Foodie Friday 1 - Simply Fish

Starting a new "series" for my blog this week, with a short review of a cool little restaurant I went to in Camden, London before I moved.  I'd been shopping and met up with my friend Amy who gave me directions to the restaurant she was at; Simply Fish!

It was a groovy little spot down a side street from all the Saturday Camden market crowds. The menu offers, surprisingly enough, seafood, so if you don't like seafood there's very little else on offer!

Since Amy and I do like seafood, we were pretty happy. I like how they've organised their basic main menu: you pick a fish from a selection including things like cod, trout, sea bass, prawns or salmon, then decide how you'd like it cooked (baked, steamed, fried, battered, tempura etc.). Next you choose a sauce such as Thai coconut, sweet & sour, salsa verde or citrus anchovy butter and lastly you choose two accompaniments such as sweet potato wedges, green salad, fries, stir fried vegetables, rice, noodles or rustic bread.

There are also house recommendations, set meals such as Mediterranean fish stew, mussels in white wine, fish finger sandwich with salad and fries or a Massaman curry with trout as well as some tasty looking small plates and desserts!

I opted for tempura prawns with a soya, ginger and oyster sauce, noodles and stir fried vegetables.

It looked lovely and the prawns and sauce were lovely, although some of the vegetables I wasn't too fussed about. I think there might have been something with lemon-grass in there and I really don't like lemon-grass unfortunately, but other than that it was lovely.

Amy's steamed trout (I think that's what it was!) with salad and more salad was apparently very nice, and we both stole chips from her daughter who had a cheeseburger and fries!

I decided I needed a dessert after I saw a 'de-constructed passion-fruit cheesecake with shortbread' on the menu as I LOVE passion-fruit, and it did not disappoint!

The cheesecake filling was creamy and delicious and combined with passion-fruit sorbet and syrup, plus a yummy shortbread biscuit I was in heaven!

I would definitely suggest you go to the website and check out the menu if you're thinking of having some seafood in London. They are also in Shoreditch as well as Camden and they do delivery orders too!

Let Me Tell You About My Cats

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am, and always have been, a dog person. My family has always had dogs, I've always had dogs, I can't go past a dog in the street without saying hello and I'm always planning what kind of dogs I will have in the future when my lifestyle permits it again.

Above: me kayaking with Danny, the first dog who was "mine", and not just a family dog.

When I lived in Western Australia I couldn't have a dog, so I fostered them for SAFE (Saving Animals From Euthenasia) until they were adopted. I did get myself a cat though, my first ever cat, called Shakespeare.

Shakespeare was pretty cool as far as cats go and I did love him. However, when I had to give him away because I was moving overseas I wasn't anywhere near as devastated as I would have been if he'd been a dog. I decided that cats were ok, but I probably wouldn't bother ever getting one again.

Fast-forward to me living in London and meeting Dennis. Dennis is my Dutch boyfriend (who I now live with in the Netherlands) and Dennis's family always had cats. He grew up surrounded by cats the way I was surrounded by dogs. Dennis likes dogs, but he is definitely a cat person.

It's kind of ironic really.

So now I am living with Dennis...and five cats. Yep, five. See, the thing about Dennis is not only does he really, really like cats, but he also can't say no to an animal in need (a bit like me and one of the reasons I love him) which is partly how he came to have these five very different cats as part of his family. Well they're part of my family now, and as much as they drive me mad and annoy me and I swear they deliberately try to aggravate me sometimes; they are also quite entertaining and have very distinct personalities.

So let me tell you about 'our' cats.

Grim

Grim is the oldest of the group and he is the boss (of the cats). He looks a bit like he's wearing a tuxedo and seems to think that means he must be more refined than the other cats. He's definitely more polite, he always sits by you and waits patiently for you to notice him if he wants a pat; rather than just barging into your face like Zaphod. He's also a bit like a dog in that he knows his name and usually comes when he's called. He also has conversations with you, but he doesn't have a normal meow it sounds more like "mroa".

He spends a lot of time sitting on the sub-woofer looking out the window. When he sees birds he makes those funny chattering noises that cats do which sounds pretty funny. If you poke him he immediately says "mroa"! and turns around to see what you want.

If you leave the door a tiny bit ajar when you go to the bathroom then he opens it and comes in to see what you are doing!

He also really likes my dressing-gown. If I leave it lying around anywhere he's usually sitting in it when I come back.

Looking annoyed because he knows I'm going to make him move off the dressing-gown and my chair!

While he is the boss and the other cats follow his lead (especially Fe'ral) he's also quite good at putting up with the kittens, especially Zaphod who likes to lie on top of everybody.

Fe'ral

Fe'ral is the next oldest and really sees himself as Grim's right-hand-man. Whenever Grim gets up and goes somewhere Fe'ral immediately follows him and nudges him a lot. Dennis's old boss found Fe'ral on the side of the road when he was only about three or four weeks old and they think maybe he'd been thrown out of a car. So Dennis adopted him. He also thinks the fall might have done a bit of damage to his brain because Fe'ral doesn't really always seem to be "all there". He's very dopey and clueless, which just makes him cuter. 

He's still smart enough to sit on a bike seat though! I love the little smudges on his face. He quite often picks a spot on the floor and sits there all day, or for days on end, just staring at the floor.

He also likes to sleep on Dennis's computer chair if Dennis is not around. 

He's very easy-going, and usually just seems confused if you pat him or pick him up! Apparently when Dennis got the kittens Fe'ral also mothered them a bit, letting them suckle on him and licking them. And like all cats, he likes boxes to sit in, although usually only ones on the floor for some reason.

