The Most Dutch of Days

It's been hot here in the Netherlands - getting into the low 30s (the high 80s / low 90s).  It may not seem too hot to you, but in the Netherlands, it's humid and there is no air conditioning, which means that sometimes inside the house is hotter than outside.  And there is no relief, not even at night, when temperatures inside the house raise to 32 and won't go down for days.

On one of these hot days, we decided to get out of the city, actually looking for wind (in the form of a nice breeze from the North Sea) by taking out bikes and going on a bike ride that almost reached the North Sea.

Bram, with friends Ivona and Harish, as we just begin the trek.

As we head out, we realize that this will be the most Dutch of rides, as we head out along a narrow path along one of the major canals, typically used to bring cargo in from the sea.

A cargo ship.

Then turning north, heading along yet another canal.

Check out the sign... cows ahead.

Let's just say the sign did not disappoint.

Which later led to this awesome picture - can this get more Dutch?

Local wildlife.

Finally, we reach the location of our lunch - placed near another windmill!

View from the windmill, over a bridge that crosses the canal, that works via cantilever.

Bridge rising.

Bram ordered a "salad".  It was mostly meat.

Back on the bike ride, Harish and Bram talk while biking.

And I take pictures while biking!  Haha!

Trees along a road.

A field of anti-Bram.

We reach a cute, tiny town, that is having its market day.

Even the trees are happy here.

More wildlife, this time in action!

Turning back to Groningen.

We took this ride on the Forth of July.  And who else did we run into but the Statue of Liberty!  What?  That's crazy!  A statue of Liberty in the middle of the Dutch countryside!!!

And other less patriotic statues...

Gooooooaaaaaalllllll!

If you don't know what time of year it is, you either live under a rock or in the United States.  It's World Cup time, a time when the rest of the world* gathers in pubs around the world to cheer on their country as they make a goal against their favorite rival.   It can get quite passionate in a way that's difficult to comprehend unless you are experiencing it.  Luckily, we were able to experience it, in a local pub when the Netherlands played their old rival Spain.

Of course, it's only appropriate to wear the orange...

Along with most of the rest of the people in the pub...

The Netherlands and Spain were fairly even in the first half of the game... Spain scored once, the Netherlands scored once.... then the Netherlands scored again, and again.  When it was 4-1, the pub started chanting "Five!  Five!  Five!"  To everyone's amazement,  they actually did score again!  Then the pub started chanting "Zes!  Zes!"  The Netherlands didn't score six, but the final score, 5-1, was impressive!  The game included the incredible goal by van Persie, where he flew through the air, hit the ball with his forehead into the goal, and continued to face plant into the grass.  It's now being called one of the greatest goals ever. 

The pub breaks into celebration after one of the goals.  This video does not truly show how deafening the cheers were.

On the way home, I biked with my orange hair.  I almost crashed into a conga line of drunk college students celebrating, and then I high-fived two random drunk girls on the street as I biked past. 

Everyone was happy.

Now, it's your turn to participate in World Cup madness.  Make a guess on who will walk away with this year's world cup!   Here are the rules:
1. Your guess must be in before the second round of the world cup commences (June 27th).
2.  You can not guess a team that someone else has previously guessed.
3.  One guess per person.

Then, following the same rules above, you can also make a guess on the cumulative score of the final game (ie, if the game is 3-1, the cumulative score is 4).  

The winner will be determined at the end of the World cup (obviously).  A correct guess for the team will be worth 4 points, and a correct guess for the number of points will be worth 3!  This round of Beth's blog trivia will then come to an end, so make your guesses!  It could be anyone's game!   


* not the US

Dutch Food - Let's End on a Positive Note

But let's not end our tour of Dutch food there.  Honestly, there's a lot of food I've come to love here, so instead of ending with "the weird", let's go back and discover some more good things.*

Fresh, hot stroopwaffle

Stroopwafel - nothing says gooey goodness more than the Dutch specialty of two super thin waffles with a layer of melted caramel in between them.  The best way to eat these is to get them fresh and hot in the Grote Markt!

