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My Expat Addictions: Speculoos Spread

speculoos_pasta_xlWhenever you move somewhere new, you usually find things unique to your new home that are so novel and unique that they quickly become something you always want to have around, and will probably miss if you ever leave and can’t find it as easily again.

Here in the Netherlands, my primary major food addiction is Speculoos Spread. To put it simply, it is heaven in a jar.

If you’re an American, you’re probably already familiar with Speculoos, a Belgian/Dutch spiced shortbread-ish cookie, but you know it by a totally different name:

Biscoff Cookie

And you probably only know it if you fly Delta Airlines, as it’s been their special in-flight snack item for quite a while now. It’s the first place I ever encountered the cookie, and it was always the thing I looked forward to most any time I flew with them.

In its cookie form, it’s absolutely delicious.  However, the Dutch have a fine tradition of turning every popular food item into a spread, and they’ve applied their spread-making expertise to this cookie, and the result is something that transcends proves God’s eternal love for us.

Speculoos Spread, like American Peanut Butter, comes in two varieties: Smooth & Crunchy.  Smooth is exactly what you’d expect.  It’s creamy, buttery, sugary wonder.  But where the real action is, is with the Crunchy spread.  If you’re a crunchy peanut butter fan, you may expect the smooth spread, but with big hard chunks of cookie periodically spread through.  This would be a nice enhancement of the standard spread and would definitely make it the better of the two, but stopping there would be giving up before reaching its full potential.  And that would just be a shame as it can be so much more.biscoff

Thankfully, Crunchy Speculoos aspires to greater things and doesn’t give up at chunks.  Instead, it’s cookie dust evenly mixed throughout, giving a grainy, continuously crunchy texture throughout.  Guaranteeing every spoonfull, every bite is simultaneously smooth, creamy, crunchy and wonderful.

If you’ve never tried Speculoos Spread and don’t live in western Europe, fear not!  This stuff goes by a number of names and can be found both online and at some grocery stores in the US.

Here are some alternative names/places you can buy from:

The fact that I can buy the stuff on Amazon means even if we leave the Netherlands, I’ll never have to live without Speculoos Spread!

Dutch Discoveries | Mike |

A Daily Game in the Netherlands

Every day I walk to and from work, about 1.5 km each way.  And, since this is winter, it’s usually in the dark, without the aid of much street lighting (a subject for another day).  Because of this, I get to play a game on my walks to and from work that I like to call:

Leaf, Twig, or Dog Crap?

Everyone in the Netherlands apparently ignores this sign.

The rules are simple:

  1. Scan the ground in front of you as you walk
  2. Spot nondescript, dark shape on the ground about 2 seconds before you’re about to step on it
  3. Quickly make a guess to whether it’s a leaf, a twig, or a pile of dog poo

How do you win?  Simple!  Don’t step in the dog crap.

Chances of “winning” per day? Roughly 10%

Why is it so hard to win this game?  Evidently, while the Dutch in general believe strongly in recycling, not littering and generally being as environmentally friendly as possible, they do not believe in picking up after their dogs.  And it seems like every third person here owns a dog.  Oh, and the dogs appear to be genetically engineered to produce the maximum amount of poo possible.  I’m sure, if you were to do an autopsy on a Dutch dog, you’d find that 95% of the space normally occupied by things like a heart, lungs, kidneys etc in a normal dog are in fact replaced by a super-enlarged colon.  These animals are mean, lean, pooping machines.

And the stuff is everywhere.

So when you find yourself walking along a sidewalk in the Netherlands… keep an eye out for the poo.

Oh and as a bonus warning: Never jump into, kick, or walk through a leaf pile.  Ever.

Uncategorized | Mike |

Daily Dutch Discoveries: #4 – SAND EVERYWHERE!

Something you don’t necessarily think about when moving to a country that’s mostly at or below sea level is how much sand there is.  It’s everywhere.  It’s like living at the beach, but the water is an hour away.  There’s a fine layer of sand over everything here.  You think that’s dirt?  That’s just a thin bit of soil there to cover up the sand!

So grainy... so irritating...
So grainy… so irritating…

 

And we all know sand gets in EVERYTHING… absolutely everything…

 

Daily Dutch Discoveries is an ongoing series of little factoids and tidbits I’ve picked up as an American Expat living in the Netherlands.
Want to see all of the Discoveries?  Check out the full list here!
Culture Dutch Discoveries Dutch Life Integrating | Mike |

Sinterklaas Arrives in Hilversum

So yesterday, Elisa and I went out to welcome Sinterklaas as he arrived and paraded around Hilversum.  It’s hard to describe the event adequately.  Imagine if your mall Santa had a line of kids a few THOUSAND long, and then there was a parade with people in black face*, animal suits, and random other costumes.  Now also add in a big party in the center of town with a DJ and a guy in a really bad Batman costume… and you have Sinterklaas’ arrival in Hilversum.  It was a pretty surreal but fun experience.

Here are a handful of the photos I took.  The full set can be found on the Facebook page.

All photos taken up until Batman in town center were taken with my Nikon 1 V1 with the default 10-30mm lens.  Then my battery died and I had to rely on the camera on my Nokia Lumia 720… which is not as nice of a camera.

 

* The people in black face are Zwarte Piet, Sinterklass’ “helpers”.  There’s a ton of controversy right now over them portraying a racist stereotype (servants) and everyone here’s pretty sensitive about the whole thing.

Culture Dutch Life Integrating | Mike |

Sinterklaas Is Coming!

I’ve only been in the Netherlands for two weeks, but in those two weeks pretty much every Dutch person I met and talked to told me I really really had to experience the arrival of Sinterklaas. My relocation assistant, a German woman who moved to Hilversum with her family 8 years ago said it was something so uniquely Dutch, that it had to be seen to be believed.

