The Leiden Pannenkoeken Pops Another Cherry

hello, hello, hello!

so this blog has been largely untouched for the past couple of months, so i thought i'd all remind you of our common love for food with another thing we have in common: leiden! and more specifically pannenkoeken in leiden!

so me and hilmar went with my best friend from mcgill (tara) to our fave pancake spot near the lido theater (ok so this was like 3 months ago, but ive been kinda slacking on the taking-pics-of-my-food thing, so this is the best photo ive got)...now eating at the 'Oudt Leyden' was what I was most excited for my friend when she came to visit, i mean the coffee shops were nice, the partying in amsterdam ok and the prostitutes decent BUT there is nothing like having a dutch pannenkoeken for the first time!

Now, i want you to think hard about the first time you had a dutch pancake: before you realized pancakes didnt always have to be sweet, before you saw a pancake that was bigger than a pizza, before you tried the addicitive combination of salty pancake + stroop--you see why i was so excited for tara?? She was a panacake virgin and me and hilmar were about to blow her mind! But with this knowledge of dutch pancakes, there comes a great price--no other pancake will hit the spot in quite the same way, nothing will ever be quite as satisfying. But tara didnt seem too concerned, she clearly had no idea what was waiting for her on this magical night. Thank god too, because I had built up this pancake business so much that I was worried Tara's expectations would be too high, but when we ordered the spek and kaas and I heard the groans of joy, i knew the leiden pannenkoeken had struck again!

MWAHAHAHA........

Oliebollen!

Twice a year in Leiden, the heart of a FF flutters. While normally this may be attributed to artery clogging cholesterol, the famous oliebollen are the culprits around New Years and the 3rd October. Their smell haunts Leiden Central during the freezing month of December and even early January. Eaten warm, rolled in icing sugar they are a spongy, sweet doughy delight.

The purchasing experience leaves a lot to be desired, the soft folds in the faces and bodies of the bakers suggesting the dangers of over-consumption as they shovel the piping hot balls of deliciousness into a bag. One bite, and you are hooked.

I wonder if I would love them as much if they were available all year round? Check out the poll and let me know what you think, would you like oliebollen as much if you could eat them year round?

Aoife and Alexander - Madrid - seafood!!

A recent trip to Madrid raised a series of important fat fuck questions, namely does food taste better the closer to the equator you travel? And more importantly, does Spain have more to offer than heaving, perspiration splashed nightclubs, greased up men and dodgy paella?

One afternoon of sea food munching and quality wine sipping, in a rustic yet modern and cosmopolitan San Miguel market answered all of the above questions. Yes! Yes! Yes! (notice the orgasmic references)....

The building itself is impressive, glass and wrought iron exterior, wood and stainless steel interior, and home to approximately 10 stalls serving every variety of seafood and two wine bars. The atmosphere was electric. In the heart of the building where simple wooden tables were laden with the markets specialities, business partners toasted new deals with champagne and ate mussels, families devoured lobsters and chatted in excited tones, couples cooed over cheese platters.

A simple meal of tortilla, fried squid and an egg (why egg?), washed down with a delicious, crisp house white wine for me and spanish beer of sorts for The Sultan. While a pricey afternoon for this wing of the Fat Fucks team, the overall experience was so wonderful that it was more than food - it was food for the soul. And that is what it is all about.

Banana Bread--sara, hilmar and yasmine

yo yoo yooo!! so first entry of this brilliant blog! so first some clerical matters: hilmar and i discussed that when we add an entry we should include who we ate the food with, even if no one knows them, this way we are some what updated on the events in our lives! ahhh the power of food!

ok but more importantly the fat fuck food: Banana bread!!!

now, while one might not immediately consider this a good fat fuck contender, I beg to differ. simply because it is so good... well we haven't eaten it yet...but i am sure hilmar's mixing skills have whipped the batter into a cake worth tasting for generations to come. on a side note a raging debate is going on and threatening to ruin the friendships we've built around our shared passion for food--is banana bread a cake or a bread? like does it qualify as cake level enjoyment or just some weird inbetween?

in fact come to think of it, banana bread is a perfect metaphor for our lives in leiden, while we had to do the savory stuff like study, write theses (is that the plural??) and bike to the god awful FSW..we have also had a wonderful time here--some sprinkling of sweet if you will to lift that bread taste to the next level: cake!

oh oh the timer is going, time to see if this recipe has managed to produce the perfect sweet and savoy combination that has defined our time here in leiden.

xx yasmine