Debbie Travis shares her memories of Amsterdam.

picture: Debbie Travis from her website

When I was researching Frances Mayes for my blogseries ”talk and table” I stumbled upon a short youtube film starring Debbie Travis, roaming around the Tuscan land. She also visited the Mayes' mansion Bramasole. My attention was caught. Wouldn’t it be nice to invite this multi talented woman to join my blogseries?  Debbie Travis is a British TV personality, a self taught interior designer, former fashion model.  Her ideas can be seen on Canadian television and of course on her website. www.debbietravis.com Caleidoscopical as she is, she brings colour in your life.Whether design from the City or tips and tricks from her Tuscan get away. Bright and fun!  Let's see if we can conceive a dish for Debbie from the answers she gives to my virtual questions. Needless to say that this willl be an dish  full of colour, nicely styled and with a Southern twist. 

Who is Debbie Travis? Tell me some more

I am British but moved to Canada when I was around thirty.  I began my working life as a model in London and traveled around the world at a very young age.  I wasn't the greatest fashion model but I did love doing television commercials.  I was intrigued by the process of making these programs.  I began to intern in London at different TV networks and finally in my twenties I launched my own television production company.  I was producing a show about self-made millionaires and took my idea to MIP the TV market in the the South of France, held in  Cannes every year.  On the first night there at a TV event I met a Canadian, fell in love and followed him back to Canada. I never actually sold my show but I did get myself a guy! He was European but living in  Montreal.  Here, reality set in.  I could not find a job in television because  the stations were French.  I began to practise the exciting craze that had just gripped the  UK.   It seemed everyone wanted to creat paint finishes on their walls.  This led to many jobs around North America.  Four years later I made a 'how-to' video which was a massive success, teaching home owners how to create sponged, ragged, marbleized walls etc.  Through this video I was asked to appear on talk shows which again became successful. Timing is everything.  I had hit the new DIY market at the perfect time.  Through these appearances I was asked to create a TV show showing people how to do up their homes with a can of paint.  We produced thirteen episodes of Debbie Travis' Painted House which became an instant success with a kind of cult following. Ironically the series was distributed back in Cannes at MIP and sold around the world.  I filmed this series, which I hosted and produced for seven years – two hundred episodes and sold in over eighty countries.  Then I created Debbie Travis' Facelift which was the first reality based design show in North America where I surprised homeowners with a newly renovated home while they were away on a trip. Again this series hit a cord with homeowners became a hit.  I produced sixty five episodes over five years.  This was followed by two primetime network series From The Ground Up and All For One.  During these seventeen years the shows aired worldwide, I authored nine books published by Random House, I write a syndicated design column published by Kingfeatures/Hearst across North America which appears weekly in seventy newspapers.  I created a home product line with Canada's largest retailer Canadian Tire producing Debbie Travis product from drapes, furniture, bathroom products, Christmas decorations, laundry etc.  I have become a speaker at mostly women's events inspiring working mothers, women entreupeners etc. Now I have taken all these aspects of my career and I am holding women's' brainstorming retreats in Italy.  I fell  in love with a valley in Tuscany where I have bought an eighty acre olive and lavender farm.  Here I have restored an ancient property into a fourteen bedroom boutique hotel where I take these women for a girls getaway under the Tuscan sun.  They come from all over the world to discover where their next chapter may take them and to meet other like minded women and share their stories.

I have two incredible sons and have been married for a very long time to my business partner and the man I met all those years ago at that party in Cannes.  We live between Montreal, London and Tuscany

  

How did your attraction for interior design start? 

Well I have answered much of this in the above but while I was a teenager and most of my girlfriends shopped for the latest trends in fashion I was always rearranging my bedroom.
 
You have an own show on TV, needless to say that we can’t see it in the Netherlands. Although internet opens some possibilties. Can you tell something about it and when you started?  

Yes my shows have all been sold to the Netherlands I have had 4 series which are seen worldwide and of course you can see them all online – my design books are published in English, French and Flemish
 
You worked as a model, what did you experience over there? Did it give you an eye for styling? 

No – my modelling years gave me the confidence to 'just go for it'.   If you can stand in a bikini with twenty male executives after a boozy lunch for a casting for some job believe me you can do anything
 
What is your favorite type of design? Are you a city dweller or a girl from the country? 

I have four homes all different styles. I love modern and old together and am now a huge fan of 'rustic chic'
   
Which type of interior do you like the most and which one you dislike?

