Saturday wasn’t my first birthday in the US, but it obviously was the first one as a resident. The lack of a social circle here was easily made up for by a large number of text messages, emails and Facebook posts. I talked to my parents, grandparents and brother on Skype, so even if I didn’t have a party this year (unless having a piece of cake on my own counts as a party), I still felt like a proper birthday boy.

It just so happened that I was due for a haircut, so I went to a hairdresser around the corner called Lady Jane’s. Their primary target is The Man, and since The Man likes football, the whole shop is football-themed. To make sure The Man doesn’t have to miss a minute of his favorite pastime, the waiting lounge is equipped with four big plasma TVs. On top of that, every chair comes with its own screen, too. It’s only while getting his hair washed that The Man has to go without TV, but of course there’s still the radio. Besides, with a bit of planning, washing can be done during half time. With all of that football hoopla you’d almost forget why you went there, but the stylist consultants don’t. The service is fast, excellent and cheap, so this shop is definitely a good find.

Another good find: the mixed berry and cream cake at Wholefoods.

Found this one in a bag of potatoes last week. Its special shape didn’t save it from the same fate as its companions: to be peeled, boiled and eaten.

How’s that for an amateur in a game of bowling?

I was at a bowling alley with two friends for two hours last Friday, playing a total of six rounds. We were having a lot of fun and I was posting some decent scores throughout the first five games, but nothing too remarkable. The best I got was 153, just below my all-time high of 155.

To make things more interesting, the bowling alley was handing out Flügels for every strike thrown in the last fifteen minutes of each hour. (A Flügel is a mix of Red Bull and vodka. They come exclusively in 20-ml bottles.) We got five of them the first time and of course we wanted to get some more the second time.

Two or three minutes before the second Flügel-for-a-strike round, I was up for the last frame in our fifth game. I needed a couple of good shots for a chance to win. With three strikes, I couldn’t have done better. My one friend followed up with two more strikes, but couldn’t get all pins down with his last throw. Unfortunately, none of those five strikes got us any Flügels.

The start of our sixth game coincided with the start of the second Flügel round. I was up first and started off perfectly with a strike for the fourth one in a row. It’s not often that I get three or even two strikes in a row, so that was kind of nice. And of course it got us a Flügel.

In the next frame, I missed my chance for five strikes in a row, settling instead for six and three pins. I got another strike in frame three for another trip to the bar to get a Flügel. From there on, I pretty much split time between throwing strikes and walking between our lane and the bar. I missed in the seventh frame, much to the disappointment of the bar people, who by now were watching our lane closely. Fortunately, I got two more strikes in frames eight and nine. I had a chance to finish the game in style, but one pin sadly wouldn’t cooperate on my last shot.

Still, I suppose seven strikes in ten frames isn’t bad. Even better, I threw ten strikes in twelve attempts from the last frame of game five through the ninth frame of game six. Usually, I need four or five games to get ten strikes.

At the end of it all, the three of us had fifteen Flügels from those two times fifteen minutes. My final score in game six was 212. Just to boast a little bit more: that’s 16 points above the average score in the 2006 World Men’s Championship.

In today’s physics experiment, we have learned that a glass bowl filled with red cabbage does not survive a fall from 1.5 metres (5 feet). The bowl shatters on impact and shard of glass are launched into every corner of the room. Most of the cabbage remains near the site of impact, but some pieces may end up a couple of metres away.

Next time, I’ll have to hold on better to whatever I’m trying to put into my microwave. Having the bowl of cabbage explode on the floor was definitely fun, but it creates an awful mess.

Every now and then, you come across something breath-taking on the internet. Like Japanese watermelon art.

A girl on a cell phone: “No, I’m already in Leiden. I’m right at this bridge.” Well, there are only a hundred or so bridges in Leiden, so I’m sure that’s a helpful comment.

On another topic, what happened to all the canned mandarin oranges? I need a can for a witloof (a.k.a. Belgian endive or chicon) salad I’m making tomorrow, but both of the nearby supermarkets were sold out.

Dutch people are tall. On average, anyway, since there are also plenty short folks around here. On the whole, we’re now actually the tallest people in the world, according to researchers from Princeton and Munich in the latest issue of Annals Of Human Biology. We have overtaken the previous record-holders, the Americans, whose junkfood culture is believed to play a role in their decreased growth rate. (That is vertical growth, obviously. Americans might well be the world’s horizontally largest people.) The fact that health care is more easily available to poor people here than it is on the other side of the Big Pond also seems to boost our average height.

Ever heard anyone talk about peanut butter for six minutes? No? Bring on Dr. Peanutbutter! Did you know that PB was invented in 1839? Or that it comes in many variations, from smooth to crunchy? He will tell you, and much more! And be sure to stay awake for the video’s full run, because at the end our Doctor discloses his secret method for creating the perfect PB sandwich. You don’t wanna miss that, do you?

You do? Shame on you!

Nieuw toetje vanavond van m’n moeder: rodebessensoufflé. Fantastisch spul! Dat recept had ze veel eerder moeten krijgen :-D

Lekker hoor, even een weekje op vakantie. Samen met Danièle, Ron, Dianne, Galvin, Philip, Petra en Michiel heb ik zeven nachten gebivakkeerd (oftewel: luxe geleefd) in een huis in het dorpje Noiseaux, nabij de iets minder kleine plaats Hotton, in de Belgische Ardennen. Bij aankomst vorige week vrijdag kwam de regen met bakken uit de hemel, maar het klaarde al snel op. De rest van de tijd was het goed weer, afgezien van nog een onweersbui ergens halverwege de week.

Zondag zijn we met z’n vieren naar het stadje Durbuy gegaan, waar ik vijf jaar geleden ook al eens met familie was geweest. Toen hebben we er geklommen en geluncht, nu gewandeld en ijs gegeten… en dat was heel erg lekker ijs! Maandag hebben we een kayaktocht van vijftien kilometer gedaan, onder een dusdanig zonnige hemel dat zelfs Petra iets van een bruine kleur kreeg. Woensdag stond een bezoek aan de stad La Roche-en-Ardenne op het programma, waar we een kasteelruïne, ijswinkel en friterie hebben bezocht. Donderdag zijn we nog even naar de rivier gegaan om onze dam af te maken en te kijken hoe passerende kayaks daar vervolgens langs/overheen gingen.

Tussendoor hebben we veel niks gedaan, afgewisseld met een hoop eten, drinken, Muppet Show, Living with Fran, Kolonisten van Catan, Carcassonne, Boonanza, Coloretto, badminton, en nog meer eten en drinken. Het is maar goed dat Galvin net z’n rijbewijs had gehaald, dan hoefde Dianne tenminste niet steeds mee.

En een vakantie zou geen vakantie zijn zonder foto’s, die natuurlijk terug zijn te vinden in mijn fotoalbum.