You’re putting WHAT on that sandwich?!

To say that Maarten and I have different food influences would be something of an understatement.  Well, actually he’s quite indifferent to food and I can’t stop thinking about it (as is evidenced in my dress size).  But we have some ideas as to what we should do when preparing and eating foods that are total polar opposites.  Things that are perfectly normal to ourselves, are sometimes repulsive to the other.

I read a fabulous blog every day called Mamamia and today there was a post all about food quirks.  This made me think about the cultural food quirks that I’ve noticed about living here.  Quirks that if you ask the average Dutch person they will tell you it is perfectly normal and that my idea of normal is bizarre.  I watched an entire thread yesterday in a fabulous online ladies group discussing this very idea.  Some of these very accomplished women have given up preparing particular foods that they love because for their Dutch inlaws as they are too scared to try something different to what they would normally eat.  I’m not too sure how it would go down at home if I decided I wouldn’t eat boerenkool or andijve because who mixes lettuce with mashed potato?!

Some of the funny little differences I’ve noticed are:

Putting tomato sauce on the top of a toasted sandwich.  This my friends, is a crime against toasted sandwiches.  Tomato sauce does not belong anywhere near a toasted sandwich.  Toasties are for fillings like cheese, ham, tomato, chicken, onion, tinned spagetti (this may be an Australian food quirk though), but never tomato sauce.

Pre-packaged baking mixes.  Really?  It doesn’t take that much longer to bake a cake from scratch.  I don’t get why it is so difficult to find quality baking ingredients, but fifteen different varieties of home-made-brownie-just-add-water packages.  The level of surprise people have when I mention that something is huisgemaakt never ceases to amaze me.  It’s like I’ve just turned water into wine..!

Would you like spit with tha

Febo.  I’m not sure if this is actually horrific or genius.  It’s like a vending machine for nasty deepfried food.  I’ve never actually eaten anything out of the Febo boxes, mostly because I’ve heard stories of people paying to lick an item only to put it back for someone else to enjoy later...  I have been known to take friends to a Febo just for a photo op.  I’m clearly not the only one who thinks it’s odd...


Haring (pickled herring).  Nothing more to add here.  Gross.

Haring

Paling (smoked eel).  See above.

French fries with mayonnaise.  If you ask any Dutch person, they will tell you that it is absolutely mandatory to have mayonnaise with fries.  It’s to the point where wherever you order french fries you will either:  be asked if you want mayo, or just get it automatically.  What?  you want tomato sauce?!  You can’t have tomato sauce on fries!


La Place.  For the uninitiated, La Place is a tray restaurant.  You know, where you grab a tray at the start and choose what you want then pay for it.  However, the Dutch quirk is that you can also order a steak or pizza, but it’s made to order and you must stand around and wait for it.  Loads of fun when it’s right on dinner time and there are ten others ordering steaks at the same time...

Meat balls in soup.  All soup.  Even vegie soup.  That vegetarians would eat.  You can even buy mini meatballs called soepballetjes (soup balls) for when you make your own.  Although, 100% home made soup is not very common.  Not when there is a fabulous range of pre-made soups here to choose from!

Hageslag.  To you and me, this is a variation on hundreds and thousands.  Or sprinkles.  You know, the brightly coloured balls you would have as fairy bread at kids birthday parties.  Except here it is in all different flavours (even licorice flavour) and is a staple food item in every pantry.  I have colleagues who eat hageslag on bread every day for lunch.  The health benefits?  About the same as in fairy bread.

Congratulations, it's a Girl!

 

 

Speaking of coloured sprinkles, Beschuit met muisjes is another quirky food.  As far as The Rules go, when a child is born, the new parent must supply all visitors (and colleagues) with beschuit met muisjes.  The beschuit is a dry round crispbread and the muisjes are pink or blue balls (depending on whether you have a boy or girl).  The muisjes taste like aniseed and the beschuit is dry and guaranteed to crumble all down your shirt, closely followed by all the muisjes for the energetic new parent to clean up once you leave.

I almost forgot one!  Leverworst (liverwurst).  Belongs with the haring and paling.  Yuck.

Now I’ll put the shoe on the other foot for a moment and talk about foods I eat (and the way I eat them) can be seen as slightly odd (or gag inducing) for Maarten and other Dutchies...

