Daily Dutch living

Rustle rustle (Or: Stop with plastic book covers!)

Okay, I have a dirty little confession to make.

I, a librarian, have not picked up a book in at least 8 months and sat down and read it. Even after my post in early May bemoaning this fact.

Crazy, I know. Life just seems to get in the way sometimes. My favorite is when people hear I am a librarian and the first thing they say is Cool! You must get so much reading done! If you count reading over emails and proofreading notes for the library resources class I am about to teach, then yes I do a lot of reading.

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Categories: Culture, Daily Dutch living, Transportation | 2 Comments

Stolen bicycle seats (Or: That’s a new one)

When Roger came back from Amsterdam yesterday, he found something missing.

His bicycle seat.

One bicycle, no seat

Apparently they really do take whatever isn’t nailed down. The bike was nailed down, but the seat wasn’t. I am happy to report, however, that the problem has already been fixed (at cost to him of course :/) ! And this time with a seat that isn’t quite as easily removable…

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Friends&Family, Transportation | Tags: | 3 Comments

Fryers (Or: The Princess variety)

I remember one time Marco needed to purchase a new fryer. He kindly waited until I arrived so I could experience the joy that is fryer buying. Of course I don’t know what street the store was on – but I can tell you there was a shoe store nearby, as well as a lightning store with lots of chandeliers, I think. It was a wide open street with a lot of space to roam.

The main “odd” thing to me about the store was not being able to grab the item you wanted right away. First you looked at the items on display – mostly small appliances and maybe some cooking materials and vacuums. It’s a bit hazy now. Once you knew what item you wanted, you pulled off a small official piece of paper which had the item and model number on it and took it up to the desk.

You then wait in line to hand in the piece of paper to the cashier, as all of the items that were actually purchasable were not accessible to the general public (sort of reminds me of a closed stacks library!). After a long while, you reach the cashier, who then sends someone to go grab the specific item you are looking for. It’s even possible that that particular store was sending up items on a dumbwaiter type system, but I might be misremembering… But there’s more waiting at that point as well, since it takes a while to go grab it.

I think the waiting bit took about 20 minutes or so.  And of course the amusing thing was the fryer he picked out was the “Princess” model! (If that’s not his, it’s very close.) Though it had nothing to do with the name, and more to do with the color (black). When pressed into service, the fryer made some pretty good fries. Though if I remember correctly, the “viewing window” quickly fogs up, so good luck seeing much.

And then of course there is the realization that fryers are… a lot of work, and require hot oil. On my side of the ocean, these are the fries that I eat. You really can’t go wrong there – it’s microwavable and the instructions are hard to screw up, evening coming with pictures. Hence the name “easy fries”. Done in 4 minutes flat and you don’t have to worry about burning yourself either. I did burn a few plates, though…

I think they taste just fine, although I am not that picky when it comes to fries. Remember I haven’t lived in a place with an oven since late 2007, so I really can’t afford to be picky!

Categories: Daily Dutch living | 6 Comments

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