Food insects in the Netherlands

On one of the drives from the UK to Germany, I had a passenger with who was able to take this picture, we were somewhere en route from the port of Hook of Holland towards DE:

In case you're also wondering about 'food insects', I had to go to their website, they sell a wide variety of crickets and items for terrariums...i.e. food for frogs, lizards, snakes, etc. On the overnight ferry, when you arrive prior to 7 AM the mind gets a little goofy. I think we spent at least 10 minutes brainstorming about what kind of 'food insects' people would be eating, and in what dishes! :-)

Falling in love all over again...

with life in the Netherlands.
To backtrack...many years ago, in my student years, I had an hour long commute to my summer internship and job. I had picked up a Teach Yourself Dutch book and cd and became quite proficient at small talk. As I was in Washington, DC I occasionally crossed paths with Dutch speaking persons who were absolutely enamored with my mangling of their native tongue.

The first time I set foot in Europe, I came into Edinborough. You never forget your first, and it was October 2000, and it was magical. It dumped rain and the sky was alive with greys and blues. I was here to deliver training to the European team who had come in from the contintent and everyone treated me so very well. The German gave me a Mozart chocolate and the French speaker and I connected via Spanish as their English was awful. I vowed to return.

I came back for the December holiday season in 2000. I had a route of the 'basic' European countries, doing Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Spain was comfortable, like a cousin whom you share enough with (my US Spanish tends to lean toward Central America), and Belgium was friendly and warm. However, Amsterdam was everything and more.

When I had the chance to return to Europe, it ended up being Germany for so long. To escape, I'd drive over the border for the day, either to Belgium or the Netherlands, in particular for my plant purchases in the plentiful Dutch greenhouses.

If you would have given me a choice of anywhere to live before moving to Europe, the Netherlands would have been in the top three. Knowing what I know now after 7+ years here, it would still have a place there.

And before the expats over the border errupt--I realize I have my rose-colored glasses on for this one. I had two European colleagues in Germany who were both property owners in Amsterdam (one Spanish, one Irish), taking advantage of the 10 year tax credit for foreign workers. When asked which they preferred, living in the Netherlands or Germany, both pointed 100% to Germany, which surprised me immensely. Their reasoning: the Dutch tend to be closed communities and can be prejudiced, pompous, and cold. One of them ended up marrying a German, so I guess that clinches the case.

In any event, I still visit the Netherlands when I can swing a trip. This go round, I went to Amersfoort. As the Netherlands was playing Japan in the World Cup, there was plent of orange on display in the windows:

This white cat came out to greet me when I stooped down to get a photo. I was tempted to take it with me, but thought better of it since I still had Berlin and Brussels to go. ;-)

The kind folks of Amersfoort must not get so many tourists. They graciously halted on my side of the street when I shot random photos, like of this 'American' store.

This one--I need to inquire with my Dutch colleagues. I saw a few rucksacks strung up with the flag. My guess is that students had taken or passed exams, but feel free to enlighten me on this one:

From the boat - harwich to hook

Travel becoming civilized again...for 53 GBP (63 EUR/78 USD) I get a private room with clean sheets, a hot shower with free shower gel and a full-sized towel, free tv (watching the first eviction from UK Big Brother) and free wireless internet (using my tiny mini pc):

The nice thing about ferry travel is that you can bring whatever food and liquids along which you can carry. After taking my two law exams this week, I'm relaxing this weekend, before gearing up for work stuff in Berlin starting Monday morning. I brought along plenty of food to avoid the overpriced ferry food costs, including strawberries from my garden, a tiny bottle of wine from M&S, and a hunk of cheddar to go with the wine:

If you want to take this trip, book online at Stena, or use their Irish site if you wish to pay in Euros. You'll get a better deal if you book at least a few weeks in advance. On either side (Hook or Harwich), the train station is on site, so it makes it a nice launching point into NL or the UK.

The additional nice thing--check-in for the 23.45 ferry opens around 20.15 and closes around 23.00. So you're free to come at the beginning and to sack out to try and maximize sleep time for the 07.45 NL landing time...or come towards the end to maximize your visit in the UK.

If you're coming via train in the UK, it's easy, take Anglia Rail to Harwich International station.

I have a busy trip coming up--Berlin, Paris and Brussels. I'll give posting a try, where I can find free internet. :-)

One if by land, two if by sea

On Thursday night I arrived at the Hook of Holland ferry terminal just before 20.00 for the 22.00 ferry. I had never driven this route before, so I left plenty of time to allow for traffic and getting lost. From the Cologne area, it's actually quite easy, mappy sends you up the A3, then over to Venlo, and onward to Tilburg/Breda, then to the Rotterdam Ring road. The tiny town of B is slightly north of Cologne, and door to door my trip time was 3 hrs 15 minutes. I was taking it easy as Mr. Polo was fully loaded and not going much above the speed limit. I imagine you could do it faster if you tried.

