local soups & the weekend ahead

after sitting through the hilarious “+1” and the superbrutal exploitation flick “raze” at imagine film festival (running through april 18) yesterday, i decided to bike into my beloved amsterdam noord.

that is how i came by de soupboer. run by chef mike, this charming soup bar takes the idea of local food a step further and for its recipes relies not just on products from the region, but from the neighbourhood. following mike’s suggestion, i went with the charsjo, a georgian dish. mildly hot, this hotchpotch of vegetables, spices, and greens (and a little bit of beef) sets off a series of tasty explosions. still, the real treat is the homemade bread that comes with it!

i will definitely check back for more of that, a different soup, and a slice of apple pie.

right now, i am just off to attend the opening of a double popup store in the developing oud west area very near the student hotel. designed and brought to life by students of rotterdam’s willem de kooning academy, this is how they spell out their vision:

our concept is naar buiten, in english: go outside. we want the people of the baarsjes, the neighborhood where our store is located, to bring things like plants, bottles with their own garden (this included seeds like rocket within our invitation), and all kinds of other stuff to create a place for them. we have made a tree of wood, and with all these bottles we are going to buy the neighborhood a tree or something else that is “green”.

my small caps, obviously. i will update this post later with pictures, but you can have a look at it here, too. update: this is what the whole “bottles with their own garden” business was all about:

what else? today, a food/dance event next door to the popups and the re-imagining of underground club ot301 (home to next week’s sotu festival!) into a comfy lounge for couch potatoes. on saturday, the one-off old amsterdam food market held at de brakke grond is a must-do. picture update: