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Warmth and sun (Or: Cautious wanderings)

Posted on April 7, 2020 by Niki

Oh, sunny days! (which makes me think of the song “Oh Happy Day” from Sister Act 2 – obligatory YouTube link).

But today’s temperature was about 66F / 19C. Spring is coming. I took a break from work to take a short walk, finding bits of sun while practicing my social distancing responsibly…

I took a photo of the old city hall, where Marco and I were married in September 2013. See the stairs in the lower right? We took some wedding pictures there. I was reminded again of how much taller Marco is than I am, as I had to stand a few stairs above him in the pictures.

Blast from the past (blog post from September 19, 2014 to be exact): Holding hands (Or: A year ago today)

There was another press conference this evening with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Healthcare Minister Hugo de Jonge. For the most part the message was Hou vol! Or “Keep going! You’re doing great!” With a few exceptions, we managed to use our common sense and stay home over the weekend, only going outside if needed and going out alone, etc.

There was also a reminder that Easter was coming and we needed to celebrate it at home responsibly and not travel throughout the country to visit family. With a similar amount of “You’re doing great! Don’t stop now!” and a reminder that the only way the country can consider relaxing the measures (piece by piece, slowly) is if we all individually and collectively make smart decisions in the near future. You get the idea.

Minister de Jonge also mentioned that the government was looking into two apps to help in the fight against the coronavirus: one app to let you know if you have been in contact with someone who had later been diagnosed with the virus, and another app to help potential patients stay in touch with their doctors. They don’t know if the apps will be compulsory (my guess is no, as people tend to be stubborn around here) and how they will work with regards to privacy and user data.

Wow, they have that again! (Or: Albert Heijn stock levels)

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Niki

Marco came home today with a surprise: our Albert Heijn has their spicy pasta sauce base in stock again!

The last time I saw this item was before the big coronavirus scare. Let’s see – that means it has been almost a month.

Check out the photo I took of Albert Heijn’s pasta section on 17 March:

Marco would proceed to joke for the next month that only expensive items were left on the shelfs, since Dutchies are still Dutchies after all.

Interestingly enough I saw toilet paper for the first time a few weeks back already. The rice section is still fairly low, but they were able to start re-stocking that a few weeks ago as well.

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

Weekend baking (Or: Lemon sugar cookies)

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Niki

Over the weekend Marco and I baked lemon sugar cookies:

It has become a nice ritual in these corona times – last week we also made cookies from a ‘all in one’ baking kit. The box was for chocolate chunk cookies but we replaced the chocolate with Reese’s pieces (but a knockoff brand). We decided to divide the recipe in two as it said it would make 4 dozen cookies… yeah, we don’t have anyone to share them with, so no go!

We used our Joseph Joseph adjustable rolling pin for the first time during this bake as the recipe called for cookies of 1/4th inch thickness. The rolling pin comes with a set of ‘rings’ of 1/16, 1/6, 1/4 and 3/8ths inch so that you can always get the perfect thickness. It worked really well actually!

We didn’t have a proper cookie cutter so we simply used an empty container that was previously filled with ‘chocoladestukjes hagelsteentjes‘ (tiny pieces of dark, milk and white chocolate).

Now the question is what we will bake next week… any ideas?

Categories: Food | Tags: Baking, Desserts | 2 Comments

Empty streets of The Hague (Or: Plenty of places to park your bike)

Posted on March 26, 2020 by Niki

Recently Marco took a photo of the bike parking outside of Hema:

This was at the start of what is normally evening rush hour, as everyone heads home from work. Normally this area would be packed with bikes, crammed so tightly together that it would then be impossible to remove your bike once you returned from your shopping trip.

The area is normally so full that it there are ‘bike coaches’ which help you park your bike. Or bike coaches that stand around all day talking with each other… one of those two is true. Although one time I did see one of the coaches help an older lady diagnose a problem with her bike, so that was nice to see.

But still: the strange times continue, with no end in the near future.

The government launched a campaign today called ‘alleen samen’ which can be translated as either ‘only together’ or ‘alone together’. Basically reminding us that we are together in this – even when we must undertake so many actions alone (article in Dutch).

Categories: Daily Dutch living, The Hague | Tags: Bikes, Coronavirus, COVID-19 | Leave a comment

Chocolate eggs by Hema (Or: Stroopwafel flavor, anyone?)

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Niki

It feels like a lifetime ago, but a few weeks ago (13 March) I was browsing in Hema. I could not resist snapping a few photos of their chocolate egg collection:

Some of the flavors included dark chocolate banana cream, white chocolate matcha lemon, milk chocolate cookies and cream (that one was almost empty), milk chocolate orange, milk chocolate coconut, milk chocolate peanut butter… I definitely learned that everyone’s favorite flavor is milk chocolate, not dark chocolate.

There was also a display near one of the entrances.

