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Not yet 40 (Or: Happy birthday to me)

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Niki

Marco and I just celebrated my birthday with a small cozy session of gourmetten for dinner. (Small meats and veggies cooked on a mini grill at the table, see other posts about this topic.) Next year will be the big 4-0, but this year I will happily settle for the slightly smaller 3-9.

Here is a look at the birthday card and present my father-in-law and his wife made for me!

The joke present is on the left. Can you guess what it means if you don’t speak Dutch? I will give you a hint. “Leeftijd = age”.

No? It basically means, in less polite terms, “who gives a crap about your age”. Hence the emoji and toilet roll, haha. The card is on the right. As usual, another beautiful handmade card from them.

Until next year!

Categories: Friends&Family, Marco&Niki | Tags: Birthdays | Leave a comment

Street food delights (Or: Umami restaurant in The Hague)

Posted on April 3, 2022 by Niki

Marco and I decided to visit Umami, a Chinese restaurant in the city centre. We had looked at the menu a few years ago, but it seems like they have added a street food option since then. The only unexpected thing was that even though we were able to make a reservation for 15:00, when we got their the hostess seemed surprised and said that the kitchen closes between 15:30-16:00. (Why does the website let you make reservations for that time slot then?)

But in the end it wasn’t really a problem as Marco and I had stared at the menu in advance and had a general sense of what we wanted to sample already. The only difference was that we ordered everything at once, whereas we were hoping to order a bit, see how full we were, and then order a bit more if needed.

The snack attack platter, comprised mostly of croquette/bitterballen type snacks, plus 4 spring rolls. The croquettes are filled with meat paste or ragu. The quality of these snacks can differ greatly based on the restaurant you are at, but luckily upscale dining restaurants use high quality meat. In this case the croquettes were green curry, chicken satay, shrimp, duck and rendang. But as they say you also eat with your eyes – the photo above just begs to be eaten (and to be photographed).

Above are two bao buns. In the foreground is chicken thigh and in the background is beef. A bit messy (especially the beef which leaked everywhere) but still quite tasty.

And finally, sandwiches. In the foreground, chicken thigh and in the background duck. We actually only had a half each, taking the other half home for later.

It was a great experience. We do plan on going back to sample some other stuff later (and perhaps the actual lunch or dinner menu, versus the street food menu). If you like good food that is Instagram worthy than this is the place for you.

Categories: Food, Marco&Niki | Tags: Restaurants | Leave a comment

CeeCee’s chicken and chips (Or: Food hall in the Haagsche Bluf)

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Niki

This past weekend Marco and I visited the food halls in Haagsche Bluf (denhaag.com in English), a tiny, upscale shopping area in the heart of the city centre. The food halls (official website in English) have 10 food stands with various types of food like Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Malaysian, etc. We chose CeeCee’s chicken and chips for our first visit:

At the top of the photo we have mozzarella sticks with sweet chili sauce and twister fries with sweet chili sauce and ketchup for me. The chicken tenders were hot and spicy on the left (obvious, I am sure) and lemon and pepper on the right.

The food was good, although none of it really stood out. So good, but not great. (In comparison with the tacos Marco and I shared at the Mall of The Netherlands last month.) The service could also be better. Marco and I ordered via a QR code at the table which you can see in the lower right of the photo. The website said that I would receive a text when the food was ready, so we thought it would be okay to switch tables. However, I received a call saying that they went to my original table and we weren’t there. Oh well.

Don’t get me wrong though – this is on my list to go back as the concept of food halls are always nice, and I either want to try some falafels or some Malaysian food next.

Categories: Food | Leave a comment

Inflation (and corona?) strike (Or: Cocktails at Milu)

Posted on March 12, 2022 by Niki

I recently went out for drinks with some coworkers. We went to Milu, and we went on a Wednesday of course. (If any of my family is reading this, Milu used to be Het Wapon, where Marco and I had our wedding reception back in 2013.)

Why did we go on a Wednesday? Well, 5 euro cocktails of course! Oh wait, it is 6 euros now and there are less choices. Thanks to inflation and/or corona. Don’t get me wrong: 6 euros is still a steal and there are still 5 choices. The cocktail choices are every rotating, which is probably a good thing. You can see a lot at one of the old menus at this old blog post from 2017 (scroll down to the end). I remember really liking the Hello Tokyo cocktail, although I don’t seem to have a picture of it readily available.

