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Take out bags (Or: A drawing from Momiji Sushi)

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Niki

Check out this cute take out bag drawing:

That’s from Momiji Sushi in The Hague. Nice drawing talent! (In case you don’t eat much sushi, I’ll say the guy is supposed to represent a piece of sushi wrapped in black nori or dried seaweed. You can see a smaller version in the speech bubble.)

Coronavirus infections rise back towards 5,500; Still down 29% from last week from nltimes.nl. It’s probably for the best that the number of infections didn’t drop yet again. Why, you ask? People were definitely starting to think we could start lifting restrictions and go back to normal (as it were), so it is good to have a reminder that we still have a very long road ahead of us.

The government has said they will likely let the “extra restrictions” of closing libraries, theaters, cinemas, zoos and theme parks automatically lapse next week, however. We will see.

Until then – enjoy your sushi! (Or, at least, “Support local!”)

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Sinterklaas to dock at Zwalk this year (Or: Wait. Where is that again?)

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Niki

Here’s another thing that has changed this year due to the corona crisis: Sinterklaas will arrive in Zwalk this year. But good luck finding it, because Zwalk doesn’t exist on any maps.

That’s right – the organization behind Sinterklaas (a Dutch holiday celebrated on December 5) has cleverly chosen to have him arrive in a fictional town. That way you avoid any crowds and super spreader events. Usually 20,000-30,000 children and parents watch him arrive in a different city each year. Of course, everything was probably taped a month or two ago, but this way you prevent any and all traffic to the town.

This news was announced during the first episode of the Sinterklaasjournaal (literally “Sinterklaas news”) last night. That is a 10 minute program that will air daily until December 5. (Side note: there are so many toy commercials before and after this show – it is insane!).

The mayor of the fictional town asked children to send their drawings to Sinterklaasjournaal so that they could take part in the fun without being there physically.

The lady on the right is Dieuwertje Blok, the presentator of the show. The show is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year – and she has been the presentator since the beginning.

Here is an article in English from dutchnews.nl: Sinterklaas to dock at fictional location on Saturday, but tv cameras will be there

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A bit early, but still pretty (Or: Christmas decorations)

Posted on November 8, 2020 by Niki

Hotel Huis ter Duin has put up the ‘tallest Christmas tree of the Randstad area’. The tree is 17 meters tall (55 feet). It is of course a bit too early to be thinking about Christmas decorations – but not really. Check out this video:

We haven’t put up the Christmas tree yet, but we do have one or two things out. Including a painting we brought last year (complete with LED lights):

We found it in a pop-up Christmas store in Eindhoven. It looks nice, doesn’t it?

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FOAM at home (Or: Mezze mania)

Posted on November 6, 2020 by Niki

Today Marco and I feasted on Middle Eastern mezze (a selection of small dishes) from FOAM here in The Hague. Check it out:

And a photo from above:

Yum yum yum. The meal included:

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Well, that’s memorable (Or: Wine choices at Bijenkorf)

Posted on November 5, 2020 by Niki

As I wrote about earlier, this year the Christmas department at Bijenkorf extends into what is traditionally the wine department. Perhaps it is for social distancing purposes?

Marco and I couldn’t help but notice this bottle of wine (in the middle):

It is pretty normal to see something like this in the Netherlands. It isn’t nearly as bad a curse word in Dutch as it is in English, although you still wouldn’t want to have your kid saying it.

(Is anyone else tempted to give it a try just to see if it lives up to its name? If I was a wine drinker, that is.)

Did you know that there is a wine brand with the name Slurp! at Albert Heijn? That one always makes me laugh.

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Saved by art (Or: Derailed metro car)

Posted on November 3, 2020 by Niki

Have you read about this one yet? I have never seen something so cool (which I only feel comfortable saying because no one was injured):

This happened late on Sunday night into Monday, just after midnight. The metro went straight through the stop blocks at the final stop, crashing off the platform, landing on a whale’s tail. (Don’t believe the rumor that the artwork is called “Saved by the Whale’s Tail”, as cool as that would be. The actual name is “Whale tails”.) The artwork was installed in 2002 and is a reference to the metro’s tail track.

