Sunday, July 26, 2009

Pannenkoek, Zomer Carnaval and stroganoff with yummy potatoes

Word of the day: let op = attention!


Schrobbenmaster made pannenkoeken for dinner yesterday. I had mine with just icing sugar (omg so yummy!) and some butter.

His friend, Ruben VDH came over later for a chat, and I sat out on the balcony enjoying - to be honest, freezing a little - the cold wind and my thoughts. One doesn't often get 'alone' time when staying with other people, so I took this opportunity to be on my own and think about the past, the present and a little of the future.

This weekend is Zomer Carnaval (Summer Carnival) in Rotterdam, an imitation of the Rio de Janeiro carnival, where lots of South Americans and Africans make loads of noise and dance around in a parade. We set out at lunchtime to see what was happening. From the house, I was hearing loud drums and whistling all evening yesterday, which, thankfully, wasn't as annoying as it could have been.

We searched for the start of the parade and found the Landmacht (Land Army) group playing their drums, trumpets and whistles, with female booty dancers sweating their booties out. They looked like they were having fun, and it was nice to watch them, until the sun became too hot and we searched for some shade.


They were throwing out Landmacht whistles, and the guy in front of me tried to catch one but missed terribly, and it dropped at my feet, almost as if it wanted to be my pet. Aww...


Not sure what they are, but they're looking a little too well-fed for their outfits.


Freaky yellow (not even blonde) wigged Smurfettes. There were a gazillion of them, and only five Smurfs that I could see, two of which were Papa Smurfs. Got the ratio a little off there, methinks.


What never to wear. Which nut told him palm trees looked good on shirts outside Hawaii?


Again, not sure who they're supposed to be.


McD's, also having McChicken promotion here. On Mondays and Tuesdays, McChicken is only 2 euros! Gotta get me one of them next week muahahaha...


Market selling stuff... didn't really stop to look at the stalls, but the whole market looks pretty big.


Came home after the Carnaval and saw Mumsy Bumsy on Skype. Chatted via webcam to her and the family.

While clearing the kitchen cupboard a few days ago, I found some food that could be cooked for dinner and I wanted to clear all the old things out before buying too many new items. So today, I decided to make beef stroganoff.


One of the types of potatoes I enjoy is fried potatoes (yum!), so I sliced the potatoes to make pan-fried potatoes with onions. Apparently, I should've boiled the potatoes before frying them, but I'd already started frying so I tried to make the best of it. I think it still turned out nice, though, so no regrets.


Bought two slabs of beef from the supermarket to cook. Although I wanted to make them medium rare, they cooked so quickly that they became well done before I realised. Had to endure Schrobbenmaster's quick lecture on how to cook steaks after that. My first time cooking steak and potatoes after all... :S


The result! Not too shabby in the end. The stroganoff sauce from Knorr was tasty, the potatoes were tasty, the beef a little tough, but thankfully not muscly, so it wasn't all a mess.

I actually really liked the potatoes... don't mind making them again, but I wonder if I can get away with not boiling them before frying again? ;)

2 comments:

Mumsy said...

chinese cooking no nd to boil potatoes..fry them til golden, then add little water and keep frying....onions n garlic sauteed before putting in potatoes wl b yummy..

frachely said...

anymore comments that distress you? hehe