Food Friday: Thanks Heston

On our flight to Boston we had the good fortune to experience Heston Blumenthal's "Height Cuisine" concept.  If you are unfamiliar with this (and the only reason we know about it is because we saw a BBC documentary about it last year), Michelin starred chef Heston Blumenthal, renowned for molecular gastronomy, while attempting to improve airline food discovered tht out taste buds actually don't function fully at altitude.  Combine that with the fact that an airline cabin is several times dryer than the Sahara desert and it's no wonder airline food is tasteless.

Our dear Heston discovered that there is a certain flavor, umami, the 5th taste after sweet, salty, bitter and sour, that works really well at 30,000 feet.  Umami is a savory taste in seaweed, tomato and Parmesan cheese. the wines and cocktails offered are also chosen because their favors work well at altitude.

My starter was a pheasant, duck and pistachio terrine with plumb and baby onion confit.  It was delicious, but admittedly I like that sort of thing.  It was served with a salad that had an intense peppery flavor thanks to the baby rocket and red pepper flakes.  It also had green and black olives, red peppers and something mild that I could not identify.  It was so flavorful that I didn't use any salad dressing although I didn't love the flavor.

For my entree I had a seared fillet of beef with a Parmesan crust with celeriac dauphinoise and cabbage and carrot.  I mistook the celeriac for potatoes au gratin but did genuinely enjoy them.  Maybe it was some parm migrating from the beef?  The beef had a nice flavor (although a little salty, even for me--Ms. salt Tooth).  It was also way overdone for me, but I reminded myself to get a grip.  This was, after all, airline food.  Cabbage was also worth a mention.  Chiffonade, and knowing what I do about umami, I suspect with a little seaweed in there.  I finished it all

All served with a 2007 red Boudreaux (my choice).  I don't know anything about wine (except that I don't like sweet wine) but the menu explained that fruity reds and crisp whites work well at high altitude. I normally don't like cheesecake, but it had a lovely crisp, buttery crust so I finished every bite.

Our little boy had chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes and a whole plate of fruit.  I suspect the kids meals aren't part of the "height cuisine" menu, but he ate a reasonable amount.  Plus, he ate while watching Madagascar so I was happy to have some peace to enjoy my nice meal.

The Dentist

Even though I've lived abroad before and traveled a fair amount, I have never seen a doctor in a foreign country.  This weekend my retainer broke (yes, I'm 14), and after investing considerable money, time and discomfort in straightening my teeth last year I wanted to get the problem addressed as soon as possible.

Luckily, I live above a dentist office.  I had actually taken M there a couple of months ago so I was somewhat familiar with the office.  I also have insurance, although I'm not sure how much it will actually cover.  But, we failed to provide insurance coverage when M was seen and his appointment cost 25 Euro, or about $100 less than it would have in the US, so I'm pretty confident that my appointment won't break the bank.

What was most remarkable was how the procedure was exactly the same, but all the instruments looked a little different.  For instance, you know that little tube that sucks up your spit?  Well it was closer to a vacuum cleaner hose here.  But, I really like our dentist and he was able to fix my retainer, give me a full dental exam (but not a cleaning) and pronounce my teeth and gums in such great shape that he didn't need to see me for another year in about 30 minutes.

Food Friday

Thanks to everyone who provided suggestions and inspiration to get me out of my rut.  Please, keep them coming!  I think my mojo is slowly creeping back as evidenced by googling "baked scotch egg recipes." Thanks to Cheryl's suggestion, I used some of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey stock and some chicken breast and mirepoix to make a nice soup. Perfectly timed because we are all in various stages of the first cold of the winter.

Surprisingly, M really likes soup. I can remember being served a lot of soup as a child and pretty much only eating bread for dinner those nights, so I find it really surprising that M not only likes soup, but after he picked the chicken out he told me he only wanted the broth. OK, fine, it was made with turkey, fresh herbs and potatoe water, so it's basically a meal in itself. There wasn't a huge amount of soup so Peter and I supplemented with some simple sandwiches of camembert that Peter brought back from Paris last week on baguette from our awesome local French bakery.

This weekend we've planned a pork roast for Peter's birthday celebration. We only have a few short days before we head home for Christmas so I'll have to build on My mojo in the new year.

