Posts Tagged With: Desserts

Tokyo bananas (Or: Gift from a classmate)

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Niki

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet on this blog – I started studying Japanese in December of last year. I’m still very much A1 level, especially in terms of speaking. A1 refers to the Common European Framework of Reference to Languages, or the CEFR for short. A1 is the most basic level. Here’s the description for A1:

  • Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type.
  • Can introduce themselves to others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where they live, people they know and things they have.
  • Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

Sounds about right…

Anyway, a classmate’s partner went to Japan recently, and he brought back Tokyo bananas for us.

Here is it in its packaging, on top of one of my course books. Japan is well-known for individually wrapping everything, but in this case it comes in handy.

And here is it on its own, outside of the packaging:

As you can see it is quite cute, as most Japanese things are. The banana cream inside is quite subtle and not too sweet, which I appreciated. It didn’t wow me, but it was nice. And it was a nice gesture from my classmate for sure.

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Ice cream, you scream (Or: Desserts by SET restaurant)

Posted on October 9, 2024 by Niki

Last weekend Marco and I went to SET restaurant here in The Hague for lunch. I had a bento box, which is what I always get for lunch there because it is so good. I didn’t take a picture this time since I have posted about it before. As always: yum!

On this rare occasion I also decided to get dessert. Here is Marco’s dessert, a mochi ice cream mix.

I have to admit, the restaurant name in powdered sugar is a nice touch. Almost like they know these photos will show up on social media…

I went for the green tea ice cream. It was a great choice, since the ice cream was a slightly more bitter green tea.

Did you know there is a store in Tokyo which sells 7 different types of matcha ice cream (reddit.com)? With 7 being the most bitter and the most intense. That is what I was thinking of while having this ice cream, although I’d probably rate it as 4 or 5 on the “intensity scale”.

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What summer needs (Or: An ice cream cone from the Ijskabinet)

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Niki

What do you do on a warm summer evening? You go get ice cream, of course.

The Ijskabinet (literally “ice cabinet”) is an ice cream store in The Hague’s city centre, across the street from the Buitenhof/Hofvijver. They have been there since 2019 but this was our first time.

I knew I wanted a cone, but I quickly opted for a decadent chocolate cone. Then they asked if I wanted sprinkles, and I said yes, thinking they meant the sprinkles would be on top of the ice cream. Nope…

Apparently that meant sprinkles on the cone itself (Lekker! Tasty!).

I got coffee flavored ice cream and Marco got two scoops: yoghurt and lemon meringue pie. Mine was great and hit the spot. Marco liked his as well, although he said the lemon meringue pie flavor could have been stronger.

Ijskabinet does not have a working website, but they do have an Instagram page. I get the impression that the flavors change day by day, so you just need to walk in and see what they have. There is ample seating outside because it is right next to the statue of Johan de Witt which has nice seating opportunities at its base.

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Good weather is coming (Or: Ice cream art)

Posted on June 23, 2024 by Niki

In celebration of the good weather that is finally coming this week (nltimes.nl in English), here is a piece of art not far from the Florencia ice cream (and coffee) shop.

And here is a close up of the art:

In other news, yesterday was Vlaggetjesdag (Flag Day) in Scheveningen. This is the first day of the year where the new batch of haring can be eaten in the Netherlands. Vlaggetjesdag is always held on the third Saturday in June. See also omroepwest.nl’s article in Dutch. There’s also the article Eating herring in the Netherlands: all you need to know about the ‘Hollandse Nieuwe’ from dutchreview.nl if you want to know more.

To be clear: this is one Dutch tradition I haven’t tried yet, and I’m not sure I ever will. But others definitely enjoy it and say it is very tasty.

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Pretty plates (Or: Tasty food by Umami in The Hague)

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Niki

At the moment the weather here in The Netherlands is gorgeous. It has been about 30C/85F all week, although temperatures will drop back to normal tomorrow. But Marco and I have taken full advantage of the situation trying to soak up some rays (including a visit to the dunes in nearby Kijkduin, but that is for another blog post).

Last weekend Marco and I went to Umami to celebrate Roger’s birthday with his family. It is an Asian fusion restaurant with five locations in the Netherlands. We previously went to Umami for the lunch service. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs then, since we ended up asking for a doggie bag.

This time we did the shared dining experience over three courses. Each course meant two plates for each person, so with six people we had twelve plates each course. Here are some of the photos I took:

I don’t remember anymore what the plate above was. Probably salmon? But you can get the tone of this restaurant just with that photo.

You would think the above picture is chicken, but nope, it is cauliflower. It came with cauliflower purée, asparagus, coriander oil and olive crumble. And it was just as delicious as it looked.

For dessert Marco had the matcha yuzu cake, which came with matcha ice cream, matcha sauce and raisins. It was a great way to end the evening.

