Gouda: Saving the Rind

In the long series, of “why didn’t I think of that”, I presents Dan’s idea for saving that last bit of Gouda.

The Netherlands is, of course, know for their Gouda cheese and it is available as widely here as American and Cheddar cheeses are available in the states. The older Gouda is, the harder and sharper the flavor gets. People even eat a type literally called “Oude Kaas” or Old Cheese, which can rival extra sharp Cheddar in strength (I like it, Dan doesn’t). I find it to be vastly preferable to American cheese, but still mild enough to make a good sandwich.

I like to buy my Gouda as a wedge with waxy skin attached (2,50 or so at Aldi), but once you get down to the rind the cheese gets harder and more difficult to slice. Instead of tossing out this last bit of cheese, try grating it for use on pasta and in chicken quesadillas (a Potter favorite).

Just 3 easy step…
1) Tug off the waxy cover. This is generally pretty thin and can be a little tricky to remove, but you probably don’t want to eat it.
2) Grate the remaining cheese. Once the cover is off, everything else is edible.
3) Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I don’t know how long it’ll last, so I’d recommend eating it fairly quickly. If you let it mold, but use your green compost bin to toss it out.

Enjoy your Gouda!

Episode 11 of Maastricht Minutiae

Episode 11 of Maastricht Minutiae is ready for you! Please click here to download this catch-up episode that continues our conversation from the previous week.

Topics covered this episode are:
- Mandy’s Birthday
- Clothes shopping in Maastricht
- Sushi
- The Festival Zomeravond

Interested in more places to find the podcast? We’ve signed up with Podcast Alley & Podcast Pickle.
This link is to claim my podcast feed: My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-34c022d777612e992bd6532caf8601a1}

KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2009

Thanks to 24 Oranges, Dan & I discovered the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival being held this September 17-20th. This yearly festival was founded in 2007 to introduce a wider audience to the classic, weird, and quirky animation created around the world. This year’s offering includes several contest screenings, screenings of little seen “classic” animations, hands-on workshops, and lectures. The events run late (past midnight), but each day starts around 1pm, so plenty of time has been left in the morning to recover from the night before.

Dan & I have long enjoyed animation, so we were excited to discover a reasonably priced festival nearby. The feel of the website suggests that it is a very relaxed and fun festival. Even better, the program & films are all in English or have English subtitles. All in all, this is an excellent chance for expats to experience independent film in the Netherlands.

The adorable squid above is part of the KLIK! Gif Alert and is (c) its creator.

Episode 10 of Maastricht Minutiae

Episode 10 of Maastricht Minutiae is available for download at TalkShoe! Its been so long that we weren’t able to cover everything and will try to wrap it all up when episode 11 is recorded. Cheers!

Topics covered in this episode:
- Celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary.
- Dentistry
- Brussels & Belgian Comics
- The Belgian Centre of Comic Strip Art
- Brussels Comics Murals 2009

First Impressions on Clothing Shopping

This week I went clothing shopping for myself for the first time since moving to Maastricht. I’m not a big shopper, so its the sort of activity I’ve been putting off for a while now (and I can’t shop with Dan around). Still, the stores are between seasons right now which means that the summer clothing are on sell and the fall clothing lines available.

Where
The big shopping street in Maastricht is Grote St. This busy walking street is packed with a variety of clothing and shoe stores and the shoppers visiting them. (We also buy chocolate-filled waffles there but that’s a story for another day). Between these shops and the ones surrounding Markt square, you could probably spend a full day or two shopping in Maastricht without needing to walk too far. There are a couple of largish stores, department stores, but I spent my time in the smaller boutique shops.

The Clothes
One of the reasons I went shopping this week is all the phenomenal deals on the summer clothing lines. While a good quality item of clothing can run you 40 euros or more, lots of summer clothing right now is on sale for as little as 3 – 10 euros. A good deal if, like me, you don’t tend to buy trendy clothing.

I can’t say I really liked flowing tunics with cinched hems and leggings that seem to be dominating the current style. Add some legwarmers and we might as well be back in the 1980s. That isn’t to say that this style doesn’t look good on the right woman, but I don’t have the tall, lean lines of your average Dutch woman. I’ll be on the look out for more structured items that might touch on some of the flowing lines, but without the leggings.

Sizes
Since I didn’t know my sizes in European-terms (and foolishly failed to look up conversions online), most of this trip was focused on determining what would fit. Shirt sizes appear to go up in increments of 2 (i.e. 38, 40, 42) and bras use the same letters for cups and go up and down by 5′s. The system here appears to be more fine-tuned then back in the US, but only time will tell.

While I didn’t try on any pants, I did notice that a lot of the shirts are cut longer than I’m use to seeing. I suppose its because the Dutch are on average taller than Americans (at least us New Englanders). I’ll have to keep a look out for petite sizes.

Hopefully I’ll make the time to do some more shopping in the near future so I can pick up some nice looking outfits. Maybe this weekend. Hmm…

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