Back from Amsterdam!

Yep, I’m back from by holiday in Amsterdam. I actually returned last Friday, but didn’t get around to posting until now. I stayed at a campsite (Camping Zeeburg) with four friends, which was lots of fun. We slept in a cabin without kitchen, so cooking was a bit difficult. Without any way to heat up or food or a refridgerator to preserve it, we had to rely mainly on bread, salads, canned foods and restaurants. Luckily there was plenty of good food to get in Amsterdam, though, so we were fine. Two of my friends are vegetarians, so we even ate at a nice vegetarian restaurant once! It’s called de Bolhoed and it’s a lovely place. This is the meal I had:

It’s phyllo dough filled with yumminess and a salad on the side with further yumminess and I don’t recall the ingredients exactly but I know that it was generally yummy. One of my friends ordered this same meal, two of them had the Asian stirfry, the other one had Enchiladas and I think they all enjoyed their dinners, so it’s safe to say that this restaurant serves good food. Not expensive, either, so I’d love to go there again!

The interior of the place is nice and colourful:

Makes me happy.

I also got falafel at Maoz, which made a perfect lunch. I love the hummus/eggplant combination with a helping of tomato and cucumber from the salad bar:

That’s pretty much it for the Amsterdam foods, but here’s what I made today:

Yes, poffertjes! I hadn’t had those in a looong time. Tiny little fluffy pancakes covered in margarine and powdered sugar. The last few times that I did have them, they were the store-bought variety, so these homemade ones were surprising to me: they were much more crispy and brown on the outside, which was nice!

I used a special cast-iron poffertjespan to make these, which had been lying in the kitchen for ages without being used by anyone. Is there any other use for the poffertjespan than making poffertjes? I don’t think there is. I guess I just have to make poffertjes as often as possible to get enough use out of the pan. Which could be good, because my poffertjes-making skilles could use some improving. I think my poffertjes were a bit too brown sometimes and even got close to burning, because I couldn’t get them out of the pan very well (you have to turn them once to let the other side brown, you see). I think I just have to turn the heat a bit higher and cook them more quickly. I’ll try that some other day and see if it makes a difference.

For now, I’m waiting for my exam results next Thursday and am just sitting around the house doing useless things like sleeping late, sitting in the garden, being nervous and making poffertjes. Of those things, I think making poffertjes is actually the most useful thing to do. I think I might go on and make some bread next, or something else that involves lots of mixing and kneading dough… I feel like doing that. Have a nice day! Hopefully one that’s just as nice and sunny as the ones I’m having here.