I'll Have a Blauw Birthday Without You

My birthday was last week and I celebrated by packing my bags, leaving Warren behind, and heading to Holland to visit my sister and brother-in-law. We started out the day with appletaart from Winkel 43 for breakfast. This stuff is amazing!

We went out and explored some other smaller towns in Holland, starting with Edam. 

We made it for the last cheese market of the year. Farmers bring their cheese to the market by boat and they unload the boats by throwing these giant balls of cheese two at a time to each other. 

There were people at the market dressed in traditional clothing who handed out samples to the crowd. 

After the market, we went to Echte Edammer Kaas where they age cheese. We tasted tons of cheese and it was some of the best I've ever had. Definitely bought a bunch to take home. 

Next we headed to Volendam, which ended up being really touristy. We walked around a bit but didn't stay too long. We were mostly there to catch a ferry to the next town. 

The last town we visited was Marken, which was adorable. All the houses were painted dark green and loads of homes had goats, rabbits, or sheep in the backyard. 

There was a place selling poffertjes (little pancakes) that they topped with strawberries and powdered sugar. These were some of the best poffertjes I've ever had! We actually went back for another batch with just butter and powdered sugar, which are still my favourite. 

The whole town of Marken was really cute and not as touristy as Volendam. All three towns combined made for a really nice day. And the weather was perfect!

 For my birthday dinner we went to the Indonesian restaurant, Blauw (the Dutch word for Blue). We ordered the tasting menu so we could try a lot of different things. The food was amazing! 

Jackie, Zach, and me with our dinner

Fried bananas, vegetables, and sweetened coconut were just part of our dinner. I especially liked the chicken with peanut sauce and the curries. 

 I really love prawn crackers with sweet chili sauce. Everything was delicious!

I had a great week celebrating my birthday in Amsterdam. But I also had a fun time celebrating the weekend before and after my trip with my London friends. More on that next time.