Europe Part 1: Amsterdam

Hallo! I’m back in Seattle, and missing Amsterdam like you wouldn’t believe. While a week was enough time to get familiar with the city and do and see most everything on my list, I definitely could have stayed longer… like… a lifetime maybe!? Seriously though… Evan and I love it there. Head over heels.

I know you’re all dying to know about the food…since, well, that’s what this blog is about. But, even though I can’t stop thinking about the Dutch cheese and the amazingness of their bread, food was really secondary to the overall awesomeness of Amsterdam. Well, actually… overall awesomeness was number one, BEER was number two (at least in terms of amount consumed), and then food. Don’t worry though, I do have a lot of delicious things to share with you, and will surely be adding a lot of Dutch-inspired recipes to my repertoire.

So…overall awesomeness, beer, and food… where to begin!? For starters, Amsterdam is amazing. Did I say that already? Well, I’ll say it again… and again and again. I love it. A lot. Can you tell that I’m deeply and madly in love with it!? Amidst incredibly old and beautiful architecture, A’dam is a modern, bustling city full of a great mix of energy and at the same time, patience. Riding bicycles throughout the city, cars don’t honk and run you off the road… everyone takes their time, goes with the flow, and eventually gets where they need to go. Even with all the movement of cyclists, trams, tiny little cars, and foot traffic, no one seemed to be in the big race that we are in the states. Even at restaurants, things seemed to slow down a bit. You order a beer (typically a Heineken… or several Heinekens in our case), and then you sit and relax and drink your beer and enjoy your company, without concern about when the food will arrive, or after that, when the check will arrive. I liked that. There was also a friendly cat nuzzling against my leg in one restaurant, and I liked that, too.

We did a million touristy things, many of which our good friend, host, and Amsterdam-native Vincent hadn’t even done. We experienced the Heineken Brewery (complete with several beers), visited the Van Gogh Museum, toured the Anne Frank House, wandered through the Red Light District, popped into a coffeeshop (ahem), and biked all over the city and through the beautiful Vondelpark. And while touring the city as picture-taking, map-wielding, fanny-pack wearing (ok, not really that, haha) Americans was fantastic, my favorite part was hanging out with Vincent, meeting his friends, going to his regular Monday-night bar, and getting a glimpse of how 20-somethings in Amsterdam live.

Which brings me… to the food. For as excited as I was to get to Amsterdam and go out to eat Dutch specialties, it turns out that like any big, culturally diverse city, Amsterdam cuisine is a melting pot of international flavors: Chinese, Greek, Thai, Italian, Spanish, and at the forefront of it all, Indonesian. On our first day, we ordered the “Dutch Specialty” for lunch…it was chicken sate (or satay as we call it here) in peanut sauce. While the restaurants didn’t knock my socks off, we did get to try some fun traditional Dutch pub and street food.

At the pub: Bitterballen, i.e. Bitter Balls. The breaded, fried, meat and gravy filled croquettes (kroketten) dipped in mustard and served in pubs aren’t actually bitter, but according to my research, were traditionally served alongside alcoholic bitters, hence the name. While I loved trying them, I can’t say that having a bitter ball with my beer is the perfect way to end the day. I mean, they tasted alright… like fried meaty grease and mustard… but the texture, I guess it’s something I’d have to get used to.

On the street: Vlaamse! Vlaamse are Dutch potato fries, and they are amazing (and cheap!). I know this sounds a little crazy… but I actually thought that the Dutch vlaamse blew the Belgian frites we had out of the water. Thick and golden, crunchy on the outside and hot & tender inside, dolloped with sweet, tangy mayo and rolled up in a paper cone… vlaamse put greasy, limp American fries to shame. And, street corners and ally-ways in Amsterdam are filled with vlaamse stands and frituurs (fry-carts).

