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Code red (Or: Brrr, cold and windy!)

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Niki

Later this evening and tomorrow the Netherlands will be under a “code red” warning for Storm Darcy. Apparently the last time the entire country was under code red was February 2012, before I arrived in the Netherlands.

Dutch issue Code Red weather alert for snowdrifts, blizzard conditions from nltimes.nl. The expected snowfall itself varies anywhere from 2 to 6 inches; it really depends on who you are listening to. The wind is the real problem for traffic, since it will cause snow drifts and limited visibility. Some days it will feel like -15c to -18c (closer to 0F) next week, which is rare in this country. Some news sites are calling this a “once in ten years” event.

And of course, what you would expect to see in this situation…

Empty shelves, of course. That’s the bread area by an Albert Heijn (grocery store).

Dutch health services announce closure of all test and vaccination sites due to weather alert from nltimes.nl. Makes sense. Even the Dutch government is getting in on the action, posting a page about having “fun in the snow” in a responsible, corona proof way: Schaatsen, schaatsbanen, sneeuw en winterweer from rijksoverheid.nl in Dutch. Mainly rules about skating, snow ball fights, etc. Oh, and don’t forget to be inside by 21:00 for the curfew…

In other news: Legendary rock band Golden Earring stops after 60 years on ALS diagnosis from nltimes.nl. Golden Earring (English Wikipedia) is a Dutch rock band from The Hague, internationally known for their hit “Radar Love”, among others. Here is a YouTube link of Radar Love.

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Five Guys (Or: Time for a bit of fast food)

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Niki

Marco graciously allowed me to change our plans; we picked up Five Guys for dinner tonight. We haven’t been in there a year and a half, probably… definitely not since the corona crisis started. Which is a bit strange, since it is much quieter there these days. Unfortunately for them.

That’s technically where the line would be, if there was a line. And of course there are no free shelled peanuts at the moment.

But ignoring that – woo, Five Guys! Hamburger with jalapeños, grilled onions and mustard for me, with cajun fries. This time we were smart and ordered “cajun on the side”, so we could add the spices ourselves. That meant the spice was a bit more uneven, but at least they were not completely coated in cajun spices this time.

One of the two message boards at Five Guys, a staple by all of their locations I think.

350 snow plows ready to keep Dutch roads clear over snowy weekend from nltimes.nl. Snoooowww! And cold. With lots of wind. So we’ll just stay inside all week? (Of course some Dutchies will strap on their ice skates and rush outside.)

As frost and snow looms, the Dutch draw up rules for Covid-proof skating from dutchnews.nl. See what I mean?

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Falafel (Or: A tasty Sunday meal)

Posted on February 3, 2021 by Niki

On Sunday Marco and I had falafel for dinner. It is part of FOAM @ home, a pickup service offered every Friday.

It is one of those things – I am sure I have had falafel before (deep-fried balls made from ground chickpeas or lava beans, served in a pita). However I have no direct memory of it so it could indeed be the first time.

It was pretty tasty, a perfect light meal for a Sunday evening.

Eurovision planning live event in Rotterdam; In-person audience unknown from nltimes.nl. It seems like ages ago, but the Netherlands did win the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2019, which meant they were able to host the event in 2020. Only the 2020 event was cancelled due to the coronavirus, so they will be hosting the 2021 event instead.

Milder temps to give way for icy weekend from nltimes.nl. Brrr. Winter is coming back this weekend with temperatures around freezing and high winds. Also a chance of snow, but we will need to wait and see if that happens. Again, brrrrrr.

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Last day for oliebollen! (Or: The end of January awaits)

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Niki

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the last day you can buy oliebollen and krentebollen (=oliebollen with raisins) from the oliebollen stand at the end of the Grote Marktstraat next to the Blokker and Xenos stores.

This is our Marco, Roger and I’s favorite place to get oliebollen and apple beignets. Usually they close every year by 15 January, however this year the city granted them a permit extension through the end of January. They were also able to open a month earlier due to most carnivals not being able to open during 2020 (the same was true for all oliebollen stands in the area).

Check out their official website.

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Tasty snacks (Or: Caffeine and sugar, always a good combination)

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Niki

Last week Marco and I shared a giant cookie, with a cup of coffee on the side. The cookie was from FOAM over on Frederikstraat in The Hague. As you might have guessed ordering from FOAM has sort of become a weekly lockdown tradition these days.

Coffee and a chewy cherry chocolate cookie. Now that’s a dose of C’s (albeit not vitamin C).

Chewy, slightly gooey, thoroughly awesome.

In other news: Pandemic forces Artis to say goodbye to its lions from nltimes.nl. Artis, a zoo in Amsterdam, doesn’t have the funds currently to build a larger lion enclosure as planned. At least this way the three lions can stay together and have enough space to move about. It’s a sad but smart decision.

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Window shopping (Or: Anyone up for some stroopwafels?)

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Niki

Stroopwafels being the Dutch delicacy of two thin wafels with caramel syrup in the middle (English Wikipedia). They were originally made in Gouda in the 19th century. In my opinion, the best way to eat them is from a street vendor while they are still warm. There is a local company by the name of Van Schaik (official website) which makes them. Usually they have a street stand but recently they also opened a store in the same area on Venstraat.

