Scottish Treats

Tags

beer, edinburgh, Scotland

I just love the way that a location’s food is tied into the entire culture. There’s no better way to get a true sense of a place than to eat up! We were on a tight budget in Scotland, but we did manage to indulge in several delicious items. Of course there were the fish’n’chips!

And a traditional hog roast sandwich:

After days of walking, we refreshed ourselves with lots of fine Scottish ale. Pints and pints of it! Imperial pints, too, which are an entire 20 oz. A whole meal, right there in a glass. British/Scottish ales are drastically different from the Belgian ones we find in Amsterdam, so it was treat to try all of these.

But the most memorable thing we ate was haggis. You’ve heard of haggis, right? It’s usually the food that’s used to describe something a normal person would never eat, along the lines of monkey brain. The funny thing in Edinburgh, though, was that every restaurant offered it! It wasn’t some crazy specialty, it was actually a normal staple. It’s made with a sheep’s offal (heart, liver, lungs), minced with onions, oatmeal, spices, salt, and simmered in broth. (I had to look that up afterwards, because while we were there I refused to know!) It’s served with traditional ‘neeps and tatties,’ mashed turnips and potatoes.

The middle one is haggis, and the sides are ‘neeps and tatties.’

Jesse was brave enough to order haggis and I was brave enough to try a tiny bite. Then another. And another. And before I knew it, I was saying, “Hey, don’t eat all of it, I want another bite.”

Friends, it was good. Really tasty. Savory, perfectly seasoned with a pleasant texture, it was a delicious surprise. I could have eaten more! In fact, we did, when we went back later and ordered the haggis nachos! (Because when else in your life do you get to eat haggis nachos? Seriously.)

The things you learn traveling. What an eye-opening, tastebud-pleasing world it is!

Borrels and Bitterballen

Tags

Amsterdam Blogs, beer, Netherlands

It’s about time I talk about some very Dutch things: borrels and bitterballen. On Friday night, after a long dull week Jesse and I went out on a little date night to enjoy both things.

A borrel is basically a semi-organized event, with drinks and food, often with colleagues or friends. Jesse’s department at the university has borrels every few months. Normally it’s held at a brown bar–any small, old Dutch pub. Add some drinks, some snacks, and good conversation with interesting people, and it makes for a wholly gezellig evening. Check out Stuff Dutch People Like for a humorous description of a borrel.

Our borrel on Friday night wasn’t true to the definition since it was just the two of us. We also chose a bright, modern cafe instead of a dark old bar, to better enjoy the sun. But it didn’t matter: the real reason I wanted to go out was for borrelhapjes, fried goodness best accompanied by a few drinks.

Below is the sampler platter. Kastengels, the long skinny ones, are basically cheese wrapped in a won-ton wrapper and fried. Dipped in sweet chili sauce, they are delicious. Krokets and Bitterballen are eerily similar: both are filled with a type of meat ragout, then fried and served with mustard. Normally kroketten are bigger, and they’re often smeared on a piece of bread for a simple lunch.

The bitterballen are by far my favorite, though the kastengels are a close second. They disappear so quickly! You can find these treats at any bar or restaurant in the city, or you can buy them frozen and make them yourself. The day when I can’t pop into any pub for my bitterballen fix is the day I’ll have to try to make them myself.

After stuffing ourselves with the entire platter, we wobbled home on our bikes, stopping to admire the evening light.

The light on the canals, this city, bitterballen, a gezellig evening with that handsome man… I’m a lucky woman.

More Winter Fun

Tags

beer, Day Trip, Haarlem, Netherlands

We’re still running wild and having fun in the snow! Before we both buckle down and try to be productive, we had one more day of frolicking in winter’s white beauty. On the streets the snow has long ago turned to blackened mush, but outside the city it remains pristine and welcoming. How can one resist?

