Fried Balls of Deliciousness: Bitterballen and Arancini

Arancini (left) and bitterballen (right), right before kickoff at our Super Bowl party.

This is technically an Amsterdam-inspired post, although I don't have photos of the bar in Amsterdam where we tried bitterballen. In fact, there's a lot of food from Amsterdam I didn't photograph, because we ate like gluttonous kings and there isn't always good light. When I hang out with Kirk, we EAT. Our marathons have taken place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and now Amsterdam.

Read more...

Amsterdam: On Cheese and Bringing the Magic Home

We had walked into the cheese shop from a brisk foggy cold. Pulling off our layers, we noticed the small shop was bustling with folks tasting cheese and sipping wine. Stepping down into the main area of Kaashandel Abraham Kef, we were greeted by a friendly woman who asked if we wanted to try some "khh-howda". It sounded like "chowdah," said a la Boston, and replacing the "ch" with a guttural, throat-clearing "khh" sound.

Read more...

Amsterdam: On New Directions, the New Year, and Nostalgia

A year ago today, I was heading to Food Blog Camp and starting a course in Genetics at the alma mater. I went back to school for six months, spent the summer applying, spent the fall freaking out, went to Paris, and now 2011 is over.

The most telling sign that I have no idea about what happened to 2011 is when my day job had some recent major breakdowns. It involved a lot of backtracking and reviewing data. In a discussion, I remarked that one of our molecules was made recently, in June.

Everyone stared at me. Turns out it was June 2010. Wow.

Read more...