Upon arriving, the terminal seemed very empty. Check-in is from 18.45-21.15. When bringing along a car, assuming you already have your ticket purchased and printed out, you drive immediately up to the check-in booth. There were no cars in front of me, and two lanes to choose from which shared a middle booth. (So if you were driving a UK car you could choose the lane which put the booth window on the right, while in my German car I choose the opposite.)

Upon driving up, I saw the clerk look at something and then greet me in Dutch, so I think there was a little camera showing the number plate. I responded with a general 'Hallo'. She continued in Dutch and asked me for my passport. Once I handed it to her she switched to English and was very friendly.

So I'm driving a car with a German license plate which is packed to the gills.
My passport is American.
I purchased my ticket on the Irish version of the Stena ship site (as opposed to the UK version) because I wanted to pay in Euros to avoid a conversion fee.

After she gave me a room key and a little map 'and remember, once you pass my gate, you are on UK time!' and the next step was to proceed up to the next booth, passport controls.

At passport controls, there was a man in a safety vest standing in the middle of the lane. Why they do not invest in more durable gate controls rather than humans, I am curious. He also started with Dutch and then switched to English upon receiving my passport.
Passport guy: Are you travelling alone tonight?
Heather: (slightly confused look, as Mr Polo was visibly packed up, including my tent and backpack on the front seat). Yes.
PG: (now noticing the full car). Moving?
Heather: yes, moving flat to the UK, from Germany.
PG: I need to take this inside to stamp it, just a moment.
Heather: Sure, no problem.

I can see him in my mirror, he's showing my passport to the other guy operating the other window. After about 5 minutes, he comes back out.

PG: I've never seen this before. (waving my passport)
Heather: You've never seen an American passport before??? (realizing how incredulous I sounded after it came out of my mouth. I realize this isn't a common travel route for tourists, but really, now.)
PG: No, these pages with letters. I've only seen numbers before.
Heather: (relieved) Oh! That's the extra pages, when you get them added later.
PG: Hmm. When did you enter the Schengen area?
Heather: Umm. Christmas time? I arrived in Holland tonight from Germany. I am a permanent resident in Germany; I live and work in Germany.
PG: So then you're moving to the UK then you come back to Germany to return the rental car?
Heather: I return from the UK by ferry on Monday, then I return to Germany. But it's my company car, not a rental.
PG: I need to ask my chief about these letters. Can you drive over here, I show you where.
Heather: (drives into the detention zone and opens a pack of crackers.)

Blue Immigration Police car zips up near me. I draft an SMS to my Dutch colleagues to come rescue me from the Dutch slammer at Hook, with it one button away from sending in case I need to send it in a hurry.

Blue Police Man: (appearing at my window after another 5 minutes) Hello!
Heather: (black coat now covered in Saltine crumbs.) Hi.
BPM: (smiling) Going to the UK tonight, you will need this. (handing me my passport)
Heather: Did you give it a nice stamp?
BPM: Yes of course! Sorry about that, my guy, he had never seen the letter pages before.
Heather: No problem. Better safe than sorry. (Wondering if that phrase is fully understood by Dutch speakers, or too colloquial. Also wondering if they have an information source where they look up standards like the letter pages or do they have a special hotline to a US government person who would answer such questions on the fly? Or would the chief be expected to know all such variations?)
BPM: (thumbs up and smiley): Have a safe trip!
Heather: (Dumbfounded, zipping away toward the boat, slowly realizing, this was the anti-German passport experience--someone just apologized to me rather than blaming me for their lack of knowledge and was friendly.)

Memo to self: If the UK doesn't work out, perhaps I need to think about working in the Netherlands...

How to make a full English vegetarian breakfast (in Germany)

Pre-requisite task: Find a nice-looking British person to execute all of the below steps for added authenticity. ;-)

1. Pop over to the closest British store to buy UK Heinz baked beans, or remember to pack a few cans in your suitcase the next time you're in the UK. Scoff greatly if someone suggests that you use German baked beans, or the Heinz baked beans sold in the Netherlands. Heat those up in a saucepan for a few minutes.

2. Buy some regular mushrooms, slice into halves, and heat those up in a saucepan with a little olive oil. (Humor the colonial and 'undercook' them, so that she doesn't whine later about them being overcooked.)

