Which one of you sent the snow over here???

It has been snowing non-stop since last night!! Amsterdam does not usually receive much snow and when it does get the occasional storm the snow doesn't accumulate.

Right now there is about 5 inches of snow on the ground and everything is a mess! According to the news channel, they have 60 salt trucks for the whole state and they are out of salt. Everyone (including natives) is walking around taking pictures because they know this will not happen again soon.

I bundled Jagger up this evening and took him for a really long walk. He was covered with the plastic stroller rain cover so he had a good view and was nice and warm. It was quite a workout to push an umbrella stroller with a 35 lb kid in it through the slush and snow, but I needed some exercise. I was quite impressed with the Silver Cross Micro's performance, especially since I was pushing it to it's limits. I think the bigger wheels are what made the difference.

The tram stops were swamped with people waiting for a ride home from work. The trams usually come every few minutes, but tonight there are very few of them because they are running into ice jams on the tracks in the areas further out of town. As Jagger and I walked past a group of people we heard them cheering when a tram came into view. The cheers turned to boos when the tram went right past them because it was full of people!

We have been watching the people out the window and counting the number of people that fall down! Is that terrible or what? It's unbelieveable to see all of these people trying to ride their bikes in this snow, but I guess they need to get them home somehow! We have even watched a few snowball battles and saw a car full of young guys stop on the bridge and make a bunch of snowballs that they put back into the car. Wonder what they were gonna do?

Yesterday we all went for a long walk to Dam Square. The courtyard in front of the Royal Palace had a little festival. They had a merry-go-round, street performers, lots of food booths, and a temporary ice skating rink. The kids each got some Sucre Spin (sugar spin = cotton candy) and then we came home and dealt with the sugar meltdowns!

We haven't been out to do much yet, as the temperature has been cold and the kids still seem to be getting used to the time change. Jagger slept for 16 hours a few nights ago! Hopefully we will be able to find an indoor activity for tomorrow.

Grocery Shopping

People around here go grocery shopping at least once or twice daily. Most people walk or bike everywhere, so stocking up on groceries or buying in bulk is not possible. The grocery store near us does not even have grocery carts because there really is no need for them. Everything you are going to buy has to fit in a blue handbasket or you won't have a way to get it home!

The stores are very crowded, especially at 5pm when you sometimes have to wait your turn to get a handbasket. People seem very rushed and impatient. They know what they want and need and get impatient with those who stop to read labels!

Everyone brings their own bags for their groceries -mostly backpacks and cloth tote bags because these are what fit on their bikes the best. If you do show up at the store without a bag you can buy a plastic one for sixteen Euro cents! Is it just me or is that pretty expensive?

Shopping in a foreign grocery store without knowing the language is a bit rough. I rely on pictures a lot. Product placement is another big issue. I mean, you wouldn't pick up a jar of white powder in the aisle with the laundry soap and expect it to be coffee creamer, right? I have made a few mistakes though.....

The first mistake was with pancakes. Journey really wanted to buy these cute little packaged pancakes the size of silver dollars. We grabbed a package and went in search of the syrup. Imagine his surprise when he stuffed his mouth with a big forkful of pancakes topped with molasses! It looked the same color and was in the baking section!! LOL! I later found out that the people here eat their pancakes topped with powdered sugar!

Another issue was with the pre-packaged "apples". I thought it was neat that these apple pieces came cut in all different shapes and sizes - small balls, bigger balls, slices, etc. I knew that the word for apple was appel and that the word for orange was sinasappel. I didn't think about the fact that this package said it conatined arrdappels. I bought a package for the kids to nibble on as a treat. They were quite surprised when they chomped on a piece of potato! So I ended up frying them in a little butter and we ate them with ketchup. They were actually pretty good and I will probably buy more.

The third mistake was tonight. I bought a package of the pre-cooked cubed meat to mix with some vegetables. Journey wanted a few chunks of it when he saw me open the package so I put a few pieces on a plate for him. He said it didn't taste right. Justice tried it and said it wasn't chicken. I tried it and realized it was some sort of pork fat! Seriously, these were big chunks of lard! They do eat a lot of fatty pork products here and I've heard that the sausages are very fatty, but I never expected a full package of fat! And this was in the section of chopped meats for use on salads and on brodjkes.

