Pimp my Vespa

Please don't drop it mister

Happened upon this during the walk back from lunch this afternoon.

Harden My Heart

I woke up today with the most random 80's song in my head. I swear I haven't heard or thought of this song in at least 10 + years at least. I soon found myself singing it in the shower and for most of the morning. After watching the video this afternoon, I just cannot resist sharing this gem with you. Make sure you watch it to the end, believe me, you won't be disappointed. Enjoy!!

Bits and pics

I'm trying to be more diligent about grabbing the camera before heading out the door and just taking random snapshots.  Hopefully in doing so I'll happen upon one of those happy accidents that will live forever as a matted and framed 8x10 on my wall.  Until then though, I'll use some as a little update of my week.  The pictures above were taken on our walk to the Kalverstraat to run a few Sunday afternoon errands.

The best salad that I've had in Amsterdam.

Definitely not an easy thing to find in this town.

The delicious spareribs that followed.

The dinner was at Moeders (which is Dutch for Mother).

It was Katie's birthday and she chose the lekker venue to celebrate it.

The birthday girl.

They started playing music and the whole restaurant started singing.

In a cool way, not like Chi-Chi's.

Taken from the corner of our street at the Rozengracht and the Prinsengracht.

The sun is shining and the trees are blooming!  Yay!

Now if I can just finagle that first boat ride of the season we'll be set!

A different kind of after dinner pick me up

Now, before you jump to conclusions, let me explain...

On February 28th, Matthew and I went to Stout for our third anniversary. Dinner was great (we went with the tasting menu which was very impressive) and by the end of the evening we were pretty satisified and opted not to go for dessert. When the waitress came back to the table, she set down not the bill, but a tray with a mirror containing a pile of white powder, two razor blades and two straws. She leaned down rather cheekily and with her chin in her hands said "Now kids, this isn't what you did last night, this is actually a candied sugar dessert. You'll inhale the sugar slowly through your mouth, not your nose. Compliments of the chef." And with that she left the two Americans sitting there in complete and utter amazement to go to town with what turned out to be their very pop rocks like dessert.

Only in Amsterdam.

Knock, knock. Anyone home?

Apologies for slipping a bit off the radar recently, but hopefully we can get this blog back in action again. (was it ever?)

I have to say that I find it a bit difficult sometimes to find something Amsterdam related to talk about. You may notice that moving forward my posts might veer into the realm of randomness. We'll see. My new years resolution of blogging more isn't turning out to be as easy as I thought. I'll give props to my good friend and much better blogger than I, the author of Hiccup Medicine for my new found inspiration of trying to keep this crazy past time up.

Anyhooters, here is the link to view some highlights from our trip to Paris back in February. Paris Pics

Paris is an amazing city! Matthew has decided that it's his favorite city in the world. I might have to agree with him there. As you can clearly see from our photos, we pretty much ate our way through Paris. I had to partake in a detox diet upon our return. Steak, frites, mussels, foi gras, baguettes, red wine, duck tagine, nutella crepes, macaroons, chocolate eclairs, mmmmmmm shall I continue? I could barely get my rings on my fingers after this trip.

Spring has finally sprung in Amsterdam! I've busted out the lighter weight coats and have even been able to open our windows for fresh air a few times. It's the best time of year in this city. The trees have started to bud and the magnolia trees, daffodils and tulips are in bloom! Most of all though, it's heaven to leave work at 6:30 or 7pm and to have it be daylight still. It's the little things you know.

Superbowl, KFC, Oui Oui!!

So we were able to tune in for the Superbowl this year. We met up with eight other Americans we work with at Coco's, which is an Australian bar in Rembrandtplein. The kick off was at 12:17. Midnight. On a Sunday. I know it's crazy, but it was great!! Everyone piled out of the bar at 4:30 am afterwards and cycled home. While we weren't able to see any of the much anticipated commercials, we saw ads for Tiger Beer and "party lines", (which,in the Netherlands the girls are actually naked in them too). Not quite the same, but it was nice to be out and make an occassion of the game.
Matthew's birthday was on Monday, feeling a bit worse for the wear, he was a trooper and made it thru the day. It's a Dutch tradition for the person whose birthday it is to supply the treats. He brought two chocolate torte's for the Studio. Their actaully called "Thre Real Chocolate Torte". They are so rich and amazingly sinful mmmmmmmmm. I picked up his favorite for dinner, a bucket of KFC and we called it a day. It was lekker.
We leave for Paris next Thursday. It's a birthday / Valentines weekend for us. I'm so excited. I've been there once before when my sister was in town, so it's nice to be able to relax and to take it all in a little slower than last time. (Jen and I walked ten miles our first day and every day after)
That's about it from this side of the pond. Pics of Paris to come later....