Food, Food and Food

Finally it is Saturday after another long working week.
I started the day with a hotel breakfast, which has a variety of breads, cold cuts, cheeses, fruits, and today's choice was these. I try not to eat that much meat but smoked salmon which is good for the body.

After reading the paper at the room (it sounds cool, right?), I decided to take a walk to the center of Haarlem (I thought I would finally go to Amsterdam, but it is not super sunny day, so decided not to). First stop was local pastry store, where I bought this banana cream puff. It is like banana cream pie in the puff form. Very nice whipped heavy cream, which I really wanted. I even did not ask them to wrap it and I ate it with my fingers (with a lot of licking).

Next stop (this case I did not eat anything) was this pop up deep fried sweets store, selling interesting shaped donuts.  I am sure I will try it before it disappears but today was not the day.

Fish is very popular here, and at the market held on Saturdays in the city center, there are a few shops selling fresh seafood and fried ones you can eat right there. I had one of fried fish just came out of the hot oil. Mild white fish and it couldn't go wrong.

There was a very familiar shop at the market selling several types of cream cheese based spreads and bread with whole. I asked the person selling them and he said it is originally from Greek. I was telling him that I am from NYC and we have very similar thing, bagel, which I am not sure he knew or not. I have not tasted it yet (maybe my dinner or mid-night snack), but I am guessing it is like bagel without chewiness.

I heard from coworker the other day that there is a famous baked good in Haarlem (or Amsterdam). It is like ice cream waffle with caramel sauce in between. It was still warm and moist  as they were cooking in the shop and tasty. I wish I could had it with a nice cup of coffee though.

There were a few interesting shops at another market on the way back - fish store and the store only selling root vegetables (potatoes and carrots mainly). I have never seen a store specializing only these without selling other vegetables.

It was a very nice day even though there were showers every 30 minutes but sun came out after the shower every time. Very interesting weather patter here as well.