Spring has come to Amsterdam!
Tulips line the streets… Would you like to know more?
Himself makes Paella
You guessed it! I convinced Himself to write to you all again about something very near and dear to his heart. So without further ado, take it away!
Everybody within earshot knows how much fun I have making paella. If you’re from Valencia, you probably don’t want to read any further, because I took your wonderful idea and did non-traditional things with it; technically, this is arroz en paella.
They’re always based around one main ingredient — well, they are the way I make them, anyway — and recently, I based one on duck. It worked, so we’re sharing the joy and showing you how to make one yourself.
Many of the quantities here are approximate, based entirely on what was available and what looked right at the time. Would you like to know more?
Today’s Table – Duck!
You can probably imagine what a relief it is, when you have no idea what to do for dinner, just nipping in to Bilder & de Clrq and there is a selection of meals all laid out for you, all pre-packaged in portions for two. On this particular day, I fell for the Duck. As I am want to do.
Roasted Duck with Broccoli
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon on Worcestershire sauce
Salt & Pepper
1 duck breast
1 bag spelt
1 broccoli
1 clove garlic
1 red chilli
Prague – Part 3
The food post. I’m going to try and do this only once, but I make no promises!
Czech food is like a lot of European food I’ve discovered so far. Quite heavy, filling, warming, and with lots of potato or bread carbs on the side. The Czechs have perfected the dumpling which is in fact a good combination of both spuds AND bread! Yay them!
The secret in finding a good place to eat is to find an alley which looks like it belongs in the Goblin City of the Labyrinth…
… and gets narrower, and narrower …
… and before you know it, you find yourself surrounded by locals in a room filled with ambiance!
Be aware that smoking is not only accepted to varying degrees all over Europe, but you can still smoke inside in designated restaurants in Prague. *cough* Haven’t experienced THAT in a few years!
Though happily, not where we chose to eat the first night! *grins*
To give you an idea of local traditional dishes, here’s this handy menu! The exchange rate is about CZK100 to AUD5 or EUR4. So, remarkably inexpensive!
Of course, it wouldn’t be a meal in Prague without beer. Our dinner companions, Rupert the Red Panda and Reginald the Meerkat, are pleased to meet you!
We opted to eat traditionally while in Prague, as all of us feel that part of the purpose of travel is to try new things! So the first night, one of us had the Pork Knuckle …
… there was hot wings with cheese sauce, pork tenderloin braid pierced with garlic and cheese sauce, and I went for the roast duck breast with blueberry sauce!
I will save myself the embarrassment of showing you all the picture my wonderful friend took of what the blueberry sauce did to my teeth and tongue. Something about blowing a Smurf … *pulls a face* It was delicious and I wouldn’t have changed my menu choice for anything!
For sides, because you can’t NOT have a side dish of carbs, we have potato with blue cheese sauce and garlic!
To DIE FOR!
Most of our dining experiences were variations on this theme, often with Himself ending with a traditional apple strudel. I should really bake more apples for him in Winter. Oh well, next Winter at this point! Now I’ll try not to put more posts up about food. But you know you wanted to know!
Out for Dinner
Amsterdam has an abundance of good restaurants, so one night after craving dumplings for the last 3 days, we made our way over to the Good Fortune Restaurant. We got the window seat.
I was too hungry to get a photograph of the first course, and of course that was when I had the dumplings I’d been craving. We had Gyoza, a Japanese style chicken dumpling, and some steamed pork buns which are one of my favourites!
For my mains I ordered Peking Duck on noodles, and it was one of the best dishes I’ve had in ages! Himself had Cuttlefish for starters and then a Szechuan dish with rice.
As you can tell by how little remains, it was delicious and we enjoyed it immensely!
And no washing up!
ghoti industries 