Huize Bruine Ruiterstraat
‘It’s supposed to be messy’
Door Tim van de Vendel
By Tim van de Vendel
Tim van de Vendel
Guac burger à la Huize Bruine Ruiterstraat
Makes four servings
4 crispy chicken schnitzels
8 large pita rolls
1 bell pepper
bag of iceberg lettuce
4 avocados
red pepper
red onion
1 clove of garlic
juice of 1 lime or lemon
tub of cherry tomatoes
chilisaus
salt and pepper
Peel the avocados and mash them up in a bowl. Add the finely diced pepper, onion, garlic, lemon or lime juice and mix well. Add chopped up cherry tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste.
In the meantime, finish baking the pita rolls in the oven and fry the chicken schnitzels in a pan.
Cut the pita rolls completely in half and spread guacamole on both sides. Put half a chicken schnitzel on each sandwich and finish it off with lettuce and chilli sauce.
‘D
‘oes anyone have a calculator I could borrow?’ Melle yells from upstairs. He has an exam to go to but can’t find his. From out of nowhere, Bente and Olivier pop up with two calculators. ‘You break it, you buy it’, Bente warns. ‘I think I’d rather take Olivier’s, then’, Melle says.
It is six p.m. Normally, everyone is supposed be home for dinner on Tuesday, but apart from Olivier and Bas, the kitchen is empty. People have exams to sit, classes to take, and meetings to attend, Olivier explains people’s absence.
Monument
The house at the Bruine Ruiterstraat, a side street of the Herestraat, is a listed building. ‘The vestibule is from 1600 or something’, Olivier says. This means most of the spaces are dark, long, and narrow. Even the kitchen is essentially a wide hallway. ‘It fits all eleven of us exactly’, says Nora.
‘Who’s lowest on wiebetaaltwat?’ someone yells. According to the app that calculates what everyone has to pay, it’s Senne. ‘Sorry, I absolutely must do some studying right this very moment!’ she says and flees to her room as the other residents loudly protest.
The students are all members of different associations, from Aegir and Albertus to the Knickerbockers. While the roommates who moved into the house last begrudgingly take on grocery duties, two of Joris’ fellow club members walk in. ‘There’s a techno party in the city tonight’, the guys from Albertus say. ‘And you’re all coming with.’
Bottle caps
This leads to a debate. Olivier and Joris are up for it, but Senne isn’t really feeling it. ‘Normally, I’m the one to drag people out with me, but tonight I really want to focus on my studies.’
In the meantime, Anita has come home. She’s fifteen minutes late, which means she has to down a beer. She throws the bottle cap behind a kitchen cupboard. ‘There’s a hole in the wall back there, with space behind it’, she explains. ‘If they ever tear down this house, they’ll find hundreds of bottle caps.’
Just as she’s finishing the beer, Joris uses an anytimer he has left. According to house rules, she has to drink that beer from a tankard. It holds at least two bottles.
Joris earned the anytimer during the ‘double-tap fellowship’, he says. ‘Nearly everyone in the house is in on that. When you finish a beer, you have to tap it against the table twice.’ If someone catches you forgetting, they get an anytimer on you.
New roommates
The groceries have arrived, which means it’s time to start cooking. ‘I’ll take the avocados!’ says Joris. ‘And I’ll handle the pepper’, Nora follows. ‘Did you bring any snacks, Oliver?’
‘We always have guac burgers on a new roommate’s first communal dinner’, says Bas. Tonight, there are as many as four new roommates, including Bente. ‘I only moved in my bed today.’ She can’t sleep in her new room though, since there’s still stuff in there. ‘Fortunately, we have two very comfortable couches’, says Olivier.
Bas, returning from the bathroom, spontaneously spins a small wheel in the back of the kitchen. As a result, he has to down a beer together with Sjors. ‘There’s a one-in-three chance of making someone drink a beer’, he explains. ‘But you have to keep spinning until you have to drink yourself, so it’s really just to force others to drink with you.’
Elephant watering can
‘Does anything need dicing?’ Nora asks. In answer, someone throws her a clove of garlic. At the same time, Caspar walks into the kitchen. He’s an hour late, which means he has to down four beers. ‘That’s a whole litre’, he says, reaching for the watering can shaped like an elephant. It’s a tradition in the house.
‘That doesn’t seem very hygienic’, Bente says, worried. The other students reassure the newcomer: it’s fresh from the dishwasher. ‘Wait, we have a dishwasher?!’
With all the ingredients laid out on the table, it’s time to put the burgers together. Eating them neatly proves to be a challenge, though. ‘I’m getting some cutlery’, Senne says. ‘No, it’s okay if you spill’, says Ole. ‘Exactly’, Olivier agrees. ‘It’s supposed to be messy.’
Once everyone’s finished, they turn the music up loud. ‘How long do I have to stay here?’ Bente asks. She has a course to get to. At least until midnight, Olivier says. ‘And perhaps we’ll take you into town later.’
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