Boating in the sun

Yesterday we got our new bikes! Classical Dutch style but with seven
gears. Today we arranged for an indoor parking space for mine on our
street, Femke already had one.
Now we are out in the lovely weather with my boat :-)

Amsterdam smiles with the sun

Visiting the Hermitage in Amsterdam

Boating

Today Femke and me took our first little ride in the boat for this year. Nice!

Snowy in amsterdam, again

It is snowy here, again. This must be one of the toughest winters in Amsterdam for a very long time. That didn't stop me from biking around in this beautiful city to check out different neighbourhoods. I ended it all with a hot chocolate at one of my favourite bars, de Druif.

 

 

Snowy Amsterdam

The harsh winter continues in Amsterdam. Well, its tough with Dutch standards but of course rather normal if you use Swedish measurements. Nevertheless trains stop running, mail doesn't show up and the country ran out of road salt making driving hazardous.
A big difference compared to Sweden is that they just don't have the machinery and staff, never mind organization, to deal with lots of snow. Which isn't strange since it so rare - they say that this is the toughest winter in the Netherlands in 30 years.
I kind of like it.

I took the photo on our street the 6th of January.

Snow in Amsterdam

The last couple of days it has been snowing here in Amsterdam. And unusually, the snow is still around!

 

My little boat, all snowed over

 

Snowy street outside our apartment

Cheese tasting

This morning I had the pleasure to attend to a cheese tasting at Reypenaer in central Amsterdam. They produce a number of cheeses the old fashioned way, letting them slowly ripe in their riverside warehouse.

We tried six cheeses:
Chevre affiné (4 months, goat cheese)
Chevre Gris (10 months, goat cheese)
Wyngaard Affineur (6 months, made of summer milk from cows)
Reypenaer (matured 1 year, made of winter milk)
Reypenaer VSOP (2 years, winter milk)
Reypenaer XO Reserve (2,5 years, summer milk)

I liked them all, but Reypenaer topped my list, followed by VSOP, XO Reserve and Wyngaard Affineur.

Next Hypoxia on its way

Late yesterday night I uploaded the next issue of Hypoxia to the print shop. This is the last issue for this year, but I am very happy to say that I will produce the magazine also during 2010. Here is a peak on the front page.

Femke is off to London today, but only until tomorrow. And I am going shopping! Well, researching shopping in Amsterdam for a story that is.

Last summer day in Amsterdam?

Today we had what might well be the last real summer day in Amsterdam. A bright sunny sky and temperatures above 25°C made me close the office early and go for a ride in my boat. It feels so luxurious to be able to do that, just decide that today, the weather is to good to sit indoors, lets take a spin on the canals :-)

In the evening, I met Femke on a terrace (Bloem) for an Al Fresco dinner. This was especially nice as she leaving tomorrow for a long weekend in Albania, visiting a friend.

Lots of work but also pleasure

Andrew and Femke at Blijburg

The Blijburger

A beautiful old corvette parked outside Blijburg

The last couple of days we have both been really busy with work. Femke came home from a very interesting trip to Liberia, and needed to sum up that, at the same time as she is preparing for a conference in Stockholm later this summer.

I came home from Slovenia and had to write several stories from there. But I also had other stories to deliver and the next issue of Hypoxia to produce. Busy busy in other words.

That doesn’t stop us from having a nice time. Several evenings, we’ve had dinner and drinks on the balcony in the lovely weather. I had some whisky together with the neighbours the other night.

And tonight, we biked 10 kilometers to visit a friend that moved to Ijburg, an island in the outskirts of Amsterdam. It was a nice ride and it was great to meet Andrew again and to see his marvellous flat, high up on a corner with splendid sea-views in two directions.

From there, we biked further out on Ijburg to the city beach of Blijburg. Well, me and Femke biked and Andrew hooked on to my bike and rolled on his skateboard :-)

Blijburg city beach is quite a nice place with a terrace, a big beach and great views. They even have their own witbier, brewed by Brouwerij de Leckere.

Later on, we also had a drink at terrace of the stylish bar Dok 48, just next to the marina.

Now, it’s time for a quick look at Red Bull X-Alps, then bed. Tomorrow, more work.

A lovely evening in the boat

Hanna & Maarten

Tonight, we took a relaxing boat tour together with Hanna and Maarten, two friends that recently moved to our part of Amsterdam. They brought pasta sallad and we brought drinks and strawberries - all very summery :-)

Celebrating a wonderful woman

Some people dread turning 30, or 40. Not me. I thoroughly enjoyed both occasions as great opportunities to gather friends and family. Today, it was Femke’s turn – she is celebrating her 30th summer. Although not as relaxed about it as I was, I do think she enjoyed the day.

She already received most of her gifts, so we started with breakfast in bed with freshly baked bread from the bakery. The big event, however, was to be in the evening, when we spoiled ourselves with a magnificent five dish dinner (plus surprises) at the elegant Restaurant De Kas.

A glass of white wine in the gardens was followed by gazpacho with tempura-courgette and courgette flower, Dutch shrimps with an aubergine compote and Indian papadam, and as a third starter, a marvellous lamb dish served with chanterelle mushrooms, green beans and pea puré. To this, we drank a nice Italian Primitivo wine.

The main course was a delicately cooked seawolf resting on a bed of barley, green peas and a lobster sauce. The recommended Belgian chardonnay (wijnkasteel Genoels-Elderen 2006) was a very good match, with its powerful nose and full taste.
As dessert, we devoured a splendid concoct of pannacotta with strawberry sauce and a berry sorbet.

But the evening didn’t end there. I had arranged for us to stay over in a very special place – one of the former secret catholic churches from the 18th century, now transformed into a one room-hotel in central Amsterdam, called Op Het Altaar (under the altar).
As I am writing of peculiar lodgings in the Netherlands, this was just another case of my diligent research. And I think Femke appreciated the sparkling wine and the strawberries.

Tropenmuseum and more boating

Today was Anders last day here in Amsterdam, for this time. But since he flew late in the evening, we had time for some cultural activities in the form of a visit to the Tropenmuseum. Very interesting, I must say. Beautiful and modern exhibitions about the Netherlands colonial past and the countries involved. They also have a good restaurant there, where we had lunch.

We spent the afternoon in the boat again, sailing a long tour all the way to the western parts of Amsterdam, then back home to east to enjoy Femke’s lovely dinner.

It was nice having you here, Anders, come back soon!

Midsummer!

What can I say – I am Swedish. So we threw a Midsummer party together with Anders, Rut, Jan and Hyshil.

This is Anders imitating Shrek. He does look like an ogre.

Swedish friend visiting

De Druif

De Druif

Anders having a landing beer
on the beach at Wijk aan Zee

Wednesday evening, my old friend from Malmö, Anders (a. k. a. Bonen) arrived to Amsterdam for a five days visit. I am thrilled to have him over – not seeing friends and family so often is one of the flip sides of living abroad.

We kicked of his stay energetically with some paragliding at the coast, followed up by Indonesian food at Kadijk Café and then beer at oldstyle beer cafés Scharrebier and De Druif and alter the Groene Oliphant.
Next day, I had the pleasure of showing Bonen my Amsterdam from the water, taking a long ride with my boat.