Author Archives: Niki

About Niki

I run the blog http://www.lifeinthehague.com

Funny sandwich names (Or: Eggstra cheesy)

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Niki

The weather has definitely turned; the cold fingers of fall has arrived. If you’re lucky you’ll get a moment of sun but otherwise it is just wind and rain. Therefore I haven’t taken many photos for the blog of late. So here is one from a month or two ago which I never got around to posting:

It shows two sandwiches which are on sale at the Pathé movie theatre. The one on the right is named “Eggstra cheesy” which is a horrible pun. Good, but horrible.

The one on the right is Boerengezond. That one is less punny and simply translates to “Farmer’s healthy sandwich”.

In other news:

Saturday first day below 15 degrees since May 17; ends record warm day streak from nltimes.nl. 15C is around 60F. It was a nice record while it lasted.

Van Gogh museum stops Pikachu card promo due to “chaos” from dutchnews.nl. They are cute cards (you should check them out) but really, anyone could have known that these would have been snatched up immediately and re-sold by scalpers.

This Dutch company invented sushi krokets (and we’re not sure how to feel about it) from dutchreview.com. (Krokets are breaded, deep-fried rolls usually filled with a sort of meat paste. See also Wikipedia.) This new product is called “crushi”. I am not sure how I feel about it, but who knows. I’d probably try it once.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Food | Tags: Weather | Leave a comment

On Doritos and oliebollen (But: Not at the same time)

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Niki

Here are two food related things I noticed in the last few weeks. Check out these bag of Doritos on sale at the local Albert Heijn supermarket:

In the US this flavor is known as “Cool ranch”. Frito-Lay thought that “Cool American” would be a better name for this flavor in Europe because ranch isn’t that well-known in this country. I don’t understand how “American” helps explain the flavor any better, but okay. I did end up buying a bag last week (the first bag in years) just to remember what the flavor was like. It isn’t one of my favorite chips but it was good enough.

And in other news… it is October! Which means the oliebollen stand (Wikipedia) magically appears on 1 October.

Admittedly they weren’t open on that day but they did open shortly thereafter. You know it is that time of the year when this stand appears!

Categories: Everyday purchases, The Hague | Tags: Oliebollen | Leave a comment

Photos of September days (Or: Summer is holding on)

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Niki

I must admit we have had a lot of luck this summer with good weather, especially in the second half. (The first half could be eloquently described as rain, rain, rain.) With that being said, you can tell fall is approaching, with less sunlight and shorter days in general.

Here is a photo I took of Lange Voorhout, with the leaves on the ground:

And here is a photo from the Paleistuin (Palace gardens):

The building pictured is called Koninklijke Verzamelingen (Royal Collections). The website describes it as “the accumulation of objects and sources of information that members of the houses of Nassau and Orange-Nassau, and people around them, have gathered and kept over many centuries.” You get the idea.

One good thing about the approaching colder season? It’s much easier to sleep! Air conditioning in homes isn’t that common here so it can get warm at times. But now you can get onder the covers and make yourself nice and toasty.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Centrum, Summer, Weather | Leave a comment

10 year anniversary (Or: Dining in style at Blue Blood)

Posted on September 20, 2023 by Niki

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary. Sometimes we go for a swanky hotel, like the executive suite in Amersfoort, or the awesome views from the nhow hotel in Rotterdam, or the Kurhaus hotel in nearby Scheveningen during corona. This time I went with a nice restaurant since we already have vacation plans later in the year.

I booked a reservation at Blue Blood in The Hague as a surprise for Marco (he didn’t know where we were going until we were there). The restaurant offers “a mash-up of the Peruvian and Japanese cuisine”. I had read good things about both the food and service at this restaurant and they did not disappoint. When booking the reservation I was asked if this was for a special occasion. I of course clicked on anniversary. When we arrived we saw they had given us a table in the corner next to the canal, with rose petals on the table and a glass of cava (on the house) to toast the occasion.

I knew in advance that I wanted the tasting menu. It started off with oysters. The first oyster I have had in my life. It did not disappoint!

The sauce was yuzu sauce, which gave it a lovely sour taste, with Peruvian corn and lots of other goodies inside.

Another plus point: as each course arrived the staff took the time to explain what each component was, what the ingredients were and why it was on the menu. Unfortunately my memory isn’t good enough to remember most of it, but it was lovely to hear what the inspiration was behind everything.

Continue reading →

Categories: Food, Marco&Niki | Tags: Anniversaries, Restaurants | 2 Comments

Friday night with Marco (Or: Enjoying the grub by Kompaan Binnenhaven)

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Niki

A few Fridays back, during that week when the weather was so warm, Marco and I met up in the city centre. We each had an idea about where we could eat that evening to celebrate the end of the work week. Great minds think alike, since we quickly found out we had the same idea: Kompaan Binnenhaven at the Torenstraat in the city centre. They had been open for a while now but we had never gone. With the weather so good it is hard to pass up the opportunity to sit outside in the sun for a while. (Although to be fair the sun was pretty mean, so a bit more shade wouldn’t have been a bad thing.)

Marco chose the pork tacos. Don’t they look awesome?

Whereas I had the Libanese flatbread veggie kebab. This one also had pickled cucumber and red cabbage kimchi which gave it a lovely slight sour note. It combined well with the other components of the dish which had me dancing in my seat a bit. (Marco knows if I really like something I start to do a tiny dance. I was dancing.)

We also shared some salted jalapeño peppers. They were delicious and not actually that spicy considering they weren’t deseeded. The salt was definitely at the forefront with this one (in a good way). Since the jalapeños were grilled there was also a lovely hint of smokiness.

