Food Diary Amsterdam

Hello everybody :)

As Lena and I have been to Amsterdam from Friday until today we decided to blog about the food we have eaten there. We were really excited to try some traditional Dutch food but unfortunately I didn't find anything vegan except fries. However, you can check out Lena's post to see what she has tried :)
We went by train and left on Thursday evening. On Friday morning we arrived in Amsterdam so I will start with lunch on Friday.


Friday, 27.03.2015

Lena has known from a friend that everyone eats fries all the time in Amsterdam but we weren't prepared to see a fries stall every four meters wherever we went. So of course this was the first thing we tried and they were way better than those at McDonald's ;)

In the evening we went to a little Italian restaurant. I had Spaghetti Puttanesca which are Spaghetti with tomato sauce and olives, artichokes, asparagus, paprika and capers. The dish was really good but the portion was quite small and therefore also priced too high with nearly 12€.

Later that evening we went to the Happy Hour at our youth hostel and decided to try out a typically Dutch shot called Dropshot. This is a shot of liquid liquorice. We didn't know that before however, because if we knew I think we wouldn't have tried it! It didn't taste that bad actually, a little bit like Jägermeister.





Saturday, 28.03.2015

We had breakfast at our hostel and there was a large buffet with quite a wide range of food to eat. I actually had two more slices of bread and a cup of tea after the serving you can see here but forgot to take a photo :D
I ate the slices of bread and the roll with strawberry jam, apricot jam, Zwergenwiese Paprika spread which I had brought from home and the last slice I buttered with margarine and sprinkled with chocolate sprinkles, which was my vegan version of Hachelslag.

For lunch we just bought a snack in a supermarket because we weren't that hungry after the huge breakfast. I had bulgur with chickpeas, radish, leek, raisins and goji berries. And yeeees, this is a spork! :D I was delighted when I found one in that supermarket!

Between the meals I had an apple and raw bite cacao bar while strolling through the streets of Amsterdam.

For dinner we went to a small Dutch cafe but as I said before, they didn't have any traditional dish that was vegan. So I ordered a tomato soup and a potato salad. The soup was delicious and also the bread tasted heavenly good.





Sunday, 29.03.2015

We had breakfast at a youth hostel again, a different one however, as there were no beds available for another night at the first one. I had toast with strawberry jam and raspberry jam, a cup of black tea and a glass of orange juice. I couldn't eat more because we got up really early to get into the Anne Frank museum and I can never eat much when I have to eat before 9 o'clock in the morning.

For lunch I had a big focaccia with tomatoes and spinach and a cup of tea because it was freezing cold. We bought this at a really nice restaurant and shop called la Place.

In the evening we went to an Italian restaurant again. I had ravioli ai funghi con tomato sauce and a chamomile tea. Again the Italian dish was pretty expensive, I think I paid about 10€ for it.






Monday, 30.03.2015

On Monday, our last day in Amsterdam, we had the same breakfast as on Sunday. I forgot to take a photo so I'll just show you that from yesterday. That time I helped myself to two more slices with orange jam as it was already half past nine :P

When we walked through the famous street market I couldn't resist this delicious looking (and tasting!) smoothie. It was a smoothie made of spinach, bananas, apples and oranges.

Later we had a quick lunch at an vegetarian fast food place called maoz. They had fries and falafel sandwiches there. Lena took the fries and I had a small falafel sandwich. These were definitely the best falafel I have ever eaten! I could choose between a white and a whole wheat bread and then there was a big buffet of vegetables and sauces I could put into the bread, without any limits. I ate a whole wheat sandwich with falafel, tomato and onion sauce, lettuce, carrots, cucumber, cauliflower and some unidentifiable violet vegetable.

Soon after that we already had to go to the railway station to catch our train to Düsseldorf. At the train station we had to wait a little bit so I bought some yummy grapes.

On the train I ate a muesli bar while reading Stolen from Lucy Christopher :)










Once we were in Düsseldorf we had to wait two hours until our train to Vienna arrived. We went to McDonald's where Lena had a salad and I ate this focaccia with olives that I brought from la Place in Amsterdam.

After that we had tea at Starbucks. I chose my favourite tea: Earl Grey with soy milk. Yummy :D





So that's everything I ate in those four days in Amsterdam :)
I hope you enjoyed reading and looking at the pictures. 

