Il Cibo. I would say "food" in Dutch, but I don't know how...

French toast that I made with whole wheat bread, stroop, aardbei, and raspeberry-pomegranate juice. Even better when made with brioche :)

FOOD. IL CIBO. FOOD IN DUTCH. (Yes, I could look it up, but how authentic would that be?) Anyway, is there anything better? No. So I'll share some of the delicious things I've been eating/cooking up. First of all, I've been told several times by native Dutch that the native Dutch food isn't much to speak of, and that it mostly consists of meat, potatoes, and vegetables... heartier dishes. Living in an apartment with a non-Dutch person does not make it easy for me to sample Dutch cuisine. Instead, I've had Indonesian, which Amsterdam is known for, possibly more than the native cuisine. I had never had Indonesian before and was expecting it to be spicy. Unfortunately, it was not, but it was pretty tasty... kind of similar to (American) Chinese food, but less greasy. Amsterdam/Holland is also known for fries with mayonnaise (mmm fries, yuuuck mayonnaise for me), herring (no thank you), stroopwafels (yummy wafers with syrupy sweetness smooshed inside), and pannenkoken (pancakes- so good), and pofferjes (mini pancakes- also the background of this blog).

I can now also add to my Dutch vocabulary things that I can recognize by frequenting the grocery store, restaurants, and the two gelato shops near my apartment (framboos = raspberry. appelsap = apple juice. sinnasappel = orange. caneel = cinnamon. knoflook = garlic... isn't this a weird one?!). I am also proud to say that I could understand everything on this extremely hard to understand specials menu board: pannenkoek = pancakes. aardbei = strawberries. slagroom = whipped cream. chocoladetaart = chocolate tart. appeltaart = apple tart. cheesecake = cheescake (this one was the most challenging for me).

Note to those Rome girls out there: no, the gelato is not quite as good as Giolitti. But it's still pretty good, and also 2 euro. The slagroom is sweeter than the panna of Italian gelato- more like American whip cream, but even better. And... they have Strongbow here! Yum.

 

 I've made some dishes myself, too: insalata caprese (my go-to dish for anything and everything), lots of rice stir-frys (nice to meet you, tofu, it's a pleasure working with you), pasta dishes, and risotto con pollo (ok, well I didn't cook this one, but I watched and took pictures as the amazing Hannah expertly whipped it up. Go check out the recipe on her blog.)

Ok. I that know you all know and love Nutella. But being allergic to nuts these past few years has seriously inhibited my life satisfaction. I mean, how could I have been in Europe/Rome and not indulged in it?! But I couldn't. UNTIL NOW. Check this baby out.

Pure heaven? You'll just have to come and try it. This is pure chocolate spread. Milk chocolate. Also in dark chocolate (even better). Ridiculous. All without any nuts! The Dutch are geniuses. Basically, my old Nutella-like chocolate spread relationship is back on, after a 7 year hiatus. I will forever be indebted to Miss Angie and the Greens for first introducing me to Nutella as a kid, and to Holland for giving me a nut free version. Oh baby.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I saw this little baby in the grocery store. If you know me well, you also know that I am obsessed with those delicious Biscoff cookies you can get on Delta flights (Walgreens in South Bend too, it turns out). My dad always saves them for me when he takes a Delta flight. Well, little did I know, but they are originally Dutch! They are called speculoos. I first discovered this by looking at the website (yup... that obsessed). And that website told me about speculoos spread that I found. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! Was my first thought. And then I found it. It tastes exactly like the cookie, but in spreadable form. An amazing feat.

And spread on a pain au chocolat? Don't mind if I do.