my journey

All or nothing!

~ nocsta ~ Leave a comment

Procrastination… It is my defense mechanism in dealing with failures and not caring anymore about the things that I want to pursue in life. It is self-sabotage, like I start doing things that gives pleasure for a short amount of time. (having just fun, hanging out or gaming.) These things are time consuming and mostly waste of energy, but it is something I do to run from my problems. Why, because fear and insecurity is getting to my head, it paralyzes me to move forward.

I have this mentality of ‘Doing it perfect or not doing it at all.’ This thing of perfectionism is making it a bit hard to life, because the expectancy that everything will be near perfect is such a hard way to life by, while the common thing to do is doing things steady and regularly for results.

I have been doing this most of my life, expecting to be special while I am just ‘Regular Joe’ like most people. I have been trying to do things perfectly, however it mostly never worked out cause to get things perfectly you have to work hard, freaking hard to eventually to get appreciated for the work that you have done.

Well in my school days, I had learned from the school-system to get things done to just get passing grades. This thing that I had learned made me not to care about things. Not caring make me not to do my best and this contradict my view of being special and doing things perfect. So what now? I have been failing things because I did not care anymore of the things I started. And succeeded in the things in which I did the ‘work’ and stayed focused.

What now..? I was paralyzed and procrastinating to find a second job or a place to pursue my journey to my shop or business. The anxiety of getting rejected and not getting a job was big. (a perfectionist view of success right of the bat) The job-experience is something I want to have, but I have not found any second job in the direction I am pursuing. I got rejected multiples times and failed to secure a second workplace. (sucks, but shouldn’t be a biggie!)

To stay positive I must be doing it in a wrong way and should change my method to secure a place where I can get the needed experience to eventually start my own shop.
So, what I really wanted to say is all or nothing is not the way to get things done, It is a flawed way of thinking. It is setting it self up to soften the blow when you fail. It is better to give it your all and let nothing stop you until you get what you want. Failures are just bumps in the road towards your Finish-line.

Follow your dreams and Keep Experimenting!

ps. I should also follow my own advice. XD

Happy Chinese New Year! Update: the year of the monkey! 🐒

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Going with the bandwagon.. Happy Chinese New Year of the Monkey!

So, what’s happening in my life at the moment. Pretty much not a lot, I am working a part-time job and looking for a second job in the barista branch. Nowadays it is hard to find a job where they would just take a chance and hire you.

General speaking: they are all looking for thé personnel with a degree and experience and even if you don’t have a degree you still need to have experience. Not much companies want to invest in their employees anymore.

So here I am in a city with lots of competition of finding a job, I’m also entering into a branch I am not familiar with. Therefore still in search for a starting place in my road to become somewhat successful. Not hard, just takes time and energy to find the one to work for and gain the needed experience.

I would work for free just to get the experience needed and continue to pursue the life/dream that I want.

To conclude, in the year of the Monkey 🐒 I wish you all prosperous year and may your dreams come true!

Keep Experimenting!

A quick update! 31 barista-course Lisbon

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This won’t be much of a post. Just some info or rants of what’s happening in my life. My journey to creating a life that I want continues and thus far I have made some steps. Moving out to Amsterdam and taking up the adventure of life. I have gained a level, I leveled-up from 30 to 31 in the past week. It didn’t felt any different from the previous leveling-ups. Just the number has changed and maybe some physical stats, but not much. I just gained a full year of experience of life.

After turning lvl 31, I was ready to attend the timely event that was set beforehand. The road to the barista-class was opened and I could acquire the class change. I moved to the area where the barista-job questline could be acquired. It was an easy travel riding the White-‘Sprinter’-bird to the east-town of Adam. Once arrived at the Roasting-shop I have met one of the quest giver and some companions to take up the challenge of the barista-questline. We had a nice briefing from the questgiver and could take the first few quest of cupping and answering a written-test quest. This was the First part of the barista-class questline. Together with my two other companions we defeated the Test-monster and was approved of receiving an Achievement certificate of the SCEA. It will be send in due time.

As happy as we were, the group split up and continued to work on the questline on their own.

I have been grinding some gold in between the barista-event. And continue to do so until my Christmas event starts. The plan is to ride the airship to another country and enjoy our exploration of the town Lisbon. One thing for sure is that I try to experience some ‘Pastei de nata’ and recover some stamina to continue my journey and my story.