On the left you have a lemon ginger scroppino for a coworker (vodka, Caipi ginger liquor, Prosecco and lemon sorbet) and a golden caipi boy on the right for me (Caipi ginger liquor, grapefruit, lime, rhubarb and soda). I loved how sour it was, which was exactly what I was looking for.

Above is a frozen pornstar martini (vodka, Caipi ginger liquor, lime, passionfruit, orange and vanilla). Very sour again. While the paper straw looked very pretty and worked well with the drink, it didn’t hold out forever so I ended up finishing this slushy drink with a spoon.

In the background you can see Dutch bitterballen (English Wikipedia). We actually ordered a platter of four different things. The other three (chicken nuggets, duck spring rolls and cheese sticks) quickly disappeared, leaving the bitterballen to finish. They are definitely an acquired taste. At any rate, I didn’t need any dinner after this when I got home.

Categories: Food | Tags: Milu | Leave a comment

Unexpected finds at the library (Or: The Mullet atlas of The Hague)

Posted on March 9, 2022 by Niki

Did you know there is a book full of mullet photos? In Dutch it is known as De Haagse Mat.

Matlas, The Mullet Atlas (matlas.nl in English). “There are few things as emblematic of The Hague as the mullet. Whether balding, curly, straight, gelled or matt, the mullet is a piece of The Hague’s heritage, its folklore and its traditions. It symbolizes a healthy dose of resistance to imposed norms in a world of endless, dull conformity…” The book in question is filled with photographs taken between 2011 and 2019, maps, and statistics about this particular hair style. Scroll down on that webpage to see the back cover showcasing the back of the hairstyle.

You can also check out a copy at the Central Library or the Segbroek branch. Here’s a look at this slightly oversized book:

Categories: Culture | Tags: Libraries | Leave a comment

The tastiest bento box (Or: SET restaurant in The Hague)

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Niki

A few weeks ago Roger, Marco and I celebrated the reopening of restaurants by going to SET in The Hague’s city centre. It is not far from the Grote Kerk. The best part about going for lunch is that you can order a bento box (meat, fish or mixed). I always go for the meat box.

The lunch begins with a miso soup. I’m not a huge fan of tofu blocks, but they do work in this soup in small amounts.

The star of the lunch is of course the meat bento box:

Karage (Japanese chicken) in the top middle, beef in the top right, and pork in the lower right. Roger and Marco usually go for the mixed box, which means I get to gloat that I have karate and they don’t. The only problem with having this meal for lunch is that you definitely have no interest in dinner later in the evening, but it is worth it!

I however mourn the loss of the “ice and sand chocolate dessert” which used to be on the menu years ago. The ice cream had a lovely taste and it was definitely visually pleasing.

Categories: Food | Leave a comment

Time to vote (Or: 2022 municipal elections in The Hague)

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Niki

Later this month the 2022 municipal elections will be held throughout The Netherlands. As usual, voting is done with paper and (red) pencil. During last year’s elections voters were allowed to take the red pencils home (nu.nl in Dutch) due to fears about corona, but that probably won’t happen this year. However one corona measure that has persisted is that most voting locations will be open three days (March 14, 15 and 16) instead of only one day, to spread out voters so that no location gets too busy.

A few days ago our voting cards arrived, and today a special “elections newspaper arrived”. As a non-Dutch and non-EU citizen I am allowed to vote in the municipal elections because I have lived in The Netherlands for at least 5 years. This will be my second time voting in the municipal elections. However, only Dutch citizens can vote in the national elections.

Here is a look at page 2 and 3 of the newspaper, and a look at my voting card (with personal information removed). I was pleased to see that page 2 had a large section in English explaining the basics about how to vote for these elections. Not that I need it, but non-Dutch EU citizens don’t have to wait 5 years to vote like I do, so they might not know enough Dutch yet to read the newspaper.