The best food in Amsterdam, however, was the stuff we bought at the grocery store, and the food Vincent and his friends prepared for us. I was actually pretty impressed with the kitchen-savvy of Vincent and his 20-something guy friends. Let’s just say they knew their way around the kitchen a little better than most of the 20-something guys I’m friends with here in Seattle. On our first night in Amsterdam, Vincent’s BFF Michael invited us over for appeltaart (the most delicious apple pie ever) on his rooftop terrace, overlooking the city, complete with coffee, beer, and even fireworks… no big deal. Vincent made us a fabulous open-face egg sandwich for breakfast, his famous pasta salad, and a super delicious Indonesian meal of noodles, stir-fried vegetables, chicken, speck, and Indonesian sauces, called Bahmi. He also told me about some Dutch home-cooked meals that I’ll be experimenting with this winter.

Even after all the vlaamse, bitterballen, and homecooked meals, my very favorite thing in Amsterdam was… the plain ol’ store-bought sandwich bread smeared with butter and topped with chocolate sprinkles. I know it sounds a little wacky, and at first when Vincent prepared it I thought he was crazy. However, my friends… crazy he is not. He might actually be a genius…it was delicious. The grocery store has shelves of really good chocolate sprinkles in different flavors and sizes, made for the sole purpose of topping bread….chewy, soft, amazing Dutch bread, studded with dried corn. I’ve been dreaming about that bread. I brought back three boxes (a little excessive?) of sprinkles….they’re that good. And even though I’ve been drowning my post-vacation sorrows in sprinkles, our American bread just doesn’t cut it. Sigh. But I guess it will have to suffice, along with my other souvenirs: stroopwafels (sweet, syrup filled waffle cookies), salty black-licorice, Speculaas (crunchy gingerbread-like cookies), and of course, cheese.

Those crazy Dutch will eat anything on buttered bread...sprinkles, cheese with mustard, and even...cookies!

My vacation ended too soon, but I know I’ll make it back there sooner rather than later. You just can’t turn your back on that kind of love… the intense, butterflies in your stomach, swooning, head and heart pounding kind that I now have for Amsterdam. In the meantime, I’ll be doing everything I can to whip up tasty Dutch-inspired treats and share some of the amazingness with all of you.

By the way… we also went to Belgium! Coming soon to a blog near you: Europe part 2-Brugge!

While I'm Away

I'm leaving tomorrow for Amsterdam! If you miss me while I'm away (I'll only be gone a week, but ya never know), click on the Food 52 image below to peruse my recipes on Food 52, and check out some of the awesomely delicious blogs in my 'Good Enough to Eat' section!

As they say in the Netherlands..."Afscheid!" (I think that means "farewell"...) 

Big News!

Sorry I’ve been a little MIA lately, I've just been too excited to write! I haven’t had much time to cook anything fancy lately, and furthermore, it’s been extremely difficult to concentrate on the food in front of me when I have waffles, beer, cheese, and chocolate on my mind. So what's the exciting news and why am I constantly craving a weird list of  foods lately? Any guesses!? No, I’m not pregnant, if that was your guess (although the beer might have ruled that one out). Did you figure it out yet?

I'M GOING TO EUROPE! In 3 days!!! Evan and I are going on our first ever European vacation to Amsterdam and Bruges. I’ll be gorging myself on Dutch cheese and Belgian beer, and stopping at all the waffle and frieten stands I can find. Not to mention filling my bags with chocolates and other goodies for the ride home (oh, and for gifts).

We’re spending part of the trip with my friend Vincent, who was among the bevy of semi-unfortunate high school exchange students who ended up spending their year in America in the tiniest of tiny little rural towns. Not that it was all bad, of course… the exchange students at my high school were instantly the most popular kids in school, they were able to play on every sports team regardless of skill, and they got invited to all the best parties. It also worked out well for me, because now I have friends all across the globe that are more than willing to lend a couch.

