Weekend in Amsterdam

Yes - I went to Amsterdam, via Haarlem! Katie told me she was going to be in Europe during the first week of October, so I decided to catch up on all the news of her life in Cambodia in person.


Reunited

How did two girls who met at the Alliance Française in Melbourne end up in Amsterdam?

Have passport - will travel!

What a transition - we both left Melbourne in the same month, Kate headed off to the tropical wilderness of South East Asia, while I headed off in the other direction for the tropics of West Africa. We were enjoying the novelty of being cold and wandering around paved streets and slipping into cafés at will for a cappuccino.


Photographie Artistique

As I tried to get an artistic shot of the art nouveau façade of this building I discovered that it was once an artistic photographic studio (hopefully their work was better than mine!)


In the Jordaan

And then there are the canals to wander through - what a pleasant way to pass the afternoon, and happily we'd met Hoeke and Frans from Friesland who took us on a tour of one of their son's re-furbished rental canal houses - a real treat! Those buildings are surprisingly big inside, hiding a rabbit warren of high high ceilinged rooms heated by beautiful delft-tiled stoves.


Brunch on the street

Of course all of that tourist activity is very tiring and calls for a pitstop at some point. Soph and I luckily had the seats next to the exhaust grill from the kitchen, which kept us wonderfully warm, but the occasional burst of grilled kipper smoke was a wee bit trying ...


Night life

After a hard day on the tourist trail we hit the bars of the Jordaan and went out to meet the Dutch!


Night light

And check out their design work ... how about that for a light fixture? My failed attempt to get to the Droog Design store however, did allow me to indulge in a perfect slice of ...


Dutch appel tart

In fact - and as some of you may have guessed - there was one venue on my Amsterdam agenda that I'd been wanting to visit for years. Ever since I read about De Kas, I'd wanted to go and check it out! A restaurant in a converted greenhouse in the middle of a park where the 5 courses they serve you (and it's a surprise everyday) are sourced directly from the nursery or from local growers each day.


Oooo ... exciting!

Yeah - this is my kind of place! And who better to share the experience with than ...


The Sisters Fraser!

As Sophie rightly says, "a whole lot more fun than the Brothers Grimm"!


Olives

Check out the size of those olives - not to mention of course the über cool ring that Kate is sporting!


Broccoli and old cheese

Hmmmm... autumn is a season for delicious things, unfortunately my venison was far less photogenic than the broccoli, but it was outstanding nonetheless - with a glazed and roasted parsnip crowning it's glorious majesty!


Mousse

We finished with a rich trifle of macerated fig, red wine jelly and dark chocolate mousse with spiced icecream and praline. That made everyone's evening!

Now I know that Holland is not really known for it's plethora of fantastic food experiences, but I am happy to report back that you can't go wrong in a Dutch bakery, the bread is fantastic and I might be very bold in saying this, the butter cookies I bought at the little artisan bakery in the nine streets were beyond great, far and away the best I've ever tasted!

But the Dutch do have an uphill battle trying to live down the horrors imparted by ...


Febo ... ?

Remember the Jetsons? Yes, that is a burger vending machine. Eeeeeerrrrrggggghhhhh .....