Work Wednesday: The Work Wheel

Before we had a kid, Peter and I would spend every Saturday morning cleaning the apartment.  It didn't take long--it was under 800 square feet and there were 2 of us.  I also worked about a block away, so occasionally I'd head home to do a load of laundry or clean the bathroom on my lunch hour.  We had plenty of time to do what we needed to do and didn't need to be particularly organized about it.

That all changed when our little boy arrived.  Suddenly I realized that before I had a kid, I had a ton of free time.  Like, enough free time to write a book or win the Nobel prize.  And I never noticed how much free time I had, what with all the hanging out with friends and TV watching, but that's another blog post...

So after M arrived, and especially after I went back to work 7 months later, we needed a much more organized approach to housework.  Suddenly, dropping everything for 2 hours to clean the house just didn't work.  I'm a huge fan of fly lady, but felt that her zoned approach wasn't the right one for us.  Borrowing from her idea to divide work up into manageable chunks I decided we could do a little bit of work every day and always have a clean house.  With a little bit of thought we came up with a plan that wasn't overly burdensome on any one day and made logical sense (laundry done the day after sheets changed; dusting done before sweeping and sweeping done the day before mopping day).  Plus, our house never got too dirty.

We stuck with this work wheel for three years, adjusting it for different chores as we moved and different chores were necessary.  (And I remember people in college having work wheels for taking turns with chores, so I don't think this is a work wheel in the traditional sense, but I like the alliteration and it is a wheel in that it's never complete).  When we moved to Amsterdam I knew I wouldn't be working so I thought we didn't need a work wheel.  I was wrong. After about a month here the necessity of the work wheel made itself known.

The work wheel is all about a logical approach to housework.  If you don't have to spend time determining what to do next you can just get the chore done.  Or at least I can.  I suppose I'm not so great at the determining what to do next.

So, after a couple of weeks of working with it, we settled on this, our current work wheel:

• Monday:  Wipe bathrooms, plan meals, write grocery list, swiffer dust
• Tuesday:  Grocery shop, vacuum
• Wednesday:  vaccuum upholstery/wash floors (these chores alternate between weeks)
• Thursday:  clean bathrooms, clean kitchen, change beds (alternating between Mairtin's and ours each week)
• Friday:  Swiffer floors

So, there you have it.  I never have to mix "wet" and "dry" chores (for some reason that bugs me) and related chores follow logically.  This plan works for us.  Since I'm not working we don't have assigned chores on the weekend (although I'll occasionally put in some laundry or get a jump on meal planning).  We have our own laundry facilities once again, so that chore doesn't need to show up on the wheel.   The heavy-duty chores are scheduled for days M has school.  Sure, it's not perfect (Thursdays are a bit heavy and the one chore that is piling up is ironing, so I think that needs a spot on the wheel) but the beauty of the work wheel is that you never wake up and say, "gee, we are knee deep in cat hair," or, "my sheets kind of stink; when was the last time I washed them?" two problems I had pre-work wheel.  It's also completely customizable based on what's important to each individual household.  It changed my life.  You're welcome.

The Museum Monday That Wasn't

No museum trip.  This was the day Sint came to Mairtin's school at 10:00 a.m., and we usually try to get the museum while he's fresh.  In the afternoon we had a friend come over for lunch, then we went to a local petting zoo.  Sorry, forgot the camera.

Food Friday: The Rut

Help!  My menu plan looks much too much like it did in New York.  You know, when I had a full time job and we ate the same 12 meals over and over again?  Here it is:  burgers, chicken stir fry, eggs, pizza, pasta and tacos in various orders with the occasional fish or roast dinner thrown in there. 

Plus, I want to drum up some comments on the blog. 

So, I'm making an appeal for your favorite dinner.  Please leave a comment below indicating a meal we should try. 

Bikes, Redux

Last weekend I wrote a post about bikes in which I mentioned that there are two infrastructures layered one over the other here in Amsterdam.  Today as I was cycling back from the "winkels" (shops--the local shopping mall) a traffic light was out.  A police officer was directing traffic.  When it came my turn to go, he pointed at me, then made a cycling motion with his hands.  This made me think about how this dual infrastructure would make being a traffic cop doubly complicated.

Sinterklass Continues...

OK, so, Sunday M and I went to pick up a few things at Albert Heijn.  Whenever Peter travels M and I always eat dinners that Peter doesn't like.  On our shopping list Sunday were chicken nuggets, so we bought the "Sinterklass Letters" (Letters are a big part of this holiday).   Then, on Monday, we stopped by M's school for Sinterklass's visit.  But now it should really be over.