This is what is awaiting for me in the coming days. 

Live the life that you want and Keep Experimenting!

The 3rd Japan Market and Amsterdam Food Festival

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Last weekend was a busy end of the week or better yet end of the month. November has ended and the Festive month starts. So in hindsight it was a nice way of ending it fun and joyful with my siblings. Last week program was The FoodFestival Amsterdam at the RAI and on Sunday was The 3rd Japan Market (Fair) at the Lloyd hotel, both in Amsterdam. (I am kinda slow on posting.)

The 3rd Japan Market (Fair)

As you might know in my previous post the weather in the Netherlands sucks at the moment with lots of rain, wind and greyness. Nevertheless, I had a rather relaxed and laid-back morning with some steamed buns for breakfast. However it was a bit to laid-back and I had to change-gear from ‘zero-to-100’ for the ‘Metro’ (subway) to Amsterdam Central Station. The meet-up with my siblings was at 12:30 p.m. and I was just in time to get the 12:10 Metro to ‘Centraal’. I was the first one to arrive, my sister, brother and his girlfriend were next up and right on time. Then we took the tram to The Lloyd Hotel were the event was held.

It was the first time that I was at the Lloyd hotel. It was not a fancy new hotel, but a more traditional styled one. The hotel from within has been renovated to modern times, with an open spaced lunchroom and a stairway to multiple plateaus. These plateaus-areas can be used for various occasion, like holding small events or place to retreat to for some reading or doing things on the laptop. This time it was The 3rd Japan Market held at this location. The event was divided into two parts the non-food and the food part. The non-food part was set up in two small rooms on the first floor of the hotel. There were various small booths selling Japanese items or handcrafted works from people who studied under the Japanese art style. Some of the remember-able booths were: The butterflies that are made of ties, The handmade pottery-works following the Japanese style, The modern ‘kawaii’ (cute) handmade stuff made for girls and young-womens. Others are Japanese forged steel scissors and various Japanese arts inspired craft works.

   

Next up is the plateau area or food area. Multiple food-stands are selling their Japanese cooking-arts or just food. Stands were selling Onigiri, a triangular rice ball with fish or vegetables in it and covert with a ‘nori’ paper (processed seaweed.) green tea stands, sushi-boxes and home made sushi. Sweets stands with matcha-muffins, Doriyaki’s (Doreamon’s favorite), mochi’s and the fish shaped cake Taiyaki. We bought some of those treats and had them for lunch. The Japan Market was nice and may they become a bigger event in the future.

   
  

Food Festival Amsterdam

Before we went to the Food Fest at the RAI, we wandered a bit at Central Station and nearby IJ-burg. The thing was that we were still full from the lunch and could use a walk. So we went for a stroll or shop-hopping…. uhm, yeah shopping at the IJ-passage at Central and grabbed something to drink near IJ-burg. At around 5p.m. we hopped into the car and headed over to Amsterdam RAI for the Food Festival.

The RAI, Amsterdam largest event location and a place for holding these kinds of grand happenings. The Food Festival was at it’s last day, it started three days earlier on the 26th of november. The four of us walked to the main entrance and were saluted by the security for a look in our bags. It is supposedly not allowed to bring in any food or drinks. In the voyeur was a DJ-Truck playing loud music too welcome the visitors of the event. On the left was the way to the conference area but it was closed off and was not part of the event. On the right side was the road to the large hall were the Food Festival was held. It was huge place and filled with different kinds of people, foodlovers ‘Foodies’, parents with small children, students, expats and many more. The venue was compiled of foodtrucks, the trucks were laid out in a rectangular encirclement having an outer ring and an inner ring. Between the two rings were tables and benches for the visitors to sit and dine. There were two token-shops, where every visitor had to buy tokens in order to buy the food they wanted to consume. One token was €2,50 and the prices at the stands were mostly around 2-3 tokens. However there were some restaurants stands that offered a whole menu or a 3-dish course. Those were more on the expensive side with 4-9 tokens. Drinks can be bought at drinking booths, one token for the ‘souvenir’ drinking-cup and a minimum of one token for the beverage.

So what did we ate that day? Multiple things. (from left to right)

    

The BAO-burger or Beef-Pork-Chicken-Shrimp-patty on a bun. It was an Ok burger, but if you were not familiar with a mix of multiple meat types, it might taste a bit odd. Having something like this is not in everyone’s taste so I would not recommended it for try-out outside of home.

