A few weeks ago Marco and I went to Rylee’s for lunch. I saw it listed on indebuurt.nl and just had to go. It was delicious!
Marco and I split a garlic steak sandwich (pictured above). I probably could have taken a better picture, but trust me, it was delicious. The brioche baguette was a definite highlight.
Marco ordered an iced mango matcha, while I had an iced mocha frappuccino.
For whatever reason, I haven’t had an iced mocha frappuccino in years. I was practically dancing in my chair!
We then split a large chocolate cookie as dessert, although I don’t have a picture of that.
I can definitely recommend Rylee’s if you want a quick, easy sandwich or coffee for lunch and you are in the area. They don’t have the menu available on their website yet, so you can check out sites like Uber Eats to see what they offer.
We finally have some good weather here in the Netherlands! Unfortunately “good weather” in this case is about 19-20C, or 64-68F. But we take what we can get.
This past weekend was the Rrrollend food truck festival, this time by the Hofvijver. I am not sure if this is the first time that it was held there; usually it is at the Lange Voorhout or by Maliveld. People were enjoying the weather. Some were even sitting by the water, although maybe that was just to find a good seat — it was pretty crowded there after all. But dangling your legs over the water is a nice way to enjoy the sun.
A few weeks earlier Marco and I were at Anne & Max, a (chain) café found throughout the Netherlands. Check out the cool pattern on the cappuccino:
The cake in the background was a lime cake, but it was a bit drier than expected. It was still a fun time with Marco, though.
This is the first weekend where it has truly felt like “everything is back to normal”. For instance the festival Paaspop (“Easter pop”) was held this past weekend. Back in early 2020 it was the first large festival to be cancelled and now it is the first large festival to be held again. The outdoor terraces are also full as everyone has flocked outside to bake in the sun a bit. (In the Netherlands, most people get Easter Monday off.)
Speaking of outdoor terraces, Marco and I were just at a local Bagels & Beans to get some coffee and banana bread. The coffee was a mocchaccino to be more specific. How hipster of us. And the banana bread was made with walnuts and dark chocolate. Yum yum.
We also took a long walk around the city centre to soak up some more sun. Here is a look at the Hofvijver:
You can’t really tell in the above photo, but the area was very crowded with everyone having the same idea. There was also a market in the area as well.
I think this might have been the first day of the year that I went outside without a jacket on (although I find a long sleeve shirt to wear). Bring on the sun! ☀️
Last weekend Marco and I stopped by FOAM restaurant here in The Hague to have a coffee. I would say we were also trying to grab a few moments of sunshine, but to be honest it was pretty cloudy and quite windy the whole time we were there. Hopefully next time will be better?
I ordered a chai latte (plus extra espresso!) and Marco ordered a matcha latte. I really liked my chai latte – it was sweet but still had a nice kick of coffee behind it.
Tomorrow Marco and I both have the day off. I have an appointment at the hair dresser for a touch up. Someone please remind me why I scheduled it so early? There is no opportunity to sleep in at all. But that also means I have more of the day to enjoy after my hair is done… so that is good, right?
I am looking forward to the change in weather, as it should start warming up a bit tomorrow. Perhaps it won’t be full sunshine yet, but at least it won’t be cold like it was this morning. How could it almost be June but still be so windy and cold?
In other (slightly crazy news): the police in Zwolle arrested a driver who was in possession of 550kg (1,200 pounds) of laughing gas (!). The article is from nos.nl in Dutch. If you want to transport more than 2 kilos of laughing gas you need to have a special permit. It is considered a party drug in the Netherlands; every few weeks there is a car crash reported in the news where the driver had laughing gas in the car.
Today’s photo is of a turmeric latte that Marco ordered last week at FOAM restaurant in The Hague. Check out the vibrant colors:
And of course I had to be boring and order a sparkling water. Next time I will look at the menu faster, but I was busy taking a photo of the “this table is reserved” spoon!
More than 5 months after the Netherlands went into a lockdown in mid-December (government.nl, in English) I was finally able to return the two books that I still had on my account when the lockdown was suddenly announced. Well, perhaps I can’t describe it as sudden – you felt it coming as the shopping crowds just kept building after Black Friday. (Yes, the Netherlands celebrates that as a shopping holiday now as well.)