Marco and I took a walk on Sunday and spotted a few cute heart-shaped stroopwafels in their shop window:

You can also get them in the tourist tins (which sell really well, I’m sure).

The sugar waffles above are what caught Marco’s eye in the first place.

But the coolest thing was definitely this bucket of stroopwafel pieces. Holy moly! That is a LOT of stroopwafel. My only fear with bringing that home is that I wouldn’t be able to stop eating them…

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Adjusted hours at Albert Heijn (Or: Day #1 of the curfew)

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Niki

Today is the first day of the recently announced curfew in the Netherlands. The curfew is from 21:00 to 04:30 every day until at least 9 February. If you are outside without a valid reason and official form then you face a €95 fine. You can download the official form at rijksoverheid.nl, with the form currently available in Dutch, Frisian and English. See also: What you need to know about curfew in the Netherlands from nltimes.nl.

This of course means that grocery stores and late-night convenience stores need to closer earlier:

“Our opening hours are temporarily adjusted because of the curfew”

Curfew will not affect starting times of football matches from nltimes.nl. Which makes sense – this way at least people have something to watch on television while they are stuck at home.

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Just another Thursday (Or: Curfews and Easter eggs)

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Niki

It looks like more Dutch parties are in favor of the curfew, as long as it starts a bit later. Last weekend the rumors were that it would last from 20:00-04:00, during the press conference on Wednesday we heard possibly 20:30-04:30 and now there is talk of it not starting until 21:00. This slight compromise seems to be the only way for the government to get a majority of parties to vote for the plan, although prime minister Mark Rutte mentioned that if it starts any later than 21:00 it would not have much effect.

MPs set to vote to bring in a curfew from 9pm after a full day’s debate from dutchnews.nl

The Dutch government revised the vaccination schedule slightly. See also this article at dutchnews.nl: When is it your turn to get vaccinated? The schedule so far (or the same list in Dutch from rijksoverheid.nl)

Did you know mid-January means Easter eggs are already arriving in stores? Het is januari, dus… zijn de eerste paaseitjes gespot in Den Haag from indebuurt.nl. The essential stores that are allowed to be open during this lockdown, at any rate. On the linked page the big picture on the bottom is of the Easter egg selection at Jamin, a Dutch candy store. The article says that some of the more unique flavors sold this year are wasabi, apple strudel and carrot cake. I’m also a big fan of the color coordination, though it makes me wonder what flavor is missing in the lower right in the article’s photo.

Speaking of Easter eggs, here is the selection at an Albert Heijn grocery store (somewhere in the Netherlands):

The tweet reads: “Every Easter I buy a large bag of Easter eggs and put them in a big vase on the table. Every January Albert Heijn reminds me that I still haven’t eaten all of them yet.”

Easter in January…

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Satay rempah (Or: Indonesian cooking with Marco and Roger)

Posted on January 18, 2021 by Niki

On Saturday Marco, Roger and I made satay rempah with jalapeño atjar. As mentioned last week, Marco received the recipe book “Indostok” from Roger for Christmas. Satay rempah is a satay made from minced meat. In this case “rempah” translates loosely to “spices”, with minced meat used for the satay. We made the spices first (including but not limited to star anise, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, ginger and lime zest because we couldn’t find lime leaves, etc…). Oh, and also candlenuts (English Wikipedia) which are mildly toxic when raw but perfectly fine if cooked. Who knew.

You then mix the spice with the minced meat and add some breadcrumbs and corn starch on the outside to give it a nice crunchy coating when fried.

The cool thing about this recipe is that the sticks that normally hold the satay were sticks of lemongrass.

You then fry them in a wok in a thin layer of oil. This was the only annoying part, since we ended up cutting the lemongrass in half to handle them better. Some of them also had a tendency to fall apart.

The finished meal: satay rempah, jalapeño atjar (sour/spicy vegetable pickle) and basmati rice. Yum yum yum!

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Nutella oliebol? (Or: So sweet you can’t eat it all)

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Niki

Roger brought me a gift today, from the oliebollen stand at the Grote Marktstraat, a Nutella oliebol:

As you can see the top is covered in Nutella (English Wikipedia) and chocolate shavings. The inside of the oliebol is also filled with Nutella, because it can never be sweet enough. And it was delicious! The dangerous kind of delicious that makes you want to buy one every week…

However, it was sweet enough that I decided to save half of it for tomorrow evening. Otherwise I’ll be bouncing off the walls in no time.

Random article of the day: Anger over NS plan to remove conductor whistle from nltimes.nl. It is not quite what it sounds like. Each train has a conductor who checks to make sure that all passengers have entered the train. When it is time to leave the conductor blows their whistle and passengers (in theory) do not try to enter or exit the train after that moment. The NS (the largest Dutch train company) plans to use cameras instead to watch the doors. They say this will make trains more punctual however the union sees that as an easy way to get rid of the conductor’s job altogether.

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