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September 30, 2005
wind, goats and advertising
..........further to the wind and goats theme....
I've just seen the Bavaria commercial for their Hooghe Bock. Now I've never tried the Bavaria bokbier but am more than willing to on the basis of the ad. Its brilliant! There is one shot I would kill to have to a still of, the bok, or goat, looming above from the clifftop the hero of the ad is scaling. (We bockbier drinkers scale a lot of cliffs...) Unfortunately the commercial is not yet on the website so if you're not in the netherlands or somewhere else its been shown then you'll just have to take my word for it.
The bokbier itself looks like it will be one of the 'heavier' bokbiers, more Hertog Jan than Amstel. More November than October. Something to keep in mind. Unfortunately all the brewery brand sites are Flash sites so I can't give you a deep link.
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Photo friday: Darkness
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September 28, 2005
Windy weather and the goat
Its that time of year again.
When the first visitations of bitter autumn winds and that icey Dutch rain are softened by the knowledge that its also time for the release of the herfstbok. Or as they say in these parts, "De bok is los"
For an everyday bok I don't mind Amstel. And I love their latest TV commercial for the herfstbok with its flying goat. Reminds me of many a miserable ride home from Amstelveen when the route was littered with flying goats. Or something. A Grolsch is also nice.
But when its terschelling-cold the only possibility is Hertog Jan's Bokbier. It is a bit like drinking steak so its not something you can do every day, or manage more than one of. But on the right occassion there's nothing quite like it.
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September 27, 2005
Jacob's visited cities 2
Now that Jacob is two it's timely to revisit the list I made nearly a year ago of Jacob's Visited Cities
Unexpecetd interruptions to my freelancer-lifestyle (read; work) and a disturbing tendency for time to move at mind-reeling-speeds have slowed us down a bit so for this year we can only add:
10.Geneva, Switzerland
11.Les Gets, France
12.Cologne, Germany
13.Harz Mountains, Germany
14.Finnish Lapland
15.Faralya, Turkey
Of course the year is not over yet........
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September 24, 2005
How I learnt Swedish......
If you'd asked me about Finnish food before our visit to Finnish lapland you would have drawn a blank. Pushed, I might have actually come up with some vague ideas based on fish, bread and potatoes. Not very flattering ideas. As it was, gastronomically, Finland was a very pleasant suprise.
Jacques Chrirac obviously ate elsewhere than us. In the north where we were for our two weeks, menus revolved around Salmon and Reindeer. I can see that this could get a bit boring after a while but they were both soooooo delicious! The salmon in Finland is different to the salmon we're used to from Norway and Scotland, but what struck us most was the difference it makes to be back in a country where produce is just-dead-fresh (not to put too fine a point on it). The dishes we had were delicious whether they were in restaurants or roadside eateries.
Besides the freshness of the produce the other distinguishing feature that really made some very basic dishes special was the reliance on fresh herbs, berries and other forest and field products. Salmon lasagnas, salmon BBQ's, salmon cooked with dill sauces, berry sauces, reindeer goulash, reindeer goulash, reindeer goulash, but always delicious. Reindeer I has assumed would be a bit gamey, but was basically like beef but lighter. Very tasty! And have I mentioned the salmon? The salmon was just sensational, we ate it almost every day for two weeks and I could go on doing so for a good while longer without any sense of hardship whatsoever.
Of course Everyman's Right in Finland means there is an abundance of fresh berries available to everyone in season. It was wonderfully decadent to walk every day through forests that were literally carpeted with all sorts of berries that normally you would only see in very-small-expensive-boxes at the market or Albert Heijn in the Netherlands. What was done with berries for dessert, berries for breakfast and berries with already delectable salmon and reliable reindeer was just heavenly and only possible in a country with an extravagant abundance of the things. Berry heaven!
