De Keuken

I think it's the plants, yes?

Since we started looking at pictures of this apartment back in February, my biggest misgiving has been the kitchen. (I had been assured several times that the toilet was unshared.) There’s no oven, have I mentioned that? It’s teeny-weeny tiny. The fridge is half-sized. I have to light the stove with matches.

Koninginnenacht

Or, literally, “Queen’s Night”: the night before April 30, Koninginnedag.

I have been chanting “Koninginnedag” to myself under my breath for two days, drilling its pronunciation into my brain. While tomorrow I promise a (slightly) more educational take on Koninginnedag, tonight’s just for, well, getting drunk. (Well, it is if you’re a Nederlander and/or a student, and I am neither.) And eating tompoes, a custard-filled pastry. On April 30 it’s glazed with lurid orange fondant in Queen Beatrix’s honor.

Food tidbits

The Grote Markt, abandoned, on a Sunday afternoon. Vendors sell fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meat, fish, fresh flowers, garden supplies, etc. etc., on Tuesday and Saturday. It looks huge, desolate, and weird on most Sundays.

If you know me, you know I love food. Cooking it, eating it, reading about it, writing about it, listening to radio and watching TV about it…a conservative estimate of the percent of waking hours I spend in a day on food would hover near 50%. Food, being essential to life and, more importantly, my entertainment, is the first thing I’m trying to figure out here. I just did a big shop at the grocery store, so it seems appropriate to share some Nederland food fun.

1) Today, at the Jumbo supermarket, I bought only two things without knowing what they are. This, my friends, is progress: last Tuesday, feeling adventurous, I bought four unknown fish (labeled Mul) at the Grote Markt. They were Grote Gross.