Luna

Luna is the next cat Dennis got and she's the only girl. She's also VERY timid and hard to get photos of because she was obviously abused by her previous owners. When Dennis's old cat died he found an online ad for another female cat but when he got there it was obvious that she was terrified of the male owner. So, of course Dennis took her just to get her away from there. 

She usually hides from all humans but she is getting better around us, she sometimes comes close and lets you pat her if you're feeding her but usually if you get too close to her she runs away. The first time I visited Dennis here I didn't even see her for a week.  We don't know what happened to her before but it must have been bad if after two years of being here she's still terrified of humans. She gets along with all the other cats though and does seem to be a bit more relaxed around me, maybe because my voice is softer than a man. Sometimes she lets me pat her even when she's not eating and arches her neck to show she likes it. Sometimes she still runs away though.

Fandango

Fandango is the brother of Zaphod and they are the two youngest cats, just over a year old now. Dennis's parents' cats had kittens and Dennis was going to take one but couldn't decide which so he got both!  Fandango is definitely the quieter brother, and likes to just be near you while you're on the computer, but isn't a huge fan of being patted. If we are both in the bedroom he stands up looking through the window and meowing as though he's so lonely, but as soon as you come out he walks away!

He and Zaphod play together, and sleep curled up together a lot, although usually poor Fandango ends up being Zaphod's pillow!

Sometimes he gets his own back though;

Zaphod

Zaphod is the weirdest cat I have ever met! He has so much personality and he can be very annoying, but also very adorable and funny.

He meows ALL THE TIME, sometimes little trills and sometimes full-on yowling that makes you think he is trying to sing. If you meow back at him he'll have a little conversation with you. He's also very greedy, if there's food, he wants it. I've seen him eat pasta, lettuce and potato peel before and he will shove all the other cats out of the way to get something he wants! 

He's also very affectionate and loves attention. If you're patting one of the other cats he will rush over and try to get in on the action. You can do almost anything with him, as long as he's getting pats, he doesn't care, he just keeps purring.

 He also LOVES belly rubs, and will roll around in ecstasy if you give him one!

He loves to sleep in boxes and on top of the other cats (especially his brother) but he also often falls asleep in very odd-looking positions:

Did I mention he was cute?

And weird...

So there you have it, the craziness of cats that is my life now! Stay tuned for more blog posts next week.

Cannons and Ice-Cream

It was a long weekend here in the Netherlands last weekend and the weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately. It's definitely summer, the days are hot and sunny and the sun doesn't set until after 10pm! Dennis and I had three different outings over the three days; on Saturday we went to his parents for a barbecue, on Sunday we went to one of the "hides" and had a walk in the Oostvaardersplassen (I wrote about it previously here), and on Monday we visited the old fort town of Naarden and then Laren for ice-cream!

Our walk in the Oostvaardersplassen wasn't too long. The only unfortunate thing about this gorgeous weather is that our only mode of transportation at the moment is on the motorbike. If you're riding a motorbike you need to wear protective clothing such as jeans, boots and leather jacket; all of which make you sweat even when it isn't nearly 30 degrees! And then when you get where you're going you have to lug around your jacket, gloves and helmet so we weren't really dressed for a big hike.  We did get some fresh air and an occasional cool breeze though, which was lovely.

Didn't see as much wildlife as the other times we've been, only some birds, a dragonfly and these huge fish!

Monday was just as hot, but we had a plan to visit one of the best ice-cream parlours in the country afterwards to cool down! But first we visited Naarden, a town that has been built within a Spanish star fort, complete with fortified walls and a moat!

You can't really see the star shape when you're standing in it, but have a look here to see an aerial photo of it. The town within the walls is very pretty, full of trees and greenery, cobbled streets and historical buildings such as the gothic St. Vitus Church which was built in the 14th and 15th centuries.

The weather had people out on the water in droves, some in little boats and some on barges actually built from some scaffolding with a motor attached!

There's also a museum, the Fortress Museum. We didn't go in but we did see them re-enacting the traditional firing of the cannons outside. I was surprised by how long it takes to fire one of those things!

We rode through the town and stopped to take some photos of the Fortress Gate before our next destination.

As you can see, it's a very pretty, historic little town. We then rode to the town of Laren, which is very close by and also a very affluent area. I swear we were riding down Millionaire's Row at one point, there were so many huge, beautiful mansions set within gated grounds! Apparently Laren is one of the most affluent areas of the Netherlands (duh) and is well known for being an art colony in the late 20th century. I was also surprised by how many of these HUGE houses had thatched roofs. Obviously some thatchers are still getting enough trade to live very comfortably!

Laren is also home to IJssalon de Hoop, an ice-cream parlour that has been there since 1898, makes all their own ice-cream and is regularly in the top-ten ice-cream parlours in the country! You can tell how popular it is by the line out the door and to the road. Dennis said that wasn't even very busy and often the line extends to the other side of the road!

They have over 40 handmade flavours including dairy/lactose-free and sugar-free varieties for people with dietary requirements. They also have a special flavour of the day that changes regularly and their prices are very reasonable compared to some ice-cream parlours I've visited.

Dennis and I both got a BIG container, with five different flavours packed in! I had Grandma's Cake (was kind of weird, but did taste a bit like a lemon-butter cake), coconut, strawberry, raspberry and stracciatella. It was delicious. Although next time I might get a smaller serving, my eyes may have been a little bit bigger than my belly (which is saying something)!

As we left I saw an older man and lady sitting outside with an old dog, each with an ice-cream in a cone. And by that I mean they had bought three ice-cream cones and the dog had a whole one to himself that she was holding for him to eat! It was rather cute.

All in all it was a very enjoyable day! If you'd like to have a look at the IJssalon de Hoop's website (in case you're ever in the area, you should definitely visit!) then click here.  Until next week!