Another nice, but rather prosaic, suprise, was a sort of Finnish porridge. I'm not sure what the Finnish called it but many places served it at breakfast. Now, 'pap', the Netherlands version, is usually quite tasteless. I do love porridge, real porridge made with tasty oats. I can't remember the list of grains used to make the Finnish version but together they made a very tasty porridge and best of all, it being summer, it was served with an absolutely delicious strawberry sauce. Strawberry sauce for breakfast no less! So impressed was I that I bought a packet of what I hope are the main ingredients for us to experiment with this winter. Anna Manna Mannasuurimoita Mannagryn As soon as I have worked out how to translate any of the 4 unidentifiable languages on the back of the packet I'll be serving brekky!
Another favourite of ours on the trip was Tansongon's Lemon Cookies. These were absolutely delicously lemony. Perfect with a cup of black tea! Maybe we'll be able to find more at Ikea?
At several places we stayed a home-made non-alcoholic beer was served. Our first experience with this was not good but later on we tried it again at Simo and discovered the perfect refreshing drink for an afternoon's lingering on the terrace while Jacob ran laps around the staff. It was such a nice drink for a BBQ or warm afternoon that I ended up asking for the recipe. Instead, I was given a box of the makings, Koti Kalja (enough for 17 litres!) and a translation of the instructions, which in this case were in Swedish. The cook tested my memorising of the relevant Swedish words until I was word perfect from the back of the box so as soon as I work out how to make room in the fridge for 17 litres of non-alcoholic beer I'll be working on that as well. (And now I've found this, it will be even easier)
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Photo Friday:Burn
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September 23, 2005
Andre
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September 19, 2005
Happy Birthday Jacob
Today was Jacob's second birthday. Yesterday we celebrated by opening the presents sent by Grandma from Australia. Then it was down to iJsselstein for an gezellig afternoon with Oma, Opa, Maro, Dario, Tanja, Joost and all Jacob's other Ijsselstein friends. Today he celebrated with his Amsterdam friends at de Schep with fairy-cakes baked by Papa. On both days Bob de Bouwer played a big role much to Jacob's delight.
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September 17, 2005
Aktas
The photos of Lapland and Turkey are almost ready......... in the meantime here is Jacob at Aktas, a small beach we frequented in Faralya, Turkey. Just us, our friend Marianne, a fisherman and the occassional farmer.
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September 15, 2005
Mum!
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September 13, 2005
Miracles
The unthinkable, impossible and unbelievable has happenned. Today I received a letter from the Amsterdam police that my stolen bike has been recovered! This NEVER happens. IF I ever get time to pick it up (and thats a big IF) then I will be the proud owner of two identical ex-huur Sparta vrouwfiets. Anyone interested in buying a second-hand bike?
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September 04, 2005
Simo, Finland
Just one more photo before we go away. This was taken at Simo in Finland. As you can see, a very ugly place. Can't wait to get all the photos finished, and as soon as I've found that other 8 hours in the day I'll let you knwo when they're done.
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Seven Bridges
A relaxed weekend in Amsterdam easing into vakantie-mode again. Saturday night we dwadled over to the Reguliersgracht for the Seven Bridges Jazz festival, always one of our favourites as it's intimacy and low-key profile keeps it accessible and enjoyable. Jacob danced his socks off and enjoyed himself well past his normal bedtime. We also caught up with Odette and Oleg and generally enjoyed the gezelligheid, as we Dutch are wont to do you know!
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September 03, 2005
Saaij Inn, Finland
As I haven't had time to get all the photos from Lapland sorted, let alone write anything about it, and we are about to go away on our next holiday, here is a token effort from the Saaij Inn, one of the wonderful places we stayed at in Lapland.
In the meantime, work has been hectic for both of us with a few late nights, Ron has had a birthday that still leaves him a couple of years younger than me (grr), I STILL have a mountain of administration to do and the tax office have not taken well to my silence-is-golden approach to 2004. Luckily the Watermill in Turkey is beckoning and we will be back to sort it all out in ten days.
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