3. Fry up an egg. In particular, some free-range eggs from Muensterland will do quite nicely.

4. Top right, someone was feeling artistic with the balcony tomatoes. Normally it would be a larger one or two, sliced in half and fried, but these were raw as they are quite small, and so good anyway in their freshness.

5. Center, the Pièce de résistance, fry up some vegetarian sausages in a little olive oil. This variety comes from the Netherlands, from Goodbite, they are mildly spicy and very juicy for a soy product. Two thumbs up.



Need more info?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_breakfast

Shopping Sunday at Venlo Tref this weekend - Jan 13

I love the smell of commerce on a Sunday. My tiny, black, rock-hard heart is gently warmed and softened by the thought of a supermarket being open on a Sunday in Europe.

Venlo Tref: http://www.trefvenlo.nl/site/nederlands/openingstijden/

And of course, every Sunday is shopping Sunday at Jumbo Roermond.

Which one is better? Six of one half dozen of the other. Both are large supermarkets selling a wide range of items. Just going on size--I'd say that Tref is bigger and thus more choices.

Buying toilet paper on a Sunday with more than 5 options, how decadent.
(Where I live in Germany the standard supermarket options are somewhat limited.)

More on 'no love for the Germans' - the Dutch perspective

After yesterday's events, I asked my Dutch work colleague about the topic, knowing that he would give me the straight scoop. He also thought it was some slightly peeved Dutch people, just trying to irritate a German.

He is Dutch guy married to a German and working/living here for many years. However, he goes back over the border quite often with his company J car with its German license plate to work, visit family, and shop. He was telling me of one time, when he was driving this car in Holland.

A Dutch car with some 18 year-olds gave him the popular hand gesture in reference to a leader who was very popular in Germany in the late 1930's-early 1940's (not wanting to drive searchers to that topic here.) They both happened to leave at the same exit, and ended up next to each other at the red light at the bottom of the exit.

He couldn't resist to roll down the window and gesture to them to do the same. He then proceeded to rip them a new one in Dutch, his native language. He said the looks on their faces was absolutely priceless. Here they thought they were sticking it to a German, and instead they chose a fellow national.

He then gave me the tip--I should always keep something representing Holland handy in my car trunk for times when I go over the border, such as something orange to put in the back window, or something for one of the sports teams, or perhaps some Dutch reading material to have lying in the back seat. That will present the image, especially as I don't tend to go too far into Holland, that I could be a Dutch person working just over the border. And it will perhaps lower the possibility of future negative incidents.

'The funky chicken' or 'No love for the Germans'

One of my German work colleagues was recently telling me about his visit to Vegas, and how he went with a few of his 20-something aged German friends, and how the desk person said, "oh no, the Krauts are here" recognizing their Germanness even before they opened their mouths.

I tried to explain to him that it probably wasn't meant as an insult, but rather as American friendliness of making jokes. He said that he knew that, and he likes Americans and their friendly casual humor, and they enjoyed their trip to the US. He then said, "America is not like some other countries that absolutely do not like Germans at all." I wanted to hear more, but didn't want to push a topic that probably wouldn't be so nice for him to discuss, so I didn't. Besides, I've heard quite a bit from my other European colleagues on the topic of 'the Germans' so I already had an idea that they aren't liked a lot in certain countries.

On Sunday, D and I drove to Maastricht for reasons that belong in their own post. I parked in a public parking lot in town, one where you must buy a ticket from the little machine and leave it on your dashboard, but as it was Sunday, a ticket was not needed. We came back eight hours later and I went to the trunk to get out the map.

I noticed that while we were gone, someone had carefully placed a KFC bucket with all of their food trash in it directly behind the back wheel, so logically I would not see it, and then back up over it. In addition, there were chicken bones immediately in front of the same tire, I guess in the event that I happened to pull forward (which would not be necessarily expected, as I would need to go out on an angle that would put me going 'out' a row that was one way in the other direction.) In addition, the remaining chicken bones were scattered under the car, like someone made a serious effort to wing (intended pun) them there. Looking around we noticed no other German cars in the lot, and only one other in town.

My only guess on this one is that they saw the German license plate on the car and decided on a low level prank. Maastricht gets plenty of Germans as it's not so far from the border, and only around one hour, 15 min from Koeln. This situation was ironic on multiple levels to me, namely:

-I never eat at KFC as they don't have so many vegetarian options. I have no veg info in the car so they would not know the car belongs to a vegetarian. The use of chicken bones would be moderately offensive if the person would have known I am a vegetarian.

