Avontuur + Essay waar ik trots op ben

Hoi Lezers, zag op facebook dat het in Nederland gesneeuwd heeft. Hier is het nog steeds zo gemiddeld een 26 graden, al begint het in de nachten wel wat meer af te koelen.

Van het weekend heb ik eigenlijk niet zo veel gedaan. Wel ben ik op avontuur geweest.
Vrijdag nacht ben ik met een aantal vriendinnen op pat gegaan. We zouden wel even Stair way to haven gaan wandelen. Wij met de taxi er heen, ja we hebben het gevonden. Ook het eerste stuk ging wel goed, tot dat we een pad aan de rechter kant miste. We raakte een beetje verdwaalt, wat ik wel grappig vond eigenlijk. Wij terug staat er in eens een beveiliger recht in ons gezicht te schijnen. We wisten natuurlijk wel dat het een illegale route was die we namen, maar we hadden niet verwacht dat er een beveiliger zou staan om 4 uur in de ochtend. Ik rustig op die man op lopen, (de andere meiden waren bang) rustig vragen wat er was en dat we graag die route achter hem zouden willen gaan lopen. Hij vertelde me rustig dat het niet ging. Maar zo als je weet, we waren verdwaald. Dan maar de weg terug vragen. Blijkt dat nou heel gemakkelijk te zijn. 3 keer rechts, jammer maar helaas dan gaan we maar naar huis. Heb uiteindelijk de zonsopgang proberen te bekijken in Waikiki, blijkt dat er een berg voor de zonsopgang zit. Dus niets gezien, dan maar als troost naar een ontbijt restaurant. We waren toch wel hongerig, na 3 uur in het oerwoud rond te hebben gedwaald en twee uur op het strand op niets hebben liggen wachten.

Zaterdag de rest van de ochtend maar een beetje geslapen, zo ver het kon want 1 van mijn kamergenotes was aan het verhuizen. Toch maar begonnen met al de verslagen die ik nog moet inleveren. Best een uitdaging zonder dat je geslapen hebt. Zaterdag avond lekker wezen stappen, met twee andere meiden, was echt super alleen een beetje jammer dat twee van ons erg moe waren ;). Waren uiteindelijk om 5 uur thuis. En ja had een flinke Hangover!

Zondag maar is tot 13:00 uur geslapen, had ik wel nodig. De rest van de dag met school bezig geweest. En ik kan wel zeggen dat ik veel gedaan heb zondag. Zelfs met een brak hoofd lukt er toch nog wel wat. 1 essay af, 1 presentatie bijna af, 1 samenvatting voor een toets af, 2 andere samenvattingen begonnen, en voor een andere toets geleerd.

Over dat essay gesproken ik wil hem jullie laten lezen. Wat denken jullie over mijn "verzonnen" verhaal over de Nederlandse keuken. Ik moest een informatief verhaal schrijven op een geamuseerde manier. Ik hoop dat mijn doel is bereikt. De leraar die het vanochtend heeft gelezen vond van wel. Hoop dat jullie het ook vinden, ik hoor het graag van jullie. Veel lees plezier!!
Cookies story about “Dutch Cuisine”.

This essay is about the first day of Cookie (a cook) in a restaurant that makes high Dutch cuisine named “Hutspot”. On his first day Cookie had a few questions for the chef. “Chef I want to ask you something; why are your cooking styles so different and how come we use all these weird spices that have to be imported from far away?” “I can tell you that cook, but I think you should experience it yourself. Take our time machine and go to the golden age that’s in between 1600 and 1622 when the Dutch first VOC (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) fleets sailed out to India and South Africa.” “Thanks Chef, I will go.” He took the time machine and went to the Golden age. He arrived in the middle of Rotterdam where it all started. He managed to see the first VOC ships arrive. The ships unloaded a lot of barrels; they had taken nutmeg from the Banda-islands in India and pepper from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

“I should follow those spices; I need to find out what the cooks prepare with it,“ Cookie thought. So he followed the barrels filled with spices to the nearest kitchen. He told the chef that he knew how to cook so that he could stay in the kitchen and see what the chef would make. The chef expressed that he good use some help, so Cookie stayed. The chef got the delivery from the VOC and was told that he should make a big welcome home dinner for the sailors that did a good job bringing all those barrels full of dried spices. He was told to use all of the spices that where in the Barrels. So he started cooking; he took a cauliflower and boiled it with nutmeg on them, took green beans and boiled them with nutmeg and pepper. The taste was different and new but the chef didn’t know what else to do and served it to the guests. He made some beef with pepper and salt and served it; the sailors loved it! Even though the chef didn’t know what he was doing with all those new flavors he had never tasted, he created a new way of cooking; the start of the Dutch Cuisine. Cookie thought he had seen enough. The kitchen was filthy and everything smelled disgusting. He said goodbye to the chef and went home. On his way out, he found out that there were dogs walking through the kitchen, so he did not want to stay any longer. He took the time machine and went home.

Back in the 2012 kitchen, he told the chef what he had seen, and the chef told him “Yes pepper seems normal for you, but back in that time it was very expensive and exclusive. It was only grown in Africa and it was hard to keep it dry during the boat trip over the ocean. The same goes for nutmeg and the chef in 1600 saw it the first time in his life. So the chef had to try something, and it worked out well. But you should find out more, go on to the internet and see what you can find out about culture differences. What are the different ways to use nutmeg?” Chef told Cookie.

