Kerstpakket

What a surprise to find that the infamous kerstpakket (the official christmas present from the university medical center) this year contained useful stuff that will (probably) not make you ill or waste your time!
In the package of last year we got some best-before-the-end-of-the-next-millenium food and snacks, including a cream cheese that did not contain cheese and a pate that we had to return because someone found glass shards in it! Of course we got other less dangerous stuff too, like a collapsable shopping bag and a fake coin for shopping trolleys which completely failed to match the size of any of the Euro currency...

This year however, we got a set of four dinner plates, four glasses, a tin of sweet biscuits, a foccacia bread, olive oil, a bag of pasta, a glass of tomato sauce, a tin of olives, a bottle of wine and a cookbook on italian food. Now that is what I call useful content.

Illustration courtesy: easyorder.nl

Cooking weekend

A relaxing weekend with lots of cooking. Yesterday I prepared the marinated herring that I will bring for the department christmas dinner on Friday. I made two types of herring, a plain 'white herring' and a special christmas herring marinade. After a short break I went in the kitchen again to make a winter vegetable soup for dinner.
Today I will be cooking again. I have planned a toetjes-avond with Ingrid and Rinaldo this evening. I will make a dessert of the apple mash that my sister brought for me, and I wonder what dessert Ingrid and Rinaldo have in store for me...

Illustration courtesy: Kompaskurs.dk

Bread Heads

A big fraction of my colleagues seem to have a passion for bread. Not only do many of them have a bread machine, but they like to bake often and try out and even optimise different bread recipes.
When in Denmark I used to bake bread every second week or so. I would make ciabatta, dark bread, walnut bread (my favourite) and other types too, all yeast recipes and kneaded by hand. Though I love homemade bread I have not dared to start experimenting with the rather unreliable oven we have in the house where I live. But for lunch I have made a good bread deal: Since I came to the Netherlands, I realised how much I love the typical Danish rye bread. Recently I found out that a colleague of mine can buy some similar rye bread at a German bakery where she lives, so since then we made a deal that she brings me a fresh delicious rye bread from her baker every week. Mmmm... delicious!

Photo courtesy: Malaysiabest.net

Arrived in NY

What a bummer to arrive before the hostel check-in opens (I _really_ need a shower after the eight hour flight). And the weather here is extremely hot - 29 degrees feels like a day for ice creams and non-stop ice tea.

Meanwhile in Copenhagen: The Copenhagen Cooking Festival