The slow-cooked pulled Pork meat with lots of fried stuff and spring onions on a steamed bun. This is mix of slow-cooked pulled meat and Asiatic soft steamed bun makes it a combination of the modern fusion food. A tasty grub and a change from the regular burger or other fast-food.

The Potato-twister and chicken skewers. A parties favorite that is looks fun, curled up and twisted on a stick. This fried potato on a stick is easily sharable with family and friends or just have it for yourself.

   

Fresh young coconut, very simple and yummy to have. Sipping the coconut juice and eating the young coco-meat.

A Savoury waffle with beetroot and bacon. An odd combination, but who does not like bacon. With waffles you mostly think of sweets, but savoury dishes can also be made. Same with pancakes or crèpes, it can be sweet or savoury, definitely worth a try to make some savoury pancake or waffles.

Below are three pics of Saturday, when I also went to the Food Festival. (two days in a row how about that :p)

   

A pulled pork sandwich, followed by a beef meatball and a beef-burger. A meat-lover must-try meal and a lot of ‘punny’ comments to add. Get a taste of these ‘meaty-buns’ and make sure to ‘sandwich’ it while sharing. Have a lick or a bite of the ‘juicy spiced balls’ and make sure to have this threesome of meat.

Some bite-sized fried snacks, good to go with some beer or drinks. It was seafood flavour, but a meat version was also possible.

Orange Punch and Green Power Smoothies to boost your daily fruit and veggies needs.

 

That’s all folks, it was a day of treats for the eyes and stomach. For the next time I try to post it more on time, cause now it is way after some time. Nevertheless up to the next Food experience! I hope you like it and Keep Experimenting!

nocsta and friends: Food Adventure. Izakaya Tanuki, Amstelveen.

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The first ‘nocsta and friends: Food Adventure’ Izakaya Tanuki, in Amstelveen. I had great ideas of doing this, but forgot all about it and just had a very good dinner with friends. I have not seen them in a long while, so it was just great to have fun and enjoy the moment.

The Idea of Food Adventure comes from a Youtube channel, Justkiddingfilms. The channel shows a group of friends making video-content on youtube and one of their video-topics are their Food Adventures. The JKF-group will often make a video of a foodie-hotspot where they showcase the delicious foods of the establishment they visit.

The videos are entertainment that I enjoy to watch and I wanted to have something similar. That’s why I started with this new blog subject of Naf:fa, (food and friends). At the moment I am just starting out, so bear with my materials for now. I hope to gradually to create something like a photo blog content and eventually video content.

Izakaya Tanuki

Amstelveen has one of the largest Japanese community in the Netherlands and is not that strange to find a hidden gem inside the Dutch horeca-landscape filled with All-you-can-eat-Sushi places. (horeca is the dutch term for the HOtel, REstaurant and CAtering service industry.)

Izakaya: is like a tavern, but Japanese style. Tanuki has a definitely a modern Japanese feel to it, with a Japanese looking building. It has his own garden which you walk through it from the main-entrance to the sliding door entrance. Follow through  on the inside, the restaurant contains an open kitchen with bar seatings and regular chair-and-tables seatings, at the wall-side in a L-shape are the tatami style seatings with boxed in tables.

The dinning style is somewhat different than you would expect. The menu has a lot to offer and ranges from various Japanese dishes, like [sushi and sashimi] cold dishes to [karage] fried dishes and [yakitori, ramen] warm dishes. The style of ordering is similar to all-you-can-eat but without the rounds or filling some paper or pc-tablet. Old-skool style with your waiter/waitress on paper and pen. And it can be done whenever you like to order from the menu.

That night we had some fresh made sushi’s. The rice of the nigiri and maki sushi’s were at the right warm temperature and the fish toppings were freshly cut and layed on top.
We ordered various skewers to share, from yakitori (chicken skewers) to other kushiyaki (meat and vegetables skewers). The Tsukune or chicken meatballs were interesting a different way of what you normally would expect of yakitori. Other skewers which were nice are the Gyutan or cows tongue. Cow tongue needs to be grilled well or it will be really tough like chewing on a leather belt.

