After what felt like months and months of gloomy weather, spring has finally sprung in Amsterdam. There are colorful tulips and crowded parks, late night sunshine and balmy bike rides. This past weekend, B and I went for a sunny stroll, and set ourselves down on a dock in the center of town. We watched the tourists buzz about, and the long canal boats float by, all while soaking up as much sun as humanly possible.
Everyone else seemed to have the same idea, and the pier was filled with people reading, relaxing, and lapping at the sun.
After an hour or two of sun basking, we hit the farmer’s market for some fresh dinner ingredients. When we got home, we opened all the windows, put on some happy tunes, and sipped a bit of bubbly.
To freshen things up a bit, we added a few sprigs of mint to our champagne. Super easy to do and makes for a bright and cheery spring cocktail.
Warning: these go down all too easy.
Throughly bubbly hydrated, it was time to get cooking. For dinner, we called on some seasoning advice from one of my favorite cookbooks, Jerusalem. We had bought a pork tenderloin, and surprise-surprise, there are no pork recipes in Jerusalem. So we improvised and were a bit unorthodox . . . and used a lamb shawarma recipe as a spice rub for the pork lion.
Peppercorns, cloves, cardamom pods, fennel seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, paprika, lemon juice, coriander – this recipe calls for a million and one spices, but is amazingly good.
We topped everything off with a healthy dose of mint.
B was an awesome prep chef and peeled / chopped parsnips and red onions. Which we then seasoned mildly, happy to let them roast in the loin’s hot juices. (lol loin’s hot juices)
To accompany our meal, we made a light yogurt dip – olive oil, a bit of paprika, black pepper, shaved cucumbers, and mint sprinkled on top of some cool yogurt.
The result was absolutely amazing – I’m a huge fan of buying fresh produce from the farmer’s market and cooking a great meal right there and then.
We devoured every last bite, delighted yet again with Jerusalem’s awesome recipes.
Now it’s Sunday night and I’m already weekend dreaming again. Here’s to some more sunshine and happy times next weekend! x
Sounds like a perfect day :-)
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Wonderful read, thank you! I want to try all of it including lounging on the deck in the sun in Amsterdam. =)
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What a perfectly perfect way to spend a day! Your pics have made me extremely hungry! Thank you for visiting & liking my blog :~)
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Wanted to let you know that I have nominated you for a Liebster Award, because your love of life makes my day better. Thanks for the infection of enthusiasm!
You’ll see more details of your trials and tribulations, should you accept the nomination at http://createdbyrcw.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/another-liebster-award/
Cheers! Randy
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thanks for checking out my blog — this looks amazing — I’ve very jealous of your dinner guests!
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Ohhhh I love your blog & all of your beautiful images! Great to connect! Thanks for visiting me :)
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Reblogged this on Jbking2k2's Blog.
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cool post. loved it.
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Cheers!
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thanks for reading my post God bless
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The photographer is good. I like your picture through the kitchen items. Good technique.
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Thanks :) I have to give the credit of that photo to B, he’s good at finding cool photo angles!
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B is good, I know a good photographer when I see it. I am an amateur photographer, so let’s say you have a great collaborator there. Cheers!
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ha! I will pass on your compliments to him :)
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