Marco made his special jalapeno hot sauce again this weekend (to accompany tonight’s dinner of soft-shelled tacos). I especially liked the label he made:
Death to the drinker. Well, not really, but it looks cool!
However I think the skull and swords would be more apt for the ghost pepper hot sauce, but unfortunately we don’t have the ingredients to make that at home (but we do have two store-bought versions).
Maybe next time he will take it up a notch and make habanero sauce!
Some time ago I was walking past the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. As you might be able to guess from the name, it’s an art museum. I’ve only been inside once so far, to see a Delfts blauw exhibit. That is blue and white pottery made in the Delft area since the 16th century.
Pretty, huh?
The weather is turning colder this week. About 50 degrees Fahrenheit, when it should be closer to 60 for this time of year. It’s hard to believe it will be Christmas in a few months!
Marco noticed this advertisement when we got off the tram a few days ago. I figured I had to take a picture for my mom, since Spiderman is played by a papillon (the breed our last two dogs were). Papillon translates to “butterfly”, referencing the butterfly shape of their ears.
It’s actually an advertisements for guide dogs. The text translates to “You can recognize the real superhero by their outfit”. The campaign is run by KNGF Geleidehonden.
The other photo we took was of the uurnet card dispenser machine – €3.50 for a 1 hour card. A bit expensive, but that’s the point – they prefer that you have an OV-chip card instead. You can find these machines on the randstad rail trams (2, 3, and 4). The other tram types require you to buy a ticket from the driver at the front of the tram.
Of course, the joke is that the machines on the randstad rail trams are almost always out of order. As it is in this photo. It’s a bit hard to read but the main text says “Apparaat buiten dienst”, or Machine out of order, with the line translated into various languages below that.
A few days ago I was at Albert Heijn. I thought this would be a fun topic for the blog:
I did not post the picture to show how tall the shelves are/how short I am. I already know that! Usually Marco is around when I need something from a tall shelf so it works out, thankfully.
The photo is actually of a cleaner called “Mr. Proper”. If you’re American you’ll probably more easily recognize it as “Mr. Clean”. But like most things, names are translated into local languages. And that doesn’t stop at everyday purchases – for example Hermione in the Harry Potter books is named Hermelien in Dutch. Hmm.
I read the Wikipedia article for “Mr. Clean” before writing this blog post. My favorite random fact was the following: “make mrproper is a command in the Linux kernel build system, used to “clean up” all files from past builds and restore the build directory to its original clean state.” And of course proper was used in place from clean because the creator of Linux was from Europe.
Finally, I am also amused by the simplest thing: the pronunciation of “Mr. Proper”. Mr. is actually an abbreviation for Meneer (which still translates to Mister). You would pronounce it something like: Meh-neer Pro-per, with emphasis on “pro”. The syllable splitting of proper gets me; in Dutch if you have one consonant it always attaches itself to the second syllable, not the first. Prop-er would be incorrect in Dutch. (If you have two consonants one goes with the first syllable and the other with the second syllable: kap-per.)
And thus ends our random Dutch supermarket lesson.
As mentioned in a previous blog post, Marco and I visited Amersfoort for our second anniversary. I took some photos of the Eemplein, a shopping area not far from our hotel.
The inside of the KAdECafé, a cafe attached to an art hall.
You can read more about the KAdECafé here.
A strange looking building not far from the plein, deliberately painted to look as if it had recently survived a fire. At least that is what I guess…
There is also a Burger King right by the hotel we stayed at. The crazy thing was they had free refills, which mirrors the American system — you order a drink and are given the appropriate size cup to go with it. Then you can dispense the drink yourself (with the soda fountain shown here).
Let’s just say “free refills” are an all but unheard of concept here in the Netherlands. The only exceptions I’ve seen are at some of the buffets.
Only a few more days until a nice, relaxing weekend!
Last Sunday Marco and I came across the Pro Freestyle event being held at the Spuiplein.
