荷兰真的没什么美食

这一次到荷兰，寻找美食的功课我做得比以前还要多。皆因我知道，真的不是随随便便走进一家都好吃。好吃的也不会随随便便有位子坐。

我们决定，一定要吃正所谓的荷兰美食。不过，荷兰人对食物还真是没什么创意。吃了一遍De Blauw Hollander，我们就决定，好吧，荷兰食物都吃了，够了。不是餐厅难吃，餐厅煮的还可以。问题是荷兰食物本身，就是平平无创意。

那，究竟所谓的荷兰美食有什么？

荷兰人爱吃的，不外是Pancakes，到处都是吃pancakes的餐厅。如果你对pancake情有独钟，你可是来对了地方。不过，套用梁文道说的，一百种香肠还是香肠。一百种pancake还是pancake。吃一遍就够了。

荷兰人也很爱吃apple tart （Appletaart）。我们吃了两家，确实，出名的那一家更好吃，不过，对我而言，也不过是如此。

还有一个小吃，叫herring。就是腌制过的鱼，配上面包，撒上洋葱。这个我喜欢。

De Blauw Hollander 有dinner set的优惠，一个前菜／汤，一个正餐，还有一杯饮料，但价钱忘了。我们要了一个set，再加一个正餐。其实后悔极了，应该两人吃一 set好了，真的太撑，后来都没吃完。

Pea Soup （不需要介绍吧，就是pea弄成汤咯！）

热腾腾的Pea Soup配一块Ham

HotchPotch，你要是不爱土豆，千万别点。这就是一大坨的土豆泥，配上香肠或者meatballs，再淋上酱汁。土豆泥依据不同的配法有不同的口味。配香肠的是酸菜口味，配肉圆的我忘了。太多太腻！吃不完！！！

Hotchpotch with sausage

Hotchpotch with meatball

Bitterballen。这是我们最爱的荷兰美食，几乎天天吃。其实就是牛肉碎，加面粉和各种香料弄成的牛肉圆，好好吃。很好的下酒菜。

Bitterballen

看完了这个list，是不是觉得这些美食，真的没啥创意？尤其是土豆泥配香肠，我的妈呀，这种我也做得出来。难怪功课那么难做，难怪蔡澜也不介绍，难怪……

我们这一餐花了37.75欧元。如果真想吃一次荷兰美食，可以试试。不然，去吃点别的吧～意大利餐、法国餐……国际化的城市，什么美食都有。

Appletaart in Winkel 43

This is one of the cafe I've researched in year 2013 and didn't get to go.

The travellers seem to rave about the appletaart. One even mentioned that he went to Amsterdam for many times, and he visited Winkel 43 for appletaart every single trip. Hm... Sounds like a must try to me.

We went there in the morning before we made our way to Keukenhof. It was super cloudy and cold. And the cafe was already full, with only one small little table out there.

Winkel 43

The Man initially wanted to sit there, but I was really concern if my baby could stand the chilly wind. So as I saw some diners left the cafe, I quickly went in and got ourselves a table in the cafe.

We got ourselves a table just in front of the counter

The Man did a little search the night before. And diners are recommending the omelette beside the appletaart. So that's what we ordered

Appletaart with whipped cream

Omelette with tomato and cheese, alongside with toast and salad

Well, the appletaart is surely better than the ones we have had in La Place and De Raedt. It's not as sweet, not as hard and definitely smell better. But did I fly to the moon, sadly, no.

The omelette, well, it's just an omelette, what's the rave about it? No idea... And the salad that served alongside, was the weirdest salad I've ever tasted, it has lettuce, carrots and bean sprouts. Seriously, bean sprouts? Just weird.

If you're in the neighbourhood and want something light to go with coffee or tea, Winkel 43 appletaart is a good choice. But should you travel all the way for it, probably no such need.

Delicious (and a little chaotic) Lunch at Stempels Brasserie

On our second day, we went to a town nearby called Haarlem. Haarlem is a lovely town closed to Amsterdam, and it's easily accessible by train and bus. It's very much like Amsterdam, but smaller and lesser crowds.

