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Shoes (Or: Move over, rover)

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Niki

Written by Marco…

When I left Niki about a month ago, I took home a (new) pair of her shoes.
We had bought them the day before, and it was one of those “if you let me take them now, we don’t have to carry them in December.”

Yesterday, it amused me to put the shoes next to mine.
And chuckle at how small her shoes and feet are compared to the huge vessels that are my shoes… But why is this do news worthy? Well I’ve already told about how I’m making room at my place..

But this is the first time that I’ve actually was able to place an item in the apartment already 🙂 It’s the first of many items where I have to move over and make room for Niki’s belongings. Well to be honest I don’t believe it’ll be that bad 😉 I mean..how crazy can it be, right? (Famous last wo

Categories: Marco&Niki, Moving | Tags: , | 8 Comments

Stroopwafels (Or: Dutch treats in an American cupboard)

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Niki

A few posts ago I had shown a picture of what Marco’s cupboard looks like. It response, my mom emailed me a picture of the Dutch treats that Marco mailed to my parents last month.

The card on the left says “meow” in Dutch.

Then you have kruidnootjes. Then you have the stroopwafels (kanjers brand). Those come on this blog a lot! In the back you have gebroken speculaas, which is just a larger form of speculoos (a gingerbread cookie – good for dipping in coffee). In the foreground in the yellow bag, you have hopjes, which is a coffee flavored candy. Finally in the back on the right side, you have hollandse drop, a type of licorice candy.

Categories: Food | Tags: | 7 Comments

Variety (Or: Inside a Dutch cupboard)

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Niki

Here’s another random photo from Marco… part of his cupboard.

Some random things:

1. upper left: Open Pit barbecue sauce (thick and tangy flavor) from my parents. It’s good stuff…

2. upper right: hot sauce (chili lime flavor) from my local Shoprite. Various other hot sauces. I have definitely taken to eating more hot foods since meeting Marco. Even my dad was willing to try some hot sauce on his chili, when Marco, Roger and I visited my parents last Christmas.

3. middle left – green and yellow containers are lime juice and lemon juice respectively. Very good for alcoholic mixes…

4. middle right – spices, spices, and more spices. Needs more garlic powder! (/inside joke)

5. lower left – “Sportlife” brand gum, with both Dutch and English on its packaging.

6. lower right – even more spices.

The problem with the above picture is I can just barely reach the top shelf… and even on my tiptoes I really can’t reach it. So Marco and I will need to rethink what goes where so that the most important stuff isn’t up there. 😉 (Not pictured is another row on the top where the plates and bowls currently live.)

What does your cupboard look like? Is it organized or messy? Full or empty?

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Food | 3 Comments

Laundry day (Or: Scribbled on scratch paper)

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Niki

While Marco was cleaning his living room table (which has storage compartments underneath) he found this old diagram that I scribbled:

It was a crude map of the local laundromat in New Brunswick, NJ. It was the first time Marco and Roger had visited the town and while they were there, they obviously needed to do laundry. I had long since grown accustomed to taking my laundry about a half mile down to the laundromat. But as I had to go to work and class while they were visiting, this proved to be their first experience with laundromats ever.

Please keep in mind the diagram quickly became tongue-in-cheek. I originally just wanted to draw a quick crude map, but I decided to add the notes in the margins as well (and some of the notes are deliberately “simple” as a joke).

Categories: Marco&Niki | 1 Comment

Forgotten (Or: Bike wheel in the fall)

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Niki

As you know, the Netherlands is notorious for having a lot of bikes in its country. Unfortunately, this one has since been cannibalized – it is (was) a bike right outside where Marco works.

The wheel has been outside for at least three or four months. Apparently the owner didn’t even care about taking his lock when he realized his bike was stolen. So the leaves just keep building up underneath…

Categories: Culture, Transportation | Tags: , | 4 Comments

Birthdays (Or: Black markers and vanilla cakes)

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Niki

Fun fact: 6 years ago yesterday Marco and I met in person for the first time. Oct 19, 2006. We met at UberCon, a gaming convention in the northeast.

In Spring 2007, I went to my third ever UberCon. It was run by the owner of Avatar MUD, the game I have played since I was 14 (yeesh! more than half my life).

At this convention Marco gave me a tattoo, in permanent black marker:

Of course the “tattoo” washed out in about 4-5 days. Thankfully I had shirt sleeves that were long enough to cover it, as back then I worked in the children’s department of a library.

