I am still here!
Despite my best intentions, I haven't written anything on this blog since October besides one post about my husband's 28th birthday. The reason for this is twofold. One explanation is that I am always busy with something. However, as I have painfully learned from Mel Robbins, this is a pathetic excuse. A more honest reason for my 8-month absence, then, is that I did not know what to write. After writing about backpacking around the world for 9 months, anything else just seems so incredibly dull. This does not explain why I haven't written anything about the three trips that I have taken to Scotland, South Africa and Iceland so, clearly, there is a fallacy in my reasoning.
I will do my utmost best to write three blogs about these three trips before our next trip to the US, Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, which is only 61 days away. I am, indeed, counting the days to this trip because, as you probably have guessed, I am anticipating this trip with such impatience and excitement that it reminds me of being a kid again, when my parents, brother and I would pack up our small car to go camping across Spain for six weeks on end. I hope that I am not setting myself up for failure and disappointment, what with all of these great expectations, but at three weeks this will be the longest trip that I have taken since our world trip and I just can't help myself.
But, to get back to the task at hand, I would like to tell you that a lot of nice things have happened in between the travelling to one destination and the planning for the next. Perhaps I would like to remind myself, also.
The problem is that I have been such a slacker since October that there are too many stories to tell about too many people in too many settings. Best to give you just the highlights:
In October I turned 30!
I started celebrating with Jochem in Amsterdam at Le Hollandais during Vegetarian Restaurant Week, which is probably the only reason that I set foot in this French restaurant, since I am not a fan of French cuisine in general (too much foi gras, too many lobsters). The chef de cuisine, Adriaan van Raab, pleasantly surprised me with his 5-course vegetarian menu.
The big birthday party, though, was held a day later in Utrecht, where I took Jochem out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in the city, Deeg. Afterwards I hosted a small party in a wine cellar at my favorite wine café, Lefebvre. Jochem and I stayed in a blue room at Badhu, which is an old bath house turned restaurant and hotel in our old neighborhood, where they served homemade hummus for breakfast.
I remember feeling content about having turned 30.
Restaurant Deeg, Utrecht
Wijncafé Lefebvre, Utrecht
In January Jochem and I took a trip to the Hoge Veluwe National Park. We visited its famous Kröller-Müller Museum, which was impressive indeed, but I especially enjoyed biking there through the national park and eating my lunch outside in the sun.
Het Nationale Park De Hoge Veluwe
In March Jochem and I went to Amsterdam to visit the Rijksmuseum, which had opened less than a year before after ten years of renovation. Luckily we had a guide through Jochem's job, otherwise I would not have known how to get through the enormity of the collection. After a guided walk through the city, we had dinner at Sotto. I strongly urge you to go to this pizza place, since I believe it to serve the best pizza outside of Napels. This is no small feat! Order the pizza margherita and ask for extra tomato sauce and extra mozzarella. Then report back to me.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
In March we also visited Rotterdam to celebrate the birthday of Jochem's grandmother. Most people I know don't like Rotterdam. While I agree that the city has a rough edge, I actually love coming there. I especially like the neighborhood called Katendrecht, which houses my favorite restaurant in the country, Kwiezien. I will fabricate any excuse to come to Rotterdam so I can eat there. In my opinion, Kwiezien has that elusive quality of being able to blend high-end cuisine with homemade cooking in perfect harmony and balance. The restaurant is small and intimate with an open kitchen. The staff are friendly and helpful. The food never disappoints. The wine is always surprising (I will never forget that glass of sparkling Chardonnay). The chef de cuisine always has a vegetarian 'bitterbal' on the menu. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get any better than that. So, of course we had dinner there. We stayed at the newly opened nhow hotel, with its incredible view, and enjoyed the first warm weekend of the year.
Hotel nhow, Rotterdam
Erasmusbrug, Rotterdam
Hotel New York, Rotterdam
Katendrecht, Rotterdam
Just last weekend we made a day trip to Schiermonnikoog, which is the smallest of the five Wadden Islands in the North Sea. The island has one tiny village - the rest of the island is a protected nature reserve. We rented mountain bikes and biked across the island, giddy like children, stopping here and there to enjoy the picnic that we had brought. The whole outing cost us about 30 euros per person. If you are looking for a day away from it all and the weather is nice, I would consider making a stop at this beautiful island.
Schiermonnikoog
All of our trips are stringed together by short visits to family and friends, who offer welcome distraction at their beautiful homes.
Tecklenburg
Nierswalde
Almelo
I have saved my biggest piece of news for last. When our friends Matt and Aimee, whom we had met in Malaysia during our world trip, bought a house last year, I never would have thought we would be doing the same thing so soon after. But, it's true: we have bought a house! Of course this simply means that we now owe the bank such an extravagant amount of money that it makes me dizzy, but we may call the house ours. It's an old and small house but it's in our favorite neighborhood in Utrecht and I think that after a we fix it up a little bit, it will be perfect for us. Right now we're in the process of packing our belongings and and picking out floors. Since we're in the middle of this busy (there's that word again!), exciting and scary time, you will have to wait for an update on that one.
Utrecht
The academic year is nearing its end and another tumultuous year back home is almost over. Soon I will be off on new adventures, both at home and abroad. I am still ambiguous and uncertain about a lot of things, but luckily I can always find comfort in food. During the times that I was not abroad or on a day trip, when I had gotten up at 5.30 AM and came home to an empty apartment because my husband was excelling at yet another work function, this is what I would cook for myself:
Lone Linguine Spaghetti with White Black Truffle Oil
from Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home
by Nigella Lawson
Nigella Lawson understands what a woman needs when she is home alone after a hard day at work. We disagree on a few things, though.
Nigella uses linguine here, which I like, but I prefer spaghetti. I always prefer spaghetti.
Also, she uses white pepper, but I prefer black pepper. Then again, I put black pepper on everything, including fresh strawberries, so I might not be the one to trust in a white pepper vs. black pepper debate.
She also uses white truffle oil, but I have black truffle oil, which I think goes nicely with the black pepper, so I just use that. I advise you to invest in a small bottle of real truffle oil, which you can recognize by the small pieces of actual truffle on the bottom of the bottle and by its pricy price tag. You'll only need a few drops, though, and it keeps long. Whatever you do, do not use olive oil with truffle essence or something shady like that - you're probably eating motor oil by-products, in that case. If you can't find real truffle oil, I think it's best to just do without it, because this dish is still really tasty without it.
Usually, I am not very precise when it comes to using my ingredients unless I'm baking, but I have learned the hard way that with this recipe it is essential to stick to the measurements or your dish will not come together as it should.
Before you start, put your plate in the oven at 70 degrees Celcius. If you put your pasta on a warm plate when you serve it, the pasta will stay hot longer.
For 1 person you will need:
* 125g spaghetti
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg
* 3 x 15ml tablespoons cream
* 3 x 15ml tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
* a few drops of black truffle oil
* freshly-ground black pepper
* 1 x 15ml tablespoon / 15g butter
Boil water in a pan on your stove. When it boils, add 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the spaghetti and cook it in 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg, cream, cheese, truffle oil and pepper in a bowl.
After 8 minutes, use a small cup to remove some of the cooking liquid. Save it.
Drain the pasta and quickly return it to the pan that you cooked it in. Add 1 tablespoon of the cooking liquid and the butter and mix it in.
Now add the whisked mixture to the spaghetti and mix it in.
Put your spaghetti onto your warm plate and eat immediately.
I prefer to eat my spaghetti in a bowl, with extra black pepper on top, while listening to João Gilberto or Sigur Ros on my iPad Mini.
* quote from Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson
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