Oh, Such a Perfect Day!

Posted on August 5, 2013 by ASWilliams

Whenever I enjoy a lovely day in the summer, I often start humming Lou Reed’s, Perfect Day. Its bittersweet melody and lyrics capture the transitory nature of summer and lazy days that one can never quite imagine coming to an end.

Yesterday, was just such a Perfect Day. Hubby and I set off on our bikes not really knowing where we were going. We went vaguely in the direction of the Haarlemmermeer Station and we stopped there for Coke and beer at Macy’s. Macy’s is a pop-up barbecue restaurant, offering very reasonably-priced food and themed evenings, open till the end of the summer. Next, we mooched around the adjoining Tram Museum and then after rummaging in the huge second-hand warehouse next door, we headed for the Beatrix Park and the International Sculpture Route organised by ArtZuid. I’d like to say we saw all the sculptures, but we saw just one, ‘ Forever,’ by Ai Weiwei. Ai Weiwei is most well known for his sunflower seed installation at Tate Modern. ‘Forever’ is a quirky installation of bicycles, echoing the circular form of the KunstKapel, a former chapel designed by Dutch architect, Lau Peters. The same building houses Restaurant As and their terrace looked so inviting that we sat down and had a couple of glasses of rose and a wood-oven pizza. The light was so unusual coming through the reed mats hanging overhead, it felt more like a tropical island than the Netherlands! I love holidaying in my hometown, specially when one stumbles across something so unexpected and unusual. The restaurant and Kunstkapel are a bit off the beaten track but well worth the bike ride. Keep it under your hat though, or everyone will start going there!

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Sushi Delight

Posted on July 24, 2013 by ASWilliams

I never really understood why people were so enthusiastic about sushi until I tasted it fresh and homemade. Thanks to a recent interest in Buddhism I was lucky enough to meet a lovely Japanese couple who live in our neighbourhood. Frank and I invited them over to dinner and they said they would bring some sushi. I expected a few snacks but they brought enough to feed a small orphanage! The sushi was truly delicious and also a feast for the eyes which is so important when trying new tastes. It was made with such precision and care, our guests must have spent ages working on these wonderful little taste parcels.

I made pea & mint soup, inspired by a visit to one of Raymond Blanc’s Brasseries last year, and Rachel Khoo’s, quiche lorraine. Summer pudding rounded off the scrumlicious and gezellig East-meets-West dinner. At the end of the evening our Japanese friends took home the remainder of the quiche and we gratefully accepted the remaining sushi. I love swapsies!

Mayumi and Tetsuya, June
Sushi, June
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It’s Party Time!

Posted on July 8, 2013 by ASWilliams

Recently, the hub and I were invited to celebrate a dear friend’s 50th birthday party in York. Cathy and I met at a Raqs Sharqi Society dance residential in 2001. Raqs Sharqi is the Arabic name for Egyptian Dance. Cathy and I’ve kept in touch ever since and try to see each other at least once a year. Luckily, ‘im Indoors and Cathy’s husband, David get on like a house on fire. What’s more they are both early risers so hubby has someone to talk to in the mornings!

Cathy picked Frank and I up from the airport and I casually asked how many people she had invited to the party. ‘ Just the seventy’  she replied!  ‘Well I never dreamed they would all come…’

The next few days were spent buying and collecting food, preparing meat roasts, salads and curries and decorating the house. David is a brilliant cook and the garden looked wonderful too. Friday before the party it rained non-stop so we had everything crossed for fine weather on Saturday. I awoke to the smell of roasting chicken and then the doorbell was constantly ringing as cupcakes and tasty snacks from Waitrose and Marks & Spencer started to arrive. Gradually the sun came out and the grass on the lawn started to dry.

Cathy and her husband had spent months planning everything in minute detail and when all the food arrived on Saturday, I thought there was far too much! How wrong was I. At the end of the evening practically everything had been eaten.

