Regardless of what you think of tipping culture in the United States, one of its clear advantages is that the rules are pretty consistent. Expensive, yes, but consistent. Service workers in the Netherlands get paid a livable wage so, in theory, tipping isn’t required. Perhaps if you’re particularly wowed by extraordinary service, you might be moved […]
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Living in Amsterdam necessarily means reckoning with FOMO in one form or another. There is so much that you could be doing that you cannot, within the limitations of space-time, do it all. Some weekends, T and I cope with FOMO by resisting the pressure to experience life and deploying a willfully ignorant response, buckling […]
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Indonesian food is prevalent in Amsterdam (Indonesia having been colonized by the Dutch), and one of the most popular Indonesian restaurants in town is Tempo Doeloe. According to their website, “Tempo Doeloe” roughly translates from Indonesian to “the good old days” and they are known particularly for their rijsttafels. A rijsttafel is a bit like Indonesian […]
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It’s a damn shame, but the Indian restaurants in Amsterdam are all pretty crap. Honestly, you can get better Indian food in Louisville. The Dutch have Indonesian food as their go-to takeaway and that, plus Holland’s fairly bland palate and intolerance of spicy foods, means that good Indian food is tough to find. I’ve tried dozens of […]
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I never would have found this place if my friend didn’t already know about it. It’s one of those restaurants in Amsterdam that’s totally unassuming from the outside with surprisingly delicious food. My theory is that these hidden gems have a higher density along Zeedijk (where WAU is located), but I need to do more research to […]
Read more...Thursdays are the days that I keep open for exploring the city, visiting museums, watching tv, or generally just doing whatever I want. Monday – Wednesday I try to get productive stuff done, but Thursday is for fun. With that in mind, I offered to make a big Thanksgiving dinner for Trenton and me on Thursday. […]
Read more...Hopefully this is not news to you, but Thanksgiving is an American (and, to a lesser extent and on a different day, Canadian) holiday. The Dutch celebrated the arrival of Sinterklaas a few days ago, and before that, there was St. Martin’s day, which apparently involved children going door to door with homemade lanterns made […]
Read more...Cooking is a creative outlet for me, and after a week of unemployment I was itching to stretch my muscles a bit. I’ve made two disastrous pots of stuffed grape leaves, but had never tried cabbage rolls. I decided to wing it. Here’s the recipe, a combination of what I did and what I wish […]
Read more...Trenton and I hosted an open house yesterday. From 10 in the morning until 2am, we had a steady stream of family and friends stopping by and I made some soup. I don’t really have the words right now to tell you what it meant to me to share so many hugs and say goodbye […]
Read more...The first thing you need to know about cat poop coffee is that it’s not really cat poop. It’s civet poop. Civets are, according to Wikipedia, “cat-like creatures.” To me they look more like possums. I leave it to you whether this distinction makes the notion of drinking coffee brewed from the beans excreted with their […]
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