Category: in the netherlands

below the canal

long story short: to build a new metro line in amsterdam, a tunnel was dug in the city center through a riverbed of clay and sand. over millennia, the river amstel had been accumulating all sorts of things dropped or thrown in its bed. some things are recognizable to us now, but the deeper you go, the more intriguing it gets.

it’s astonishing the amount of bank cards, phones, keys, coins and buttons, guns and ammunition, skulls and bones, so many spoons and knifes… but also cannon balls, vases and they sieved through tons of stuff, scanned every last bit of broken porcelain and put everything on a website where you can see and search. when i searched for “film”, a few results popped up, plus a few cameras:

i find the whole thing fascinating: from the engineering feat of this metro line to the contemporary archeology done in its wake. so many layers of history, hiding just underneath the surface!

in the netherlands

10 years ago today…

… levi and i landed in the netherlands for our erasmus semester. my first plane ride, the first time outside my tiny country, and the first step towards so many adventures around the world! :)

foooood in germany in the netherlands

speculoos spread

ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the best thing this side of nutella’s invention:

i wish blogs could convey the scent that emanates from this precious jar. it’s… indescribably mouth-watering. our friend isa showed it to us when we were staying with her, and in our excitement we almost forgot our manners and inhaled all of her precious stock! good lord, i could swear they lace it with crack…

speculoos are crunchy spiced (pepper, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg) cookies from the netherlands and belgium. they taste a bit like crispier gingerbread cookies… but better! it’s hard to explain, the flavour is so characteristic – and in my mind irrevocably connected to afternoons writing my master thesis in the netherlands, with a cup of tea by my side.

the spread tastes like the cookies, and has an interesting story too:

In the area of Europe centered on Eeklo, Belgium, where the speculoos cookie originated, local workers had long known that a sandwich made in the morning with butter and speculoos cookies would develop a spread-like consistency by lunchtime.
In 2008, two competitors entered a contest on the Belgian television show, The Inventors (de Bedenkers), with a spread made from speculoos cookies— Els Scheppers, who reached the semi finals, and the team of chef Danny De Mayer and Dirk De Smet, who weren’t selected as finalists. Spreads made from crushed Speculoos cookies would subsequently go into production by three separate companies, and by the time they arrived in Belgian supermarkets, Speculoos spread caused a sensation, taking the “Benelux market by storm.”

it’s still hard to find in germany, but we’ve spotted it at kaiser’s and have been sharing it with all our friends ever since. seriously, give it a go if you can get it! :D

in the netherlands postcrossing

the postcrossing stamps

i shouldn’t let the week pass without mentioning the new postcrossing stamps. they’re the reason we detoured our vacation to the netherlands, so that p. could receive the first sheet of stamps from the hands of postnl’s marketing manager.

it’s a true honour to have your work immortalised in a stamp, and somewhat of a surreal feeling too. we’ve bought the stamp and used it on postcards, but it still feels strange to think that people out there are sending postcards with it.

stamps are reserved for remarkable things, the kind that we want to collect and remember – and having postcrossing up there in that category is pretty neat. after all, how many websites have their own stamp? :)

foooood in the netherlands

Patat with mayonnaise

there’s something so simple and right about this… the netherlands might be the land of snacks & small pleasures :)