Chufi

I'm by no means a sushi connoisseur, but.. I've been to Kagetsu (the one in hartenstraat, they have 2 restaurants) and liked it. I used to like Morita-Ya on Zeedijk, but haven't been for years. I've been meaning to try Zen Japans Delicatessenhuis on Frans Halsstraat 38 for a long time. It's been getting consitently good reviews on Iens.

ok, sorry to be stupid here, but what is BE@le Printemp?

My fiancee and I just moved to Leiden and are very excited about cooking through your post. Could you recommend some good regional Dutch cookbooks? I know they will be in Dutch, but we are learning! Thanks -Brendan ← Hi Brendan, and welcome to The Netherlands and to this thread! as far as the Dutch cookbooks go.. let me get back to you on that. I think there are some recommendations thoughout this thread (for books in English) but I don't expect you to tackle the whole thread in one day... The regional cookbooks I mentioned are tiny volumes, most of them printed in the seventies. But I know that Selexyz boekhandel (is there one in Leiden? ) has a couple. Your post actually reminds me that a little bibliography of English and Dutch language Dutch cookbooks is way overdue. Let me get working on that... but it may be a little while before I can post it. But please feel free to ask any question on this thread!

Does anyone happen to know if patisserie Arnaud Larher will be open this weekend (August 2)? I emailed, tried calling but no answer, I guess that probably means they're closed, but, I'd love to know for sure. Also, the website says that his stuff is also sold at the Galeries Lafayette. Does this include macarons... and, does it even apply when his own store is closed??

We watched some more episodes last night, (with unremarkable food.) One episode was called The Dinner Party and I kept saying to my friend 'we have to watch closely what they're eating so we can recreate the dinner next time!' The only dinner party scene was when they left the table to retire to the lounge for lots of brandy. They drink a LOT. Eat, not so much.

As much as I love Dorie's apple spice bars, I think they're more appropriate for fall. I vote for cupcakes! They're not very common in NL. With a beautiful frosting, they look unusual and cute enough to be interesting and impressive, yet the taste pleases even the most unadventurous cake eater (and being in NL myself, I do have some idea of your audience ) A fudgy chocolate cake would, for me, be too heavy after dinner/ dessert, if you serve it in the Dutch style with coffee at 8 or so. edited to add: David Ross posted a brilliant recipe for lemon/blackberry bars somewhere on eGullet..

Yesterday I made blueberry madeleines (I simply added some blueberries to a basic madeleine batter). They were good but because I added a lot of berries, they were very fragile and ´jammy´. today I made pancakes with the leftover batter, and to be honest these were better than the madeleines.

I had corn too... in a risotto, with tarragon. No cheese, just a touch of cream added at the end. It was really really good. lasst week a friend called that he got a huge bag of vegetables at the market in Rome the day before and would I come over to get some ofcourse!! I got the most beautiful eggplants, peppers, zucchini and tomatoes. I panfried them and had the vegetables with buffalo mozzarella and steak for dinner. Sun on a plate (literally, too )

DCmark, welcome to the thread and to Amsterdam! Hi kermie and welcome! may I ask where is your fishmonger.. i'm looking for a good one that's nearer to my house than the Albert Cuyp market, now that I've moved to another part of town.

missed opportunity, I'll say! I'm sorry I did not get the chance to show you another side of Amsterdam. If you went away feeling that Argentinian steakhouses define Amsterdam's dining scene... you really visited another city than the one I live in Although I admit Amsterdam may be shorter on high end dining than Paris, there still are a number of places that would have been interesting for you to check out, Le Ciel Bleu, Bordewijk, Ron Blaauw, to name just a few. I'm glad you enjoyed De Kas though. It's been on my wishlist for a long time.

Yeah, but he was on the Other Show... aka as Dallas

Just beautiful---I hope Chufi sees this. ← she did Bryan, white asparagus are one of my favorite things to eat. I like them on the 'well done' side, which is how I cook them myself, but I've noticed a trend in restaurants here and in Belgium to serve them more al dente. I'm interested to hear how these were cooked... where on the scale from crunchy to meltingly tender?

Ah. well. the first evening, on which we managed 3 episodes, I made a stirfry with rice... not very Dynasty, I know, but I had no time or inspiration to come up with anything better. The episode with Blake and Krystle's wedding did have some wonderful close ups of eighties party food and hors 'oeuvres.. for the next night of watching, I'm definitely making devilled eggs We have many more evenings to go and if we eat anything "Dynasty like" on one of them I'll be sure to report back.

looks like le Gaigne is open in August, and I just made reservations there for my Sunday, Solo dinner, looking forward to it!

Dear Rob: just wanted to add Veel succes... to all the good wishes. I can't wait to stop by in October for a sandwich!! Don't forget to take a deep breath every now and then. Sit down, even for a minute, and enjoy a croissant... even if it is one that you think is too ugly to sell.

Interesting how everything was served, 3 items on one platter, did you take the glasses/ little plates from the large plate or did the server do that for you? Is this something you've seen before, as consistently as this throughout the meal?

As always, this will be a great read. Thanks for sharing it with us! And ofcourse I'm really interested in your reports on Amsterdam dining..

Chufi -- Very interesting about the Midas -- I'm having a hard time imagining the consistency of ice cream that hasn't been stirred is very good -- can you tell us a little more about it? Emily ← The manual says that if you like your icecream a little fluffier, you can stir the mixutre during freezing. The first time I stirred every 5 minutes, the second time every 10 minutes, the last time I only stirred once, and I think I'm going to be brave and try NOT stirring at all the next time I think the texture is great, it's firm and maybe a tiny bit more dense than from am icecreammaker with a paddle, but not that different.

Thanks! maybe I'll get inspiration after watching the first couple of episodes!

Cadbury, thanks for the input on the 'ragout' issue. I think that's what I'll keep calling it in English. For future reference, I'd like to link here to this post in the member news section about my minute of fame in the Dutch newspaper world: click The reporter found me through this Dutch Cooking thread. She read the whole thread before she came to interview me about my thoughts on Dutch Cooking.. quite impressive I think!

vanilla coconut icecream on rhubarb raspberry compote. I got a new icecream maker, the wonderful Midas.. no electricity, no moving parts, just put the pan in the freezer overnight, next day pour you icecream mixutre in it, 25 minutes later you have icecream. Great news, the bad news is I made icecream 4 times since I got it 2 weeks ago

no not yet.. probably next week. I guess everyone is either too embarrassed to admit they watched this, or, like me, no one can remember what they ate

I made the chocolate ganache icecream from Dorie Greenspans Baking From my Home to Yours book last week and it was fabulous. Before that, my favorite home made chocolate icecream was the Cipriani's chocolate icecream from Marcella Hazan's Marcella's Kitchen. That one is very intensely chocolaty and less cloyingly creamy, and uses caramelized sugar to intensify the flavor.

here's the new and improved, fine-tuned itinerary: Phoenix Prescott Sedona Flagstaff Grand Canyon Kanab Bryce Canyon Escalante/Boulder Torrey Monument Valley Kayenta Cortez Durango Santa Fe (route from Durango to Santa Fe to be decided) Silver City Phoenix we're skipping Zion and Moab. Based on mileage, this is a route we're comfortable with for doing in 3 weeks. Any recommendations for these specific towns along our route? Warnings about where not to go also appreciated

Dear Rob, can I make a reservation for October? Best of luck with this huge project. I really admire you for taking this step.. I know I could never do it. Thanks for sharing it all with us.. you´re a great writer and it will be a very interesting journey to follow.