Here’s a cute little flower at Lebkov, a café in The Hague…
One very windy day (Or: Last week’s wind storm)
On Thursday Europe was hit with a “wind storm”, which sounds a lot wussier than it actually was. Not much rain, but it still managed to bring the country to a halt for the day. The good (or bad) news was that the peak of the storm was around 11am, which meant that most people were able to get into work. But getting home was another matter entirely…
By about 10 or 10:30am The Hague tram system was shut down. Not surprising, since about 15 minutes before the shutdown someone tweeted a photo of a tram shelter’s roof after it flew off in the wind. Two glass panels actually – the second one is behind the right tram shelter. (Here’s a look at a tram stop roof in better times.) The buses shut down about 15 minutes after the trams.
The Washington Post has an article with a collection of photos and videos from the storm (including the person flying across the plaza in Den Bosch, which every Dutch person has seen at least once now, and the guy too stubborn to let go of his bike in The Hague).
The only picture I have of the day is someone standing in the glass at a tram stop that night:
Zuurkool (Or: A typical winter meal)
About once a year Marco and I ask his mom to bring over zuurkool, which is similar to the German sauerkraut. We can add this to the list of things I would have hated as a kid!
First, start with smoked sausage from Hema:
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Cook that in water for 15-20 minutes.
Then add the zuurkool, which literally translates to ‘sour cabbage’. In this case the zuurkool is combined with potatoes and smashed until there is nothing left to smash. Sounds delicious, right?
Then add gravy. Bonus points if you can show off your Dutch heritage by successfully building a dam so that the gravy doesn’t leak out.
it’s hard to describe the taste… sour. Slightly off. But exactly what I want, once a year on a cold winter’s day.
Categories: Culture, Food
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Bijenkorf in The Hague (Or: Holiday decorations, 2017)
I was looking through my photos from last month and realized that I hadn’t posted my photos of Bijenkorf yet!
Holiday lights (the same every year, but always pretty!)
Bijenkorf does different window decorations every year. A lot of businesses in The Hague take part in holiday window displays (see the TINK competition).
And this one:
This year the Christmas tree was rather simple, at least compared to previous years:
It was of course as tall as ever – the base started at the top of the ground floor, with the peak reaching to floor 5. As evidenced by the escalators at the left…
Check out the Coke and Diet Coke can ornaments in the upper right. I especially like the slightly ‘frosty’ look. Cute!
Fireworks! (Or: The Hague exploded last night)
I found a cool link on Youtube of last night’s fireworks, taken from above the city with a 4K drone. It lasts about 5 minutes and is not to be missed!
Here’s a look at our ‘Christmas table’ on the second day of Christmas:
Yes, we were streaming a fake fireplace through Hulu!
In the glass was a raspberry spoom (sorbet ice cream). Yum! The two bottles were purchased at The Hague’s Royal Christmas fair.
But seriously – go back and check out that video. It does a good job of showing how crazy the Netherlands can get at New Year’s Eve.
Chocolate Christmas decorations (Or: Hop & Stork)
Recent photos that I took of Hop & Stork in De Passage, a covered shopping area in the heart of The Hague. The creations they can make with chocolate are just insane…
Dressed up and on your way to a fancy Christmas soirée…
Tasty!
Categories: Dordrecht, Food, Holidays, The Hague
Tags: Chocolate, Christmas, De Passage
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Christmas shopping on the Fred (Or: Life-sized Disney decorations)
A few days back I was doing some Christmas shopping at “The Fred” which is short for Frederick Hendriklaan, a street in the Statenkwartier neighborhood. There are a lot of international organizations and businesses in this part of The Hague.
Much to my delight, I saw some cute Christmas decorations:
There was also Pluto:
And Olaf:
I never knew how popular Frozen was until I went to Disneyland Paris last month…
Apparently there was also Minnie Mouse and Goofy, but I missed those (news article in Dutch).
5 years in the Netherlands (Or: Wow!)
Today marks five years to the day since I arrived in the Netherlands. It is amazing how time files… Yesterday was otherwise a very typical December day:
- We visited the Christmas Fair at the Lange Voorhout
- We went grocery shopping at the local Albert Heijn (this one being of the “XL” variety over on Elandstraat)
- We baked cookies (see below)
- We started working on Christmas cards… we are really behind on the international cards this year!
To mark the occasion of “five years in the Netherlands” I made lemon cookies. You can find the recipe in Dutch over at OhMyFoodness. It’s one of my favorite recipes to make. The cookies turn out very lemony and chewy – just the way I like it!
Five years! I couldn’t bake five years ago if my life depended on it…
Crunch crunch crunch (Or: Snow!!!)
Snow!
Snow!
Snow!
In the last two days we’ve received more snow than I’ve probably seen in the almost 5 years I’ve been here (and wow, next Monday is officially 5 years!) Yesterday wasn’t too bad – most people did not have to work. Indeed, Marco and I went outside yesterday and took some pictures.
snowfall yesterday. bus 22, with the oliebollen stand behind
But today would prove to be slightly more chaotic. Schiphol is currently trying to decide if they put out bedding for stranded travellers; about one third of the flights are cancelled and buses and trains aren’t running there. No trains to or from Amsterdam or Utrecht (in the heart of the Netherlands) at the moment. For a while the HTM buses here in The Hague stopped riding, but some lines are riding again.
I knew I had to go into work – my work computer was there! – but Marco was kind enough to walk me to my tram stop. It started snowing again in the late morning, so I stuck around until just after 1pm, and then went home to finish off my work there.
Anyone for a creme brûlée latee? (Or: Urban cafe)
is a cafe across from the central library, near the city hall. Marco and I went there a few months back. At that time I snapped this photo:
As usual: I have a black coffee and Marco has a cappuccino
It was quite tasty, with an interesting concept (it is part of a furniture store). There is also upstairs seating.
But what I want to try the next time we go there? That would be the creme brûlée latte. It sounds delicious…
Life in the Hague 