Great food at "Moeders"

I am sorry for not writing so often here anymore, but somehow it doesn't feel the same... Maybe I am getting even more lazy than before? :)

Anyways, as I heard that today there is Blog Action Day 2011 and the topic is "Food", I decided to write about the great restaurant we went today - "Moeders".

I have passed by the place quite a few times and always been amazed by the great interior (as much as you can see without going in), but never had time/opportunity to check it out. Today with a few friends-visitors we finally did it!

At first I thought that it's a bar, so it was a surprise to go in and find out that actually it's a restaurant. As the name implies ("Mothers"), it has a particular design, all full of different mums' pictures, really cute. Also the plates and glasses, and all other cutlery is very diverse as it all has been donated by visitors when they opened the restaurant.

The restaurant is not very big, around 10-15 tables, so we were lucky to get a free table without a reservation. It seemed that usually it is completely full and there were still people coming in and being turned down (as there were no free seats anymore). Good to know and make a reservation for the next time!

The food was very good, and the dessert - cheesecake - was simply the culmination. Michael already said that we should bring his mum next time she comes for a visit. So if you are in Amsterdam with your mum - bring her as well!

Calendar with my photo

I am rocking again!

Some months ago a shop/food place Kitsch Kitchen made a photo competition, asking to submit pictures showing the intercultural diversity of Amsterdam. Of course, I took part and sent a few pictures from Indian festival "Diwali".

Just last week I heard back from them saying that my picture has been selected for the calendar of 2012, yehuu!

Prize - a copy of the calendar, which I got just yesterday. My picture is placed in the (in)famous last week of the year/first week of the next year and there is also my name in the list of all the photographers.

Wanna get a unique calendar with my photo in it? You can do it on their website.

Latvian cuisine

A few weeks ago in one event I met a lady from Philippines. We started talking and she asked me where am I from. "Latvia, but probably you don't know where is it," I replied as I don't expect non-Europeans know our small country.

What a surprise I had when she asked which is my hometown! Turns out just only a few weeks ago she visited in Latvia and felt in love with the country and food! Now she is telling to everybody how nice and beautiful it is, unofficially becoming a kind of Latvian Ambassador :)

That's not all. She really loved our cuisine, so kept telling me about a book about Latvian food she saw, but didn't buy - and regretted it. I even didn't know that there is a book in English about Latvian tasty food!

With my help and a few websites she managed to find the name of the book, so tomorrow I am going to meet her and give her the book (thanks to Agnese who bought and brought it from Latvia!). It will be funny to think that a women from Philippines is going to cook home Latvian food :)

For all of you who also want to know more about Latvian book - take a look at the book here!

Manna or semolina?

Today I made semolina porridge for breakfast and it reminded me one of my first days in Malta, already a few years ago.

I had just moved from Latvia to Malta and it was my first time in Maltese supermarket, buying all the necessary food. I was looking for semolina porridge and couldn't find it, so asked:

- Where do you have manna?
- What???
- Manna. I want to make manna porridge.

The local Maltese were looking at me puzzled and then started to laugh, telling that I can find manna in the church, but not in the supermarket.

- No, no, no. In Latvia we have manna and I want to make manna porridge.

We did not manage to understand each other, so I left home without buying any semolina... Afterwards, telling this to my Mum ("Those Maltese have no idea what is manna porridge!") and Googling, I found out that actually Latvian word "manna" in English is "semolina" :)

I was so sure that it should be the same also in English - simply because it did not sound Latvian at all!

TALIA birthday

Last Saturday Italian deli place "Talia" celebrated its first birthday, so we used the opportunity to congratulate Nicola & Michele for their hard work.

Michael was there also exactly a year ago for their opening party as he used to study Dutch together with Nicola. Later on, we passed by there several times to get pizza or just say "hi" to the guys. I also had my Dutch classes there and several times I have been suggesting the place to my CouchSurfing guests for leaving their luggage there.

Last Saturday we went there for the beginning of the party at 2.22pm for a glass of champagne, followed by a small photo session and tasting new pizzas (mm, the one with Gorgonzola cheese and nuts was wonderful).

