Market

Yesterday marked the last day of Saturday market for the season.  This is a smorgasbord of delicious smells, sights, and people watching.  You can purchase everything from produce to leather goods to used books, to antique bread tins (read old stuff that's been sitting in someone's grandmother's attic).  For Rose, this has been a highlight in Delft since browsing is one of her favorite things to do.  I think getting a bargain is her next favorite.  She found some good deals.  Rose befriended a nice lady who knits beautiful doll clothes.  In the photo below, Rose is trying on a sweater this woman made to fit Rose's doll.  Since Rose had bought a few pieces from her already, and because she was so charmed by Rose, she gave it away for free.

Do you think Rose's t-shirt helps her bargaining power?

The other thing in plentiful supply is beautiful flowers.  Rose has learned that if you wait until 4 pm you can get enormous bunches of flowers for 5 euros.  It is lovely to walk by the flower stalls, and when biking around the outskirts of many cities, it's easy to see many acres of greenhouses, and thus the reason for such readily available flowers.  If flowers aren't your thing, there are stalls for every need.   An entire stall is devoted to candies (different from chocolate).  A second has all nuts roasted and/or shelled to taste.

Frans & Rose liked walking by the candy stall...

For the nut lovers, everything is here.

Then, there is the people watching.  This man is demonstrating the proper way to eat a herring.  Above, he has just dipped his fresh, raw herring into a pile of raw onions.  Now, holding firmly by the tail, he tilts the head back to get everything in before the onions fall off.  Well done.  I am not the biggest fan of herring, but Frans and Rose (and Erzo, of course) love the occasional snack.  You should note that this tastes nothing like (and is much better than) any herring you could get in the US, which usually comes pickled or smothered in sour cream.

So, our beautiful September, with many sunny, breezy days, has come to a close.  It's now really Fall, a turning point emphasized by the nasty fall colds passing through our house.  We're turning towards cozier pursuits and checking our bike lights, as the daylight is shortening quickly.  More soon...

Beautiful Bicycles

Bike taxi - though I haven't seen many passengers...

I have never had a collection before, but now I do. I'm collecting pictures of bicycles - with their multi-talented Dutch riders of course.  Send your fine Dutch biking shots my way and I'll post a few highlights.  It turns out it's amazingly hard to capture all those good biking moments - which is why I enlisted Erzo's help.

First, there is the amazing variety of unusual bikes:  The bike taxi, the bakfiets (that bike with a big box on wheels where kids & groceries and much more can fit), and tandem bikes that let the kid go first - these are just a few of the endless options.

The ubiquitous bakfiets.

This newborn baby fits in his/her car seat in the "bakfiets" with room for the big sister.  I love that this "bakfiets" model is the "Gazelle" - nothing could be less appropriate for these heavy but utilitarian bikes.  They do not, even with powerful Dutch legs behind them, move anything like a gazelle.

Then there is the sheer talent of the bike riders.  They can and do ride with no hands,

leaving hands free for all the daily errands:

This also leaves hands free for more social endeavors.

However, only holding hands while biking is legal of the four photos above.  Texting and phoning while biking is not!  Perhaps that's why this woman with the blue hair looks unhappy to get caught by Erzo's quick photographic skills...

This man is walking his dog...

This dog is walking its owner!

And no collection of bikes would be complete without noting the amazing balance involved when shlepping pets, kids, friends and dates around by bike.  With so many bikes in this country, it's funny how often people end up without one, and hitching a ride...

They make it look easy, but you try biking with  an adult hanging off the side!

How far do you think they got before he slumped off?

I wouldn't recommend this...

With that, I'm going to bed for a good night's sleep before another big day of biking!

Election Excitement

It’s September 12 and the polls are open throughout the Netherlands to elect parties to seats in the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer).  The job is heavy for Dutch voters since there are a mind boggling 20 political parties running in this election.  There are two big issues in this campaign, the economy, and the role of the Netherlands in the EU.  With discussions about jobs and deficits, it has a familiar ring...The other related issue is how supportive the Netherlands wants to be of EU plans to bailout struggling economies like Greece...