 I am very curious about that  - I am not a big fan of over the top American homes – I like simple European designs
 
You traveled a lot,  what was your most striking moment? 

Touring South Africa with the TV station there that airs my show – I took my son on safari which was awesome.  I lived in Tokyo when I was a model for six months and that was a life changing trip for a young woman.  I also walked across Vietnam to raise money for colon cancer which killed both my parents at a young age and I loved that trip.  I have hiked up to Machu Pichu to raise money for children with arthritis, leading two hundred Canadians through the Andes was pretty special.  I travel all the time mostly now back and forth to Italy.  My most striking moment was the minute I discovered my valley in Tuscany and realized this was my future
 
What was de biggest difference for you to overcome when you started  with your Tuscan getaway?  It is  different world from my television world but in some ways similar – instead of inspiring millions through a TV screen I get to give fifteen women a life changing experience and one of the happiest weeks of their lives – it is an amazing week
 
What is your attitude to Britain and British design nowadays? 

Gosh my attitude to Britain.  I love England and feel there is an enormous amount of talent there.  I love the way Brits socialize – I love the pub.    I am not a big fan of the typical country British design but I love the new modern British look
 
On food, which food do you like and which you would never eat? 

I am afraid I love all food – I love the freshnes of Italian food and I love wine far too much.  The only food I really really hate is mashed potatoes.  They make me retch.  I was educated by nuns who forced me to eat grey cold mashed potato and would even rub our faces in it – oops I am retching now!!
 
Which wines do you like?

 I love all wine - can't say I am a great connoisseur  but I should support our local wine which is the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano – the vineyards surround our property.  I have planted my own vineyard so we will see if it is drinkable soon!
 
Can you tell me something about your “footprint”  We waste a lot of food in the Western world? 

Yes we do.  One of things that inspires me about Tuscany is how we shop daily for just what we need.  I have a garden which I live off in the summer.  I shop at the market and adore explaining to my guests how we can only buy what is in season.  If its not asparagus season it is impossible to find.  They find this strange coming from North America but they soon  get used to it.
 
What else do you want to tell?

 My passion is inspiring women whether through design or to live to their potential and demand a happy life.  I am a business woman who left school at the age of sixteen and built a small empire.   My motto is Dream it…Do it…Live it   

I also lived in Amsterdam, when I was a model and loved the city. One of my regrets is that I was once sculptured by a famous Dutch artist- no clue who he was, but he wrote to me years later and said the statue he had carved of me was in an exhibition in New York and if I would like to go. I was too young at the time to be interested. Of course now I would love to see it!



The recipe

What a wonderful and inspiring answers Debbie Travis gave to my questions. She is really a multtalented woman. For her I will make a simple, slightly classic, but nice dish full of flavour. It is a dish of fish and vegetables. Easy and  light. It is mid Simmer now. And this savoury fish will pair with a nice glass of white Vernaccia di San Gimigniano. A crisp organic Tuscan wine from Fattoria la Vialla.

Ingredients 4 persons:

4 trouts
1 courgette
1 leek
6 tomatoes
2 spring onions
1 red bell pepper
1 garlic clove
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 lemon
almond flakes
chopped parsley

Preparation:

Rinse the trouts and pat the fish dry with some kitchen paper. Give the fishes a dash of salt and pepper. Cut the courgette, red bell pepper in pieces. Chop the spring onion and leek in nice rings. Peel the tomatoes by putting them in hot water water first and cold after. Get the seeds out. Chop the peeled tomatoes in pieces. In a pan heat some oil and start stir frying the vegetables until light brown. Add the garlic, thyme and tomatoes and leave to simmer for just three minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat the oven at 200 degrees C or 392 degrees F. Pour the vegetables and tomato moist in an oven dish. put the trouts on top. Place some parts of lemon aside. Put the dish in the oven for about 15 minutes. In the meantime you can chop some parsley and roast the almond flakes. When the fish is done, get it out of the oven and cover it. Leave the dish to rest for about 10  minutes.
Put some vegetables on a plate, put the trout aside together with a warm lemon part. Garnish with some roasted  almond flakes and parsley. Bon appétit.

When, after reading this, you would want to now more about Debbie Travis or the Tuscan Getaway? Go to www.debbietravis.com or www.tuscangetaway.com  Or just simply follow her on Twitter or Facebook

Fenny's daging tumis paprika

Picture:  dish by Fenny!