Hats off to both David and Cathy for planning such a wonderful event with scrumlicious food, musicians that included renowned darabuka player, Guy Shalom, dance performance by Cathy, and a wonderful light installation that David created to round off a perfect day. Thanks also to David’s brother, Simon who told the most hilarious stories around the brazier as the night drew in. I haven’t laughed so much in ages. I think the pictures tell the story better than any words can…

Cathy party, York, June
Cathy and friends,York, June
York, June
Me and Him, York, June
Light installation, David Galsworthy, York, June
Simon, York, June
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Homesick for Hills

Posted on June 18, 2013 by ASWilliams

It’s six months since I was in the UK and I’m getting hill-withdrawal symptoms. I was telling a friend the other day that even after being here for 26 years, I still suffer from homesickness. There’s often a profound longing to see a mountain and feel that pysical and spiritual lift that one gets from looking at or climbing a hill. Here, in North Holland everything is so flat that you can never get a fresh perspective on things and the sky often seems to be pressing down on you, opressive at times. The Dutch landscape is mainly straight lines and my spirit aches for curves and sloping meadows. I always feel the Black Mountains are calling me home whenever I drive over the Severn Bridge into Wales.

A couple of years ago OH and I stayed in a holiday let, River Cottage in the Monnow Valley. The Monnow River has a special significance for me as my mum grew up alongside it. She lived right on the Welsh/English border, perhaps better known as Offa’s Dyke, on a farm called the Vineyard in the Black Mountains.  Several months before she died of cancer, we went up into the Black Mountains to picnic and visit the farm where she grew up.  That day I saw a wildness in her, echoed in the landscape, that I’d never seen before. So with a contradictory mixture of intense joy and sadness I often return to the mountains that embody the spirit of my mother and represent home. Below are a few photos of The Cat’s Back, (known officially as the Black Hill and made famous by Bruce Chatwin’s novel), Longtown Castle and surrounding area.

How do you feel about mountains, do they lift your spirit or are they merely obstacles that get in the way of a clear view?

Frank, Longtown Castle, Aug
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Sew Nice!

Posted on June 3, 2013 by ASWilliams

Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee, shown recently on BBC2, I decided to pick up sewing again. The last time I was really into sewing was when I was still belly-dancing. Some of my circular skirts and veils you can see here. The Great British Sewing Bee was sewing’s answer to The Great British Bake Off, although I find Patrick Grant a lot sexier than Mary Berry’s irritating sidekick, Paul Hollywood. 

Sew nice 003

The viscose/lycra jacket is from a pattern in de Knip, May 2013 issue. De Knip is for sale in newsagents, or you can download individual patterns from their website.  If you don’t speak Dutch though, I’m afraid you won’t be able to make head nor tail of the instructions. I can read Dutch but the mind-baffling draped pockets constructed within the side seam of the  jacket gave me a box-of-Anadin headache!

Sew nice 010

The skirt was an easy-peasy A-line pattern (also from De Knip) made with a fabric which I got for 4 euros a metre from the wonderful Albert Cuyp market. If you want a pattern in English then go to de Kniphal, also along the Albert Cuypstraat. De Kniphal used to be the best for fabrics too, but these days they only seem to carry interior textiles or highly ornate fabric for occasionwear.

The material for the digital-print jacket was a lot more expensive, 17,95 euros per metre from De Boerenbonthal. De Boerenbonthal is an Aladdin’s cave of sumptuous textiles which you can find about halfway along the Albert Cuypstraat at numbers 186-190.

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I hope this blog will inspire you to perhaps take up sewing for the first time, or pick it up again! Summer clothes are usually quick and easy to make and you’ll have a totally individual piece that will make you stand out from the crowd!

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In the Pink* in ‘de Tuinen van West!’

Posted on May 20, 2013 by ASWilliams

On Whitsunday, or Pinksteren (still a Bank Holiday here) my other half and I set off on our bicycles to visit our allotment garden in de Eendracht. On the way we took a detour and explored the newly planted area in De Tuinen van West. (The Westerly Gardens.) This is a centuries-old polder landscape adjoining the outskirts of Amsterdam and Halfweg, largely unused by the residents of Amsterdam. In 2007, Osdorp and Geuzeveld-Slotermeer councils presented a plan to the Amsterdam town council, proposing a total regeneration of this area and it was approved by the powers-that-be!