We came back a few hours later to discover that "Talia" was crowded with people listening to a nice Brazilian musician trio and waiting for a big pot of tiramisu. On the "tre, due, uno" everybody jumped around the tiramisu with their spoons, trying to eat as much as possible and dig as deep as possible. There was a hidden piece of lemon, and the lucky finder got a special present from "Talia".

Of course, we did not forget a birthday present - some funny colorful crackers, two Dutch SIM cards (for CSers who pass by) and a special guest book for "Talia" visitors.

As we are going there today again, I am curios to see how many entries does the guest book have by now!

About Kalmane

Some days ago I got a message from an Indian guy on CouchSurfing who asked me if I know that my surname is a very typical surname in India.

Sure, I know that, have heard it before from Indians, who are always very surprised about it and once I even got an e-mail in Hindi...

But what I didn't know is the fact there is even a popular coffee chain! He also e-mail me a picture of it (found on Google):

Now I am curious, where else can I find Kalmane (apart from Hungary, where every town has Kalman street, thanks to Hungarian composer Imre Kálmán)?

Restaurants for a cheaper price

This week here in the Netherlands we have annual Restaurant Week, when loads of restaurants all over the country offer a special menu for a set price - 27,5o euro for 3-course menu (drinks not included).

I discovered this wonderful idea back in 2009 and went with a few friends to one of the restaurants. This year I decided to repeat the idea and go to other restaurants where usually I would not go.

Unfortunately none of my friends in Amsterdam was able to join this time, so we had nice romantic dinner together with Michael. I was browsing through the huge list of restaurants in Amsterdam and picked two ones. We couldn't choose which one to go, so ... we simply went to both!

On Monday evening our host restaurant was "Casa Peru". It was quite small and empty, but that didn't matter. We were even able to choose which dishes to have (which is normally not the case during the Restaurant Week) and opt for different ones for each of us - so we could taste more of Peruvian cuisine!
The food was delicious and enough even for Michael who is eating a lot. :) I am not sure how authentic it was, but either the chef or the restaurant owner is from Peru, so I hope that it is traditional indeed (no, I do not remember the names of the dishes, sorry).
Unfortuntely the service was not so good as the waitress took me the wrong main dish and in the end of the evening gave out less change than she was supposed to. No tip for her then, sorry.

Yesterday - on Wednesday - we went to "Nomads", which is some kind of Turkish-Arabic restaurant. It was completely full of people and it was a very interesting experience. We were sitting on a large mattress instead of chairs and there were no tables - but a very, very big plate which the waitress put on the mattress (the same one where we were sitting). There was also a bellydancer (with coloured white hair and fake smile) dancing around, a woman with taro cards and a girl offering massage.
The food was served in several small bowls and was not outstanding, but still interesting.
There were quite a lot of waitressses almost "running" from one mattress to another and in total we spent in the restaurant almost thre;e hours as it took a lot of time to get the food.

In the end, I enjoyed "Nomads" more because of the atmosphere and I would definitely recommend "Nomads" as an interesting experience to group of friends or couples who like to be very close to each other (as the mattress is not so huge).

I am not sure if I would go to those restaurant in an ordinary day both because we do not dine out of house so often and because it is not so cheap. But that's why there is Restaurant Week!

First fondue

In the weekend I tried to make cheese fondue for the first time in my life.

Result - it was edible, but need to be improved :)

The idea came in my mind while shopping, so I had no idea what to buy and what is needed for fondue. All I knew - cheese and white wine, so bought two different kinds of Dutch cheese and the chepeast white wine.

Back home I checked the recipe (written by one of my favourite professors Kārlis Streips) and found out that I am missing some ingrediants - e.g., cherry brendy and nutmeg. However, I still decided to go further and that's what I used:
- 250 g of "belegen" Gouda cheese
- 250 g of "extra belegen" Gouda cheese
- 1 glass of South Australian Chardonnay wine
- a bit of garlic
- a bit of white pepper
- half of a teaspoon of mustard

I did not have the rest of the ingredients, so simply needed to skip them.

I do not know why but in the end the cheese got stuck together and I couldn't melt it. So we were simply eating very fast (with French baguette and sausages).

