Living my Belfast life 05 (English-Dutch)

After the rush of the holidays, the normal every day pace is settling in. People returning back to work and we trudge along.

I while ago I noticed a pain in my chest, and due to my family's medical history I was quite worried. I don't want to end up with a heart attack too in my mid-thirties. Skin complexion is not weird, no sweating (I know symptoms for heart problems is not the same for women as for men), just bending over and sitting down gives me sharp pains. It lasted for 3 days and then went away.

Yesterday it came back an hour or so when I have eaten a certain type of food. And if finally hit me, I have heartburn problems :/. It can be either the potato salad, tomato soup or the Irish sausage rolls.

I had been complaining before about the limited choice of vegetables here in Belfast. I am not a great fan of cabbage, turnips we barely use in the Netherlands and carrots are nice but eating it every day in and out get very boring. So I have been eating without much variation, lots of tomatoes and pastas and now my stomach is acting up on me. I've always had problems with too salty foods or food that contain preservatives. So I asked my good old friend Google to find me a green grocer. And what do you know, there is one around the corner at my work. I really missed eating fresh cauliflower, chicory, spinach, broad beans, etc. Maybe I should just like eating salads because that's what you find in Tesco, M&S, Sainsburys and ASDA but those good old fresh Dutch veggies are not to be found in the regular supermarkets.

And if anyone can tell me anything better to do with turnips than roasting them with honey, I don't like my vegetables sugary-sweet :/, I will be happy to eat those from now on.

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Na de drukte van de feestdagen, begint het normale leventje weer. Mensen keren weer terug naar het werk en we modderen ieder dag weer aan.

En tijdje geleden voelde ik een scherpe pijn op de borst, en gezien de medische achtergrond van mijn familie was ik best bezorgd. Ik wil namelijk geen hartaanval als dertiger. Mijn huidskleur was goed en ik zweette niet (ik weet dat de symptomen voor vrouwen anders zijn dan bij de mannen), alleen was het problematisch als ik voorover bukte of ging zitten. Na 3 dagen was het voorbij.

Gisteren kwam het weer terug nadat ik mijn lunch gegeten had en kwam tot de conclusie van opspelend maagzuur. Het kan de kartoffelsalade, tomatensoep of Ierse worstenbroodjes zijn.

De supermarkten hier hebben erg beperkt aanbod aan verse groenten. Kool, knolraap, wortelen en boontjes. Kool vind ik niet lekker, raap weet ik niet hoe goed klaar te maken en wortelen en boontjes komen nu mijn neus uit. Ik merk dat ik veel pastas met tomatensaus eet en daar zit ook veel zuur in dus mijn maag raakt om het minste geringste overstuur. Gelukkig heeft mijn goede vriend Google een groentenboer gevonden en die zit toevallig om de hoek bij mijn werk. Ik mis mijn witlof, bloemkool, verse spinazie en tuinbonen (ik weet dat een aantal van mijn vrienden zullen walgen met deze gedachten).

Komende tijd ga ik dus geen koolzuurhoudende dranken drinken, minderen op de tomatensaus en zeker eventjes niet meer naar de chipshop om mijn maag wat rust te geven en weer op een normaal balans te brengen. Ik was normaal al gevoeliger voor te zout eten en eten met conserveringsmiddelen. Misschien moet ik maar met een boer trouwen :P.

My Irish Christmas and New Year.

Holy moly December came and flew out the window again. I've been too busy with organising stuff and working to keep  up with my blog. Sorry for that =___=.

I didn't have the chance to go home for Christmas/New Years like some of my other co-workers and I ended up celebrating my holidays with my landlady and her family.

I really appreciated that they welcomed me in their family for this holiday. In the past I have spent Christmas in America, but this was different. That time I had my boyfriend but this time I felt a bit homesick. Those mushy commercials of Tesco or Sainsburys didn't help either xD.

I didn't come empty handed, I gave her a nice bottle of wine and she, to my surprise, gave me some bootsies and a hat for my Blythe and chocolates. Also received some chocolates from her parents.

For dinner we had the traditional turkey and ham with Brussels sprouts, turnip and mashed potatoes. The trifle was also very delicious. Afterwards the whole family watched the X-mas special of Coronation Street while I was watching the X-mas special of Doctor Who on the Kindle.

I took it easy on Boxing Day due to a massive headache from stress the prior week for Christmas but it was just eating and watching tv, just like home ;).

New Year's eve was nice and quiet. No fireworks :D. We had planned a fancy dinner at the Stormont hotel and I had the Seafood chowder (in a breadbowl) and the Irish burger with chips. I would have picked the curry but I know they tend to go a little overboard on the peppers and my gut-feeling was right lol.

We spent the rest of the evening, listening to the live music in the lounge and did the countdown with the singers. Afterwards we sang Auld Lang Syne. Rolled in bed at 1:30am because I had to work in the morning ;). No rest for the wicked.

2013 had a very rough start for me but it turned out okay in the end. I wonder what 2014 will bring.