Roast pumpkin.  Actually pumpkin in any form other than pumpkin soup.  It’s a vegetable that my mum would prepare every day (meat, potatoes, pumpkin and vegies).  My inlaws ate roast pumpkin for the very first time when I cooked it.  My mum’s special pumpkin cake recipe is a huge hit with the entire Dutch family.  Although, they may just be saying that to be polite.  Actually, as pretending to like something when you don’t is completely foreign to Dutch people, they must genuinely like the cake!  Yay for me!

Vegemite.  OK.  I’m copping out a bit here.  The entire world outside Australia thinks vegemite is disgusting.  Back when I was tour guiding, we always had vegemite in out food packages that almost nobody ever ate.  I don’t know why they didn’t supply nutella instead.  When I was a kid I wasn’t so keen, so used to mix it with honey on my sandwiches (food quirk perhaps?), but now I love it.  Not as much as I like Promite however.  Which leads me to...

Promite.  Similar in principle to vegemite, although this one is so hard core that not even all Australians like it.  The flavour is very strong.  Kind of like the child of vegemite and marmite on steroids.  I think it’s great on toast and as a toasted sandwich together with cheese.  Maarten won’t let me kiss him if I’ve been eating Promite.  Safe to say it’s something that he finds disgusting...?

Dipping food items other than biscuits (or plain flavoured crisps) into the dip.  This one might just be a Maarten and Nerissa thing, but I can’t be sure.  I almost made Maarten puke when I dipped my chorizo into the dip once.  I was told I have to stop, or he would puke.  He even gets upset if I dip flavoured crisps.

There are all sorts of native Australian foods that the majority of the Australian population finds a bit disgusting, let alone the rest of the world.  Witchetty Grubs for one.  Fat white catterpillars that live in the ground that can be eaten raw or cooked.  Smells like fried eggs and tastes like peanut butter.  Apparently.  You won’t get me near the little suckers.

Peanut butter flavoured animals?  Yes please!

 

So what Dutch food quirks have you noticed?  What are things that you eat that the regular Dutchie might find horrifying?

Weekendje Weg - Prague

Last weekend we had the great pleasure of a short holiday to Prague.  I had no idea what to expect, so everything was a wonderful surprise! 

I’m actually supposed to be staying home on occasion so I can take the time to change my name on my passport to Muijs, but as we’re always off on some trip or another, I haven’t yet had the chance.  If I do it within the first year of getting married, the process is free.  After that, not free.  So I need to get my backside into gear and stop booking flights!  At this stage I can’t change the name until at least June, and we’re also planning a trip to Germany/Luxembourg then, so I might not even make that!

But anyway.  

Back to Prague.  As usual, we booked a cheap flight with EasyJet.  I can’t stress how fantastic the airline is.  I know many people moan about their experiences, but I have honestly never had a bad one that wasn’t my own fault.  Presuming that 35kg of luggage would be let through for free was very naive.  It was also a pretty picture dumping all my worldly possessions out onto the ground in the check in hall to decide what could be offloaded and what was absolutely vital.  I even contemplated flying my friend over to Amsterdam with me as the ticket price for her was going to be cheaper than the excess baggage!  I have my perfect ritual which involves getting to the airport early enough to be through immigration and at the front of the boarding queue so I can get on the plane early.  I’m terrified of being last and then having to sit in the middle seat.  I’ve read so many nasty articles about fat people hogging their neighbour’s seat space that I just want to make sure I’m not “one of those space hoggers.”  Irrational much?  Oh, and if I’m travelling with Maarten he sits at the window and I take the aisle leaving a space between us.  Worked every time so far.  

To be a bit fancy, I had booked a limousine via the hotel service as we were landing at night and the public transport link includes a bus and a tram/metro, so thought it would be much easier.  But we landed about 40 minutes early, so there was no car waiting for us.  We stood around for ages wondering if it was all a bit fat cock-up, but our driver finally arrived.  Not wearing a limo driver outfit.  When we went outside to our “limo”, it was a dodgy looking old Volkswagen Passat!  Bloody limo indeed.  It was with fairly serious reservations that we climbed in the car.  The driver had no English (and fair enough too), so he could have been driving us to our death for all we knew!  Our worries were all in vain, however.  We were dropped at our lovely Elephant Design Hotel in plenty of time and the trip cost us about €25 in total.  

