Dutch snacks

I was tempted to entitle this post "Dutch food" but I think many Nederlanders would quickly point out that what I'm about to talk about is not a true representation of their "food", so I'll stick to what I know best from living here...  their snacks!

I've been living here for 8 months now and there are loads of foods I would definitely miss if I come back to the UK.

Firstly, they make the best pancakes in the world here (not really a snack but considered an actual meal here, and they are certainly the price of an evening meal back in the UK at approx. 9EUR for 1 pancake)... they taste like nowhere else in the world and I love them.  Back when I visited Radboud University in Nijmegen for a week, I found the canteen there served pancakes once a week... here in Leiden I've been here for 8 months and they've only served pancakes twice in that time... maybe I should be grateful for the sake of my waistline.  What a shame they don't celebrate pancake day here like in the UK... but I suppose you could argue that any day could be pancake day with the numerous pancake houses in each city.

Secondly, FOOD FROM THE WALL... yes, how can you possibly resist food when they put it in the WALLS?!  It looks at you as you walk along the street or the train station or the shopping malls... just begging you through the little glass doors, to eat them!  They're kinda like giant vending machines full of deep-fried meat.  Items range from huge elongated chicken-nuggets to frikandels (elongated meat thing in a sausage shape), crockets (kroketten) deep-fried bread-crumbed mashed up bits of meat (MUCH tastier than I'm describing, believe me), something when directly translated is called a "Meat staff" (you couldn't get away with that name in the UK) and other deep-fried items such as cheese, rice and even balls of noodles!


If you go to a pub for after work drinks or networking events etc, all drink occasions include plates of these crazy deep-fried snacks plus spring rolls etc... forget two pints of larger and a packet of crisps, here it's a heineken and a plate of bittenballen (deep-friend breadcrumbed balls of meat-goo!) - heavenly!

But what I can't understand, is that back in the UK for lunch, most people I know might have a sandwich, soup OR salad.  Here, people have sandwiches, soup AND salad.  And when I say sandwiches, I failed to mention that this would usually consist of half a loaf of bread in one day and often (but not always) contain smushed up versions on the deep-fried snacks I've just mentioned.  Not to mention then washing it all down with two pints of milk and some yogurt!

So why is it that the UK is a much more obese nation than the Netherlands?  Can it really just be the cycling they do here?

Right, all this talk about snacks is making me hungry.... gotta go look in the walls....

Dutch music

I don't know much about Dutch music since my time here... I mainly listen to a station called "Radio Veronica" (you can try it yourself here:  http://www.radioveronica.nl/player/radio-veronica)  and have developed an obsession with saying "alleen echte hits staan voor jou klaar" (Only real hits, are ready for you - or something along those lines)... it mainly plays English/American music with the odd bit of BLOF or Golden Earring thrown in (Dutch people believe these Dutch bands are really famous around the world but I would beg to differ having never heard of them before I arrived here) but I must admit, their stuff ain't bad!

However, the most entertaining aspect of Dutch music so far is their wonderful version of "Your sex is on fire" which in Dutch the lyrics are "Ik wil sex met die kale" - directly translated "I want sex with that bald man" (I kid you not) and this is a very popular song, I hear it on the radio a fair bit and during the carnival you couldn't escape it, it was blasting out from every pub on every corner for 4 days solid.

So... this is something everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy... here it is:

How English am I?

So, in one of my last posts I was busy wondering how Dutch I was after my time in the Netherlands.

Well, after a week back in the UK in June, I found all this stuff I'd been missing without even realising it... stuff like bread and butter with my meals, cheap pub grub, faggots and mushy peas, blackpudding, bacon and sausage sarnies, orange squash, cider, indian takeaways, hills and nice landscape, carpeted floors and big supermarkets.

There were other things I just felt really out of touch with... my boyfriend driving on the left constantly freaked me out as I thought we were going the wrong way... and having to walk up hill occasionally gave my calves something to moan about.

As an aside, earlier this year a new Scott exhibition opened up in the Natural History Museum in London to celebrate the centenary of his expedition to the South Pole.  I read at the time that “a shopping list on display conveys the very British character of the mission. One can't imagine Amundsen's team taking along 320 kilograms of marmalade, 225 kilograms of tea, 72 bottles of port or 540 kilograms of suet.”

So, that got me wondering what makes me English?

Let's start with what's not very English about me:

1)  People keep thinking I'm australian since I arrived... wonder why?

2)  I don't drink tea (unless I'm not feeling well)

3)  I don't eat jam or marmalade or scones

4)  I don't know what the hell "high tea" is but they seem to think it's very English over here!  People pay a lot of money to go for high tea.

5)  I don't drink beer and I'm not a larger lout!

6)  I know the difference between the "Netherlands" and "Holland"

My "English" traits:

1)  Cider drinker and proud

2)  I put milk in my tea (if and when I drink it)

3)  I cycle everywhere on a 21 gear mountain bike (despite the distinct lack of hills in the Netherlands!)

4)  Brown sauce eater

5)  I eat cereal for breakfast

6)  The things I have to import from home to live:  Brown sauce, cereal and crumpets

7)  Unlike the Dutch who quickly get off their bikes, flip a switch to lock it and walk away within seconds, it takes me 10mins to untangle my UK-style bike lock, wrap it around something, fiddle with the keys, get it all jammed up, unjam it all and then finally lock it and walk away with oily and dirty hands

8)  The ignorance of only speaking one language