If you want a laugh, check out this 2017 article from the Washington post about how large the ballots are: With 28 parties running, Dutch voters have to use these really huge ballots. The article was about the national elections, but local election ballots are almost as large. It takes longer to unfold the thing than it does to actually vote. And don’t forget the poor volunteer who later needs to unfold all of these ballots and count the votes…

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: Voting | Leave a comment

Tough decisions (Or: La Catrina in the Mall of the Netherlands)

Posted on February 27, 2022 by Niki

Earlier this month Marco and I went to the Mall of the Netherlands when we both had a rare day off. For lunch we decided to have tacos at La Catrina:

Tough decisions indeed. I think I would go with chicken tacos. As you can see we did the mix and match option so that we could try all three of the tacos – beef, pork and chicken. The chicken and the pork were great. The beef taco was okay but it was clearly the least of the three as it was a bit dry that day. But still tasty.

We also ordered tortilla chips with some extra guacamole:

They were tasty and hit the spot for a light lunch. I also posted this picture so you could see the band around Marco’s wrist. We visited when most corona measures were still in effect, so we had to wear a face mask inside the mall and show a QR code via the CoronaCheck app. Since then most measures have been rescinded, with the exception of face masks and mandatory corona tests for indoor events with more than 500 participants.

The mall approached the QR code check in a smart way. If you wanted to visit the upper floor where the restaurants and movie theaters were, then you would have your QR code scanned downstairs before taking the escalator up. You would receive a wristband to let the companies upstairs know that you had your QR code scanned so that they did not need to do so again.

If you want to visit La Catrina they have locations in the Mall of the Netherlands, Foodhall Scheveningen and Market33 in Amsterdam.

Categories: Food | Tags: Malls | Leave a comment

Weird purchases (Or: Who wants flaming hot Mac’n cheese?)

Posted on February 21, 2022 by Niki

Here are some photos of possible weird things to purchase here in The Hague:

Above: Flaming hot Cheetos Mac’n Cheese from Kelly’s expat shopping. I have heard of combinations, but this might take the cake. It is interesting that it has a different pasta shape than mac’n cheese normally does (more fusilli-like). I am sure this version will stain your lips red…

Not quite an energy drink. They are so full of sugar they will probably make you crash right away. These “candy drinks” were spotted at the local Action not far from The Hague Central Station. They are apparently popular, as there weren’t many left.

Okay, a bag of Oreo crumbs could be very useful indeed (make a bit of vanilla bean ice cream, mix these in–yummm). Perhaps one doesn’t need a 300g/10.5oz bag of crumbs but saying that sounds a bit like heresy…

Random news of the day: Dutch-themed ‘Holland Park’ to open in Spring near Berlin from brusselstimes.com. I don’t get the impression that this park will be a hit with Germans, but who knows.

Categories: Everyday purchases | Tags: Drinks | Leave a comment

Sweet nostalgia (Or: S’mores pop tarts)

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Niki

A few weeks ago I visited Kelly’s expat store here in The Hague. In a moment of nostalgia I picked up a box of S’mores pop tarts. (My second choice would have been regular chocolate, another nostalgia hit.) I have had a pop tart a few times over the years but not that often. I think it is also the price – when I left the US back in 2012 you could wait for the occasional deal to get 2 boxes for 5 bucks. Whereas one box is €5.25 over here in the Netherlands. Import pricing…

In reality the look left a bit to be desired, but the taste was the same as I remember. I did do one thing differently though. As a kid I would always peel off the sides (where there isn’t any top frosting) and throw them out. Shame on me, I know. But these days I enjoy things a bit less sweet, so I ate it all.

Random news:

MediaMarkt in The Hague (aka the Dutch version of Best Buy) is moving later this spring, from their current location on the Grote Marktstraat to a new location on the… Grote Marktstraat. They will be moving into the old location where the Dutch department store V&D was, which is a better spot then what they currently have. I will just enjoy having escalators and not horrible steep stairs to get to another floor. Thanks to Marco’s dad for that news tip.
There will be another press conference here in the Netherlands tomorrow evening. The rumor is that almost all corona measures (except for the basic rules like hand washing, ventilation and testing if you have symptoms) will disappear on Friday, February 25. So no more mandatory face masks (except probably for vaccination centers or hospitals), no more advice to work at home, etc. We’ll see if it works.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Food, News | Tags: Breakfast, Coronavirus, COVID-19 | Leave a comment