Try this at home: home cook

Something completely different, but what I really would like to share and promote: the home cook from Silverlicious.

Imagine: a special occasion is coming up. You would like to invite all your friends and family at your home but you don't feel like spending too much time on upfront preparation nor on serving during your party. But on the other side, it will be a special occasion and you are in for a great party with your loved ones. Oh and not unimportant you love good food ;-)

I had a really great experience at my father's 65th Birthday party this summer: Home Cook. The fresh ingredients and equipment needed to prepare the dishes were brought in. Even a  mobile kitchen was brought in, since the party was in the garden.

In our case, Laury and Paul the owners of Silverlicious amazed us with the best dishes. And they really had a hit by serving lots of .... truffles! You might remember my post about my favorite: One truffle is not the other.

Please see below some mouthwatering snapshots. Trust me, it was amazing!!

(Silverlicious: Paul & Laury)

Capital of design, that is Køpenhavn

Looking for a place to visit for a weekend trip? Copenhagen it is!!!  The whole city breathes design and relaxation, locals are very friendly and the food is amazing. Perfect location for a 2/3/4 days trip. 

Hire a bike and cruise across the city, stroll around in the many design museums, shop till you drop in the longest pedestrian street of Europe or in all the small boutiques Copenhagen knows, drink your take away coffee or wine on the street, in the park or even at the cemetery…! Oh and don't forget to visit Christiania - a kind of tolerated hippy area.

Does it feel like I am promoting this capital? Well, hope that I convince you with this post. I was - and still am - amazed by all the beauty and variety of activities the city offers.

 Danish Design fills the city atmosphere and can be found in the streets, at each and every corner, in the shops, in museums, in bars, hotels. Really everywhere

 

    (Kunstindustrimuseet, Design museum)                         (Ecological design kitchenware)

            (Fancy design hotel 'key drop' in desk)

Great Views

                                             (Nyhavn)                                                               (on our route picturesque little church)

(city view from Vor Freisers Kirke,                                (courtyard Kunstindustrimuseet)

                                                         Christiania)

Food is a very good reason for visiting Copenhague!!

For foodlovers the city is a Walhalla with Fresh, biological, divers food. They also pay much attention to decoration and creativity. 

                                         (free water in bars flavored                                  (Smørrebrod: tastes good wit
                                                             with vegetables)                                                           everything)

                               (In our lovely and perfectly located hotel Ibsen we had the best breakfast buffet)

 Typically Køpenhavn

                                                                                  (Street art)

                       (Buy your coffee to go in Jægersbrogade)            (nope, this is not Amsterdam….)                                            

   ('must have seen': the Little Mermaid)

 Snapshots

And…. Are you convinced?

… and more

As you might know, I enjoy meeting new people and to learn about different cultures. I love to be Dutch and to live in Amsterdam.

And.... there is MORE! To me an important part in getting to know a culture and lifestyle is food. I just love food and it makes me smile from ear to ear when I taste different dishes, ingredients and spices. I enjoy cooking myself as well and to try different 'kitchens'. Another hobby of mine is photography with a special interest for interesting faces. I'm writing this blog for a while now and it all started with posts about my interest for cultures and to promote my workshop Dutch Habits & Traditions. I noticed that I'd like to share more like recipes, being a tourist and to inform you about nice places in the world.

I think it is time to move on and expand the title of my blog in order to make it fit better to the content of the posts and to give myself the opportunity to write about all the lovely celebrations in life.

Therefore, I'd like to welcome you to my renewed blog:

All you need is Food... tatatadada

Good food and great people who enjoy tasty treats and preferably can't stop talking about cooking and share ideas, tips & tricks. That was exactly the way my evening looked like tonight.






I was lucky to have won a place in the Masterclass at Stach Food.  Stach Food is a very good traiteur in a beautiful little shop in Amsterdam. Food is fresh, carefully found in and around the city and cooks are surprisingly; from young till old, from neighbour next door till experienced chef cooks.

                                       (Stach food site)                                                    (Stach food site)

Topic of the Masterclass: steak tartare with poached egg - HHHMMMMMMMM
A French dis, loved by the Dutch

                            It all starts with fat-free meat                   A clot of this and a blob of that

                                     Cooking is a workout                                          Groups discussion

                  For the best poached eggs, eggs need                                The good and the bad (egg)
                                           to be Farm-fresh                           

                                                                        Tadaa
             

Just in ♥ with Amsterdam

I just spent 4 weeks in Buenos Aires last May, pretending being a local. Why? Because I had heard such magnificent stories about this city, I just had to experience it; the Paris of South America, the Latina Rome! And it is a beautiful city (http://joelleverkooijen.blogspot.nl/2012/04/bienvenidos-buenos-aires.html). 

But one thing I've never heard is the comparison with Good Old Amsterdam. Just because this comparison is not possible…

Yesterday evening I had a lovely diner in the East part of the city (Woo Bros is quite a new place with great service and incredible asian dishes). I live on the other part of the city center and because of the nice weather I decided to walk back home. It took me just 20 minutes to cross the center, over the canals, true small unexpected doors leading to alleys including taking shots of the lovely places I passed by. So Authentic - I just had to share these - isn't this a great city to live in!

Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires

Dutch Habits&Traditions meets Buenos Aires! I am in the lucky positions to have 4 weeks to experience the life in BA; to explore the city, the food and restaurants, the nightlife and the people - everything! Where to start? So much time and even more things to do. Just a grab of some cultural experiences
Arriving in BA with a warm welcome - Weather forecast is perfect for a big city: 20 degrees and sunny, joehoe!
But is it only me who feels this enjoyable sun? Everybody is wearing jackets, scarves and is looking weird at me walking around in shorts and t- shirt. With temperature that can rise to 40 degrees in this big city during summer, 20 degrees probably is cold and besides that, it is autumn. Well, to this Dutchy 20 degrees with sunshine is very summerish!
Apparently their perception of nice weather is bit different then mine....



