Happy Easter

A lovely slooow day, with Easter Brunch and time to contemplate.

present for Easter

Best Calamari in town

Want to know where, I believe, the best Fried Calamari rings in Amsterdam are served?
Click on my foodblog: ME-ME-LINKFOOD.AMSTERDAM.

Screaming Beans

I'm trying to catch up on my food-blog-reviews and because I mentioned Screaming Beans, recently, I thought it best to quickly add it to the others.
So, for the full story, click on: SONJA'S FOODBLOG

On the Up and Up

I've lived here for just over a year now, and even during that fairly short time I've noticed how quickly the area seems to be on the Up and Up (as they say).
The once, slightly dodgy, massage salons and, pungent smelling 'coffee shops' have been replaced by clean, light, inviting bagel-and-coffee places or comfy restaurants with 'honest' food on their menus and even a few, classy, restaurants like Screaming Beans (an absolute must).

Last week, the new kid on the block called Bilder & De Clerq turned out to be a 'Ready, Steady, Cook' type of supermarket, mainly intended for working couples or single people, who just don't have the time to think long and hard about what they're going to eat (let alone cook) that evening.
We went to have a browse and were pleasantly surprised. An amazing idea, well excecuted at a great location. Looks like it will be an instant Hit!

Here's a fun, English link, I found on the internet :BILDER & DE CLERQ

Birthday treat, Vinkeles Amsterdam

Any excuse for a special treat (and one of our favourite occupations)!
Occasion: Eric's birthday, Treat: dinner at Vinkeles.

Vinkeles, hotel The Dylan on the Keizersgracht has 1 Michelin star and we could taste and experience why.
A lovely, warm and welcoming place, oozing history.
Our baby-faced, extremely knowledgeable, sommelier not only poured us the (birthday-surprise) champagne and our choice (not his) of wine from Italy (Il Templare) but also fed our brains with the interesting information we had asked for.
Executive chef Dennis Kuipers delighted us with delicious, and sometimes spectacular, food-creations which were served by professional staff with an eye for detail.
An amazing evening, made even more special by our view of the, beautifully lit, courtyard garden, while proper snowflakes fell, slowly, from the heavens and formed a thick, white carpet. We couldn't have wished for a more romantic evening.

Dinner at Chef's Table, Amsterdam Noord

We're very fortunate to have some friends who are just as much food-lovers as we are. We joined two of them for a meal at restaurant Chef's Table in Amsterdam.

Creamy Velouté

We had a great evening and really enjoyed our (what many have marked as excellent) food.
For my review, click on:ME-ME-LINKFOOD

Dazzling Domburg

Above, Badpaviljoen Domburg which houses a fantastic restaurant and exquisite apartments.

Tuna and soft shell crab

Bouillabaisse

This weekend we treated ourselves to a weekend in Domburg, Zeeland. Because I spent most of my life abroad, I really missed out on getting to know this country properly. I so enjoy our 'recces' of Holland and never realised how beautiful it really is.
I was surprised by the evidence of great wealth (huge villas and castles with beautiful gardens) in and around Domburg (an area I expected to be rather barren and surviving on ever diminishing fishing industry) but discovered that this dates back to around the year 1535, when a canal was dug to Middelburg. There, huge warehouses were built for storing all the goods that would be brought in by ships of the VOC ( the Dutch East India Company). The many people who'd become very rich from this trade would then have their 'pied à terre' and summer homes built in Domburg. For Wikipedia information on this era, click on:HISTORY.
Different times now, but Domburg still has a lot to offer, incl. some great restaurants and shops, and many of the Dutch elite still have their 2nd homes there. Definitely worth a visit!

Although it was a grey day, we really enjoyed our walk on the beach where fishermen were 'line-catching' some Plaice and we ended up having some Bockbier (seasonal, dark, malty beer) at bar/restaurant 'Oase' on the beach, with its very own webcam, click on OASE.

My Favorite picture 

FALL.

It's that time of year. Cold and windy outside but, thankfully, warm and cosy inside. It's also time for....oliebollen, sprinkled (or thickly coated) with icing sugar. Yummmmmmmmmm.

For info./recipe on oliebollen click on:OLIEBOLLEN

Lunch at rest. Mercat, Amsterdam

Today, Leonie and I decided to try out the new, Spanish cuisine, restaurant Mercat on Oostelijke Handelskade 4.
Cool place, at great location (except for dug up road). Quality of food?... For my review click on my food blog: Me-me-linkfood.Amsterdam.
Added, saturday 27-10-'12: Dutch article by Johannes van Dam in PS van de week with his review on Mercat. This proofs how restaurants, chefs (and food critics) can have good- and bad days.

