rosie in the rozengracht

I'm currently in Amsterdam spending time with my beautiful friends Tom and Tessel, who lives in a gorgeous apartment with four poster beds on the Rozengracht. On our first night we ate lobster spaghetti and zingy torta della nonna and sipped scroppini (a fluffy, meringue-like drink made with lemon sorbet, vodka and champagne) at Mazzo, a newly-opened, chic Italian restaurant nearby.

The following morning we had brunch at De Bakkerswinkel, which has irrestistible illustrated menus and even yummier blueberry scones, caramel and walnut cakes and baba ganoush on huge chunks of rye bread...

Having been suitably fed and watered we wandered around some cute boutique shops around Dam Square and tried on some gorgeous clothes and shoes at de Bijenkorf. We stopped for cannoli and cinnamon chocolate almonds at Metropolitan Deli, a glass of strawberry lemonade at V&D's La Place, and frozen yogurt topped with stroopwafels from Frozz to top up our energy levels for some serious shopping! We also discovered a lovely tea shop called Geels & Co, where we bought cinnamon tea, apple and ginger tea and amazing chili truffle tea, which was a perfect antidote to the rain outside once back in the apartment.

The evening was spent watching a jam session at Hannekes Boom, a chilled-out bar by the water with views of the spectacular Nemo building and the world's largest floating Chinese restaurant!