This and that

Oh my God - how disgusting is tofu? Sometimes (especially in spring with all the lambs gamboling around) I have a crisis of conscience about eating meat and get the urge to go vegetarian. I have never before eaten tofu and since it is cheap and supposedly healthy I thought I'd give it a go in tonight's sweet and sour instead of chicken. Oh, what a mistake. If I had chopped up a bath sponge and added it to the frying pan I would have got more flavour.

And now for a completely different topic. It was my 30th birthday on Thursday (March 8th) and I had a fantastic day. I got a good haul of presents and after having a leisurely breakfast we headed out to Amsterdam to spend the day. I bought far too many books in the American Book Center and then we wandered over to the Begijnhof. It is a very famous hidden court dating from the 14th century. It houses the English Reformed Church and on the day we visited they were having an organ recital. I was very impressed by how well behaved Michael was. I was carrying him around in my baby carrier and he was extremely peaceful. Nonetheless, I didn't risk taking him into the Miracle Church because it is a place of prayer. I would have loved to have spent some time admiring the paintings.

Despite receiving a 50 euro parking fine for accidentally parking in a loading and unloading bay, we left Amsterdam in good spirits and headed off to a restaurant for a steak dinner. Michael sat in a high chair and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He was the life and soul of the party and was great company. Phil loves showing him off and spent ages entertaining him and making him laugh. I tried Michael again with banana but he hated it and promptly threw it on the floor. Point taken, my love.

My birthday was the only day in the last couple of weeks when we have actually had good weather. It was cold and grey yesterday and again today. We have day tripped to Leiden and Den Haag but didn't have anywhere near as much fun. Michael has been in apparently excruciating pain with teething so we have been turning ourselves inside out trying to keep him happy and comfortable.

Tomorrow we're going to spend a lazy day at home. I don't dare hope that Michael will be happy enough to play on his own because he is, understandably, very clingy when he is teething. If I do get a minute to myself then I'll bury my nose in a book. I'm reading two at the moment:

• The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracies, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant by Robert Hutchinson

• Thud! by Terry Pratchett

I have a passion for the Tudor period of English history and came across the book on Henry VIII in the bargain section of the American Book Center. How could I resist? From what I have read so far, it seems to be a fanciful treatment of the subject and reads more like a work of fiction. I'm loving it and read out the more entertaining extracts to Phil (whether he wants me to or not).

Update on dinner: Normally I am very good at eating what is put before me but I just could not eat that tofu. YUUUUUUUUUUCK! I'm afraid that I am guilty of eating around it and then tossing it into the bin.