But the best (and most Dutch) flavor was…

You guessed it… Stroopwafel flavored chocolate eggs!

Categories: Everyday purchases, Holidays | Tags: Chocolate, Easter, HEMA, Stroopwafels | 2 Comments

Art in the city centre (Or: Heaven holds a sense of wonder)

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Niki

The Hague is home to many pieces of art, especially in the city centre. One of those is is called Heaven holds a sense of wonder by the artist Femke van Wijk.

It is a bronze sculpture created in 2011. You can find it on the Kalvermarkt – to the right is the Kalvermarkt-Stadhuis tram stop and in the background is the Primark retail store. In the distance is the Grote Marktstraat, a large shopping area.

A close up of the crown:

Categories: Culture, The Hague | Tags: Art, Centrum | Leave a comment

Restaurants in The Hague (Or: Take your food and go)

Posted on March 18, 2020 by Niki

Here is a look at one of the local Burger King locations:

The Burger King itself is open, but the table and chairs are blocked with caution tape. This is because restaurants are currently closed in The Netherlands, with only take out and delivery allowed.

Coronavirus in The Netherlands: what you need to know (in English, from DutchNews.nl)

Categories: Food | Tags: Coronavirus, COVID-19 | Leave a comment

Basic services (Or: Public transportation changes in the Netherlands)

Posted on March 17, 2020 by Niki

The main railway operator in The Netherlands, the NS, has announced that from Saturday their trains would be running a ‘basic service’ schedule. This means that most stations will only have two trains per hour, except in cases where there was only one train per hour – that will stay the same. Most trains will be sprinters (stop at every station) with only a few important north/south and east/west lines having intercitys (stop at important stops only).

Special basic service (information in Dutch)

This was expected – on Friday public transportation usage dropped 50% in comparison with a normal day. From Monday there were 85% less travellers.

The picture above is of the tram tunnel underneath the Grote Marktstraat this past Saturday afternoon. There’s almost no one on the other side, which is unheard of even late at night.

HTM, the bus and tram service of The Hague has also published the changes that have occurred or will occur (information in Dutch). On Friday HTM began blocking off the first door for all buses and all trams where it was relevant. Travelers need to use a different door to enter and exit, in the hopes that contact between travelers and drivers is as limited as possible.

Categories: Transportation | Tags: Coronavirus, COVID-19 | Leave a comment

Milka chocolate stand (Or: Vote for your favorite cow)

Posted on March 8, 2020 by Niki

Traveling through the city centre of The Hague means you always see interesting promotions, especially on the Grote Markstraat (in Dutch), one of the larger shopping areas of the city.

Today’s promotion: Milka. Milka is a German company specializing in chocolate confections. You can vote on which of the four cows you like the best (link also in Dutch). The top prize is a trip to the Alps, with smaller prizes including chocolate packages or Milka-branded mugs.

The most interesting thing about the photo is on the left: one worker is helping another put on their cow head for the costume.

And no, I didn’t vote. They were still setting up and there’s no way I could choose who was my favorite cow: Marisa, Lotta, Lola or Katja (heh).

I will also mention that all of the names end in a… is there no love for a Sophie or Zoe?

Categories: Everyday purchases, The Hague | Tags: Centrum, Chocolate | Leave a comment

Sushi time (Or: Shabu Shabu in The Hague)

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Niki

Over the weekend Marco, Roger and I went to Shabu Shabu in The Hague, an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. It was my first time; Marco and Roger went to the chain in Amsterdam once. It’s similar to Sumo, the restaurant where I tried sushi for the first time and where I used chopsticks for the first time (spoiler: I’m getting better but there are some things where I find it easier to just use my fingers).

Of course I’ll take any chance I can get to photograph flowers.

All of the ordering is done via a tablet, including drinks, extra wasabi and extra ginger. Pictured above is some wasabi which you receive at the start of the meal.

Sushi! From left to right: salmon, tuna, Japanese peppers with tuna and, last but not least, crispy mango.

The round that did us in (I probably shouldn’t have ordered the chicken curry rice bowl at the bottom). In the back on the left is shrimp and on the right is spicy Korean chicken. Below that is the remains of teriyaki salmon. Middle left is two gyoza’s (chicken dumplings) and middle right is eel and shrimp? sushi. At the bottom is the chicken curry rice bowl, as mentioned.

Shabu Shabu also has an unlimited dessert buffet – I went simple and just had chocolate and vanilla ice cream. But you also have donuts, chocolates, bonbons, spekkkoek and more. Yum.

It was a lot of fun, and ordering with a tablet made the experience much better. You could even request to close your bill with the tablet. This helps, since I am always annoyed by how long it takes to close your bill at most Dutch restaurants. I do understand it’s a cultural difference between here and America, though. Here in The Netherlands they don’t want you to feel as if you are being rushed through the meal.

Categories: Food | Tags: Restaurants | 4 Comments