Amsterdam First Full Day

With the guide book and maps, I had planned out first day out, and Vicki was very happy with my choices.  We started off by taking the tram and got off at the Sarphatipark, and walked towards Albert Cuypstraat for the market.

We would have stopped in one or two of the lovely cafes with their beautifully decorated cakes in the windows

but we had the treasures of the Rijksmuseum to explore.

I could have spent all day there.  I loved these two Delft jardiniers,

and what a spice box from the 1680s

and how about the use of the Old Man's Beard motif on this superb tall standing vase.  It dates from 1908 by Leonard Gebleux and comes from Sevres. 

The tall vase decorated with the stylized old man's beard, which is wild clematis, with thistle in the background and it sits statuesquely in the middle of the floor in its one glass cabinet.

there were tulips around

and I was delighted to find the characteristic glass rummers in the still lifes. You could see the damask weave in this one.  I love damask, this was just so crisp with its fold lines.

This Still Life with Turkey Pie by Peter Claesz  dates from 1627.  And there is a bread bun just so similar to one I recently baked.

We had a delicious lunch, mine was some thickly sliced smoked salmon on a bed of salad beneath which was a slice of excellent sourdough bread, Vicki has a mustard soup.  There is absolutely no need to go out if you are peckish as the service and quality is excellent.

I just had to go and see some of the Vermeers.  My fancy was taken by this one:  The Milkmaid. 

We then went on our Canal Boat Trip.  This again was included in our card, and it gave us a great tour of some of the main canals, and we were in the warm out of the cold biting wind.

We enjoyed out walks along the canals looking at the wonderful facades, and went out in the evening for again another delicious meal.

Trip to Amsterdam day of arrival.

What an unforeseen offer...a visit to Amsterdam.  My friend Vicki treated me to a few days, which we planned together.  The flight was wonderful but we had some trying times with our accommodation, but this is best skimmed over, as the rest of the holiday was wonderful.

We arrived into Schiphol Airport and caught the train into the centre.  At the airport I bought us both I amsterdam city cards, to cover our travel and museums, well most museums.  Just out from the main station, we visited the very interesting Museum 'Our Lord in the Attic'.  It was a Catholic Church built within the top floor of three 17th Century Canal Houses.  The view from the windows of surrounding roof tops was so interesting..I usually look up!

In the house part I was intrigued by the bed in the cupboard, which I think is such a useful way of using the rest of the room as a living and working room.  I imagined this room to be similar to the rooms described in the novel I had brought with me.

In some of the rooms the old tiles were charming, and used as skirting boards, as well on the walls in the kitchen.  I look down too!

As we walked around the various parts of the museum, our handsets gave us the background to life in the 17th Century and the religious observances of the Catholic citizens.  I had brought my latest book by Tracey Chevalier:  The Girl with the Pearl Earing.  In the novel the emotional conflict for young Protestant maid Griet working in the Vermeer Household which was Catholic gave an interesting insight which enriched my visit to this museum.  Her father had been a tile painter, but had been blinded which was the reason the daughter had to go to be a maid to provide her wages to feed her mother and father.  There were so many facets to this book, for which I found parallels during our holiday in the Netherlands

Later in the day we visited the Ann Frank Museum (not included in the card).  This showed another more recent epoque when Jews were persecuted during the Nazi Occupation.  Sadly they were killed.  The story was well put, the rooms however were bare of all contents, through there were photographs.  In fact with the volume of people going through, it would have not been at all possible to have any circulation without having the rooms unfurnished.

Laugenbrotchen

Another bake from the Book of Buns, by Jane Mason.  Coming back from Amsterdam, I was looking for a bake to 'ground' me after my adventures.

This bake entails a predough,  which is left overnight

 

and continuing on day two, after all the kneading, resting, shaping

 etc....a pan of boiling water with bicarbonate of soda...then just as I was about to float the buns in the pan, horrors of horrors: very yellow flames both on top of the cooker, and in the oven.  I knew I had to phone the emergency services, and turn all the gas off.  I thought it may have been 'bad gas' coming down the line, and called my neighbour but she has an electric cooker.  Within the time slot the safety engineer arrived, and tested everything, and by then the gas was burning blue again.  Hurrah!  All was not lost, although I had already baked the smaller pretzels, and we just had to nibble on these as we were hungry and dinner had to be put on hold too!

I put the small buns straight into the conservatory which was pretty cool a couple hours after sunset.

They were non the worse for the wait, in fact I think they were the better for it!  They make delicious buns for a packed lunch.  So much so, that I had an order to today's lunch to be made with similar buns.

We had some wonderful bread in Amsterdam, and saw some very good bread stalls at the daily market on the Albert Cuypstraat, just a short walk from the Rijksmuseum.

One very interesting shop which spilled out to form part of the market was De Perperbol, which had an amazing variety of spices, teas, and kitchen gadgets.

We had amazing service all in excellent English, and they even offered to send me items to England by post should I ever need anything in the future.

The only souvenir I brought back, as I only had cabin luggage were a couple of spices: dried dill and ground anise seed.

The Forty Rules of Love

I've just returned this to the Library.  I borrowed it on the evening when Elif Shafak came to Kenilworth Library.  I started it just over a week ago.  Its well worth reading...

Where has all the Tate & Lyle Granulated Sugar gone?

I knew it would not be long before I had to make some more lime marmalade.  I had finished my last pot a few weeks ago.  There were some lovely bright green firm limes unwaxed in Waitrose, so I popped a whole pile into my basket.  The next problem was the sugar, of course for me, the best and only sugar for preserves is cane sugar, and until recently I could get hold of Tate & Lyle even if I had to go to Tesco.  However, the local store and the large one by the University no longer carry this brand as their standard white.  It seems to be the trend in supermarkets recently to change their standard white granulated sugar to be the beet sugar grown in the UK.  However it just does not pass muster for jams or jellies.  Of course you can buy the premium jam sugars which cost a lot more than standard granulated.

I noticed Whitworths white sugar creeping into local shops, but no explicit source of the sugar on the packet.  A few phone calls resulted in some interesting information.  Whitworths sugar is no longer owned by Whitworths, but is now owned by The Real Good Food Company.  So I called them to ask about their sugar.  I was told that it comes from various sources, could be beet could be cane, maybe a mixture...I feel this was an answer just to fob off a casual enquiry.  

When I explained why I was asking and why it mattered both to jam makers and bee keepers, they seemed not to realise the problem.  I suggested that at least they mark the bags with the type of sugar.

After that little session, I was really pleased to have my new pencils delivered by the postman.  When I opened them, and they were beautifully packed, there was a little note with the name of the packer.  I just felt I had to phone Newcastle Arts Centre up and thank them for the quick delivery and excellent packaging.  Jon said I had made his day!

Of course, I am just starting with the drawing/painting/mark making hobby.  My sister Lizzie has been really good at art for a long time, and she recently gave me a little encouragement after I heard that my local lessons have been temporarily put on hold.  So today, I got out my new pencils and sketched the pink carnations Izzi and Veronica had brought last week.  I shall have to work on this one....