eG Foodblog: Chufi - Birthday Cakes & Royal Celebrations

[Smithy]

Klary,

I've been away from the computer several days, and missed most of the blog. Logging on tonight, back home again, I see shots of canals! thank you for that! and comments from people drooling over a birthday dinner that I haven't seen yet! and your rat returned! (I am so very glad your blog doesn't have to mark that particular sorrow) and so many good things...I wonder if I could find smoked eel around here?

I'll be so glad to catch up, and so sorry I won't be able to comment on it or ask questions. The beginning and end of the blog are lovely, and I look forward to catching up on the middle. Thank you so much for showing us your world!

[Shaya]

Thanks for sharing such a special week in your life Klary. You've made me homesick for Europe and the European way of life. Thanks for bringing it to me in such a personal way. You live a special life in a wonderful part of the world!

[GourmetLight$]

I haven't been to Amsterdam since 1989, but I really miss it! Thanks so much for blogging this week and sharing the celebrations with us! I look forward to meeting you in Seattle at Abra's!

Cheers,

[Catherine Iino]

Let me add my thanks for your lovely blog to everyone else's. I was in Amsterdam three or four years ago and found it a wonderful city.

And you don't really want to cut your brownies any more evenly than you did. This way, people can choose the size they want (and convince themselves that they can have a second one because the first was "small").

[MarketStEl]

Glad I'm still able to post a note before the blog closes!

Thanks for sharing some wonderful meals with us and giving us a glimpse of Amsterdam. Now I'm going to have to check out your Dutch Cooking guide at last. Even if I can't date the guy who makes the stroopwafels, I definitely want to visit now.

Be well, and see you 'round on the boards.

Regards,

Sandy

[ChefCrash]

Great blog Chufi. Wish I had half your energy and talent.

[Chufi]

Since the blog is still open, I'd like to report about the brownies..

All my co-workers say they're the best they've ever had.. I'm very happy

the layer of creamcheese is really good, it gives a (deceptive..) layer of lightness and freshness.

So, my blog ends with perfect brownies for 20.

Thanks all for being my virtual guests this week!

[Abra]

Oh good, it didn't close without me! Sorry to have gone missing the last day or so, but I see that your brownies look quite excellent.

It's been a charming blog, with the whole Queensday thing being my very favorite part. We're all so looking forward to seeing you soon!

[racheld]

Not closed yet, so Good Morning from the cloudy Heartland...you're a bright ray of sunshine. It was SO GOOD to visit with you this week!!!

[Eden]

Thank you indeed, I really enjoyed seeing more of amsterdam (my one visit was a 2 hour zip-around during a layover at the airport) and reading about your festivities.

Glad to know Foufou made it home safely - our ferrets like to hide in the most unusual places sometimes so I know how distressing this must have been for you...

Many happy returns of the week

It will be great to meet you this Fall!

[Jensen]

Thanks for another superb blog, Klary. An excellent week all around: fun parties, FouFou lost and found, and perfect brownies for 20. Does life get any better?

I particularly liked the open invite to eGulleteers for meeting up in Amsterdam. I'm trying to plan a cycling tour of the Netherlands for the Spawn and me after her graduation from high school next year. Perhaps I'll be able to take you up on the invitation!

[suzilightning]

thanks for a wonderful birthday week blog and all the pictures of amsterdam. brings all those romance novels i read set there to life. great food - great friends - great husband... who needs a mechanical dishwasher?

as for that age thing... lie up. when i was about 45, i used to say i was approaching 50. now that i am about to be 52 i say i am approaching my mid-50s. everyone can't believe it and tells me how good i look for my age. freaked one of my coworker's husbands out since i was saying i'd like to learn how to ride a bike(motorcycle) before i was 50. he said i had plenty of time. "no, bill. i've got two days" he thought i was about his wife's age(33). you can do it, too!!!

happy cooking and see you on the dutch food thread

[Ling]

Thanks for a wonderful blog, Klary! I loved how you had an entire week's worth of birthday celebrations. Your family and friends are so lucky to have such a charming and gracious woman in their lives!

(And thanks again for those stroopwafel pictures!! Mmmm! I know what I'll be eating when I make it to Amsterdam!)

[Kouign Aman]

T'were lovely, and lots of fun. Thank you! (I really enjoy the way you work flowers into most of your photos).

[Smithy]

YESSS! Your blog is still open!

I've been catching up and having such a grand time with this lovely blog. Thank you for answering my question about slicing the waffel to put the stroop in. It sounds like something beyond my skills - and anyway, I don't have the waffel maker, so I'll just have to enjoy them when I can buy them. Some final thoughts and comments from here:

Is Leyden with cumin the primary cumin cheese in the Netherlands or are there other types as well? 

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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.

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I love cumin cheese. I've had it mixed in with cheddar. I've never had other types. There's something for me to look for.

Do any of you ever stop and think about how COOL this blogging thing is?  Remember 15 years ago when you'd never heard of a blog and had no idea Butter-Braised Beef even existed?  Or Queensday garage sales?  Or how stroopwaffels are made?

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This insight is as true as a plumb-bob. My knowledge of food, and cookery, and little cultural things from all over the world, have expanded tremendously thanks to the web and places like eGullet. I'm so grateful for all the participation, and this week, I'm very grateful that you, Klary, have taken the trouble to invite us into your life.

Klary, I find the photographs taken at your own birthday celebration illuminating when the food's compared to the dinner party you prepared for your husband's 50th. 

From what I gather, each dinner made for Dennis is rather elaborate, if comfortably unfussy and also designed to share with lots of friends.  Lots of work went into stuffing pasta and becoming Seabass Lady for 24. 

You gave yourself a relaxed, informal spread.  I see how those sandwiches (do they look good!) relate to the homey food you introduce on your Dutch Cooking Thread or the pizzas on the day you turned 34.  Am I reading too much self-expression into what you chose to cook in celebrating your own birthday?  After all, you spent the entire week celebrating in lots of different ways, and not focussed on a single night.

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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...

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Here is another truth that I need to take more to heart. I get all kerfuffled over trying to do elaborate feasts and not having the time or organizational skills, yet we seem to have a better time with the less formal operations. Thank you for pointing this out.

Since the blog is still open, I'd like to report about the brownies..

All my co-workers say they're the best they've ever had.. I'm very happy 

the layer of creamcheese is really good, it gives a (deceptive..) layer of lightness and freshness.

So, my blog ends with perfect brownies for 20.

Thanks all for being my virtual guests this week!

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A cream cheese layer in the brownies is yet one more thing I've never tried, and will have to try doing! But I'll have to be sure not to eat the trimmings unless I want to buy a new wardrobe.

Happy birthweek, Klary, and thank you yet again. Here's wishing you many more years of looking fabulous in a black dress, and may you have many more years of agreeable messes.