Slaghroom, doesn't sound like it would be delicious, but it is!
Hello!
Sorry I haven't posted in quite a while, I've been busy exploring Europe. So... where did I leave off? Oh yes! I was still in Holland.
Sarah and I went to this cute little village called Volendam. It's right on the sea and it's just a cute little tourist village. After some shopping, we stopped at a little cafe for a drink. We had proffertjes, which are little mini pancakes that are puffed a little bit, and then served with butter and powdered sugar, but these are also served with chocolate ice cream and whipped cream, OMG, SO delicious! I'm not normally a pancake person, but these were amazing!
After Volendam, we went to Zuider Zee, which is an open air museum. It felt a lot like Iron World back home. It was set-up as a whole village with several different areas including a harbor. But the really cool thing is that in order to get there you have to take a ferry. I liked being on the water.
After Zuider Zee we ate dinner at a cute little restaurant, I tried Salmon eggs and smoked salmon. Not sold on fish eggs, but the smoked salmon was pretty good. Also we had a salad and it had these little round white things in it. I couldn't place the taste, neither could Sarah the foodie, so we asked the waitress. It's kohlrabi. More new foods.
Sunday was Sarah's birthday barbeque. For her birthday I made her cupcakes, which was an experience. For instance my recipe called for 1c butter, so she hands me a package that's 250g. Thank god for google! But everything turned out well and the cupcakes were delicious! All the guests came and Nico cooked so many different types of meat it was amazing! The conversation was fantastic as well. Ricardo came a bit later with his son Thijn. Thijn is only 2 months younger than my Thomas. He's so adorable. He was a bit shy at first but started to wander after a bit. He kept calling everything "ijsje" which means ice cream. He tried licking his cupcake which had us all rolling. It was great to see Ricardo again.
Monday brought another day in Amsterdam. We tried to go to the Anne Frank House, but the Museumkaart doesn't let you skip the line, it just lets you in "free", and the line was at least 2 hours long, if not 3, so we skipped that. I read later that you can book an entrance ahead of time and go in a special door, but the next open reservation is in July, so I guess the Anne Frank house will have to be on my next trip to see Sarah.
So instead of the Anne Frank house, we decided our next stop should be the Royal Palace, but the sign said it would be open at 11, to kill time we went to the Nieuwe kerk (new church) which had a great photo display set-up of Time style pictures. Back to the Royal Palace, the sign said the entrance was that way, we walked around the entire building without finding the entrance. For a time we thought we might have to flush ourselves in like the Ministry of Magic! But on closer reading, the sign said the Palace would be open at 11 on June 21st...so no Royal Palace.
Our next stop was the Van Gogh museum. I will admit I cried a few times, not racking sobs, but a tear or two. It was so amazing to see these paintings that I have only seen in pictures, and it's right there! I will definitely have to go back again. I was a bit disappointed that Starry Night wasn't there, but apparently it's at the MOMA in NYC.
Unfortunately our next stop was the Stedelijk museum. That's the modern art museum. Now I was expecting some Picasso, or Dali, or Magritte, but what we found was.....crap, masquerading as art. It was just ridiculous. Why is a 30 foot canvas painted all red with a small stripe of yellow or blue down either side art?
After leaving the Stedelijk we had to go to the Heineken Brewery. I LOVED it! It was cheesy and campy and just plain fun. First you get to learn a bit about the Heineken family, then go through the whole brewing process. Then....there's a "ride"! It's called Brew You. You stand on a moving floor and watch a screen and go through the whole brewing process. I wont go in to too much detail in case you want to go, I won't spoil the surprise... After the ride you get to the tasting room where the gal shows you the proper way to drink a Heineken. After wandering through several rooms of fun activities you get to the bar. The tour ends with 2 free beers for everyone. You also get a free gift at their brand store. To get there you can either walk, or take their free canal boat.
My last 2 days in Holland were quite laid back. We took a trip to the dunes, which were beautiful and windy. On my last day Sarah took me to Bergen for pannekouken. Which is like a pancake, but more like a crepe only the size of a large dinner plate. I had mine with ardbein and slagroom (strawberries and whipped cream) I will have to go back to Holland just to have another Pannakouken.
My time in Holland has ended, it's off to the land of tea and crumpets and The Queen.
I'll write more later! Du!
Sorry I haven't posted in quite a while, I've been busy exploring Europe. So... where did I leave off? Oh yes! I was still in Holland.
Sarah and I went to this cute little village called Volendam. It's right on the sea and it's just a cute little tourist village. After some shopping, we stopped at a little cafe for a drink. We had proffertjes, which are little mini pancakes that are puffed a little bit, and then served with butter and powdered sugar, but these are also served with chocolate ice cream and whipped cream, OMG, SO delicious! I'm not normally a pancake person, but these were amazing!
