Author Archives: Niki

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About Niki

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

Chai latte (Or: With an extra espresso please)

Posted on May 27, 2021 by Niki

Last weekend Marco and I stopped by FOAM restaurant here in The Hague to have a coffee. I would say we were also trying to grab a few moments of sunshine, but to be honest it was pretty cloudy and quite windy the whole time we were there. Hopefully next time will be better?

I ordered a chai latte (plus extra espresso!) and Marco ordered a matcha latte. I really liked my chai latte – it was sweet but still had a nice kick of coffee behind it.

Tomorrow Marco and I both have the day off. I have an appointment at the hair dresser for a touch up. Someone please remind me why I scheduled it so early? There is no opportunity to sleep in at all. But that also means I have more of the day to enjoy after my hair is done… so that is good, right?

I am looking forward to the change in weather, as it should start warming up a bit tomorrow. Perhaps it won’t be full sunshine yet, but at least it won’t be cold like it was this morning. How could it almost be June but still be so windy and cold?

In other (slightly crazy news): the police in Zwolle arrested a driver who was in possession of 550kg (1,200 pounds) of laughing gas (!). The article is from nos.nl in Dutch. If you want to transport more than 2 kilos of laughing gas you need to have a special permit. It is considered a party drug in the Netherlands; every few weeks there is a car crash reported in the news where the driver had laughing gas in the car.

Usually it is not 550kg of laughing gas, though…

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A splash of purple, a splash of blue (Or: Graffiti in The Hague)

Posted on May 26, 2021 by Niki

Are you in the mood for some flower graffiti?

And another one:

if you look closely at the window you will notice the blinds in the upper left are also spray painted… Hopefully that was with permission!

The Dutch health ministry said that the lockdown easing on 5 June–step 3 of the opening plan–will likely go ahead (article from nltimes.nl). Also from nltimes:.nl: Netherlands to host opening stages of La Vuelta in 2022. There will be a team time trial and two opening stages in Utrecht, Den Bosch and Breda. Which means more opportunities to see images of Dutch cities on tv!

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A hint of sun (Or: Better weather this weekend)

Posted on May 25, 2021 by Niki

It looks like better weather will be coming later this week, although of course the best weather falls on Monday and Tuesday next week (24C or 75F). Still, bring it on! It will be nice to be outside again without a jacket on, and feel the sun’s warmth on my skin.

The Hague’s police department held another “turn in your weapons” action in the last week. This one was under the hashtag #dropit. They received more than 650 weapons, including 30 firearms. Th firearms were picked up at home by plain clothed officers in unmarked cars. The rest could be brought to the police station Check out the photo (there are more in the linked article):

What struck me with the photos–especially in the linked article–was how structured the weapons are placed on the table. Someone with a design-forward mind was definitely thinking about how to place the weapons to make the best photographs. My second thought was just how many weapons that actually is! Every corner of that table is covered, plus more weapons on the ground. The police also said they were happy with the action even though they were not expecting to get so many.

In other news: Digitisation project answers questions about Dutch colonial trade in minutes from dutchnews.nl. The project will digitize 25 million handwritten documents from the business administration of the Dutch East Indies company. This will allow researchers to search the documents within minutes. The only problem, of course, is that the handwritten documents are from the 17th and 18th centuries, which means the search results will also be in 17th/18th century Dutch and will thus need to be translated.

Some good news: anyone with a birth year of 1969 or 1970 can make an appointment for a corona vaccine. It is looking better in the Netherlands. However we are still in the top 5 for number of cases in Europe, so as always – patience is required. See also: Dutch Covid hospitalizations 53% below peak; ICU total near 10-week low from nltimes.nl in English.

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The promise of thunderstorms (Or: A low rumbling)

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Niki

As I write this, thunder rumbles in the distance. I miss a good thunderstorm; they aren’t as prevalent here in the Netherlands. Or when you do have them they are not loud enough. I did find a website which shows lightning strikes in realtime (from blitzortung.org). It is just a bit hypnotizing to watch.

Did you ever expect to see popcorn in the breakfast aisle? I did not, but here is a photo from a local grocery store:

That is a granola based cereal with oat, corn flakes and crisps. And popcorn…

I already knew things were going downhill 20 years ago when I saw Reese’s Puffs for the first time, which according to Wikipedia was first launched in 1994. My, how time flies. That cereal is flavored with chocolate and peanut butter, which seemed excessive to me.

I can’t complain, though. One of my best “cereal” memories was of a paper slide built into the back of a Cocos Puffs cereal box. You could roll pieces of cereal down the chute and then eat them. Or there is the memory of me as a young adult eating (dry) cheerios with a diet Dr Pepper on the side for lunch. I loved it.

I guess we are all weird in our own way.

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Friday evening meals (Or: A bit of heat to end the week)

Posted on May 23, 2021 by Niki

On Friday Marco and I cooked Kolhapuri chicken curry, a spicy, flavorful meal accompanied by naan bread. We found the recipe in our “Indian Food and Cooking” recipe book (Amazon.com link). The chicken joints were first marinated in yoghurt combined with chili powder, black paper, garlic, gram masala and more goodness. Top it off with some garnish (tomato, red pepper slices, fresh coriander) and you have a spicy treat.

Marco and I watched the Eurovision Song contest finale last night. We usually don’t–he watched begrudgingly but did get invested in the end. But since it was held in Rotterdam this year I wanted to watch. Article from nltimes.nl (note: spoilers).

