UMC St Radboudconcert

Yesterday the student orchestra of the UMC St. Radboud performed their annual concert. All employees of the UMC were invited to enjoy this event for free. Now you might think that a concert for free cannot be a good concert, but now for the second year in a row, this orchestra has proved to be of excellent quality.

The score was
Bach/Stokowski Stocatta and Fuga
Violin concerto in A by Glazunov
and finally
The Planets by Gustav Holst

The best part was the violin concert, and the magical ending of the Planets...

Illustration courtesy: celshader.com

Salsa as a sport

As has also been the case in Denmark for some years now, the Dutch ministry of health has put a special focus on the health of children and young people, in an effort to work against the growing obesity being reported ever more often. In this project the ministry published a folder 'Time for sport' highlighting the health benefits of sporting, and the initiatives undertaken by the public sector to increase active participation in sports. The Dutch association of dance teachers were surprised that no dance was mentioned as a sport. As a result the ministry ordered a scientific investigation of the sport intensity of a number of popular dances. It turned out that many dances qualify as high intensity sports. Salsa, for instance, has a mean metabolic equivalent (MET) above that of a single player match of tennis. This means that salsa is now not only officially accepted as a sport, but also many dance schools and teachers are now entitled to apply for financial support for a number of activities.

Read the summary (in Dutch) on: Sport KnowHow XL

Kerstpakket

What a surprise to find that the infamous kerstpakket (the official christmas present from the university medical center) this year contained useful stuff that will (probably) not make you ill or waste your time!
In the package of last year we got some best-before-the-end-of-the-next-millenium food and snacks, including a cream cheese that did not contain cheese and a pate that we had to return because someone found glass shards in it! Of course we got other less dangerous stuff too, like a collapsable shopping bag and a fake coin for shopping trolleys which completely failed to match the size of any of the Euro currency...

This year however, we got a set of four dinner plates, four glasses, a tin of sweet biscuits, a foccacia bread, olive oil, a bag of pasta, a glass of tomato sauce, a tin of olives, a bottle of wine and a cookbook on italian food. Now that is what I call useful content.

Illustration courtesy: easyorder.nl

Comfort eating

I was complaining to Philip (again) about the frustration of not being finished with my current project before christmas. At this point it would be overly optimistic to think that I could leave for the christmas break with a clean table - which is what I always aim for before a holiday. Philip told me that there is a very easy solution: If I don't like to leave for christmas without finishing this project first - just do not leave for christmas. Isn't he fantastic? Philip can solve all the problems in the world without doing anything. :o)

Let me just have a piece of bread with my tea to cheer me up.

PS. Nola, Philip and Joanna were discussing how many times they each are mentioned on my blog. Click their names to find out.

Cooking weekend

A relaxing weekend with lots of cooking. Yesterday I prepared the marinated herring that I will bring for the department christmas dinner on Friday. I made two types of herring, a plain 'white herring' and a special christmas herring marinade. After a short break I went in the kitchen again to make a winter vegetable soup for dinner.
Today I will be cooking again. I have planned a toetjes-avond with Ingrid and Rinaldo this evening. I will make a dessert of the apple mash that my sister brought for me, and I wonder what dessert Ingrid and Rinaldo have in store for me...

Illustration courtesy: Kompaskurs.dk

Salsa show at Tipica

Finally, yesterday was showtime! The premiere of our show at Salsa Tipica. We were nervous, the crowd went wild and we made a hell of a show.

Big thanks to all my friends who were there to cheer and support, I really appreciated your presence, you made the experience even better.

Sinterklaas

I thought today should be a balansdag, eating healthy to make up for all the christmas goodies I have had recently, but this morning the coffeetable at work was filled up with kruidnoten, speculaasbrokken, gevulde speculaas and chocolate-covered marzipan. All because it is the 5th of December, the biggest December festivity in Holland: Sinterklaas.

Illustration courtesy: Sinterklaas at digital-dreams.nl

Excitement

Lots of stuff going on at the moment: Tomorrow is the exam for my driving license, and on Friday is the premiere of our salsa show at Salsa Tipica.

Yes I am excited!

Photo courtesy: Corporate Canvas