eG Foodblog: Chufi - Birthday Cakes & Royal Celebrations

[Chufi]

Let me tell you a bit about Queensday.

I was talking to one of my c-workers today and we came to the conclusion that Queensday is the day half of the population of Amsterdam sits on the streets selling their junk and home-made burnt brownies, while the other half of the population gets drunk

it is a bit like that, and yet it is not.

For many people Queensday is beerday. They will start drinking the evneing before and continue to drink until the evening of the next day. When Queensday is over, the streets in the city center are littered with broken plastic beerglasses and it takes hours the sweep the city clean again..

It's also a big streetfestival, with many stages set up throughout the city, with music and live performances - everything free.

And it's the biggest fleamarket / garage sale you can imagine, where everybody just puts their old stuff and homemade food on the street and tries to sell it.

We are the last category - for years we have had a stall where we sell records, cd's, books and other stuff we want to get rid of. This year I have sorted out my coookbook collection and have 40 or so books I want to sell. We would get up very early tomorrow (around 5;30 or so), transport all the stuff to the street nearby where the selling happens, and claim a spot.

But maybe this year things will be different. We have both been working really hard the past weeks, we have the party coming up on Sunday, and worst of all, the weather forecast for tomorrow is really bad. Good weather is really a necessity for the success of this day...

But whatever we'll do, I'll try to report about the day as best I can - either as a customer of other people's stalls (I have bought some really nice kitchenware over the years on Queensday, this year I am on the lookout for plates and bowls) or as a seller of second hand cookbooks!

[bleudauvergne]

This blog is wonderful! So much happening and so many interesting details, Klary. I'm sure the party is going to be a huge success and lots of fun. I'm so glad we get to see all of your preparations.

[therese]

But whatever we'll do, I'll try to report about the day as best I can - either as a customer of other people's stalls (I have bought some really nice kitchenware over the years on Queensday, this year I am on the lookout for plates and bowls) or as a seller of second hand cookbooks!

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Too cool. A holiday that's about shopping.

[christine007]

Oh, garage sales AND beer, that's heaven, Chufi.

Do you take food, or buy what other people are selling?

[Chufi]

Too cool. A holiday that's about shopping. 

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yeah, and it's all really cheap, too! I have found some really great stuff over the years...

Oh, garage sales AND beer, that's heaven, Chufi.

Do you take food, or buy what other people are selling?

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I usually bring sandwiches and coffee for the early morning hunger pangs.. and then later in the day you start snacking on what people are selling.. and open the first 6-pack... and there's often a frites stand around somewhere

[helenjp]

It really fascinates me that you have sales in spring - in Japan, such things are always in autumn, and somehow that feels normal to me! .

Have a great weekend...I await photos of food and junk from you, and from my Dutch relatives, photos of them playing music in the streets!

[Jenny McClure]

Chufi, your birthday dinner is going to be fantastic! I can already tell. and that pizza looks amazing, I'm going to show this to dayne and have him try to make me one.

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What a wonderful birthday week this is Klary. It is so wonderful to see you celebrating so fully and openly. It makes me think about my own situation quite a bit. I go all-out planning meals and activities for the birthdays of my kids and my sweetie but when it comes to my own I sort of wake up and expect it all to be done by the birthday fairies. I think I am starting to realize we can be our own birthday fairy.

The pizza really does look great. Wendy, I wish I had a "Dayne" who would cook to order for me. What a dream! I am preparing for my little guy's 3rd birthday which is this Sunday. For his party next weekend he wants all the kids to make their own pizzas. Pizza for birthdays...must be a Taurus thing!

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That is so true. My Husband is Taurus. Pizza is his favourite food. His birthday is on the 11th and a group of us are getting together at a wine bar which is famous for its .....wood oven...pizza!!! So it's not just my husband...interesting.

[Lori in PA]

How does it work to sell things? Do you provide your own table? Is there a fee for the space? Do people get the same spot year after year? Do you get a sort of reputation for the kinds of things you sell, like, "Oh, I must get to Klary's booth -- she always has great cookbooks!"? Do you sell anything you've cooked/baked?

[Chufi]

How does it work to sell things?  Do you provide your own table?  Is there a fee for the space?  Do people get the same spot year after year?  Do you get a sort of reputation for the kinds of things you sell, like, "Oh, I must get to Klary's booth -- she always has great cookbooks!"?  Do you sell anything you've cooked/baked?

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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.

[MelissaH]

The Dutch really love their joghurt and their vla (custard), they are all pourable and come in liters and halfliter containers. There all kinds of flavors -  fruit joghurts, chocolate custard, etc. This is a very common Dutch dessert: a bowl of joghurt or custard, maybe topped with some sugar or syrup.

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Oh, no! You've mentioned vla, my all-time guilty pleasure when I'm in the Netherlands! It doesn't exist here, and I don't know when I'll get my next fix. It's in every grocery store where you are, but the one time I tried to make it, it was more like a pudding to eat with a spoon than the slimy, voluptuous goodness we always drink straight from the carton. (It's almost a rule with us: must share a liter carton, drink it all at once, and never get a glass dirty. That dates back to our first experience with it, on a bike camping trip without refrigeration.)

And then in January I discovered stroopwafels. I think I should just give up and move.

MelissaH

[MarketStEl]

But whatever we'll do, I'll try to report about the day as best I can - either as a customer of other people's stalls (I have bought some really nice kitchenware over the years on Queensday, this year I am on the lookout for plates and bowls) or as a seller of second hand cookbooks!

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Too cool. A holiday that's about shopping.

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I think that in the United States, we call that holiday "Christmas."

Except for automobile dealers, who call it "Presidents' Day."

I think I like the Dutch version of this ritual way better.