These BBQs were everywhere. Smelled awesome!

The hotel itself was beautiful.  At only €49 per night for the two of us including breakfast, I think it was a price that couldn’t be beaten!  There was also a nice bathroom with a lovely deep bath and all the trimmings you’d expect from a nice hotel.  It was paradise compared to the hostel that our friends were staying at, that’s for sure!  At €16 per person per night, the heater was built into the wall and they could stick their hand through into their neighbour’s room!  Very classy.  As the tariff also included breakfast each morning it really made for a big saving, not having to eat out for three meals per day.  We made sure we always had a big breakfast and a late, small lunch so we could appreciate the incredibly filling Czech food in the evenings.


We (Maarten especially) are very keen to always try the local food as much as possible, and Prague certainly didn’t disappoint.  The first night we had a feast at a small absolutely empty restaurant.  I was a bit uncomfortable about going to a restaurant with no people in it, but the food was good so I’m unsure why it was empty!

Lunch of potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes!

For lunch the next day we stopped by a potato stall at a market.  I kid you not, this stall had cooked potatoes no less than 6 ways.  We opted for potatoes with sauerkraut and sausage.  It was delicious!  But in all honesty, I could have had one of each dish, they all looked so yummy.  Maarten wolfed his down and was eyeing mine off like he was going to mug me for it at any moment! 

If I can give you one tip and one tip only for Prague, it is to wear the best walking shoes you can find.  In Berlin I made the perilous mistake of wearing a combination of knee/high flat boots and my Converse AllStars.  As you can imagine I wanted to cut my feet off at the end of each day.  Actually, I wanted to cut my feet off by lunchtime.  So, this time round I opted for a pair of comfy trainers.  Good idea, right?  WRONG!  Trainers are not designed for walking long distances, and in Prague you walk looong distances.  I’m still kicking myself with my half mangled feet for not just wearing my hikers.  I don’t remember these problems from other trips, but if I think of it almost all my other trips have been in good weather or I’ve worn my hikers.  In the summer Birkenstocks are indispensable.  Say what you will about their attractiveness, but they are the most comfortable shoes in the entire universe.

Charles IV Bridg

Where did we walk?  Well, from our hotel we walked to the Republican Square and then on to the Main Square, which is where the main attraction - the Astronomical Clock is located.  We weren’t in time for the ‘show’ on the first day so we kept walking on to the Charles Bridge, which is probably one of the most famous bridges in Europe.  It’s named for Charles IV and was finished in the 15th century.  At one time it was the most important link between eastern ad western Europe.  A fun fact that Wikipedia told me is that INXS filmed their video for their best song (in my opinion) Never Tear Us Apart in Prague and on the Charles Bridge especially, which I never realised!  The bridge itself is crazy busy, with literally thousands of people crossing in one direction or another.  The edges are lined with hawkers selling photos, portrait sketches and kitcsh souvenirs, but strangely none of them are too in your face.  They’re all quietly going about their business, so crossing the bridge wasn’t the confronting experience it could have been.

Old Castle Steps

Finally, once across the bridge we made our way up to the castle.  And up it was.  We started up the steep streets, and then made a quick turn to see if we could avoid the masses and were then faced with about a hundred miles of stairs (also in the film clip!) which are known as the Old Castle Stairs.  Now, after living in Edinburgh I’m used to stairs to get from one part of the city to the other, but these stairs put anything Edinburgh has to offer to shame!  I didn’t take the time to count how many there were, but surprisingly I didn’t want to die by the time I reached the top.  I’d recommend taking the stairs to the castle rather than the long steeply sloped street.  You avoid a lot of tourist shops this way too!


When we finally made it to the top of the mountain (that might be a small exaggeration) the view of the entire city was staggering.  At least, it would have been if the sky wasn’t so hazy.  It looked as though Prague hasn’t seen any rain in a long time.  I don’t think the haze was all smog, it seemed more like it was a bit dusty.  All the cars were covered in dirt and it was very dry.  But still, the view was amazing.  You could see what seemed like the entire city from the castle walls.  So after some jostling to get a good photo, we decided to go inside.

