Tag Archives: food

Trying to eat on the cheap

22 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by in Amsterdam, food, fun, Travel

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Eating while watching your wallet isn’t the easiest thing to do on vacation. (A stranger I ran into today warned me I’d best brace myself for Paris, lest I think Amsterdam was actually bad.)
So imagine how happy I was to have eaten a three-course meal of sorts on the fly and spending only €8.20.
Amsterdam’s version of street meat
Albert Cuypstraat in the De Pijp district is home to “Amsterdam’s famous street market.” At least that’s how it’s cheerfully announced inside the tram as you pull up to the neighbourhood.
What you find is three long blocks of stalls selling all sorts of stuff — including food. (Check out parallel and cross streets for even more shops, restaurants, bars and cafés.)
Starter
I was hungry for a light meal so I headed right to a chip stand selling Flemish fries topped with mayonnaise.
Flemish fries
Perfect, thick cuts of potato, deep fried and lightly seasoned. A small portion is €1.65, plus 35 cents for mayo.
Main
Next, the main course: Chicken balls.
Chicken balls
The meatballs are seasoned with salt, rosemary and thyme, from what I could taste.
These are richer than they look. They’re not very dense but from the taste (and the drippings oozing through the paper container) there is chicken skin mixed in.
I was full after five of them. The sixth one was just greed.
They’re sold in portions of eight chicken balls for £2.50.
Dessert
How do you top off a meal like that? With little pancakes, of course!
Mini pancakes
They’re called poffertjes. And that dollop of stuff at the bottom? That’s butter. Use as little or as much as you like.
A small portion consists of 10 pancakes about 3 to 5 cm across. It’ll cost you £2. Toppings (including honey, syrup and Nutella) are extra.
Feeling guilty?
After that delicious meal, I felt guilty about not having eaten any fruits or veggies. Not to worry; there are fruit stands here, everywhere.
I bought a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice (£1) and an apple (70 cents) to try and ease my conscience.
I’m not sure it worked, though. What did I have for dinner that day? A gigantic salad from the café at the Concertgebouw.

Pulled pork … poutine!

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Alberta, Calgary, calgary stampede, Canada, food, fun

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Pulled pork poutine

Well it’s too bad I only made it down to the Stampede grounds on its last day, otherwise I might have been acquainted with this culinary discovery a little earlier. It’s a pulled pork poutine, sold by the folks from Calgary’s Big-T’s BBQ. Apart from the usual fries and cheese curds, it’s topped off with their delicious pulled pork and barbecue sauce. A beef variant was also on the menu. Definitely worth a try at the next Stampede …

Mmm … burgers

20 Wednesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Canada, food, Halifax, Nova Scotia

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Tex-Mex Burger

Last week at this time, I was visiting lovely Nova Scotia, hanging out with my cousin.
He brought me to a relatively new gourmet burger joint called Cheese Curds in Dartmouth — so named because it’s also a poutinerie — near the Woodside ferry terminal and the famed John’s Lunch fish and chips shack.
On special last week was the Tex-Mex Burger, seen above. The hand-formed patty on a bun was topped with a slice of cheese, chipotle sauce, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and and sautéed vegetables (mushroom, onion, peppers). The sauce and some hot peppers in thr veggie mix gave the burger a slight kick. Very tasty.
My cousin also ordered this as well, but he swears by a bacon burger on the regular menu, to which he adds sautéed mushrooms.
If it’s still around on my next visit, I’d definitely go back.

Long live Schwartz’s

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in food, fun, montreal, Travel

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Delicious

With the confirmation pop singer superstar Céline Dion and producer husband René Angelil have purchased the famed Schwartz’s Hebrew Delicatessen on Boul. Saint-Laurent in Montreal, one can only hope they will leave well enough alone. There is no need to change what works.
And boy, does it work. It is common to see a long queue down the block at peak meal times.
Above, one of their famed smoked meat sandwiches: Smoked meat with mustard on rye bread, served with a pickle and a small plate of French fries on the side.
If you go, don’t order the lean meat — it tends to be drier and it’s not nearly as silky smooth or as flavourful.
I never went to Schwartz’s enough when I lived in Montreal. Now, I crave it when I go back for a visit.
Definitely worth your time.

Mad Lib: Intro to a Gordon Ramsay television program

18 Monday Jul 2011

Posted by in broadcasting, food, fun, media

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Tonight on [Gordon Ramsay program title] —
It’s a race to the [noun] and the restaurant is [verb ending in -ing] with [plural noun].
But when Chef Ramsey makes a discovery he can’t [verb], sparks [verb] and the [noun] is on.
You won’t want to [verb] the most [adjective] and [adjective] episode yet.
That’s tonight on [same Gordon Ramsay program title as before].