Okay, now I sound like a restaurant connoisseur and I’m not. But it was a great way to end the work week for sure.

Categories: Food | Tags: Centrum | Leave a comment

Walking through the dunes (Or: Enjoying the sun in Kijkduin)

Posted on September 14, 2023 by Niki

As mentioned in the last blog post, the weather was great all of last week. On Saturday Marco, Roger and I took advantage of this by visiting Kijkduin, a beach which you can reach with either bus 24 or tram 3. I am not a huge fan of buses so we went with tram 3 even though it was a longer walk.

Our first stop of the day was Wagamama. That is a British restaurant chain which focuses on Japanese-inspired Asian food. I didn’t take any photos of the food this time, but I did snag a photo of the artwork on the wall before we left:

Cute, huh?

After that we took a walk through the dunes. It was about a 45 minute walk. But considering it was a bit later in the day – after 6 – there weren’t too many crowds. Here is a photo I took of the pathway through the dunes, near the beginning of our walk:

I like how the path curved into nothingness. Pretty quickly more and more sand began to appear on the path and the concrete wasn’t always even, but it was a fun walk. We ended up at the tram stop for tram 12 (as was our plan) just in time to snag it before it started its route. The best part was by the time we got off that tram the sun had started to lower a bit and the sky subtly started to change colors as the evening set in.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Summer | Leave a comment

Pretty plates (Or: Tasty food by Umami in The Hague)

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Niki

At the moment the weather here in The Netherlands is gorgeous. It has been about 30C/85F all week, although temperatures will drop back to normal tomorrow. But Marco and I have taken full advantage of the situation trying to soak up some rays (including a visit to the dunes in nearby Kijkduin, but that is for another blog post).

Last weekend Marco and I went to Umami to celebrate Roger’s birthday with his family. It is an Asian fusion restaurant with five locations in the Netherlands. We previously went to Umami for the lunch service. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs then, since we ended up asking for a doggie bag.

This time we did the shared dining experience over three courses. Each course meant two plates for each person, so with six people we had twelve plates each course. Here are some of the photos I took:

I don’t remember anymore what the plate above was. Probably salmon? But you can get the tone of this restaurant just with that photo.

You would think the above picture is chicken, but nope, it is cauliflower. It came with cauliflower purée, asparagus, coriander oil and olive crumble. And it was just as delicious as it looked.

For dessert Marco had the matcha yuzu cake, which came with matcha ice cream, matcha sauce and raisins. It was a great way to end the evening.

Categories: Food | Tags: Desserts | Leave a comment

Standing watch (Or: Nijntje in De Passage)

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Niki

The newest guest in De Passage shopping area is Nijntje:

Nijntje is short in Dutch for Konijntje or “little rabbit”. Outside of the Netherlands you probably know her better as Miffy (Wikipedia). I took this picture on the first day, but if you walk past now you’ll see a sign that says if you take a photo with her and place it on social media you can win a package of Nijntje gifts worth around 150 euros. See also Instagram.

And, just as randomly, here is a photo of the lovely ramen soup I enjoyed earlier in August at Momiji Ramen:

This ramen featured a lovely spicy broth and minced meat. Delicious.

This should be interesting (although they don’t have any details yet): Disney to collaborate with Rijksmuseum to celebrate its 100th anniversary from nltimes.nl

Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: Centrum, De Passage | Leave a comment

A grey, rainy day (Or: Walking through The Hague)

Posted on August 29, 2023 by Niki

On Sunday I went for a walk in the city centre, heading towards The Hague Centraal train station. Here are some of the photos that I took on that rainy, dreary day:

On Sunday there were flags honoring Ukraine’s Independence Day. You can see what flags were raised (or will be raised) between the years 2019-2023 by visiting denhaag.raadsinformatie.nl — click the second PDF at the bottom of the page.

The ever colorful gates of the Dutch Ministry of Finance, easy to spot if you visit in the weekend when the building is closed. (And no picture taken in The Netherlands is complete without getting at least one bicycle in the photo.)

And here is a good look at the dark and menacing sky. You can just see the NS logo (and thus The Hague Centraal station) on the left between the two flags.

After checking the weather for tomorrow’s commute, I have decided I will post this and go grab my umbrella so I don’t forget it. Sheesh!

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Bikes, Binnenhof/Buitenhof, Centrum, Weather | Leave a comment

Cotton candy ice cream burrito (Or: You heard me right)

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Niki

Today was the last day of the Rrrollend food truck festival in The Hague. Marco and I went with his mother. Here is the craziest thing Marco spotted, although we weren’t crazy enough to try it ourselves:

That is a cotton candy and ice cream dessert burrito. My teeth hurt just thinking about it!

Marco’s mom had a meat pie while Marco had a katsu sando. That’s a Japanese sandwich with fried pork cutlets placed between white bread. You can also add lettuce and other condiments. Marco added pineapple reaper, a pretty spicy hot sauce. An earlier post I wrote about a restaurant called Umami has a photo of a katsu sando (see the last image in the post). And at Rrrollend I had a falafel pita. No photo though. It was messy but delicious.

Mom/Dad: We saw a stand selling Philly cheese steaks and we thought of you (I think that is what you guys bought at Smorgasburg).

After Rrrollend we went to the nearby Plein for another drink. I had a frozen cappuccino:

It was really good. Or as I told Marco and his mom: the drink was verdomde lekker! or stupidly tasty. It being served in a pretty glass helps as well of course.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Food trucks | Leave a comment