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Saturday, September 8, 2007

Sweet Memories


When we arrived at Centraal Station in Amsterdam, we picked up our luggage and trooped through the streets to our lovely hotel, the Pulitzer. Even though it was a short walk, I had a hard time not oogling and taking pictures every second.

We found the hotel easily, marked by its red banners, a rambling, gracious building pieced together from smaller townhouses. There was a spacious lobby with dark wood panelling, a fireplace going (yes, in late August) and a long reception desk to one side. To get to our room on the third floor, we used one of the three elevators, which could only hold two people at a time.

Our room was beautiful (see above). It overlooked the canal, had wooden shutters and old wood beams, and the greatest bathroom ever. As an architect I can go on and on over the most ridiculous things, like bathrooms. This one had charming old tile and was basically a quarter of a circle, so the door was curved. I took a bunch of photos but none of them could capture the small, precious space.

One of the best things from the trip was a package of stroopwafels from the hotel. Mark had eaten these a while ago by chance and didn't know what they were called. Every trip to Fairway, we'd scour the candy and cookie aisle. The hotel sent up several packages of stroopwafels later and we bought a couple packages before we left.

Stroopwafels are delicious and deceptively simple. Two crispy-ish, butter-laden waffle layers sandwich a thin layer of caramel. It's the texture that makes the cookie so yummy. I'm not usually a sweets person but I could not get enough of these, which are the perfect companion to coffee.

We found them online when we got home, and saw it mentioned alongside Trader Joe's. So...we're going to brave the crowds at the Union Square store today, in pursuit of this decadent cookie.

Mark found a site that sells a few varieties that sell them online. These were the ones we found in the bakery, and these were the ones we got at the hotel.

Sarah at Living in Dutchland lists stroopwafels as one of the top ten things in her life as a British woman in Amsterdam. Check out her blog for a daily account of such a beautiful city. I wish I'd read her blog before I went; I would've toured her recommended sites and had an ice cream bar!


Photo by myself of our comfy bed at the Pulitzer Hotel.

8 comments:

Mom Knows Everything said...

What a beautiful room. Those cookies sound good. I looked at some on your pictures on flicker, they're beautiful.I got to go Aidan has himself attached to my leg begging to go see the frogs in the pond. ~Tammy

Anonymous said...

YoooHooo!

Good to see you had such a grand trip. I bet I would have enjoyed some of those cookies with my coffee this morning. I took a peak at them and my mouth watered.

When I tried to click on Living in Dutchland, it said 'page not found'. Perhaps you could check it, too? You made her site sound very interesting.

Enjoy the beautiful day. Soon the leave will begin to change color. Brilliant glimpses of Heaven. :)

Kitty said...

link corrected! thanks, Theresa!
her site is indeed interesting.

Kitty said...

happy sunday, tammy to you, aidan and the frogs!

Sarah de Mul said...

Hi Kitty,

I'm so glad you had a good time in Amsterdam, the hotel sounds great (I'll have to recommend it to friend when they stay) and most of all I'm glad you were able to feest on Stroopwafels, they are a great Dutch invention.

I want to let you know that Ice cream bars are not bars as in chocolate bars, but bars as in "a man walks into a bar". You must know what I mean, there's a selection of 20 different flavours behind a glass screen to choose from. The difference, for me as a Brit, is that these place just don't exist in the UK.

Take care

Sarah de Mul

Kitty said...

oh, Sarah, I saw those bars. They were nicely designed.
We meant to go in at one point but never made it. drat!

nice seeing you,
k

CaT said...

hihihihi.
i like this post about stroopwafels. i am dutch and only buy them for foreigners as they almost always are perceived as delicious... i think they are too sweet and never buy them for myself.. :)
maybe currently you are not eating stroopwafels anymore, and maybe (probably) someone else already told you, but the (a) dutch way to eat them, is to make a cup of tea, and put the stroopwafel on top of the mug as to let the caramel melt a bit... (or you can put them for 10/20 seconds in the microwave.. but beware.. then the caramel can be really hot..!

Kitty said...

Hi CaT
Mark knew about the trick with the coffee. For some reason I prefer to eat the stroopwafels unheated. And I agree with you, they're a bit too sweet.

I'm very surprised they aren't more widely known like croissants.