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“I’m sorry”s (Or: A bundle of tulips)

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Niki

If Monday’s journey includes a stop to Utrecht Central, you might just be presented with a bundle of tulips by an NS worker (NS being the main train company in the Netherlands). The official reason for this is to promote “random acts of kindness”

Of course, the more cynical train riders would say that the timing is a bit suspicious as NS had a lot of sensor issues earlier in the week at Utrecht Central. This train station is more or less in the middle of the country and the main transfer point for trains. The delay due to the sensors completely halted traffic for a few hours, but the effects were felt far into evening rush hour. Delays were easily 90 minutes to 2 hours.

In continuing with the random acts of kindness theme, the NS recommend that if you receive a bundle of tulips that you pass it on to someone else to brighten their day. The article says that this isn’t the first time that they passed out tulips to train passengers, so perhaps it is just a a nice gesture after all…

Categories: Transportation | Tags: Flowers | Leave a comment

Chocolate delight (Or: Green tea kit kats and chocolate oranges)

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Niki

Ever heard of Green tea kit kats?

Me neither!

Right before Marco and I went to America for the holidays, a friend from Japan visited us, bringing way too many tempting treats. Two bottles of Baileys (one regular, one orange flavor), for instance. The most unexpected was definitely the green tea flavored kit kats. It turns out that provinces in Japan each have their own flavor. You can read reviews of 15 flavors at kotaku.com. There is even a red bean sandwich flavor! And here is an article from CNN about how Kit Kat managed to get so big in Japan.

Another gift he brought was one of Terry’s chocolate orange. I have slowly made a dent in it every few nights, as it is great with coffee. I must admit the first night I found them quite artificial tasting (how often do you eat chocolate flavored oranges anyway?) but the second night and there after they definitely went well with the coffee.

It is either a pity or a good thing that those irresistible orange slices are almost gone.

Categories: Food | Tags: Chocolate | Leave a comment

Graffiti of Delft (Or: On the way to Ikea)

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Niki

A few weeks ago, Marco and I went to Ikea in Delft to see if we could buy a bookshelf for me. I originally wanted the narrow, but tall version, in dark wood – but it was way too heavy to carry back on the tram. So we settled for the shorter version which still stores a fair amount.

Of course, I still need to populate it with more than junk (there’s a lot of random papers that I threw in there simply to clear off the nightstand) but it did mean that I was able to set up the earring holder I got for Christmas. Which made me realize I have a lot of blue earrings, but could use some more of other colors…

Some other random news: I started the second half of the B2-C1 Dutch course at Volksuniversiteit. Like the last one, it is 10 weeks and should be done around the third week of March. After that, my Dutch is good enough to sign up for courses (in general, not just at this school) with native speakers. Hmmm…

I’ll leave you with a few pictures of graffiti that I took on the ride over to Ikea. The owl has already made an appearance on this blog, but this picture is a bit better. The other is new.

The graffiti is always more interesting on this side of the pond!

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Delft | Tags: Art, Graffiti, Ikea | 2 Comments

Cheese and crackers (Or: With tea please!)

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Niki

A reader of my blog could say that my blog is mostly about random food and snacks.

And they would be right.

Yesterday Marco and I had cheese and crackers, with tea.

The cheese (not pictured) was a cheddar easily purchased at Albert Heijn, the local grocery store. Tophat 48+. The crackers, well, those came from Kelly’s expat store. Ritz crackers from America. Deliciously buttery with perhaps a bit too much salt (tastes good to me). Of course this particular box came from the UK, so a bit easier to transport.

The tea holder is a Christmas gift from Roger, from the Dutch version of Amazon: bol.com. The cups are from my brother and sister-in-law (thanks!). They say “We go together like” and “peanut butter and jelly” with our names personalized on them.

And the little hat – that is from a promotion; this time of year they can be found on Innocent juice bottles. See more at The Big Knit project. Cute! And useful, since the top is hot when we need to remove the tea holder.

Categories: Food | Leave a comment

Naga Thai (Or: Ice cream tasting

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Niki

Over the weekend Marco and I went to Naga Thai (you guessed it, a Thai restaurant). I have been there a few times but this was Marco’s first time. We were there for lunch so he was able to try out the lunch menu. I was torn between the two appetizers: a fish cake and a loempia/egg roll — or chicken served in coconut milk with mushrooms. Both are quite good! This time I went for the soup.

For the main course we both had finely chopped chicken with basiculum and red peppers. It was pretty good, but not as good as the non-chopped version in my opinion.

