1) Have just one place I call home - still working on this.....urghhh. I will have my one soon, i will, i will, i will - only days or months away. Check! Leiden = Home. Check.......well, at least for the next four years.

2) Catch a fish - Done. And it was this big (picture me holding my arms spread wide).

3) Drive a manual car without crying - ta da! I'm awesome. I drive it every day! Hurray!

4) Have an A2 level of the Dutch language - working on it. I took a few weeks of courses, so I hope to get back in the groove when i return from my summer in Michigan. After grueling through my last Dutch class, I am officially one step higher even. Ik ben klaar.

5) Make something homemade for each of my nieces and nephew? - I made a puppet show for my soon to be nephew - pictures coming soon. It's super cute. After much debate, I made another puppet show for my nieces b/c they loved it so. My hubby and I felt like sweatshop puppet show producers this year, though. Fun and done.

6) Swim with bioluminescent plankton - This is gonna be tough - it might mean a spur of the moment flight and weekend swim? This summer I swam with my gorgeous nieces and giggling nephew. Better than plankton, really.

7) Achieve a BMI below 22 and maintain it - Maybe? Who knows, it's summer time. Maybe, it would be easier to know this if i had a scale....or wanted one. i'm good without. Ohhhh, yes. One of my favorite ones to over-achieve......at 21 BMI for a few months now.

8) Take a cooking class in France, Belgium or Italy - hmmmmm.....danny......sounds like a fun christmas or birthday time. This might be happening!!! Next week = Italy. Best day ever - The little Italian ladies spoke zero english. We speak zero Italian. It was charming, hilarious and amazing.

9) Go to the Opera at least two more times - One down - Danny surprised me for Valentines day in Antwerp for Don Carlos by Verdi. Hubby's sweet parents gave us their tickets. Note to self, though, opera in German is not romantic in any way.

10)Read 20 more books - I just finished Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I re-read all of the Chronicles of Narnia (so that's 7), Eat Pray Love and I'm ashamed to say that I also read the Twilight Series (and i loved them, so shoot me). I also read a hostel book by Kurt Vonnegut called Cat's Cradle. I'm currently reading a few books on Ethnobotany, do they count? Yup, I say they do, 'cause it's my blog. So they are 'Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Great Lakes Region' and 'The Natural History of Medicinal Plants'. So that leaves me with a grand total of 15 - five left to read is easy squeezy. Add the three Dragon tattoo series, a stupid free kindle book called 'Always the baker, never the bride' and Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5. Done.

11)Reinstate Sunday-Spa-Day - This is kinda 50/50 - it doesn't help that we are not in the same country half of the time.

12)Milk a cow - Who knows a cow that needs milking? I don't have a cow. Never found a cow :(

13) Eat 1,000 different plants/fruits/veggies - I've still got a long long way to go - 1,000 is a lot. I've eaten some crazy stuff in the last year....I'm getting pretty close! Ate some crazy stuff.....but I stopped counting a while ago....

14)Visit a virgin forest - This one sort of slipped through the cracks. Finding a virgin forest in Europe is tough.

15)Stay up all night with Danny and watch the sun rise - this sounds tough..I must be getting old. Hardest thing ever! Danny and I did it on New Years - I thought I was going to die. Did I go clubbing, no.......better yet (for this girl anyway)....we had a dinner party with friends and watched the ball drop, took the dog for a long walk, I shaved my legs, washed the dishes and skyped with friends.

16)Go to a live auction - I have plans to go to the Auction in Antwerp. I'll post when i do it. Sort of let this one slip as well....too bad. I'll have to tackle my next opportunity because it still sounds like fun.

17)Attend some sort of ‘Fest’ – like Oktoberfest or the Spanish tomato fight fest or Salmonfest or Lobsterfest or Garlicfest? - Maybe Salmonfest this fall, gotta wait to see if i'll be away visiting my new nephew. I did Christmasfest in Germany this winter...not sure if that counts. I say....YES.

18)Hike in at least 3 more foreign countries - Belgium & Ireland.....pictures maybe later. I need one more - maybe Denmark this fall. Gonna do Italy next week - gonna be cool (:

19)Have a picnic at midnight - New Year's Eve - Check. Dinner with friends.

20)Can peaches and dill pickles with my Mom - Nature destroyed my mom's pickle crop this year - stripped beetles struck again. So, no pickles. I made up for it with jam of all flavors and apple butter. Yum.

21)Go on a multi-day biking trip - I decided that I really want to do this with my Mom. So, Mom, come to the Netherlands and get on a bike with me. Finally talked my mom into visiting me this March. So excited to talk her into a bike ride too.

22)Eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant - The most scrumptious assignment was completed tonight with my hunky husband. We had 6 courses of yumminess.

23) See one of the seven wonders of the world - Maybe - I think the Cliffs Moher should be on a list somewhere, and if it's not, it should be. I decided.

24)Be a mama - Prolly not gonna happen if I decide to do my PhD after all, we'll see. ......PhD......

25)Buy a piece of Art - Poor PhD student = make art instead. Check.

