Looking Back

Now Reading: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (link is to a diff. version, but close enough)

My current book felt like required reading after a visit to the Anne Frank house (see my leaf). Sure enough, it really does bring the house to life - and she was a great writer, especially for someone so young. I always felt that reading about 8 people stuck in the back of a house for 2 years would be a little dry, but because she doesn't hold back on her feelings, and since they do have some exposure to the events transpiring around them, it is a far more interesting glimpse than I imagined. The living accomodations were larger than I expected, but a prison is still a prison - and with 8 people, I imagine that space got eaten up fast.

Speaking of eating (worst... segue... ever), I decided to sample some ethnic Dutch food, but since that generally means meat, cheese, herring and pancakes.. I went with the other "Dutch", namely Indonesian, which I don't recall ever having before. Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony, and I'm told that there is some Indonesian in my bloodline, which may explain the dark hair. I digress. I went with a vegetarian menu that included corn soup, haricots (green beans) in some sauce, tempeh in some other sauce, corn fritter and something in a peanut sauce. I know, these decriptions are fantastic... mind like a steel trap. It was pretty good. Very similar to Thai.

Next I was off to the Van Gogh museum. Fascinating stuff... I love his use of color, and the way he employed pointillism in a more chaotic manner than most. Especially appreciated the self portrait with grey felt hat that he did in Paris in 87/88. That was enough museum for me for the day, maybe the Rijksmuseum a little later.