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Everyday Den Haag
I took our car in for servicing this week. Though I could have ridden the bus home, I decided that the morning was too pretty to waste. I walked instead. Here’s a mini-tour of everyday Den Haag :-)
Have a lovely weekend, everyone!
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Ask an Expat: Hagelslag and other Dutch treats
Mini boxes for sampling :-)
When Mr. DJ first started working here in Den Haag a couple of years ago, he would often bring back these little boxes of sprinkles for Roxi. We couldn’t believe that the Dutch ate sprinkles on their toast for BREAKFAST. When we moved here last Summer, Roxi ate this every day. Hagelslag normally is sold in large boxes… maybe the size of a Girl Scout thin mint box. The Dutch company De Ruijter makes sprinkles in several different flavours: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, mixed, fruit flavoured, and sugar coated anise seeds.
My Dutch language instructor told me that new parents serve the sugar coated anise seeds (called Muisjes) to their guests when a new baby is born. Beschuit (a twice baked toast round) is lightly buttered and then covered with either pink + white or blue + white sprinkles. A nice tradition, I think :-)
Here is how we like to eat our sprinkles:
Take one beschuit (or regular toast is fine), spread lightly with butter…
and top with chocolate flakes (vlokken),
or chocolate sprinkles,
or fruity sprinkles. Heerlijk! Delicious!
And while we are on the subject of food, Aledys asked me: I have a question for you, related to shopping for groceries: do you ever get things sent over from home, things that you can’t do without and you can’t find here in NL?
Aledys, I never special order items from the US. However, if someone is coming over and they ask if we want anything from the States, I do have a standard list: hazlenut coffee, marshmallows and marshmallow cream (though not so often anymore), specific US candy for Roxi to share with her homesick friends (peanut butter cups, twizzlers, smarties, candy corn), and Bounce dryer sheets. When my mother-in-law comes, she sometimes brings a case of root beer for Roxi. When we visit the US during Christmas time, we usually buy the things previously mentioned plus large containers of vitamins, spices, parmesan goldfish (lol!), and whatever treats strike our fancy at the time. Interestingly, the longer we are over here, the fewer things from home we crave. I am sure it is the same with you, isn’t it?
As we contemplate our move back to the UK, I am thinking of which Dutch goodies I might stock up on: stroopwafels, beschuit, hagelslag, Cruesli met chocolade…
Here’s one last foodie item. Mr. DJ went to the store last weekend and found this interesting substitute for marshmallow peeps:
They are Gesuikerde Haasjes or sugar coated bunnies. And they taste like sugar coated circus peanuts!
That’s it for this round of Ask an Expat. As always, if you have a question for me please leave it in the comments and I’ll try to answer them next Thursday :-)
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Wordless Wednesday ~ 34: On thin ice (Netherlands)
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A few more photos from the Weekend
The snowdrops glowed.
The woodpeckers made deep knocking noises on the trunks of trees.
Beautiful rose-ringed parakeets graced the bare branches.
And a happy dog raced through the woods.
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Sunny, Sunny, Sunny, Snow
Three days of gorgeous, sunny weather with amazing blue skies. That’s what we enjoyed Friday-Sunday. Sadly, I had two sickies in the house–Mr. DJ and Roxi with matching head colds. Sunday, Mr. DJ felt well enough to take me and Trudy for a walk in a sunny park. Notice I did not say it’s been warm. LOL!
Today, we woke to a light snow. It’s all gone now, but it was a little disheartening to see it after those three beautiful days.
BTW, how did it get to be March? Yikes.
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And pretty much a Wordless Thursday too…
Spring has sprung chocolate-wise, at least.
I’m moving the majority of my art studio downstairs (a lot of junk!), so I’m just popping in to share this adorable store front with you. I may need to get one of those chocolate chickens!
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Wordless Wednesday ~ 33: Stand on the Right (London)
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Letting Spring in
It’s a glorious morning here in The Hague. Blue skies, sun, milder temperatures. I’ve shed my winter coat for now and am enjoying this warm respite. I see we have “heavy snow” predicted for Saturday. Boo! Winter, you were charming at first, but I’m so over you.
Lucylucia asked me yesterday if we were affected by the storm (Xynthia) that hit much of Western Europe last weekend. We were very fortunate and only had a bit of heavy wind and a steady rain–nothing like the torrential weather our poor neighbours to the south had to endure.
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Awww. We’re back.
Yes, we are back. Yes, we had too much fun. No we did not want to leave. I think that bodes well for our return to the UK this summer :-)
We lucked out and had beautiful weather on Friday, our last full day in London. Roxi and I went to the Tate Modern for a little gift store shopping. This is the Millennium Bridge, btw.
View from the bridge, port side walking toward the Tate Modern.
Starboard view from the bridge.
And turn around at the end of the bridge for a lovely view of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
I saw these funny ads for Marmite cereal bars in Waterloo Station.
Despite my new-ish-found appreciation for Marmite, I’m not sure I would go for this cereal bar ;-)
On Friday, we visited with my nephew who just happened to be in town from Texas. We also went out to Surrey to take a peek at a town where we might move. We’ll be going back to England to look for a house in a couple of months. This is NOT my favourite part about being an expat. Still, it will be nice to move back to England.
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Alice in Wonderland premiere!
No, we didn’t get to go. We just happened to be in Leicester Square yesterday and saw the crowd.
These Johnny Depp fans were great! Edward Sissorhands, Sweeny Todd, Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka and The Mad Hatter.
Let me just point out that we were there about 1:00 and the premier was sometime in the evening. Here’s a link to an article from the Daily Mail with photos of the actors arriving at the opening. Here’s another link to another article and a short video on BBC News.
And here’s what we saw instead…
Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The songs! The costumes! The best overture ever–hee hee! A totally fun and campy show, but definitely parental guidance suggested. Adult themes, swearing (the F-word), and some particularly revealing costumes. A FABULOUS cast. It’s great to be in the West End again.