26)Drink whiskey at a pub in Ireland or Scotland, and then when I’m drunk only speak with their accent – which I’m sure will sound more like pirate ;) - Done. hehehe.

27)Make and eat 15 new cookie recipes – priority over #7 - I became obsessed with one cookie in particular. luv luv luv it. I make it almost every week. AND it's healthy. http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/nikkis-healthy-cookies-recipe.html

28)Visit an ancient-something – the Coliseum, Parthenon, Stonehenge etc. etc. - I visited the 4900 BC Hunnebeden in Drenthe, NL and one in Ireland. So cool, but kinda creepy since they are mass graves.

29)Collect honey from a beehive - I arranged this for summer 2011 with my friendly market gal. Market Gal never came to market this year - maybe she had problems with her bees like many others?

30)Buy a porch-swing and drink lemonade on it. Tire swing + lemonade. Done.

Now Who's Choking?

#13 on THE LIST: Eating 1,000 different fruits/veggies/plants is beginning to look slightly more difficult than planned. I've been recording for a few weeks now, and I've only packed in 30 plants!!! Uhhhhht- oh. And with the staples like onion, garlic and tomatoes already on board, how am I to fill up 970 more slots????

The answer - eat crazy stuff, stuff you and no one else would normally eat, clumsily figure out a way how to prep it and then eat it. This is not a mission for the faint of mouth!

On my quest for these under-appreciated plants, I stumbled onto this 'thing' that looked like a cross between ginger and potato, smooth and nubby. I didn't know what this thing was or how this thing tasted, but I bought it. The rest I could figure out later, right?

It was a Jerusalem artichoke (aka the Sunchoke, aka the Sunroot, aka Aardpeer (earth-pear) in Dutch). Despite it's name, the Jerusalem artichoke is not an artichoke and it's not even from Jerusalem???? really? Really. So what's with the name? Basically it comes down to word corruption and garbling of languages. Nuff said.

So what was it like? Well, basically it was delicious. I prepped it simply - boiled then stir-fried it with a little bit of butter. It was creamy, sweet, kinda like a potato, but better. Maybe better because it was new and exciting, but it left me scratching my head "why doesn't everyone eat these - ALL - THE - TIME??"

I'll tell you why. Gas.

Although I didn't experience this 'unladylike' side-effect, this ('ahem') problem is probably directed related to it's absence in many fine-dining restaurants.

So should you indulge in this nutritious and scrumptious treat??? Perhaps. Perhaps first in the privacy of your own home.

Searching for Seven

23) See one of the seven wonders of the world

Google 'the seven wonders of the world'. Result: there are way more than SEVEN wonders! depending on who you ask, when you ask them and what kind of wonder you wonder about. Although the lists were not completely unexpected, there were just so many to choose from. The lists included, but were not limited to Natural Wonders, Modern Wonders, Medieval Wonders, Ancient Wonders, Industrial Wonders, Underwater Wonders and the list of lists goes on and on. I made the choice to choose them all. Any place worthy of being on one of these lists is cool enough for me. So the search begins. Where shall I go? hmmmmmmmmm......

THE LIST

Alright, first blog. Since I have so much time on my hands lately to due to a flip-stick move to Europe with my husband, I've decided to put together a list of 'things' big and small that I think need to be conquered before I turn the ripe age of 30 years - which is just less than 2 years away. With so many changes going on in my life lately, having goals to smash around feels nice. I had to go with the obvious and cliche '30 before your 30' list, so here it is:

1) Have just one place I call home

2) Catch a fish

3) Drive a manual car without crying

4) Have an A2 level of the Dutch language

5) Make something homemade for each of my nieces and nephew?

6) Swim with bioluminescent plankton

7) Achieve a BMI below 22 and maintain it

8) Take a cooking class in France, Belgium or Italy

9) Go to the Opera at least two more times

10)Read 20 more books

11)Reinstate Sunday-Spa-Day

12)Milk a cow

13) Eat 1,000 different plants/fruits/veggies

14)Visit a virgin forest

15)Stay up all night with Danny and watch the sun rise

16)Go to a live auction

17)Attend some sort of ‘Fest’ – like Oktoberfest or the Spanish tomato fight fest or Salmonfest or Lobsterfest or Garlicfest?

18)Hike in at least 3 more foreign countries

19)Have a picnic at midnight

20)Can peaches and dill pickles with my Mom

21)Go on a multi-day biking trip

22)Eat at a Michelin-starred restaurant

23) See one of the seven wonders of the world

24)Be a mama

25)Buy a piece of Art

26)Drink whiskey at a pub in Ireland or Scotland, and then when I’m drunk only speak with their accent – which I’m sure will sound more like pirate ;)

27)Make and eat 15 new cookie recipes – priority over #7

28)Visit an ancient-something – the Coliseum, Parthenon, Stonehenge etc. etc.

29)Collect honey from a beehive

30)Buy a porch-swing and drink lemonade on it

It's most fun to do some of this stuff with you :) Let's make a plan! What would you add to your list?