Nationaal Park Zuid-Kennemeerland is a swath of sandy dunes and beach scrub between Haarlem and the North Sea, a mere 20 minutes away from the city. It was scheduled to be not only the last sunny day for awhile but also the last day cold enough to keep the ice frozen, so we passed hundreds out skating on the canals.

Our goal was a nice hike, though, so we found the entrance to the park and headed out on an exploration. Of course, right away, we came across a frozen lake. A little ice-skating track had been set up, with families taking full advantage. We left the path and walked right across the lake instead of all the way around. So daring!

The path wandered through patches of trees, sandy dunes, scrub, and snow, taking us far away from the crowded streets of Amsterdam. Who knew this was so close to us? And who knew cows were ever this hairy?

We finally reached the beach, and I experienced my favorite moment of cresting a hill to be welcomed by the blue sea. We made it! Frozen sand encrusted the beach even though the waves kept rolling. The sun shone bright as it lowered in the sky. Life was good.

After a good 8km hike, we rewarded ourselves with local Haarlem beer at Jopenkerk brewery, toasting our sore feet and cold bodies. Hooray for winter fun!

{If you’re interested in going, we took the train from Amst Centraal to Overveen, the stop past Haarlem. The entrance to the park is a short walk away from station, but check a map–there aren’t many signs. The park has maps and routes posted, and we chose to walk to Cafe Parnassia, about 5km. Then we walked down the beach to Bloemendaal an Zee, and took bus 81 back to Haarlem! About 8km in all. Not bad.}

Cologne’s Christmas Markets, and What We Ate There

Tags

beer, christmas, Day Trip, Germany, holidays

We’re back from our visit to the Cologne Christmas markets! Our goals for the trip were: eating, drinking, and feeling festive, and I think we really knocked ’em outta the park.

First, a few words on Cologne, or Köln. The city was pretty much decimated during WWII, and was rebuilt in the nouveau concrete style. Miraculously the giant Cologne Cathedral was hit but didn’t collapse in the air raids, and is now the rightful pride and joy of the city. It’s massive. Coming out of the main train station a traveler is likely to run smack into the back of another traveler. Then they’ll see the looming cathedral in front of them and stop in awe, causing the next traveler to repeat the same smack. It stops you in your tracks, towering above the city in Gothic glory.

The second thing Köln is known for is its local beer, Kölsch. It’s clear, bright, and hoppy, but not as bitter as a regular lager. It’s also warm-fermented, which is unique. I fell in love with the style from tasting Double Mountain Brewery’s version in Oregon, so it was an exciting moment to try the real thing!

The real reason we came was for the Christmas Markets, of course. The city has over eight, and we made it to a solid five, all of which had a different theme. One was nestled under the Cathedral, one was decorated with Brothers’ Grimm fairy tales, one had elves everywhere, and one was even on a boat! We spent our time wandering, people-watching, sipping drinks, gazing at goodies and eating said goodies.

The best part about a Christmas market are the warm drinks designed to fend off the cold. Germany’s specialty is glühwein, a hot spiced wine that comes in colorful mugs. You pay a deposit for the mug, so you’re welcome to keep it when you’re done (We came home with two!). All that wine-drinking demands some food, so of course we had to eat a lot. Sausages, poppyseed cake, gingerbread, noodles with sauerkraut, pretzels, candied almonds, and bread were purchased and consumed with glee. My favorite? Hot potato cakes with applesauce.

There’s something about a group of people bundling up and facing the cold to be festive that I love. We string up lights, we brew hot drinks and fry food, we offer our wares to others in a big warm mood of good cheer that has Christmas written all over it. There are sweets to eat, friends to chat with, and presents to buy. It might get dark at 4pm, but we don’t care because we have glühwein in our mugs and twinkling lights up everywhere.

London’s Watering Holes

Tags

beer, London

Happy Thanksgiving! Here in Amsterdam the holiday is a bit of a non-event, especially since Sinterklaas already came to town, and it’s full swing Christmas. We’re having a small get together tomorrow night, but without an oven it’s a bit hard to all the traditional favorites. Mashed potatoes it is!

