Amsterdam is for lovers!

Greetings! I'm back from a hiatus forced by a circumstantial triumvirate of lost camera, lost appetite, and Berliner work hijinx. Now that the summertime is almost over I will return from my hideaways on instagram and twitter and resume my occasional posting of vegan food experiments and discoveries from wherever I happen to be posted in Europe. This week? Amsterdam!

Literally every time you tell someone you live in Europe the first thing they want to know is whether you've been to Amsterdam (or more specifically, smoked pot in Amsterdam.) Not being particularly into a) drugs or b) hordes of stoned tourists, I was never really keen to visit the city, despite reports that it is "soooo cute!" So when we got invited there for the wedding of two friends, I was looking forward but did not hold out high hopes for falling in love with the city.

But I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong. Amsterdam is awesome! And compared to Berlin I don't even think the drug/ tourist/ party equation is a major part of the appeal. What's far more compelling is the fact that the city is entirely navigable by bike and is filled with water, gardens, and parks- meaning you don't have to spend your time in one small "tourist district" to enjoy the sights. Amsterdam's charms are well distributed.


It didn't hurt that we had absolutely gorgeous weather while we were there. Amsterdam is probably best seen meandering through narrow streets on a rented bike (recycled rentals is central and boasts the cheapest rentals in town at 5 euros a day). Along the way your are fairly sure to find a good place to drink beer, listen to live music, or lie around in the park- and repeating these 3 activities in between meals is as good a way to spend a vacation as I can think of. Maybe punctuated with a visit to the recently reopened Rijksmuseum to check out the Dutch masters, or to Anne Frank's home for a chilling but fascinating historical tour.

When it comes time to eat there is plenty of your average European cafe fare to choose from, but a shady colonial past has also left Amsterdam with a lust for exotic tastes not often seen in European street food. Nasi goreng, Roti, curries, tempeh, plantains, cous-cous peanut sauce... the Dutch have been all over, and brought the food back to prove it. I was treated to a super-cheap platter of flaky roti with potatoes and green beans in "gravy" and crispy savory tempeh at one tiny restaurant- with a side of fried plantains and coconut juice. That would be tough to find in Berlin for sure, and here I saw plenty of restaurants with similar offerings (just double check if vegetarian = vegan.) Another evening in up-and-coming neighborhood De Pijp we had a huge meal of Moroccan and Middle Eastern specialties at Bazar, a huge restaurant filling an ex-synagogue. We stuffed ourselves with huge platters of dolmades, hummus, baba ganoush and grilled veggies with cous-cous. Who would have thought the Dutch, famous for questionable deep-fried meat products, would have such an array of vegan and vegetarian specialties to sample?

Another cool place we checked out was Moeders restaurant.This is definitely less vegan friendly (although its right around the corner from where a brand new Vegetarian Butcher(?) will open) but its so cute that it might be worth a visit if your with a mixed-menu crowd. The restaurant's theme- Mothers- is carried through its decor, which consists of hundreds of photographs of people's moms. The menu is also organized by different price levels of homey Dutch classics, which tend towards the meat-oriented but have a sprinkling of vegan and vegetarian offerings. I had a delish salad with pumpkin, figs, and an orange scented dressing that was to die for while my man dined on excellent versions of Dutch home-cooking.(Including the famous Hutspot!)

All in all I was pleasantly surprised to find my preconceptions of Amsterdam dashed to pieces. The city is perfect for a romantic getaway filled with exotic eats and homey, relaxing scenery. And oh yeah, if you wanna get high I'm sure you can arrange that too. :)

PS- Oh yeah, its VEGAN MOFO! I'm not participating this time around, but I will be following along at home. Check it out--->http://www.veganmofo.com/

Good News/ Bad News

Why is it, lately, that every bit of good stuff has to come with equally proportionate bad stuff? (I know, that was really eloquent, let's just go with it.) For example, this weekend I went to Copenhagen to visit my friend Ted. (Good!) But now I'm sick. (Bad.) I found a free English language novel on the side of the road the other night, and it was getting pretty interesting! (Good!) But I left it on the airplane. (Bad.) I found a nearby store that sells Masa Harina so I can make tamales! (Good!) But its imported and costs 8 f*cking euros a bag. (Doh!)

And perhaps the most important piece of news straddling the good/ line is my new job. On the one hand, its a job! That's super good, because I'm beyond broke and I really want to go intern in Budapest this summer, so I need to find some income, and fast. Onnnnn the downside... its a job as a "putzfrau" for a pre-school. So I'm basically walking around with a mop, broom and vacuum cleaner and trying to clean surfaces faster than babies can expel bodily fluids onto them. It is, so far, a losing battle. So yeah, that's bad.

But at least, when I come home sore and smelling of baby powder (or worse) there's still the old, and almost free standby of Hutspot- mashed potatoes with add-ins (in this case sauerkraut and apples.) It's always so comforting, and makes me feel a little better about my terrible low-wage torture job (even if it does remind me of baby food, a little.)


