Chufi

That looks so good! Almost even better than the original sukiyaki!

Megan, that orange is so beautiful.. I love a good orange for breakfast... especially in the winter, it seems to really wake you up!

Helen, I am enjoying this very much. To me, everything looks unusual.. but beautiful... and inspiring! The pictorial of the tempura makes me think I might try that myself someday... I've always been afraid of tempura.. edited to add: The Makioka Sisters is one of my favorite books. I take it with me on every single long trip and I never tire of it. All my knowledge about Japan comes from literature like that, and movies - I'm a big fan of Ozu's movies - so it's really lovely to see a "real" Japanese (food)life as pictured in your blog!

I think you should start selling them. I would pay for that cupcake.. gladly.

Not bad eh? I need to take a latke break. ← congratulations Pam! I think you do not only need, but really deserve a latke break right now! I bought 1 (yes, one) sweet potato today and I'll be making sweet potato latkes for dinner tomorrow...

Oh my goodness.. I can't imagine frying oliebollen in that kind of weather.. you are very brave!! (must be the Dutch blood ) baking them in muffintins is just brilliant. Thanks for the inspiration!

I liked what you said about a 'whole' dish and pride of ownership. Some ideas: Stamppot (mashed potatoes and vegetables ) is an easy family dish to make and most (dutch..) children I know love it. like this one:curly endive stamppot or this one: Hutspot with carrots and onions. if you use thin-skinned new potatoes, you could get away with not peeling them (although they would have to be well washed , obviously). You can make a gravy/sauce with bacon, onion etc. in the time it takes the vegetables to cook, and every kid loves to mash things together! You mentioned scrambled eggs.. that was the first dish my (now 17-year-old) stepdaughter learned to cook for herself. It's great because you can add all sorts of things to it to make it more interesting. Creamy, pureed soups.. vegetables can be cut up pretty irregularly, it cooks quickly, and then stick in the hand-held blender! Always a lot of fun.. just make sure you teach her right from the start that she has to hold the stick down in the pot and not pull it up while pureeing, or you'll end up with soup on the ceiling...

How long will the oil keep? I'm a bit worried about that.. I already have a large tub of lard in the fridge that needs using up.. so many pork- products to use

I thought of another place, that does not fall into any of the categories you asked for, but it isn't french either : Pygmalion, South African cuisine Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 5a, Leidseplein, Amsterdam Telefoon (020) 420 70 22 keuken open 17.30-22.30, ma gesloten In the Museum quarter. Had dinner there once and loved it.

Another question.. the recipe for the pork coddled in olive oil says to reserve the olive oil for future use.. I don't want to waste it.. but what would I use this for??

I made the Tunisian chickpeasoup with eggs, capers, olives and harissa tonight. Picture is here in the Dinner! thread. This was amazing.. you have to plan well, but if you have the chickpeas and stock ready, then you can have dinner on the table in the time it takes to boil some eggs. I even made my own stock (a bit unusual for me ) and I think it made all the difference to the flavor. I made the harissa by mixing some caraway, coriander, garlic, cinnamon and turmeric into a jar of plain sambal oelek, which is simply ground fresh peppers. When I tasted it after mixing I thought it had litle flavor, but after a couple of hours it had a wonderfully fragrant and complex taste. Thank you Paula for this book! (I have the pork coddled in olive oil and the Tuscan beans in the fridge for tomorrows dinner. Somebody stop me )

This is going to be fun! Thanks for starting this!

Hi John, I'll try to give you some reccommendations. Indonesian: I like Djago Scheldeplein 18, Rivierenbuurt, Amsterdam Telefoon (020) 664 20 13 / Fax (020) 676 35 16 keuken open 17.00-21.30, za gesloten but it's a bit out of the city center. More central is Tempo Doeloe: Utrechtsestraat 75, Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam Telefoon (020) 625 67 18 / Fax (020) 639 23 42 keuken open 18.00-23.30 I have never eaten there myself but I read good reviews. Supposedly the best Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam is Blue Pepper. I'm not even sure if you can get a rijsttafel there, it's a much more modern cuisine (and expensive). Again, I have not been there myself. Nassaukade 366 , Amsterdam Telefoon (020) 489 70 39 keuken open 18.00-22.00 Fish: Visaandeschelde website here, . I've heard very good things about it recently. (I have eaten there myself but it was years ago ) A good Thai is Krua Thai Classic Staalstraat 22, Amsterdam Telefoon (020) 622 95 33 / Fax (020) 624 90 62 keuken open 17.00-22.30, ma gesloten , it's near the Opera. I've recently been to Ko Chang and liked it: Westerstraat 91, Jordaan, Amsterdam Telefoon (020) 638 10 39 keuken open 17.00-22.30, ma gesloten A very good Korean place is Arirang Marnixstraat 198, Jordaan, Amsterdam Telefoon (020) 620 09 62 / Fax (020) 427 05 02 keuken open 18.00-22.30, di gesloten A wonderful place for breakfast, lunch or brunch is the Bakkerswinkel website here, it's a bakery that bakes delicious bread, cakes, pastries etc and also serves light meals. 2 locations: Roelof Hartstraat 68 (south part of the city, but not too far from the museums) Warmoesstraat 69 (in the centre). If you need any more info, please ask!