In my plan, we were supposed to take a train from Amsterdam Centraal. It only takes 15 minutes to arrive in Haarlem. However, The Man decided to trust the lady in train station and we boarded a bus (next time trust your wife cause she did homework!).

"She said it's only half an hour." he said, and here we go. After 45 minutes on the bus, we passed by Haarlem College but the bus seems to drive further away from city centre of Haarlem. (Hail the modern offline map!)

I approached a young lady, possibly a student as she boarded the bus at Haarlem College to ask her if the bus goes to city centre. She told us to get off the stop and took another bus. So we did, and we finally made it to Haarlem city centre.

It was really cold and windy. It's gloomy and cloudy on that day. Baby started to cry when we're walking towards Grote Kerk (Great church). We thought he must be cold so we started to take turns to carry him. And frantically looking for a warm place to sit down.

As time passed, the cry got louder and louder. It's getting unusual, because my baby seldom cries. He's one of those angel baby. Then, we got into Stempels, situated just next to Grote Kerk.

It's warm and cozy inside. It seems like a really nice place for a nice lunch. It's packed with diners, mostly senior citizens, I think it's because it's weekdays, younger people are at work. Baby was quiet for a while when we entered Stempels. The waiter got us a seat and we started to order.

Inside Stempels

Then, baby shouted again. We felt so bad because the nice ambience of the restaurant was totally ruined. He kept crying so loud so while I was ordering and settling down our stuffs, The Man carried him to somewhere else to soothe him.

That was when he realized baby poo-ed!! He went to the man's toilet and couldn't find any nappy changing station. (It's a discrimination, why can't man change the baby's diapers?)

I got ready with his diaper bag, and went down to the ladies and found a nice nappy changing station in there! I was almost on tears to find such a station. Nappy changing station are hard to come by during our trip, to find one is great; To get a nice one, it's PERFECT!

As he finally calmed down, the waitress reheat the tomato soup for us. And we could finally have our simple lunch. We weren't hungry because we had late breakfast, so we only ordered tomato soup with meatballs, and Platter Stempels. And a local beer, Jopen, and a cup of hot chocolate.

Jopen, local beer

Hot chocolate, with a piece of dark chocolate

Tomato soup with meatballs

Platter Stempels (Salmon, salami, cheese, salads, olive, cheese sticks, bitter ballen and bread)

The food was really good, I love cheese sticks and bitte ballen especially. And it costs us Euro28.80 for two. Besides, the waiters and waitresses were really nice and friendly. They're really kind to baby too.

And the best of all, it's the nice nappy changing station!

Definitely recommended if you ever visit Haarlem :)

Feed the Mommy——15 Minutes Creamy Bacon and Mushrooms Pasta

Staying at home and taking care of a baby doesn't mean you have to deprive yourself from good food. In fact, I really need food to make me happier! Happy mommy happy baby!

Pasta is one of the easier option for meal when I'm having the meal alone because you don't have to think of what dishes to go along. Besides, it's really quick.

Since baby recovered from his flu, he has become too happy to fall asleep. He got all excited, smiling and laughing when I lie down beside him to pat him. That makes the process more difficult than ever.

When he was finally asleep at 2.45pm, my stomach was already complaining!!! I need food inside real quick! I've only a few ingredients in the fridge so I decided to make a pasta.

Creamy bacon and mushrooms pasta (taken with iPhone)

Ingredients (for one):

1. Two strips of bacon
2. Two cloves of garlic
3. Three brown button mushrooms
4. Pasta of your choice
5. Cooking cream 
6. Chicken stock
7. White wine (optional)

Method:

1. Boil water and cook pasta in a pot.
2. While #1 is ongoing, cut mushrooms and mince garlic.
3. Heat the pan, before the pan got heated up, use a kitchen grade scissors to cut bacon into small pieces directly onto the pan.
4. Pan fry the bacon till it's golden brown, put in garlic and mushrooms, fry until the mushrooms are nicely brown and no more moistures are coming out from them.
5. Add white wine and reduce it (if you decided to add white wine)
6. Add chicken stock and cooking cream (I've finished my homemade chicken stock, so I added the cubes instead), salt and pepper to taste. If you like creamier and cheesier pasta, you can shred some Parmesan cheese into the mixture. Simmer the mixture till it's creamy and thick.
7. By now the pasta should be cooked. Drain the water and put them into the pan. 
8. Stir everything together.
9. Serve. Take a photo. 
10. Serve.

