Roger made a chocolate mousse with Bailey’s liquor for Marco and I last week. It was actually a trial run for this weekend, when he will be making the dessert for his family:
Yum!
Last year’s Christmas dessert was a tiramisu dessert in a wine glass.
Photos from a work Christmas party (Or: Oh – THOSE are crackers?)
A few weeks back Marco and I attended a Christmas party for my work.
A look at the table we were sitting at
The red and white tubes are actually Christmas “crackers”, although all of these are broken open already. It’s basically a tube which two people pull apart to make a noise like a firecracker (“cracker”), apparently with a witty saying inside. Mine was something like “The things you dream about can’t keep you awake at night” or similar.
Ever since I moved to the Netherlands I thought these items were actually crackers – that is, food. Imagine my surprise when a coworker said we should take turns pulling them apart. Haha!
Lights illuminating the church (Or: Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague)
Marco and I were walking past the Nieuwe Kerk (translation = New Church) when we noticed the lights illuminating it – blue, white and red:
I am not sure what the exact reason was even after looking through Google, but we decided to take a picture anyway. Especially with the Christmas lights around the plants! I can’t believe it is almost Christmas…
Four year in the Netherlands! (Or: Another oliebollen photo)
Much like my 3 years in the Netherlands anniversary post last year, I will post another oliebol themed photo:
This is a photo of a pop-up store near the Grote Markt. Here’s an article about it in Dutch – Pop-up oliebollenfabriek opent deuren in Den Haag. I confess I hadn’t quite understood the concept until reading the article. Alongside the traditional oliebollen and appelbeignets, they also sell champagne oliebollen. Except that it’s just in the name – there’s no actual champagne inside. The difference is in the sugar that they use. Some examples of the types of sugar they use include limoncello, salted caramel and chocolate sugar. In total there are 10 different types of sugar you can choose from and some samples for you to taste.
I can’t believe it – four years in the Netherlands already!
Smoked meats (Or: At the local grocery store)
A few random photos from an Albert Heijn in The Hague:
It is smoked meats (meat covered in spices like paprika, black pepper, and similar).
Just a random thing that caught my eye – “Hmm, this would make a good photo for the blog.” 🙂
Coca-cola truck (Or: Christmas time in The Hague)
A few days ago a coworker of mine showed me a few pictures she had taken around The Hague. As she comes from a warmer climate, she loves to see how Christmas is celebrated here — not that The Hague is that cold. Her favourite pastime seems to be visiting Christmas markets, which is pretty cool.
The first picture she took was of the holidays Coca-cola truck in the city centre:
And the other one she took was an awesome picture of the holiday lights at the Plein. I just love the hazy moon:
In the middle, to the left of the Christmas tree, you can just make out the statue of Willem the Silent, which I previously blogged about.
Pans by Vivo (Or: Albert Heijn promotion)
Albert Heijn’s latest promotion is saving up for pans designed by Vivo. The last promotion Vivo did for Albert Heijn was kitchen knives. That promotion was kind of funny because people ended up complaining that the knives were too sharp. (Seriously? What did you expect?)
But this time we have luxury pans. Cool.
Actually, Marco and I don’t really need anything, so we’ve been saving up for Roger to use them if he wants.
Since this photo was taken we’ve collected more stamps – at this point we have exactly enough.
Definitely “luxury” pans – one pan requires 60 stamps. In theory you receive one stamp for every 10 euros you spend, though there are ways to get additional stamps if you buy certain items and sometimes you get more stamps than you should.
We’ll probably keep collecting stamps on the off chance someone else needs them, but I don’t think we’ll attempt to fill another card. However, we have until mid-February so you never know.
An illusionary pizza (Or: Marco’s latest creation)
Marco made some pizza last night:
But this pizza wasn’t what it seemed. This pizza is actually a dessert! The pizza dough is white cake, while the cheese is a yellow cream (it was already yellow, but yellow food dye was added to make it an even brighter yellow). The pepperoni is actually strawberries, though in this case it was preserved strawberries out of a can because they tend to be darker in color. There is a bit of pineapple to look like onions, as well as a bit of mandarin to look like orange peppers. The “spices” on top of the cheese is actually shaved chocolate.
I never would have thought pizza would go so well with coffee! Here’s a look at his other creation, a dessert “hamburger and fries”.
Nijntje (Or: Seen at C&A?)
Nijntje (known as Miffy in English) is a small white rabbit who stars in a series of Dutch picture books drawn and written by Dick Bruna. Marco and I were walking past C&A, a clothing store, and noticed the following advertisement:
Apparently the exclusive rights to the Nijntje clothing line has moved from V&D (a store which closed early this year) to C&A – read more at this article in Dutch.
Sinterklaas! (Or: 5 December)
Today is Sinterklaas in the Netherlands (Wikipedia: Dutch | English). Mostly celebrated by kids who receive small trinkets in the weeks leading up to the holiday. Everything culminates in tonight – Pakjesavond, or “Evening of presents” as a loose translation. It’s no secret that Sinterklaas is bigger than Christmas for kids, but it’s still weird to realise this coming from the US.
But – one tradition that you’re supposed to adhere to is not putting up the Christmas tree until the day after Sinterklaas leaves.
Erhm.
No comment.
Life in the Hague 