-While the car is registered and lives in Germany, I am not German. It's actually quite funny, knowing my lack of enthusiasm for Germany life that they wasted their energy trying to send an unfriendly message to a German and instead chose the German car not carrying Germans.

Next up: more details as to why we were there.

Saturday lunch: Vegetarian Thai green curry

I fell in love with green curry when I first had it at a Thai restaurant in Milwaukee. I ate the same dish multiple times just to cement in my head the full taste so that I could (try to) recreate it later.

Before I became vegetarian I used to always get Pad Thai when as my Thai food of choice, but as it tends to be made with fish sauce, I've since abandoned ship on that one unless I'm at a completely vegetarian restaurant. I've tried making it at home but it never quite has the right flavor.

However, you can easily make a green curry without fish sauce without compromising on the flavor. A lot of recipes for green curry are very complex, but here is a simplified version that I make in 15 minutes.

1. The most difficult part-find vegetarian green curry paste. I buy mine in Holland, this tends to be the main one sold in Asian food shops there. It is an import from Thailand to Holland, and it will set you back a few Euros, but with one this container you can make this meal at least 20 times.

Maybe Christina G knows where to buy it in Germany. I have seen the Thai Kitchen and Blue Dragon brands have it, but it's more of an oily sauce than a dry paste, and both contain fish sauce.

2. Fry tofu squares in oil. Then set the tofu aside.

3. Open a can of coconut milk. Personally I go for the 'light' coconut milk, but regular is also ok. I buy a refrigerated version from an Asian shop in Koeln or from Holland, but you can get the non-refrigerated kind also.

4. Put the coconut milk into a skillet on low heat. Put 1 or 2 tablespoons of the curry paste into the skillet also (depending on how strong of a curry taste you like). Keep stirring constantly. One clove of chopped garlic can also be added now, if you like.

In the meantime put the container of unused curry paste into an airtight container or ziploc baggy and put it into the refrigerator.

5. Throw in a few handfuls of chopped up mangold (chard), including the chopped up stems. Any dark, leafy green thing could also be substituted if you're not in Germany where mangold is currently abundant.

6. I like my dark, leafy greens to be barely cooked, so at this point I throw my tofu back into the skillet, so that it gets coated with the sauce. Stir some more.

7. If you're feeling especially adventurous, throw in a chopped up green Thai chili pepper (optional). Throw in a few basil leaves (optional). Take off heat.

8. Serve over rice or noodles of your choice. Today I was in the mood to have some Japanese noodles.

The final result:

The Oct 3 holiday in review - Part II

Following on Part I of the story, we walked all the way to the end of the street festival. I was surprised at how crowded it was considering it was still the work day, but we later found out it was the last day of the fair. Along the way we saw lots of rides and games, but nothing really stood out. I would have done the nice ferris wheel, but neither of us had brought a camera to capture the surrounding view.

I pointed out to D the camel racing game. It was a game I played often at the Jersey shore while growing up, but ours were jockeys on horses. It's sort of like skee ball, you have a small ball and must roll it up and aim for one of the 7 holes. The more difficult the hole the higher the points, or if you aim poorly the ball just comes back down the gutter and you get no points. As you get points, your camel/horse moves forward, competing against the other 13 or so players doing the same thing.

D. kindly offered that we should play a round, after I mentioned that I was 'the absolute best' at this game in my younger years. After overcoming the embarrassment that it was mainly children playing, we were signed up for two games each. Of course I won. I'm not sure if D was more embarrassed that I was as good as I said, or that his gf just triumphed over a group of 8 year olds. Then I lost the second game by a hair to the little girl sitting one seat over from me. The winning little girl gave her prize to her little sister who was sitting next to me. So I then gave my prize on the previous game to that little girl.

All gamed out we wondered back through the town for some final shopping. It was also a shopping Sunday that coming Sunday. Back at the car we had planned to have a drive back to Roermond to go to the supermarket. It was just before 17, but fortunately there wasn't much of a commuter backup in Weert. We made a quick stop at the garden center on the way out of town, but they did not have what I was seeking.

Earlier in the afternoon I had spotted a farm selling I was guessing pumpkins and that sort of thing based on a big pumpkin filled cart in the field. They had a Dutch flag out front and a sign saying something in Dutch, but it may as well have said 'Dutch drugs' for all we knew. I spotted it on the way back and we took a chance in pulling into the driveway at exactly 17.00. Once in the driveway you could see what you could not see from the road--the most beautiful display of bright orange pumpkins, along with other assorted gourds and that sort of thing.

