I thought I knew something about persimmons! This thing is obviously fully domesticated. It is seedless, and actually tastes pretty good too.

Aurora seems to be very vain about letting anyone watch her play, much less take her picture. She loves her new hairy shiny balls, though, and I managed to catch her playing with one.

We found black pasta at the grocery store! Cool, huh?

Naturally we decided to serve it with mushroom sauce, to make it appear as unappetizing as possible. It tasted just like regular pasta, although the texture was a bit firmer.

Okay, parents, have you made your decision? Good, because these were for sale in a booth - not in a dark corner of a shop deep in the Red Light district, but right in the middle of the Albert Cuypstraat Market two blocks from our flat. It was definitely one of those We ain't in Kansas anymore moments. Plenty of parents with kids were coming by - in fact, Zwarte Piet and Sinterklaas came by a few minutes after I took this picture. Body parts just aren't a big deal here.

Another angle on the penii.

Add to that this interesting little bronze sculpture embedded in the cobblestones.

And where is this naughty little bit of art? In front of one of Amsterdam's brothels? No, it's right outside the door to Amsterdam's famous Oude Kerk, the Old Church. Church services have been held here since 1260 and continue to be held every Sunday.

And also some modern art. I like how the graffiti artists here tend to stick to the boards that board up windows and that sort of thing as their medium. They tend not to use the walls of actual buildings nearly so much.

Lastly, we derive great amusement from the cat's new food dish.

And the water dish too, of course.