Chufi

Fishcakes! Most herring stands also sell other fishy stuff: fried fish nuggets, fish cakes, smoked mackerel, salmon, fishsalads etc.

actually, no, a very cheap German brand (75 eurocents for 200 gram ) Sorry Sandy

I was determined to have some fun myself this time. The dinner for Dennis was more hard work, than fun. It's interesting though. While that dinner was impressive, and guests were impressed, and I was proud of myself because of the achievement, I think at the end of the day, both I, the guests and Dennis will say they prefer the less ambitious gatherings like the one we had last night. Something to think about...

I'm not sure how long this blog will be open, I think until midnight my time, but I don't want to miss the opportunity for a proper goodbye. And one little story. This has been a truly wonderful and memorable week. Not at all like the rest of my life, but it felt very special to share the fun and festivities with all of you. I will easily remember this week as one of my best extended birthdays ever. For some time it looked like I would also remember this week as 'the week Foufou went missing'. On Tuesday, right after I took the pics of the rats and posted them, one of them wandered of... and did not come back like she normally does. She had gone upstairs and was hiding in the attic. I was really worried about her, and most of my time not cooking, shopping or blogging was spent looking for her. Then, late Sunday evening, when we were sitting and chatting with the last remaining guests, I heard something. I went to the ratcage and there she was. What no amount of stinky cheese, expensive ham and overripe bananas in the rat-trap, and our turning the attic upside down had achieved, had happened: all by herself she had decided it was time to go home. It was the best belated birthdaypresent. I hope I haven't left any questions unanswered. Thank you all so much for your kind words, your encouragement, and not to mention the birthday wishes! If they all come true, this is going to a very good year for me.. And if any of you ever decides to visit Amsterdam, please contact me, I'd be thrilled to give a real tour of my city and not just a virtual one!

I second this request... ← ladies, I'm sorry I couldn't oblige. Looks like you have to come and visit Amsterdam and go to those special coffeeshops yourselves!

Dinner. I was never able to produce a decent bowl of rice until I started using that steamer thing you see in the back. Now I have perfect dry and fluffy rice every time! I made a peanut sauce from thick coconut milk, peanutbutter, some lime juice, soysauce and tamarind Thin slices of chicken, marinated in sambal and thick sweet soysauce salad leaves, bean sprouts, blanched beans and carrots. Topped with the chicken, peanutsauce, coreander and chilli. A bowl of rice on the side. Dessert: rhubarb/strawberry and plum almondtartlet, from the patisserie mentioned above. And some pecan oatmeal cookies a friend brought as a gift yesterday. (on a cute little glass cakestand I bought for 1 euro on Queensday!)

I made a large pan of brownies. I mixed walnuts and dried cranberries into the batter, and added a layer of cream cheese Cutting with a warm knife is a really good idea - it made all the difference. As you can see, even with a ruler to guide me, I still don't manage to make really even-sized pieces. But, this is better cutting then I've ever done! Thanks Abra! they look good!

She's a miniature bull terrier, and her name is Muis (mouse) there were 4 of us, and I took pics of everyones dishes. I have very kind and understanding friends who are used to this by now.. The eel is smoked, and I don't think it comes in tins. It's quite expensive. When I was a child, we used to have a smoked eel fest at my grandparents house every year on Queensday - soft white bread, and as much smoked eel as you could manage. Mmmm....

Just to put off making those brownies for another minute, I want to report about my birthday gifts. My friends seem to know that I really like food.. So most gifts were food-related. Besides the books I already mentioned, McGee and the Nigella Lawson book, I got a beautiful caraffe and ice bucket, a large brownie pan, a gift certificate for my favorite pottery shop, a lovely italian notebook for recipes, bought in Venice, and a gift certificate for an afternoon of wine& cheese in one of the best cheese shops in the city. I also got a bag with pancetta, spaghetti, and a huge block each of pecorino and parmesan. These items (straight from Rome, brought by a friend who was in Italy until a couple of days ago) will make an appearance sometime this week as a belated contribution to the Rome thread. I also got a new camera.. so once I figure out how to operate it, you'll see better pics from me in the future...

