Food

Outside with coffee (Or: Last day of summer)

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Niki

Marco and I went out today for a cup of coffee, eventually ending up at the Buitenhof plein. The main reason for doing it today was that the temperature will drop after some rain tonight – and that marks the end of summer. Although I guess we should be glad we made it to October with 20c/68f days!

Of course with the beginning of autumn, you get to look forward to the upcoming holiday season. Unfortunately Halloween (English | Dutch wikipedia) isn’t as big here as it is in America (although it is growing in popularity).

And the changing leaves, and the crispness of the air…

But still, I am going to miss being able to have a cup of coffee outside.

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Food | Tags: Autumn, Cafes | 2 Comments

September (Or: Signs the holidays are just around the corner?)

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Niki

Last Friday Marco and I were in Zoetermeer, at the Albert Heijn. (I took off work at 12PM to start my vacation early…yay!) I was slightly confused to see kruidnootjes already available for purchase.

These cookie like snacks are traditionally purchased around Sinterklaas time, or 5 December. It’s not even October yet! Though I must admit I was also a bit shocked to walk into a Xenos store and see Halloween items for purchase, although that was partly because Halloween hasn’t quite caught on in this country yet. Actually Marco said that everything you see above is traditionally sold around Sinterklaas time, not just the kruidnootjes.

As Marco, Roger and I are going back to the States for Christmas, I suppose Mom and Dad will have to start thinking about what they want to order from the Dutch delivery service! 😉

Categories: Food, Holidays | Tags: Sinterklaas | 2 Comments

A bribe of sorts (Or: Cakes by work)

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Niki

Recently we had an all-staff meeting at work. One of the benefits of going to said meeting (which is held 3-4 times a year) is the coffee and cakes afterwards.

Talk about a sugar rush…

Categories: Food | Tags: Desserts | 5 Comments

Lemon cake part two (Or: Marks and Spencer)

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Niki

A while back I had taken a picture of the lemon cake at Marks and Spencer (which opened this year in The Hague). However the lighting wasn’t that great. So here it is again, as Marco and I went back last weekend…

lemon cake and coffee by Marks & Spencer in The Hague

lemon cake, small coffee, large cappuccino

The lemon cake is actually quite sour, especially the top layer. The trick is the slightly wet-looking area just below the icing and dark brown layer. Quite sour! Definitely recommend trying it out if you enjoy sour items.

And now I want lemonheads…

Categories: Food | Tags: Candy, Marks and Spencer | 2 Comments

Lay’s potato chip flavors (Or: Stokbroodje met kruidenboter)

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco brought home a new Lay’s flavor for their ‘Do us a flavor!‘ contest. Of course, flavors are different depending on the country the chips are being sold in. The four flavors for America this year were cappuccino, bacon mac and cheese, salsa mango, and wasabi ginger.

The Netherlands have their own flavors, of course. A few weeks Marco brought home one of them:

The flavor is french bread with garlic butter. Unfortunately you don’t get anything that tastes like bread in the flavor, just garlic butter (which comes across nicely).

Of course this is the country that has ‘normal’ flavors of barbecue ham and of patatje joppie (a sort of Dutch sauce that goes well with French fries apparently).

Categories: Food | Leave a comment

Roger’s 40th (Or: Birthday party at Paraplu)

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Niki

A month after Marco, Roger also turns 40. We celebrated the event by going to Paraplu in The Hague – the first time for me. As usual, I had the kipsaté (chicken on a skewer with peanut sauce). Yum! Also the first time I ever had kroepoek (the white disks) paired with peanuts and peanut shavings directly on top.

As a surprise, a family member had ordered a birthday dessert for Roger (and the table). Quite spectacular:

Good times en lekker eten!

Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: Birthdays, Desserts, Restaurants | 4 Comments

Tasty Fridays (Or: Cheesecake Company in The Hague)

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Niki

A few Fridays ago some of my coworkers and I celebrated the impending weekend by getting some cheesecake from the Cheesecake Company in The Hague. Officially it was a cheesecake tasting – everyone took a little bit from each piece.

I don’t remember all of the fruit flavors, but ones I do know are: plain (lower right side). Directly above that is razma-limey, with the lime on top. Definitely my favorite fruit flavor. To the left of the plain one was double chocolate-chocolate chip. Dreamsicle (a sort of orange and vanilla swirl, based off a cream popsicle) was in the 9 o’clock position. Lastly, next to the strawberry up top was mango (with all of the yellow pieces on top).

Other fruit flavors that were there included blackberry, blueberry, bosvruchten (forest fruit), and more that I can’t possibly remember. But it was delicious! They are right next to the Grote Kerk in The Hague, on Torenstraat.

Categories: Food | Tags: Cheesecake company, Desserts | Leave a comment

Time for chocolate (Or: Homemade rice krispie treats)

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Niki

As mentioned in the previous post, on Thursday night I had a barbecue at my teacher’s house. I decided to make rice krispie treats (Marco and I had a lot of fun in the kitchen making them!)

Above is a photo of one of the pans of rice krispies, after pouring the melted chocolate but before spreading it. Lekker!

My classmates definitely enjoyed it. Marco took most of the leftovers to work on Friday for his coworkers. I heard it was also a hit there (although one of them said he wanted to run up and down the hallway repeatedly after eating all that chocolate).

Categories: Food | Tags: Chocolate, Desserts | 1 Comment

Success (Or: I passed the B2 Dutch course)

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Niki

Today we received the results for the B2 course I have been taking at ROC Mondriaan. I passed all four sections – reading, writing, listening and speaking – with no problems. I did ironically have some comments about how to work on my writing, but it was mainly due to a lack of time to check over my work when I was done writing. I tend to write a lot – a bit too much probably!

When I got home I saw a small gift on the table from Marco. The message he wrote on it makes me wonder what I should have done with it if I hadn’t passed the tests. Burn it?

“open me if you passed the exams – Marco”

If you know what ‘Jamin’ is (what it sells), you can already guess what the gift is. ;p

Chocolate! geslaagd = successful, in the sense of success at passing a test (a school exam, a driving test, etc).

Categories: Courses, Food | Tags: Chocolate | 2 Comments

Dessert in a glass (Or: Strawberry slush)

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Niki

Here is one of the items we had at De Gezelligheid (a restaurant in Leusden) a few weeks back. A strawberry slush drink. Yum!

Of course the drink would have gone over even better today, as it was officially shorts weather after getting home from work. Heat wave!

Categories: Food | Tags: Desserts, Drinks | Leave a comment