As you all know, Wes is still in the States. He got stuck with packing up the rest of house, though I did help some before I left.
In an effort not to become a hermit (though, with an apartment as nice as mine, who would blame me), I have been looking for tours to take within the city. In looking at the website Expatica, which has quite a bit of information for expats, I found out about Karen's tours. Karen came to Amsterdam several years ago from Scotland to live with her boyfriend (now her husband) who was from Holland. She owned a delicatessen for a long time and now she gives tours and cooking lessons (The Cooking Coach). The tour I took was of the Boerenmarket & Haarlemerstraat.
It's amazing how many people there were doing their shopping at this market and amazing what the market had - everything from huge fruit and vegetable stalls to stalls where you could buy beads or bikinis or purses! I was quite impressed with the selection. Since Karen has lived here for such a long time, she has built up a relationship with many of the stall owners. We spoke to several people including a guy who sold only potatoes (which seriously flashed me back to Peru - where they have Parque de la Papa to preserve the over 4000 varieties of Peruvian Potatoes), the guy who sold all kinds of olives and dried fruits and nuts, a guy who sold all kinds of farmer cheese (which is what non-factory made cheese is called in Amsterdam), a lady who raises chickens and turkeys and also makes sausage and pate and other yummy stuff, and a guy who raises herbs and makes salsas and pestos.
We then visited a few shops, specifically one that sells olive oils and vinegars. I was really surprised as to the variety of flavors between Italian olive oil and oil from Greece or France or Spain. We also visited a Spanish shop and an Italian shop, which were both really cool. At the Spanish shop they gave us a taste of Serrano ham, which was very good and the Italian place had amazing cannolis that I only managed not to buy with severe willpower - specifically clinging to the knowledge that I didn't have a way to take it home with me on my bike.
In an effort not to become a hermit (though, with an apartment as nice as mine, who would blame me), I have been looking for tours to take within the city. In looking at the website Expatica, which has quite a bit of information for expats, I found out about Karen's tours. Karen came to Amsterdam several years ago from Scotland to live with her boyfriend (now her husband) who was from Holland. She owned a delicatessen for a long time and now she gives tours and cooking lessons (The Cooking Coach). The tour I took was of the Boerenmarket & Haarlemerstraat.
It's amazing how many people there were doing their shopping at this market and amazing what the market had - everything from huge fruit and vegetable stalls to stalls where you could buy beads or bikinis or purses! I was quite impressed with the selection. Since Karen has lived here for such a long time, she has built up a relationship with many of the stall owners. We spoke to several people including a guy who sold only potatoes (which seriously flashed me back to Peru - where they have Parque de la Papa to preserve the over 4000 varieties of Peruvian Potatoes), the guy who sold all kinds of olives and dried fruits and nuts, a guy who sold all kinds of farmer cheese (which is what non-factory made cheese is called in Amsterdam), a lady who raises chickens and turkeys and also makes sausage and pate and other yummy stuff, and a guy who raises herbs and makes salsas and pestos.
We then visited a few shops, specifically one that sells olive oils and vinegars. I was really surprised as to the variety of flavors between Italian olive oil and oil from Greece or France or Spain. We also visited a Spanish shop and an Italian shop, which were both really cool. At the Spanish shop they gave us a taste of Serrano ham, which was very good and the Italian place had amazing cannolis that I only managed not to buy with severe willpower - specifically clinging to the knowledge that I didn't have a way to take it home with me on my bike.
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