yeah, I noticed that too.. we were talking about that yesterday, that this is the age women start lying about their age Yes, I think I'll stay 37 for a while, I rather like it sofar! Lots of people have dishwashers. I never wanted one, because actually doing the dishes is one of the few household chores that I don't mind doing. So, my Mondaymorning ritual.. coffee & puppy: After that I went for some non-foodrelated shopping. MelissaH, you'll be pleased to see that near Leidseplein, I spotted this: They seem to be open for the summer-season! As I was walking, I realized that 2 important things were missing from this Amsterdam-blog: canals and herring. Here they are together in one picture: Might as well eat one then.. Did you know herring is a really good hangover cure? I also passed this patisserie: Kuijt in the Utrechtsestraat. They recently won the Dutch award for best patisserie of the year They have beautiful stuff.. I also bought something for dessert tonight, you'll see that later. Now I'm going to bake a very large pan of brownies to take to work tomorrow. Dinner tonight, my last blogdinner, will involve rice, because Dennis requested it, and peanutbutter

After all the festivities, this is just a regular Monday. Well, besides the fact that we just spent 2 hours cleaning the house. Did I mention we have no dishwasher? rachel, you are too kind. I'm 37 years old since last Wednesday.. I do, however, try very hard not to grow up. Sandy, we did pretty good on Queensday! I made about 40 euro, and Dennis about 500... My cookbooks did not sell as well as I had hoped, but at the end of the day I had only a couple left and those I gave away for free - in the spirit of the day, which is after all more about fun than about making money. Now I'm off for my usual Monday routine: coffee with my friend and his puppy, and after that, even though I swore yesterday I'd never shop for food again, some grocery shopping..

Thanks everybody, your kinds word really did help! It's around midnight here now and I'm tired, but I just want to post some pictures before going to bed for some much needed rest. here's the chickpeasoup in it's first stages: In case some of you wondered if Dennis ever cooks: here is is, cooking up a an audiocable (dont ask.. ) while I'm making a batch of lemon curd Appetizers were lots of cheeses an cold cuts, but I did not get a picture of those, and Susan in Fl's zucchini with basil and prosciutto (bad pic, sorry) Finished soup, chickpea & pasta soup with tomato and rosemary & basil, it was really good and here I am grating over the cheese here's the coddled pork, shredded. I flavored it with fennel seeds which worked really well with the tarragon mayo: Coleslaw. I think it was Ludja who mentioned "boiled dressing with celery seed" for coleslaw, which sounded very intriguing. I found a recipe online and it was really good, worked very well with the fatty pork and mayo: Pita sandwiches with the pork, mayo, and shredded endive: as you can see it was not really a formal dinner There were about 20 people at the table and it was an agreeable mess On the plate with slaw and roast potatoes: Dessert. After I burned, but did not cook through, the first batch of puffs I called one of my friends in a panic and asked him to bring some storebought puff pastry, I thought I could do some mini napoleons with the lemon curd filling I already had prepared. But then, it turned out some of my friends with small children left early, and there were enough 'okay' puffs to feed the people who were there for dessert. And they were great! I'll talk more tomorrow. Now I need some sleep. Thank you all for the encouragement

Thanks guys.. the guests better be there for me and not for the food, cause there won't be a lot of dessert tonight...

choux puffs Well, I'm not really laughing! second batch came out better, but then I did not have enough, and had to make more batter. 2 more hours before the guests arrive and my house is a mess (and so am I ) I keep running up to my computer to see if somebody will have something encouraging to say ..

I should have known better than to try something pastry-like I've never done before, on a day like today. I pulled them from the oven too soon, and they collapsed, oh wait I did not pull them out too soon, because the bottom were already burned. I am not happy.

A typical Dutch breakfast is indeed sliced bread, with butter and cheeses and/or cold cuts. Often there will also be sweet things on the table: peanutbutter, jams, nutelaa, and various 'sprinkles' (chocolate, aniseed, etc.)

We went to dinner last night with friends who live in the centre of Amsterdam and desperatly wanted to get a way from the 4 different open air house parties that were going on around them, so we drove to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, a little town just a 20 minute drive from Amsterdam. The river Amstel is the same river that runs through Amsterdam: We had some trouble finding a place that wasn't either full, closed or filled with dancing people dressed in orange, but finally ended up at Praq, where neither of us had been, and were pleasantly surprised Starters: truffled egg salad on toast, with smoked eel bacon pancake with duckliver and pear syrup oysters Mains: veal schnitzel with belgian endive Beef fillet with potato rosti, bacon, bearnaisesauce really good frites and some Dutch cheeses to finish Wine: Now, it's 9 am in Amsterdam and I have some party-prepping to do! See you all later

happy Queensday everybody! So, we got up at 5:30 and set up our little shop. records: and books, mostly cookbooks: (MelissaH, you might recognize that book on the bottom row ) Fortunately, there were people selling coffee just opposite our stall: Breakfast: coffee and baklava Girls we know come from Belgium every year with their wafflemaker really good waffles! Everyone is selling all sorts of stuff.. yes, lots of junk that you can't imagine anyone will want to buy... This lady was selling some very tasty looking cookies, turns out they were homemade dog biscuits Cakes and coffee: Some people are a little more careless about the presentation Quiches and sandwiches: Galettes: I also made some sadwiches at home: brie and tomato and chorizo omelet We did not go hungry At 11, the beer starts to flow: It got really really busy! We did pretty well, and sold quite a lot. And here's how you have to transport everything you did not sell, back up again Now, I'm gonna take a nap, and then we'll go out and eat somewhere, don't know where yet!

