Rijks, Boeke Markt, Cupping, Boerenmarkt,

It has been a busy couple of days! The weather has gotten nice, so not as many people were coming into the cafe off the street, but we've still had tons of the local coffee community members coming in.
On Tuesday I had dinner with a friend at a nearby Thai restaurant, The White Elephant. My delicate lemongrass galangal curry was incredible, and the staff spoke great english and could accommodate my allergy easily. It had been weeks since eating any thai food, so the endorphin rush was lovely.
I started my weekend on Friday morning with a massive potato-spinach scramble and booked it to the Rijks Museum. I bought a museumcard, so I can see multiple museums, or the same exhibits again and again, for the one-time fee. The Rijks was incredible. My ex-boyfriend Trae was an art-history major, and exposed me to so many wonderful artists and periods, so I had some context for the Dutch masters, but nothing could have prepared me truly.
I was literally moved to tears - twice. Once by Willem Heda's "Still Life With Gilt Goblet", of which I had seen photos in books back home.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Willem_Claesz._Heda_005.jpg
The second unexpected reaction was to Rembrandt's "Stone Bridge," which was a tiny, unassuming little piece, but the use of light and the simple beauty was beyond breath-taking. I won't even fight the urge to stop into this museum every time I pass by it with 15 minutes to spare.
Lucky for me, there were prints of both of these pieces in the gift shop, so I can admire them back home and wax to friends about how they don't compare to the real ones at all.
During my short time in Amsterdam, I've developed a great respect for the pride the Dutch people have for their coffee culture, and visiting the Rijks help remind me of the centuries of deep history their culture has in the arts and the scale of their empire at one time. There is a great history and culture in the blood of these people. It makes me want to appreciate my own American history more deeply.
After the Rijks, I dropped my prints off at the cafe and got an espresso, which was excellent and super-sweet as usual. I then set off toward the city centre near Spui and found the every-Friday book market. The market consists of 1/2 a city-block's length of tables on two sides, with an aisle in the middle. All the vendors had a variety of books, with many antique volumes which I dared not endanger by shipping across the Atlantic in my luggage. Many of the books were in Dutch, but there were many English options too. What soaked up most of my time were the lithographs! All sorts of hand-colored illustrations from Dutch expeditions and scientific books of birds, reptiles, fish, people and architecture... I spent a bit here, getting prints of: Cockatoos, Paradise birds, Deep-sea fauna, crystallization patterns (!!), and ~30 different Native American tribes-people's faces illustrated. Included in the Native Amercians were the Blackfeet tribe, which was especially poignant for me as it was my Dutch ancestors who, in crossing to the West of America, fell in love with the Blackfeet and led to the creation of me, a darker-skinned taller-than-average girl. Of course I have a lot of other blood in me, but the Mayflower-Blackfeet-Cherokee-Choctaw-Dutch aspects are alive and beaming right now.
Friday night we had an employee meeting where we Skyped with the Portland office for a bit, and then cupped the newest arrivals!! Inlcuded were the Costa Rica Verde Alto and Guatemalan Puerta Verde. Both were incredible, bursting with lovely complexity of higher-elevation fresh-crop coffee. The CR had remarkable grape-like acidity, almost like an apple/grape jolly rancher or fresh watermelon, and the new Guat was intensely sweet and balanced.. The Burundi Kinyovu still was so crisp with honeydew melon and white grape; It's hard to enjoy something when I know its almost gone... best to celebrate it while it's still here.
The cupping was the first cupping of us all together in a while, and we followed it by all heading over to the Gollem afterwards. This bar specializes in Belgian beers... many of which I drank back in the states long ago. I had two bottle of Indian tonic and felt loopy, as I can get when in the company of drinking people. They are known for their cheese plate too... which everyone seemed to enjoy.
I ate an entire bag of sweet and sour candies which I had been keeping and felt crazy.
Saturday, Katie and I had off together, and decided to go to the Saturday markets. We came upon the Waterlooplein market which had tons of antiques, records and clothes. We spent a while with the records and I found some gems... Like a Fats Waller tribute; a Phillip Glass album feat Laurie Anderson,et al; 2 Hall & Oates live (guilty pleasure); Chick Corea live concert and...
5 The Nits records for my Uncle Scott and T-Martha!!! 3 of which are 45's... (Yes, I do love you guys)
We headed back to the cafe to drop off our precious cargo and get some tasty espresso... The sun was shining and people filled the cafe for iced lattes and shade during the cupping and brew demo. We enjoyed a short rest, and then biked back to the Boerenmarkt, or Farmer's market of organic produce.. There were tons of different vendors here too, of books and records, new clothes to vintage and antiques.. There were lots of cheese, meat, fruit and veg options. I had a lunch of amazing olives with pickled garlic cloves, and some spicy local salami... We picked up lots of fruit and ran into Robyn and Zach, who had gotten off work early. We all finished shopping and met at a nearvy cafe who had chairs spilling out on the sidewalks... As the market closed down, the foot traffic was steady along the canal, and we sat in the warm shade sipping fresh mint tea and languidly chatting and eating our fresh fruit. After an hour or so, we made a wandering bike parade back toward home, but got separated in the "tush hour" traffic of a few more cars and even more aggressive cyclists. Zach, Robyn and I decided to dash into the BioMarkt, or organic store... and there, as promised, were gluten-free goodies!! I got 3 kinds of cookies, pasta, cereal, and rice milk. I loaded it into a wooden fruit crate that I poached earlier to strap on my bike, and we rode further in toward home... and decided to stop at the cafe to visit David and get more coffee!
We enjoyed our espressos and saw Dana, who lives with us, and her friend. We then finished biking home and unloaded our goods. After a snack, Zach, Robyn, Katie and I headed across the street to a stretch of grass along the canal which was still bathed in light... we cozied up inside a duvet cover we found in the house and laid quietly... and then got quite giddy.. a video of our silliness might make its way to Katie or Robyn's blogs soon... We stayed up late, planning on going out to some club, and decided to stay in after all...
Today, Sunday, is the day we all have off together. We collectively slept in, and the last breakfast is being finished now, at 12:30.
I made a massive breakfast and have broken my plans to go to the Nieuwe markt, or go for a run. The day is gorgeous, and later tonight, the whole house is going to have a family meal, including Duane, Hillary, baby Pearl and nanny Dana.
I've been researching what shows are happening in barcelona and berlin in the upcoming weeks, and am trying to plan to get out of town... but there is already so much to do here!
wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, I'm savoring every second of being here... and secretly planning my return... Barcelona for a music festival.. London for music in the fall?.. I've got vacation hours to spend... I want to visit my family in Pennsylvania and Massachusettes, Zeb's family in Montana too..
We might all go for a cafe-crawl through amsterdam today after brunch... It's the hottest day of the week today, and it shouldn't be squandered inside.