Christmas in Amsterdam

This year we opted out of a Christmas trip and spent the holiday in good ol' Amsterdam. Though last year the group we traveled to St. Anton with all vowed to do it again in 2007, it turns out that we all had different things going and couldn't do it again. Also, Matt thought he had to work on Christmas Eve, up until the week before, so we didn't plan anything, and by the time we knew we could actually go somewhere, we had gotten quite comfortable with the idea of not having to travel this year. And it was the first year in our adult lives that neither of us had to do any traveling during this crazy time of year. The week leading up to Christmas was actually quite cold around these parts. We even woke up a few mornings to a fresh coat of snow outside. Though a few nights we meant to go out in the evening, to do some window-shopping and check out the light decorations all over town, it was simply too cold and instead we sought refuge at home making warm dinners and playing cards. On the Friday night before Christmas, we did do a bit of walking around and stopped at our favorite cafe to drink some strong beers and be thankful that sometime in 2008, smoking will be banned in the cafes - we cannot wait! The next day, Saturday, we helped some friends move house, and it actually turned out to be a fresh and crisp day with some sun to ward off the extreme cold. We biked through the Vondel Park to get to their new place, and the place looked absolutely majestic. The ponds in the park had frozen over and there were several adults and children ice skating. The whole park was shrouded in a cold mist and the lights on the trees were beautiful. After some hours of heavy lifting, then some hours of recovering with tea and kerstbrood (christmas cake, kind of like fruit cake, but with a delish almond mush in the middle), we biked back home. Later that night we met up with them again for their first dinner in their new neighborhood. We ended up ordering a big salad that the four of us shared that had some suspicious meats in it...turns out, those suspicious meat were even scarier than we had anticipated - chicken livers and lamb thyroid glands. Very chewy. After dinner Matt and I biked back home, through the Vondel park again, talking about how we had never imagined that we would be riding our bikes in the middle of winter in -5 degree Celsius weather.

On Christmas Eve, I decided I would prepare a wondrous Brazilian feast. After excursions to the Noordermarkt for vegetables (and finding out the Monday market is only for clothes), 2 different Albert Heins (local supermarket), the butcher, the Brazilian grocery and the bakery to pick up the pies we ordered for christmas, I set to work on an epic meal. Starting out with toasts of champagne, we feasted on farofa, molho de campanha, rice and black beans, and bife acebolado. We finished with spoonfuls of homemade doce de leite (aka dulce de leche). It was the perfect storm of food. Matt wondered why I've been holding out on him all these years, and I could only respond by wondering the same.

The next day - Christmas day - Matt repaid the favor by taking care of the sausage stuffing and salad that we were assigned to bring to the potluck dinner we were having with a group of friends. The dinner, dubbed the Orphans Christmas, consisted of 10 poor souls spending Christmas in Amsterdam without their families. We had 2 Aussies and their respective Dutch partners, Matt and I, two other single Americans and the Aussie couple that hosted us. We each were assigned dishes to bring, and we each prepared our dishes for 10 people. Which meant that we had enough food for 100 people. We barely made a dent in it. But in the end, it was a great thing that we had so much food, b/c we all consumed an even heavier amount of alcohol. After 12 hours at these poor people's apartment, from 3pm to 3am, Matt and I were only the second couple to leave. And it was a good thing we left when we did, because it was around the time my eyes starting rolling back in my head (not literally, but you get the picture). We had champagne, wine, beer, eggnog and whiskey, and I had 4 of the 5 during the night. I'd post pictures but we inadvertently left our camera at their place. And we probably all look terrible. Needless to say, the next day, Boxing Day, was very quiet and lazy. We parked ourselves on the couch, ate a frozen pizza (offensively titled Big American) and watched the Discovery Channel and episodes of Flight of the Conchords and Planet Earth. Unfortunately my hangover lasted until the next morning and I had to skip my 10:30am Pilates class :-/

Now the buzz is all over town for New Years. We're probably going to take it easy, go over to some friends' place so Matt can light some fireworks (which are legal here). The TV commercials have already started showing what can go wrong when you play with fireworks, and I hear they'll be getting more gory as New Years approaches. There are bangs and booms going off all day, starting in the early morning, some seem like they were even set off in our living room. The city is already filling up with tourists, too. Matt and I were discussing the probable appeal of having New Years in Amsterdam is you are "party people". And they really are flocking in from all over. Sirens are also becoming more frequent, but that's the price of living downtown in one of the coolest cities in the world! Merry Christmas to you all and a very happy and healthy new year! I've posted a video of last year's New Years fireworks that we took from our balcony for your enjoyment - mind you, most are amateur fireworks:-)