Berry Picking

Some photos capturing our memorable, delicious-but-sometimes-sour, itchy-yet-relaxing get away with friends. We hope you enjoy!

This last one is for Yolanda because she loved the clouds....

Lasagna with Steffie

Every time Steffie is in town, we end up making lasagna. She and I roast eggplants like no other! While the men were off mastering their tennis moves, we created a feast as a surprise. The menu included lemon pepper asparagus, Gouda and herb eggplant, and tofu basil lasagna.

Before we started, I asked: "Steffie, you think this will cover 4 dinners and maybe 2 lunches?"

She said "Yes, I think so."

We ended up with enough for 4 dinners, 4 lunches, and 4 dinners the next night.

If you will notice, it was "one hunk of a lasagna," although the photo really doesn't do it justice.

Amsterdam, Part III

Most of the feel of Amsterdam came from walking around in the city and local parks. Here's the stereotypical view of a windmill, bikes, a river, boats, lush greens, and sunshine. It was truly beautiful and relaxing, especially where there's a river every other street.

While enjoying the view of either the North sea or the green lush parks, my friend Steffie introduced me to some of the local cuisine. On top of taste-testing ice cream (tough job), we also had Bitterballen, whose larger version is called Kroket. These beauties are fried food rolls with different fillings consisting of mashed potatoes, meats, seafood, veggies, bread, egg, onion, and so much more. Ours tasted like it was filled with an Indian curry.

The other thing we tried were fries dipped in mayo. Not only was it popular, but getting mayo cost half an euro more! It was...okay...but very European. We finally just ended up dipping our fries in the kroket filling and that was heavenly when you've got great company and a great view!

Amsterdam, Part II

In Amsterdam, I fell in love with the waffles, or specifically the stroopwaffles of the Netherlands. These are a specific waffle sandwich that consist of a layer of caramel surrounded by two thin waffles, or pizelles. It's usually eaten slightly warm, and when you buy them pre-made, the custom is to put the stroopwaffle over your cup of hot coffee or tea so that it softens and warms just the right amount from the hot steam. They are so popular that I did even find stroopwaffles on sale in the Starbucks in Amsterdam. Some days, I still crave them, just not enough to go out and buy my own pizelle maker (although I did find a recipe online already)

Below are some representative images of a local bakery. I wanted to take EVERYTHING home. yum!

Amsterdam

The land of waffles... and pancakes.

The pancakes remind me more of crepes, and like crepes, you can get them salty or sweet with a large variety of toppings. What sets it over the top are the stroop syrup and the powdered sugar condiments. Apparently, you can add these two to any pancake (even the salty ones). I had my initial doubts of its versatility but after trying syrup on a chesse and ham pancake, I'm now a believer!