Good friends, good food, good fun!

I'm terribly behind on updating my blog... I've been having too much fun! :) I'll start with a quick update of two weekends ago... after having countless dinners with my Italian friends at their homes, we finally found a date that everyone could come up to Amsterdam to have dinner at my place. Okay, that, AND, I finally got the courage to cook for these culinary geniouses. I spent all day Saturday cooking, which was actually super fun now that I am sort of figuring out what the heck I'm doing in the kitchen! :) Menu was as follows:

Appetizer: Pigs in a Blanket (couldn't NOT make these after the success at my 4th of July party!)
Main: Basil-Provelone stuffed Chicken wrapped in Procuitto with side of basil-garlic-tomato pasta and walnut green beans
Dessert: (my favorite) hazelnut chocolate mousse cake

I was not too nervous, as I had made everything except the cake before. The only problem was that the recipe called for an 8 inch springform pan, and all I had was an 11 inch one, so the poor little guy ended up a little skinny. :) It ended up being the best part of the meal - I will defintely make that little delight again. :)


Stefano, Rixt, Alex, Fabio, and Sam - Buon Appetito!


The Infamous Dessert... contact me if you want a recipe! :)

After dinner, we decided to hit the town... we went to a few bars, which was kind of fun. Sadly, I don't go to bars that often. I think I'm getting old or something... The only mishap of the night was trying to catch a taxi home from the main square... they are all such scam artists. And, let's see... what do I do for a living? Oh yeah, try to reduce costs. These guys got nothin' on me! ;) I got in the first taxi, knowing that it should cost about 10 euros to get home... he tells me 17.50, and I promptly told him what I thought about that and then got out of the car. The next one, 15. By this point, I was getting pretty irritated, and decided to walk home. It's not far, but it was FREEZING outside! About 5 minutes into my walk, I saw another taxi, and thought I'd give it a try. I wanted to kiss the guy when he told me - MAX 10 euros. I ended up tipping him a ton, but I appreciated the honesty.

The next weekend, more fun... my friend from Portland, Allison, her fiance, Kevin, and her friend from college, Cheryl, all came to visit me for the weekend. Al and Kevin had never been here before, so I planned a pretty busy weekend of sightseeing. Highlights were:

* Having my first taste of herring (a raw fish) at the Albert Cuyp Markt (okay, and, actually, sort of liking it)
* Taking a tour of the newly re-modeled Heineken Brewery... not the best brewery I've been to, but they tried hard
* Having Al catch all three of the rest of us in a photo taking a nap during a canal tour... I can't ever stay awake on those things! Unfortunately, I don't have Al's pics on my computer yet
* A bike ride through the Dutch countryside (despite 3 hours of sleet, snow, and hail - yikes!)
* A lovely dinner at home on Sunday night

The crew post - Heineken Brewery tour (and two beers)

Before the ice and sleet started on our tour of the Dutch countryside

Al looking mighty cold as we bear down for the last 15 minutes of our tour

All in all, two great weekends. And, the best news of all - it's almost time for the next one.

In all seriousness, all is not peaches and cream. The economic slowdown, crisis, or whatever you want to call it has hit a little closer to home... Nike announced layoffs of up to 4% of its global workforce, to be effective no later than May. I think we're all just holding our breath to see what is going to happen. Scary times. My thoughts are with any of you out there already affected. I know it's not easy. Keep your chin up.