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3rd wedding anniversary (Or: A stay at nhow Rotterdam hotel)

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Niki

Last week Marco and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary at the nhow hotel in Rotterdam (Dutch | English). The hotel was designed by Rem Koolhaas and currently holds the title of the largest building in the Netherlands (at 160,000 square meters).

Our room ended up being in the lower left building, in the upper left corner on the 23rd floor.

Where we were going and where we were staying was a surprise on my part – Marco only knew that it was a city in the Netherlands and we would be spending one night in a hotel.

Rotterdam Centraal, the train station. We ended up taking the new metro line E from Den Haag Centraal to Rotterdam Centraal, but that is for another blog post. 🙂

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Categories: Marco&Niki, Rotterdam | Tags: Anniversaries, coffee, Lebkov, Libraries | Leave a comment

New metro station (Or: The Hague to Rotterdam)

Posted on August 23, 2016 by Niki

As of yesterday the new metro station at The Hague’s Centraal station is ready! It connects The Hague with Rotterdam via metro line E. Marco and I were waiting for a bus to Wassenaar so I took some pictures from a distance:

The white tunnel form definitely reminds me of the design near the Beatrixlaan station. And another one:

Maybe Marco and I have a good reason to finally visit Rotterdam now. I think the last time I was there was for a WWE wrestling show… But that was three years ago, so I am sure I have been back since then. Right? 🙂

Categories: The Hague, Transportation | Tags: trams | Leave a comment

Remnants of theater (Or: Dr. Anton Philipszaal)

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Niki

Back in December I showed a picture of the tearing down of the Dr. Anton Philipszaal in The Hague. Remarkably, there’s still a small piece of the building left:

Marco and I were on the way to Lebkov by Centraal Station for some coffee. We ended up with iced cappuccinos – yum! Since it’s a nice summer day (but not THAT nice of a summer, the Dutch meteologists say…)

And a look at their logo:

Oh, and one final fun fact – as usual, Sinterklaas candy is already popping up in stores. It’s only August people! 🙂

Categories: Everyday purchases, The Hague | Tags: Centrum, coffee, Lebkov | 2 Comments

Summer eating (Or: Rrrollend Food truck festival by Malieveld, The Hague)

Posted on August 7, 2016 by Niki

Yesterday Marco, Roger and I saw Suicide Squad at the local IMAX movie theatre (Pathé Spuimarkt). Afterwards we visited the Rrrollend Food truck festival by Malieveld, close to Centraal Station.

And what delicious food! Here’s a look at some of the photos I took. First, a look at my Asian Chicken bowl from Roll or Bowl:

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Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: Food trucks, Malieveld | Leave a comment

Lunch and sugar cookies (Or: Summer fun)

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Niki

Yesterday we celebrated Marco’s birthday at Little V, a Vietnamese restaurant. This was our first time going to Little V for lunch and it did not disappoint. I ordered an ‘eenpansgerecht’ or ‘let’s throw everything into one dish for ya’, with beef and chicken.

My drink was an awesome looking (and tasting) lemonade made of rose water.

And as a blog post bonus… a week ago I made lemon cookies! That is of note because I don’t really do the baking in the house. But this time I chose the recipe, did most of the work, and Marco was my assistant! (For the first time ever.)

The recipe was really good and I followed it exactly. Next time I would probably use less sugar, but I don’t have the sweet tooth I used to have so there is that. They were awesomely chewy (honest to goodness chewy!) and the lemon favor shined through perfectly.

See the recipe at Oh My Foodness (in Dutch) – including a very helpful video for people who don’t ever bake. Like me. See also her general recipe list.

Categories: Food | Tags: Birthdays, Drinks, Little V, Restaurants | Leave a comment

Delft blauw guitar (Or: Random curiosities in the Rijksmuseum)

Posted on July 17, 2016 by Niki

As my last post suggested, Marco and I visited the Rijksmuseum a few weeks back. Here are some of the photos I took. First, a guitar made in the style of delfts blauw:

Now look at the picture again, but this time focus on the top of the guitar. That is a bit unnerving!

More delfts blauw:

A painting illuminated from the back with lights:

And finally, a look down at the Rijksmuseum library:

I’ve always loved taking photos of spiral staircases. Pretty!

Categories: Amsterdam, Culture | Tags: Art, Museum, Tourist attraction | Leave a comment

Clouds (Or: Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam)

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Niki

From a few weeks back, when Marco and I took a day off to visit Amsterdam:

Note the “I am Amsterdam” art installation (climbable at your own risk!). Besides the Rijksmuseum we also visited the American Book Center, an English language bookstore, and Eichholtz Delicatessen, a great store for American (and international) candy and snacks.

Categories: Amsterdam, Culture, Food | Tags: Art, Museum, Tourist attraction | Leave a comment

A delicious pairing (Or: Coffee and chocolate ice cubes)

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Niki

Yesterday Marco and I made two sorts of ice cubes:

On the top you have coffee ice cubes (just make coffee and let it cool, then put it in the freezer). The other is chocolate and agave syrup ice cubes (1/4 cup agave syrup, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, and two cups water — receipe taken from here).

Coffee ice cubes (top) chocolate and agave ice cubes (bottom)

And no, I have no idea why the middle three ice cubes are lighter in color. Weird!

Chocolate and agave ice cubes

Above: the chocolate/agave ice cubes.

Iced coffee with chocolate and coffee ice cubes

Above: The finished product. Yum. I can think of some ways to improve it (and add texture) but for a first try it was pretty good.

Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: coffee | 10 Comments

Frozen deliciousness (Or: A new addition at Pathé Spui)

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Niki

A few weeks back Marco, Roger and I went to Pathé Spuimarkt (the local movie theater) to see X-Men: Apocalypse. Marco was pleasantly surprised to see a newly installed frozen Fanta machine.

One of his favorite treats when visiting America is ICEEs (a type of frozen slushie). Of course ICEEs are even better than Fanta’s frozen drinks, but when you’re not in America you take what you can get!

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

Amaze Escape in The Hague (Or: Time to get locked up)

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Niki

On Monday and I had a team building event with work colleagues. We decided to go to Amaze Escape, an Escape room. You can read more about them at Wikipedia (English | Dutch). In short, you and the rest of your group (coworkers, friends, etc.) are locked up in a room for an hour or an hour and a half and you have to solve puzzles to get out. Each room has a different theme.

Amaze Escape Lounge The Hague

In our case we had 9 people so we went with the two competition rooms (Black and White). Whichever team gets out first wins! You are both solving the same puzzles. The best part was that halfway through you realized you could hear (and see, a little bit) the other team so it got pretty tense. My team ended up winning, but only with about two minutes to spare.

Amaze Escape 1st place trophy The Hague

It is a great team building exercise – everyone brings something to the table. I’m proud of the fact that I figured out the last clue to unlock the trophy (and others, of course) – there wasn’t much time left and we were starting to panic. All in all a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend trying an escape room near you!

A few sights on the walk back – a windmill:

Windmill in The Hague

And a sign for a restaurant on the side of a building: Restaurant De Kikker The Hague

Categories: The Hague, Working & Volunteering | Leave a comment