So what if things aren't perfect? Good/ bad is way better than bad/ bad, and maybe I'm even on the way to good/good...

Dissertation Days and CSA Food

I've been absent not just from the blogosphere but also from real life the last weeks because I've been working on my Master's Thesis, an exciting exploration of public international law and its impact on....on.....*BANG* Oh sorry, just dozed off on the keyboard. Well let's forget about all that awfulness and focus on the food.

Interestingly, my S. really stepped up to plate as I languished in front of the keyboard for interminable hours, plying me with Club Mate and the occasional beer as well as breaks to watch True Blood and Mad Men. But most importantly, he cooked! Like this nice peanut butter curry with TVP that we found at a local Asian market.

He also fixed up the rice with the remaining nuts and dried fruits in the cupboard, plus some cumin. It was the perfect meal to shovel in my mouth as I worked on the Geneva Convention Chapter.

In addition, we recently signed up for a CSA basket to be delivered weekly, which has so far offered such delights as mirabellen (tiny little yellow plums), rainbow chard, and organic sauerkraut. Who knew this last would be such a delight?


We made a souped-up version of the Dutch hutspot I featured last year (you know, the carrot and potato mash that is cheap and crowd-pleasing). This time, we used potatoes, Sauerkraut, apples and garlic. It may not look like much above, but it was so good- sour, sweet, salty and creamy, and perfect with a crisp salad. Since the winter weather is already kicking into Berlin, this one is a keeper for a filling cold-weather meal.

Best of all, between the sauerkraut, potatoes, and apple, its hard to spend more than 1€ on this meal.

Hutspot Revisited
-5-6 peeled medium potatoes, quarted
-About 1 and 1/2 cups sauerkraut (more or less won't hurt) drained
-1 medium onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, diced
-1 apple, peeled and diced into small cubes
-soy creamer and vegan margarine to taste

1.) Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add in potatoes and drain excess water until just barely covered. Add in sauerkraut on top so it is spread out and covering potatoes. Cover and simmer for 23-30 minutes or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork.
2.) Meanwhile, in a saute pan dollop some olive oil and margarine and put on medium low. Saute garlic and onions until soft and translucent, then raise heat to medium and add in apple. Cook 3-5 more minutes until apples and onions start to brown then remove from heat.
3.) When potato mixture is done, drain excess water then salt and pepper to taste. Mash with small amounts of cream and margarine until fairly creamy. Then add in onion-garlic-apple mixture and stir until just mixed. Serve with a big salad and some crusty German bread. Lekker!

Now if I could just figure out what to do with all of this kohlrabi, then the CSA would really be a thrill...

Song of the day: Beach House- Walk in the Park

Dutch Hutspot!

*The Baltic Sea*
This desolate, romantic landscape is where I spent the first few days of 2010, in a little cottage near Kiehl with a group of friends. If you can believe it, one of the more spartan members of the group actually took a swim in the sea. Crazy, right? Germans.

Anyways, I'm already back in swing of things in fabulous Brussels now. Why "fabulous" you say? Well after flying all over the northern hemisphere for the break I came to realize how much I like this little town. Yes, Brussels, with all of its duo-linguistic issues, inferiority-to-Paris-complexes, and bureaucratic nightmares, is a great place to come back to. Its calm, the public transport covers every inch of the city (once you figure it out), and in terms of food, its way easier then I make it seem to eat well on budget. (It just takes getting used to... and speaking the language doesn't hurt, I'm sure.) And I finally figured out how to operate my kitchen with a minimum of fire hazards. (But then, I've only been back a week.)

One of my new budget dishes is actually a Dutch treat I learned from S. in Berlin. Its called "hutspot" and its essentially mashed potatoes and carrots-- baby food, but good baby food! I guess its usually made with speck (bacon) but among the group I ate it with I didn't notice anyone hesitating to get seconds from the vegetarian portion. The great thing about this is you can obviously get huge portions, making it good for a get together when everyone is broke, or just in the mood for some baby comfort food.

Dutch Hutspot
-3-4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1" slices
-8-10 boiling potatoes, peeled and quartered
-1 large onion, diced
-3-4 cloves garlic, diced
-nutmeg
-soymilk
-earth balance

1. Place all the carrots and potatoes into a stockpot filled with salted water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 15 minutes depending on how many you made.
2. In the meantime, drizzle a good knob of olive oil in a pan and bring to medium heat. Add in your garlic and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent and garlic is starting to brown.
3. When potatoes and carrots are done, drain in a colander then return to hot pot. Add in onions and garlic, a good couple knobs of earth balance, a drizzle of soymilk, a few pinches of nutmeg, and of course salt and pepper. Mash together with a masher until fairly blended. Taste, and adjust seasoning to taste. (I usually end up using more soymilk and butter after the initial mashing.)
Serve with a salad, or just eat straight out of the pot. :)

song of the day: Wir Sind Helden- Denk Mal