Next time I will make sure to read the recipe before going to the shop! :)

Top 5 places in Amsterdam

People often ask me what are my favourite places in Amsterdam, where do I suggest them to go etc. So here goes my Top 5!

1. Bike tour around Schellingwoude - in Amsterdam Noord there is this amazing place which used to be a fishery village in 19th century. There is just one street leading through it and if you bike through it, you can feel like being back in the past. Seems that the houses haven't changed since that, and the calm and peaceful atmosphere makes you simply feel good, wishing to move there for good.

2. 7th floor in OBA (Openbare Bibliotheken Amsterdam) - everybody knows the library next to Amsterdam Centraal (railway station), but not everybody is aware of the beautiful view which you can see from it's 7th floor. Just take the elevator on the right of the lobby and go till the last floor to the restaurant. There is an outdoor terrace, which is open even during the winter. In a clear day you can see quite far away, showing the guests Amsterdam's towers and important places. Wonderful place where to take pictures - my visitors are always impressed.

3. The Begijnhof - ok, probably this is no surprise :) The Begijnhof - a courtyard in the middle of Amsterdam city - is a favourite place for a lot of people. And no wonder. Not only it has beautiful houses, but it's also like stepping in a different world - from busy and loud city life to a calm and quiet village where nothing can spoil your day. In this courtyard, where only single women are allowed to live, also is English Reformed Church, where I am going to sing in a choir every week.

4. Amsterdam Historisch Museum - it is located just next to the Begijnhof and is indeed one of my favourite museums in general, not only in this city. I am interested in all kinds of city museums, telling about the history and lifestyle of the city, but in this one I really like the exhibition about the 20th century and modern life. There is information about several inhabitants, giving an insight in their daily life, one of the most famous cafes of Amsterdam, a tiny Ajax stadium and other exciting things. I have been there twice so far, but going back in the spring again as they are re-structuring the museum right now.

5. IJscuypje ice-creams - well, an ice-cream shop is also a kind of place, right? On Prinsengracht they are offering amazingly good Italian ice-creams with big scoops (not so big as in Italy, but big enough for the rest of Europe). One scoop costs 1.60 euro if I am not wrong and during the summer sometimes I pass by there more than once a week. I wanted to buy ice-cream there also a couple of weeks ago, but turns out that in the winter there is no ice-cream, they start their season only in April. Need to wait till then!

And how about you? Any favourite places to share? :)

Markets vs shops

While living in Western Europe, I have noticed how cool it is to shop in open-air markets. Although both here and back in Latvia they look similar, the feeling you get while visiting them is kind of different - although I can't tell you why.

Back home I didn't really go to the market so often. Sure, we have quite a few markets in Riga and tourists especially love the Central market (which is situated in hangers for zeppelins). However, in my neighborhood there wasn't any market. As it was not on the way, I didn't go to any, just shopping in the usual supermarkets.

But both in Brussels and Amsterdam you find loads of markets in different places of the cities. Next to the CD House in Brussels where I was living for a year there was a small market every Monday morning. If I managed to wake up on time, sometimes I used to go there and buy some fresh fruits and vegetables.

Today here in Amsterdam we also did shopping in one of the street markets, this one was on Ten Katestraat. We initially wanted to go to Albert Cuyp market, which is the biggest and most known one, but saw the first one while passing by and decided to give it a try.

And it was great, of course! Not only you can really smell vegetables and fruits and buy them much cheaper than in the supermarkets, but the choice is also bigger. In the end we bought more than we wanted and needed, but still the total amount of money spent was less than we would spend in the supermarket.

Of course, for other stuff you still need to go to the supermarket, but now I will try to manage to buy vegetables and fruits in the markets much more as well as go to the special meat shops (mostly run by Turkish and Arabic people) for meat.

Easy chocolate cake

I like cakes. And recently I discovered that I also like to bake cakes, so now every week or so I am baking a new cake at home.

One recipe I have tried already twice. Easy to make, easy to have all ingredients at home and easy to make guests happy!

