Yes, another fresh weekly diary from our Carolien. Because you know: she never sits still.

As you all know by now, I have a pretty large assortment of clothes hanging in my closet... But when people ask what I have the largest assortment of, it is definitely my coat collection. Or better said, coat-collection. In every store I walk into, my attention is immediately drawn to that one corner filled with beautiful coats in unique models, lovely fabrics, or special colors. Avelon is definitely number 1, Storm & Marie made my favorite piece last season in ice blue, and I have been saving for years for a to die for Acne lammy coat. My latest acquisition is this vintage faux fur coat from Black Label Amsterdam (definitely a site to keep a close eye on…). Tip: the most beautiful winter coats can be found vintage, so especially this month, scour all the flea markets in Amsterdam! And who knows, I might run into you somewhere...

The month of December is always quite a strain on my liver: every year I promise myself to take it a bit easier, but what do you do when you are served the finest champagne and wines every evening! So when I woke up on December 30 for the third time in a row with a pounding headache, I was done: a month without alcohol for me! That's not a problem in itself, and I can live well on fresh juices and homemade iced tea, but my weakness always lies in peer pressure. During a drink or dinner with friends, it only takes three people to insist with: ‘Oh come on, don’t be so silly! Just one drink!“ and a minute later I find myself holding a glass of Chardonnay. But this time I will really stick to it! So when a bottle of Moët was opened yesterday and I was already approached with: ”Come on, just half a glass. It’s your favorite drink!“ I dutifully said my pre-rehearsed line: ”No really, I’ll stick to a cup of tea.“ Phew, one down, 30 more to go...

Just two weeks left until “Sneekweek” premieres! Yesterday during the press day, it felt like we had never been off set, it was so cozy and familiar to see everyone from the cast again. During the interviews, I only realized how intense our shooting period had been: months of night shoots, rehearsing during the day, and quite a few accidents happened on set... But luckily the crew was so great to work with that we pulled each other through! Yesterday we were asked if we would participate in a sequel or prequel: with this cast, I would say ‘yes’ immediately!

After all the holidays, I couldn't wait to try out my gifts! I received no less than two cookbooks: SLA and Ottolenghi, what a treat! From every page I opened, I wanted to make the recipe. So I decided to randomly open the books four times and try out those dishes! In the end, it became a cauliflower pie, a yogurt spread with lemon leaf, carrots with harissa and pistachios, and as the highlight of the evening: raw salted caramel cheesecake. With three of us, we tackled the recipes as if we had never done anything else. And the result was EXACTLY like the pictures from the cookbook! For me, that is always the benchmark of whether a recipe has turned out well... So dear Jet, bring on that delicious cookbook, so I can recreate even more pictures!

A few months ago, I boldly declared that I would hang up my silly teflon case addiction. Well dear people, I can tell you that I really tried my best. Really. But let's be honest: who can resist the temptation when seeing these ridiculously cool cases? “Well, almost everyone,” I hear you think. But if I can conjure a smile on my own face and that of others every time I pull out my phone, then that is worth a lot, right? So I just give in to the fact that I have a crazy addiction and that John Williams might show up at my doorstep one day. But all those ‘smiles’ are worth more than that to me!