Zwolle

I think this ‘wisdom tooth’ of mine should be renamed to ‘dumbass tooth’, as it decides to emerge and vanish at its own will without bringing any real wisdom with it. (All the smart asses thinking ‘Duh- it can be the other way round’, I say ‘NO’, my wisdom has nothing to do with it, as it stays as low or high as ever.)

So, basically, its been hurting me since quite some days now and all I can do is sit and wait, while it tortures me day in and day out. Thats also what the dentist has told me.

Err…that’s not an excuse to push away the last weekend’s writing but really, but the pain is really something. Its even giving me nightmares lately (more about that later ..umm..or in another post)

Last weekend was an invitation from the Curious Dutch Guy (CDG) in Zwolle (Zwoll-uh). He gets his name from perpetually asking about Indians and India through a bombardment of emails at the rate of 2 per hour (no exaggeration here).

Zwolle is a very small town but nothing like any place we have been so far. I was expecting a small sleepy town with a few usual beautiful parks (which we are so ..(yaawwwn)..used to now and…(more yawwwn)…canals.)

CDG invited us for dinner so we reached a little after lunch. It’s a 1.5 hours train journey from Amsterdam. And ‘oh! What a train journey’! I love the fact that the train journeys are so convenient and you really have to just go to the station, buy your tickets and sit in the train. No reservations, no delays, no confusions about platform numbers or any last minute change in schedules. All this when all the sign boards are in Dutch! And not to forget ‘clean platforms’!

CDG came to receive us with his 5 year old son, Moby. I was quite in love with him at the first sight. He is very thin, had longish ‘white blond’ hair, and wore red-colored rim glasses and pretty much stared holes in the ground and smiled his cute smiles. I like such children (although they are less children like). Quiet and sensible but still very innocent. And…he is fond of drawing …sigh!

CDG lives with his girlfriend and they have a 5 month old son, Levy, with blue eyes as big as lemons and plump cheeks. Quite edible he was. And when Moby called CDG’s girlfrnd by her name, I realized Moby was the offspring of another love of CDG. Hmm..pretty ‘forward’ like my Dad would have said.

Anyway, so we all sat in CDG’s backyard and had ‘tea and cookies’ and talked about India and blahh..

There isn’t much to do in Zwolle, which I think has a radius of less than 1 km (please note, this is not a fact but more a figure of speech sorta!... lest some Zwollen gets offended.…But the chances are less..because my computer also doesn’t recognize that it’s a name of a city and keeps offering to change it to ‘swollen’. :-P)

Ok, lot of digression here..but as a matter of the fact we did so little that its no point even writing about it.

Khair, we went to see the city…ahem…'on foot'. (Like I would go to the market to buy veggies.) But it was a pleasant experience. We walked to the city centre and it was really nice to be there walking on cobbled streets surrounded by OLD city walls, as old as late 18th century. People have built homes making those walls a part of their homes. I think it is such a nice idea to preserve the heritage and give your house an antique look. Brilliant, I say.

I also pretty much liked the restaurant boats in the canals. Each one done up more elegantly than real buildings. A lot of people also live on boats. It looks interesting although I am curious to see the insides of such a boat once at least.

We then went to an Irish bar and I tried Guinness. Thick and black. Its nice to have once in a while but I don’t think I can get used to it. On this note, i must say, Kingfisher strong rocks more than ever. Tried Heineken and Amstel but not really as lovely as our very own 'kannadiga' brand. (You can tell that i am really homesick when I say ANYTHING in praise of kannadigas!)

We then walked back home and had some wine and cheese and some traditional Dutch food - Stampot (mashed potatoes with mashed veggies) with crispy fried bacon and smoked sausage. It was just terrific. I loved it so much that I tried it at home just yesterday. Yes, yes…..its true. I made traditional Dutch food at home.

So, I will remember Zwolle with all its tradition, in the form of Stampot and I shall forever be indebted to CDG’s GF for introducing this food in my life!

On ‘sifarish’ of a fond reader..here is the recipe.

Stampot with Spekreepjes (bacon strips) and Rookworst (smoked sausage)

(Actually, stampot can be of various types. Basically mashed potatoes combined with greens, or carrots and onions.)

To make the Carrot Stampot:

1. Chop the potatoes, carrots, and onions roughly.
   
2. Add double the water and boil for 20 minutes.
   
3. Add the smoked sausage to this after the water has been boiling for 2 minutes (this is because the sausage cooks faster than the potatoes)
   
4. In another pan, sauté the bacon strips. It will cook in its own fat, so no effort there except occasional stirring, till it turns crisp and reddish brown. Keep aside.
   
5. After the sausage along with veggies has boiled for 20 mins, remove the sausage and cut into pieces and keep aside.
   
6. Mash the veggies and add a dollop of butter.
   
7. Season with salt and pepper and serve with bacon and sausage.
   

And everything should all look like this:




Enjoy your meal! or ‘Eet Smakelijk’ as they say in Dutch!