Ingredients for a great Christmas

First of all, I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas day the way they wanted to be.
Next, I'd like to apologize for my moodiness in my last blog. I think after yesterday, I finally get the important ingredients for a great Christmas: good food, good alcohol and good company. Whether it's family, friends or total strangers, anybody could be good company at Christmas day. For starters, you need to be good company first.

So yesterday, we went for Christmas brunch at Courtyard by Marriott. It started a bit off since they wanted to put us on a table for two next to the buffet table, so we could literally feel everyone passing us by in the queue for the buffet table. After some complaints and suggestions, we were finally put on another table.

The restaurant was full, there were two ladies singing Christmas carols and the decoration was not too much. The ambiance was great! However the ladies are great singers, but it was a bit too loud for such an occasion I believe. Brunches are for friends and families to catch up, so a lot of talking and preferably not yelling.

Most people love brunches since it's all you can eat in a time frame. At the same time, there are people who would like to avoid it since every time they come from a brunch, they feel so full as if they're going to explode. For those who never been to a brunch, you might get a bit overexcited! But this is what I mostly do:

- hardly any starch: so no rice, no potatoes, no pasta. They swell up in  your belly.
- what I've learned is that mostly the goodies are at the end of the buffet line
- you can go more than once, so don't pile your plate. Take a little from everything that seems delicious and after the first run, you'll know what else you'd like to have more of
- have several courses: there is the buffet line, the salad bar and the dessert corner. Give yourself time to wander around the tables, even if it's only to get a chocolate-dipped marshmallow.
- and very importantly: wear something comfortable. Eventually you might get a bite too much and if you were wearing a tight skirt or dress, it might feel extra horrible to be that full.
- sin for a day: if you're on a diet, don't go to brunches. 

What I liked about the brunch at Marriott:
- the attentive waitress. I didn't pay attention to her name, but she's the skinny, Javanese lady. It seemed that she's always looking our way whenever we needed something.
- the beef in creamy sauce. The texture was so soft and delicious. I can go for some more now....
- the set up: different sections creates space to walk in and time for the food to digest (even if it's a little bit) 
- and ....last but not least, the marshmallows! I think somewhere deep down, the little kid in me never had enough marshmallows.

However they were doing a great job, but there are some improvement points:
- the carving guys need some more training in carving the turkey and ham. The ham was still ok, but guys, the turkey is already dead, you don't need to kill it once more. I know it's not easy, so for those who can use some pointers, here is a step by step instruction with photos of how to carve turkey:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/how-to-carve-a-turkey-thanksgiving-steps-photos_n_784258.html

- the employee standing near the buffet tables. I believe he's the banquet captain or something. I'm not sure if he's lacking to see that some chafing dishes needed to be refilled or that the food was just not ready yet. It looked kinda empty at some point.

All in all, I had a great experience at Courtyard by Marriott. It seems a bit pricey, since it's $35,- per person, but it's really worth it. No fuss, no headache about what to cook, just relax and enjoy the food, the drinks and company. 

The meaning of Christmas

It's one day before Christmas and I'm not feeling any Christmas spirit. Year after year, I'm encountering the same issue. I feel less and less Christmas cheer. So, what's the meaning of Christmas actually?

 

In movies, it is shown the miracles and magic of Christmas, where families go through obstacles, through snowstorms to be home with Christmas. In Suriname, we don't have snow, but we have queues and queues of cars and grumpy people on the roads. It seems like a virus every December. I will call it the 'street syndrome'. Just like whenever it rains, every car in the city seems to be on the roads....the same thing with December. But it's just a worsened type of the virus, where some people become douchebags and some too afraid to drive. For the second group, I would recommend for them not to. If you're too afraid to drive and constantly driving with the feeling you might eventually hit or get hit, it will happen like you imagined it (law of attraction).

