got my cheat days where I like to order in haha. On the weekends, my family and I always go to this German bakery in The Hague and it’s great because they have fresh bretzles we always get. Lately I’ve also been buying a lot of lemons and I’m not sure why. I really like the color but they’re also so useful. You can put them in water, make lemon squares, lemon cakes, ginger shots, lemon chicken idk you name it hahah. Eating a lot also means I need to walk it off so I’ll do that on the occasion when I feel like it….really trying to not get lazy these days, some days its works better than others. Also, we mustn’t forget the latest love I am dedicating to my plant. I’m very proud to say that my plant is still alive and it is growing a new leaf. We’ll see how long it lives but I am doing my best!

WHEN STUCK AT HOME…

It has really been quite a few uneventful days for me..more like the past two weeks haha. The moment university came to an end that’s kind of where it began and the laziness kicked in. Besides eating, having some wine, watching Netflix and doing the occasional walk or workout I have not been doing much. I finally did get myself to watch the lectures for class but it’s a bit of a slow process getting into a routine haha. Let’s be honest tho, I’m sure we’re all struggling. I figured this quarantine might be a good opportunity for me to learn how to cook so I got Hello Fresh to follow a proper recipe for once. We’ll see how it turns out haha, perhaps I will fall back into an UberEats trend tho. For now I’m gonna attempt to get some more work done, watch more Netflix and if I’m up for it and the beautiful sun decides to show itself today, go out for a little refreshing walk.

Eating in Morocco

Cooking class @ Lotus Chef School Marrakech

Gooood Evening not from Morocco unfortunately but from my bed. Feeling fresh after my shower and am sipping on my cup of tea. I’ve been putting this blog post of for ages because I’m just so incredibly busy but it makes writing posts kinda fun because I get to look back at all these pics.
You might have been able to tell that the pictures go from morning to evening, which might give you an idea of how much we actually ate this trip….but it was all very yummy! The moroccan mint tea for sure was the highlight and it was literally served it everywhere. Not to forget about the bread, especially when it comes fresh from the oven (community ovens in the medina!!) you can expect it to be extra good. One evening we even got to cook our own moroccan food. Super fun! I was quite surprised that my cooking actually turned out quite good thanks to the sweet chef cook helping us. It was really great to take the class here because the school was all about empowering women through cooking.

HELLO MOROCCO

After a few days in the Netherlands I was ready to head out again. Of course before I left again, it was necessary to celebrate new years back home haha. This trip was my mom and we flew down to Casablanca to start the journey. Good times although I didn’t enjoy the city too much. Marrakech on the other hand was beautiful. We did the 3 hour train trip from Casablanca to Marrakech to continue our journey. Marrakech has a huge medina with people yelling at you from all sides to buy something ahah, many gardens and other sites worth seeing. You can also take a trip out of the city to the Ourika Valley, from which you can see the Atlas Mountains. The sun did me really good and it was a pleasant trip. You just gotta watch out for the mopeds rushing around everywhere because those are not so fun….

LAST STOP: LISBOA

Coming back from Porto, we had a 8 hour lay over in Lisbon which gave us the perfect opportunity to head into the city for a few hours. We got into one of the classic yellow trams and without any idea where to go we were just riding around town. The city has some pretty look out spots and is a very lively place. There’s a lot of street musicians like these guys who were playing out of a window haha. It’s a lot more touristy here than it is in Porto which is why I think I preferred Porto over Lisbon!

SNAPS OF PORTO

Good evening from the Netherlands! I’m back on my couch right where I belong covered in many blankets haha. It’s so much colder here than it was in lovely Portugal. Porto has gorgeous little streets, that are so steep you might run out of breath going on a town walk. The view from Gaia (the town across the river) is probably my favorite. You can clearly see the orange roofs and colorful houses, it’s pretty at all times of the day. The main bridge connecting Gaia and Port are great for pretty views and picture taking. You can also see the whole city from the top. I really loved this city and would for sure go back in the summer time, enjoy the sun rays and sit at one of the cafes by the river.

FOOD AND DRINK IN PORTO

After (many) hard weeks of studying it was time to hop onto a plane again. This time to Portugal! I was very excited because I had never been before but also because there was finally some sun awaiting me there. As the name Porto already tells, the city I took on was the port wine city. Interesting fact though, the place where are all the wineries are is actually called Gaia and is across the river of Porto. It was quite funny to be in a town called like myself, especially because everywhere you looked it said the name haha. You can imagine I took a lot of pictures with that. But now, what is a trip to Porto without trying port wine? We decided to visit one of the oldest wineries called Calem. We took a short tour around the museum and cellars and were explained the different types and methods of making the wine, quite interesting! At the end we luckily got to try some as well haha, I didn’t know red port wine could actually taste good. Only having tried one winery, I was determined to compare tastes and lucky me I had that opportunity to do this on the plane ride home. It came in the cutest bottle that I ended up taking home…

So much for the wine! The food was also great. One of my favorite lunches was at Cafe do Cais, where I had some AMAZING fries and garlic sautéed shrimp. When at the sea you have to eat fish of course! It was only a quick lunch but it sure got my belly full haha.
For now I’m back home, missing the sun again and getting ready to start the new year. Happy Celebrations!

BRUSSELS FOR TWO DAYS

It’s been a while now since I actually went to Brussels but it was a fun lil two days with my study association. We got very very lucky with the weather since it was sunny, and honestly made the city appear quite pretty (I wasn’t expecting that haha). Obviously we were going with the purpose of it being a political trip so our schedule was filled with a trip to a lobbying business, the permanent representation of The Netherlands to Belgium, the European Commission and NATO. All were super interesting but I must say NATO was for sure my favorite. It’s quite an impressive building and as a political science student it was super interesting to hear what they had to say. I was thinking that maybe I could see myself working in Brussels, since it has such an international community and it could be an good career choice. But I’m not sure, these were just random thoughts going through my head haha. I’m really glad I got to experience the city though and not just as a tourist but as student – makes quite the difference. The stay was only one night so I can’t really make any recommendations but I would say if you can visit NATO. It also has great historical relevance making it quite the memorable visit!

COFFEE ON THE WEEKEND

Finally I got myself a weekend free! It was the first one in a long time. Although I still had the usual responsibilities of course, it felt great to not have to be anywhere during the weekend. I got to try this coffee place I have always walked past so many times and I think it’s my new favorite! I had a chai latte and my friend Philipe a cappuccino. Sunday I made myself coffee as well because I can’t afford to keep getting it from cute cafes haha and was happily surprised by the golden hour light that filled the living room Sunday afternoon. Overall a relaxing weekend before the craze about exams starts.