A Culinary Perspective

---

A little time left on our internet purchase so here are some "foodie" tidbits. According to the audio tape at the historical museum Amsterdam is the most culturally diverse city in the world with over 175 culures represented in its citizenry. I can believe it when you look at the diversity of their restaurants. In an area that would be considered a restaurant district there are Italian, Thai, Oriental, Agentine Steakhouses, Indian, Indonesian, pancake houses and cafes. The pancake houses and cafes are closest to what you might call traditional cuisine. However, the pancakes are crepes and come with a huge variety of fillings from basic ham and cheese to thai or curry. There are also a multitude of Subways, McDonalds and KFC's. The day we went to the museum we ate at a small corner cafe - about 4 tables inside and several outside. We split a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and each had a bowl of soup. David had tomato basil soup. The tomatoes were a coarse puree and had lots of flavor. Excellent. I had paprika soup which was a puree of red peppers, corn and, I think, some other veggies. Had a little zip, but not too hot. Excellent flavor.

We have also seen several bakeries. We are back in the land of good bread. Both campgrounds we have been at so far have fresh french hard rolls each day and they are wonderful. Produce markets very common and the produce all looks wonderful. Went by one stand the day before we got the van so didn't buy anything, but the raspberries and blackberries were mouth watering. This is asparagus season and theirs looked very nice.

There are also many, many coffeehouses in Amsterdam. These are not Starbucks. They are the only places where it is legal to smoke marijuana inside so that is the main activity there.

Today we took a long walk along the beach. Cool, with a brisk wind, but very enjoyable. Stopped at a roadside stand on the way back for a snack. They had a wide variety of fried fish and seafood. They also had many salads similar to tuna such as mackerel, herring and another fish one with a name we didn't recognize. The man ahead of us in line had a herring sandwich!!! It was a big hunk of herring with some chopped onions on a hamburger bun. Didn't look good at all, but he seemed to be enjoying it. We ordered some fried mussels to share. They had already been fried, but he dropped them in the hot oil for a second round before serving. That took care of our fat allowance for the day.

Tomorrow we head north to Alkmaar which is the cheese center of the NL. They have a big cheese market on Fridays. They also have a cheese museum and a beer museum. Good activities for the rainy days ahead. Talk to you soon.

---