Sailing

At our annual sailing trip, this time also including Big-L, along with S, E and J, we usually don't care too much about dinner, since the outdoors will always make you hungry. We started the trip at friday evening and ended sunday in the afternoon. The weather was beautiful (even hot) and it was very nice and all, etc. -- but of course you're interested in the food we ate during that trip!

Well, that friday we had some fries with mayo and croquettes. Because there were Endless Amounts of Fries, we had plenty leftover. During that dinner and also afterwards, Big-L had a very influential role in halving the beer supply for the weekend. Later that evening, probably when the effects of that role had kicked in, he specifically requested for the cold fries leftovers to be served for breakfast the next morning, on a sandwich, with peanutbutter. The rest of us, not having had such an influential role, promised to remind him of that the next morning.

So, here it is, the proudly presented Cold Fries Sandwich with Peanutbutter:

Unfortunately, I cannot describe the gustatory experience this culinary curiosity has led to, but I'm sure Big-L himself will want to comment on that. We might, however, draw some conclusions from the fact that he withdrew after just a single bite and made us promise to stop him from expressing silly wishes after having had a few beers.

Ah, the joy of beer-influenced decisions.

The next day, we had macaroni and cheese, with some ketchup and diced ham.

After boiling some macaroni, we added two bags of grated cheese and a tin of diced ham, along with a tin of tomatoes. Unfortunately, the pan was too small to add another tin of diced ham (which while waiting for the macaroni to boil, started to decolor -- and the cooking only took 7 minutes). Luckily, the two bags of grated cheese did fit in. However, because of the heat of those days, the cheese had already started to melt beforehand and had formed a large lump. Because of that, it wasn't easy to make it melt and mix it evenly throughout the pasta. Big-L and S, being the hard-working sailors, were offered portions containing the most of that lump. Strangely, they didn't quite enjoy it, just chowing away on yellowy unshapely somewhat cheesy lumps which they felt was directly clogging their arteries and making their stomach ache. They made us promise to never do this again too. Well, E, J and I did enjoy our portions (which might have had something to do with us missing out on that cheesy experience). E and I promised to eachother that when we would be making a boating trip ourselves someday without people complaining about our cooking, we would gladly eat this every day!

All in all, this trip turned out to be great, however, for our next trip, we will probably have to provide for a lock on the beer supply, a cooling device and other dinner options.

I can't wait for Big-L's comments on his culinary experience!

Two Belgians

Here is a post about a recent visit again to local restaurant De Twee Belgen (The Two Belgians). We went there last Ascension Day. No lengthy stories about what we ate there, just pictures and short descriptions.

Amuse bouche was a small cup of tomatosoup with a cheese twister.

Every time I eat here, I just have to have the shrimp croquettes as a starter. I'm sure they have other items on the menu, but come one, who'd order something else when you can have shrimp croquettes? Especially when they're the best in town.

Okay, maybe N's lactose intolerance made her choose oxtail stock with ravioli, stuffed with duck foie gras. Apparently, very good. Not as good as shrimp croquettes of course.

Since the asparagus season was in full bloom, we both ordered the special of asparagus, served with a poached egg and fabulous ham of a special kind of pork I've already forgotten. Served on the side were the infamous Flemish fries (whole different league altogether than french fries), though a bit on the salty side. And apparently some salad.

Service was swift since we had mentioned we were on a tight schedule because we wanted to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox, so we were amply in time at the cinema. Afterwards we had a drink at a bar and after that we even went to the fair, where I won N a stuffed bee, we had cotton candy and sugar coated nuts and I even lost some bucks on a dexterity game where you had to try to win a prize by making a stick push through some tight holes (sorry, I can't think of a better explanation). All in all, it was a great day!

Lunch at Doppio

My colleague M and me got together for lunch this saturday (or actually, for breakfast). Both being from Indonesia, we originally planned to go to Indonesian restaurant Pakarena, but unfortunately it was closed (even though their website states they should be opened on saturdays, the sign on the door seemed to exclude saturday as an opening day - strange, considering the fact that most people would eat out on saturdays, I'd think).

So, as for an alternative, we went to coffee place Doppio.

I had the "Lunch Complete", which consisted of some freshly squeezed orange juice, capuccino and a three-layered grilled-cheese sandwich with mozzarella, italian ham (serrano), tomatoes, salsa and pecorino, served with a fresh lime-yoghurt dressing.


In Holland, we like to call a grilled cheese sandwich, a "tosti", just like the french like to call it a "croque-monsieur". Molten mozzarella was ooooo-zing out of the tosti, with nice flavours from the ham and tomato combining very well. The lime-yoghurt dressing cut wonderfully through the richness of the mozzarella. My only complaint would be, that it's too small.


M had a roll with turkey breast and a honey-mustard dressing, alongside a separately ordered OJ and capuccino. A very smart choice, considering her plan to stick to her diet.

All was well!

Even though Doppio officially doesn't qualify as a lunchroom (coffee being their main specialty, despite the fact that the place exists for a mere three years, it had already won a national coffee-test in 2008), they serve some good quality food to go with your coffee. I'd say they easily meet the quality of a place like Silo Today, which I posted on previously. They're situated near the edge of the city centre, so it's easy to see why it's always relatively crowded.

Nevertheless, N and S always prefer to go to Coffee United, because they think their coffee tastes better, so I guess this would have been one of my few visits to another coffee place for now.

Rolls

One nice thing about the V&D department store is, that they sell all kinds of self-made rolls for relatively low prices. So, for breakfast for tomorrow I bought one cinnamon roll (some kind of puff pastry), a chocolate croissant (yes that's right -- a croissant not only stuffed to the max with chocolate, but also smothered in it; and on top of that, white chocolate shavings).

For lunch, I bought a mini focaccia with sundried tomato. I put some mozzarella on top of it, Tiroler schinken (dried ham from Tirol, Austria), and some roasted pinenuts. Toasted in the oven for 7 minutes made for a very nice lunch.

Asparagus

The Dutch pride themselves on their white asparagus. All over the world people seem to enjoy the green type (or sometimes even the purple type), but in Holland there’s an entire cultus-like tradition surrounding the white asparagus. Somewhere in May or June, the asparagus is ready to be harvested.

The harvesting is a meticulously timed process. The asparagus gets its white colour from growing underground. As soon as it will shoot out from the ground, it will start to go green, thus losing its delicate flavour. Harvesting the asparagus has to be done just before this shooting out. That’s usually a matter of hours. A lot of seasonal workers, commonly from Poland, are involved in getting all the asparagus out in time.

Because of its delicate flavour and the fact that the white asparagus will only be available for 2-3 months (the asparagus season), the Dutch have nicknamed it the Queen of Vegetables. Traditionally, it is served with cooked ham, boiled potatoes, hard-boiled eggs and hollandaise sauce (how appropriate). Whenever the season comes around, N prepares this seasonal meal a few times. Or, should I say, it’s one of those few times per year I let her cook :). She makes an excellent hollandaise. Usually, we save some of the asparagus stem parts for soup.

When you’re in Holland during the asparagus season, be sure to sample some! Most restaurants will serve special seasonal menus involving asparagus.