UKATANI

An old gastronomical gourmet/gourmand friend ( Let's say 'foodie' ?) from the states, now homesteading off grid in Hawaii visited with us in the Netherlands  many years ago in the spring.  This is the only time of the year that white asparagus is available, hand picked fresh from the fields and is sold straight from the fields in roadside stands. He remembers feasting on fresh white asparagus, a Dutch delicacy and requested a post. Here is a recipe and some links for you 'Bluey'. https://www.dutchnews.nl/features/2020/06/blogwatching-white-asparagus-a-dutch-ritual/ Titbits : The white asparagus is only hand harvested in the early spring just as it is peeking out of the ground, mostly by Eastern European migrant labour. This year, due to the Covid 19 virus and lockdowns, migrant workers were not able to travel to the Netherlands for the harvest. This led to a shortage, high prices and crops left in the fields All of the local asparagus markets and ...

From the department of useless information Link to video, check it out, mate. https://youtu.be/bsiqdl6vsGQ Me old bodysurfing mate, Rigger, from Oz sent me this.  We worked in Sydney, (early '60s) which has several closeby city beaches and we could not wait to get off work in the Optical lab and shoot over to Bondi beach or others close by to catch a few waves before dark. We could not afford surfboards, just a pair 'Speedos' and a pair of flippers. The black swans don't need flippers. Unusual behavior. Titbits: Black swans are indigenous to western Australia, in large flocks, though we see several pairs here in The Netherlands in our area in private ponds.  Many exotic animals here in this rural area....dwarf horses and goats, alpacas, ostrich, emus, wallabies, swans, it's a zoo.  We have 4 old, noisy peacocks roaming loose around our place and have started hand feeding them. Further link https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan

We escaped Had a nice bike tour, a bit over 30 kms or so, with Marjo's sister, Mieke and partner, Fritz and Maartin around our area Beaut day, sunny, no wind, 26c temp, few people, no bugs. Start of ride....by our house (Titbits:  fietspads maintained by volunteers labour from nearby villages. (Titbits: Barn dated 1891 construction, style 'Saxon Twente', same as our house that was salvaged from an old wood frame barn) Found a nice spot, with a picnic table alongside one of the 'fietspads' All five of us have two side pannier bags on our ebikes, so we carried everything, including the glass butter dish from home, hot and cold thermos flasks, proper China coffee mugs, great selection of food. We also stopped at our favorite cafe in Mareinvelde village and had apple tart with whipped cream and coffee for a dessert, on the terrace outside. Fritz and we have removeable ebike carriers mounted on ball hitch.  We plan on toting our bikes to explore ...

I've been following this Dutch woman who is touring the world on an Indian made Royal Enfield motorbike. She left her bike in Peru and returned to the Netherlands because of the virus. Today she is showing a bit of her own country. https://youtu.be/Ish-fpaj81Y She has had some interesting adventures in many countries. Hope you enjoy.