Indonesian food - Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony - therefore, there is a lot of great Indonesian food here in the Netherlands.

Hagelslag - food doesn't get much more fun than this!  Hagelslag are chocolate sprinkles normally put on toast and eaten for breakfast, but you can also sprinkle them on ice cream, make a sandwich out of them, or put them in a crepe**!

Pea soup - it may not sound good, but pea soup with some smoked sausage can be an amazing winter meal.

Speculoos - a crispy cookie with a lot of spices.  Often they are shaped like a windmill or something equally Dutch looking.  Great with cocoa or tea, and there is also a spread version you can use on toast. You can find a recipe to make your own speculoos spread here.*** 

Poffertjes - little poofy mini pancakes.  They are so good.  Imagine a pancake, but smaller, much thicker, and grilled in a ton of oil.  Then you can sprinkle you favorite toppings on top, including powdered sugar.  You can learn how to make them here.

As the Dutch say... eet smakelijk!

* Mostly because I forgot these items when I wrote my blog post Dutch Food - the Good and felt guilty about it.
** This last one is not a traditional Dutch way of eating these...
*** I don't actually expect anyone to do this, but I will give a point to anyone who makes this for me.  :-)

Dutch food: The Ugly (and the Weird)

And then there is the stuff that's just plain weird.

Including Dutch sandwiches.

It doesn't sound weird on the outset, but it is common to see a plate of sandwiches at any (and every) Dutch function. These are not your typical American sandwiches, piled high with meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, bacon, olives, peppers, mayonnaise and mustard....  There is something very specific about these sandwiches.  They can have one slice of meat, or one slice of cheese.  Never both.  Sometimes you can get a sandwich with both meat and cheese, but it is carefully made so that the meat does not overlap any of the cheese.  I often wondered what would happen if a slice of meat and a slice of cheese did touch on a sandwich.  Would it signal the end of the world?  When I made a comment about this, a Dutch friend said to me, "Meat and cheese on a sandwich?  What do you want, anarchy? What would come next, people dancing naked in the streets?"

Equally strange is that it is very typical to serve cartons of milk along with these sandwiches, even at professional conferences and meetings.  Do you know how weird it is to see a businessman in a suit eating a cheese sandwich and drinking milk from a carton?

But if milk is too tame, there's also karnemelk - or buttermilk.  This is also drank straight from the carton.  Yummy.  *Cough cough*

Then there are bitterballen.

Bitterballen with spicy mustard.  So. Freaking. Good.

What are bitterballen, you ask?  No one really knows.  All we know is that it is some sort of creamed meat, coated in breadcrumbs, fried, and served with beer. The general consensus is that bitterballen are made of either horse or muskrat.  That being said, bitterballen are freaking delicious.

Pancakes are also popular, or pannenkoken.  But how about having two slices of bacon cooked into your pancake?  I love bacon just as much as the next person, but I for one think this is going too far.

Then there's the Dutch sushi.  Pickled herring.  It looks delightfully raw.  The typical method to eat this delicacy is to coat the fish in some raw onions, pick the fish up by the tail, and then gulp it down in one fell swoop.  You can buy these on the street corners - I have yet to work up the courage to try one.

Dutch food: The Bad

But of course, our tour of Dutch cuisine does not end there.  When I was preparing to move to the Netherlands, one of my friends who is Spanish (a culture that cares about food) who used to live in the Netherlands warned me: the Dutch do not eat for enjoyment.  They eat so they don't pass out.

After coming from France, where eating was an essential part of life and enjoyment, this is a shock for me.  Solely eating so you don't die?  Where's the fun in that?

Because of this, the Dutch have invented some interesting foodstuffs that lack on flavor, or have bizarre flavor, but keep you alive.  Maybe.

During a conference, they had some nice looking pastry things.  I decided to try one. Imagine my surprise when I found that inside it was filled with pasta and tomato sauce.