The Dutch system is definitely not a “winner take all” system.  Representation is proportional to votes, and with so many parties no party has ever won the majority.  A recent blog post, 10 Things you Need to Know about Dutch Elections described the long standing mainstream parties from left to right  “SP (socialist party), Groen Links (green party), PVDA (labour party), D’66 (democratic party), Christen Unie (Christian), CDA (biggest Christian party), SGP (reformed/protestant), VVD (liberals).” The most right leaning party (which would be a left center party in the US), the VVD, is the party of current Prime Minister, Mark Rutte.

But of course, as in the US, in the Netherlands there are extremes.  Geert Wilders and his “Freedom Party” offer a populist agenda.  This party a) won 20 seats in the prior elections two years ago and b) essentially blew up the prior coalition when he reneged on an agreement to follow European standards to hold deficits to 3% of GDP.  Wilders ran his last campaign, 2 years ago, based on anti-immigrant sentiment, often targeted at the growing Muslim population in the Netherlands.  He has built his current campaign based on anti-EU sentiment.  He wants to exit the EU and abandon the Euro.  

The prime minister will come from the party winning the most votes.  The current Prime Minister, Mark Rutte is head of the VVD.  The VVD is running neck and neck with the PVDA, with the Socialist Party and Geert Wilders' Freedom Party close behind.  The results will be anti-climactic in some sense, because they only signify the beginning of the long work to form a new coalition government.

Of course, with so many parties, there are a few parties that always bring a smile to my face… “Party for humans and spirit,” 50+ (I hear this is popular with the 20 something crowd), the “Party for the Animals”, and the "Pirate Party."  Stay tuned...

Happiest Kids in the World

In 2007, UNICEF released a report on the well being of children which rated Dutch children the happiest in the world (or at least compared to other wealthy countries in that study).  In May of 2012, a WHO Study of adolescents in 41 countries put Dutch kids on top again.  Interestingly, several summaries of the WHO report highlighted that Dutch kids eat breakfast regularly with family, suggesting this might contribute to those happy Dutch kids.  I have been “studying” these happiness-inducing breakfasts since my first trip here in 1995.  I think they may be on to something…

START WITH GOOD BREAD

 Dutch families nearly always have fresh bread in the house – brown bread, white bread, sweet rolls with raisins and currants, or other delicious breads.  After a generous layer of butter, you are ready for the main ingredient…

ADD CHEESE

OR PERHAPS GO RIGHT TO DESSERT FOR BREAKFAST

And I didn't even show any jam or honey, and there is much more...

Of course, even with delicious cheeses, one might grow bored with cheese every day.  And so, much like breakfast cereals in the US, bread toppings for breakfast have proliferated.  From left to right – the traditional way to sweeten your bread is with "stroop," whose ingredients read: glucose syrup and sugar syrup.  I’ve been assured by many Dutch that stroop is a good source of iron – really?

Second from the left is a chocolate hazelnut spread like Nutella.  Of course you can, happily, find this in any large US grocery store.  But wait, there's more.  The ever popular “vlokken” are chocolate flakes.  On top of fresh white bread slathered with butter, this is virtually like cake for breakfast – yum.  Of course, it’s wise to have other sources of protein to start your day, so peanut butter (pindakaas, which translates as peanut cheese) is ubiquitous. Danger: do not mix jam & peanut butter in front of the Dutch - you may ruin their appetite!

Keep looking right and you’ll see what I would call “Jimmies” but these are “hagel slag”, essentially more chocolate bits to sprinkle on.  But wait, there's more!  Finally, though it’s not that different from Cocoa Puffs, Captain Crunch, or Lucky Charms, you see why Dutch children must be happy after a carton full of tiny cookies on bread for breakfast.  The name of these particular cookies/breakfast topping, "Schudde Buikjes" translates to something like jiggling tummies.

THEREFORE, DUTCH BREAKFAST = HAPPY KIDS, QED