I give the dismount a perfect 10. More news articles:

Subway crashes through stop block; Hangs precariously off artwork 10-meters up from nltimes.nl

Whale tail sculpture stops Rotterdam metro train from crashing into water from dutchnews.nl

Verbazing bij kunstenaar na metro-ongeluk: ‘Gedacht dat het zou instorten’ from nos.nl (Surprise by artist after metro accident: ‘I thought it would collapse’). The construction is reinforced polyester, so I can see why he would think that!

The artist also says in this article that he wanted to go a different direction, however he decided to stick with the whale tail because residents in the area reminded him that he had promised them a whale tail (or two).

And because of that the driver is still alive today.

Categories: Rotterdam, Transportation | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Bijenkorf 2020 Christmas displays (Or: A piece of normal)

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Niki

Marco and I decided to risk it and go to Xenos and Bijenkorf (a high end department store) today. It was probably the first time I stepped foot in Bijenkorf this year. And actually it wasn’t too bad. I thought it it would be really busy, especially on a Sunday afternoon, but Xenos was actually busier.

Bijenkorf had an interesting setup for the escalators: pieces of cardboard taped to the side of the escalator which reminded you to stand on the other side (as far away as possible from the opposite escalator). While they are taped securely to the elevator it was done in such a way that someone standing on the wrong side won’t rip them out. I didn’t take a photo, however.

The good news is that the Christmas section isn’t that busy on November 1st. Who knew?

“At the North Pole” display
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Categories: Holidays | Tags: , | 3 Comments

Vegan food by FOAM (Or: A delicious brunch)

Posted on October 31, 2020 by Niki

Today Marco, Roger and I ordered brunch from the FOAM restaurant in The Hague (over on Frederikstraat). It was a special brunch offer which you could pick up between 10:00 and 14:00 today. Roger was kind enough to bike there to pick it up before biking over to our place.

Check out the color on those wraps! Here is a list of what we received for this brunch box deal (two portions per box):

  • 1 They don’t carrot about us juice⁠
  • 1 fresh orange juice⁠
  • 2 small soups (“cheesey” vegetable)
  • 2 small wraps with curried quinoa and veggies⁠
  • 2 small BLTA’s⁠ (tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado)
  • 2 small oatmeal pancakes⁠ with maple syrup
  • 2 chocolate-coffee desserts
  • 2 peanut butter blondies⁠

My favorite was (again) the BLTA’s on flatbread. My second favorite was the chocolate-coffee dessert although it was quite rich. But deliiiiicious.

We split the leftovers; I’m looking forward to trying the peanut butter blondie tonight. Yummmm. Give it a try if you are in the area!

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Rainy days (Or: Soundtrack against the window)

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Niki

It is another rainy day, although that seems to matter less when you are working from home. Luckily it was dry when I went out this morning to do some grocery shopping. Otherwise it is a pretty quiet Thursday and we’re just counting the days (or day) until the weekend.

Here are some of the stories that I’ve seen in the news lately:

  • Coronavirus reporting again hit by IT issues but growth does seem to have slowed by dutchnews.nl. The issues occurred twice in the past week, meaning that the number of cases reported was inaccurate. They aren’t missing any data, it just comes a day or two later than it should. The last few days the number of cases has only risen by a little bit (we’re just over 10,000). What really matters, however, is getting the hospital intakes down so that more people leave the hospital than enter it. And we are not quite there yet.
  • Pumpkin sales up but Halloween celebrations squashed, also from dutchnews.nl. As noted previously, Halloween is not as big a tradition over here, but Amsterdam has still sent out warnings that trick or treating should not take place this year.
  • Rembrandt’s Night Watch to be 3D-scanned before restoration from nltimes.nl. The restoration is not happening behind closed doors (although it is behind glass). The team has spent most of this year investigating the painting and they will hopefully begin the restoration process earlier next year. You can also view the painting interactively online with the Rijksmuseum’s Experience the Night Watch tour.
Categories: Culture, Holidays | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Christmas displays (Or: The view at CASA)

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Niki

CASA is a home goods store on the Grote Marktstraat. I decided to take a few photos of their Christmas display for you:

And here’s a look from the escalator:

I don’t think it will be that much longer before we put up our Christmas tree. We’re home a lot these days, so why not make it extra festive?

In other news:

Categories: Everyday purchases, Holidays | Tags: , | Leave a comment

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