Free herbs in Amsterdam (it’s not what you think…)

I’m always wary of admitting to a visit to one of our favourite cities – Amsterdam. It usually gets a wry, knowing look from some of our friends, but there’s more to this bustling international city than happy hippies. After two days soaking up some culture in the newly refurbished Rijksmuseum and Stadlijkmuseums, neither of which have ever been open in the ten years that I have been visiting Amsterdam, it was time to rustle up a quick supper.

It’s been a few years since we last visited Amsterdam. Keeping to the rule of ‘never go back’ we decided to try a different campsite this time. We’d already broken this rule twice on our route to Amsterdam and paid the price. Whilst Camping Zeeland did have its share of happy campers, there were excellent campervan facilities and some original and unusual touches. Located on the edge of the Ij, the waterside was home to a wide variety of birdlife – grey herons, geese, moorhens, grebes and plain old ducks. Mr and Mrs Duck visited our pitch every afternoon for bread and a snooze, and the geese flocks with their brood of fluffy chicks regularly grazed around the site.

 

As we walked back from another day in town I noticed three raised herb beds opposite the campsite reception, complete with a pair of scissors for site residents to take their pick. There was everything from mint to lovage, sage, rosemary, basil, oregano and several varieties of thyme. I snipped off a few stalks of fragrant lemon thyme to add to a punnet of tomatoes teetering on the brink of their use-by date.

The campsite herb garden wasn’t the only place I had a new non-hallucinogenic herb experience in Amsterdam. We had two very expensive, but delicious lunches in both the Rijksmuseum and the Stadlijkmuseum. They were of equal quality, although the Rijksmuseum came out on top for its extensive vegetarian selection. The new trend I noticed, and in other cafes too, was ‘verse munt thee’ – fresh mint tea – literally, a clear mug of hot water with three thick stalks of fresh mint leaves. One to try at home.

 

Pasta with tomatoes, capers and herbs