are viv + i?
“hallo…” from amsterdam, netherlands!

definitely an interesting place… especially after the scenic, country-side feel we experienced while in southern france. amsterdam is well known for many things: it’s historic churches/buildings, great public transportations: trains, trams, buses + bicycles, windmills and beautiful canals… and probably equally known for their, er… ummm… well, open views (like hatred of google, recreational drug use + prostitution, just to name a few).

steve balmer's favorite t-shirt (had to censor the 'F' word for the younger viewers)...

I AM-sterdam-it!

viv had heard about their “special” brownies so we decided to take a stroll towards the dam square (yeah, i chuckled in disbelief when i first heard this square was actually called “dam square“). anyway, we ran across no shortage of “special” coffeeshops that offered these delectable delights. and in the immortal words of former president ‘slick willy‘: we ‘did not inhale‘. j/k…
viv nor i, partook in any of these delirium-inducing desserts… besides, there were PLENTY of other delicious pastries/treats to munch on… one of my favorites: stroopwafels (thanks for the heads-up on this one, julie)! 

"stroopwafels" - they are AWE-friggin-SOME (and i just found out trader joe's sells them... whee!)

we managed to visit many of their local cafes and eat some killer food. our favorite place was recommended by several of the locals:

viv + i having our hazelnut latte + cafe americano at tisfris cafe...

and our corresponding lunch, a roast beef + avocado samich, a sausage, cheese + tomato samich and the best tomato basil soup i've had!

dam square was dam nice. a mash-up of modern + medival sites and sounds. a bit too touristy for me though.

bikes, bikes and more bikes... heading towards "dam square".

oh so picturesque! i couldn't have staged it any better...

sunset (that's the reflection of it in the building's window) at dam square...

when in amsterdam, do as the amsterdam-ians… we decided to rent a tandem bike and stroll around the city streets.

look how happy viv is to go biking in amsterdam!

and wouldn’t you know it? being rain-less (albeit a little cold) our entire stay in amsterdam, the day we decide to bike, it rains and is super windy! like a gentleman, i was in the front seat and took most of the rain and wind to my face…  :|

viv showing how bummed we were b/c the heavy rain + super wind/gust prematurely ended our biking adventure...

and what is a visit here if you don’t see the infamous ‘red-light district‘? it was quite a shock as viv and i walked and discovered our first bay of windows occupied by women right across the street from the ??? church. and as we strolled more, we found that no matter what street we turned into, we found ourselves facing more banks and banks of these windows.

the infamous red-light district...

it launched viv + i into a discussion about these women, their profession, how they got into this line of work and countless others. these women are someone’s daughters/sisters/and some… even mothers!
wanting to be a father (hopefully soon if the Lord’s willing!), i told viv how my heart was just crushed and deeply saddened by what we were witnessing. this led me to think of countless millions who are trafficked and sold into the sex-industry. it renewed our desire and commitment to the great organizations that are out there wanting to bring justice and liberation to those oppressed (www.ijm.org + www.thesoldproject.org just to name a few).
wasn’t expecting to get on a soap box, but i guess my heart needed to vomit this out. it is something viv + i will continue to wrestle,pray and dedicate our lives + resources to help make an impact for God’s kingdom and His people.

- amsterdam.
  places visited:
    – 9 streets shopping district:  some pretty cool stores. you can definitely spend hours/days walking around and enjoying what each unique place/store has to offer.
    – anne frank huis museum.  
    - van gogh musem.
    – rikjsmuseum “national museum“:  an absolutely beautiful museum… but much of it was under renovation. it featured many european artists’ collections alongside a group of dutch master paintings. 
    – red-light district:  you just have to experience it.
    – canal cruise.

the view from our seat while we did the canal cruise for the day...

another beautiful amsterdam/canal shot...

flight itinerary:
- amsterdam
- gatwick london
- back to -> marseille
- back to ->paris
- back to ->hong kong (total travel time = 27.45 hours… ugghhh)

tot ziens (for now)…

for more reading:
- where in the world… (part 3)
- where in the world… (part 2)
- where in the world… (part 1)

Tomorrow, I’m embarking on my first holiday outside London and visiting an old friend–Amsterdam. I love this place so much, I’ve been there twice. This trip will be my third time, and I’m hoping it’ll be as exciting as it should be–and in a non sequitur, I’ll be seeing Deadmau5 on Friday!

Of course, while visiting the sights, the canals, and meeting the people, I have to eat, of course! While Amsterdam is no culinary center whatsoever, I am looking forward to eating and drinking some of these items once again:

1) Stroopwafels-Literally means “syrup waffels” in Dutch, they’re just wholesome syrupy, crispy goodness. I regret not buying enough the last time I was in Amsterdam, but I won’t now!

2) Kroketten-It’s usually the fried, circular stuff I get every time I go to FEBO (a popular fast-food chain in the Netherlands). Good when you’re really, really hungry.

3) Nasi Goreng-I tried this Indonesian staple in California, but nothing compares to the Indonesian food in Amsterdam. The best Indonesian restaurants in Amsterdam are either in De Pijp or in Chinatown, near the red-light district.

4) Beer-That’s a no-brainer.

Ah, Stroopwafels. The Dutch snack that until now I’ve always had to beg Dan to buy because he thought the store bought ones were stale and bland. Well look at him tucking into that huge, warm, fresh stroopwafel now. Yum.

A stroopwafel is two thin waffle-like cookies with a thin layer of syrup or honey between them. According to wikipedia they oriented in Gouda during the 18th century. They come in all sizes, but are usually round. In the stores you can get them in packages under all sorts of brand names. I recommend getting the honey ones for a sweeter experience.

