Amster-DAMN that's tasty!

 For a quick Spring getaway weekend, we hopped on a 1.5 hour flight to Amsterdam, and managed to experience both the changing of the seasons from Winter to Spring, as well as the shift away from mask mandates in most public spaces. Both felt a little awkward at first, but Amsterdam has a way of putting on a charm offensive. We rented an apartment for the weekend, which is actually occupied by its owner during the week, and it was like housesitting for your cool aunt. We learned that the upper floors of Dutch houses require ascending hilariously steep stairs, and Brick made himself right at home, regally as always. 

Our main goals for the weekend were simple: eat lots of good food, visit our favorite coffeeshop in Amsterdam, and check out the one museum we missed the last time we visited: the Rijksmuseum, arguably THE museum of the city. We achieved each goal, with a bonus of renting bicycles (and me crashing said bicycle inches away from the return spot), but more on that later. 

After getting Brick settled in the apartment, we found ourselves one of the best meals of the weekend at Factory Girl. As Christian put it, the food was "good enough to distract from the fact that (apparently) the pandemic's over." My order of shakshuka was bright and sweet, and our side order of burek was the best we've ever had, AND it was vegan! 

We returned to a spot we found the first time we visited Amsterdam for dinner, called Vegan Junk Food, which is exactly as advertised; yummy fried vegan deliciousness. As you can see, we were very health-conscious on this trip, demonstrated by the fried dough-balls and loaded nachos pictured below ;)

Our second day's brunch discovery was a place right around the corner from the apartment, called Mr. Stacks, which has ridiculously fluffy vegan pancakes and a killer cinnamon roll. In a very strange move on my part, I ordered something savory (at first) and then caved in to the sweet item afterward. Christian ordered a "taco stack" and I tried the "bbq chicken stack"; both ended up looking like tacos, but the taco shell made from pancakes. 

Last but not least, we spent a significant amount of time at a gem of a bar called Cafe Gollem, which has an outstanding selection of beer, as well as a bar cat named Ember! What more could you possibly want?!