So, I decided to buy an extra sweater, just in case. It is 5pm and shops should be open. First shop: door closed. Second: door closed..! Third: door closed!! But all looked open, What am I doing wrong? Push harder? Or Kick perhaps?
Hmmm, or just wait until they unlock the door for you and after you when you are in...?! Very save, but gives me a bit of an uncomfortable feeling and not stimulating to enter actually, since I'm used to wide open doors where you just can pop-in and leave whenever I want.



Pfff, shopping makes me hungry, What doesn't surprise me: 18h15 dinner time!! Let's find a nice little restaurant. I'm looking forward to my first 'bife de lomo y Malbec, here I come!!!! It's quite busy already in The many nicely decorated and colourful restaurants in the streets and on the (every) corner. Looking at the menu the waitress has probably made à mistake; I ask for the dinner menu instead of lunch. When the awnser was that it was not possible yet, I looked around me and saw the other guests all having coffee with croissants or quiches. Argentinians LOVE sweets: dulce de leche and pastry: medialunes, tartes and empeñadas. This 'Merienda' is just an extra 'afternoon snack' before dinner (22pm), coffee and sweets.



Ok, 22h and I'm starving! I find myself a nice parrilla (meet restaurant). It's packed with only locals - must be good! Waiter comes and I order the famous chorizo to start with and as main the 'Bife the lomo' I have been waiting for since I could shew!! "Chica?" he asks me. Chica? Chica? I'm starving!! I need a proper piece of meat instead of a small.
I can tell you, you do this once and the 3 days of stomach ache make you'll never forget the size (or better, the weight).

It takes two to tango

When you think about Argentina, you think of tango. This passionated dance can be found everywhere; many many shows, workshops, Milonga's, people are dancing in the streets. THere are many ways to learn it yourself as well. To help the clumsy tourist a bit, there is a stepstone somewhere in the centre which shows how to do it. Tango is just 8 steps - piece of cake!

The stone is difficult to find though. You would say that it is a tourist attraction, but I found out that locals don't know about the existence of the stone. But especially for you the location: Microcentro, Suipacho/ Corrientes

Are you a waver or a swinger?

Being in Buenos Aires (BA), one of the 'must have done's' to have really experience the South American passion is to visit a football match of Boca Juniors. It was AMAZING! The enthusiasm, singing, dancing, love, energy - and all these ingredients were present from the beginning till the very end and more. Of course the Dutch are fanatic supporters as well. And I think, especially in the case of football, people all over the world are fanatic. But still - overthere it felt different, more like a life style which gave me so much energy.

A funny thing I noticed was the difference in waving: Argentines wave more flattering, compared to the Dutch. I prefer to call their waving swinging - it aligns with their rhythm, their way of life.

See it for yourself in the films below. I tried to record the hands as good as possible. The first film I made myself during the Boca match and the second one is a youtube film of the Dutch waving.

                                                            

Argentinian swinging

Dutch waving

Dutchies DO live in windmills

Sometimes cliches are true: my cousin lives with here family in a great windmill in 'the Dutch polder'. Her brave daughter has shared ins-and outs about living in a windmill on national television!!

The windmill still works which makes them have to stick to some safety rules, to make sure no kids or dogs fly high up into the sky. But have a look at the view, it is amazing!!!!

http://jeugdjournaal.nl/item/372877-renate-9-woont-in-molen.html


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Experience the Expat life

Dutch Habits & Traditions is 'on the go' for a while, to experience different life styles.

Starting my trip with an expat taster in Sao Paulo was definitely a great kick-off! I stayed with Dutch friends who moved out there almost a year ago. Of course thanks to internet you can easily stay in contact on a regular basis ( skype, viber, etc). In fact, a tour through the appartement was hardly needed after the virtual one. But of course physical introduction remains the winner.
The first day already I had the pleasure to experience the full expat package: delicious lunch, shopping, manicure (my first time) and incredible dinner. I could get used to these lovely luxurous activities. I met some expat friends on a samba party another night. They were all very friendly and open (yeap, still talking about Dutchies). They are used to questions like: when have you arrived, for how long will you stay, is it your- or husbands' work that has given you this opportunity.

It wasn't my first Expat experience though - a couple of years ago I spent 2 weeks in Singapore at my cousin's in a very nice appartement comparable to the penthouse in Sao Paulo. Different continent, therefor different lifestyles. In Singapore they know 'maids' (hate that word) who do really everything for you (Ok almost everything - except for whiping your bud. But for the rest....). In Sao Paulo this phenomenon is not common and life and food are more western alike. But in general daily activities are similar.

To me the Expat life seems like a long nice holiday. What appeals to me is the experience, the discovery of a new environment, different culture, different food, meet new people and talking a different language.
Of course this life knows her down sights as well - everything seems to be arranged for you, but what if you move to a country where the magic word is 'manana', you don't speak the language (and they don't speak English). Making new friends with people who come and go. I've respect for all expats who still know where their roots are and who stay in contact with home base. But it is all about the experience and challenge!

Sanne & Ronald, thank you very much for the warm welcome - I enjoyed every bit of my stay with you. New country, new visit ;-)

A teaspoon of sun brings a bucket of joy

There she is again: Ms Sunny!! Not only the tourists where happily surprised this weekend, but also the 'Amsterdammers' where on holiday in their own city. It felt like spring today: Shirts, shorts, sunglasses, packed terraces. 

Young flowers, singing birds, smiling people, white beer with lemon. Wow, just a teaspoon of sun and the street view shows so much more happiness and energy!