Then there is the Christmas "favorite" oliebollen - donut-like balls of dough soaked in oil, so much so that they are actually dripping in it.  Sometimes they are filled with creme or a fruit like concoction, but over-eating them (as in, more than one) can cause serious illness.

Friends Nico and Shasta taste oliebollen

Then there is the Dutch version of vending machine - a wall of doors that open to provide hot dishes such as sandwiches, hamburgers, croquettes (breaded tubes filled with some sort of meat).  I have been warned that the only appropriate time to eat from one of these vending machines is at 4 am when nothing else is open and alcohol has impaired your judgement to a level where you don't know any better.

Late-night Dutch dining

Then there are dropjes - dark black licorice candies... with one important difference - they are salty.  I remember the first time I tried one - a Dutch friend handed me the candy, smiling deviously as she said "try it", and then laughed manically as I spit it out.

Dutch Food: The Good

Food is probably one of the most interesting parts of experiencing a new culture. It is something that you deal with every day, and each culture has their own unique spin on this facet of everyday life.  Of course, living in a new country brings lots of opportunities to also form (rather strong) opinions on the food.

Living in the Netherlands has had its ups when it comes to food.  A lot of these involve dairy products.  The yogurt, for instance.  Oh, the yogurt.  I will be forever ruined when I eat yogurt anywhere else for the rest of my life.  The yogurt here is like cream - thick, indulgent, amazing.  And the cheese.  The Dutch sure know how to make a good cheese.  They are different from French cheeses  - they are typically harder and eaten by the slice.  Sometimes they are filled with yummy things like mustard or walnuts. 

Stamppot

The Dutch also love their hearty meals.  Stamppot is one of these meals and has become a regular addition to our kitchen.  It's cooked in one pot - to save on dishes - just boil some cubed potatoes, then add a vegetable (such as kale, carrots, or cauliflower) and put a smoked sausage on top.  When the potatoes and veggies are done - take out the sausage, mash the veggies and the potatoes together - and then serve with the sausage to make a good one pot dish.

Then there is my favorite Dutch food - mustard soup.  Mustard soup?  How can you make a meal out of a condiment, you ask.  Well, let me tell you - it works, and it is delicious.  Here's the recipe - the best type of mustard for this is the Groninger mustard, but I realize that may not be available everywhere, so get a good large grain mustard.  

Groninger Mosterdsoep (Groningen Mustard Soup)

Ingredients:

Mustard soup - good with some hearty bread!

-       1 cup of lardons (cubed thick bacon)
-       a shallot or a small onion, diced
-       2 tbsp butter
-       2-3 teaspoons grainy Groninger mustard (or another grainy mustard)
-       ½ cup flour
-       1 liter chicken stock
-       ½ cup sour cream

1.  Fry the bacon until it's crisp.  Remove from heat.
2.  Sauté the onion and the butter until the onion is translucent.
3.  Add the mustard.
4.  Add the flour and mix for about 30 seconds.  No longer!  If you do it longer, you run the risk of the smoke detector going off, which has happened to me before.
5.  Pour in the stock and whisk until smooth.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.
6.  Add the bacon once more, and then add the sour cream.  Stir until smooth and heat through.

Spring Flower Market

As a reward for making it through the dark, dreary, depressing days of winter, spring in the Netherlands is really wonderful.   Because of the moist (that's one thing to call it) climate, the Netherlands is a great place to grow things - especially flowers.  On Good Friday each year, the entire town is converted into a flower market. 

Taking over the road...

The streets are overtaken by huge displays of amazing beautiful flowers.

Every year, thousands of Germans cross the border to buy flowers cheaply.  So many Germans come that some of the signs are even in German.

Of course, you can get the flower of the season: the tulip...

... and you can also get all sorts of diverse weird plants.

A point if you can name it!

Even wasabi!

I even took part in a fast paced flower auction... they would gather together a group of plants and sell them for ten euro to the first person who raised their hands.  I got two neat orchids!