I come from a family in which every member is connected to the food or wine in a way. Either preparing or enjoying it. Since last year our family is extended with a cooking princess from Indonesia, her name is Fenny. This means a vast extension of our daily menus with all kind of exotic dishes. Apart from cooking Fenny dedicates her time to architecture, designing books, teaching and writing a blog. Nowadays she works at www.atlantismedia.nl in 's-Hertogenbosch. She did the overall design for my book Gereons Keuken Thuis.* Today it is time for Fenny's Daging tumis paprika. No wine suggestion. To pair this dish I would suggest the thing all Dutch men do, a cold beer!

Ingredients:

250 g/ 8 oz  thinly sliced meat (beef)

1 onion, sliced into half rings

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp ginger powder (djahe)

3 tbs oyster sauce

3 tbs ketjap asin (salty Indonesian soy sauce)

3 tbs ketjap manis (sweet Indonesian soy sauce, 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 bell pepper

1 bunch of chives, minces

3 tsp corn starch or Maizena, dissolved in 50 ml water

vegetable oil

Marinade ingredients:

2 tbs ketjap asin (salty soy sauce)

1 tbs sesame oil

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

3 tsp or corn starch Maizena, dissolved in 50 ml water

Preparation:

Marinade the meat with all marinade ingredients for three hours, put in refigrator.  Heat up 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, fry the meat until brown, put aside (keep warm under foil) Again heat up 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, put garlic cloves, ginger powder and onions. Add the oyster sauce, salty soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, salt, pepper powder. stir it well. Add the sliced bell pepper. Put the meat that you fried before. Add the finely chopped chives. Finally add the mix of water and Maizena and stir it well. Serve this dish with some rice and Indonesian prawn crackers.

* You can order the E book of Gereons Keuken Thuis on Gereons Keuken Thuis 

Tulip man takes Dam square

picture: Gaby Zwaan as Tulip Man


Third Saturday in this new year. Winter in Amsterdam. But not for long. Just in front of the Royal Palace there will be an explosion of colour. The colours of our national flower the tulip. For more than 400 years abundantly present in the low fields behind the dunes that protect the country from the ever present North Sea.
For the third year the Dutch Flower Council organizes this event together with the TPN, the promotional organisation for tulip growers. On the Dam Square 200,000 tulips will make a garden. It is a salute to everyone and adds a touch of Spring in mid winter time.
This year the field of flowers will form portrait of Tulip Man. A creation of international artist Gaby Zwaan. He is an inspirational artist that uses paintings, (photo) prints and digital media in his art work. Tulip Man is a fictional hero, created by Gaby in 2010. He travels around the world conquering injustice. During his battle to make this world a better place, his head becomes a red tulip.
When you want to see more work by Gaby Zwaan you can visit his website  www.gabygaby.eu A site full of colourful expression.
The garden will planted in the morning of saturday 18 January. At 12.00 noon it will be ready and opened to the public. From 13.00 on visitors are invited to pick some tulips and take them home as an early messenger of Spring.
Some while ago, on Twitter, Gereons Keuken Thuis promised Tulip Man a dish using another bulb, the onion. I prepare him a red onionsoup.

Ingredients:

750 g onions
1,5 l stock
2 cloves of garlic
1 can of peeled tomato in dices
salt & pepper
oil
1 ts thyme
1 ts rosemary
grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Peel the onions and cut them in tiny rings. Peel the cloves of garlic and chop finely. Heat some oil in a pan and gently fry the oinions and garlic. When they are lightly caramelized add the stock and can of peeled tomato cubes. Leave to simmer for a while. Add the herbs and season with pepper and salt. Serve the soup in bowls with some grated Parmesan on top.

Want to read more on Gaby? http://gereonskeukenthuis.nl/blog/gaby-zwaan-zalmburgers-voor-kleurrijk-kunstenaar/



  

Saturday in January, it is time for Ed's roast

 picture: end of day on  one of the canals

It is five PM. The January evening falls in Amsterdam. The Sun sets and leaves it's final gloom over the city. On my stove thick Dutch pea soup simmers. It is January under the low skies of Holland. I alway like to make hearty dishes like this pea soup and roasts and stews in my oven or in my Le Creuset casserole. Immediately your home smells welcoming. Winter stays outside. Instant nourishment of all your senses. But I have to be patient, winter asks for traditional slow food. With a good glas of warming red wine. Like the roast of Edward Mayes. A porkloin filled with herbs, wine, grated Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Roasted  in the oven and then thinly sliced on your plate. Instant Tuscan Sun at your table. Just a little touch of warmth on a January Saturday night.