What a shock!  The castle itself isn’t really a traditional castle, more a sprawling collection of beautiful buildings.  Did I mention that the castle and the bridge, along with a large portion of the old town are all UNESCO listed?  

Inside the castle itself the amount of people was staggering.  I think you’d have a quieter time going to Disneyland!  The best part is, most of the castle is free to walk around.  You need to buy tickets to go into many of the buildings, so we bought Short tickets which included the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Old Royal Palace, St. George's Basilica, and the Rosenberg Palace.  The queues to get in each building were huge but moved quickly and the cathedral was a sight to behold, which in its current form dates from the mid 14th century and is the single most commanding presence on the Prague skyline.  It is easily as impressive as the Notre Dame in Paris and I would venture as far as to say that it is more beautiful inside.

Cathedral of St. Vitus

 

Once we left the castle we walked back over the bridge and then on through the Jewish quarter with the intention of visiting the cemetery, which is one of the must-see sights in Prague with all the headstones piled on top of one another like a scene from a Tim Burton movie.  But, when we stood at the front gate we found that we couldn’t just visit the cemetery, but had to buy a reasonably expensive ticket to enter the Spanish Synagogue as well.  I have to have a moment of honesty here, I’m not really interested in Jewish history.  I’m very interested in the holocaust, but I’m just not that interested in any other part of the religion.  In the same way that my Fabulous Aunts aren’t all that interested in castles.  So, we decided that the cost was more than we were prepared to pay and kept on walking.  And walking.  When we finally  made it back to the hotel in the late afternoon we’d walked the soles off our shoes and were absolutely exhausted.  Cue nap time.  I think we passed out actually.  We managed to stagger out later for some food and a couple of amazing beers.  Who would have thought that Budweiser actually tasted good?

Astronomical Clock

After wolfing our breakfast down the next morning we headed off to be in the Old Town Square in time for the show at the Astronomical Clock.  Fun facts about the Astronomical Clocks are that at being about 600 years old it’s the oldest working clock of its kind, although the apostles were added only about 150 years ago.  Presumably the crowds on the hour weren’t big enough prior to that and they needed to give the clock a bit more of a tourist pull.  All joking aside, the clock is wonderful however the pushing and shoving to see the apostles on the hour is ridiculous.  I gained far more enjoyment from looking at the clock without the show.

The crowd on the hour for the Astronomical Clock

After the show, we walked along the Wenceslas Square and on to another, lesser known Vyšehrad Castle (well, fortress) via the Dancing House.  It felt like a thousand miles to walk down there, but when we finally made it Vyšehrad Castle was a major highlight for me.  It’s said that this fortress, dating from the 10th century is the site of the first settlement in Prague.  It’s the home of the city’s oldest building, Saint Martin’s Rotunda and probably the most interesting view of the city and the Vltava river that we experienced.  We could walk around the entire fortress wall, and I just loved it.

Dancing House

Looking at our watches, this adventure had taken most of the day, so we decided to go back to the hotel via the tram.  Public transport in Prague is ridiculously cheap.  We bought a 24hr ticket (so we could take the tram to the airport the next day) for about 100kr per person, which is a little less than €5.  Ridiculously cheap.  Feeling ripped off at home?  I know I am.  Glad I’m not reliant on public transport all the time!

Moravian Sparrow

On the last evening we went for dinner at a lovely Czech restaurant called Kolkovna.  It’s a chain style restaurant, and there are few of them around Prague.  I took the opportunity to try the ultimate Czech dish, Moravian Sparrow.  Sounds interesting I hear you think.  Sparrow for dinner?  Well, Czech dishes all have names that don’t tend to resemble what you’re getting in the slightest.  For example, my Moravian Sparrow was actually roast pork with red and white cabbage, along wih potato dumplings and gravy.  The food was absolutely delicious, and the epitome of what you would categorise as comfort food.  Oh, and it goes without saying that the beer was fantastic.  Another Pilsner Urquell if you please, for the price of a pack of chewing gum in Holland.  Eating and drinking was so cheap it couldn’t really be true.  A two course meal at a reasonably expensive restaurant (by expensive I mean touristy) like Kolkovna was about €25 including a massive beer each.  I’m glad I don’t live in Prague, purely because the food was so tasty and calorific that I would be housebound or hospitalised within months!