So instead of eating my fill this Thanksgiving, I’ll tell you about what we ate in London. Close enough, right? I’ve said it before, but the best part about traveling is the food. Everything else is just filling in the spaces between meals. Here are some of my favorites from London.

We stumbled upon Borough Market the first day, and spent a long time gazing in wonder at all the delicious booths. It’s a farmer’s market tucked under a street, and of course it’s been there for forever. Just like everything in London. It was a beautiful place, full of steaming carts with sausages, fresh baked bread, cheese, curries, falafels, and more. One cart even had a three foot wide pan with paella simmering inside. We got a choice cut of Gloucester cheese from a farm 2 hours outside of the city, a sandwich, and far too much Turkish Delight.

 

We also had a great search for good coffee. Of course Britain is a bit more renowned for tea than coffee, but did you know that in the 17th century London jumped on Europe’s new bandwagon, coffeehouses, and had 3,000 of them open by the 1700s? So it’s nothing new.

The Nordic Bakery had delicious coffee and an amazing cardamom cinnamon roll. And popular Monmouth Coffee had quite the line, limited seating, and perfectly filtered coffee. Also a giant bowl of sugar.

I know I shouldn’t lump all these together, but we also went to a Thai restuarant, a noodle bar, and an Indian restaurant, because while London has great fish’n’chips, you really can’t miss the other cultures it offers. Our favorite was Wagamama Noodle Bar, which has locations everywhere. I’m a fan of miso soup, and this one comes in a bowl bigger than my head with a paddle for a spoon!

And, last, we did justice to the British Pub. Not only for many pints of frothy brews, but also for the shepherd’s pie, Sunday roast, fish’n’chips, and plenty of brown sauce. The beer was nice, too, though. In the Netherlands I’ve become used to a lot of Belgian styles, so it was nice to have some good ol’ lagers and stouts on the menu. I love the names of the pubs, and the long history so many of them have. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was a regular haunt of Samuel Johnson, the writer of the English dictionary, as well as Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Alfred Tennyson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Did they each grab a table on a cold dark night and toast their friends with the same beer as they discussed the intricacies of the English language? I like to think that they did.

Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Brouwerij t’IJ

Tags

Amsterdam Blogs, beer, cheesemaking

If you go out our front door and turn right on the street you’ll reach a bridge over a canal. And down the canal in the east you’ll see a big windmill, one of the few surviving windmills left in Amsterdam. It’s not a working mill anymore, but it does mark the location of a delicious microbrewery. Heineken may have a corner on the market, but places like Brouwerij t’IJ is where the real taste is at. (If you’re saying it your head like I would be, remember that a ‘j’ makes a ‘y’ sound, and IJ is said like ‘eye’.)

The tasting room is only open from 3pm-8pm, so we arrived early enough to grab a seat at the bar inside. This place gets popular and packed! It brought me right back to Portland, being in a little microbrewery.

The walls hold a huge collection of beer bottles

With Belgium so close by brewing famous and delicious beers, a lot of Amsterdam’s beer comes from there, so there aren’t actually that many big Dutch breweries other than the over-popular Heineken. It also means that the microbreweries that do exist are heavily influenced by Belgium styles. This is great, but so different from the Pacific Northwest beer scene where Belgiums are few and far between.

Het IJ has about 4 regular brews and a seasonal one. The autumn seasonal is a Bock, which explodes across the city when every brewery offers their own version. I tried that one, since it’s fall, of course, and I also got the Spui, a big dark beer. Jesse tried the Natte, a trappist-style double, and the Columbus, an amber. All were delicious. And they were the price of a regular beer in any other bar! This place might become a favorite haunt.

To top it all off, they serve cheese. Delicious cheese called Skeapsrond. Made in a farm in nearby Ransdorp, it comes from sheep fed on the malt dregs leftover from the brewing process. The cheese is then a perfect match with a big beer! What a beautiful cycle. Cheers!