And another incident happened this evening. I took a shower and washed my hair (used shampoo and conditioner). I found this bottle of hair gel that was left here and decided to use it since my hair is so frizzy in the humidity. The bottle was labeled as Douche Gel and stuff inside was clear. After I rubbed some in my hair and it formed a lather I realized that "douche" means shower!! Justice was nice enough to rinse my hair over the bath tub so I didn't have to get undressed and back in the shower again.

I'm sure there will be more mistakes - nothing too detrimental so far though!

Provencaalse roerbakmix, hamreepjes, Boursin kaas van ail en beschuetbollen

That's what I made last night for dinner! I have to say that the Dutch really make eating healthy foods easy.

The typical Dutch breakfast consists of pastries such as croissants, muffins, bagels, etc with different cheeses and fruits. Lunch is usually some sort of bread or other pastry with cheeses, meats and vegetables piled on top creating an open faced sandwich. Dinner is yest again some sort of bread substance with meats, cheeses and veges on top, usually with a hot soup on the side. If all three of these meals sound somewhat the same, they are! What differs is what kinds of meats and cheeses you pile on the bread to create the open faced sandwich.

The bread substance that holds all of the goodies is called a "brodjke" - pronounced "brod-GGHHHHKKE" - in other words you must cough up as much phlegm as possible when saying the last part of the word. Dutch is a very gutteral language and you musn't stand too close to the speaker or you will utimately have a unintended saliva shower. Brodjkes come in all varieties - croissants, english muffin-looking-circle things, pita breads, rye bread slices, french bread, rectangle shaped phyllo-dough fluffy type pastries, circular thick frisbee type things, and others that I am sure I am missing. The interesting thing is that all of the brodjkes are purchased at the bakkerij (bakery). There is a bakery on every corner and they are always busy! It doesn't seem like the people here do much baking themselves, and why should they? The brodjkes at the bakery are inexpensive and delicious! I have yet to see a grocery store that carries boxed cake mixes. Flour only comes in very small boxes, and the sugar is in the coffee and tea aisle, because that is what it is meant for, right?

The next thing that comes on the brodjke is the kaas (cheese). The Dutch sure love their cheese! Go to a cheese market on a Sunday afternoon and it's like fighting for a Cabbage Patch doll at Kmart on Christmas eve in the year 1982! Even the cheese section of the grocery store is swamped and you kind of have to stand there and wait your turn to get up to the refrigerated case to see what is left. Don't take too long making your choice or you'll hear lots of huumphs and sighs! The kaas is spread on top of the brodjke or laid on top if it is a sliced cheese. If you leave it at this then you have a kaasbrodjke ("cheese bread", which is not to be confused with my brother-in-law's secret recipe for "cheesybuns"). Goat cheeses are very popular, as are cheeses with added spices - garlic, dill, parsley, hot peppers, red peppers, etc. Jeff really likes the goat cheese with bacon but I just can't stomach it. The cheese spreads take the place of the condiments on Amercian sandwiches. They don't use a lot of mayonnaise (except to dip frech fries), relish, mustard and other condiments.

The next ingredient on top of the brodjke and kass is the vegetable. This is where the Dutch are realy smart people! They know that the word "convenient" doesn't start with a Golden M. Fresh vegetables are prepackaged in cellophane bags. They are chopped, diced, julienned - you name it. They have every fresh vegetable combination that you could want - already chopped and mixed in the bag for you! I love this idea! The bags are fresh, convenient and afforadable! You can use them raw on salads, raw on your brodjkes, stir fryed and on top of brodjkes, or mixed in casseroles. This is another area of the grocery store that is always packed - these people love their vegetables. They pile them high on top of the brodjkes! The vege mix that I used last night was called Provencaalse roerbakmix. It consisted of small pieces of red pepper, green pepper, red onion, diced zucchini, sliced carrots and parsely. It was great on an endive salad with chicken and caesaer dressing and equally good stir fried on top of a brodjke with garlic cheese.