If you have the chance to eat a fresh stoopwafel, go for it. Like most things, fresh and warm is a recipe for a really wonderful treat. I’ve never seen a booth in Maastricht, but have seen them in Delft and Arnhem in the North.

And here’s a video I found at random in the internet wilds (FYI: he swears once). It wouldn’t work with the monster stroopwafels we ate in Delft, but this could definitely improve the quality of your store bought experience.

Enjoy!

I have an unfortunate habit of typing DüsseldorK. I don’t know why.
Anyways, we went on a Saturday outing to Japan Day in Düsseldorf yesterday. Apparently Düsseldorf has the largest Japanese community in Germany – around 11,000 people – and the third largest Japanese community in all of Europe. To celebrate Japanese culture in the city, there’s an annual festival with booths containing everything from Japanese food to sake seminars to kimono fittings. There are showcases of martial arts as well as musical performances. And of course, there are scores of kids walking around in Japanese-themed costumes - from kimonos to Sailor Moon to (!) Ash Ketchum.

I wanted to chase down Ash Ketchum and get a picture with him. He even had a Pokeball and Pikachu.

Despite going to Japan Day, I didn’t have any Japanese food. Yes, I know that’s lame. But if you saw those prices, you wouldn’t want to eat either.
1. Lunch! I made my own Fish Sandwich. It tastes better than the Back Factory one too. It’s just fishsticks, Gouda cheese, fresh cucumber, and some mayonnaise though, which makes it super cheap!
2. Strawberries in Düsseldorf were gorgeous, but ridiculously pricey. I don’t understand why strawberries here are almost perfectly round and about 1/4 the size of our strawberries. I think the ones here taste better though. Sweeter.
3. Bio-foods – Tofu: I went into an organic food store with Alan and the shopkeeper handed us each a bowl of tofu and rice. She spoke to me in German and said that today was Japan Day so in honor of Japanese culture, they were handing out tofu samples. She pointed to the box on the counter (pre-made tofu and rice??? uhh…) and then shrugged. “I don’t know if I made it correctly. I’m not Japanese.” This stuff is actually pretty gross, and the tofu chunklets are tiny. You can tell from how big the rice grains are in relation to the tofu.
4. STROOPWAFEL: I’m going to find Stroopwafel here and then bring back 5 kilos of it. Stroopwafel is made by placing two balls of stiff batter on a waffle iron, then gluing them together with a mix of flour, butter, brown sugar, yeast, milk, and eggs. I don’t usually like hard cookies, but these are wafer-y with a caramel-esque filling, and they make for excellent munching.
5. Japanese food from the booths: They didn’t look too special; about the same as the sushi boxes you get from the Stata Center at MIT. They were also €8 per box, which I thought was way too much. So I took a picture and wished I wasn’t so poor.
6. Kölsch Bier: I’m not a good judge of beer since I think all beer is gross, so I’m going to copy the wikipedia article:

It is a clear beer with a bright straw-yellow hue, and it has a prominent, but not extreme, hoppiness. It is less bitter than the standard German lager beer, Pils. Furthermore, Kölsch is top-fermented at a relatively warm temperature (13 to 21°C, or 55 to 70°F) and then cold-conditioned, or lagered.

 It does indeed taste like water compared to other beers I’ve tasted here. This, I think, improves its taste greatly. Haha!

i logged in and out and in and out of wordpress, wanting to write, not knowing what to write, not quite wanting to write, wanting to write… as the oft-quoted and famous “they” say – just like a woman.

i have just discovered that there are other treasures to be found in starbucks in addition to their giant chewy cookies and not-so-great-coffee, in the form of cloudy apple juice and caramel waffles ala stroopwafel! i bought them on a whim because i noticed that they were made (exclusively) in the netherlands, and they did come out tasting remarkably like stroopwafel, only less sweet and sticky. i am rather ecstatic.

and, truth be told, that was all i wanted to say; that was what that intense internal struggle was about. to blog (about waffles) or not to blog (about waffles) – that turned out to be the question.

Today was a bit -

rainy, so we walked to the nearby Albert Cuyp Market. This place is open every day, rain or shine (as we found out).

And this little bugger was running around at ground level, looking for the dropped fruit!

And for Daniela, who keeps reminding me to have some cheese!

Finally, we had our herring. We shared one because we were headed to lunch.

And you can see that the herring was a very popular choice today!

We chose a nice little cafe for lunch, and ate inside for the first time since we arrived. The rain had stopped, but the air is cool, and one of us didn’t take along a sweater…

Here’s the soup. Oops. I forgot. Well, it was a nice clear broth, vegetable, with diced red pepper as a garnish. It was good, and warmed us.

I should mention the bread was phenomenal, served with unsalted butter (which assured me we were eating in a good restaurant) and since we were served more with the main part of our meal, we brought it back to our apartment in our napkins to savour later.

Then, the salads. I chose one remarkably like yesterday’s – a bed of greens and goat cheese, this time wrapped in phyllo and drizzled with honey, pignoli and pistachios. Yum!

And Rudi had the same.

Then we headed back into the market, because we had passed one man we really wanted to see, for sure!

Now, if you haven’t had a stroopwafel, then you have not lived. Really. I’m serious. And this guy was making them fresh – taking the thin wafer, spreading on a layer of syrup, then smooshing on the top wafer — wow.

This one (above, on the napkin) was ours. See my name on it? Yeah, it really was mine, but Rudi finished it for me since it was a king-sized one.

I only wish we had brought a few home. Darn.

Then we headed to our supermarket. And we passed some bikes:

And a delivery bike:

And a family:

And finally, we arrived at the market, where we bought some things to take home. Oh, and there were bikes there.