Performing tricks for the crowd
The three day event attracted about 35,000 visitors and featured freestyle BMX, skateboarding and more.
The silhouette of a biker
Once you’re done with your run you have to carry your bike up the stairs and do it all over again. Bonus: the awesome sky.
On Saturday Marco and I went to Amersfoort to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We decided to book an executive suite. Let me just say I’ve never stayed in “the best room in the hotel” before. It was great. And while the room description said that there were be a 52″ television, it turns out the room had three 52″ TVs. Sheesh.
We did end up exploring Amersfoort a bit, but mainly the area near the hotel. There’s another, proper shopping area about a 10 minute walk from the hotel. We did visit it briefly to get some bagels from Bagels & Beans for breakfast in the morning.
Dining room table, complete with complimentary fruit. This was TV #1 of #3.
Sitting room with free water (normal and with bubbles) – quite un-Dutch to offer free water! There were also two cold waters in the fridge. This was TV #2 of #3.
View from the bedroom – the tower in the distance is the ‘Onze Lieve Vrouwetoren’
Bed, including bathrobes and slippers. This was TV #3 of #3 (not shown).
Two person jacuzzi. Or four, really… It was huge! And definitely the highlight of the room (and why we booked it in the first place).
When we checked out we were told that it was the best room in the hotel. It definitely seemed like it. Bye room 1001!
I decided it might be fun to show off some of my more random photos that didn’t end up getting their own blog post.
By the tram stop – an advertisement for Disney’s Descendants
What caught my eye was the use of the shadow on the ground to “extend” the advertisement onto the ground.
Make & Bake cookie jars at Hema
Anyone want to bake some cookies? The jar includes all of the ingredients you need, apparently.
Flowers next to Buitenhof
Of course that photo was from a month or two ago – all it has done in the last few weeks is rain, rain, rain.
Kurhaus (a hotel) in Scheveningen, on the night of the Fireworks Festival
Until next time!
On Thursday night Marco and I went to the Asian store. It’s near the Pathe movie theater in the centrum – underneath it, in fact. It is a larger store, usually crowded on the weekends but not as much on Thursday nights. As I’ve said before, The Hague has “koopavond” on Thursday nights, which means a lot (though not all) stores stay open until 9pm.
Rice and soups
More one serving soups. I usually raid this section as one of the brands is “6 halen 5 betalen”, or “Get 6, pay for 5”.
And why were we in the Asian store? Because on Saturday we wanted to make sushi of course! Which we did, with Roger. Sushi with salmon, cucumber, tuna and even chicken. And a soy sauce dip, with a bit of wasabi paste to mix in. We’re still working on perfecting it – but it was pretty good. We also shared a bottle of sake between the three of us.
Note in the middle the McCormick logo (which started in Baltimore, Maryland, US). It is interesting to see how international the brand has become.
We also had some wasabi sauce (in addition to the paste mentioned above). Man oh man was that an unexpected experience. It had a kick! A little spicy for a few seconds, and then you inevitably breathe in and it rushes up your nose and into your brain. I suppose it’s good for cleaning out the sinuses…
All in all, good food.
On Saturday Marco and I went to an Indian restaurant on Molenstraat here in The Hague, Ramna restaurant. This was part of Albert Heijn’s “restaurant actie“. Over the summer you had a chance to get a restaurant stamp with every 10 euros you spend. Ten stamps could be turned in for a free three course menu for the second diner. We managed to do this 10 times (2 of which came from Marco’s father and his wife). Some Albert Heijn staff were more than generous with how many stamps you received – sometimes 4 or 5 instead of 1 or 2.
At this restaurant you were able to choose anything on the menu (in comparison to a Thai restaurant last year where you received a limited menu to choose from for the action). Here are some of the photos of what we ate:
Above: First up, appetizers. Specifically, papadom – it is a thin sort of crunchy wafer which in this case was served with onions, a sweet and sour sauce, and two types of spicy chutneys.
Life in the Hague 