Dessert was three types of ice cream: lycee, coconut and mango ice cream, with a sliver of chocolate on top. Yum! We rounded that off with a small (Dutch size) cup of coffee.

And for randomness’ sake, here is a photo of a discount Christmas item that they were selling at V&D last week. I like it enough to upload it in a larger size, even if I didn’t buy it!

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Christmas, Desserts | Leave a comment

Saturday morning experiments (Or: Waffle making

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Niki

Yesterday morning Marco and I tried out the waffle maker we got for Christmas from Marco’s dad and his wife. It is a Bestron “Sweet Dreams” waffle maker. It was an experiment – the dough might have needed to be slightly runnier in future attempts.

Bestron “Sweet a Dreams” waffle maker

Marco modeling an almost finished set of waffles. This dough was sweet, however we also received a receipe from that described how to make a more savory version with ham and cheese. We also received a sample while at their house – it was delish (lekker)!

Some attempts above. It can be difficult getting the amount of dough you need to add just right – too little and it is not completely filled in, but too much and it runs over the sides. Messy business that!

I suspect our next attempt will be something savory. Yum.

Categories: Food | Tags: Breakfast | Leave a comment

On the move again (Or: Paagman’s moving to Lange Poten 41)

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Niki

Tonight I visited Paagman’s (a bookstore) on Spuistraat. Before 2014, there was a different bookstore at this location — read my post about what happened to Selexyz. Before that, it was De Slegte, yet another bookstore. Marco tells me that De Slegte was there for ages…

So imagine my surprise when I walk in and see that Paagman’s didn’t last long either!

They are moving as well. Not that Lange Poten is that far away; it’s only a few streets from Spuistraat. But we are beginning to think that this particular location might be cursed.

The sign reads: “Paagman’s is opening a new store on Lange Poten 41. We are also bringing the second hand books with! 700 square meters reading, listening and discovering. Books, music, film and coffee.”

Categories: Everyday purchases | Tags: Books, Paagman | Leave a comment

Upside down delicacy (Or: Port infused Stilton cheese)

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Niki

Okay, I can assume that this is one post Roger will not “like”! (He is not a cheese person.)

Earlier in December one of our friends visited from England. We showed him around The Hague and a little bit of Amsterdam. One of our stops while in Amsterdam was Albert Heijn of all places. It is one of the many Dutch grocery store chains. This one was close to Central Station so it was interesting to see just how many items on offer were geared towards tourists. Things like drop (black licorice), stoopwafels (syrup waffles) and more. All of it was offered in pretty touristy bins.

Another unexpected thing we saw was cheese being infused with port.

In this case the bottle was simply turned upside down into the partially scooped out cheese. I found what looks to be a pretty decent link on how to accomplish it by doing a Google search.

I was never a big cheese eater growing up (at least nothing that definitely had visible fungus growing on it) so I am not sure if I would be adventurous enough to try this one. Maybe another day!

Categories: Food | Tags: Albert Heijn | 4 Comments

Cloud Gate sculpture (Or: Chicago’s skyline)

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Niki

If you have ever been to Chicago, chances are you have been to the Cloud Gate. The locals call it “The bean”. It is a huge metallic sculpture which has impressive reflective qualities. This was my favorite “tourist” photo from the Chicago trip. (You can get an idea of the size if you look underneath to see the shadows of people taking pictures.)

You can see the skyline at nighttime, reflected on its surface.

Funny story – we actually went there to listen to a choir singing Christmas songs. This was supposed to happen every Friday in December from 6:00-7:00pm. By the time we got there at 6:45pm, people were leaving. Hmph. I know the website says that it might be shortened due to extreme cold, but it wasn’t that cold! Oh well. Maybe the next time we are in Chicago for Christmas.

Categories: Holidays | Tags: Chicago, Vacation | 2 Comments

New Years in The Hague (Or: Lines for oliebollen)

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Niki

On the way through Centrum this afternoon, I just had to stop and take a photo of the line of people waiting to buy oliebollen, which is sort of like a doughnut. (Actually the Wikipedia article for oliebollen says that it was the inspiration for doughnuts, so there you go.) They are usually covered in powdered (confectioner’s) sugar.

Now that is a long line! When I left for work this morning I wondered why they needed five people working this stand. Now I know why!

Marco and I are now at Roger’s to spend the night. There are basically fireworks going off every second somewhere… It it also important to get to where you need to be a bit early, as the trains have their last run at 8pm and the buses/trams around 8:30 due to how crazy it can get with fireworks in this country. Oh and yeah maybe the transport workers want a holiday too. 😉

Categories: Food, Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Fireworks, New Year's Eve, Oliebollen | 2 Comments