The ambitious plan should be totally completed by 2020. It will create possibilities for; allotment gardening, picnicking, sunbathing, horse-riding, cycling, hiking, fruit-picking, a visit to the sauna and canoeing along the canals. There will also be a large, protected wetland/eco area to attract birds and wildlife. It’s already working because yesterday we spotted a spoonbill flying overhead.

As you can see from the photos, the plan is still in a fairly embryonic stage but the boardwalk is already installed and many trees have already been planted. We also came across some adorable Falabella foals (miniature horses) on the way! It was tempting to pick one of them up and take him home in the rucksack…

To complete our cycle ride we called in at the Cantina which is part of Het Rijk van de Keizer, a restaurant and events company. It has its own vegetable garden, event/dining halls and a smaller eatery, the aforementioned Cantina. Food and drinks are served from a converted railway wagon overlooking a canal, away from the noise of the Amsterdam-Halfweg motorway. The Cantina is open in the summer months for snacks and light meals. It can also be hired for a party or brainstorming session. Het Rijk van de Keizer has capacity for parties and weddings catering for up to 400 guests! If you have less ambitious plans then the Cantina is the perfect place to escape the busyness of the city and sip a coffee while admiring the polder landscape through the Willow trees. You can even enjoy your beverages on the back seat of a 1970s car. How it got there I don’t know, perhaps a failed cut-and-shut job? It doesn’t really matter but anyone who fancies a nostalgic, backseat snog can indulge themselves!

Idiom: in the pink* Fig. in very good health; in very good condition, physically and emotionally.

Fallabellas, Geuzenveld, July
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The Last Queen’s Day

Posted on May 1, 2013 by ASWilliams

Unless you live in a cave, you will probably have heard that the Netherlands now has a new king and queen, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima. On the last Queen’s Day, 30th April 2013, Queen Beatrix abdicated the throne and passed it on to her son. I was surprised it was called an abdication, to English people it sounds so negative. The only abdication we know is that of Edward VII, a bad memory for most Brits. I had expected a more positive-sounding verb for the handing over of the throne. It was such a happy day that abdication somehow didn’t fit.

The good-looking couple, Willem-Alexander and Maxima are very popular amongst the people, capturing the interest of the younger generation too. They have three beautiful, blond daughters, so what’s not to like? Even many anti-royals failed to turn up to the protest gatherings.

My other half and I went to the Apollolaan as usual and sniffed out a few bargains. Not so many as last year though. Sellers were asking higher prices but I was very pleased with the unworn Little Black Dress I picked up for 12,50 euros. Not least of all because my anti-shopping device, otherwise known as The Hub, couldn’t say, ‘but you’ve already got a LBD,’ because, I haven’t!

Around 2pm when the swearing-in ceremony began, many stallholders abandoned their wares and scurried off home. So leftover stuff was free. Some kindly people put their telly out on the street for passersby and neighbourhood friends to watch.  We had the best of both worlds, soaking up the atmosphere and watching the highlights of the ceremony on TV.

After sampling the bargains, music and food on offer we availed ourselves of the facilities at the Hilton Hotel! Very kind of them to offer free toilet use to Queen’s Day revellers. Mind you, only the better class of people come to the Apollolaan…

Then before I got in my pink car to go home, we sampled some bitterballen. Crispy, fried balls filled with meat and floury potato. Very tasty with a dab of mustard. If you try them do be very careful as the soft insides are always extremely hot. It’s best to break them open, let them steam a bit, then take your first bite. You have been warned!

Watching the people
Watching the ceremony on TV
National car boot sale
Tulips, of course
Lex and Max look a bit pale…
The Real Queen
Mmmm, bitterballen
Bitterballen are right for any occasion
The Hilton Lobby
The Biggest Bear Title
Sad tune for Bea
Queensday, Hilton Hotel, April
LBD bargain of the day!
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Verdant Oasis in Amsterdam West?

Posted on April 28, 2013 by ASWilliams

My local park, which I can see from my recently geraniumed balcony, is named after world famous philosopher, Desiderius Erasmus (1467-1536). The Erasmuspark was designed by Egbert Mos in 1957 and he incorporated lots of straight lines, rectangular beds and trees planted in rows. (Like much of Holland if you ask me!) The design was compared with a Mondriaan painting. Unfortunately, like so many projects, the plan was only partially executed due to lack of funds.