A discerning eye might realize that I was wearing a Colts football jersey at the time. That was because I lost a bet with a friend — I think the Bears lost to the Colts. So yeah, I had to wear the jersey the whole day!

The convention was held the same weekend as my birthday, so I also had a surprise birthday party with a vanilla cake:

 

Categories: Marco&Niki | Tags: | 1 Comment

Food mashing! (Or: It must be getting colder outside)

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Niki

From Marco…

When Niki was in the Netherlands in summer 2010, she asked if we’d have traditional Dutch food. I kind of told her no, since a lot of Dutch food is winter food.
So when she was was here in December of that year, she asked again.
And again I told her we probably shouldn’t. Though of course we did introduce her to ‘oliebollen’.

The reason of course is that one of the most typical types of Dutch food are ‘stamppot’ (mash pot) which is usually potatoes mashed with some sort of vegetable. Personally I’m not a big fan of them, and I sort of doubt if Niki is. But who knows? (Note from Niki: yeah… he knows I don’t like mixing different foods together…)

The one type of stamppot that I do like is with sauerkraut.


My mom made some this week (because it’s getting colder, so it’s time for winter food!) and brought it over yesterday. Good times!
Now, probably each family has their own little customs when it comes to these dishes. But one of the most common traditions is to put it on your plate, make a large indent in the middle, and then pour gravy in there. Also, there has to be ‘rookworst’ (smoked sausage).
Definitely got to have smoked sausage.

I’m sure at some point Niki will be introduced to these kind of Dutchie foods.
I wonder if she’s going to enjoy it….

Categories: Culture, Food | 2 Comments

Squares (Or: A Chicago pizza pie)

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Niki

This past Christmas, Marco and Roger came with me to meet my parents in Chicago for the first time. The very first night we were there, we ordered pizza.

It’s a family sized pizza, since we wanted leftovers the next day (of which there were plenty!). And the pizza made Marco drool. He was reminiscing about it a week or two ago, specifically that the pizza was cut into squares not slices.. If you look closely, you can see the square cuts.

Of course, I had no idea that about 36 hours later (give or take a few) I would be engaged. The proposal happened while unwrapping gifts Christmas morning. I really had no idea. Even when someone at church accidentally almost gave it away at the Christmas Eve service… I was totally clueless and said “No…? We’re not getting engaged until later in 2012.” Oh how little I knew.

As Marco mentioned, there was a lot of scheming going on. He actually called my parents a month or so prior about the upcoming engagement, and my parents actually wrapped up the ring box in a stocking for the dog. They knew I’d help unwrap the dogs present. And then of course there was also the scheming being done for my mom’s Christmas gift – a new netbook. It was very hard to concentrate on her unwrapping her gift, since I was spending too much time staring at my new ring!

Categories: Marco&Niki | Tags: , | 3 Comments

Jackets (Or: Statue of Liberty in October)

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Niki

The air is getting cold here. (Well, we’ll ignore the fact that it is forecast to be pretty warm Sunday, comparatively.)

I didn’t wear a jacket today. (But I definitely pondered one.)

I didn’t want to put the heat on. (But I did.)

At some point during my videochat with Marco today, I was reminded of the October 2010 trip with Marco. He visited me while I was studying at Rutgers and we went to New York City a few times. Including my first time seeing the Statue of Liberty.

Of course, I forgot how much colder it is out on the water. Marco asked me if I wanted a jacket a few times, but I said no. And then we got up on the ferry…

and yep, I sheepishly asked if I could borrow his jean jacket (and he said yes!) So I spent most of the ferry ride wearing an oversized jacket. It was nice, if I do say so myself.

And here is a view of the New York skyline from the ferry. Good times.

Categories: Marco&Niki | Tags: | Leave a comment

July (Or: Crowds, police, and heat)

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Niki

Lately it seems that it has gotten colder. October is definitely here. I even had to pull out my jacket once this week, as the mornings are getting rather cold. I suspect by next week I will be wearing it every day, unfortunately.

So I was looking at the July 4 pictures Marco and I took of NYC in 2009 (previous post). Heat! Warmth! …and way too many crowds.

See? I wasn’t joking about the crowds. This is part of Times Square, after the fireworks ended.

This was one police meeting area in the early afternoon of July 4. All I remember about this picture is right before that, Marco had made a joke about donuts. 😛

Categories: Holidays, Marco&Niki | Tags: | 2 Comments

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