Eten & Drinken

That's "Food & Drink" for you non-Nederlanders.

Recently, I took an extended Labor Day vacation and jet-set off to Amsterdam for a long weekend. I had been to Amsterdam once before as part of a 24 hr layover traveling from Boston to Tanzania. During that trip I had a whirlwind tour of Amsterdam and squeezed in the Anne Frank House, a canal tour and some really good Thai food. For this trip, I had a whopping 72 hrs to explore the city, including sampling the food. Although still short, it was a blast!

Here are some Dutch tidbits I picked up on this trip:

• Tosti's. Mmm, tosti! This is a grilled/pressed sandwich with meats, cheeses and or veggies. It's served on dense, flat Turkish bread and is closest to an American definition of "panini." Very delicious. They're rather common, but I was surprised that more places weren't open later serving them -- they seemed to be a good call for those with "coffee shop" munchies.
• Panini. Here in the US, the panini means a gourmet sandwich, served on grilled flat bread and warmed/melted contents (cheese, meats, veggies). Best I can tell, in Amsterdam, this simply means "sandwich" -- white or multi-grain bread with some meat or cheese, served cold or at room temperature. Not that impressive. You have been forewarned.
• Coffee. Coffee is ubiquitous here and locals and tourists alike cram the outdoor cafes from late morning through early evening to drink a cup and chat. Oftentimes, coffee is served in glass mugs, something I hadn't seen much of in other European countries.
• Mint Tea. I didn't sample this, but it was on every menu I saw and frequently appeared on nearby tables. It looked beautiful -- light amber-colored water with mint leaves floating in suspension. Will have to try on the next trip!
• Dam good beer. Amstel, Heineken and Grolsch are the top players, in that order -- judged unscientifically based on the number of signs outside cafes. Bars open early, but I was surprised to see that they closed relatively early (or at least the outside portions) as well.

More on specific Amsterdam restaurants in the next post!

River Rock Farm

Recently, I was able to stop by the River Rock Farm table at the Brookline Farmer's Market. I had wanted to purchase skirt steak from them, but they were always sold out by the time I made it to the market after work.

Still hankering for some iron, I opted to buy some steak tips from the nice gal at River Rock and happily brought them home for dinner.


All natural beef? Local? I felt good about supporting it. We cooked it simply -- just salt & pepper on the grill and they were some of the best steak tips we've had (we have a tendency to overcook them). I'm not sure I could tell the difference in the flavor, but the idea of supporting local farmers appeals to me.

River Rock Farm offers a type of meat CSA. I'm intrigued, but not sure I'm ready to have that much (5-6 lbs/month) red meat in my diet.

Fallen Tomatoes

I was so proud of them. They were exceeding expectations. However, this evening, I confirmed what I first suspected yesterday: my 2 heirloom tomato plants had fallen victim to late blight. I bought them at a local farm/nursery, thinking they'd be better quality than plants from Home Depot. Was their fate determined by spores on the window from neighbors? Did my local nursery buy them from some central, infected distributor? Did I plant them too close together? Or, was it simply the result of an uncommonly wet June? Regardless, I'll have to find some other source for garden-fresh BLT's and caprese salad this summer.

Tonight, after dinner, we pulled the heart-shaped heirloom and bagged it for the trash. I salvaged 3 giant green tomatoes and have them on the windowsill, with the vain hope that they will ripen, but I'm not too optimistic. We gathered another half dozen not-quite-ripe cherries and are eagerly awaiting their fate. The rest of the cherry tomato plant gets pulled tomorrow night. The mosquitoes were too thick for us tonight to finish the job and really, my heart wasn't in it.

For my inaugural vegetable garden, 3 plants are down, with 1 to go. Will the pepper plant make it?

Zucchini Roll-Ups and An Easy Dinner

When the zucchini was flourishing, we were eating zucchini every other night, usually grilled. Last week, I opted to fancify our grilled zucchini and served it with dinner

Zucchini Roll-Ups

• 1 medium zucchini, cut into long strips (about 4 strips per zucchini)
• salt & pepper
• olive oil
• 1 oz goat cheese, room temperature
• 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Season zucchini with olive oil, salt & pepper and grill on medium heat, a few minutes per side. Remove from grill and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, mix chopped parsley into the goat cheese. Spoon 1/4 of the goat cheese mixture onto the end of each zucchini and roll up.

We enjoyed ours with a quick-fried chicken breast, served on a bed of arugula with a squeeze of lemon and oh yes, some of the early golden cherry tomatoes!

The Garden Is Growing!

This is my first real vegetable garden -- I've tried growing tomatoes and herbs in pots in the past, but as my first summer with a real yard, I jumped into homegrown veggies.

As noted earlier, this year's crop includes 1 zucchini plant, 2 heirloom tomatoes (1 cherry, 1 "strawberry" and 1 pepper. Rundown on progress:

• Zucchini plant was going strong, but then succumbed to powdery mildew and I pulled it earlier this week. I was able to harvest about 12-18 zucchinis and still have one in the fridge.
• Heirloom strawberry tomato has a couple of BIG tomatoes on it, but they haven't ripened yet.
• Heirloom cherry is officially out of control. It is climbing up the side of the garage, around the pepper plant, inching its way to the driveway. We've already enjoyed a handful of cherry tomatoes with about 1 bagillion more on the way. I'm not complaining.
• Pepper plant is slow and steady. I actually wasn't expecting to be able to harvest anything, but one pepper showed up last week (still ripening) and I just noticed 2 more the other day.

Fingers crossed that the heirlooms don't succumb to the blight!

5 Foot Heirloom Cherry Tomato.

A big heirloom strawberry tomato. They're heart-shaped!

One little pepper growing, 80% surrounded by the crazy cherry.