At the end of November and the first two weeks of December I started to return each book as soon as I finished it, just in case. That left only two books that I wasn’t done with yet. One was Stephen King’s The Outsider in English and the other was a Japanese novel translated into Dutch, Nakano’s handel in oude rommel (=The Nakano Thrift Shop). Since Monday, 19 April patrons have been allowed to return library books at any library in The Hague, 12:00-17:00 Monday through Saturday (link in Dutch). Patrons also have the option of requesting a bag of five books in a specific genre (this option has been available for the last few months).
Random photo above from the interior of the Starbucks in The Hague city centre. I haven’t had Starbucks in a few years, but on a whim Marco and I decided to grab a drink. I went for a vanilla Frappuccino. That was also on a whim; I spent most of my time in line thinking I was going for a caramel Frappuccino. Let me tell you: I don’t regret my change of heart. Or taste buds.
You can also see blue Nespresso cups in this close up:
Based on the pattern on the blue cups, I suspect that the flavor is Tokyo vivalto lungo, which has “delicate floral and fruity notes”. I’m not a big fan of Nespresso, though. I’d rather have a regular sized cup of coffee than an espresso.
Marco and I went for a walk this afternoon, ending at Lebkov for a cup of coffee (medium Americano for me, large cappuccino with a shot of hazelnut for Marco). I usually take a large cappuccino as well but since cafés are now only open for takeaway I noticed that the foam is all but gone by the time we get home. That does tend to affect the taste a bit. Therefore, medium Americano it is!
View of the Turfmarkt while waiting for Marco to order inside
It was fairly cold out today (under the freezing point) but luckily I found a bit of protection hiding behind flowers sold at the shop next door. The Turfmarkt is known as a wind tunnel so this is always something to keep in mind.
Primary schools, daycare will reopen on February 8, minister confirms from dutchnews.nl. The Dutch government has always said that the re-opening of primary schools was their primary objective. There will be a press conference next Tuesday to see if any other measures could be lifted on 9 February. The next on the list to be lifted might be the curfew from 21:00 to 04:30. I think in an ideal world the government wants to keep the curfew in place, but that also risks more rioting and general unrest so it is hard to tell what they will do. My bet is that it will still in place a bit longer, but who knows?
Getting a virtual haircut: It’s a thing from nltimes.nl. A hairdresser in Limburg (southeast Netherlands) came up with an innovative way to keep his business afloat: you order a package of supplies and find a relative who wants to help cut your hair. The hairdresser and client then have a virtual hair cutting session where the hairdresser shows your relative step by step how to cut your hair using a “doll head” traditionally used to train new hairdressers.
Police in Leiden prevent riots by giving out free coffee, also from nltimes.nl. Over the last few weeks protests and riots have been announced online by inviting people to come to a certain location to “drink coffee” together. The police heard that some people wanted to “drink coffee” in certain areas of Leiden. Officers went to the areas with jugs of coffee and tea to help dispel the situation and show that they were there to talk with residents. Their plan seems to have worked – no unrest was reported in the city and only one person was arrested and taken to the police station. Bet he felt a bit embarrassed, being the only one to get arrested…
Last week Marco and I shared a giant cookie, with a cup of coffee on the side. The cookie was from FOAM over on Frederikstraat in The Hague. As you might have guessed ordering from FOAM has sort of become a weekly lockdown tradition these days.
Coffee and a chewy cherry chocolate cookie. Now that’s a dose of C’s (albeit not vitamin C).
Chewy, slightly gooey, thoroughly awesome.
In other news: Pandemic forces Artis to say goodbye to its lions from nltimes.nl. Artis, a zoo in Amsterdam, doesn’t have the funds currently to build a larger lion enclosure as planned. At least this way the three lions can stay together and have enough space to move about. It’s a sad but smart decision.
we have seen a few days where the number of cases have only increased slightly, but I don’t trust it yet. We won’t see the effect of the partial lockdown until the end of this week at the earliest
For the most part things still look fairly negative, with one bright spot being that the R number is now around 1.16 occurring to the most recent reliable data).
And, expected news: my coworkers and I received an email today saying that working from home has been extended until April 2021. Previously it was January 2021.
On the one hand, that’s crazy. On the other hand, after seeing how the last few months have gone, I don’t think any of us expected to be back in the office in January.
Life in the Hague 