Have a nice evening,
Larissi ♥

7 Days of Austrian Food - A Tasty But Heavy Experience

Make food part of your everyday English routine… explaining the menu to a native-speaking friend… I’m going to London in summer… I have an idea!

After some thinking what I can do for this blog post I came up with a plan: I create a diary-like document explaining typically Austrian dishes which I’m going to give to my family’s friend in South East London when I visit her in summer. To make this an everyday routine I asked my mum if we could prepare at least one Austrian dish per day, whether it is a soup, a main course or a dessert.

First day:

My mum and I decided to just have some “Fritattensuppe” for lunch because we had some leftovers from the last time I made pancakes. First I wanted to find out what the English name for this soup could be. As expected my dictionary was useless. so I started to check on the Internet. I found out that it is simply called pancake soup, after realizing that I don’t even know how to spell it in German (it is actually spelled “Frittatensuppe”, so I misspelled the “t” the first time). Explaining how to prepare pancake soup is a lot easier than that. You just have to prepare some beef soup and then put some strips of pancake into it. If you like you can add some chives.

             (Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the food, so I tried to find some appetizing-looking pictures on the Internet instead)

Second day:

Since both my mum and I mostly don’t like to spend a lot of effort on cooking we agreed on taking it easy and go to an inn and have a “Wiener Schnitzel” there. It seems to me that this dish is something so typically Austrian that, at least according to my dictionary, there is no own English name for it. Wiener schnitzel is made of pounded veal escalopes which are dipped into flour. Then they are covered with a mixture of whisked eggs and bread crumbs and cooked in a frying pan.

Third day:

I was really looking forward to lunch because I had the idea to prepare one of my favourite desserts, “Apfelstrudel” (or apple strudel, to say it in English). It consists of two layers of puff pastry filled with grated apple, raisins, bread crumbs, cinnamon and sugar. After baking you have to leave it some time to cool but not too long because apple strudel is best eaten warm. If you have a sweet tooth you can add some powder sugar on top. Some people also put vanilla sauce on it.

Fourth day:

In the morning mum bought some “Sulz” at a farmer’s market for dinner. I had not known what it really consists of so I had to check on the Internet. Apparently “Sulz”, or meat in aspic, is basically just what it looks like, that is to say parts of meat and vegetables set into gelatin. At home I have always had “Sulz” with pork, however, there can be used various types of meat. I don’t know if people usually do this but I am used to put some sliced onion on the “Sulz”, add some salt and then pour some pumpkin seed oil on it.

Fifth day:

Dumpling day! Today we had “Grammelknödel” for lunch. I was quite surprised to find a translation for “Grammel” in an online dictionary. The English term is greaves, so I guess this dish can be called greaves dumplings. The dumplings are basically made of a mixture of egg, flour, butter and rolls and, of course, greaves. As side dish we had “Sauerkraut” which seems to have no own English name.

Sixth day:

I have to admit that I’m getting quite fed up with all that heavy food and actually just want to eat something light like a salad or some fruit. However, since I’ve come this far with my project I don’t want to stop now. That’s why today I decided to prepare some “Gefüllte Paprika” (stuffed peppers) for lunch. Another confession: by “preparing” I actually mean putting a ready-cooked meal into the microwave because I was too lazy to cook it myself. Anyway, stuffed peppers are peeled and pitted peppers filled with rice or minced meat, ham and sometimes mushrooms. The peppers are then braised in tomato sauce.

Last day:

Today we visited my mum’s cousin and his wife. To complete my project I asked them if they would be so kind to prepare an Austrian dish, preferably “Schweinsbraten” because in my opinion they make the best one in the world. The English term for this is pork roast. The name effectively says everything, it is a roast made of pork. I think it’s the seasoning which makes the Austrian version so special. Before roasting caraway, coriander, marjoram and garlic are added. What I personally like best about it is the crispy rind. As side dish dumplings or fried potatoes (not fries!) are quite common.

To sum up what I learned from that week I can mention the following two points:

First, by watching the food being prepared respectively cooking it myself I gained the insight into what dishes called typically Austrian really consist of and how they are prepared.

Secondly, I learned, or at least better became aware of, that traditional Austrian cuisine is really heavy and should not be consumed every single day. Which reminds me I should go and have a healthy snack now… Bye :)