Ingredients

- 200 g chocolate

- 200 g butter

- 200 g sugar

- 300 g flour

- 3 eggs

- breadcrumbs

Preparation

- Melt chocolate. Make sure you really have 200 g and not less, otherwise it's not so amazingly good! :) I mostly melt chocolate in the pan, but the best way to do it is in a hot water bath (check Google how to do it correctly if you do not know).

- Melt butter.

- Mix with the mixer the eggs and the sugar.

- Add the flour, melted chocolate and melted butter. Mix everything together.

- Take a spring-form pan used for cakes and rub it with the butter.

- Rub the form also with a bit of breadcrumbs.

- Put the dough in the form and bake for around 30 minutes in 175° C.

- After that it still needs to be a bit wet inside, but you do not know it before tasting. Just make sure you do not cool it too fast (they say that it should stay in an oven a bit afterwards).

The last time I baked it, it was tasting a bit like brownies - but maybe that's because I didn't have so much chocolate at home and I used only half of the necessary dose, so it was not so strong. Normally after eating a piece of it you should be completely full and not being able to eat the second one!

Enjoy and let me know how was it if you bake it!

Piedzīvojumu krievu veikalā

Šodien biju aizvedusi Sintiju iepazīties ar krievu veikaliņu Amsterdamā, kurš saucas "Blin Blin Blin" un atrodas netālu no zoodārza. Pati biju tur tikai vienu reizi pirms pusotra gada, bet izskatās, ka pa šo laiku nekas nav mainījies.

Sortiments - ļoti dažāds, sākot ar alkoholu, pelmeņiem, piena produktiem, skābētiem gurķiem utt. un beidzot ar žurnāliem, CD un DVD krievu valodā.

Kā jau tas bija sagaidāms, tur iespējams iegādāties ne tikai Krievijā ražotas preces, bet arī Gruzijas un Transilvānijas vīnus, Latvijas "Laimas" šokolādes un šprotes, lietuviešu alu un maizi, kā arī poļu pelmeņus. Varbūt vēl kādas Ukrainas un Baltkrievijas preces, kas tik ļoti neizceļas. Daļa preču bija ražotas tieši ārzemju tirgum, piemēram, poļu pelmeņiem uzraksts bija poliski un vāciski, bet Rīgas šprotēm - angliski. Sintija teica, ka ārzemēm paredzētās šprotes ražojot citādāk nekā tās, ko tirgo Latvijā...

Cenas - zināmas tikai daļēji, jo uz aptuveni puses no precēm tās nebija minētas. Nākamnedēļ braukšu ēst biezpienu un pelmeņus uz Latviju, tāpēc nepajautāju, cik tie maksā, bet, piemēram, šprotes bija par aptuveni 2-3 eiro.

Apkalpošana - kas tā tāda? :) Tantuks (šķiet, ka krievu babuška, vismaz krieviski ar mums runāja) sēdēja savā stūrī un, šķiet, minēja krustvārdu mīklas. Bijām vienīgās apmeklētājas, bet aci uz mums viņa pameta vien tad, kad ienācām un kad gājām maksāt. Ceru, ka neiztraucējām viņas ikdienas ritmu, lai gan sajūta tāda bija!

Centīšos atrast, vai ir vēl kādi līdzīgi veikali. Laiku pa laikam biezpiena saldos ēdienus un pelmeņus gribētos apēst, bet tos jau no Latvijas īsti nevar atvest...

P.S. Bilde no veikala mājas lapas.

Small bacon rolls in grandma's style

It's Christmas time. And my grandma has a tradition to make special Christmas rolls every year. In the last years when I was in Latvia I used to help her. Although this year I am not at home (again), I still decided to make these wonderful Christmas rolls. As everybody here in Michael's family seemed to enjoy them, I decided to share the recipe also with all of you.

There are three different recipes as we always make three different rolls - bacon rolls, small sweet rolls with poppy seeds and small sweet rolls with cumin seeds.