Our Sint chicken nuggets.
This holiday just gets more and more interesting....

Sint's visit to M's school.  

The Blue Piet giving M his gift.
The Piet's were "color Piets" today, perhaps in an effort to update the story.

Not gravel near a curb, but the hail that fell in my gutter
at 8:00 tis morning (when it was still dark).

Museum Monday: Rijksmuseum

M and I recently visited the Rijksmuseum.  The museum is in a massive building, but because of a renovation only a small portion of the collection is currently on display.  This worked to our advantage, since M's attention span for museums is about 45 minutes.

The Rijksmuseum has some cool programs for kids.  I thought that M would be a good candidate for the "Family Treasure Trail," but when we inquired we were given "Gordon the Warden."  Gordon is supposed to be for kids 6-9, but with a little help M was able to do most of the activities.  It highlighted about 5 works and asked questions to engage children.

The first work was a model of a 17th century sailing ship.  After that we moved on to a 17th century doll house, then Jan Steen's The Merry Family and finally The Night Watch.  After our visit, and thanks to the booklet, M was able to recall:

1. The boat was powered by wind
2. A long time ago doll houses were for grown ups, not children, 
3. The Night Watch shows a very noisy, active scene

I wish all museums had self-guided tours specially designed for children.  

Sinterklass Overkill

Sunday night is the last night of Sinterklass.  That is, the last night for most children.  We told M that the last night was Friday night for a couple of reasons.  One is that Peter is going to be out of town on Monday for the feast day.  The other is that we are sick of Sinterklass.  Our original plan to only have Sint come on the actual feast day was disrupted by an early burst of holiday spirit.

Sinterklass is a festival that runs from the feast of St. Martin on November 11th, when Sint arrives from Spain, to the feast of St. Nicholas on December 5th, when he heads back.  Children clean their shoes, set out a bowl of water and some carrots (the carrots are either for Amerigo, Sinterklass's horse or the Zwarte Piets, his assistants (who need to see in the dark).  Kids then sing a song to call Sinterklass (who keeps a record of kid behavior in his book) and he sends his Piets to bring them kadootjes (small gifts).  Depending on a kid's behavior and how busy they are with other kids the Piets don't come every night.  And sometimes they mess up the house.  Naughty children may receive a stick or a little bag of dirt, and particularly naughty children may be transported back to Spain in a sack.  If you run into some "Piets" on the street, they might throw some pepernoten at you.  On the last night it's a somewhat bigger gift.  We learned all of this as we went along.  If we are here next year we'll be Sinterklass experts.

M's final Sinterklass gift:  a Playmobil Sint playset.
You can see his shoes in the background and part of the water bowl

This year we got a little overloaded, even thought most of the gifts were quite small (like small candy bars or small bags of pepernoten, little kibble-like Sinterklass cookies).  If we had to do it over again we probably would have only asked Sint to come every three days or so, and probably would have required M to do the preparation (bowl of water, song, carrot) every night.  We probably would have had the Piets mess up the house more than just once, since that was as big a treat as the small gifts M got.

So, Sinterklass has been exhausting, and now Christmas is starting.  So, we'd better get our holiday energy back up.

Bikes

Over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to step up my game regarding bike riding.  I have been traveling further afield and generally getting more used to traveling by bike.  And I love it!  I've never been a huge fan of cycling in traffic, but here in Amsterdam there are bike lanes and bike paths everywhere;  two infrastructures layered one over the other (one for cars, the other for bikes).  Bike lanes even have their own traffic lights.  It's time for us to take better advantage of this means of transport.  I still plan to buy the awesome Nihola, but not until the new year.

Peter took M to Vondelpark on my bike the morning I prepared Thanksgiving dinner.  It was an incredibly windy day, and given my experience taking M on the back of the bike, I was concerned about how this would work, but Peter did fine right from the get-go.  You can see in the video that he wobbled slightly as he first set off, but was immediately able to handle the bike with the extra 40 pounds.  When they returned M told me that Peter rode the bike much faster than I do, and that he is a better bike rider than me.  He also asked Peter to ride around the whole of Vondelpark, whereas he has expressed some fear about being on the back of the bike with me.  What we learned from the experience is that we should move the bike seat to Peter's bike so we can have some family outings together.