The dishes of Izakaya Tanuki that I liked the most that day were two meat dishes. The first one is the Japanese fried Chicken or better known as the Tori Karage. The dish what we had was the Wakadori No Kara Age described as Japanese style marinated chicken. The meat was very tender and the chunks of chicken were huge. The next dish was the MVD (play on MVP) of the night, The Wafu Steak. We ordered it two times and if we had known it was that good from the start, we would have ordered it more times. The beef dish was sharable and it was deliciously good and done well. Seriously yummy tender steak and I was able to enjoy it multiple times with every piece that’s on the plate.

It was nice to have a good quality meal with my friends. Although this time I haven’t made a lot of food pics, on the next naffa I will show a more foodporn post with lots and lots of food pictures.

Until next time, Like, share and Keep Experimenting!

Update #4 Change of schedule?

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I have not posted regularly at a fixed day like in the past and it’s kinda bugging me.

To be honest I like chaos, but it’s structured chaos that I like.  As of now the structure of maintaining this blog is somewhat gone. So there will be a shift of schedule, since my weekly schedule has changed.
My new posting day will be on Tuesdays or Wednesdays instead of on Fridays. This has to do with my move to Amsterdam and my current job which takes up time in the weekend.

My workdays are mostly from Wednesday to Sunday, depending on my work-schedule. Not much time to do anything besides cooking, cleaning and groceries. Monday and Tuesday are currently my off days, but I am planning to work on these days as well with a second job.

Aside from work and blogging, I have been rather busy doing various things. Somewhat structured in my planning are the Monday and Thursday gym days and I would have done a third day but Saturday is already a packed day to do anything. If it is not work than it is time spend with friends. (Yeah, I started my social life again XD.)

So what have I been up to? Well, I have made steps for becoming a barista. And No, not changing into hipster or anything like that. Barista in the sense of actually developing skills for my own store. I have signed up for two barista-courses and they are with certificates if I pass and complete it.

Furthermore, I have been rekindling connections with some friends. “It was time again to be ME with positivity and a purpose in life. I hid myself in the past and was isolated from the world. It was a dark time, but now I feel more alive. Anxious at times, thrilled other times but I am having a blast the way things are now. I am finally tearing a hole in my wall of comfort, breaking the bricks of self-isolation one at a time.” Hmm, a bit philosophical in this part.

Social life happn’d. Saturday was just like I said a busy day. I went to a cooking-workshop in Rotterdam on Halloween. It started at 4p.m. I went a few hours earlier cause an old classmate had a one year anniversary of her own shop, also in Rotterdam. It was fun to see them again.

The workshop began around 4 o’clock at Het Zesde Geluk or The Sixth Luck translated. As the participants starting to arrive I looked on my phone and read the dishes that we were going to make. The dishes are listed in the picture below. (in Dutch)
After the workshop was over, some of the participants went for some drinks. It was not entirely a coincidence. I’m in a friend-group that occasionally do activities together and we planned to have a drink and going out that night. So that is what we did, a couple of drinks beforehand and clubbing afterwards. Sunday was also planned, it was to chill out and dimsum. ;P

That is it for now, Like or Share and Keep Experimenting!

Update #3 From too much time to busy, busy, busy.

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After my last post of having a lot of free time and looking for stuff to do, then *BAM* An 180 degrees turn of events happens and a fully planned week in a blink of an eye.

So what happened, I was searching for a job and looked into projects that I had on my bucketlist. I had all the time in the world, a day was planned in the weekend for a games festival in Utrecht. I went there with high expectations, however it turned out to be so-so. We left the event for down-town food and (window)-shopping. I even bought a book at a bookstore in (fore-sight of spare times.) Later on I went back to Zwolle for the weekend, in order to pick up some leftover stuffs back to my new place. Last weekend went by steadily, I traveled back to Amsterdam and proceeded with my plan of monday’s workout at the gym, however I got a call on sunday for a job that I applied to, to come by at wednesday.

Thus, this week started relaxed with monday workout and easy-cooking, tuesday exploring Amsterdam and easy-cooking, then things started to change on wednesday. I started to get busy and with ‘busy’ I mean work. Don’t get me wrong I like to work, I rather work than doing nothing. However the instant change of lots of free time to no time to spare is unimaginable quick, which made my time flew by before I could comprehend what just happened. And right now it is already monday 1 a.m. Today on sunday was a planned dimsum with my families and the time flew by.

