Airport Food, Japan Style

Snack Rack, Narita Airport.

Do you see those little silver dried fishes among the peanuts on the front of the Kasugai Peanut & You bag on the left? =o)) And Chee-za! That seems to be a phonetic spelling to me. I love that they put the percentage of cheese on the front.


Took this picture of the menu on the table for two reasons: the left, center bowl of udon with "edible wild plant" and the lower right item, which looks sort of like a Japanese version of corn dogs fashioned from sticky rice and bacon!

No, I did not try any of the above. I had a coffee latte and stroop waffle (Dutch cookie with carmel syrup holding together the thin waffle sides, which I know from my time in Amsterdam).

Well, it was the international terminal, evidenced also by the presence of Ritz peanut butter bits.

Deco Amsterdam

Interior at the restaurant in the American Hotel‎ on Leidsekade, just off Leidseplein

Apartment building, Tesselschadestraat, Amsterdam

One of the things I love about Amsterdam is the number of Art Deco influenced buildings that it has. There is even a deco style named Amsterdamse School style of architecture. Most of the buildings in this style were built in 1915-1940.

Near Amsterdam Centrum, there is even a whole neighborhood, the Rivierenbuurt, designed by architects from the Amsterdamse School. I've only ridden through it, in taxi, bus or tram, but one of these visits I'm going to have to get out and walk through in order to get some pictures.

Bedroom Secrets

It is strictly verboten by the museum, but while the guard was in the other room, I snuck a photo of my friend Markus while he was looking at one of Van Gogh's best loved works, The Bedroom, which is the focus of a special show about its restoration at the museum.

Oh, the Brushstrokes!

As seen at the Van Gogh museum last Friday, The Pink Orchard, oil on canvas painted in 1888 by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). He painted a series of ~14 orchard paintings from the end of April to the end of March that year. They have three of the orchard paintings hung side by side at the museum. (see them in this video) They are more beautiful in person, of course -- a lot of wonderful movement in the trees.

Cyclamen Naturalisée

I've never seen cyclamen growing wild. I think of it as a pretty, if somewhat overly common, plant that people have in the house for a little color through the winter. When I went up to visit the house of a friend on the Montaigne Noir this week, there was a beautiful drift of Cyclamen Hederifolium, a hardy, miniature cyclamen, in bloom under the trees near the chateau on the property. Gerard, the owner of the chateau, said that he had planted the first corms 20 years ago and gradually spread them out. I love that he took the care to create this beautiful sight in the grounds around his large old house, but then I have often said that the French have a wonderful aesthetic.

le Monstre de la Tarte

See those twirly, eye lookin' things in this monster face made of tarts? Those are the tartes au citron that the bakery around the corner from me has started making. They are the perfect balance of crust to lemon filling to whisper light, soft, toasted meringue. I'm getting hypnotized by their twirliness just looking at this picture, lemon tarts have started to invade my dreams...and they are only 2€ a piece.

Anémones à la Lumière

Can't get enough of this week's bouquet of anemones in the afternoon light.

Anemone's of the type Anemone coronaria were 4€ a bunch at the market in Revel.