I haven't figured out the role the beer plays in it yet. Is it required that you drink while offering your closet or attic for sale on the street? Or is it required that the buyers drink? Does drinking improve the quality of the merchandise offered?

[Megan Blocker]

Does drinking improve the quality of the merchandise offered? 

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Certainly if the buyer is doing the drinking!

[Abra]

I think Queensday sounds like a total blast, minus the littered post-party streets, of course. I can't wait to see your pictures.

I'm not a pastry person, but here's what I know about cutting neat bars.

Line the bottom of your pan with parchment, buttering the pan before and after the parchment is placed. Bake your brownies, or whatever. Let cool in the pan.

Turn the whole pan out onto a cutting surface and carefully peel off the parchment. With a long, sharp knife, trim away any crispy edges. Eat them all up yourself.

Get a ruler and set it alongside your brownie sheet. Mark off the places you want to cut. Get your knife hot, under running water, then dry it, and make your first cut immediately while it's still warm. If you're lucky, you can get two cuts before you have to rinse and reheat the knife. I often do this step with a bench knife, since it's easier to cut straight down.

That's really all I know about it - measure carefully and cut with a hot knife. Now, maybe some real pastry person wil jump in with an even better method, but if not, this one will give you pretty nice neat squares.

Uhm, does Dennis shop too? That's a lot of hauling, all your food up five flights, every time you go shopping. And now I realize that I don't know what you do in your office day - anything to do with food?

[Kouign Aman]

originally posted by Abra:

trim away any crispy edges. Eat them all up yourself.

That's my favorite part of the cutting instructions!

An entire day sanctioned by the government to be devoted to homemade snacks & garage sales..... OMG. I would think I'd died and gone to heaven. Above, I refered to a hypothetical future trip to the Netherlands. Now I know that said trip would HAVE to bracket QueensDay!

Klary, you are creating a wonderful experience in this blog. Thank you.

[Chufi]

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.

Edited April 28, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[Chufi]

Oh, no! You've mentioned vla, (...) the slimy, voluptuous goodness we always drink straight from the carton.

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Melissa, you make it sound soo good..

I haven't figured out the role the beer plays in it yet.  Is it required that you drink while offering your closet or attic for sale on the street?  Or is it required that the buyers drink?  Does drinking improve the quality of the merchandise offered? 

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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

Uhm, does Dennis shop too?  That's a lot of hauling, all your food up five flights, every time you go shopping.  And now I realize that I don't know what you do in your office day - anything to do with food?

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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

Edited April 28, 2006 by Chufi (log)

[ludja]

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:

...

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Is Leyden with cumin the primary cumin cheese in the Netherlands or are there other types as well? (I may have asked you this before somewhere but I can't remember...) I enjoyed Leyden cheese for a long time. Awhile back, it actually was an introduction for me of sorts to the really wonderful taste of citrusy whole cumin seeds in a form different from it's powdered generic taste in American taco seasoning packets.

I love your simple idea of swirling ginger in syrup and rhubarb compote into vanilla ice cream. It sounds and looks delcious.

Good luck with your cooking and cleaning prep for tomorrow!

[Chufi]

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.

[ludja]

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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Thanks for the information. It is interesting that in the US the cheese is often (always?) spelled "Leyden".

From wikipedia:

Leiden (in English also, but now rarely, Leyden) is a city and municipality in South Holland, The Netherlands. It forms a single urban area with Oegstgeest, Leiderdorp and Voorschoten. It is located on the Old Rhine, close to the cities of The Hague and Haarlem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiden

[Chufi]

I would dearly like to see some bakery/pastry shop photos. Not uber high-end patisseries (although those would be great, too), but neigbourhood bakeries and pastry shops. I'd like to see what kind of baked goods the typical Amsterdam resident buys and eats.

Also, it would be interesting to see the baked goods selection at a typical supermarket in Amsterdam.

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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.

[Megan Blocker]

Klary, I just LOVE that you drink your coffee from a Zabar's mug.

[sanrensho]

Thank you, Klary Very impressive indeed. I recognized the speculaas immediately from your Dutch food thread.

In the above photo, what are the neat looking squares in the bottom shelf (2nd, 3rd and 4th packages from the right)? They almost look like squarish stroopwaffels? Wafers?

[Chufi]

In the above photo, what are the neat looking squares in the bottom shelf (2nd, 3rd and 4th packages from the right)? They almost look like squarish stroopwaffels? Wafers?

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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.

[appreciator]

Happy Belated Birthday and Happy QueensDay!

I am really enjoying your blog! You certainly give us all a bird’s eye view into what it might be like to live in your part of the world. And I, for one, am jealous!

Also... have to agree with Jack(al)…where are the hopjes (in case that means something besides delicious coffee flavoured candies…. I am referring to the candies)

[Lori in PA]

I am sitting in my quiet house (all offspring sleeping in a bit) in my corner of Pennsylvania and enjoying the spring sunshine pouring through the kitchen windows, thinking about the gardening I hope to continue today, plus doing the Soccer Thing, and contemplating how lovely it is that there are a few million folks in Amsterdam who, at this moment, are participating in the annual Redistribution of Household Castoffs. For some unexplicable reason, it's made me want to make an apple pancake with the tired apples left from last autumn. I made this for the first time a few days ago from my new Marion Cunningham cookbook, a compilation of The Breakfast Book and The Supper Book. It was a hit and seemed sort of Dutch, although I think it is really German in origin.

Anyway, I was telling my mom about this week's blog the other day. I said, "Klary from Amsterdam is blogging -- you remember that butter-braised beef I made last winter and brought to your house -- that's her mom's recipe..." She was amused that your mom's pot roast has been made all over the world.

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?