While I am writing this post, it daunt me that it will just get busier and busier from now on. I still got stuff hanging around that I want/need to do. Like getting my SVH certificate, reading the book I got on saturday (last week), writing my business plan for my pastry/dessert-café, blogging and writing recipes, social-media, a few little projects, planning the holiday and many more. I’m getting tired and excited at the same time. Oh well,  I’ll keep posting about my journey, so give a like, share or do whatever  you want and Keep Experimenting!

Wing

Update #2, Finaly moved to the big city of Amsterdam.

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It has been a long time since I last posted.
So what happened thus far. I had worked the last days at my previous job until my contract ended and didn’t do much. I was looking for a room in Amsterdam and it took some time to find one. Amsterdam is too damn packed and hell of expensive to live. But still I found my place and moved out. This is my first week in Amsterdam since I moved and it takes some time to settling in. A lot of stuffs are bought and I joined a gym.

I had my first workout, which was the big three from youtuber Bart (Justkiddingfilms), plus a 20 min cardio-run. I got real tired after the training.
(it was supposed to be a 30 min run, but I dislike running. weak-minded? perhaps.)

So what are the coming posts or things from me? Well I am still looking for a job at the moment. I would be great if it is in the direction that I want to do, but I can not be too picky about a job right now, need the money for living out here.

In time when I get inspiration to cook some good meals, I’ll post the recipes.
Till then, Like or share and enjoy experimenting.

My journey, my dream…

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This my Story, This is my Journey.

This blog is something I started to change my life, to tell my story up till now and to tell my Journey for the events to come.

Up till now I had led a great life without much hardships, I am blessed with loving family and friends. I am living a carefree life in a peaceful country, a healthy environment and I am fortunate to receive social benefits of health-care, education and many more.

However (I’m already sounding like a bitch), I did not have a purpose in life. I did not know what I wanted. I just followed the road of what was expected of me instead of listening to my heart. Just until recent years I started to search for a meaning in life, a soul search to something what I wanted, to make me happy and to contribute for a better world.

In my soul-searching-time I figured out what I liked. I like helping people in some sort of way, I like being creative and I love food.

  • Food is something consistent in my up-bringing, my father is a cook and had always made us various delicious dishes. Food is something I enjoy and in food I like quality over quantity.
  • I had always a thing for building and making stuff, I liked building with Lego and making drawings when I was little. As I have grown-up, I turned to cooking because it is one of the places where I could release my creativity.
  • Helping people… it can be called like that, the thing is I like to solve problems and in that way if it helps them it makes everyone happy. So a win-win situation is something what I like to strife for.

These three things are what underlines what I want to do with my life. So combining these three resulted in one of my goals to achieve or create/build. That is, creating something like Jamie Oliver’s ‘Fifteen’ or something like this article about coffee.  Which is not building something for just my own, but also something for the community. A win-win, creativity and food.

In the long run, I want to create an Empire or a Giant in the Food world, something similar as in the manga ‘食戟のソーマ Shokugeki no Sōma’ , an organization like Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. As well as various food related businesses.

My journey and my dream has already started, so if it sounds interesting give me a like, share or follow my blog. ^ ^

The Bucketlist #1

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So in making a bridge with my last post. ‘Droppin’ in the sky of freedom!’

Here is the first list of things I want to fly to. ^_^

  • My own pup-up restaurant/coffee house
  • Car
  • Motor bike
  • Drivers license
  • Living place (randstad)*
  • Second living place in Asia
  • Own business company
  • Traveling the world
  • Study japanese
  • Study chinese
  • Study korean
  • More muscular physic
  • Body exercise
  • Martial arts study
  • Own bakery
  • Learn to dance
  • Learn to play an instrument
  • Have a tootsuki institution**
  • Having a blog

This is the list from when I turned thirty. It was the moment that I decided and acted to change my self.  After I dropped out of college for third time, I had taken my time into think over what I really wanted to do with my life. The time it took  about what I wanted is a topic for another time….

Back on topic, I have already started with doing some things on the list. I have a blog ^ ^, I’m doing some exercise and getting my driving license. I try to move out of Zwollywood this year if possible. There is still much more to add to the list or to be completed. So a list #2 will follow, I’ll keep you up to date.

Like, share or follow? Do whatever you like.

Next up ‘My journey, my dream…’