Now those are some great threads looks lovely Jensen! I'm glad you liked it. The yellow stuff is piccalilly (or pickalilly), a sour/sweet pickle made from vegetables (cauliflower, green beans, carrots, pickling onions, gherkins etc) in a rather thick sauce. The yellow color comes from turmeric. I think this is originally a british pickle, but it's popular in the Netherlands to eat with bean dishes and Stamppot. Thanks for the recipe jhirshon! I wanted to make borstplaat, but I am afraid of anything that involves a candy thermometer. Maybe that's why I don't have one Thanks for sharing your family history Minko! The marzipan pigs are still all over the shops around Sinterklaas-time About the almond paste: the flavor is really not that pronounced - after all, it's just pure almonds ground, with no additional flavourings added. If you like a more pronounced flavor, you could always add few drops of almond essence. But it's also possible that you bought a paste that was not made of almonds only, sometimes other stuff is added (ground soybeans !) to make it cheaper, and that would ofcourse make it much blander!

I made the Shrimp with orange, shallots and grilled radicchio today and it was fantastic...

I just thought of another one: this cabbage dish that Keven72 made in his Year of Italian Cooking thread (scroll to the end of the post for the cabbage). It's incredibly simple - just cabbage, olive oil and garlic - but it's sooo good! I've made it 4 times since November. The first time I saw that pic I just had to make it!

I'm so glad Happy New Year Kevin, thanks so much for all the work you put into this. I know it's hard work to take pics of everything, upload, write, post.. I made the olive oil garlic cabbage (for lack of a better description) again over Christmas, everybody thought it was delicious, and I was thinking (again) how the best ideas are often the simplest. This is a dish that would never have caught my eye on seeing it in a cookbook. I have a word-file titled Ideas from Kevins thread and I hope to be cooking a lot from that next year!

I would love to see those cookies ddueck! But I understand that right now cooking is not the first thing on your mind good luck to you and your wife!

the yeast I buy here, is 7 grams per packet (sachet). It says on the packet that each sachet is for 500 grams of flour, however I have recipes that call for a much higher yeast/flour ratio, but the two sachets worked fine for my kilo of flour for the oliebollen. But for instance, the smoked eel rolls have 7 grams yeast for 250 grams flour.. confusing...

I'm planning to make hachee somewhere in January, but if you end up making it before I do, please post about it here! btw my recipes don't have Worcestershiresauce, that seems to be a slight anglicization... ofcourse that doesn't mean that it won't be a tasty addition

we had them as a side dish with meatloaf and an eggplant/red pepper/balsamic relish. Sour cream would have been good, apple sauce would have been too sweet I think since the hutspot is already quite sweet from the carrots and parsnips.

John, Quorn is made with eggs and milk (besides the mushroomy stuff), so it's not suitable for vegans.

wow, that's an impressive latke-spread! the potato/celeryroot latkes with beetroot and duck sound especially delicious. I made something today that maybe does not qualify as a latke, but I think it qualifies as a potatopancake - of sorts. I had some leftover hutspot, a Dutch dish of potatoes, carrots, onions and (oprional) parsnips boiled and then mashed together. It was actually Grub who came up with the idea to fry up leftovers of this dish (sorry, I can't find the post where he did that) and that's what I did today. I firmed up the puree somewhat with an egg, some breadcrumbs and flour, and added some mustard. Shaped into pancakes and shallowfried. They were delicious!

On New Years Eve, I had about 10 of these for dessert: Oliebollen, traditional Dutch New Year fritters. I had 1 for breakfast too...

That looks so good Grub! draadjes means 'little threads', and vlees means meat. It refers to the fact that the meat falls apart into shreds when cooked, because it's so tender. I had dinner at my mom's on Friday, we ate the butter braised beef with potatoes, green beans and apple compote, and talked about this dish. She told me that she always cooks it without the cloves and bayleaves! and it was still unbelievably good. So I guess even an incredibly simple dish, can be simplified.. Dutch gravy is always very thin, so yours looks just right. But ofcourse, you can thicken it if you like. It is a really good idea to freeze it in small portions. I sometimes add a bit of it when making another stew that will benefit from the buttery flavor. I also use some when making onion confit. I have some hutspot thawing on my counter right now, and I am going to use it to make hutspot pancakes later! That was your idea right