But let's get back to the main question! What is Christmas? Is it the presents that you get to open Christmas morning, the Christmas decorations you put up or is it the many Christmas dinners you'll have to work off in January? For me, every time Christmas is nearing, I'm asking myself the same question. It is so frustrating not to know how to get the Christmas spirit. It's not like there is a button I can push and then magically the spirit is on. Won't that be a relieve?

I still haven't got a solution for this, but I have a Christmas brunch with my love one tomorrow that I'm quite looking forward to. It is the season where everyone seems to feel some kind of obligation to be present at family brunches/dinners, but it will only be magical if you also feel to be there, not because you need to.

I hope this post did not made you all moody and stuff, but I really needed to get this out of my system.

So...whether you're choosing for party, family time or sleeping till noon, I hope you all enjoy this Christmas your way. At the end, I believe the Christmas spirit will be felt if you are in some way relaxed and content with whatever you're doing. The whole year, there were so many obligations done for others, why not choose for yourself this Christmas?

Burger Battle @ Bar Zuid

When I heard about this battle, I was wildly enthusiastic about it. What came to mind is lots of smoke, MEAT and all kinds of different variations of burgers.I already envisioned how I'll put my teeth into a juicy, fat burger with all the gooey goodness flowing out of it. Hmm,,,,the taste of bacon, the juicy, soft patty and the lighty toasted bun. Ugh....just could not wait to have it!!

But next to the burger, I was also anxious to see the location. I've heard so much about it, but just haven't had the opportunity to visit. Bar Zuid used to be a Dutch bar with many middle aged customers. Whenever I passed by, it never appealed to me as much. But now it made a total transformation. Its simple chic and outdoor appeal give it a relaxed feel to the environment. Maybe it was the music, maybe the ambiance or simply the great company, it gave me a pretty good first impression!

 

Ok, back to the burger battle!! It started at 4, so according to my calculation, I wanted to be there at 5. Not too early and not too late. But I quess sometimes, not everything goes according to plan, so I got there at around 6, which by the way seems to be the perfect time! There were 5 participants: 

The first one I tried was from PUUR. They used a very thick patty, with fried onions, bacon, cheese, lettuce and cucumber. Not all too creative, but loved the size of the patty on the grilled bun. The taste is a bit too salty for me. And it was expected with the many salty ingredients: cheese and bacon.

The second one I tried was the idea of Alan Tijseling and Christiaan Smith under the name 'Rockin' Republic.




They went into the competition with the Charcoal Grilled Swiss Perfection. This is a burger made with chocolate!! Who doesn't love chocolate? And the grilled toast was also new to me. This burger was more sweet than salty. Instead of the standard greens, he used beansprouts and tajerblad ( my apologies, I really don't know what it's called in English). The beansprouts were a good idea, but not the tajerblad especially not if it's raw. I could still taste the green, uncooked taste of veggie. It taste like when you cook veggies, but didn't give it enough time to cook. But one of my friends loved the sweet of the chocolate in the burger.

And I had to make a final choice. Normally I only eat ONE burger and I'm already stuffed. However I only had to eat half of every burger, but one more half was the limit! So my choice went to Food Therapy. I heard so much great things about food therapy, so my expectations were pretty high.
 

 Their approach to this competition is to substitute the standard ingredients with something else. Patty is standard, the tomato is standard, but they used spinach instead of lettuce, a different kind of bun: the mini ciabatta instead of the sesame bun. My very first bite was not pleasant. The crust was hard instead of crispy and my first bite didn't have any ingredients. And maybe because I was already full, but it did not impress me much. The patty had the right amount of salt and flavor, but the other ingredients were a bit plain.

And unfortunately, I could not taste the other burgers anymore, but here are the pictures made possible by Victuals ( respectively Bar Zuid and Pane & Pasta):

   
- And the winner of this competition: Umar Nazier of Bar Zuid.

I did not taste it, but heard many great things about it already. The reason I did not choose this one was because I know I can always go back any Friday or Sunday to taste it. Also interested in the winning burger, check it out here: