Oh guys, I’m so jet lagged right now. The day before yesterday I couldn’t stop yawning while shopping at Trader Joe’s, it was so embarrassing! I was really hoping the cashier would ask me about my day so I could tell her I just came back from Amsterdam and had a massive jet lag but unfortunately all she said was: ‘thank you for waiting’.
I hope she didn’t think my yawning was insulting 😉 Just a few more days, then I will be fine again. But for now I’m enjoying our quiet house and some alone-time. I finally started working on a redesign for in my Red Kitchen – yay! All those ideas were building up in my head and now I’m finally letting them out.
Or -better to say- I have time to let them out! Don’t get me wrong, our ‘vacation’ in Amsterdam was amazing but it was also exhausting. And I say ‘vacation’ instead of vacation because we only had a few hours to ourselves. The remaining hours and days we spent on our friends and families. It was so different than our past year in LA when it was just the two of us -P and me- and a couple of new friends. We had to get used to our Amsterdam life again.
We also had to get used to biking through town, ouch! My butt was sore the first few days from sitting on the bike 😉 Can you believe that?!
Two weeks in the Netherlands were of course filled with food. I totally feel that I gained some weight again so I already picked up my juices for this week and I went on a hike. In the evenings I’m also eating healthy, and boy I love this kale salad with spicy honey nuts. I’m eating this every week now (okay except for our time in Amsterdam), with just some meat or fish on the side.
Serve this kale salad with roasted chicken or oven baked fish and you'll end up with a healthy meal!
Ingredients
- 1 cup mixed nuts (I used pecans and macadamia)
- 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 10 oz kale (I used the Trader Joe's bag on the photo), leaves only - shredded and washed
- juice of ½ orange
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- pepper & salt to taste
Instructions
- In a skillet over medium-high heat, toast the nuts until fragrant and light brown, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the sugar, honey, salt and cayenne pepper and slowly bring to a boil. Stir for 2 minutes and transfer the nuts to a plate to cool off.
- Place the kale in a large bowl.
- Mix the orange juice with the olive oil, stir until combined and add the grated parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir everything until combined.
- Add the dressing to the kale, and stir for a minute until all the kale leaves are covered in dressing.
- Serve with the spicy honey nuts.
Enjoy!
Welcome back to the States and I missed your blog…
I live on the east coast in the States that makes the jet lag less severe..
Ellen, my question: Did you eat in a “remarkable” restaurant while you
were in A’dam? [I am going in November for a few weeks and stay
in the area of the Westerkerk.] Not too expensive but really good….
Dank je wel!!
Truus
Hi Truus, thank you!
I have a list with my favorites:
These are my recommendations for Amsterdam:
breakfast & lunch:
My #1 place for breakfast is Gartine (closed on Mondays & Tuesdays) address: Taksteeg 7 (centre of Amsterdam)
Delicious breakfast but also great for lunch and high tea. Make reservations if you can, it’s always busy. But definitely well-worth visiting, it’s my absolute favorite.
De Laatste Kruimel (open 7 days a week) address: Langebrugsteeg 4 (centre of Amsterdam). They serve good coffee and all the sandwiches, pies and quiches are home made. Very small place but also great for take-out.
Coffee Company – it’s the Amsterdam version of Starbucks. Way better in my opinion 😉 They have locations through-out town.
T is a tea house in the ‘Plantage’ neighborhood. The space feels like a living room and they serve good coffee and delicious tea. I never had pie or cake there but it always looked so delicious! Their breakfast and sandwiches where also really good.
The address is Roetersstraat 4hs and you can recognize it by the cute tea pots in the windowsill.
Bagels & Beans is a bagel place though-out town, the quality is good. I love the bagel with smoked chicken and avocado!
Bar Spek is a good spot for breakfast in lunch in the West part of town, address: Admiraal de Ruijterweg 1
dinner:
If you like pizza you need to go to the Pizzabakkers. They have 3 locations in Amsterdam: Haarlemmerdijk 128, Plantage Kerklaan 2 and Overtoom 501. The one at the Plantage Kerklaan is also open for lunch.
For Indonesian food: Kantjil en de Tijger is the best place to go. Order a rice table! Address is Spuistraat 291-293
Every two weeks I got my dim sum fix at Oriental City, in the middle of the tourist area of Amsterdam: Oudezijds Voorburgwal 177-179
They serve dim sum till 3pm.
My absolute favorite restaurant is Aan de Amstel. It’s pricy but the quality is always so good. Here is an example of the menu: http://www.aan-de-amstel.nl/menukaart_ENG.html
They’re closed on sundays, monday and tuesday but the other days they’re open from 6pm. If you go there you definitely need to order three courses! And make reservations, since it’s a small place.
Address: Weesperzijde 42a
ps: one of the owner is a cookbook writer, maybe you know her: Yvette van Boven
Koosje is what they call a ‘eetcafé’, it’s like a bar where they also serve food. I like the food here, they have some typical Dutch items, the quality is good and the prices are reasonable. This is the place where we used to go when I didn’t feel like cooking.
The address is: Plantage Middenlaan 37
I hope this is something you were looking for!
And if you are there in November, you should really go to IDFA, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam!
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