Congratulations Rochelle! First of all with your boy.. but I bet you're glad to be rid of the cast, too... best wishes to you and the rest of your family!

I think (I don't buy or eat a lot of cookies like this) those are just plain sweet biscuits, with a thin sugar coating. The 4th package from the right has a layer of chocolate.

Hi sanrensho, it took me a couple of days, but here they are. The first 2 pics are from a neighborhood bakery, the third pic is taken in the supermarket.

Leidse kaas (cheese from Leiden) is another name for cumin cheese. They come in different ages, from very young and buttery to old, salty and crumbly. Then there's a cheese made in Friesland, nagelkaas, which is studded with either cloves, or cloves and cumin.

Melissa, you make it sound soo good.. Now, I wouldn't want you to think that everybody gets drunk on Queensday.. some people really are only in it for the shopping you know.. But a couple of beers will certainly make most of the junk look better Abra, thank you for the cutting instructions.. if I manage to bake on Monday, I will try it that way! As a rule, Dennis does not shop. He's not very fond of it and I am so that works out just fine. Except ofcourse on the occasion of parties, when it reallly becomes a formidable task. Today we took the car to get the wine and beer for the party - that really is hard to do on your bike. I spend my officedays at a University in Amsterdam. I work at one of the faculties, where my 2 main responsibilities are the yearly production of the study guide (both on paper and the net), and international affairs. Nothing to do with food I'm afraid.. but I'm working on that

I have some catching up to do! Here's breakfast - another one of those banana/oatmeal/milk smoothies, and preparing lunch. There's some leftover pasta with asparagus, and I'm taking a sandwich with cumin cheese: office coffee. It's not very good but it's free... I can't stand being inside for 8 hours, so I always go for a walk on my break, and I usually visit the botanical gardens of the university where I work. Sometimes I eat my lunch there, but today I had lunch at my desk and took a nice (but not free ) latte from the coffeeshop. The white square is the complimentary chocolate you get with every coffee there. After work, 2 more rounds of shopping. I think I'm finally done now. Then onto dinner.. I had no clue what to make. For some reason, when I'm totally uninspired, my thoughts turn to the combination of chorizo and eggs. I adore those 2 flavors together. Here's something I sort of made up myself. potatoes, belgian endive, chorizo. And a glass of jenever to unwind... The potatoes are cooked and mashed. The sausage is fried for a bit to render out some of the fat. Hardboiled eggs, and parsley. The endive goes in raw. Everything is mixed together with a little sauce made from melted butter, salt pepper and vinegar. It doesn't look like much but it was delicious comfortfood. For dessert we had the icecream I made yesterday. I wanted to make rhubarb icecream, but my icecream maker broke sometime ago. Then I remembered a recipe for blackberrycrumble icecream where you just stir blackberry sauce and an oatmeal crumble mixture into storebought icecream. So I softened some vanilla icecream and mixed it with the rhubarb pulp. I also mixed in some ginger in syrup. The trick is to soften the icecream just enough to mix in the other stuff. I let it melt too much, which means it takes a long time to freeze up again, and icecrystals will form while it's re-freezing. The taste was wonderful though, definitely something to try again and do it better As you can see in this picture, the sun's come out again. The weather forecast for tomorrow is slightly better, and I think we're gonna take our chances.

About a week before the day, strange signs start to appear on the sidewalks. People write their name, and the word bezet (occupied) on the street with chalk.. to 'claim' their spot. We have done that sometimes but it doesn't always work out.. so now we just get up really early and take an empty spot. You have to bring tables, chairs and everything, but some people just lay their stuff on the street. I was contemplating baking something and selling it this year.. but with my birthday, the party, and the work at the office which is really hectic this time of year (my major yearly deadline is early June, and April and May are my busiest months) that was really too ambitious a plan. My husband has been selling records on Queensday for years though and he has a number of regular customers. And friends of friends of ours always travel from Belgium with a waffle car! I'm really looking forward to that.. hope they'll make it to Amsterdam tomorrow.