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Healthy birthday cookies (Or: Is there really such a thing?)

Posted on April 12, 2023 by Niki

Tomorrow is my birthday and I decided to spend it going to work. Eek.

Actually, yes, but I am taking Friday off. Part of the reason I am going in tomorrow is because it is the monthly post-corona “common office day” where everyone is asked to come in so we can remember what we look like in person. (I kid, I kid. I see most of my coworkers once a week.) Since everyone is in the office together tomorrow we decided to do a potluck lunch. Aka a lunch where everyone brings something in.

Since I am not much of a cook, I decided to bake cookies. Unfortunately, I am not much of a baker either, so Marco was of great help there.

I chose a recipe for oatmeal cookies with banana (no sugar added):

This was originally a Dutch recipe (original website). As happens every once in a while, I had to look up what havermout is. Apparently it is quick cooking oats, which just brings up childhood memories of my parents eating oatmeal for breakfast.

The recipe contains quick cooking oats, raisins, almonds, cinnamon powder, baking powder, banana and apples. I chose Granny Smith apples as those are nice and sour, and I added some lemon zest for a flavor contrast.

I am not going to lie. The cookies look a bit ugly, but I made them (with a lot of help from Marco!).

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All the colors of the rainbow (Or: Macarons in De Passage)

Posted on February 10, 2022 by Niki

While walking through De Passage last week I noticed a colorful sight by restaurant De Luca:

It was early in the morning so it wasn’t quite open yet. Which just meant I had a great opportunity to take a few photos.

And here is a close up:

Check out those prizes! €2.50 for 1 macaron, €25 for a box of 12. These are definitely seen as a luxury treat. If you are less picky you can go to the local Albert Heijn and get a box of 12 macarons for €5. Hmm. I am sure that is heresy to some folks, though.

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Chocoladna (Or: Chocolate at its finest)

Posted on January 29, 2022 by Niki

For Christmas I received a box of chocolate from Roger from an Amsterdam-based company I hadn’t heard of yet: Chocoladna. Normally they cater more to hotels and restaurants, but thanks to Corona and lockdowns the company has been forced to expand its horizons a bit.

Marco and I have been enjoying a piece each with coffee in the last week or so. Half the fun is trying to decide which one you want (the other half is misery for Marco because I take so long!). So far my favorites have been a hazelnut praline and a hazelnut crisp. Which is interesting because I don’t go out of my way to get hazelnut chocolate normally. So far everything we have tried has tasted great. Oh, and we like to joke that the larger red ball near the top is probably a sour ball and not chocolate at all, as a sort of prank.

Of course, you can also get the luxury option for € 449, which includes 50 chocolate truffles, 7 bottles of mini liquors and… a 7 inch LED tv screen!? See also the LXRY kist page. Admittedly it is mainly for use by companies, restaurants or hotels, and you can order chocolate truffel refills separately. The TV screen shows viewers how the chocolates are made and what ingredients are used.

For that price it is good to see that it is also personally delivered to you!

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Spotted at Hema (Or: Anyone up for some tompouce flavored ale?)

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Niki

Last week Roger spotted some tompouce flavored ale at Hema:

How crazy is that! Considering it has Hema branding, it looks to be a Hema exclusive. And if you need a reminder about what tompouce is, check out the English Wikipedia article. It is quite tasty but difficult to eat!

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Box of sweets (Or: Gift from my office)

Posted on September 25, 2021 by Niki

Last week I received a surprise box of sweets from my office:

The box was put together by a company called Daniëlle kookt & zo (roughly translated as Daniëlle cooks and etc). One of their specialities is filled letters and numbers, each filled with either sweet or savory treats.

Mine is filled with brownies, macaroons, fudge, mini cookies, meringue and more. Delicious!

This gift is to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of our office opening in The Hague, as well as the reopening of the office on 20 September. Since March 2020 the office was closed; before you travelled to the office you needed to secure permission. Since last week the office is open Monday through Thursday and closed on Fridays for cleaning. We are using hot desking and have a desk reservation system to ensure that social distancing is adhered to. (Although today is also the day that the 1.5 meters rule is abolished in most places; in exchange you need to show your coronapas (corona pass) if you want to sit inside a restaurant or go to the movies, etc. Read more at dutchnews.nl in English.)

At the moment going back to the office is optional. Personally I plan on going back later in the year. Next year, in the new form of hybrid working, each department can determine how often its workers need to be in the office. The department I work has asked for us to be in the office at least 4 days a month, but which days those are are determined by each team and the individual worker. My employer has been very lenient in that regard.

I do miss the commute so I do plan on going in more often than the minimum requirement. Although there is something to be said for the quick commute from the bed to the desk…

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