Some people melt into a puddle at the mention of Paris. The lights; the sights; sipping wine on the terraces with the Tour Eiffel twinkling against the night, which it only does the first five minutes of an hour on the hour, but for those who love The City of Lights it's part of the charm to wait for the sparkly spectacle (which is best seen from the outdoor terrace @ Café de l'homme with a coupe en main.
But me? Mijn hart behoort naar Amsterdam (My heart belongs to Amsterdam. If my Dutch is correct.) and every now and then I like to give my heart what she wants.
In part thanks to my bizarre good Craigslist karma I found an amazing appartment to rent. The couple, a Dutch lady and a Canadian gent were renting their place in the Jordaan in exchange for taking good care of their two cats. We exchanged emails, one way Skype'd because for some reason the camera on my laptop wasn't working until they found it too bizarre, and decided to give it a go.
Nearly a month and half later, after a frustrating wait, a stolen passport, and showing up for my bus on the wrong day - I arrived to Amsterdam, but not before making a few friends. I took Tania and Katia who were both visiting Amsterdam from Moscow and Gladys who is from Sao Paulo. I take them to the only place in Amsterdam that is open at 6:30 in the morning and we all drag our luggage and order pastries and coffees and teas. We talk about Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Mushkin. Gladys is named after a character from a Pasternak novel.
The sun comes up and the streets start to slowly full up with bicycles. I walk through Leidseplein because I'm feeling nostalgic and I want to see the appartment I stayed in before off the Prinsengract. I get a text to go to the appartment. When I arrive I am happily surprised. It's gorgeous; the couple interesting and lovely; the cats almost too adorable.
I haven't been in Amsterdam for 6 hours and I already feel happier. I always feel happier in Amsterdam. I can't see how it's possible not to. Holland is the land whose people believe that gemütlichkeit or achieving gemütlichkeit is essential to life. Gemütlichkeit is essentially "cosiness". Not just in your surroundings. It connotes the notion that you belong, that you are accepted, of being cheerful, staying away from stress, and making sure you have the opportunity to have a good time.
Six hours and already I have achieved near optimum gemütlichkeit. So out I went out and followed the canals until I found the kind of trouble I was looking for - yummy Thai food and a good smoke. I spent the night wandering the Red Light district after stuffing myself with the best Thai in Amsterdam Thaise Snackbird and was happy to head back to my temporary home.
One of the bonuses of renting an appartment when you travel besides feeling like you're home even though you're not is that if the kitchen is well-stocked you can cook. Maybe cooking isn't your idea of how to spend a vacation but I love the challenge of cooking with unfamiliar ingredients coupled with my non-fluent grasp of Dutch. It's an adventure. Plus Dutch produce is, when bought at markets like the Noordermarkt, quite good.
While in Amsterdam I cooked,
- a from scratch lasagna with fresh pastry and from scratch sauce with leftover grilled ratatouille and ground lamb and from scratch sausage with fresh basil and parsley,
- Poulet rôti stuffed with sausage, fennel, and wild rice with grilled ratatouille and Dutch tomatoes left to marinate in sweet balsamic vinegar, herbs, and honey.
- Fried chicken, potato salad, and grilled ratatouille with pine nuts and feta and then strawberry cheesecake for dessert.
I of course didn't cook all of that for myself. I invited friend to crash with me and couldn't resist cooking for them. Yes, I love cooking for people. No, I will not give you my address.
After two weeks in Amsterdam it was back to France to find that in my absence Spring had sprung. Everything was suddenly green. The barren trees of winter were all dressed up now and showin' off.
I finally bought the adapter for my camera's memory card and looking through the vacation photos gave me heartache. Thank god I'll be back in a few weeks!
But me? Mijn hart behoort naar Amsterdam (My heart belongs to Amsterdam. If my Dutch is correct.) and every now and then I like to give my heart what she wants.