The recipe for this wonderful roast comes from The Tuscan Sun Cookbook (ISBN 978-0-307-88528-9) So if you crave for more Tuscan delicacies by Frances and Edward Mayes, this wonderful cookbook is available at Polare on the Koningsplein.

 picture: The Tuscan Sun Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 boneless porkloin, about 3 lbs/1,3 kg
1 onion, minced
1 cup/ 60 g of fresh bread crumbs, crisped in 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup/ 60 g of grated Parmesan cheese.
7 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup/ 60 ml of red wine
a handful of torned basil leaves
a handful of flat leaf parsley, minced
2 tbs of fresh thyme
3 tbs minced rosemary leaves
3 tbs of fennel seeds
3 garlic cloves minces
zest of 1 lemon
1 ts salt
1/2 ts pepper

Preparation:

With a sharp knife cut a pocket in the porkloin so you can stuff the meat. Preheat the oven at 350° Fahrenheit or 180° Celsius.
When you are ready to cook the meat, combine in a medium bowl the onion, the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, 5 tablespoons of oil, the wine, the herbs, fennel seeds,  lemon zest, salt and pepper. Stuff half of the mixture in the pocket you have sliced and tie the loin with kitchen twine in four or five places. Over medium heat, in a heavy 8-quart Dutch oven of le Creuset casserole, heat the rest of the oil and sauté the pork for 4 minutes on each side. Until browned. Top the meat with the rest of the stuffing mixture. Roast in the oven for 55 to 65 minutes. The internal temperature should be 150° F or 66° C and the stuffing on top should be crispy brown. When the meat is done, allow the roast to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Chef Robin White revisited, Dutch musselsoup

picture chef Robin White

I invited Chef Robin White to join in in my blog series “gesprekken en gerechten” Robin is a woman from California who I met through Twitter. I once sent her my recipe for white beans in the meadows. I am still curious if she liked it. Robin White is a multitalented person, who connects people through food and wine. She worked together with Frances and  Ed  Mayes on a virtual dinner party held in Napa. She is the creator of many original recipes on her blog. And a wine lover. Now my curiosity became even bigger. Time to send her some questions and  based on Robin’s answers she will be rewarded a Californian Dutch recipe. To pair with a wonderful pinot noir wine, presumably from Alsace this time

Who is Robin White and what would you like to share with us?

I am a woman who initially studied in the medical field and worked in a chemistry lab in The Boston Massachusetts area. I learned to cook late in life in my late 20's begin 30's, but grabbed on to it like a fire. I loved Julia Child growing up,  who knew I would work with her a few times and have her be such a huge influence to change careers   Happier ever since 

You come from Sonoma, can you give a description of that special region?

I love Sonoma. Ever since I went there in the early 80's and knew I had to be there for the rest of my life. People are down to earth, farmers of amazing foods and grapes for amazing wines. I learn every time I go out the door living there. It has enhanced me as a chef and calmed my soul 

You invest a lot of energy in organising virtual dinners, being the Virtual Dinner Queen, can you tell something about it?

Virtual Dinners are an amazing way to bring hundreds of thousands, even millions together to sip, eat and share great foods and wines of the world  it brings the culinary world so close together in so many ways allows us to trade recipes and learn new techniques so much easier. I've made so many new friends that ill have for life. Including you. 

Your blog on speaks to the imagination, recipes, wines certainly with me. How do you do that?

I try so hard through my blog to make taking on a new recipe easy and drinking wine not snobby.Food and wine should be enjoyed by everyone in all price points. It's more about the gathering of lives from all walks that brings what was once considered untouchable by many to everyone enjoying food and wine together 

My parents were/are very French food oriented. The last two decades there has been a shift from French to a more international cuisine, certainly in my generation. Do you notice that  too?

I grew up on Cape Cod, so French food was untouchable for me.  My Mom cooked simple but good.  Because my family was in the seafood business we didn't eat much of it unfortunately  Today I cannot wait to visit the Boston area when I go. I eat seafood from there every chance I can get it fresh. I still have family in the business and now I appreciate it so much more. 

What  would  you miss from the USA when you would live abroad ?

I think a good Submarine Sandwich   I miss them now when I'm out of the Boston area. Even in California they do not make them like they do there. It's not even close . 

Culinary speaking, you are very experienced in cooking, which one is your favorite recipe?