After Volendam, we went to Zuider Zee, which is an open air museum. It felt a lot like Iron World back home. It was set-up as a whole village with several different areas including a harbor. But the really cool thing is that in order to get there you have to take a ferry. I liked being on the water.
After Zuider Zee we ate dinner at a cute little restaurant, I tried Salmon eggs and smoked salmon. Not sold on fish eggs, but the smoked salmon was pretty good. Also we had a salad and it had these little round white things in it. I couldn't place the taste, neither could Sarah the foodie, so we asked the waitress. It's kohlrabi. More new foods.
Sunday was Sarah's birthday barbeque. For her birthday I made her cupcakes, which was an experience. For instance my recipe called for 1c butter, so she hands me a package that's 250g. Thank god for google! But everything turned out well and the cupcakes were delicious! All the guests came and Nico cooked so many different types of meat it was amazing! The conversation was fantastic as well. Ricardo came a bit later with his son Thijn. Thijn is only 2 months younger than my Thomas. He's so adorable. He was a bit shy at first but started to wander after a bit. He kept calling everything "ijsje" which means ice cream. He tried licking his cupcake which had us all rolling. It was great to see Ricardo again.
Monday brought another day in Amsterdam. We tried to go to the Anne Frank House, but the Museumkaart doesn't let you skip the line, it just lets you in "free", and the line was at least 2 hours long, if not 3, so we skipped that. I read later that you can book an entrance ahead of time and go in a special door, but the next open reservation is in July, so I guess the Anne Frank house will have to be on my next trip to see Sarah.
So instead of the Anne Frank house, we decided our next stop should be the Royal Palace, but the sign said it would be open at 11, to kill time we went to the Nieuwe kerk (new church) which had a great photo display set-up of Time style pictures. Back to the Royal Palace, the sign said the entrance was that way, we walked around the entire building without finding the entrance. For a time we thought we might have to flush ourselves in like the Ministry of Magic! But on closer reading, the sign said the Palace would be open at 11 on June 21st...so no Royal Palace.
Our next stop was the Van Gogh museum. I will admit I cried a few times, not racking sobs, but a tear or two. It was so amazing to see these paintings that I have only seen in pictures, and it's right there! I will definitely have to go back again. I was a bit disappointed that Starry Night wasn't there, but apparently it's at the MOMA in NYC.
Unfortunately our next stop was the Stedelijk museum. That's the modern art museum. Now I was expecting some Picasso, or Dali, or Magritte, but what we found was.....crap, masquerading as art. It was just ridiculous. Why is a 30 foot canvas painted all red with a small stripe of yellow or blue down either side art?
After leaving the Stedelijk we had to go to the Heineken Brewery. I LOVED it! It was cheesy and campy and just plain fun. First you get to learn a bit about the Heineken family, then go through the whole brewing process. Then....there's a "ride"! It's called Brew You. You stand on a moving floor and watch a screen and go through the whole brewing process. I wont go in to too much detail in case you want to go, I won't spoil the surprise... After the ride you get to the tasting room where the gal shows you the proper way to drink a Heineken. After wandering through several rooms of fun activities you get to the bar. The tour ends with 2 free beers for everyone. You also get a free gift at their brand store. To get there you can either walk, or take their free canal boat.
My last 2 days in Holland were quite laid back. We took a trip to the dunes, which were beautiful and windy. On my last day Sarah took me to Bergen for pannekouken. Which is like a pancake, but more like a crepe only the size of a large dinner plate. I had mine with ardbein and slagroom (strawberries and whipped cream) I will have to go back to Holland just to have another Pannakouken.
My time in Holland has ended, it's off to the land of tea and crumpets and The Queen.
I'll write more later! Du!
Carrie, it was absolutely amazing having you here!! It's always nice to see Holland through a visitor's eyes again. Things can get so "daily life" over here that I forget to open my eyes and drink it all in!
ReplyDeleteThank you for leaving the Rick Steve's Amsterdam guide book! My parents will find it super handy next month! And I will make it a point to play tourist a bit more and experience more of my surroundings! Hopefully I'll have some new and interesting places to show you on your next visit to Holland! (And hopefully you can stay a bit longer, too!)
I'm sorry the last 2 days were a bit boring. :/ Maybe my thyroid is the culprit. The day after you left I slept in until 10:00, then took a 2 hour nap in the morning and a 2 hour nap in the afternoon! Either you wore me out (haha) or my thyroid is to blame. I'll keep you posted.
I can't wait to read more of your adventures!! You have so many awesome places on your trip through England, I can't wait to hear more!! <3 <3 <3 <3
jeff has actually talked a lot about pannekoukens. either way he likes them i guess? i think jules long made some once (that i didnt think were that great, they had apples and tasted rather like raw pancake on an apple?) and i think jeff said when they got the new house he stayed with arlene and she made them? i dont know.
ReplyDeletewhats a kohlrabi