I’m sure I’ll be bombarding you with Euro-posts when I return, so in the meantime, here’s something totally un-Euro. The other night I was flipping through an old Gourmet mag, and came across Zucchini and Red Pepper Enchiladas with Two Salsas from August 2009. Using the recipe as inspiration…OMG. Best dinner I’ve made in a long time. I switched things up a bit, adding more cumin and salt (and less oil) to the pepita sauce, substituting my awesome pico de gallo for the tomato salsa in the recipe, and serving everything burrito style, rather than fried into enchiladas, for a lighter touch. The thick, nutty pepita sauce basically replaced the need for cheese (although, c’mon… you know me, I still put some cheese out to sprinkle on top), and it really complimented the acidity in the pico. We wrapped a stack of tortillas in foil and heated them on the grill alongside the onion, red peppers, and zucchini, then topped our grilled veggie burritos with sliced radishes, green onions, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

As we crunched into our amazingly tasty and fresh veggie burritos filled with Mexican spices, we daydreamed about waffles and Gouda. I’ll be back before you know it, hopefully with delicious stories from abroad!

You Say Tomato, I Say Sandwich

What is it about tomato sandwiches that make foodies (or food lovers, eaters, or maybe just everyone) go absolutely wild? The simple tomato sandwich—a combination of bread, tomato, and mayonnaise, plus or minus other variables—is a summer staple in home kitchens across the country. I certainly love a good tomato sandwich, but I didn’t really realize that everyone else felt the same way, until Merrill from Food 52 posted an article about her favorite way to make the classic tomato sandwich… and received comment, upon comment, upon comment (upon comment) about how everyone else loves (and I mean LOVES) tomato sandwiches.

My tomato sandwich (if I could have a tomato sandwich in my honor) includes thick slices of chewy French or Italian bread (but not the soft pillowy kind, and definitely not toasted) slathered in store-bought mayo (Best Foods), thick, super juicy slices of heirloom tomatoes sprinkled with super fine sea salt that melts into the flesh, and black pepper. My tomato is usually eaten standing up at the kitchen counter, because it’s so juicy and fresh and good that once I’ve licked the ingredients off my fingers, I can’t possibly wait one second longer to dive in. It’s sweet, it’s salty, it’s acidic. The bread squishes around the thick tomato, bringing together the mayo and tomato juices in perfect unity. I don’t even like mayonnaise that much… but give me a tomato and a slice of chewy bread, and it’s all over.

The tomato sandwich, people, it’s nothing to scoff at. Go make one, trust me… you’ll want more.

And more.

And more.

Wordless Wednesday: Lumpia

Our friend Kyle's mom used to run a Filipino restaurant, and Kyle grew up cooking in it. One of their specialties was a caramelicious banana lumpia....which I convinced him to make for me.

 

Kyle is always welcome to come make Lumpia for me.

Ice Cream and Cake and Cake

Ice cream and cake and cake. Do the ice cream cake. Ice cream and cake and cake.

Those are the lyrics to the most annoying-yet-catchy commercial jingle ever. Baskin Robbins I think. With  dancing robots and dinosaurs that really like ice cream cake. Ever since I told Amanda I was making her an ice cream cake, we've been singing that song... and it's been stuck in our heads non-stop. If you don't know it, you're lucky that it won't be stuck in your head...but you're also kind of missing out, because it's sort of awesome.

My peanut butter ice cream cake was sort of awesome too. I baked a yellow cake (two 8inch rounds), one topped with a peanut caramel mix, and sliced them in half, and froze them. Then I made the frozen peanut butter filling from this pie, plus a dash of cinnamon, sans the bacon. Then I layered them in a spring form pan, topped with more peanuts, and froze. Then I topped them with totally juvenile but completely fabulous happy birthday candles. Then I showed up with the cake at a restaurant with a group of Amanda's friends. Then, as Amanda was leaving happy hour with my co-conspirator Cindy, we stood up from a hidden table and yelled surprise, as Amanda's margarita-addled brain tried to understand what we were doing there. Then, we laughed, and sang, and ate delicious Mexican food. Then we did the ice cream and cake and cake.

