Soozie, Life and Articles
Arretjescake
August 3, 2010
If your are a chocolate lover like me this is the dessert for you. It also tastes terrific with a cup of coffee or tea. Arretjescake is easily made and takes only 10 minutes.
Ingredients:
- 100 grams of brown sugar
- 10 grams of vanilla sugar
- 100 grams butter
- 1 egg
- 25 grams of pure cacao powder
- 250 grams dry biscuits
First mix the cacao, brown sugar and vanilla sugar. Add the egg and mix until there are no more clumps. Then put on a small fire and add the butter. Heat until the sugar is dissolved. Let this cool down for a few minutes.
While waiting for the cacao mix, you can prepare the biscuits. You need to crush them. The easiest way to crush them is to put them in a plastic bag and hit the plastic bag with a big spoon or other object.
When the cacao mix is cooled down, you can mix all the ingredients together. Get a bowl or saucepan and put aluminium foil over the bowl. Put the Arretjescake mixture in the bowl. Put it in the fridge for a day. Your Arretjescake is ready to serve. Bon Appétit.
Open Shop
July 31, 2010
I love clothing and especially unique clothing. So when i was on my trip in Amsterdam with my girlfriend Sue, we went in every shop that looked interesting and new. A lot of shops looked great from the outside but inside they proved to be the opposite until we came along the Open Shop.
In the Open Shop we saw a lot of cool hand made clothing. They also had a lot of fun accessories, shoes and underwear with some funny texts on it. My girlfriend Sue is very thorough and she looked at every piece in the store.
I started talking with one of the designers and co owner of the Open Shop, Christina de Graaf. She’s the designer behind the brand Hotrod Hussy. She was so friendly and she told me that she and 4 girlfriends started the shop. Sunday Girl, ByBoef, Sita Willemse with brand Guinea Pig Galore and Yvette Snijders with brand Ephat. They work in turns and have side jobs too. She really inspired me and told us we could do the same as them if we wanted to. She told me we just needed a lot of inspiration and some good ideas. I also loved one of their slogans: ‘ Your husband called, You can buy whatever you like…’
So for everyone that love’s cool unique and homemade clothes visit the Open Shop.
Open Shop, ‘It’s a Shop’.
Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 291
1012 RL Amsterdam
Opening Hours:
Daily: 12:00 - 19:00
Thursdays until 21:00
Bed and Breakfast Amsterdam West
July 29, 2010
My best friend and me planned a trip to Amsterdam. We searched the net for a nice place to spend the night. We both wanted a place with kitchen and bathroom for ourselfs. It also had to be affordable. We searched for a few hours and just when we wanted to give up we found this place.
We went there last friday 23th of July 2010. Thanks to the good directions of owner Miguel Schreer finding the B&B was no problem. He mailed us a map of the neighborhood and a photo of the front door. He also told us which tram to take. On arrival we immediately felt home. Every detail of the B&B had been well looked after. Great use of space. It wasn’t big but it looked luxurious, rural and spacious. We had everything we needed and more.
We had our own bathroom and kitchen. Very handy if you want to prepare your own diner. A balcony was also a great plus, but the best thing was the very comfortable cupboard bed. I always wanted to sleep in one and I must say it’s very cosy. We also had cable tv, dvd/stereo set, washing machine and a ironing board. Coffee and tea facilities were present.
The B&B is in proximity of Mercatorplein were you can find a little shopping center and grocery store. The tram stop is also on Mercatorplein. The Rembrandtpark is around the corner. The centrum is 3km by foot or 10 minutes with tramline 7 and 13.
Bed and Breakfast Amsterdam West,
Owner Miguel Scheer,
Ortelliusstraat 174,
1057 BK Amsterdam (West)
+31 (0)20 6892309
Torture Museum Amsterdam
July 27, 2010
This small museum brings you 500 years back in time. It shows you how the medieval criminal justice system worked. Entering the museum it looks like you are entering a dungeon.
The museum had a dark atmosphere. It displays gruesome medieval torture objects. They all have a good description in 6 languages.
Next to the objects displayed, paintings are shown which gives you the story behind the use of the object.
Here a few torture objects and their use.
The Inquisition Chair was used to torture witches. The executioner only had to thigten the braces and the weight of the victim would do the rest. Most of the victims got convinced of their own guilt and confessed to strange and bizar incounters with the devil.
The Hanging cage were used to lock in criminals after enduring torture. These cages were found in all of Europe, hanging outside bridges and palaces of justice. Victims of the hanging cages died of thirst, hunger. They would hang there until the elements and birds stripped all the meat of the victims skeleton. If they were hanging in summer they could die of heat stroke. If they were hanging in winter they could die of severe cold.
The Guillotine is one of the most famous torture objects. The strange thing is the guillotine is designed as a humanitairan machine. Because the victim dies of painless dicapitation. But it inspired the most horror of all of them.
This is only a small part of the museums collection. If you want to see the rest, just visit the museum.
Contact Information Torture Museum:
Torture Museum
Singel 449
1012 WP Amsterdam,
T: +31(0)203206642
F: +31(0)204043861
E: info [at] torturemuseum [dot] com
