amsterdam.

iloveitiloveitiloveit.

we flew from dublin to amsterdam to spend my 30th birthday and new year's eve. 

this was my first time in amsterdam since i was just a wee tot. holy wow, i couldn't love this place more.

even though these photos look dreary and rainy, we had the best time. i cannot wait to go back sometime in the spring or summer and ride our little bikes all over the land.

love a nicely centered, brightly colored bicycle moment.

this city is just so damn charming & quaint. it was rainy and snowing a little bit while we were there, but weather doesn't stop the good people of amsterdam at all. that's what i loved about this place. these folks know how to live. 

we saw so many stylin' women in fancy coats and heels cruising around on their bicycles with bouquets of flowers and wine in their baskets. for real! can you even belieb? it was like something out of an old tymey movie.

^ we spent the morning of my 30th birthday at the laundromat, lol. good tiiimes.

did i mention that we each only brought a small carry-on suitcase on this trip? with multiple big coats and everything! 16 days worth of stuff. it was shocking to me, but i was so glad to only have a tiny suitcase to haul all over the place. all i can say is - compression bags are the greatest thing ever. they're seriously incredible. it kind of sucked having to repack the compression bags every time we moved to a new location, but the amount we fit in our tiny suitcases was a true miracle. 

what do you do on your 30th birthday in amsterdam when it's raining all day, and also snowing?

you hit up the heineken experience, of course.  they made me wear a birthday hat and at the end of the tour they gave me this stein that i could refill indefinitely. how convenient.

^ lolz i got a kick out of this drawing of a hot dog as the menu. 

^ that heine was flowin! afterwards we went on a light boat dinner cruise at G's. it was a fun and memorable birthday with my boo. 

^ even though all the dutch words are wildly long, we still had an easy time getting around on public transit. people are so nice and everyone speaks english so it was an easy transition.

also the fresh mint tea they have at cafes is so delightful. so much mint in there!

this was probably my favorite little part of our time in amsterdam. exploring the canals is endlessly fun and enjoyable. we stumbled upon this little seating area on the canal across the street from the pub. they brought us beers and there were swans casually cruising by. i mean, TRY TO BE CUTER, AMSTERDAM.

and there were still tons of lights leftover from christmas :) 

picked out some fun vintage knobs for my friendzies and we had delicious hot stroopwafel at this market. 

pub life.

^ look at that dude's geetar thang! yuuuuge!

we stayed at the ultra hip and fun volkshotel. they had really cute details, lots of events going on and cool stuff to do. for new year's eve, they had a big party at the top floor bar where we watched the most insane fireworks show we'd ever seen. there were fireworks going off 360 degrees around the city, from around 6pm until 2am or so...it was amazing!

twas a happy new year indeed! 

qp

bangarang brownies.

it has become clear to me that i cannot tell a story without making some sort of 90's pop culture reference... so i'm just going to lean into it.

i was watching an old video from college of my friends & me hanging out, being weirdos, talking about nothing, really. but every.single.thing. that came out of my mouth was some sort of obscure reference to a movie, tv show, or song. once i noticed this... i was concerned, lol. who & what even am i?? just a millennial idiot box brain blob composed largely of 90's american pop culture tidbits?

it's partially true. a real product of my generation i am. can't be tamed. 

it is kinda funny (& special!) that peter and i get along so well because his well-rounded youth was spent not watching television and he doesn't understand any of my weirdass references. so i don't drop them around him anymore. but i mean, this does make me feel better knowing i'm actually not solely chocked full of nonsense and do have some other things to say, haha. 

there's just something fun & cool when you throw out a random line from a movie or song in a certain situation and someone else laughs and gets it. this is really a significant factor in many of my friendships actually, lolz. nostalgia is my THANG (in fact - as i write this, my friend & i are texting about the new mary poppins that comes out this xmas. hiii allison.)! 

so back to bangarang brownies - these brownies are bangarang. hello!!!! and bonus points because i live with someone named peter and i get to say "bangarang, peter" a lot. 

also. "oh there you are, peterrrrrr."

wow, this youtube rabbit hole i'm in is becoming the exact tangent i had on 'the little rascals'  25th anniversary from this old post about grape juice.  because this hook 25th anniversary video is equally amazing.  and bless you movie people for making 25 year reunion compilations of my ultimate faves. 

apparently food things & childhood nostalgia go very much hand-in-hand for me. 

growing up, i wanted nothing more than a colorful food fight like in 'hook'. like the colors of these tulips! brownies really have nothing to do with the movie 'hook' except for the fact that i shouted 'bangarang' when tasted THIS incredible brownie batter:

^would like to frame this. you should have seen my face when i tasted it. eyeballs exploding out of my head. the flavor is incredible. 

i would even stop right here and freeze this batter in mini cupcake tins to have little bite-sized frozen treatzies... but i dunno much about raw egg consumption, so do what you will.

the kahlua + espresso really do the damn thing for me. YUM.

^ left one section mallow-free just for variety. 

i would highly recommend serving these while they're warm so the marshmallow is still gooey! all the textures are stellarrrrrrrr. yer gunna love it. 

Bangarang Brownies

Makes 12-15 brownies

Total Time: 9x13 inch pan - 40 minutes, 8x8 inch pan - 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened - browned is ideal! you can follow this brownie recipe here for browned butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. fine sea salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 TB espresso powder (optional, but delicious)
• 1 TB Kahlua (optional, but also delicious)
• 12-15 big marshmallows

Instructions-

Brown the butter in a pan (follow these instructions in my other brownie recipe), let cool in a bowl in the fridge for 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9x13 or 8x8 pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. While the browned butter is still warm, add to a large bowl or stand mixer with the brown sugar, mixing until glossy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix. Add the vanilla, flour and walnuts separately, mixing in between additions. Finally add the espresso powder and kahlua and mix to combine. 

Spread the brownie batter in the prepared pan and bake according to the size of your pan and thickness of the brownies:

9 x 13 inch pan -  check at 20 minutes

8 x 8 inch pan - check at 40 minutes

When the brownies are not yet baked all the way through, remove from oven and top with large marshmallows. Raise oven heat to 450 degrees F and broil the marshmallows until golden, about 5 - 7 minutes. Do not over-bake the brownies.

qp