* cababarant *

Thursday, April 29, 2004

I'm obsessed with this Dutch show on MTV called The Trip. The premise is that 2 teams of 2 guys each, are provided with cameras and travel in Africa, from Victoria Falls to Capetown (or vice versa) with a starting budget of 250 euros each. The show phrase is "Twee teams, twee cameras, geen geld" (2 teams, 2 cameras, no money). I got hooked on it watching the 2 teams that travelled through Europe. You'd never think you'd get hooked on a show on which you barely understand the language, but there you go. The guys on the show are so funny, and they're total adventure travellers. We keep telling one of Kyle's friends to apply for it, but she's Australian with no Dutch whatsoever (which could make the show even funnier).

Aren from The Trip holding up an American twenty dollah bill yall

Dutch Idol (or Idols, as it's called here) is also down to like 3 or 4 competitors. I've pretty much stopped watching-- the ones that are left are the Worst Singers Ever, and they choose the worst songs, completely out of range. But, there's plenty of other trashy TV to watch, such as the awful Dutch version of What Not to Wear-- called the Mode Politie, where the last makeover I saw was nearly worse than how the girl started out. The girl was wearing the Fugliest Skirt Ever, with the worst shoes, and the show hosts were saying "Mooi, mooi! Fantastiche!" One of the hosts was wearing white plastic hoop earrings. Remember the shower curtain rings that John Candy sold those girls on Planes, Trains and Automobiles? Those. I don't know if the girl should've trusted someone like that with her makeover. My sister said that what they should do is take that girl, send her over to the What Not to Wear in the States, so they can makeover the makeover. :)

posted by sheryl | 10:19 PM | comments (0)

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Turns out I'm digging the frites with mayonnaise action here. Leslie turned me on to it, because she has an obsession with mayonnaise. Frites met mayo was like a dream come true for her. True that fries are married to mayo here-- oftentimes it's just referred to as 'fritessaus'. It sounds like a weird combo, but the mayonnaise is a bit tart, and the creaminess cuts through the saltiness of the fries. A perfect match! I'm working on a list of the best frites stands in the Hague (trust me, I eat a lot of it). :)

Leslie holding a cone of fried treats with mayonnaise, the Benelux sauce of choice

posted by sheryl | 12:47 PM | comments (0)

Not much posting lately, as our friend Leslie was visiting us until last Friday. It was excellent fun, and we did a ton-- hosting someone who wanted to see lots of things made us do some sightseeing as well. All in all we went to Amsterdam, Paris for an overnight, Delft, Scheveningen beach on a gorgeous day, the Keukenhof gardens and shopping in the Hague for a couple of days. Some pictures from the whirlwind:

Dari and Sof at the Keukenhof gardens

Dazzling tulip varieties

Leslie maxin at a cafe in Den Haag centrum

posted by sheryl | 12:39 PM | comments (0)

Stroopwafel update: My friend August, who has lived in Holland, emailed me and told me the best way to eat stroopwafels was to heat them up in the microwave (magnetron in Dutch-- hee) so the caramel gets soft, then dunk them in whole milk (which is really good here). After burning the first stroopwafel beyond recognition I got the system down. Okay, heating them up made them ridonkulously good, then dunking them took them to the next level. Mmmmmm. Thanks August!!

This tops out the other great transcendental food experiences: the 'flounder with sauce' that Crazy Chris flips out about at Kiku, the bbq pork at Kau Kau and the Honey Moon Tea "honey-moon-bubble-tea-shake". I'm getting hungry already...

Dario caught in the act

Another update is that on the weekends, there are stroopwafel vendors downtown that make "superwafels" (one huge honking stroopwafel) right in front of you with with the waffle iron and hot caramel and everything. And to top it off it only costs 75 cents. Definitely a very dangerous food cart!

posted by sheryl | 12:28 PM | comments (0)

Friday, April 23, 2004

Microsoft is up nearly 2 dollars! Keep climbing baby!! (Dialing our broker...)

posted by sheryl | 8:40 PM | comments (0)

Friday, April 16, 2004

A couple of days ago, we went to go see the picture of Scarlett Johansson wearing that turban. Yeah, it doesn't really look like her. I think whoever did it needs some glasses.

