Food

Stroopwafels (Or: Dutch treats in an American cupboard)

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Niki

A few posts ago I had shown a picture of what Marco’s cupboard looks like. It response, my mom emailed me a picture of the Dutch treats that Marco mailed to my parents last month.

The card on the left says “meow” in Dutch.

Then you have kruidnootjes. Then you have the stroopwafels (kanjers brand). Those come on this blog a lot! In the back you have gebroken speculaas, which is just a larger form of speculoos (a gingerbread cookie – good for dipping in coffee). In the foreground in the yellow bag, you have hopjes, which is a coffee flavored candy. Finally in the back on the right side, you have hollandse drop, a type of licorice candy.

Categories: Food | Tags: | 7 Comments

Variety (Or: Inside a Dutch cupboard)

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Niki

Here’s another random photo from Marco… part of his cupboard.

Some random things:

1. upper left: Open Pit barbecue sauce (thick and tangy flavor) from my parents. It’s good stuff…

2. upper right: hot sauce (chili lime flavor) from my local Shoprite. Various other hot sauces. I have definitely taken to eating more hot foods since meeting Marco. Even my dad was willing to try some hot sauce on his chili, when Marco, Roger and I visited my parents last Christmas.

3. middle left – green and yellow containers are lime juice and lemon juice respectively. Very good for alcoholic mixes…

4. middle right – spices, spices, and more spices. Needs more garlic powder! (/inside joke)

5. lower left – “Sportlife” brand gum, with both Dutch and English on its packaging.

6. lower right – even more spices.

The problem with the above picture is I can just barely reach the top shelf… and even on my tiptoes I really can’t reach it. So Marco and I will need to rethink what goes where so that the most important stuff isn’t up there. 😉 (Not pictured is another row on the top where the plates and bowls currently live.)

What does your cupboard look like? Is it organized or messy? Full or empty?

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Food | 3 Comments

Food mashing! (Or: It must be getting colder outside)

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Niki

From Marco…

When Niki was in the Netherlands in summer 2010, she asked if we’d have traditional Dutch food. I kind of told her no, since a lot of Dutch food is winter food.
So when she was was here in December of that year, she asked again.
And again I told her we probably shouldn’t. Though of course we did introduce her to ‘oliebollen’.

The reason of course is that one of the most typical types of Dutch food are ‘stamppot’ (mash pot) which is usually potatoes mashed with some sort of vegetable. Personally I’m not a big fan of them, and I sort of doubt if Niki is. But who knows? (Note from Niki: yeah… he knows I don’t like mixing different foods together…)

The one type of stamppot that I do like is with sauerkraut.


My mom made some this week (because it’s getting colder, so it’s time for winter food!) and brought it over yesterday. Good times!
Now, probably each family has their own little customs when it comes to these dishes. But one of the most common traditions is to put it on your plate, make a large indent in the middle, and then pour gravy in there. Also, there has to be ‘rookworst’ (smoked sausage).
Definitely got to have smoked sausage.

I’m sure at some point Niki will be introduced to these kind of Dutchie foods.
I wonder if she’s going to enjoy it….

Categories: Culture, Food | 2 Comments

Brazilian food (Or: It’s all about the pineapple)

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Niki

From Marco…

This past Sunday, Roger invited his family and me out to dinner.
He picked a place called Rodizio (rodizio.nu) which is a Brazilian restaurant in Scheveningen.
You don’t order a meal, they just bring a whole slew of skewers with meat to your table, and you get a slice of everything your hungry heart desires. Good times..

When Niki was visiting in the Summer of 2011, we went there as well.
I think that maybe at first she was a bit cautious about what they were trying to give to her.
But that soon faded as they brought delicious chicken and beef and sausages.
I do remember there was one type that she didn’t like, but that’s fine..there was plenty to choose from.

The fun thing is that officially you get a little round green/red sign that you put in front of you.
Green means you want more. Red means you’re skipping this round.
Though usually they don’t really check them.
It’s only when everyone on your table has the red sign that they act on it, and they know to take your plates.

(Note from Niki: When I first read this I thought it said “they know to take your pulse.” Haha.)


Another good thing about this place? It’s where I discovered Caipirinha’s.
The first time I went there (2 years ago) it was like a sort of after-work party.
We got a short class in how to make those (and Mojitos but those aren’t nearly as good).
When I make them myself, they’re a bit more sour (also more alcohol I bet) which is fine but I have to admit, the ones at the restaurant look better.


