Amsterdam, Tuesday 27, 2010

I went to Amsterdam to see Amy Adams a movie and have dinner with brotherdearest. I ended up doing some shopping in between:)

Here are some not very touristy pics of my walk around Amsterdam


Vijzelstraat, on my way to Mail and Female. I love how they decorated this house while it's being restaured. Paintings courtesy of the Frans Hals Museum.


Vijzelstraat


Vijzelstraat

After the movie (Leap Year, don't ask) and shopping, I met my brother and together we took the tram to the south of the city to Bazar Amsterdam in the Albert Cuypstraat, where they were just cleaning up the street from the daily market.


Albert Cuyp: there were a lot of seagulls and herons around, looking for scraps.


Brotherdearest trying to put a spell on the bird;)


Bazar Amsterdam is a wonderful restaurant, here are our starters: a plate full of delicious samples of Turkish foods.


This was the last picture I could make before my camera died and it doesn't do the bazar justice, check this link for the official site for a an impression of the glorious decorations.

Brotherdearest made more pictures of the food:

For the main course brotherdearest picked a veggie dish (front) and I had Veal Köfte (beef with pistachio nuts and vigs).


Dessert was spectacular; turkish yoghurt with cream and honey for the brother (front), for me: Bahgrir ba Bastani, Algerian pancake with ice cream and custard plus tons of fresh fruit. I was in heaven.

We ate (a lot) and talked (a lot) and had a great night. Brotherdearest escorted me back to Central Station around 22.15 and I got home a little after midnight. I went straight to bed and unpacked my loot the next morning:


Bold black packages from Dom - Christian Koban (Spuistraat 281, magnificent store, dressed in black;) - Red package is from Karma Sutra Honeysuckle bodypowder from Mail&Female, some random chocolate, toothbrushes from The White Teeth Store (extra hard;), WinQ magazine and of course orgasms cookies (also known as triple chocolate chip cookies, freshly baked by AH to Go)

A very satisfying trip.

New sandals \o/

For my birthday last December mom gave me a selfmade coupon to do 'something chocolatey' together. Today the two of us joined a workshop to make our own bonbons and truffles!

Mmm, chocolate!
01.
This is Jeroen from Chocolade & Zo; he is going to show us how to make a chocolate bowl with a balloon and the chocolate melting machine. We love him.

He also gave each team two recipes to make: truffles and bonbons. At the end we had to share the results...

02.
We started with the truffles recipe. After mixing melted chocolate, butter and cream, mom and I took turns working the piping bag. I can totally do this. They do not look like turds. Shut up.

03.
Mom dunking her balloon in milk chocolate (a second coat after the first of dark chocolate)

04.
Do you see mine? It's the prettiest bowl of the bunch:)

05.
Next were the bonbons. We made a base of marzipan mixed with crushed walnuts and honey with a coating of chocolate at the bottom. Here I'm covering the whole bonbon with chocolate. Final touch was a walnut on top (we also made some with the walnut underneath the final chocolate dip:)

06.
Done! Mom is very skillfully cleaning up the utensils.

07.
Our walnut-honey bonbons:)

08.
Our canache truffles (turds sneakily covered in dark chocolate sprinkles;)

09.
Don't we look professional?
(Heehee: mom is still covered in chocolate:)

10.
All the different truffles and bonbons the group made; we got to fill our chocolate bowls with one (or two;) of each \o/

11.
Tadaah! MINE \o/

12.
Happy mom + tons of chocolate = happy J. :-D

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN (AND CHOCOLATE!:)

I made cookies!
Only six, because that's how much sugar I had left:)

Recipe from 'Het Meneertjes Kookboek' (Mr.Men Cookbook) - Roger Hargreaves.
These are Meneer Stuntels Koekjes Speciaal (Mr. Muddle's Special Cookies:)


It's basic cookies (flour, sugar, butter, egg) rolled in smashed cornflakes.


They could have done with a little more time in the oven, but I was impatient *g*

I baked cookies! (Long time eater, first time baker;)

Saturday shopping
1.

#1 is one of the two button downs I had left (Men's shirt;)
#2 is new long sleeve (Ladies' department;)
#3 is new short sleeve (Ladies' department;)

2.

E-reader! Oops, my current obsession is showing. *ducks head*

Amsterdam, Saturday April 17


Central Station (high up photo to show off blue sky and avoid scaffolding;)


On the fence around the building site of Central Station: Vincent!


Love this facade; right side of the gate


It's the front of the 'styling academy'.


I'm glad they left the old name up there; such gorgeous lettering

Party time! Little brother Hans is almost 30 years old (Monday April 19 is his birthday;)

Don't mind my doped up face; I have a little sunstroke thanks to walking around in Amsterdam all afternoon.


Benthe and Hans are grabbing dessert: strawberries with whipped cream and brown sugar. Omnomnom.

On my way to work and back home:


Tree, Dedemsvaart - Thursday April 15


Flowers, Zwolle - Friday April 16

The CupCake Experiment
PART 6: Crumble Muffins Cupcakes with Lemoncurd
Found a recipe in a magazine that seemed interesting enough to continue the experiment. I love Lemoncurd. I bought that ready-made, but baked the cupcakes myself, including crumbles on top!

Tadaah:








Ready for a second batch:)