I am in Amsterdam and have not written yet because I have been revelling in my lovely apartment. Michael’s brother Lou, has a dancer friend here who found this place for me and let me in. It was a great day yesterday just spreading myself out in this big apartment. There is a huge main room, big windows, a couple balconies on the canal and isn’t far from Hillary’s (lou’s friend) so I got to hang out at her house and have tea and chat.
There is all the internet I could possibly desire here so ostensibly I will be writing more. Maybe I can write some of those pesky little random thoughts that I haven’t had time or money to get onto here lately.
The bed here is very comfy and the decor is funky, cozy, and artistic. The cat, Kulfi, who i am here for, is a bit of an attention monger and very rambunctious but sweet. I am definitely much more of a dog person and this cat underlines that. He’s unpredictable and sneaky as hell. For the time being it is just amusing rather than annoying but i would have to throw the cat intot he canal if it was mine. No, not really that’s mean, I’m just feeling a little punchy I guess.
So this fabulous apartment also has a washing machine which is very helpful when you are dancing lots and only have with you one pair of sweat pants and about 4 shirts. Another cool thing is that the dance studio is just a 5 minute walk away. i haven’t gone to calss yet, but will go tomorrow.
Amsterdam seems to smell faintly like a barnyard. I can’t explain it exactly but when i stepped off the train I thought I was at a farm. It’s not overly pungent or offensive but there is the slightest undertone of wet hay, horses, goats sheep etc. Very odd I must say and even more strange to smell when you go by a coffee shop and the smell of pot smoke wafts out and mixes with the barnyard. I can’t quite describe that.
I like it here and the weather is warmer than Berlin, not snowing (which I acctually was quite liking) and it was blue sky all day today. I went for a nice little explore for several hours today and managed to find myslef a nice food store. Which brings me to soup.
I sauteed an onion and 8 cloves of garlic in some olive oil. Then I added two medium sized carrots and 5 or 6 small yellow-finn potatoes and sauteed that around for another 5 min or so. I added a bunch of water and simmered that for however long it took the potatoes to get soft. At some point in there I added some kind of red chili paste, but couldn’t really tell you what it is; I don’t read dutch. But it’s nice and spicy. After the potatoes wre sufficiently delectible, i added one zucchini chopped in little half-moons, and 150 grams of chopped up salmon filet. Along with that I put 1/2 cup or so of coconut milk and some salt. Simmered it just enough to get the salmon tender but not over cooked, garnished it with parsley and am now on my second bowl.
Oh yeah, as an aside, you all should check out Taylor’s Stinging Nettles post from 3.13.06 One Word: wrath. There link to Taylor’s site on the left hand side of this site, for anyone who hasn’t looked yet (you really should, she’s wonderful). Anyways, the post is great because it’s dedicated to me and I found it uproariously funny, nearly died laughing.