It seemed to be a hobby farm as all they had were pumpkins and gourds, and each one had a tiny little handwritten price sticker. The display was laid out tastefully and meticulously in the garage/barn. Each item had been handwashed so everything was without a speck of dirt. The stems were fresh like everything had come from the immediately adjacent field. The best part was that the prices were a lot cheaper than in Germany where pumpkin retails for 1.50 eur/kilo.

D and I ended up with all that we could carry for 14 euros. For that princely sum I bought one perfect Halloween pumpkin, perhaps 5 pounds, a tall dark green gourd maybe 3 pounds, a short, squat and bumpy varigated 2 pound gourd, a small perfect pumpkin perhaps 2 pounds to sit next to my door in the hallway, a one pounder for the office, and two jack be littles at 50 cents each to give away to Germans who are temping for me. Yes, Halloween is my favorite holiday still.

-->If you want to go to this wonderful pumpkin stand, it's easy to find and a short trip if you've already made the trek to Roermond. Go to Roermond to the outlets. If coming from Germany from the east you'll probably come in on the N280, so that the outlet center is on your right and town proper is on your left. Just stay on the same main road and follow the signs toward Weert. The road will narrow down from two lanes in each direction to one, and you'll start to see crop fields.

The farm has a large Dutch flag out front and a sign in Dutch that meant nothing to either D or I understanding German. IF you happen to pass it (and you may as it is only a little driveway between a house and a cornfield), don't fret. You'll know for sure if you've passed it once you see a large horse-drawn cart filled with pumpkins etc. parked in the field next to it, which would be your signal to turn around.

Anyway...with the car filled with pumpkin purchases, we kept heading back in the Roermond direction, and upon reaching the outlet area again at 1720, we found it to be an absolute parking lot. No worries as we had planned to turn off anyway to go to Jumbo in Roermond. I like Jumbo as much as I like Tref in Venlo. Both have nice selections overall and good vegetarian selections. And, some recent good news:

JUMBO IN ROERMOND IS OPEN ON SUNDAYS FROM 12-17 FOR THE REST OF 2007 as some sort of trial phase. Supermarket shopping every Sunday of the year if I would like. Do you live in the Cologne/Dusseldorf area? Send me a note and we can arrange a train station where I can find you and I will drive you over to Roermond to share in my happiness and my desire to shop there on Sundays to show support of such a policy. My Dutch colleague found it amusing that the announcement was in Dutch on a sandwich board in front of the supermarket, but that they also provided a smaller translation in German.

While I shopped, D had 'bottle duty.' I have begun to carry around all extra bottles that need to be recycled outside of Germany. Like it's not enough of a hassle inside of Germany. Since I sometimes have worktrips to Belgium I end up picked up some raspberry beer there, as well as sometimes in Holland. I had around 20 extra bottles that belonged somewhere, but I was not sure where. Interestingly, the exact same cherry beer has two different bottle shapes depending on if it is purchased in Holland or in Belgium, and of course it can only go back from whence it came.

The people in Jumbo Roermond were so helpful trying as D was putting things into their automated machine and making it unhappy. Sometimes when you get a person, they know the bottle dimensions, so they will override the machine and take another bottle if they are selling the same exact thing but of a different variety, so the person recognizes what the machine cannot with its barcode rules. At the end of the day they managed to take everything except one type of Hoegaarden bottle that they explained says on the back that it is not a deposit returning bottle (oops) and a six pack of Budweiser bottles that they sell, but in a different bottle shape, so not returnable there.

We hopped back into the car at 18.00, but traffic was still an absolute parking lot so we decided to stop for dinner rather than risk getting home at 21.00 starving. We parked up and took a walk around already knowing in general Roermond town center. We went to New Delhi Indian restaurant which is located on Neerstraat 32 (very near to the town/mall entrance of Jumbo NOT the parking lot side) and is open Mon-Fri from 18-22.30 and Sat 17-23. It was not 'burn your mouth out' Indian, but a gentler, full of flavor Indian. Everything tasted like it was freshly prepared. The man and his daughter who run the customer side (I think Mom was in the kitchen cooking) were absolutely delightful in personality. Highly recommended and we would go back even if we didn't need to wait out a traffic jam. They do not serve alcohol, and my only regret was that I did not try their alcohol free wine as I saw another table order a second glass.

Finally it was after 20 by the time we were back in the car, and thankfully all the Germans were back over the border so the drive home only took an hour or so. We got pummeled by the fantastic rainstorms upon arriving back in the Cologne area but that was the first rain we saw all day, so ok.

