Just a quick note to tell you why I've been absent from blogging. I've spent these last few months growing a human and she's now joined our family.
Maeve was born last month and is an absolute joy. We're tired but very happy. I hope that I'll make my way back to blogging, cooking, and knitting very soon.
Meet Maeve...
See more pics here.
Happy Thanksgiving! Grant and I are celebrating in DC and our dear friend Sarah is coming over to celebrate with us. Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday and we always look forward to spending time together with friends/family, relaxing, cooking, laughing, and of course eating. This year's celebration will be a marathon as we have a number of courses and we're determined to take a slow and enjoyable pace. I've posted the menu below, as I know my brother will appreciate the various dishes, even though their vegan.
Enjoy this holiday and I'll post pictures this weekend.
What dishes are you preparing today?
Today we got off to a late start but still managed to have a full and fun day. First we headed out for some frites that Grant had read about in our guide book. In the last few days we have eaten a couple batches of fries but so far I have been unimpressed, until today. These fries were cooked perfectly! They were nice and crispy on the outside but still clearly a potato on the inside. The sauce of choice was peanut of course, and it was yummy.
After fries we walked around a bit and then headed to the NUUF to attend service. Prior to our vacation we learned that Amsterdam has a Unitarian fellowship and they happened to be having service the Sunday we were in town. (They only have service twice a month as they are a smaller congregation.) We had been looking forward to attending service and were not disappointed. Everyone was very friendly, welcoming and very eager to talk to us. I think they were disappointed that we were only visiting. It was a lovely service with definite similarities to All Souls in DC, but also a bit different especially since it's a much smaller group...it was quite intimate, but very comfortable. After service we stayed for tea and enjoyed talking with everyone.
In the evening we did some more walking and took a tram ride. We had a great dinner at the sit down restaurant of a takeaway place I described in an earlier post. We ordered a number of dishes and managed to finish all of it! Obviously we enjoyed the food. After dinner we decided to head home and call it a night as we were both pretty tired. Amazingly, we got to bed by 11pm!
Pictures from the day are below...
Hmmm....I slept until 10 again today, which as many of you know is unheard of for me. I think it's a combination of getting that one last drink at cafe across from the boat, all the walking we're doing and just being extremely relaxed. In any case it's a bit foreign for me, but I think it probably works better for the Amsterdam lifestyle.
Yesterday we spent the day walking. We first headed to Bioemenmarkt, the flower market, to see all the beautiful tulips bulbs and live flowers. From there we headed to the Albert Cuypstr market, which is a huge market of vendors including fresh fruit and veggies, olives, nuts, clothing, sunglasses, home goods, frites and other various food carts. It's a very lively market with many interesting things to look at so we were there for quite a while. Then we headed back to the boat with a few stops along the way.
Once back at the boat, I took a power nap and Grant wrote a number of postcards. We made a nice dinner and then headed to the Red Light district for the evening. That area definitely has a palpable sense of cheer and merriment, though I'm not sure the women in the doorways feel the same. It was interesting to experience but I'm not sure I'd want to hang out there often...a little too packed with horny men. Speaking of horny, Grant and I also went to the Amsterdam Sex Museum, which was actually pretty interesting and humorous. They have a large amount of sex related items, pictures, and documentation dating between the 16th century and the mid-20th century. It's quite an expansive tour of sex and sexual topics.
Lastly, we stopped off for a nightcap at The Captein, the cafe across from the boat and Grant shared stories of his last trip to Amsterdam when he was 12. Here are some pictures from the day. Hover your cursor over the photo to see the picture title.
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Yesterday was another great day! I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking because we're off to a late start today after sleeping in and I want to get to those outdoor markets!
This first picture we mostly took for Tut. It's of the bread we purchased for breakfast and I know you'd appreciate it. Whole grain and full of nuts and raisins....I think you can see in the picture.
This next picture is just one of the many bird friends out our window each morning.
After breakfast we mostly walked around the city taking in the sites of amazing architecture, people, art, and Amsterdam life. Grant has an incredible lay of the city already and we used the map very little. He also made sure we took different routes rather than pass the same street when doubling back. It was quite impressive and he's definitely taken the lost tourist frustration out of this equation.
These pictures were taken when we left. They are of Grant on the houseboat and me on the stairs that lead to the houseboat.
The next few pictures were taken at a vegetarian restaurant, Bolhoed, that we made our way to for lunch. We were happy to sit outside and the food was quite good. We shared a mushroom pate, lentil and carrot soup, and a tofu pie turnover. Oh and dessert...a chocolate covered cake/brownie.
This next one is of Grant at a cafe. You can guess what he's up to.
After a brief trip back to the boat we spent the early evening at the Anne Frank house. We both took our time reading and learning about her incredible experience in the secret annex. Seeing her actual space and documents was really quite something. Though the events happening in this time were horrific and there is sadness when you think about it, her story is also quite inspiring. Her father's story was also inspiring and I never knew what an advocate he was not only for his family and their story but also for equal rights and peace in general.
Later in the evening we met up with James' friend Ray for a drink and some great conversation. It was interesting getting his perspectives on the city now that he's lived here for over 12 years. It was a fun night.
