Warm Sundays..

In Amsterdam is yet another warm and sunny week.

I first moved to Amsterdam in 2014 for an experience as an au pair, which later led me to work in a French restaurant in Amsterdam, the Sluizer in Utrechtstraat. I first lived here for two years, and later, in 2019, I came back, and I've lived here since then.

Back then summers were not this warm. Nowadays global warming is a hot topic in every sense, and we can notice this all around the world, unfortunately.

But back then, summers were gray and long . Yes, with wonderful late sunsets, but with often rainy days and layers of clothes on. Eating soup in summer was the norm. I remember going out in the evening with a scarf. Were you here already back then?

Nowadays this is so different. These last couple of years specifically, I will be honest with you: I struggled with choosing what to eat, and with keeping a consistent healthy habit this summer.

Generally in summer here in Amsterdam, we eat FOMO spread on bread. We spend long dark winters inside, and when summer comes we say yes to anything. We just love being outside. And once you are outside, the long evenings at the park with the sunset at almost 23:00 make managing food a huge challenge. You basically eat takeaway all the time.

Today is Sunday and it's already quite late. I wanted to write something this afternoon, but it's once again 30 degrees and I barely wanted to move from the ventilator. We are simply not built for this warmth here.

These summer weeks I am working at Kas keerweer together with Hiske, of Sterk in Eten.

This is our 4th year of summer camp together, and this year, during 6 weeks of holidays, we are cooking together with more than 110 children.

It's always so magical, but also very different from 4 years ago in terms of temperatures. The kids always have such red cheeks in the afternoon, and we are all wearing short pants and proper summer clothes.

Luckily, this year we have an ice cream machine, and we are experimenting with a thousand delicious combinations between fruits and herbs we harvest from the garden with the children.

Coming home from such a rewarding yet busy day of work makes me even lazier and more overwhelmed about cooking. But you know what?

Sometimes we just need to go with the flow, and if the flow is slow, it's also nice and perhaps interesting to follow it.

During these warm summer days, what helps me with food are smoothies. I try to have a thick, colourful smoothie in the morning, with a nice whimsical straw, and I feel healthy and fresh all day.

I'll leave the recipe here for you too.

We may feel warm, and slow. But a smoothie is always the answer!