Saturday 13 January 2018

Visits to the Netherlands

As this blog has many Polish followers, I thought it would be interesting to read. So this time the subject is not a Warsaw or Poland story.

Visits to the Netherlands
After marrying Mrs My Warsaw Dream and settling in the capital of Poland, I still went back to the Netherlands quite regularly, just for a few days.

Welcome comittee
My best friend and my father were always ready to pick me up, bless them. Most times senior took the dog, which always was heartwarming. The moment Doris the dog picked me up with her senses, there was no escaping from a charge like she was an American football player. Of course the full facial treatment with her tongue was included. Very nice to see that pure happiness, people could learn from dogs really. Make that a should. But without the facial treatment please.

Product flows
A while ago I blogged about the goods flow between the two countries, taking Products to the Netherlands and vice versa (missed it? Click here).

Commodities
Unfortunately there are also products which cannot be taken while travelling, due to its size or weight, exceeding liquid maximums or products which should be chilled to keep fresh. Of course there's the option to vacuum package things, but I did not want that hassle. And find out that it did not finish the trip fresh. Also, a simple jar of peanut butter is not allowed to take in carry on luggage, I love the Dutch variant. Just a little different than elsewhere. I have been thinking to have a box of products shipped to me every few months, but not eating it only when visiting family and friends in NL also hat its charm. It then even seems to taste better!

"Fresh" products
Especially that reason led to the situation that I was like a junkie close to his fix, when walking out the airport terminal. Dutch deep fried snacks and cod, smoked sausage, fries swimming in sauce looking like someone already ate it before you. Lovely.

First stop
The funny thing is that I always hated the fast food and snacks sold at petrol stations, being kept warm on these hot plates. Some of the snacks look like they have been sizzling there for a week, but could not wait for the first one when driving from the airport to my hometown. Greasy or not.

But what exactly?
First gas station: satékroket and bamischijf. Or occasionally a normal kroket.
A kroket is a deep fried crusty snack with a sort of beef ragout inside. They come in many variants like with veal meat or saté sauce (the satékroket).

Satékroket

Normal kroket

Due to our colonial past this Indonesian sauce is very popular in the Netherlands. We also call it peanut sauce, a name despised by people of Indonesian descent in the Netherlands.

A bamischijf is also based on Indonesian food, bami. The Dutch just make a crust around it and deep fry it.

Bamischijf

In my hometown
When arriving in my hometown, I always follow the same routine. Grocery shopping, meet my sis, brother-in-law and my Godchild. For dinner I always go with her to a "cafetaria", also named "snackbar". Order Dutch fries for the four of us and eat together at their home.

Patat Speciaal

The day after
After a day like that it's time for a more healthy day. Nothing really fancy, just the Dutch dishes which my wife prepares perfectly in Warsaw with local ingredients.

Day three
After a healthy day I went for some small groceries end of the morning. At the nearest Supermarket there is always a fish truck on Fridays and Saturdays, selling fresh raw, smoked and deep fried fish. Sometimes I just could not resist the smell of that delicious fried cod...

Lekkerbekje, deep fried cod
For dinner later that day it was always a good healthy meal. If I stayed longer I did not eat any more of this fast food.

Snack culture
I want to bet some of you are pretty shocked seeing this, but for the majority of Dutch it is normal to have this kind of food once a week. It's a lot of deep fried stuff indeed, but it's always better than the English kitchen! ;-) Well...apart from their full English "brekkie"

Soon I will blog about Polish fast food, which is totally different.

Stay tuned folks!

1 comment:

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