It’s Holly

feather to fire / fire to blood / blood to bone
bone to marrow / marrow to ashes / ashes to snow

If you have a chance to head up to Santa Monica before May 14th, I highly recommend going down to the pier and going to the Nomadic Museum to see Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow exhibit. We were definitely speechless after walking out. I’ll probably end up going again before it’s over. The museum itself is just as beautiful as the work it houses. I would have taken more pictures, but there were big scary security guards everywhere.

So, go to Santa Monica already.

Amsterdam was a blast. Here’s what I remember from reviewing my pictures.

There were a lot of canals… with absolutely nothing stopping you from falling in.
This added to the adventure factor.

Chocomel is THE SHIT. I’ve been searching online for a USA vendor so I can order some.
It’s like drinking pudding. Really, really good pudding.

Frites, bitches! Even though Belgium is supposedly the home of the french fry,
Amsterdam made some damn good ones, too. Here are some with garlic mayo sauce. mmm mmm.

I found a lot of cool lighting fixtures. Here are my two favorites.

At one point we actually ate a *real meal that didn’t consist of shoarma or waffles. We found an Argentinian restaurant (after we had to talk Jonathan out of eating at the only Mexican restaurant in Amsterdam, and probably the Netherlands). The steak was great, and I have no incidents of mad cow disease to report.

Overall, I think we ordered 15 Chocomel hot chocolates, and ate 10-15 waffles, collectively, including the one I saved for the trip home on the train.

Amsterdam was fun.

If you’ve ever heard me talk about “The Salad Place”, I’m talking about Le Relais Gascon in Montmartre near Sacre Coeur. I love this place. Here’s a description of the “salad” I ordered:

Salade Gascon
Salade verte, tomates, magrets fumés, foie gras, pommes de terre sautées à l’ail
=
Gascon Salad
Green salad, tomatoes, smoked duck, goose liver, fried potatoes with garlic.

It’s the best thing ever… *ever.

It finally arrives at the table. The bowl is much deeper than it appears to be.
Don’t get it twisted, there’s actually lettuce under there… somewhere.

Oh look, the foie gras! I was beginning to think it wasn’t there at all.
At this point, i haven’t actually *eaten any salad, I’ve just pushed the potatoes aside to find the good stuff.

This is the point where I got ridiculously full.
Chris ate the rest of my potatoes.

I still don’t know what the dressing on the salad is. Jonathan’s convinced me it’s bacon fat and cream. I’m convinced he is correct.

There’s a French artist who goes by the name “Invader“, who installs tiled space invaders all over the world. I found out about it initially after going to the Los Angeles exibit at Centre Pompidou with Sandrine, Laura and John. There was a book full of them, with pictures taken from all over the world. Without trying, I found 3 during my trip (I’m back, btw). Now that I know there’s a map that goes shows where they are all over the world, I want to hunt them down. I should start in LA. Who wants to go hunt invaders with me?

Here are the ones I found in Paris.

Rue Vielle Du Temple – Le Marais, Paris


Rue François Miròn et Rue de Fourcy – Le Marais, Paris


Rue D’Orsel – Montmartre, Paris

Amsterdam was fun. Here’s what I remember:

The Red Light District isn’t as dramatic as HBO’s “Pimps Up, Hos Down” documentary makes it out to be.

Ordering weed isn’t as dramatic as you think it is, nor as exciting.

You spend a majority of your money on actual drinks at “coffee shops”. You have to pay to stay.

A coffee shop and a café are two extremely different things.

Shoarma is my new favorite food.

The rest is a smoky blur. Pictures to come.