The Girl with a Pearl Earring, otherwise known as Scarlett Johansson Wearing a Turban

Really though, we went to see The Girl with a Pearl Earring (or as Kyle's friend Sonja puts it, girl-with-the-pearl) at the Mauritshuis Museum, which is here in The Hague. It is such a great museum! It's basically John Maurits' house from the 17th century, housing a small, but incredible collection of Dutch Golden Age art, including three Vermeers (girl-with-pearl, View of Delft, and Diana and Her Maidens). This is stunning for such a tiny museum, considering there are 35 Vermeers in the world, one of which was stolen. The house is a mansion, but an intimate space to view art. The Vermeers are just hung in an unpretentious corner room-- no grand space a la Las Meninas in the Prado. But it's also a great piece to see in person. I was surprised because it's so small, but seeing it in person is worth it: she looks at you from across the room, and her eyes actually look damp. I joked to Tricia that the girl has a serious staring problem. View of Delft is also amazing. And did I even mention the small room housing more than seven Rembrandts?

Both times I've been there, it hasn't been crowded. There were a few moments when we were just sitting in the Vermeer room by ourselves. Mauritshuis is definitely one of the great things about living in The Hague.

posted by sheryl | 9:48 AM | comments (0)

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Okay, I finally need to talk about the big drawbacks of going out to eat in Holland. First, it's such a cliche for Americans to say this, but the smoke! It's really getting to me this time, more so than the last time I spent time in Europe. I think, having developed seasonal allergies since being in Seattle, that I'm just way more sensitive to it. Whenever we eat at a restaurant, I spend the whole next day coughing and congested. Ugh! Don't they see the signs everywhere that "Roken is dodelijk"?? Anyway, I guess I either need to get used to it, or just not go to restaurants a lot. (Which we don't anyway, because the exchange rate is eating us alive! More on that later.)

The other thing is the service. Dutch service is terrible. Basically, most places are understaffed, there's not much of a tipping system so there's not a real incentive for friendly service, but I don't know if these are the reasons. It doesn't make that much sense because my experience with the Dutch, outside of a service aspect, is as a super helpful and friendly culture. For example, every time I'm on the tram, people offer to carry the stroller up the stairs, give up their seats, etc. Maybe they get behind a counter or in a server's uniform and put that attitude on hold. Anyway, I have yet to experience good service, especially at restaurants. We went to an Indonesian place (that had great food, by the way) where the server was waiting on like 9 or 10 tables, one of which was an 8-top! Now I've worked at restaurants and 10 tables with a huge party at one of them is: Totally. INSANE! What is really funny is that the Dutch people around us managed to force service quicker. You have to be aggressive, i.e. wiping down the table, getting your own menus and maybe even your own utensils. The lady at the next table actually got the sprayer and sprayed down her own table and wiped it dry! I gotta just start getting familiar with the service stations when I walk in a place. I'll just start making my own coffee. It'll be just like being at home!

posted by sheryl | 11:04 PM | comments (0)

They are crazy about N.E.R.D. here. The album dropped a couple of weeks ago, and every time I flip on the TV, Pharrell is on, wearing the same camo gear and running his mouth. The guy has so much money, doesn't he have more than one outfit? He'll talk to a Dutch interviewer for like 10 minutes, and it's still nonsense. But hey, I'm still down with the CD, regardless of how little sense he makes... :)

posted by sheryl | 10:55 PM | comments (0)

Thursday, April 01, 2004

Note to self: do not wait until 2 weeks before Easter to plan Easter trip to Rome.

Yes, we thought it would be neat to go see Easter mass at St. Peter's, but I think we would have been more successful had we thought of this, oh, six months ago or so. :) There is basically no where to stay in Rome that costs less than like, 300 euros a night. Typical Kyle and Sheryl behavior, waiting until the last minute. Did I mention that we didn't even get tickets to Holland until February? I guess we're hanging out here for Easter!

posted by sheryl | 4:46 PM | comments (0)