A Bread Pudding Tale: There and Back Again

 (si prefieres leer este post en español, haz clic aquí)

A few weeks ago Katie -author of Seashells and Sunflowers- launched an Argentine Recipe Contest on her blog and I decided to enter with a recipe for budín de pan al caramelo, a dessert that is quite popular in Argentinean cooking and which I have been making quite often since I moved to The Netherlands, especially when I feel a bit homesick... Well, it seems that Katie liked the recipe and decided to choose it as a finalist for the contest!! 

Reading her post and looking at the photos of her version of the budín made think of the journey this recipe has made: I brought it to The Netherlands when I came from Argentina for love; and it has now made the journey back to its place of origin where American expat Katie moved some time ago, also for love!

For those of you who were looking forward to reading the recipe for budín de pan when I posted about the  Argies in Dutchland food parties, here is the link to Katie's post about the bread pudding she made with the recipe I sent her for the contest.

 Budín de Pan al Caramelo | Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

Photo ©katiemetz

Spotted in The Netherlands: tulip fields on the Northeast Polder

(haciendo clic aquí puedes leer la versión en español)

Tulips from the Noordoostpolder in the province of Flevoland.

 At this time of the year in Holland the fields are transformed into a spectacular display of colour: it is the tulip season! In the months of April and May 10.000 hectares across The Netherlands burst with the colours of approximately 3 billion tulips in bloom and the landscape looks like a giant caleidoscope of spring beauty.

Tulips are considered a symbol of The Netherlands all over the world and every year thousands of tourists visit the country to admire the bulbs in full bloom during the spring months. The Keukenhof - the largest flower garden in the world situated not far from Amsterdam - alone receives 800,000 visitors per year attracted by the popular tulips.

Typical Dutch landscape on the Northeast Polder, near Blankenham.

However, the largest cultivated areas are not located in the west (North or South Holland) but in the Noordoostpolder (northeast polder) in the province of Flevoland with 2,000 hectares of bulb fields.

A red sea of tulips, near Bant, in the Noordoostpolder.

Last Saturday during our trip from Zwolle to the club where my husband practices clay pigeon shooting every week, we made several stops and detours on the way to admire the beautiful landscape and take some photographs. We were not the only ones: lots of people in cars, on bikes, on foot, were following the bulb route [bollenroute] in Flevoland and enjoying a warm sunny day.

A farm house in Blankenham, Noordoostpolder.

If you are interested in exploring the youngest province in the country and seeing what Flevoland has to offer, you can visit the VVV website here: Ook Flevoland. Also, the VVV office in the Noordoostpolder has information about local events and attractions: VVV Noordoostpolder; and from this website, you can get more information about the Tulpenfestival there and download the tulpenroute for your GPS or print it if you want.

Endless sea of tulips on the Noordoostpolder, near Luttelgeest.

A tulip field in the Noordoostpolder, Flevoland.