The Oct 3 holiday in review - Part I

Earlier this week, Wednesday Oct 3, was the German reunification holiday, so a mid-week day off from work. I had not bothered looking for any travel opportunities because the Germans tend to book 51 weeks in advance, so the prices get jacked up.

I'm so far over on the western side of Germany where the only comment upon the day is to grumble about the reunification tax coming out of one's paycheck and how 'we never should have gone back together with them'. In the local paper there was a flea market scheduled, but otherwise, it would have been a day of sitting at home with all of the shops shut. So therefore, you know the drill...

At 10.30 we were off and heading immediately west, destination Roermond. We had planned to wander around the outlets and around town, wrapping it up with some shopping at Jumbo supermarket in Roermond. The expected drive time should have been one hour 20 minutes. However, as expected, the approximately 70 billion other Germans in the Cologne/Duesseldorf/Duisberg region, all also wanted to go over the Dutch border to shop. And they say Germans don't want the stores open any more than they are now. Pffui.

The traffic was obnoxious, so we finally rolled into Roermond at just before 13 and the outlet parking lot was closed which pushed us into the town proper where I already know that parking options are limited. After listening to the German cars beeping each other (which was why I was leaving Germany in the first place, for a break of Germany), I made the executive decision that we were getting back on the road and continuing westward.

D got out the map with the instructions-->find the next big Dutch city from here, which turned out to be Weert, a mere 17 km away. By this time we were rather hungry as it was working toward 14, and just in need of something like a McDonalds. The highway transitioned to a one lane road which then changed to a brick road--in Weert. Lo and behold a McDonalds sign pointing us toward the Centrum. Weert seemed from the road to be laid out in a circle, so we decided just to park and head in on foot.

I chose a parking spot, and as I was parking noticed that someone was watching me from a balkon. I take extreme (although laughable) pride in my parallel parking, and living in Germany has only made it that much better. If you need to get your manual car in or out of a spot uphill in in the sleet with a one inch clearance on either side, give me a call. Add added difficulty on this spot was that it crossed a bicycle lane, and as it was Holland a cycle was passing every 15 seconds, as well as a vintage Mercedes was parked behind me.

As we got out of the car--of course only after I asked D to confirm who the best parker in the Western world is--the older man on the balkon shouts something down to D. As we were coming from Germany, I was expecting him to shout at us to get out of his 'private' spot on the public street, based on the fact that he looked to be of retired age. D tried to figure out what he wanted in German, but wasn't getting it, so scurried off to get the parking slip. As I got out, the man's wife joined the man and he tried again with me.

He was commending me on my superb parking job. THIS is why I go to Holland. It made the almost three hour drive almost worth it, to have someone who appreciates good parking. (And I think it was his vintage Mercedes behind me.) D came back with the slip to put on the dashboard and we stood there a moment trying to figure out the best way to McDonalds. The ever helpful Dutch couple, seeing our confusion, starting to shout and point to direct us which street to take. How did they possibly know we wanted to go to McDonalds?

It became a little more clear once we followed their instructions, there was a huge street fair going on, and that is what they directed us to (conveniently located next to the McDonalds). We were so hungry we just went to the McDonalds anyway. I was a little disappointed, they did not carry the 'Groenburger' or the vegetarian burger that many Holland McDonalds sell. We then took a stroll down the main shopping street, where various things street fair things were set up, like games, food, rides, etc. I ended up finding a plain piece of pizza so all was well. The street fair went on for quite a long while, if you were speed walking from one end to the other, I imagine it would have taken 20 min, but we took our time, stopping to go into the open stores also.
To be continued...

Get out the wooden shoes and tulips

I'm going to the Netherlands for a few days. I'm speaking at a conference and then taking the opportunity since I'm already there Friday, to stay into the weekend.

I'm hoping this stay will be pleasant. The latest into the summer I've ever been there has been Apr 1. Usually I'm there in the cold and gray winter months and I've come to associate the country with a pensive melancholy that isn't all bad since it's balanced with warm pubs and bright shops.

Back on Sunday.

why June 7th is my favorite German holiday

--more often than not, it tends to rain on the May holidays. it never rains here on the June one, or so i think anyway. ;-)
--neither belgium nor the netherlands have this day as a holiday, so stores are open across the border. just think of the shopping possibilities. and even better, it's not just one or the other, so the crush of germans crossing the border will be a little more spread out.
--the germans don't go across the border so much on this holiday anyway, or for some reason there seems to be less traffic, perhaps not only for the above reason. i imagine if it's nice weather the rule is to stay home and work on the garden, because, well, it's the rule for June 7.
--my balkon garden actually has some green shoots and baby plants to look at where it didn't so much in May.
--i've started to regularly take my main holiday for the year in July. so now it's only a month away.