Cookie did as the chef told him, started the computer, and found this information. Asian kitchens use nutmeg for adding taste, the same as the Dutch do, but they use it in a different form. In the Dutch kitchen, we like to use the whole kernel and in Asia they use the grounded version. Another difference is that in the Dutch kitchen we use Nutmeg to add taste to vegetables by boiling them together, but we don’t eat the nutmeg, and in the Asian kitchen they use Nutmeg in marinades so, they do eat the nutmeg.

“So what makes Dutch cooking so different from other types of cooking?“Cookie thought. We all know that Americans love to fry their food, and that French cooking is known for their hard and long methods of preparing food. You don’t need skills to prepare American food, and you do need a lot of skills for preparing French food. For Dutch food you just need the right equipment. Dutch people love to mix everything together. When it’s not in the pan they will mix everything together on their plate. They mostly eat potatoes, not fried like the Americans do, not pureed and baked, and not made in weird forms like the French love to do, but boiled and served with some gravy on top so that it is easy to mix it with the meat and vegetables on the plate.

“With all those influences from all over the world can we say that we have a Dutch Cuisine?” Cookie asked himself. He found out that there are so many influences that it has become a strange mixture of using spices and types of cooking. He found out that Dutch people do not know what typical Dutch food is. So what is it? It is kale stew, endive stew, carrot and onion stew, poffertjes (look like small pancakes but aren’t), stroopwafels and drop. He could not find an English word for a few of the dishes so he thought they must be Dutch. It is a mixture of all different influences and they created new recipes with old Asian spices. By adding the new spices they created new flavors in traditional foods they knew, it made the kitchen because there are more flavors to play around with. It made the Dutch kitchen what it is now.

After his research, Cookie wanted to finally cook something, so he started making poffertjes. He found an old hand-written recipe from the Chef; The recipe stated: You need 250 grams (8.8 oz.) of flour, 8 grams (0.28 oz.) of baking powder, 2 or 3 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 14 grams (0.49 oz.) of vanilla sugar, 1 teaspoon of oil, creamy butter, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. Start by sifting the flour into a bowl. Add baking powder, salt, vanilla-sugar and stir it till it is a clear mixture. Gradually, add the milk and stir everything together until all of the lumps are gone. You do not want the guest to eat flour! Add the eggs one at a time and stir well until it turns into dough. Let the dough rest for proper thickness. It should be pourable like a pancake mixture. Put the poffertjespan (special pan with burrows to make the poffertjes in, you can also use a saucepan with baking tins) on the fire and let it get hot. Make the burrows oily and pour the dough into each hole, but do not put too much or it will become a mess! Each burrow should be filled up more than halfway with dough. Put the pan on medium fire, so the poffertjes don’t burn! Turn the poffertjes when the dough is nearly dry at the top. Bake them a little on the other side. Take them out and serve them on a plate sprinkled with powdered sugar, and a bit of butter. Of course, you should taste them first, but keep in mind it is for the guests not for you!

Cookie started to think about why he I liked cooking so much. He came up with some ideas: it is good to see the smiles on the guests’ faces when they taste something really good, or something they have never tasted before, something that feels weird in their mouths but tastes delicious. He also enjoyed seeing guest, walk out of the door with a smile on their faces, knowing that they will come back and order the same thing, because it was so good. Knowing that people had a great night and that the cooking made it even better was also a great feeling. What Cookie did not like was the working hours, because he never saw his family, and his friends were always going out when he was working. With Christmas all the families come in to the restaurant, and yes he liked it but it made him think of his own family. Of course he did not like the pressure, which one was under at rush hour; It was not good for the your nerve system.

“How did I end up in the kitchen?” Cookie was thinking. “Think I started with cooking when I wasn’t even able to reach the stove. Mommy would pull out a chair that I could stand on. I would stir the pots and help her. I know that I made my first apple pie when I was 7 years old. When grandma came to visit and after we made applesauce together, she could not keep up with cutting the apples. I found something that I was good at and loved to do at an early age. At the age of 16, I still wanted to become a kitchen chef, so I started a hospitality management entrepreneur degree and learned how to cook, how to serve, and how to deal with guests. Now I just started working in this great five star restaurant, and I can learn how to cook for real!”

The Chef was screaming, “watch out cookie you should know that you cannot do that!” Cookie woke up from his day dream, and asked, “What shouldn’t I do in the kitchen?” “You shouldn’t make a mess! You have way too many things on your table. You have to prepare one thing after the other, not all at once. You are still learning so don’t try to do everything! You should think of cleaning it up, you made a mess! Make sure that you finish your Mice and Place (side work) on time. After that you will clean down your work area and we will start with rush hour. If you’re not done you should ask a collage to help you. You should not be afraid of me; I’m here to teach you! You can joke around when it’s possible, but don’t do it now and don’t do it in rush hour!”

Rush hour started ten minutes later, the chef shouted “NO TIME TO CHAT AND PLAY ANYMORE!” Cookie was just about done, the chef shouted again “People are waiting!” “BO CHEF!” Cookie and the rest of the kitchen staff shouted in reply.

Zo wat vinden jullie er van, sorry dat het zo een lang verhaal is maar dat was de eis.