The Adventures of Lorie and Brian Groth

Jesus (he works in Spain) and I tried to go to a Dutch pancake house tonight in Amsterdam called Pannenkoekenhuis. After a very long €50 taxi ride (traffic & rain) we got there – only to discover that it is closed Monday through Thursday. Today is Thursday. The taxi driver was sort of lost, so he didn’t care. Since we were left to walk in the rain, we didn’t walk far, but at least we saw some streets lit up for Christmas. We ended up a a quaint little place that did serve some local foods, including my ham & cheese pancake (sort of like a crepe) and my advokaat and chocolate pancake (again, crepe-like). Nothing amazingly great, but better than airport food, which is where our hotel is located and at least it was interesting.    

I work on Windows Live at Microsoft and now I can finally talk about the new stuff we will release soon. You can read about it at the Windows Live Wire blog. I just spent two days with the press and some analysts explaining the new products and hope to see articles in UK and European newspapers soon. Here’s a good video that highlights some of the top new products and features:

It will be a couple of months before everything is available for you to try, but I look forward to getting my friends and family to use all of my new products. That means you. Don’t worry, once everything is available I’ll let you know and help get you started.

Thanks to our friend Anne, we now have another great Champagne to add to our list of favorites: La Chapelle Champagne, specifically the Brut Prestige.

Since their cellars are south of Reims, Lorie is already thinking about how to visit them the next time we “just happen” to get there.

Feel free to buy us a glass, bottle, or case the next time we see you…. whoever you are. ;-) 

Why is it that people cross the street to avoid me when walking Milo, and even more so when we add Hazel (a friend’s dog) into the mix? Milo is tall and Hazel is all muscle, both have lots of happy looking teeth, but are very friendly dogs. Hmmm, it must be me.

Yes, there are quite a few great cars in the Fulham area of London. However, can any of them compare to what Wikipedia describes as a peasant car? You can still buy a new one from Fiat if you have the need/desire.

I am only somewhat joking. Our beat up Panda that we borrowed in Orta, Italy got us around, but wasn’t something I would want to rely on for too long. However, they are great city cars.

Hazel is a new friend of Milo’s that we met at the dog park. She’s a mix of something that’s all muscle with a gigantic head. Sounds weird, but she’s a great looking dog, happy, and full of energy. Perfect for Milo.

Just like Daisy, Milo’s other girlfriend, Hazel is faster and gets the ball first. However, she doesn’t give it up when Milo pounds on her head. Ahhh, dog fun.

We had seen a sign for one of these restaurants in London, but never tried one. Finally the other night, after meandering through the British Museum, we went to the ”My Old Ductch” in Holborn. We really had no idea what to expect, since we never tried any of the Dutch pancakes when we’ve been in Amsterdam. You order a “pancake”, which I would consider a very large crepe, then either select some pre-set toppings or build your own; much like a pizza. I had artichokes, tomatoes, ham, and 4 types of cheese on mine. However, you don’t get too much topping, so you mostly get the pankake, which I swear is fried. It might not sound good, but it was. Lorie’s with apples, ham, and the best maple syrup we’ve ever tried. They come on delftware plates that are about 15 inches in diameter and the plate is completely covered by the pancake.

No, I didn’t take the photo, I just found it on the Internet, but this is what my pancake looked like. 

Lorie and I went to the Cycle Show this year, which was a short bus ride away at Earl’s Court. I never knew there were so many different foldable/collapsible bicycles out there nor so many different electric bikes. There were also more component manufactures (cranks, pedals, hubs, etc.) than I had ever heard of too. There still aren’t too many recumbent bicycles, but a few. 

One of the most interesting things we saw was this cot/tent that you can haul behind your bike, then just pop open so you don’t need to sleep on the ground.

Another highlight was seeing the new model of the Volvo Cross Country (V70) Ocean Race Edition like we had in Seattle, but the new model is a bit cooler looking. See the Volvo site and dig around the menu to find the blue V70.

It was my mom who always told me to go outside and play. I’m sure she was simply trying to get my brother and me out of the house so she could have some peace and quite, but I took this to mean that every day I should have some fun.

It’s nice to see that she’s trying to have fun every day too.

Happy birthday mom!

I went kayaking on Lake Union in Seattle today with friends Keith and Lisl (& Chris who was in town from Winter Park, CO). It was fun to see our old houseboat, the seaplanes, bridges, and the other parts of the lake that have changed, such as the park at the south end of the lake. There are more changes for the park and sooner or later it will be pretty big and nice. Much better than a few years ago.