Olive grove at location 2

Our second 'home' was very different from the first one but great. We'd booked a room at Al Crepuscolo, Montefiore, which was an interesting mix of hotel/holiday let, located on the grounds of a large Olive grove. It's a family run business, with grandpa pruning trees, grandma making sure the rabbits are fattening up, aunty in charge of the mill, etc. We chose to eat at the restaurant most evenings, where Sonia and cousin Elisabetta prepared delicious local food for us (at  breakfast, fresh eggs from the 'galline'). What struck us most was, the gentle and kind nature of this family.
Their olive oil is well known (also abroad). They make soap, hand cream etc. from the oil too, which is pressed at their own, old, mill, under the brand Gabrielloni.
Because it was late in te season, we had the entire top floor, incl. lounge and little kitchen, to ourselves and, most days, the two of us were able to admire the view (land and sea), from the garden, by ourselves (well, plus G+T, of course). See: Al Crepuscolo

One of our afternoons was spent at the nearby village Recanati, where the famous poet Giacomo Leopardi was born, see: G. Leopardi.
They like their castles and towers here, so we decided to end up having a yummy meal at restaurant 'il Borgo Antico', with VERY large wine list, in the cellar of a tower. see: Borgo Antico.
All these places are soooo worth a visit.

Nice day out

While Amsterdam's loud and colourful, Gay Parade was about to start (view from balcony),...

.... we decided to have a pre-birthday-lunch at the pittoresque place of 'Ouderkerk a/d Amstel'.
After a beautiful, scenic drive, we sat outside, on a terrace on the Amstel river and enjoyed our lovely lunch. As we could see dark/black clouds, heavy with 'Monsoon-rain', 'unburdening' themselves over Amsterdam, we sat in blistering heat and any clouds coming our way seemed to evaporate over our heads, keeping a bit of blue sky exposed ... amazing!

Beautiful view from terrace, while eating tuna tartare at Café/Restaurant Paardenburg.

Lunch at Riva, Amsterdam

Happy with my asparagus salad. For my review, click on:ME-ME-LINKFOOD.AMSTERDAM

Surprise stay at Mario, Neck

Polder with geese+chicks

Cycle path on dyke, IJsselmeer

To my utter surprise, I got treated to an evening (including night) at the famous Italian restaurant/hotel 'Mario' in a tiny village called Neck, just outside of 'Purmerend' (not far North of Amsterdam.) We'd heard many good things about it but had not managed to visit it yet.
It was a cool but dry day and we took the scenic route, which made me fall in love with Holland all over again. A quick stop-over in Volendam, where we bought some smoked eel, and on to Neck.
The first thing that came to mind when we arrived was: "why would an Italian family start a restaurant here, in such a small place?" But they did, and with great succes! As soon as we walked through the door, we were 'enveloped' by typical, hospitable, lovely, Italian' fuss-making'. We were given the Blue Suite, our bags were carried upstairs for us, the open fire had been lit and we were welcome to come downstairs, whenever we wanted, for an aperitivo by the fire. This set the tone for the rest of the evening. Our seven course menus (1 vegetarian) with 'wine-arrangement' were FANTASTIC and the portions were just right. The choice of wines was sublime. In the end we decided to take pictures of the bottles so that we would be able to order some later. The food was of Michelin-star quality but (in my opinion) without its, sometimes over the top, unnecessary complexity. The whole evening was made even more perfect by a lovely Italian gentleman who played acoustic guitar, in the backround. Mario's is more about the restaurant than hotel, but our suite was very comfortable and clean, so no complaints whatsoever.
Marks: 8,5 out of 10 for the restaurant in the evening and 7 for the hotel part.

For information click on: MARIO

Turbot with 'ink'pasta

Duck + Guinea fowl

'Fave' Wine

Lovely lunch at Rosarium, Amsterdam

Thanks to one, teenie, weenie, faulty point on a railway track, all train traffic in the West of Holland had come to a screeching halt. This (unexpectedly) left us with a beautiful, sunny 'day off', last thursday. We made good use of  this, by having lunch at the Rosarium in the Amstelpark (for my review click on:Me-me-linkfood.Amsterdam).

and then continued on to Cinecenter to watch the funniest film I've seen in a very long time, click on: INTOUCHABLES. Honestly, at times, I had tears rolling down my cheeks from laughing so much, despite the serious subject. It's a 'feel-good-film' and I advise everyone to see it.

Last-minute-meet/Conservatorium Hotel Amsterdam

At the last minute, a few friends were able to get together for a, surprise, celabratory drink at the, very cool, Conservatorium Hotel.
Just after we arrived in the lobby, they suddenly appeared from behind some ancient pillars and congratulated a slightly stunned Eric.
Later we 'retreated' to our table for two at the hotel's Tunes restaurant. I was pleased I'd booked several weeks before, because the place was packed (with quite a few famous people, I might add).
I've heard different opinions on the restaurant/food, but we both thought it was excellent, with an interesting (in a good sense) menu, as well as professional service (marks? 8 out of 10).
Added 22-2-12. Never thought I'd be more strict than our notorious food critic Johannes van Dam, who ranks 'Tunes' amongst the best restaurants in Amsterdam with 9.5 (see: Dutch aritcle).
(Below) what used to be the courtyard is now 'encased' in glass.


For more info click here

More wine?

Another wine tasting. We so enjoyed the wine we had at Il Borgo that we'd asked our host 'Fabio' where we could buy some. He sent us to a small, family-run winery (Fratelli Natta) only 10 minutes drive away.
What Fun! We arrived at a huge barn and were welcomed in by hard working men in wellies. Out came many different bottles of wine, home made sausage and large chuncks of parmesan cheese. We ended up having a proper wine tasting session with lots of laughter, a 'language-mix' of Italian, French, German and Spanish and some form of sign language, which resulted in us buying a lot more wine than we'd planned.

OOOOOOOOOOPS!