Last year I got a balance bike for M free from one of my neighbors.  I took him out on it once, and he wasn't really into it.  He tired quickly and I got annoyed.  We never took it out again.  However, we have it in Amsterdam, and I had been thinking that we need to take advantage of it before he outgrows it.  The beauty of the balance bike is that it gives kids an opportunity to master balance at their own pace.  The idea is that kids first figure out balance, then are able to transition very smoothly to a two wheeler with pedals.  M is growing really quickly and I saw the window for using the balance bike closing so I knew I had to act.

I had read that the key to successful balance biking is a properly adjusted seat and well inflated tires, so I was pretty encouraged when he wanted to come on the "recon mission" to find a bike store with an air pump.  Then last Thursday we brought the bike to pump up the tires.  West Coast L and her mom came with us.  M was pretty disheartened when L zoomed off.  He even wanted to use her bike because he thought he was faster on it. I explained to him that it wasn't that L's bike was faster, just that he was 5 minutes more experienced when he tried her bike.  And the learning curve with the balance bike truly is that fast!

I told him that if he stuck with it he'd be riding a real two wheeler in no time, and that once he was ready, in couple of months, we'd buy him one.  The next day, I scooted along on my own bike.  M showed an interested in my bell, so as he reached each corner on the block he could ring the bell.  We also struck a deal that if he practiced his bike every day for a week, he could pick out whatever bike bell he wanted.  My idea is that if he practices every day for a week, it will start to be fun for him, then he'll practice all the time.

So far my plan has worked. We are three days in and he's doing great.   The first video shows M scooting along, and the video below shows him easily mounting the bike and actually steering the handle bars (although I admit I turned off the camera just before he wobbled and fell).

But you can see the progress only a few days make.  The videos above are after about 3 days of practice and below it's one week of practice (on the way to get the bell!).  He's still a little wobbly at first but can balance the bike standing (and with no hands) and has found a nice stride.  From time to time he even glides on it (although usually followed by a huge crash). But, he always gets back on and, thanks to my bribe, he has decided the bike is fun.

Food Friday: Thanksgiving!!!

Last Sunday I made Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a huge success, mainly because my wonderful husband took M to Vondelpark for several hours.  It's not every guy who will ride a bike decorated with pink tulips just so his little boy doesn't have to walk.

The kalkoen (turkey) was 4 kilos, or almost 9 pounds and ridiculously expensive at 12.50 Euro per kilo.  It also required a fair amount of prep, including pulling the lungs out.  My Thanksgiving gratitude surrounded the fact I had recently watched an episode of Masterchef:  The Professionals in which they prepared a wood pigeon, so I could identify this organ.

At the price of prime rib, I was terrified I would ruin the turkey, but it turns out I cooked it beautifully.  I prepared it by rinsing it thoroughly and pulling out all the gross bits, rubbing it with a lemon, stuffing it loosely with a red onion, some sliced leaks, celery tops a couple of cloves of garlic and a few slices of lemon.  Then I rubbed it with olive oil and a mixture of course salt and paprika.  I placed a piece of british bacon on the breast and back and trussed it.  Thankfully the legs fit nicely in the little flap of skin on it's bottom and the wing tips were already missing, so trussing it was really easy.  I cooked it breast down, started it at about 450' F, then roasted it for a couple of hours at 350' F, then turned it over and convection roasted it for about a half hour.  It was moist and juicy and flavorful.  Sorry, no photos.  I was a little busy with the cooking and totally forgot!

I also made cranberry sauce (this was supposed to be an activity for M and his friend West Coast L, but they basically snubbed me when it was time to make the cranberries, so I ended up making it myself.  It came out really nice despite the fact that it had a very strange smell during the cooking process (maybe this is normal--I had never made cranberries before).

The stuffing came out great, especially since I totally winged the recipe.  Mairtin also made a special "kid stuffing" from the base of sausage and bread, adding nuts, raisins and apples, but no seasonings.  The sweet potatoes I bought weren't really sweet potatoes, but the mash peter made was great.  I was challenged by oven space, even in my huge oven, so I only cooked part of the pumpkin, and improvised a microwave recipe.  It was OK, but a bit underdone.  The green beans were good, seasoned with a little lemon zest.

I served it with a pinot noir.  One of the bottles broke as I opened it, but there was plenty for the four of us in one bottle, especially since one guest preferred white wine.

For desert we had HEMA appelvlaai (pictured)  with some cream that Peter whipped by hand.