Three Feasts and a Burning Wheel?

Saturday night…The night we starved ourselves all day for…It was finally time for… ALL YOU CAN EAT SUSHI!!! And not low-quality sushi mind you, real good fresh fish, with different sorts of nigiri, maki, hand rolls and more.  We went to a restaurant called Shizen with Monisha’s two cousins Sasha and Sabine, and their respective boyfriends Leon and Erik.  Frustratingly, we didn’t take any photos of the evening.  Perhaps a small, subconscious part of Monisha didn’t want to capture the image of her being towered over by her two tall (already taller than her and wearing heels) and elegant cousins. Lack of photographic evidence notwithstanding, the evening was a rousing success and everyone returned home bellies brimming with sushi. 

Thankfully, Arvind returned from India with enough time for us to see and spend time with him.  We returned to his house (the first house we stayed at in Holland) on Saturday night. The next day, the four of us (Monisha, Nolan, Monica, Arvind) went to the Openluchtmuseum (Open Air Museum) in Arnhem.  Monica had told us about this place on our first day with her.  The Openluchtmuseum is a place that replicates and displays many different aspects of traditional Dutch life.  

We got to see a blacksmithing presentation where they added a metal rim to a wagon wheel.  As soon as the metal touched the wood, the wood burst into flames.  They had lots of water available to pour onto it in order to both douse the flames and cool the metal ring.  

We also saw an old printing press and got to use it ourselves.  For a snack we had poffertjes again near an old sweets shop.  

We explored old Dutch houses, wandered through large medicinal and botanical gardens, pumped water using an Archimedes screw, saw rope being made, tasted beer brewed using traditional methods, and talked with a man who was building a boat using old techniques in an attempt to preserve boat-crafting knowledge. 

We saw beautifully made old wooden barns and stables. These were particularly neat to see because Arvind and Monica’s house was originally a barn, and we could clearly see the resemblance in their living room and thatched roof.

While we were staying in Bergen, Bjarne Martin told us about a culinary experience called Indonesian Rice Table.  As far as we know, this experience only exists in Holland.  A Rice Table is a large collection of dishes from all over Indonesia.  For dinner after the Openluchtmuseum, Arvind and Monica took us to an Indonesian restaurant called Mooi Zeist, and of course we ordered a rijsttafel (rice table). The many course meal started off with spring rolls and three dipping sauces. Following that they brought out the rest of the feast.  This consisted of ten different delicious dishes.  Several bowls contained meat with curry like sauces, a few had vegetable dishes, one had eggs in a coconut sauce, and our favorite: chicken skewers in a peanut sauce.  Even the desert dish had many varieties. 

On Monday, we slept in and had a lovely morning in our guest house. After a late breakfast we borrowed a couple bikes and rode them 14km to Utrecht.  The plan was to visit the Museum Speelklok, which has a collection of automatically playing instruments and clocks. Unfortunately, a group of new university students had rented out the whole place.  Furthermore, all the other museums in Utrecht are closed on Mondays.  Nevertheless, we had a great afternoon. We bought a chocolate bar at a little shop and brought it over to Oma’s to share.  On the way back to Werkoven we sat in the grass near a canal and continued to try and learn the Beatles duet: If I Fell. Progress remains slow, as some of the harmonies are difficult to hear and piece together.

That night, we got treated to another wonderful dinner by Arvind and Monica at a Dim Sum restaurant in Utrecht.  The first dish that arrived on our table was a very substantial plate of peking duck.  Since Arvind and Monica are vegan, this entire half a duck was just for the two of us.  We knew that we still had a lot of food coming, but the duck was so tasty that we couldn’t help but nearly finish it before even the second dish arrived.  When the rest of our food came, we were sure that we would have tons of leftovers.  Amazingly, we were able to finish everything except for two large sesame balls with red bean paste (from the second order of three).  The two remaining balls served as a great addition to breakfast the next morning.

At some point we went on a nice evening walk through their gardens and on a little path behind their land. We took Rany, who takes quite an interest to the herd of cows along the path. The cows are so funny; they walked along with us as we went by them! Monica said they regularly walk up and down with them. In the garden we saw a little hedgehog who let us come right up to him. He had two big ticks on his face :(

P.S. Who wants to be the next lucky person to obtain titling rights for one of our blog posts? ;)