New King Mandarin Cuisine, Amsterdam

I was really very pleased with my recent meal in New King chinese restaurant in Amsterdam. It's nicely decorated, and I just had the feeling that I was in a place that valued style over substance. However, I was proved wrong by the food. I chose duck hoi-sin pancakes while himself had the shrimp dumpling soup. The soup was a clear, lightly-flavoured broth with lots of choi, with several large dumplings filled with juicy prawns, flavoured with sesame oil. The duck pancakes did not feature the usual thin paper pastry, but instead came pre-assembled in thick, freshly-fried, slight sweet pancakes. Fantastic start.

I chose the mixed meat plate for my main which featured roast duck, chopped on the bone, along with char siu pork and roasted pork. The char siu was exceptional, with a lovely carmelised texture. His dish of beef with morning glory featured a whole heap of wilted greens and tender meat. 

Two glasses of wine, 3 small beers, 2 starters and 2 mains came to an exceptionally good value total of €50.

New King, Zeedijk 115-117, Amsterdam 1012 AV, The Netherlands. +31 (0)20 625 2180

Creative Composition - Harold Davis

I'm a pretty keen amateur photographer and I'm always on the lookout for great photos and descriptions of how those shots were acheived. I hope that by studying and thinking about great shots, I can improve my own style and become more original and creative. Therefore I was really looking forward to receiving this book as part of the Amazon Vine programme.

This book breaks down into 2 parts - the first part deals with the basics of modern photography such as aperture, focus and ISO, while the second part deals more with composition. The book features many photos taken by the author, but the print quality of the book removed the impact from a lot of the photos. Print quality aside, I found myself looking at many of the shots and feeling uninspired - I simply didn't consider some of them to be good photos. However, that's a matter of subjectivity, so let's leave that aside for now.

I'm also unsure as to the proposed audience for this book - it's published by John Wiley & Sons, a famous textbook publisher, but it's not detailed enough to be a textbook for the serious photographer. On the other hand, the material is a little too advanced to be suitable for the beginning photographer.

There's no doubt that the author, Harold Davis, is an enthusiastic photographer, that much is evident from the text. However, I really think that this book could have benefited from a bit more focus (no pun intended) when in the development stage

Stoop & Stoop Eetcafe - Amsterdam

Stoop & Stoop is a very typical Dutch eetcafe, located off Leidsestraat, in the centre of Amsterdam. Eetcafes are a cross between pubs and restaurants and often serve straightforward food - in Stoop & Stoop, I enjoyed a fantastic rib eye steak served with garlic butter and accompanied with salad and fries.  Total cost along with a glass of house white wine was E19.10. Well recommended for any visitors to the city.

Stoop & Stoop, Lange leidsedwarsstraat 82, Amsterdam 1017 NM. +31 (0)20 6200 982

No One Would Listen - Harry Markopolos

 

Bernie Madoff has gone down in the history as the man behind the world's largest known Ponzi scheme. When his scheme collapsed following the market crisis of 2008, hundreds of investors lost their savings with the total loss estimated at being in excess of $50 billion. 

The truly shocking part of this story is that this terrible loss could have been mitigated - if the Securities Exchange Commission had heeded the warnings of Harry Markopolos. In the years preceding the collapse, Markopolos had filed no fewer than 5 complaints against Madoff, all of which had been lost or ignored by the SEC watchdog. It is tragic to read of Markopolos' repeated efforts to bring this to the attention of the authorities and the mind boggles at how all these red flags could have been ignored.

Markopolos does tell an intriguing and well-written story. However, I must admit that it is rare to read a book where I've actively disliked the author. Markopolos has a strong character (stubbornness is especially obvious) and I can see how individuals in authority might have taken a dislike to this man. But when fraud on such a massive scale is being alleged, personal likes and dislikes should not come into the picture.

Markopolos' revelations led to him testifying in front of government and has triggered a review of staffing and procedures at the SEC. His work has led to significant change and it cannot be underestimated. Read this story and marvel at a tale of ineptitude and dedication.

The Apothecary's House - Adrian Mathews

The Apothecary's House is a story set in wintery Amsterdam, with a story which stretches back over 250 years. Ruth Braams is a solitary art-historian working on processing claims on artwork stolen by the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands. One day while working at the Rijksmuseum, she meets the elderly, and possibly dotty Lydia who has registered a claim on an odd little painting. However, an opposing claim has also been registered and soon Ruth finds herself being drawn into a dark and dangerous adventure.

Matthews has really captured the essence of the city of Amsterdam in this novel - from the foggy mornings to the frozen canals. He has also done an impressive amount of research, stretching from 18th century Amsterdam right through to the goings-on in Nazi-occupied Holland. 

However, the novel is lengthy (700 pages) and this does detract from what could be a decent and interesting art history mystery. The twist and revelation is good, but is overwhelmed by overuse of arcane writing.

The Mao Case - Qiu Xiaolong

Although labelled as a murder mystery, The Mao Case and other works from Qiu Xiaolong, are deeper stories concerning with the rapidly changing and mutating society in millenium China. The shadow of Mao and the Cultural Revolution looms over a society which is looking towards the future. 

Inspector Chen is both a poet and detective. Cultured and educated, he is entrusted with investigating the suddenly affluent lifestyle of Jiao, granddaughter of a disgraced movie star. But as he begins his investigation, the body of Jiao's friend is found in the garden of a gently decaying Shanghai mansion.

The case is politically sensitive, due to the connection between Jiao's grandmother and Chairman Mao. In fact, Internal police are convinced that Jiao holds some secret material from Mao, which cannot be allowed to resurface and tarnish his beloved and treasured image. 

This is a crime novel of a different ilk. Originating as it does from a different culture, Xiaolong's story offers a different type of crime novel - intellectual and educated. It is wistful, literate and utterly unique.

Angels of Death: Inside the Bikers' Global Crime Empire - William Marsden & Julian Sher

What do you think of Hells Angels? Are they a free-wheeling group of "good old boys" who occasionally have a run in with the law, or are they a global crime empire dealing in drugs and guns? Originating in West Coast America, the HAMC have expanded into every major continent, but by doing so, have attracted the attention of every major law enforcement agency.

Marsden and Sher are two Canadian journalists who initially wrote a feature on Canadian motorcycle gangs. From this, they expanded the scope of their research to include biker gangs across the world from Canada to Amsterdam, Scandinavia to Australia. Many horrific tales of murder, beatings and feuds are recounted, but also we read the stories of the undercover police who have risked their lives and sanity to reveal the extent of the bikers' activities.

The authors have done a lot of research following the trail of HAMC and their affiliates across the globe. For anyone new to the world of outlaw biker gangs, this serves as a great introduction, but the bland writing style negates a lot of the excitement and danger contained in these stories.