Surprise Saturday

Who doesn't love a good surprise?  I sure do.  Whether it be a milestone birthday or just an unexpected note in the mail; surprises are great.  Many, many weeks ago, before we even left for the States Steven told me to keep June 25th open because we had special plans with his best friend and girlfriend.  And despite our whirlwind holiday followed by the abrupt thrust back into the working life I continued to wonder what the surprise could be.

Well, the 25th has come and gone and us girlfriends still don't know what the mystery plans were.  Apparently they were dependent on the weather and... well, if one didn't know any better you would think that we are in full force Autumn with the dreary weather blanketing Amsterdam: rainstorms, thunder, the works. 

Undeterred, we made lemonade out of lemons and spontaneously hopped the train one hour to Rotterdam, a city known for many things I'm sure but the only thing we saw was the mega {by European standards} shopping mall: Alexandrium.  A place to keep warm, dry and entertained for us girls of course.  The boys found a nice bar and we tackled the shops.

Later that evening, upon our return to Amsterdam we were treated to an amazing 3-course meal to wind off the day.  These guys know their way around the kitchen; it was impressive.  Not to mention incredibly thoughtful.

1st course: pesto + mozzarella stuffed tomatoes to start.

Main: summer raviolis

3rd: homemade brownie + vanilla bean ice cream

Do you enjoy surprises?  What surprises have you had?


Happy start to the week!

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