Eco-positive weekly diary #128: I'm back!

I’m back! From this week on I want to start to write weekly diaries again! Woooohooo. The last weekly diary I wrote was back in March. 4 months ago. That was the time I started working for about 60 hours a week and so I quit the diaries, that would make very boring weekly diaries haha! A lot has happened as we all know, but I’ll catch up soon enough. Right now I am in the middle of my summer holiday. I don’t work that much anymore and so I am eager to tell you about my life again! Let’s talk about the past week! Here’s eco-positive weekly diary #128.

Thursday

I just said I didn’t work that much anymore but today this diary starts with work. I worked all afternoon haha. For dinner today I made a lovely pasta out of mostly rescued food, I had a vegan cream sauce, herb mix, rice noodles and haricots, all about to expire and therefore saved. I added a little bit of spinach and peas we still had at home and tadaa, a lovely meal! After handball training I went over to a teammate’s place and we had a game night!

Friday

Since I came home quite late yesterday, I went to Haarlem a little later than expected. I am going to Haarlem this weekend for a mini-holiday! A weekend of spending time somewhere else than home. I went there by train. In the beginning of the covid-19 crisis I didn’t use public transportation much, since I didn’t want to risk my own health and that of others. Now, I think it’s safe enough and so I am using public transportation again. It’s just the most sustainable way to travel. It felt so good to be in Haarlem again. I lived there for about half a year when I studied in Amsterdam and I love the place!

Saturday

Today my boyfriend and I went to Amsterdam, since it is very close to Haarlem. It was one big vegan food adventure! We first went to Deer Mama for a vegan sundae, then to the Vegan Junk Food Bar and at night we also went to the Vegan Sushi Bar. Jeez. It was amazing and I can recommend all places to you if you’re visiting Amsterdam. At the Vegan Junk Food Bar I also bought a sauce to bring home with me, smecksauce. The person in the bar said it tastes alike the McDonalds sauce. I used to love that sauce, but I haven’t been able to find it vegan somewhere so far! So, I was very excited to find this, but when I tried it a few days later it was quite a bummer. I would rate it a 6/10, the flavor is very mild. We also went to some thrift shops (but I didn’t buy anything) and also to Willicroft, a vegan cheese store! I bought vegan cheese sauce, Parmesan and three firm cheeses. The store is amazing!

Sunday

Today we (my boyfriend and I) were back in Haarlem again. I made a reservation for a tour at a local church. It was great! If you’re visiting Haarlem, make sure you see the Koepelkathedraal. After the tour we went for some lunch in the city centre, at Beinum. I ordered a vegan carrot dog, but I got served a vegan rendang. I didn’t want it, but I asked and if I wasn’t going to eat it, they would throw it away and so I chose to keep the vegan rendang. That’s because food waste is not sustainable at all, it is literally a waste. It was twice as expensive and it’s just really bad service. However, the bar does have a lot of vegan options and the rendang was really good. At night I went back to Enschede (this time by car, along with my grandparents).

Monday

After work in the morning, I went over to a friend together with my niece. Since I had bought the vegan cheeses in Amsterdam, I thought it would be fun to do a little taste test with them and make a video about it. They’re both not vegan (but really doing well on eating vegetarian!) and so I really wanted to see if they would like the cheeses. The video will appear on my Youtube-channel soon. At night we also made a vegan dinner for all of us. Wraps with gyros, tzatziki and veggies, it was really good! Lately I always use whole-grain products when I buy grains, it’s healthier. We had whole-grain wraps today!

Tuesday

Today was a big content day. I wrote a blogpost and edited a video. Time flew by. I did manage to go to the library in between to lend some magazines, I am really missing those since I can’t read them at the library itself due to the coronavirus. That’s why I lend them, so that I could still read them, but this time at home. At night, a few teammates and I went to another teammate again for drinks and games. It was fun and I slept at 4:30 AM! It’s the first time I stayed up that late since the coronavirus.

Wednesday

After 5 hours of sleep I already woke up again (weird for me, but okay). I had some chores to do, cleaning the windows and vacuum cleaning. It took longer than I thought and afterwards my grandpa, dad and I went for a long bike ride again. My dad and I did this last week too and I really love seeing all these new places in Enschede. I am going to places I have never seen before, all in my own area and by bike. What a way to travel! At night I Face-Timed with some friends which I know from Amsterdam, I hope to see them soon again!