More on Holland supermarket shopping

Since my recent post on shopping at the Tref in Holland and since people are interested, today I give you more details about escaping to where the grass in greener.

Why do I like to shop at the supermarkets in Holland?
1. It's a more 'American' shopping experience, which I'm in the mood for about once every 8 weeks. Meaning specifically--the supermarkets there are bigger, similar to what you would find at home. Wide aisles, tall ceilings, and 15-20 cash registers. Further, because it's usually crowded with the Dutch as opposed to Germans, no one is bumping into you, pushing you aside, or breathing down your neck in line.

2. The variety and pricing of ethnic foods. If you like Mexican food, you're stuck with the basement of the Kaufhof Galeria for overpriced taco shells and fajita wraps, like they were airlifted in from Mexico instead of produced somewhere here on the continent. The soft faco wraps I would pay 3.99 for at Rewe in Germany, I can get for 2.39 at Tref. Additionally, there are a lot more Indian and Asian options available.

3. Options! Choices! Here is Germany it's very simple. There is one variety of soft taco wraps, and one of two brands of aluminum foil or plastic wrap, a handful of dish soap options, etc. Which is all fine and good when you're sending your boyfriend to the store for your dish soap, because when you say 'the lemon one' there IS only one lemon one so it makes his life easy. However, I like choice. I like to have to choose what type of toilet paper graces my bottom. Do I want the recycled non-bleach one, or the soft enough for a baby's bottom blue one, or the white one with pink clouds? Further, there are multiple sizes of various products, so I can choose whether I want the pink clouds in a four pack, or a 9 pack or 24.

4. Language - If you don't speak German, you can sometimes luck out and find a better product assortment that will include certain brands that have instructions in English, which is ever so helpful if you're using something that requires proper usage, like say, oven cleaner, and you don't want to look up all the words in your dictionary, you just want to use it already. There's also a pretty good chance that depending on where you are in Holland, you will find supermarket staff that speak English if you had a question.

5. Vegetarian options - Yeah, I already mentioned this before, but the assortment is better than in Germany. Specific brands you can usually find are Valess, if you're in a Jumbo supermarket (more on them below) they have their own branded veg products, as well as sometimes some Quorn products which are more expensive and a lesser assortment than in Belguim.

6. Packaged options - Yes, the natural in-season products that you buy direct from the farmer in Germany and then wash, cut, and assemble in a meal are the best. But remember those nice little convenient packages already chopped up and ready to go into the skillet from the US? Yep, they have them in Holland. Pick up your meat/tofu plus a veg packet plus a sauce and you're good to go. And you can find little bags of washed baby carrots. How lovely.

7. Vegetable options - Here in Germany it's tough to find a butternut squash where I live. For some reason they're plentiful in Holland supermarkets. Same thing on a scotch bonnet pepper.

8. American imports - For some reason, in the large Holland supermarkets you will find a selection of American products, at ridiculously expensive prices, similar to the British shop in Cologne. Sure you don't want to spend 4.99 euros on a Betty Crocker cakemix. However, if I do want to do so, I'd rather be overwhelmed with shelves of American products than have to visually sift through the British products to find the American ones (Sorry D!). Expensive products I've seen available in Holland: pam spray, rootbeer, jim beam hot wing sauce, kraft bbq sauce, and a small offering of Betty Crocker mixes and frosting, among others.

9. "American" products - Similar to how the Germans offer 'American' things, like a version of 'big American frozen pizza' that is some disgusting mix that you would never buy in America, the Dutch offer 'American' things also, which are produced in Holland, so priced similar to other local goods, not imports. However, the Dutch version of 'American' things are not so, uh, German influenced. In particular I recommend Dutch American bbq sauce and ketchup as they are less salty and less sugary in taste than their German cousins.

10. "American similar" products. I like German naturalness, with the organic and the bio and all that. I also like anti-bacterial soap and toilet cleaner that will kill the germs to kingdom come, and I think I can have a world with both sides. I live with German herbal teas to cure general ills 95% of the time, but when my work colleagues start hacking with their flus and colds, my world feels a little nicer with chemicals at work to protect me. Holland carries all the nice American chemical laden products that you may be missing, or something similar to them.

The negatives? You knew there must be some:
1. There are more preservatives in Holland products than in German products. There are ingredients that start with E and then a three digit number.

2. With the exception of ethnic foods, I usually find the pricing to be slightly higher in Holland than in Germany if you are going to buy the exact same product. I'm talking a difference of 2.39 to 2.49, but still.

