It's ungrateful of me, but a mere three weeks of house hunting in Leiden was enough to inspire this drinking game.

"But wait, Kim, you don't..." I know, I know. Just imagine me taking calming sips of tea.

TAKE A SIP WHEN YOU SEE A PHOTO OF...

A Buddha
A Buddha in the toilet
Anything from the HEMA[1]...and another sip if you own it ( Read more... )

The Netherlands is often praised as a paradise for bikes. Well, who knows where bikes' souls go after they've been drowned at the bottom of a canal ( Read more... )

As the English are to tea, so are the Dutch to toasties. Toasties are a staple on café menus (though ham 'n' cheese is about as exciting as it gets) and most households have their own well-used toasted sandwich maker. Most, but not ours, so I decided to buy Wingnut one for his birthday. A pretty boring present, even though he's Dutch, right ( Read more... )

Council members from the Party For Freedom in the Hague say they're annoyed because Polish people and other Eastern Europeans are catching all the fish in the lakes and canals and eating them. They think steps should be taken to stop this in the Hague because that trustworthy newspaper, De Telegraaf, reports "overfishing" and "poaching" by Polish ( Read more... )

The summer recess meant a short election campaign though the results are not short of shocks ( Read more... )

That's not a reference to clubbing or anything, I'm just excited about the fact that, after six weeks in the Netherlands, I've seen my first squirrel! Not one of the big greys which are overrunning London, but a little red one that shot out in front of my bike and then up a tree ( Read more... )

With the assistance of Wingnut's dad, we'd hoped to be able to move straight from London to Leiden but had reckoned without real estate agents. Sigh. Fortunately, a family member in The Hague is providing us with a roof over our heads while we look for some place to live. So it feels like I'm rather on holiday here, rather than being properly moved ( Read more... )

After weeks of no baking, it's time to heat up the oven again! Top three from the last weekend.

It was my first time making Dutch raisin buns. They're a bit of a faff to make -- washing raisins and letting them dry for two days, kneading the dough, letting it rest, kneading it, letting it rest. So, I was very pleased that they had the authentic ( Read more... )

Here's some advice for anyone doing one of those cheap day trips to Amsterdam ( Read more... )

Eelco said that this blog was about cooking.

?!

And last weekend, Stroopwafel Rob remarked on the lack of politics and feminism.

Okay, so, first thing to hand, a film about "langvoeden" or long-term breastfeeding was released in the Netherlands last month. It's called "TIET ZAT" which is dialect and a pun and horrible to translate but I'll ( Read more... )