Next up is the meat. The Dutch use a lot of pork products-ham, bacon, pork sausages, etc. They load these items on to the brodjkes with the cheese and veges and call it a meal! Once again, the Dutch know the key to convenience. Most meats are prepackaged- cooked and sliced, cubed, or shredded. You can find ham, salami, chicken, salmon, (and some other meats that I have not been able to identify yet) in the prepackaged containers ready to throw on your brodjkes, in your salad, or in a soup. The good thing is that these are fresh - minus all of the added sulfites you find in American delis. This is probably due to the fact that these meat packages fly off the shelves - with so many people purchasing them they don't have to add all the preservatives because they aren't going to sit on the shelves that long. The cubed meat chunks are called blokjies. The word for the meat is put in front, so if you have ham blocks, it is hamblokjies. Shredded ham would be hamrepjies. Chicken is verreepjies or verblokjies. Salmon is zalmrepjies or zalmblokjies. Many of the meats are also made into salads (like chicken salad or egg salad) for on top of the brodjkes. The grocery store has a large section of salads - zalmsalad is like a salmon mousse with pearl onions, small dill pickles, and cheese on the side. It is prepackaged and ready to eat. (I was shocked when all 3 of my kids loved this on top of french bread). They have so many different meat salads that I can't begin to guess what half of them are. Again, C-O-N-V-E-N-I-E-N-T!! The one thing that does turn me off about many of their meats is that they still look raw! The slices of meat that look like raw bacon on top of brodjkes makes my stomach turn. Jeff tried the ossenmworst once and it was nasty. It looks like raw meatballs. I have no idea what it is, but we won't be purchasing any more of it. We have not yet tried weinerschnitzel - maybe for dinner?

The Ducth also love hard boiled eggs. Eggs slices are put on lots of sandwiches. If you order a club sandwich it will come to you open-faced with hard boiled egg slices on it. They are also big dairy consumers. Melk (milk) is the staple drink. Fruitmelk is very popular and yummy! They mix milk with different fruit juices and sell it in a carton. The strawberry-cherry version is really good and the orange version tastes like an orange creamscicle! I have no idea how much added sugar is in these milks, nor do I want to know! We only purchase them as a special treat.

Journey loves his pinderkaas von bosbossen jam en brodjkes. (peanut butter and blueberry jelly sandwiches). They are also big on hazlenut paste (Nutella) and flavored peanut butters.

Soups are very common (esp in the cold weather). Many of them have chunks of sausages type substances in them. Journey loves the tomato soup that they have here (the instant cup-a-soup stuff) because it has crunchy croutons in it. The amazing thing is that no matter how long you let the soup sit around, the croutons still stay crunchy. Jeff said he doesn't want to know what kind of chemical makes that possible!

Turkish foods are very common here, as there are a large number of Turkish refugees living in Amsterdam. We have a very nice Turkish bakery across the street from us. The guy speaks very little English but is always giving the kids free candy and adding a few more free items to the order. Turkish pizza has a pizza crust, oil, and grilled vegetables on it. It sits in the window of the bakery all day and when people come and order it, it is warmed in the oven. I was hesitant to try it because of the lack of refrigeration, but since we see the bakery from our kitchen window we can see that the stuff us sold quickly and new pizza is put out regularly. Jeff says we should stick the pizza in the microwave to "nuke away the germs". For some reason that doesn't make me feel any better! The first day we went to the Turkish bakery the owner threw in some pieces of Turkish Delight. This is a gummy candy confection that is rolled up like a jellyroll with a cream in the middle. The kids were immediately hooked on them and Jagger still asks for more "turkey light".

Indian foods are very common also. There are many, many Indian restaurants that sell falafel plates - usually falafel with pita bread and cucumber sauce and either french fries or rice on the side. Many of these stores have this big slab of meat that continually turns on the roaster in the front window. When you order a plate they carve some slices off the slab and put it in your sandwich or on your plate. I don't want to know how long that meat has been roasting! Gyros are popular too, but I just can't stomach goat meat.

Overall I have to say that I like Dutch food. The brodjkes certainly are convenient. You would think that with all the fats the Dutch eat (rich buttery breads, cheeses, fatty meats, and lots of dairy products) that they would be overweight. But this is not the case. It is rare to see an overweight Dutch person. This could be because they ride their bikes everywhere they go and get lots of exercise. But then I also tell myself that I might not be overweight if I was a 6 foot tall woman! Gosh these people are tall!