We made it to our mid-week dinner date last night, albeit rather late. None-the-less my hunger was well-satiated. French Boy surprised me by taking me to a restaurant we had never been to before. A place, as it turns out, that we’d walked past many times but had never seen. And it was very, very good.

It’s called de witteuijl, or ‘the white owl’ in english, and it’s in one of my favourite streets in De Pijp. They cook with organic ingredients and have a wonderful wine selection – as well as champagne, which is not so easy to find here (well, not as easy as it is in Paris). For entree French Boy had wontons filled with mushrooms and gorgonzola, served with a sauce of spinach and a poached egg, and I had an avocado and shrimp puree with home-smoked mozzarella – I could taste the delicious smoke infused in the mozzarella as though I were sitting by a campfire, the flavour took me straight there.

French Boy and I have a rule that we visit a restaurant that we like 3 times before we decide if it gets a shot at our top 5 restaurants around the world. We will be back to de witteuijl to taste the other dishes on the menu soon. So far, if you are in Amsterdam, we do recommend this place – the service was excellent, the ambience was perfect, and the menu fabulous. Click here for location details.

Oh and I must add, to end the meal the hostess served me a slate plate filled with a selection of milk, dark and white chocolate chunks to choose from and eat at my leisure. Heaven.

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images courtesy of de witteuijl.

It’s with absolutely pleasure that I am able to show you a sneak peek of Holland’s hottest new magazine called Maria, out on shelves now. Inside it, you will find a story on how to use this season’s fruits, produced by Dutch food stylist sensation & restaurateur, Yvette Van Boven, photographed by Jeroen Van Der Spek, and styled by me, Pia Jane Bijkerk. Notice how nicely my last name fits in here – I feel like goldilocks, having found the porridge that suits her just right. Yes, as a part-Dutchie, I’m as proud as punch…

And do you remember me mentioning the other day how I am drawn to recipe writer’s who are pastry chefs, like our (blog)house guest chef Aran? Well Ms Yvette is one of them too – a pastry chef by trade, her culinary creations continue to inspire and amaze me every time we work together. I will be telling you lots more about Yvette soon, but for now, these…

Yep, that fig tart was to-die-for – I devoured that slice right after we shot it. And it was super fun filling the cupboard with all those jars. Don’t you love that cupboard? I will tell you where I got it from in a post to come – its my little shopping secret that I can’t wait to take you through on a personal, exclusive tour. But for now, these…

Yvette baked all these different little shortbread-like twists, twirls and shapes to choose for the pear and vanilla marscapone recipe, and we selected this one you see, it just sat so beautifully with the pear that it seemed meant to be.

I had such a blast working on this story, and I look forward to showing you more of my work with Jeroen and Yvette in the future. Thanks Maria!

I had so much fun yesterday, wandering the streets of Amsterdam and finding so many great scapes to photograph. Above is one of my favourites from the day, but there is plenty for show & tell which I plan to separate into wanders for you, with my favourite eateries, boutiques and shopping streets of Amsterdam. Perhaps next week I can get to this, but for this week, I have a few other treats up my sleeve. So lets get to it!

xx

PS Josyln and her daughter Audrey continue to inspire me so: Check out Audrey’s fabulous Woodland Fairy Party, complete with woodland wings, woodland fairy crowns and fairy huts. And her list of things to learn before I turn 6 is remarkable. If only I’d thought of writing a list back then, perhaps if I had, I would be able to whistle and play checkers today.

PPS And Joanna from A Cup of Jo interviewed me recently on the topic of how to create a sexy + romantic bed for her fabo new sex and relationships blog called Smitten for Glamour Magazine. Click here to read my bed-making tips, thanks Joanna!

The sun is shining in Amsterdam! I am so overwhelmed by it actually, my head is in a spin. I had plans to sit here at this computer and do some much needed work but I’m not. I am dropping everything, and heading out the door to wander around the city in the sun (avec camera, so technically it can be classed as work right). I just snapped the photo above a moment ago, to prove to you that my sweet friend is truly shining. Oh dear sun, please please stay for a while! I will love you long time.

xx

PS Promise to show & tell when I get back, promise.

Well, aren’t I glad I made it back from Australia in time! Holly’s meet & greet night here in Amsterdam on Friday night was a hit, and it was wonderful to meet so many like-minded people. The room was a-buzz with design chatter, with all of us sharing ideas, travel tips, and shopping secrets.

Although I did not get a chance to meet some of the attendees, here is a little selection of people I did meet…

First off, it’s a bit cheating I know, since she is actually already a wonderful friend, but it’s the perfect chance for me to tell you all about her again! Yep, I’m talking about my friend Riley, the fashion designer from New York whose fashion line had me weak in the knees the moment I saw it. Riley and I do lots of fab things together here in Amsterdam and one of them just happened to be going to the meet & greet. Above is a sneak peek of her fashion label’s – jackson, johnston & roe – fall collection which I adore, and above that is a gorgeous fabric pattern from their collection. Riley and I have a few fun things planned ahead, so I’ll be sure to post about them in coming weeks!

Now I actually didn’t meet the lovely lady who stocks the vintage pieces above and below, but my friend Danielle just posted about meeting her on the night and just look at the cool things she has in her online store called All The Luck In The World. Yes please!!

But I DID get a chance to chat with Swedish Emma from Emma’s Design Blogg, and she can be described by just one word: awesome. She has an incredible personal style that I’d love to adopt (cool hair, cool clothes, and so on and so forth), AND is heaps of fun. We also spent some time together yesterday, along with her friend Per, going on a bit of a vintage-inspired stroll through Amsterdam, stopping by some of my favourite vintage shops in the nine streets. I hope to visit her in her home city next! Here is an image from her flickr collection…

Then, sitting on my right was the delightful Sia! Whose blog siagrafica and fun drawings I have been following for a while now like I know so many of you have too…

And sitting on my left was The Style Files’ dear Danielle. Who had a terrible flu, yet she still made it to the meet with a smile on her face, what a champion. As you know she is another good friend of mine here in Holland, so it was lovely to see her again and catch up on news while I’ve been away. We also have some fun things planned together, I’ll keep you posted! Meanwhile, have you checked out the new wares she has in her online shop Le Souk? I talk of this piece of furniture, the Zaishu Antique Kimono stool which I am proud to say is made and designed in Australia…

And last but not least is Ms. Holly Becker, the blogger extraordinaire from Decor 8 and Haus Maus . It was great to meet her, such a sweet-natured gal with alot of heart and passion for what she does. I felt like I could have stayed all night chatting with her, so I do hope we meet again while she resides in her new pad in Hannover…

Thanks again girls and boys for such a wonderful evening. I am looking forward to seeing Holly’s post about the evening and hopefully catching up on who I missed out on meeting on the night. And as Sofia mentioned in a comment in my previous post, perhaps we should consider a Meet & Greet in Paris next time?! Nice idea indeed. Until then!

xx