Foto Friday: Oma’s 80th birthday 24 July 2009 8:33 am
Posted by Tracy in : cooking,eating,events,family,Holland,Netherlands,pictures,potatoes,salad,travel , 4 commentsAccording to my mother, the original plan for Oma’s 80th birthday was to keep things simple. Sure, we rescheduled a bit, since December 29 is a terrible time for family gatherings for reasons at least equal in number to the strong personalities involved in such a gathering, and June decreased the likelihood of lousy Dutch winter weather cramming us all indoors together. The date decided, Mom proposed a family meal at a nice restaurant, only then… well, neither she nor my aunt Ingrid are willing to take or give any blame about this development, but next thing anybody knew, a small family get-together had turned into Oma inviting everyone she knows and loves for drinks and munchies in Ingrid’s back yard. What can I say? My Oma loves being in the middle of a crowd, especially a crowd of family and friends, and celebrating someone turning an age with a zero in it kind of means doing whatever they want. (Have I mentioned that I turn 30 in August? But that I don’t know what I want?) Oma wanted a party, and a party she got. (more…)
Tuesday tasting: bike trip beers, part one 14 July 2009 3:17 pm
Posted by Tracy in : food snobbery,geekery,Holland,local food,Netherlands,reviews,taste test,travel , add a commentI learned a new appreciation for lagers on this bike trip in Holland, which is that hoo lady do they ever go down deliciously on a hot, sweaty summer day. In particular, I have never enjoyed a Heineken as much as I did with our rijsttafel dinner in Hoek van Holland — but honestly, my judgment was probably completely ruined that night by all the babi pangang spek. NOM NOM NOM. Anyway. It turns out I’m way too long-winded to write just one post about all the beers I tasted during Bike Trip! Holland! 2009! so I will break things up into shorter posts, organized in chronological order. Our first stop is
Erik de Noorman, Huisbrouwerij Klein Duimpje
Very quick hit: live from Oud-Ade, NL 8 July 2009 10:05 am
Posted by Tracy in : family,Holland,hot mess,Netherlands,random,travel , add a commentWe celebrated my grandmother’s 80th birthday on June 28th, Peter’s birthday on Monday, and now I must run back to my grandparents’ house to keep celebrating my mother today. Here’s a very little bit more about what I’ve been up to for the past two-odd weeks. Also here’s the last thing I cooked before going on the trip (consider it a promise to post more pictures of what I’ve cooked and eaten over here):
That’s a hot mess of polenta cutlets in a random cream sauce. (more…)