My favorite recipe, Like my last meal,  I would want: 

Froie Gras quickly seared medium rare with a delicate peach sauce. Served on brioche toast A small glass of Tokaij on the side 

A really great simple wedge salad with amazing blue cheese dressing with really fresh garden tomatoes and applewood smoked bacon crumble

A great bowl of the best real New England Clam Chowder and real common crackers   Not thick but milky the way it's suppose to be. 

 Delicious mouth watering Southern Fried Chicken and great smashed potatoes from Wood Prarie Farms in Maine. ( the best potatoes ever grown  ) with fresh churned sea salted butter  And gravy !

And a perfect piece of Apple Pie with the best Vanilla ice cream I could find and the finish. A GREAT cup of Coffee and a cigarette LOL.  I have not smoked for 14 years but if its my last meal I'm going to 

Pinot noir lover, for me as a Burgundy man it appeals to me, can you share something on American pinot noir wines?

My life has been. " why do it the easy way". Drinking wine is no different to me. I started with the usual suspects. Zinfandel, Cabernets , Syrah all that. What I found was they are heavy wines that are predictable. I like a wine you have to work for. A wine that's unpredictable from the first leaf on the vine till the juice finally end up in the bottle. You try and try to tame it but the delicate little morsel cannot be tamed. It's gonna do what it's gonna do  the complexity is like no other and changes significantly from region to region. So food friendly yet challenges the palate of even the most experienced wine drinker. Yet welcomes the new wine drinker and lifts them to a higher level. It makes me think and appreciate the entire process of winemaking 

Did you like the film Sideways? I have never been to California but it portrayed a wonderful wine world. So free and different.

What I say about the movie Sideways is. I was Sideways long before that movie made Pinot famous 

You believe in family farming, can you explain some more on this subject?

Lastly  I am a advocate of the family farm. Small growers with a passion for what they do. You can taste the difference and I appreciate their hard work  I'm all about gatherings around the table.Bringing friends and family together and talking over a great glass of wine and something good to eat. Bring the family back to the table with all this technology no one talks anymore.  Look in people's eyes and talk to each other around the table sharing thoughts with that wine and food. 

If you were to start all over in the Netherlands, what would you want to teach us? I know this is a though question.

Hmmm I really no nothing of the foods of the Netherlands, other than what my friend Hanneke teaches me.  I think I would want to study and eat all your foods and styles and try to see how to incorporate it in mine. 

Last but not least, do you want to share anything else in my blog? Please be welcome

Thank you for having me share. I appreciate your patience Cheers 

More on this remarkable woman www.chefrobinwhite.com

 Picture trout smoking al fresco at Pure Market ,  on Sunday at various locations throughout town.

THE RECIPE:

Since chef Robin White stems from a family that was in the seafood business, her recipe became instantly clear to me. She also hasn't a clue on Dutch food. For her a Dutch mussel soup with a hint of smoked eel will do. I do not know if smoked eel is widely available in the USA, so trout can be a replacement. In the south western province of Zeeland there are a lot of mussel and oyster growers. Normally you would cook mussels in white wine and serve them with French fries and mayonaise. But this sea banquet does fine in a soup.  As wine to pair this soup I suggest a white Côtes du Rhône made from the grenache and ugni blanc grapes. Rhône whites have a hint of ripe citrus fruits and spices. This will do well with the creamy and smoky soup.

Ingredients:

4 lbs/ 2kg mussels

1 bottle of brown ale

1 big leek

2 celery sticks

1 big carrot

1 cube of fish stock

1 cup of  thick cream

2 tbs butter

salt and black pepper

dash of nutmeg

chopped parsley

2 filets of smoked rainbow trout

(or if available 4 smoked eels)

3 cups water

Preparation:

Clean the mussels under cold water. Throw away the open (that do not close when you tap on them) and damaged ones. In a big soup pan yopu bring the ale to a boil. Add the mussels and cook them for 6 minutes

Get the mussels out of the pan and get them out of their shells. leave 12 mussels apart for later garnishing. Strain the cooking juices through a sieve and put in another pan Add the thinly sliced carrot, leek and celery. Add 3 cups of water an bring to a boil. Crumbe and dissolve the stock cube. Let the soup simmer for about 5 minutes. At the end you add the cream, the mussel meat and some butter. Season the soup and give it a dash of nutmeg. Serve on 4 soup plates with some pieces of the smoked trout/ eel and mussels in their shell. top the soup with some  finely chopped parsley. Serve the soup with a firm farmer's bread and salty butter.