In part thanks to my bizarre good Craigslist karma I found an amazing appartment to rent. The couple, a Dutch lady and a Canadian gent were renting their place in the Jordaan in exchange for taking good care of their two cats. We exchanged emails, one way Skype'd because for some reason the camera on my laptop wasn't working until they found it too bizarre, and decided to give it a go.
Nearly a month and half later, after a frustrating wait, a stolen passport, and showing up for my bus on the wrong day - I arrived to Amsterdam, but not before making a few friends. I took Tania and Katia who were both visiting Amsterdam from Moscow and Gladys who is from Sao Paulo. I take them to the only place in Amsterdam that is open at 6:30 in the morning and we all drag our luggage and order pastries and coffees and teas. We talk about Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Mushkin. Gladys is named after a character from a Pasternak novel.
The sun comes up and the streets start to slowly full up with bicycles. I walk through Leidseplein because I'm feeling nostalgic and I want to see the appartment I stayed in before off the Prinsengract. I get a text to go to the appartment. When I arrive I am happily surprised. It's gorgeous; the couple interesting and lovely; the cats almost too adorable.
I haven't been in Amsterdam for 6 hours and I already feel happier. I always feel happier in Amsterdam. I can't see how it's possible not to. Holland is the land whose people believe that gemütlichkeit or achieving gemütlichkeit is essential to life. Gemütlichkeit is essentially "cosiness". Not just in your surroundings. It connotes the notion that you belong, that you are accepted, of being cheerful, staying away from stress, and making sure you have the opportunity to have a good time.
Six hours and already I have achieved near optimum gemütlichkeit. So out I went out and followed the canals until I found the kind of trouble I was looking for - yummy Thai food and a good smoke. I spent the night wandering the Red Light district after stuffing myself with the best Thai in Amsterdam Thaise Snackbird and was happy to head back to my temporary home.
One of the bonuses of renting an appartment when you travel besides feeling like you're home even though you're not is that if the kitchen is well-stocked you can cook. Maybe cooking isn't your idea of how to spend a vacation but I love the challenge of cooking with unfamiliar ingredients coupled with my non-fluent grasp of Dutch. It's an adventure. Plus Dutch produce is, when bought at markets like the Noordermarkt, quite good.
While in Amsterdam I cooked,
- a from scratch lasagna with fresh pastry and from scratch sauce with leftover grilled ratatouille and ground lamb and from scratch sausage with fresh basil and parsley,
- Poulet rôti stuffed with sausage, fennel, and wild rice with grilled ratatouille and Dutch tomatoes left to marinate in sweet balsamic vinegar, herbs, and honey.
- Fried chicken, potato salad, and grilled ratatouille with pine nuts and feta and then strawberry cheesecake for dessert.
I of course didn't cook all of that for myself. I invited friend to crash with me and couldn't resist cooking for them. Yes, I love cooking for people. No, I will not give you my address.
After two weeks in Amsterdam it was back to France to find that in my absence Spring had sprung. Everything was suddenly green. The barren trees of winter were all dressed up now and showin' off.
I finally bought the adapter for my camera's memory card and looking through the vacation photos gave me heartache. Thank god I'll be back in a few weeks!
Tweekie! She's big, she's beautiful, and she's a cuddle slut.
Ducks often car surf in Holland.
John!!! It's lasagna!!!
Classic New England Potato Salad that proves Star Wars geeks can cook.
My "famous" New York Style Cheesecake.
Monsieur Remus with whom I came to the agreement that if I did not rub any area of Monsieur Remus besides the top of his noble little head, he would not rip my face off. No thanks to delicious bribes Monsieur Remus and me became great friends most of the time and often sat around in the mornings conversing though I know not what we spoke of as I do not speak cat.
Speaking of cats...try to tell me this isn't the most f*cking
adorable thing you've ever seen and I won't believe you.
Dutch Graffiti and Bicycles.
Random construction site I somehow became obsessed
with trying to take good pictures of even though I know
I totally suck at taking pictures.