Once you’re done gorging yourself on pork, potato dumplings and a litre of beer, it’s essential that you get out and walk along the Vltava river in the dark.  The city is spectacular when the sun goes down.  The view of the castle is inspiring, and the Charles Bridge is just a little less crowded.

All in all, in our three day visit to Prague, we spent around €225 (plus €150 for accommodation and €95 for flights).  All in all, the trip cost under €500 and we had a fabulous time.  Would I go back?  Book me a flight, baby!

Before and After - an Expat Meme

I recently joined the Insego expat group online, and am only just beginning to pay attention and become a little bit active.  I mostly use the site as a wonderful resource as there are many excellent and relevant posts from others in my exact same situation.  It’s great to know that I’m not alone! 
One such post via Insego is from a fantastic blog A Touch of Dutch, that I thoroughly recommend you read.  Isabella has created a series of questions a couple of years ago now related to impressions of the Netherlands before and after becoming an expat in the Netherlands (or wherever you may be or if you have ever been an expat).  Please feel free to copy and paste this and share on your own blog, and it would be wonderful if you would share in the comments here (and I’ve linked this to the original blog).

Before:

Before you knew you'd be coming to the Netherlands, for whatever reason you originally came to the Netherlands, truthfully how much did you know about the country? 

Not a great deal, I must be honest.  I knew how to say “Proost” from my tour guide days, but I knew nothing of the culture (aside from the prostitution and drug laws) and when I was very young I honestly thought that the dykes were huge concrete walls.  I knew it was very flat, and the home of windmills.  My mum collects Delft Blue ceramics, so that’s one thing I knew a bit about.

Did you learn about the Netherlands in school when you were growing up?  

Not that I remember.  We did learn about different countries obviously, but nothing stands out.  I learned that it was Abel Tasman who first discovered Tasmania and went on to discover New Zealand.  We learned more about Australia, and I always knew a lot about British and American history (British because I’m fascinated by it and American because we can’t help but learn about it through popular culture).  I knew more about the VOC than anything else from reading Wilbur Smith books based on the Seven Years War!

Do you have family who is Dutch or Dutch heritage?  

Not directly.  My mother’s first cousin married a Dutch man (at least his parents were Dutch), but I couldn’t tell you where in the Netherlands they came from.

Were you aware the language the Dutch spoke was Dutch and not German or any other language?  

Yes.

Had you ever lived outside of your home country for longer than one month prior to living in the Netherlands?  

Yes.  After I finished school I spent time in Malaysia on a student exchange program.  It really gave me the bug and all I wanted to do once I came home was travel.  In 2003 I spent 7 months working in New Zealand, and then in 2006 I went to England for about 12 months, then on to Scotland for another year, and then moved to the Netherlands.  Initially I had only intended to be away for 12 months as I had big plans to go back to tour guiding on the west coast of Australia.  Still haven’t made it...

Had you learned to speak any other language than your own, even if only partially so, before coming to the Netherlands?  

I studied French at school, but can’t remember much.  I learned quite a bit of Malay while I was living in Malaysia.  And then because it is quite a similar language to Malay, I came home and studied Indonesian at university.  My skills are rusty at best and non-existent at worst though these days!

When you learned you'd be coming to the Netherlands, did you feel it was important to learn Dutch?  

I know the answer you want to hear is yes!  Absolutely!  The single most important thing ever!  But actually that wasn’t the case at all.  I never had a concrete plan to live in the Netherlands long term (still don’t), so only really intended to learn enough to get by (shopping, eating out etc).  Due to the nature of my visa I was called up for the compulsory integration (Inburgering Cursus), and although it was tedious to begin with and I was resentful of being forced into it, I’m glad I did the course.  I can now confidently go about my daily life without having to hide behind my lack of language skills.

Did anyone prepare you with information of any type before you came to live in the Netherlands, did you attempt to find information on your own, or did you come to the Netherlands without preparing?  

Let’s just say that before I came here I could probably have sprouted the contents of the IND website on command.  I knew everything possible about the visa process.  I picked up the “Laura Speaks Dutch” podcast from iTunes (highly recommended for a bit of pre-arrival study), and I came back and forth for several visits so I was somewhat prepared.