3. In Holland they round up your bill one or two cents. I've yet to figure it out exactly, but if it comes to say 19.99, and you give them 20 euros, you will not get change. The store computers automatically always do it so the cashier is giving you back what he/she is supposed to, but still it's a little odd.

4. The Dutch tomatoes. They suck there just like they do in Germany.

Interested in crossing the border? At the top of this post I point back to my earlier post with instructions to get to Tref. My other favorite in Holland is Jumbo supermarkets, which is similar to Tref. Sometimes they have smaller versions of a Jumbo if you look for a nearby one, so I recommend my personal Jumbo favorite--Jumbo in Roermond. You do need to pay for parking in the structure or nearby on the street, but it's minimal. They will also validate your parking structure ticket with your Jumbo receipt so it takes off a euro or something, just be sure to give your parking structure ticket to the checkout person.

The nice thing about a day trip to Jumbo Roermond is that it is situated within Roermond, so you can go and see the nice little cobblestone town, including the old town square which has a market on Saturdays. If you time it right there is a clock tower with figures which spins around and plays a little tune, so nifty to see. In addition, there is a walkway under the highway which many use to travel between the town center and the Roermond Outlet Center. It's not an outlet center the way we think of outlets in the US with discounted prices, it's more of a big outdoor shopping center, but if you make the trip to Roermond you might as well go over to see it.

Holland calling

So it's a public holiday with everything shut tight and everyone dead silent. So what's a girl to do? Travel tends to get booked up early because the Germans like to get out of town. When you live within an hour of either Belgium or Holland, and Holland does not take off for May 1, you know your mission.

It's important that you get up early, because most the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), which includes Cologne, D'dorf, Duisburg, Essen, Bonn, etc. will be on the road, mainly in the same direction that you are going (towards the Dutch border). We left the flat at 09.30, toward destination Venlo.

Why Venlo? It's spitting distance to the German border and easy to get to, take the A3 to A40/A67, and then spend 5 minutes on a little road. Get directions to the Tref Supermarket which is one of the best supermarkets in the world. They are very large, with a huge selection of many things, including cheap Senseo coffee. They also have a map on their site to help you. In addition they have some shopping Sundays. Go here to find them.

In addition to the lovely Treff we had plans to go to Leurs Tuincentrum which is a large gardening shop. If you need a plant or a pot for a plant, or anything in connection with your garden, they seem to have it all.

We did well on the time, with no traffic encountered, and only one slowdown due to road works. D. was hungry so we stopped at McDonald's in Venlo. I don't get McDonald's much in Germany since there is none near where I live, the closest is 30 min away in a direction I seldom am. At McDonald's D. tried his luck with English, and the man in his mid-20's answered him with perfect English. I asked in English 'Do you have a GemueseMac?' (which is the name of the vegetarian burger that McDonald's sells in Germany. I know there is a Dutch equivalent, but I didn't know the name. It's a deep fried veggie patty that is not exactly healthy, but when you have one once every six months, it won't kill you. But hold the sauce, it's a very thick white mayo-like substance.

They guy says yes and punches in a Groenteburger and I ask for no sauce and the conversation continues, do you want the McMenu, etc. At some point he switches to German so I answer him in German. I have no idea if he was switching to German for me since I asked for the GemueseMac by its German name or if he was more comfortable in German than English. He flawlessly switched between me and D. with German and English.

Then we went to Tref, but the damage was minimal because I had been there a month ago, just picking up a few things that I cannot find so easily here, like anti-bacterial hand soap and some hot peppers from Asia that so liven up my cooking. In the line the woman was speaking German to the people in front of us, but she switched to Dutch when dealing with us. Not sure if she figured out we were going through the motions since we weren't required to come up with anything more than yes/no answers.

We went next to Leurs Tuincentrum because I needed some supplies for the balcony garden. Looking around the parking lot, it was about 95% Germany license plates. In like the woman was speaking German to the couple in front of us. She started immediately with us in German. In thinking about it later, she probably did this because A. we don't really look Dutch and B. any able-body, working-age adults who are in the garden store dillydallying among plant supplies are probably having a day off, and therefore German today as well as C. statistically there are many more Germans in the store than Dutch today. However, I was fishing for exact change and D. asks me in English, do you need something in particular because I have lots. I answered, no, I have it. The woman hears this and then switches to English for the rest of the transaction.

So the balkon garden has been started. I now have tomato seeds in a pot as well as some herbs, although I brought them in for the evening, because it does still get a little chilly overnight. However, I'll put them back out in the warm sun tomorrow while I'm at work.