And then we danced like robot dinosaurs.

A Bowl Full of Cherries

I’m a bit of an impulse shopper, and I’m horrible at shopping on the cheap. I mean, I look for deals, and try to get bargains, but sometimes I see something that I just have to have, and no amount of budgeting can stop me. Take the first ball of creamy, delicious burrata I ever saw make an appearance at a neighborhood grocery store… was I going to pinch pennies and miss out an opportunity of that caliber!? I think not. Instead, I threw down in the most extravagant way, and paid the price of a full entrée at a decent restaurant, for one ball of cheese. Did I feel a little guilty afterward? Sure. But on top of that guilt, was I beaming with pride, just like when Carrie drops five hundo on a pair of Manolo's that she’ll wear twice? You know it!

Unlike Carrie, I don’t max out my credit card with designer shoes, labeled clothes, or entry into trendy clubs… I break the bank on produce, condiments, fancy salts, and kitchen gadgets. Even if I try to refrain, my attempts are futile. A few weeks ago, Amanda and I saw the most-adorably-awesome-cherry-pitter-ever at Ballard Market, and I HAD TO HAVE IT. However, trying to look like a fiscally responsible adult in front of my coupon-queen of a sister, I held back, and made it out of the store without so much as a second look at the cherry-pitter-of-my-dreams. After we left, I just couldn’t get that damn cherry pitter out of my mind. A few days later, I had the biggest craving for cherries, and spent far too much on a bag of them at the grocery store. With a giant bag full of cherries that needed pitting, I guess I had no choice but to go back and buy the Cherry Chomper.

Did I spend way more than I should have on a cherry pitter that looked like a child’s toy because I thought it was awesome, instead of just getting a simple and cheap but effective run-of-the-mill pitter? Definitely. But do I care? No way! I was the envy of all the kids in the neighborhood last week! I sat on the balcony, in full view of the jealous 6 year old next door, selfishly cherry-chomping until the sun went down. As the bowl full of cherry pits quickly grew, the pit of guilt in my stomach disappeared. If you don’t think pitting pounds and pounds of cherries is a blast, that’s because you don’t have the Cherry Chomper!

After having my fun on the balcony, I was left with a stomach ache from too much sampling (also to make the neighborhood kids jealous), and a huge bowl full of pitted cherries. So I made Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins!

A new muffin method entirely, I nixed batter and used the shortbread-like dough from this cake, and filled with freshly pitted cherries and mini bittersweet chocolate chips. Some of the muffins went to Evan’s parents, some went to my office, and a few were devoured on the spot.

I’d say I got my money’s worth. If you were lucky enough to get one of the muffins, plump with juicy cherries, studded with chocolate, and infused with a hint of almond flavor, you'd probably say so too.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins
I'll probably tweak a little as I make these more. Might try putting the chocolate chips in the dough during mixing. Makes 12-16 cupcake sized muffins (use your best judgement).

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature, for pan
½ cup almond flour/meal
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
½ tablespoon almond extract
½ pound-ish pitted, halved dark cherries (enough for about 3-4 whole cherries/muffin)
½-1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tablespoon turbinado/raw sugar

Whisk together almond meal, flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer, cream the sugar and butter on medium-high for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extract. Add the flour mixture and stir until smooth dough forms. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten into a 1-inch thick disk, and freeze for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375. Butter 12-16 muffin/cupcake cups (or use paper muffin cups). Divide the dough into 24 equal balls, and pat a ball in each muffin tin (if it seems like there’s too much, do more than 12 muffins). Put a spoonful of cherries and a chocolate chips. Distribute remainder of dough on top of the fruit in 2-3 small pieces/muffin, then sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the top.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until lightly golden and firm. Cool for 30 minutes before serving.