How did your friends and family react when they learned you'd be moving to the Netherlands?  

They were very supportive.  I’m sure my parents were thinking that I would never come home, and if they were upset with my decision they never held it against me.  Most friends were very supportive as well, but a couple were a bit miffed that I was extending my time abroad even further.

What did you think would be your biggest challenge living in a foreign country? Or did you feel you would face any big challenges?  

I didn’t think I would have any problems adapting to the culture, as it wasn't the first time I'd moved to a new country, and I wasn’t too scared about the language issue as I wasn’t planning to stay forever.  Strangely enough, the biggest challenge I thought I would face was that the cars are on the other side of the road!  I never thought I would be able to get my head around it, but now it’s quite normal for me.  And I have loads of problems adapting to the culture...

And after:
 

Upon arriving, can you remember the overall impression you had in the first 48 hours?  

I couldn’t believe I had done it!  I was so happy to be with my boyfriend.  I didn’t have much time to reflect though, because we were off to a festival within a couple of days of my arrival!  I do remember the stress of the drama from the IND and at that point I had nowhere to turn to get information.  This is before I discovered sites like Insego and Expatica!

Tell me about your bicycle, if you have one. Is it borrowed/rented or do you own it? And how often do you use it weekly?  

I use by bike everyday to cycle to and from work.  It’s about 8km each way and I only take the bus when the weather is just absolutely appalling (windy and raining or very icy).  I’ve had more flat tyres than I care to remember – there is a wonderful habit here of dropping glass bottles on the ground.  I’m so pleased to have a bike to ride.  It’s lovely getting out and about and we sometimes just go for a bike ride at the weekend.
 

Name three of your favourite things about the Dutch culture which first come to mind:  

Food -  I know that many people complain about the boring food here in the Netherlands, but I really enjoy a plate of boerenkool and rookworst.   Carnaval – It’s fantastic to see people who might otherwise be a bit uptight during the rest of the year letting loose and getting dressed up to celebrate.  Art – the Netherlands has such a rich art culture, and works of the old masters are easily accessible, which I love.

Of the things you never knew before coming here, what have you learned about the Netherlands?  

The Dutch people are a lot different at home to when they are abroad.  And the traffic is horrendous!

Culture shock. Does this ring a bell? [Not sure what culture shock is? Click here to learn more.]  Oh absolutely.  Using the link as a guide, I think I swing between the Adjustment Phase and then will regress to the Negotiation Phase at times.  I would like to think I’ll make it to the Mastery Phase, but I don’t know if I ever will.  Some of the cultural differences just make me so angry that I don’t see myself coming to terms with them, but one can hope!

How far have you come with learning Dutch?  

I’ve come a long way with learning Dutch.  In the last twelve months I have gone from pigeon Dutch to being able to attend appointments and go out for dinner with friends and participate in the general conversation without spending long periods staring at my hands.  I still do doctor’s appointments and hair appointments in English, mostly because my vocab hasn’t extended that far yet.  I have a wonderful hairdresser that I trust immensely, so I think I might start talking to her in Dutch next time I go to see her.

What was/is your overall impression of the inburgering [integration] program?  

It’s a bureaucratic nightmare.  There is minimal information available to people like myself who have little or no language skills to start with, and it’s not until I started the course that I could find info, or even know what to look for.  There’s no indication when you arrive that the nature of the visa will mean taking the courses – I only found out about it through the Expatica website!  Hence the birth of this blog.

Has your view on politics or world issues changed from how you previously viewed things before living in the Netherlands?  

The rise of Geert Wilders has probably pushed me further to the left than I would normally have been politically, but I don’t think my views of the world have changed since moving here.

Coffeeshops and smartshops. What is your opinion?  

Take it or leave it.  Not interested.  Actually, I would be happy if coffeeshops were abolished.

Since living here, have you learned anything new about yourself? Or perhaps have you learned anything else new? A new hobby or a new way of life?  

I’ve learnt that my tolerance levels know no bounds.  I also work in IT now, a profession that I never ever considered myself suitable for.  Actually, I quite enjoy it.  I don’t have to talk to customers all day, which makes me very, very happy.