A few weeks back Marco, Roger and I went to Pathé Spuimarkt (the local movie theater) to see X-Men: Apocalypse. Marco was pleasantly surprised to see a newly installed frozen Fanta machine.
One of his favorite treats when visiting America is ICEEs (a type of frozen slushie). Of course ICEEs are even better than Fanta’s frozen drinks, but when you’re not in America you take what you can get!
Some weeks ago Marco and I visited Bram Ladage, a small takeout place that serves mainly french fries and milkshakes. Once you have had those fries it is hard to go back to McDonald’s.
On top you have pindasaus (peanut sauce in English).
The best part about Bram Ladage is there is “free” seating nearby on the Grondwetbank (a loose translation would be “Constitution bench” – it’s a very, very long bench which is inscribed with the first few lines of the Dutch constitution).
It’s not something we get very often, but when we do it is always very tasty!
This will be a very coffee-themed post… It’s almost summer (maybe) so it is a lot more fun to drink iced coffees. First up we have a frappé from the library café, Bibliotheek Den Haag. I found it so tasty I had to struggle not to drink it all up within 30 seconds.
Second we have a Starbucks drink from a coworker (her blog and her Instagram). After a while it gets old just writing your name on the side, so these days the Starbucks workers write random messages on the side. It’s raining men… and coffee!
Next we have a summery mural from the Eat Company from the artist Sophia den Breems. I’ve previously blogged about the Spring 2016 mural here.
Finally, the latest discovery… iced chai tea by Kaldi! It’s hidden away in the Haagsche Bluf. It’s the drink on the left, next to Marco’s iced cappuccino. It was delicious, a slightly thicker concoction with the chai tea taste at the end.
Marco and I recently had coffee at Hema, splitting a slice of apple pie. On the way out, we noticed some of Hema‘s famous sausage:
Except that this was in the candy aisle. The sausage was made of marzipan! (Marzipan is apparently rather popular over here, but not so much in America).
I also noticed some chocolate bars which say “You are sweet” and “Thank you”. The problem with this is I have some good memories of the chocolate bar when it used to be in Dutch (“Ik vind je lief“) so it is a bit odd to see it in English. For example, the first time Marco gave me one when I still lived in America…
And finally, a what the heck? kind of image. Check out this Kit Kat flavor Marco and I saw at the Asian store:
That’s right – if you look at the pricing card underneath you will see it is sweet potato flavor… All right-y then.
On Sunday Marco and I went to Hometown Coffee. It was Easter but a lot of cafés and restaurants were open regardless. This cafe is close to Spui Buitenhof (a movie theater) and Popo’s, a Mexican restaurant.
I ordered my favorite drink there: iced mocha coffee on the rocks. Yum!
Recently Marco and I ended up leaving the house together in the morning, as he had to catch a train to Utrecht for work. As we were walking, we were passed by a fruit seller riding his cart. It caught my eye because the road was so bumpy I was amazed that none of the oranges fell off…
Later on in the day Marco sent me a photo. It turns out the fruit seller was selling his wares at Centraal Station. It’s a bit blurry, but you get the idea:
Bikes really are the “transport of choice” around here!
Marco and I had a bit of time to kill this weekend so we decided to buy a few things at Big Bazar, a discount store. We were in the toys section when Marco spotted an interesting Playmobile set:
That’s right – there is a bank robbery in progress! And the side of the box shows the ATM and how you *ahem*… withdraw money from it.
Playmobile is actually kind of cool. But I’ll always be a LEGO kind of girl.
You heard me. Coloring books… for adults! You thought coloring was only for kids? Think again. I asked (and received) one as a Christmas present, along with a nice set of coloring pencils. I decided to start coloring it in while waiting for the SpaceX launch this past Sunday (Spoiler: the overall mission was successful but the attempt to land the rocket on a barge in the ocean failed).
Of course, the designs are more intricate in an adult coloring book than one for a kid:
This one took me two and a half days (though, being an adult I can’t spend the entire day coloring. Sadly.) But it’s about as relaxing as putting a jigsaw puzzle together, something I used to do last year. Actually, I need to start doing that again…
Even libraries have started to notice this new hit, offering “social coloring groups”.
Here is the coloring book I have (which Dutchies can buy at bol.com):
And a few looks at the pages inside:
The only thing I wish was that the format was a spiral book. The pictures go right to the edge of the page, which makes it hard to color. Another type of coloring book is the mandala coloring book. A mandala is a sacred symbol in both Hinduism and Buddhism made from squares and circles. The original research about coloring mandalas as an anxiety reducer can be found in the Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association (pdf available through ERIC).
The weather is absolutely, positively cruddy today. It’s been raining all day — even pouring during the evening commute. Yuck!
On another note, it is my 4 year anniversary by WordPress today. Hard to believe.
Albert Heijn (a grocery store) has been running a promotion the last few months. Save up 50 stamps and you can exchange them (for a bit of money as well) for luxury silverware. You can get one stamp for every €10 you spend. Don’t get me wrong – it’s an expensive way to get the silverware. But if you don’t change your buying habits just to get more stamps it works out. Marco and I have about two cards full (with help from Roger and others). Marco is specifically saving up for a few of the knives.
An Albert Heijn stamp booklet
A look at the knives on offer
Some of the knives are so sharp they even come with instructions on how to get them out of the packaging safely.
If you are also saving stamps — happy (future) slicing!
As of January 1st, Dutch stores are required to charge for plastic bags. Here is an advertisement at the tram stop:
Advertisement in the Netherlands for “no more free plastic bags”
It basically says “You (will now) pay for your own plastic bag” and underneath in small letters “your own bag, better for the environment”.
I think it is a good law change. Marco and I almost always have extra bags with us (I have one at work in my drawer and one permanently stored in my backpack) so there isn’t much effect on us. I did find it funny to go to Action (a “dollar” type store) as the sign said the charge for one bag was 3 cents. We don’t even have pennies in the Netherlands — thankfully! I wish I had taken a picture of that sign.
Most stores have had signs up for a few months now, so it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone.
Life in the Hague 