Ingrediants
- Flour
- Fresh yeast
- Milk
- Eggs
- Butter
- Sugar
- Bacon
- Pepper
- Onion
- Sugar
- Poppy seeds
- Cumin seeds

Dough
Take one piece of fresh yeast and mix it in approximately one glass warm (not hot) milk and a bit of flour. Leave for some minutes to let it ferment.
Mix it with 500-600 grams of flour and one egg. Knead it with your hands for at least 10 minutes, preferably more, so it gets a nice shape and doesn't stick to your fingers anymore.
Then leave it in a warm place (I left it near the radiators) for a couple of hours. After that take it out, knead a few minutes more and leave it at the same place again for some time (I left it for an hour).
Once the dough is ready, divide it in three parts, one of them bigger than two others.

Small sweet rolls with poppy seeds
Take the first small piece of the dough and roll it with a rolling pin until it is flat enough and has a circle shape.
Then melt some butter in a pan. Spread the melted butter on all flat dough.
Take the sugar and spread it on the top of the melted butter as well. How much? As much as you feel like and how sweet rolls do you want.
Take the poppy seeds and spread them on the top as well. Make sure you put enough of them, do not be shy!
When it's done, cut them like you would cut a cake - in triangles.
Roll each triangle from the outside to inside, so starting with the longer part to the middle of the circle. It will create a nice shape of the roll.
Place all triangles on a pan with a baking paper. Do not forget to cover each roll with a bit of egg!
Now it's time to bake them :) I baked around 10-15 minutes in 170-200 degrees, but it all depends on you. They need to be a bit soft and not too crunchy after taking them out of the oven.

Small sweet rolls with cumin seeds
Take the second small piece of dough and repeat the same procedure as above, just, of course, use cumin seeds instead of poppy seeds this time. :)

Bacon rolls
Cut bacon and half an onion in small, small pieces. Add black pepper (in the worst case also white one works) and mix all together. You must be able to smell the pepper, just do not exaggarate the amount of it!
Take the last remaining piece - the biggest one. Again it needs to be rolled, just it is not so important in what shape do you roll the dough.
Once it is rolled, take a big glass and make circles in the dough with it - like you would do with gingerbread.
On each circle you put half a teaspoon of the bacon-onion-pepper mixture. Then roll it with your fingers and close the circle in a shape of a half moon.
Spread the egg on the top of it and again bake the same as both sweet rolls above.

You can eat them both warm and cold! Hope you will enjoy and say thanks to my grandma!

Kā es nopirku "koolraap"...

Tas gadījās jau pirms divām nedēļām un daži no lasītājiem gan jau zina šo stāstu, bet pietiekami komisks, lai būtu grēks šo prieku laupīt arī citiem.

Man ļoti garšo dārzeņi – laikam tāpēc, ka laukos pavadīts tik daudz laika. Burkāni, kāposti, kartupeļi, tomāti, gurķi, zirņi... Dodiet tik to visu, ēdīšu tā, ka nemetās!

Un jau kopš bērna kājas pašā topā ir kolrābji. Jau Rīgā tos neizdevās atrast un bieži iegādāties, laikam šis prieks ir tikai lauciniekiem.

Lai nu kā, vienu dienu vietējā lielveikalā nopirku to, kas nīderlandiski saucas "koolraap". Kā jums šķiet, kas tas ir? Kolrābis? Jā, man arī tā šķita.

Sataisīju, apēdu. Smaržoja tāpat kā parasti, izskatījās bik citādāk, bet nu varbūt cita šķirne.

Tajā pašā vakarā gribēju apskatīties Wikipedia, kā ir kolrābis angliski, jo neviens no apkārtējiem nezināja – lai gan šķiet, ka visās valodās šis vārds ir ļoti līdzīgs. Izrādās, esmu nopirkusi nevis kolrābi, bet gan... kāli!

Laucinieki varbūt smiesies, bet nekad iepriekš kāli nebiju pirkusi, tikai ēdusi, tāpēc nezināju, kāds tas izskatās...

Un jūs jautāsiet, kā nīderlandiski ir kolrābis, ja "koolraap" ir kālis? Kolrābis savukārt ir "koolrabi". Baigā atšķirība, ne?

Turpināšu meklēt, kur var dabūt īsto kolrābi. Baigi gribas. Runā, ka kādā ekoveikalā esot. Būs jāpaskatās.

P.S. Bildes no Google!