Everything in 15 minutes :)

My tummy is finally happy.

Pancakes! Amsterdam

Unlike our first visit to Amsterdam, this time we spent one whole week staying in Amsterdam. And, we swear we will find good food to eat, unlike the first time.

The first visit to Amsterdam, we didn't get to eat anything that is worth mentioning, seriously! Well, except for De Laaisie Kruimel. It's not that I didn't do homework on the food, I did, but at the end due to time constraint and route diversion, we didn't really go to any. And some very popular restaurants can only take you in with reservations! I didn't expect that!!!

So, I did recycle my list of food to try. Perks of revisiting.

One of the thing that we didn't really try the last trip was pancakes. On the first day of arrival, we went to Pancakes! Amsterdam.

Pancakes! Amsterdam

Like most of the shops in Amsterdam, it's small and narrow little place. It's too small to house all the tourists that come for its fame, so we queued for quite a while before we got a seat. Baby stroller has no place in the restaurant, so we have to leave it out. Perks of using an old and non-branded stroller, we left it out without any concern.

Before we started our journey to Amsterdam, I made promise to myself I'll be drinking coffee and beer everyday! (not a difficult promise to keep!) I've finally wean off from breastfeeding, food limits are finally lifted! Hooray!!

Stroopwafel, served with coffee

For the first meal in Amsterdam, I ordered coffee. And stroopwafel was served along side. After a week of coffee, I have had countless of stroopwafels, almost all the cafes and restaurants serve this alongside with coffee. It's pretty good but just a little too sweet for me.

We ordered a dutch deluxe pancake (with paprika, mushroom, bacon and cheese) and a poffertjes (with powdered sugar and butter) to share. Poffertjes are just mini pancakes, more like dessert pancakes that are usually served with sweet stuffs like apples, ice cream, chocolates etc.

Dutch Deluxe Pancake

Poffertjes

The meal cost us Euro19.70 for two drinks, a pancake and a poffertjes. Not too bad.

Verdict, well it's nice, but won't send me up to the sky. Pancakes are just pancakes. Been there, done that.

Feed the Mommy——Easiest Lunch——Open Faced Sandwich

Baby has been sick for a few days. It has been sleepless days and sleepless nights for both of us, super tiring.

For the first few days, The Man wasn't around during the day because it's weekdays and he has to work. I barely can get a 5 minute shower, and totally no proper meal. I had Oreos for lunch. It was terrible. But at least I have Oreos at home :P

Over the weekend, we took turns to care for him, and he's feeling better now, but still under the weather.

To me, cooking is all about momentum. Once I stopped for a while, it's really hard to gear up again to cook. I guess most of everything we do, is all about momentum.

Being lazy today, staying at home doesn't mean I don't get Monday blues. I decided to just make an open faced sandwich, simple and quick. I didn't even have to turn on the stove. Just oven.

Bacon asparagus and asparagus cheese sandwich

Bake the bacon in oven for 5 minutes at 180deg Celsius. Remove them from oven. Lay the bread, asparagus on top, bacon and cheese on top of them. This is so that the oil from bacon will flavour the asparagus and bread, you do not need any extra seasoning. Put them into the oven again for 10-12minutes.

Tadaa~

It's so easy, I could still pat baby to sleep while my lunch is cooking.

Had an apple after the meal. And a cup of coffee.

I think I have enough energy to go through the day now :)

(Loads of posts to catch up, especially those from the trip, just too busy!)