The highlight of the night was seeing Iceland’s presenter: Olaf Yohansson is a Eurovision hit as he tries to award 12 points to Jaja Ding Dong from radiotimes.com (YouTube link). If that does not make sense to you then you need to watch Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga on Netflix. It is a comedy by Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. Olaf Yohansson was a character who is known for repeatedly shouting “Play Jaja Ding Dong!” (YouTube) at the main characters at one of the local bars.

Oh, and for the first time in history a Dutch driver is on top of the Formula 1 standings after a win today at Monaco (see also formula1.com). Crazy!

Categories: Food, Sports | 2 Comments

Art in The Hague (Or: She belongs to no one but herself)

Posted on May 22, 2021 by Niki

Here is another piece of art found on the Achterom street:

I looked up the phrase “She belongs to no one but herself” and found this page for the “She project” at hansmahler.nl in English.

A while ago I posted about a poll that the city held to determine what stones would be used for the Spuiplein and in front of the city hall once the construction of the new cultural complex was complete. At the time I noted that most of the answers were “we don’t care, whatever is least slippery”. It is quite hard to walk there when it rains.

I did of course forget that a lot of skaters love that area because the current stones don’t have any grip. There is also a lot of echo in that area, so they might like the loud sound when their boards slam on the ground over and over again… Anyway, they are not pleased that it seems the city will be going for stones with more grip. Their wheels get stuck in the stone and the board doesn’t react the same way as before. Problem is that it is also an area a lot of people walk through to get from the city centre to the central station and vice versa, so it will be interesting to see what the city does.

The skaters will hold a “Save Spui” demonstration on Saturday, May 29 at 14:00. See also this article at omroepwest.nl in Dutch.

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Graffiti in the Achterom (Or: Woman with red hair)

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Niki

This graffiti can be found at the corner of Achterom and Kissemstraat, not far from The Passage. It is the same street where you can find the adorable cat graffiti. Or try this cat graffiti post. Because we can never have enough cats, right? (Actually, I’m more of a dog person.)

I don’t know if this graffiti has a title. But it definitely draws your eye as you walk past. The red hair is cleverly painted up until the edge of the wall, forcing you to glance down this side street to see all of it. It is almost impossible to miss.

Happy Friday, everyone!

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A long awaited weekend (Or: No alarm for tomorrow)

Posted on May 20, 2021 by Niki

After I woke up today I took a lot of pleasure in making sure my alarms were turned off for tomorrow morning. Marco and I both have a well deserved long weekend, although we don’t have any firm plans yet for how we will spend our time. Perhaps I will visit a few stores in the early morning before things get too busy or crowded, or we will go eat lunch on a terrace? We shall see. But I know I’ll be at the library sometime this weekend, that’s for sure.

The big news of the day is an unfortunate fire that tore through The Hague’s Schilderswijk district. It broke out around 03:00 this morning and quickly spread to neighboring apartments. Two streets were evacuated and in the end about 40 apartments were declared “unlivable”, along with a mosque in the same street. Regio15.nl in Dutch has pictures of the fire on Wouwermanstraat. Scroll to the end for pictures in the daylight.

In English the tweet reads: “A bit of rest after fighting the fire for hours”.

In the category of “Opps” or “Bad timing”: Dutch Eurovision winner Duncan Laurence tests positive for Covid from nltimes.nl. That is the previous winner of the Eurovision contest in 2019, who was scheduled to give a performance during this weekend’s finale. Instead, he goes into quarantine.

And, not something you see that often in the Netherlands: Arrests and one dead after armed robbery turns into high speed chase from dutchnews.nl. The attackers went after an armored transport suspected of carrying diamonds and gold (De Telegraaf said the estimate was upwards of 50 million euros). One of the suspects was killed. Here’s a line from the article: “What exactly happened is still being pieced together, but according to NOS while the robbery was in progress, one of the men, dressed in black and wearing a balaclava helmet, paced to and fro in front of the building, firing warning shots from an automatic rifle in the street.” Since it was a very busy street with pedestrians and cyclists, the police received a lot of emergency calls within a few minutes…

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At her feet, flowers (Or: Statue in The Hague)

Posted on May 19, 2021 by Niki

Here is another photo of flowers for you, randomly placed at the feet of a statue in The Hague. Who knows why? These are quite beautiful flowers, though.

I’m partially posting this article because I like the title: The gym before breakfast on a cafe terrace: What changes today from dutchnews.nl. Today is the first day of step 2 in the government’s plan to reopen society. Some gyms opened at 00:01 this morning, and cafés are now allowed to open from 06:00. So the title makes sense.

And here is some good news for the Netherlands: Corona patient numbers down by nearly 150, cases drop 25% in a week, also from dutchnews.nl. The last time we had such a large drop in patient numbers was January 1. That feels like a lifetime ago.

The Netherlands has a long way to go in comparison to other European countries. However we are getting there, helped in part by the vaccination program speeding up (we are closing in on 150,000 vaccines given each day).

Categories: The Hague | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

Muzenplein (Or: Sun with a bit of shadow)

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Niki

The Muzenplein is a hidden gem not far from The Hague’s Central Station. Marco and I went for a walk this afternoon after work to get a bit of fresh air and sun. The Muzenplein did not disappoint.

There is just a bit of shadow at the bottom, obscuring the flowers. The city has planted these tulips all over the city centre to give it a bit more color. Here is a closer look:

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