I could write for a while longer about the fun eating (and drinking) experience that is Rodizio.
But I am being urged by Niki to go to sleep (it’s 11.30 pm at the moment)
Which is fine, it just means I’ll be one day closer to the day I get to go there again with her 🙂

Categories: Food, Scheveningen | Tags: | 3 Comments

Speculoos (Or: Chopped Grill Masters)

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Niki

Earlier today I was doing some work for Avatar MUD (closing loopholes people were abusing – what else is new!), and I had Chopped Grill Masters on my TV as background noise. On Chopped, four different chefs compete each week to see who is the best. There are three rounds: appetizers, entrees, and desserts. One chef is eliminated each round. Grill Masters is a special version of that, with 4 episodes – 16 chefs competing for a spot on the finale (the 5th and final episode).

Anyway, at one point I thought I heard something, but I wasn’t sure. I glanced up from my work and listened. It was as I thought – one of the required appetizer ingredients was speculoos!

Speculoos (speculoospasta) is basically a paste made from speculaas cookies, both Dutch treats. According to Marco it was first marketed in 2007. Thankfully Marco had recently mailed me another two boxes of speculaas cookies for my coworkers and I, so I have enough to last for now.

So yes, I saw something Dutch (or Flemish, or Belgian…) on my TV today. Pretty cool.

Categories: Food | 5 Comments

Athene Palace (Or: Greek food in the Hague)

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Niki

As Marco visited Athene Palace in July for his birthday, he was kind of enough to give me a picture of the menu.

And not just any page of the menu… but the page with #95, which reads:  Sirtakischotel: kipfilet, suflaki, sutzuki en giros. Each time I have gone to the restaurant (2 or 3 times?) I have always ordered #95. The gyros are my favorite for sure.

Oh, and if you want to spell 95, it’s vijfennegentig (5-and-90, with the classical Dutch refusal to add spaces).

Marco was also kind enough to get a shot of ouzo in the picture. I like it — it tastes like licorice, though it does burn a bit going down. If you’re with a group of people, you can clink your shotglasses together and say Proost! which is their version of “Cheers!”. (It rhymes with “boast”.)

And for dessert, I like to get the Dame Blanche, which is vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce. My ideal method for attacking that dessert is to be stingy with the sauce and add a little bit every few bites, to prolong the chocolate heaven.

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

Snack addictions (Or: Another one for the expats)

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Niki

Seen at the Amsterdam Centraal Station [Edit: this is actually at Schiphol airport at a store called “Food Village”, see the comment below]:

On the bottom you can see the Cheez-It crackers. It is one of my current addictions. Sometimes (not often) I also go to the local deli and get some fresh cheddar cheese slices to put on top. I definitely prefer salty snacks. Oh, and yellow mustard, which is thankfully at Marco’s local Albert Heijn.

Number of days (straight) I have studied Dutch: 0. Whoops! Forgot all about it on Friday. We’ll see what I can do about making that a 1 again.

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Food | Tags: , | 3 Comments

Vrijdagen (Or: Chili, voetbal and videochats)

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Niki

It’s been a rather relaxing Friday. I went to Shoprite to get some ingredients for chili. It’s been a while since I have fired up the crock pot. The only thing better is pasta at Marco’s. Good times. But there’s nothing like letting chili slow cook for hours. When you come home and open the door, the entire apartment smells like chili…

I made it a point to watch the opening of the Euro 2012, so I saw the game between Poland and Greece, including both red cards. Crazy ref! It was a good game – and ending in a tie seemed so apt somehow. I watched about half of the 2nd game, though at some point I went into my bedroom to have a videochat with Marco (to celebrate the joys of Fridays!).

There’s still some stuff I need to do tonight – cut up the peppers and onion for the chili, perhaps heat up the ground beef and onions in advance. But hopefully everything gets done at a sane hour so I can relax for the rest of the night with a good drink – probably a caipirinha since I did pick up some limes and lime juice at the store. You can never have too many limes.

Of course, I could just stop and stare at the latest Simpsons episode instead, which happens to be a Treehouse of Horror episode…

Categories: Food, Sports | Tags: | 4 Comments

Unexpected packages (Or: Tea and chocolate refills!)

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Niki

Remember when I mentioned that I was sending Marco and Roger a package (t-shirts and food, mainly)? Well, I had no idea that Marco was secretly getting a package together for me at the same time…

I love unexpected packages!

Continue reading →

Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: , | 3 Comments

Speculaas (Or: The last remnants of)

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Niki

One snack I really like from the Netherlands is speculaas. I took home a box that said “Dutch spiced cookies”. They were traditionally sold around Sinterklaas (December 5) but thankfully they are now sold year round. I bought my supply from Albert Heijn. The wikipedia link mentions how they have images stamped on the front (as you can mostly see below), while the backs are flat.

Dutch speculaas cookies

The cookies above are sadly the last bits of cookie I have left from the rather large box I bought. However, in my opinion the trick to making this snack taste extra good is allowing them to get a bit old. Open up the plastic, and close the box again. Let them get a bit softer with age. It’s also very good with the Dutch pickwick tea!

Categories: Food, Holidays | 2 Comments

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