In 1992 Bos and Lommer Council commissioned landscape architect, Urban van Aar to renovate the park that had been neglected for years. In 1996 his plans were started and finally completed in 2001. Since then we have had a few popular additions such as marble polar bear, Orso, by sculptor, Simona Vergani and a new café, Terrasmus.

Friend and writer, Siobhan Wall described the Erasmuspark a few years ago, in her book Quiet Amsterdam, as an unexpected verdant oasis tucked away in the corner of the city. Verdant, it still is but quiet oasis no longer! At least not in the summer months. The café, playground and soon-to-be-erected podium are turning it into a much busier and noisier park. It’s great for people with young kids who can grab a cappuccino while little Bartje heads for the swings. But not so good for grumpy oldies who like their peace and quiet, I mention no names…

It’s also a refuge for hundreds of rabbits who tend to come out at dawn and dusk. Most of them look wild but the park is also a popular dumping ground for pet rabbits when people go off for their summer holidays.

The bridge leading to the park, de Vierwindstrekenbrug, has a statue on each corner, representing the North, South, East and Westerly corners of the earth. The statues and bridge are typical of the Amsterdam School architectural style. The bridge was opened in 1925 and crosses the Admiralengracht. Do drop by the park if you are in Amsterdam West, it really is worth a visit. Oh, but be careful as you’re on your way to order a smoothie, or walk your dog, the grass by the children’s playground is perforated with enormous rabbit holes, either that or the polar bear comes to life at night, leaving behind yeti-like footprints…

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Painting the Town Red – Zet de Bloemetjes Buiten!

Posted on April 21, 2013 by ASWilliams

Dutch idiom, ‘zet de bloemetjes buiten’ literally translated means, put the flowers outside.  Painting the town red is the best translation, but please let me know if you have other ideas as expressions are sometimes so hard to translate directly.

Another flower-related expression in Dutch is ‘achter de geraniums zitten,’ which means retiring and sitting at home watching the world go by from behind the geraniums. Unsurprisingly, it is often used in the negative when people stop working, retirees saying they’re definitely not planning to sit behind the geraniums.

The more traditional Dutch love to fill their windowsills with plants to prevent nosey neighbours looking in. Often elderly people position their chair by the window and watch streetlife from behind the plants, enjoying life vicariously, one assumes. Two roughly equivalent expressions I can think of are; being put out to grass, and going to seed. Being put out to grass has some positive connotations though and ‘achter de geraniums zitten’ only has a negative meaning.

Inspired by fellow Writers Abroad member, Vanessa Couchman and her blog post on Life on La Lune, I too have put the annual red geraniums on the balcony. Or rather the hub did as he is the green-fingered one in the family. Vanessa’s flowers, in terracotta pots in rural France, are in a much more picturesque setting I admit but even so, a few flowers can make a world of difference to a plain apartment building.

The biggest garden centre in Amsterdam is Tuincentrum Osdorp, where we go for the annual Christmas tree argument, it’s also the most expensive and has a dubious sideline in tacky garden accessories. There’s a nice café though and as I’m rather partial to a slice of cake and coffee it’s my garden centre of choice. Not my other half though! He always goes to Bakkers Kwekerij in Nieuw Sloten. Cheaper and a lot less busy. It seems the geraniums will have to come in tonight though as it’s going to freeze!

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Easter Sunday at Westerpark City Farm

Posted on March 31, 2013 by ASWilliams

One of the things I love about Amsterdam is the city farms that are dotted around town. City farms are such a wonderful way to introduce town kids to animals. I grew up on a farm and know how much one can learn from our four-legged friends; patience, empathy and perhaps most importantly, the chance to nurture the responsibility and commitment needed to look after a pet/farm animal. I always loved springtime back home on the farm and often, like Little Bo Peep, had a  trail of lambs trotting after me. Tiddlers, we called them. I have no idea where this name originated. Tiddlers are lambs that have either lost their mothers or need extra milk from the bottle.

My favourite city farm is the kinderboerderijWesterpark. Below are a few photos of Easter Sunday afternoon. Lots of activities for children naturally; face painting, egg decorating, pony rides, petting the animals, and of course hunting for eggs!

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