Searching for Tao

I'm seriously considering stealing the CSS from a nice-looking WordPress theme and crowbarring it into this site. I just hate how unreadable it is.

So here's an update for those if you not following my Twitter feed:

I've found an apartment

It's in Bussum, the tiny town that plays host to my job. The people there are definitely more reserved than Amsterdamers, but they're still friendly, even when they think I'm American. The primary reasons for my selecting this location include the 10minute walk to work and the €800/mo price tag, which is incredibly low for the size and quality of place.

I'm making friends

I've managed to meet a few friendly people at some meetups around town, either through CouchSurfing or via an event on Meetup.com. One of the people I met accompanied me to Zandfoort, a beach town on the edge of the North Sea, and then brought me to a party where I had the opportunity to meet a number of really cool people including some Romanian Expats who were impressed by my (very limited) knowledge of their language.

The job is Big

It's funny, during the interview, I really wasn't sure why they were hiring a full-time guy for something that really felt like a contract gig. As far as I knew, they just wanted a community site, with an e-commerce component sure, but it didn't seem that big. Well now that I've been treated to The Big Vision from the Head Cheese, I know better. This is going to be a very big, very challenging project -- made even more difficult by the fact that I'm the only web developer on the project. There's a few Java people, but no one working on the community project but me. I'm learning a lot about Django though, which is cool... now if only I can figure a way to integrate Android development and mapping, that would be pretty sweet.

The Food is Amazing

And lastly, I'd just like to take a moment to talk about how fabulous the food is here. Have I done that yet? OMG FOOD. For the most part, the primary cuisine here is in some sort of sandwich. Meat + cheese + bread = awesome. But how is this awesome? We do have those things in Canada after all. Oh no my friends, no we do not. The bread here, even the white bread from the grocery store for €0.50 is flavourful. And the cheese! OMG cheese. Simple, plain, and super-tasty. Even the slips of meat you buy wrapped in plastic taste great. Croissants, puff pastries, doughnuts... you guys, it's as if my whole life in Canada I was walking around with chalk on my tongue. Yes, it's that good.

PS

When I got home today, there was a letter from IND on the table. They have my BSN (finally). I have to go get it though, which is kind of lame, but I really can't complain. Soon, I will be a Real Person in the Netherlands!

So now that I'm unemployed, I suppose I have time to catch up on stuff here. There are a lot of posts I've been meaning to save here, and there's no time like the present to post them all. I'll start with the recipe for my grandmother's chicken soup.

My grandmother (on my mother's side) is the Chef-as-Matriarch of the family. Since I was a kid, she's had the family over for these massive European-style feasts. 4-7 courses, turkey, pork roast, cabbage rolls, roasted vegetables, soup, green salad, egg salad, pie, cake, and sometimes crème caramel if it was my grandfather's birthday.

All of these are amazing, but what she's known for, practically worshipped for in this family is her soup. Below is the recipe for her sour soup. For the most part, the mechanics are the same. You can swap out the stewed tomatoes for any kind of meat you like. The key is the first line, those vegetables make up the base that's used in all good soup. This incarnation is my favourite though. The sour cream step make everything fabulous:

• carrot, parsnip, celery, onion (one of each, she calls this "miroquois")
• Sauté in pot with oil until the onions are translucent
• Add ½ a can of stewed tomatoes
• Add 2 tomato cans worth of water
• Add salt and pepper
• Simmer until veggies are done (about 15minutes)
• Take 1 big tbsp of sour cream and combine with a small amount of broth and mix until smooth and return to pot.
• Add parsley for taste
• Add some noodles

Now that's the recipe, but I've yet to actually make it work. I suppose now I have some more time to experiment.

Long forgotten by most of the planet, Green Goddess is probably the best salad dressing ever made. I used to have the recipe in my computer somewhere, but I've done too many hardware upgrades -- I appear to have lost my only copy.

Thankfully, Melanie helped me dig it up online last night. I've posted it below for posterity and for my own records. Please feel free to try this at home:

• 1 c. Real Mayonnaise
• 1/2 c. parsley sprigs
• 2 green onions, cut up
• 2 tbsp. tarragon vinegar
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. dry mustard
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• Place first 9 ingredients in blender container; cover. Blend until smooth.
• Fold in yogurt. Cover; chill. Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Note that the yogurt ingredient above can be substituted with sour cream if you're so inclined.