Tonight for dessert Marco, Roger and I had this:
Spekkoek (a multi-layed Indonesian cake) with chocolate ice cream, coconut milk ice cream, whipped cream and coconut shavings on top of the cake. What makes this dessert notable is that you cook each layer separately, one at a time. Hours to bake but minutes to eat!
I visited Plasman last week. It’s a bakery/lunch cafe in the Statenkwaartier neighborhood of The Hague. A lot of international companies and expats can be found there.
Of course since it is almost time for Sinterklaas they make their own fancy versions of chocolate letters. Each child receives a chocolate letter depicting the first letter of their name. So I have seen my fair share of chocolate N’s over the last few years.
They also have cakes:
A look at another case:
And a close-up of the macaroons, a small circular cake that comes in many different forms based on the country of origin:
Quite colorful!
If you are looking to make American-style cakes and desserts and happen to be in the center of The Hague, I would actually recommend visiting the Asian store underneath C&A (to the left of the C&A entrance you will see stairs leading downwards – see also this blog post with a photo).
Here is just a small sampling of the various Duncan Hines recipes they offer:
In total there are probably about 15-20 different types on offer at any point. German chocolate cake, red velvet cake, blue velvet cake, coconut surprise… Unfortunately the selection isn’t available in the webshop on their website linked above. Of course if you are desperate for American food there is also usfoodz.nl though it is definitely import prices.
As there is a large Asian population in the area (it is not far from Chinatown) the store is almost always crowded. But it is a staple if you’re looking for Asian food. There’s also a smaller store by the same name in the Markthof, across from the Hema entrance and close by Simonis, a fresh fish store, and “Flowers for you” (a flower shop, of course).
Over the weekend Marco and I went to Naga Thai (you guessed it, a Thai restaurant). I have been there a few times but this was Marco’s first time. We were there for lunch so he was able to try out the lunch menu. I was torn between the two appetizers: a fish cake and a loempia/egg roll — or chicken served in coconut milk with mushrooms. Both are quite good! This time I went for the soup.
For the main course we both had finely chopped chicken with basiculum and red peppers. It was pretty good, but not as good as the non-chopped version in my opinion.
Dessert was three types of ice cream: lycee, coconut and mango ice cream, with a sliver of chocolate on top. Yum! We rounded that off with a small (Dutch size) cup of coffee.
And for randomness’ sake, here is a photo of a discount Christmas item that they were selling at V&D last week. I like it enough to upload it in a larger size, even if I didn’t buy it!
When Marco and I returned home last night from our vacation, we found a note on a paper bag from Roger. He had left two slices of chocolate cheesecake in the fridge. Double chocolate chip cheesecake to be precise – one of the the three flavors we had at our wedding reception, along with strawberry and cappuccino. Marco and I also had some Prosecco in the fridge. That was the welkomstdrankje (welcome drink) at the wedding reception.
So – reliving memories one year later!
The cheesecake was from the Cheesecake Company in The Hague. I highly recommend it (and mention it frequently).
Recently we had an all-staff meeting at work. One of the benefits of going to said meeting (which is held 3-4 times a year) is the coffee and cakes afterwards.
Talk about a sugar rush…
A month after Marco, Roger also turns 40. We celebrated the event by going to Paraplu in The Hague – the first time for me. As usual, I had the kipsaté (chicken on a skewer with peanut sauce). Yum! Also the first time I ever had kroepoek (the white disks) paired with peanuts and peanut shavings directly on top.
As a surprise, a family member had ordered a birthday dessert for Roger (and the table). Quite spectacular:
Good times en lekker eten!
Yesterday Marco and I had cheesecake at The Cheesecake Company in The Hague (by the Grote Kerk). We sampled Tangerine Dream…
The tangerine part of the cheesecake was definitely subtler then I expected but still quite tasty. The bottom part of the cheesecake is chocolate, of course accentuated by the two syrups on the plate as well. Lekker!
And of course you have my usual coffee on the left and Marco’s cappuccino on the right.
A few Fridays ago some of my coworkers and I celebrated the impending weekend by getting some cheesecake from the Cheesecake Company in The Hague. Officially it was a cheesecake tasting – everyone took a little bit from each piece.
I don’t remember all of the fruit flavors, but ones I do know are: plain (lower right side). Directly above that is razma-limey, with the lime on top. Definitely my favorite fruit flavor. To the left of the plain one was double chocolate-chocolate chip. Dreamsicle (a sort of orange and vanilla swirl, based off a cream popsicle) was in the 9 o’clock position. Lastly, next to the strawberry up top was mango (with all of the yellow pieces on top).
Other fruit flavors that were there included blackberry, blueberry, bosvruchten (forest fruit), and more that I can’t possibly remember. But it was delicious! They are right next to the Grote Kerk in The Hague, on Torenstraat.
As mentioned in the previous post, on Thursday night I had a barbecue at my teacher’s house. I decided to make rice krispie treats (Marco and I had a lot of fun in the kitchen making them!)
Above is a photo of one of the pans of rice krispies, after pouring the melted chocolate but before spreading it. Lekker!
My classmates definitely enjoyed it. Marco took most of the leftovers to work on Friday for his coworkers. I heard it was also a hit there (although one of them said he wanted to run up and down the hallway repeatedly after eating all that chocolate).
Life in the Hague 