...Sinterklaas is coming, to town!
…Sinterklaas is coming, to town!

So this Saturday (tomorrow), Sinterklaas arrives in Hilversum. To give you a little bit of background information, here’s a few snippets from the Wikipedia Article explaining Sinterklaas and his history:

He is celebrated annually on Saint Nicholas’ eve (5 December) in the Netherlands and on the morning of 6 December in the other countries. Originally, the feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas – patron saint of children, sailors, philatelists, and the city of Amsterdam, among others.
…
Sinterklaas traditionally arrives in the Netherlands each year in mid-November (usually on a Saturday) by steamboat from Spain. Some suggest that gifts associated with the holy man, the mandarin oranges, led to the misconception that he must have been from Spain.
…
At his arrival Sinterklaas parades through the streets on his gray horse Amerigo, welcomed by cheering and singing children. In Belgium, the horse is named Slecht Weer Vandaag, meaning Bad Weather Today. This event is broadcast live on national television in the Netherlands and Belgium. His Zwarte Piet assistants throw candy and small, round, gingerbread-like cookies, either “kruidnoten” or “pepernoten,” into the crowd. The children welcome him by singing traditional Sinterklaas songs. Sinterklaas visits schools, hospitals and shopping centers.

It is VERY important to note that Sinterklaas and Santa Claus are NOT the same thing. Though they’re both based on the same Saint Nikolas, and Santa is likely derived in part from Sinterklaas, the two have diverged since Santa came on the scene in the 18th Century in the soon-to-be independent American colonies. Sinterklaas is a bishop who lives in Spain that is celebrated on December 5. Santa is a magical being from the North Pole that is celebrated on December 25th.

When Sinterklaas arrives, it’s a BIG deal. Everyone comes out to see his arrival, and then the rest of the day has a sort of festival atmosphere as everyone has a good time and kicks off the holiday season.

Elisa and I will be out with everyone else to welcome Sinterklaas to Hilversum. Pictures and talk of the actual event to come!

Culture Dutch Life Integrating | Mike |

Questions I’ve Been Asked About Moving to the Netherlands

Since I told my friends, family and coworkers I was moving to the Netherlands, I’ve gotten a lot of funny/interesting questions about why I’d do something so crazy. And now that I’m actually IN the Netherlands, I’m being peppered with questions by people living over here too. I noticed there’s a definite theme to the questions depending on if the person asking is American or European.

Americans mostly thought I was kind of nuts for doing something so weird as to willingly leave the country, while Europeans mostly wanted to know how I liked being over in Europe so far, and how I was adjusting. They did seem surprised I’d make the move too. Turns out there’s a bit of a stereotype that all Americans are ultra-nationalistic gun-toting cheerleaders for all things USA.

flying

Americans Asked:

  • Why on earth would you move to Europe?!
  • Why would you want to leave the US?
  • You’re leaving warm, sunny Texas for the rainy, cold Netherlands?!
  • Did you lose a bet?
  • Is the Netherlands in Norway/near Russia/by Iceland etc.?
  • Can I come visit!?

Europeans Asked:

  • Why would you leave the US? I thought all Americans loved the United States too much to leave.
  • What is your favorite thing about the Netherlands?
  • How does the food here compare to the US?
  • Do you know any Amish people?
  • What did you do with your guns when you moved? (asked after I told someone I moved from Texas)

Additionally, anywhere I ate out, many people here were very curious if I liked it or not. And I think every single person I’ve talked to about food so far has enthusiastically recommended Domino’s Pizza.  I guess they thought I’d already be desperately craving American food?

I start work tomorrow… I wonder what kind of random questions I’ll get from my new coworkers!

Culture Integrating Relocating | Mike |

Daily Dutch Discoveries: #3 – Navigating Cities (Without GPS)

When exploring a Dutch city, It’s very hard to orient yourself N/S/E/W when it’s cloudy all the time, and you’re surrounded by buildings tall enough to obscure landmarks and the roads don’t seem to be laid out in any logical way (they just sort of aimlessly wind about and randomly dead-end). This makes it difficult to find your way around (unless you’re from Boston, in which case, you’ll feel right at home).

Is that an ant farm, or a map?
Is that an ant farm, or a map?

 

Today, it took me two hours to walk somewhere that was actually less than 10 minutes away from where I’m staying.

I get my smartphone with GPS by the end of the week, thank God!

Daily Dutch Discoveries is an ongoing series of little factoids and tidbits I’ve picked up as an American Expat living in the Netherlands.
Want to see all of the Discoveries?  Check out the full list here!
Culture Dutch Discoveries Dutch Life Integrating | Mike |

Daily Dutch Discoveries: #2 – McDonalds Abroad

McDonalds in the Netherlands serves a Chicken Satay sandwich with a peanut satay sauce, crispy fried onions and cucumbers.  It is surprisingly tasty.  They also have a Chili Pepper Chicken sandwich on their 1 euro menu that looks interesting.

My sandwich actually looked a LOT like the promo photo...
My sandwich actually looked a LOT like the promo photo…

 

I think the US could use some of the international menu items to spice things up a bit…

Daily Dutch Discoveries is an ongoing series of little factoids and tidbits I’ve picked up as an American Expat living in the Netherlands.
Want to see all of the Discoveries?  Check out the full list here!
Culture Dutch Discoveries Dutch Life Integrating | Mike |

Daily Dutch Discoveries: #1 – Tiny Roads

One of the things that first struck me when wandering around Hilversum was how tiny many of the residential roads were. Some of these roads look an awful lot like alleys.  But they’re roads.  In fact they’re often TWO LANE roads with parking on either side.  I don’t know how this actually works, but it does.

This "road" somehow is 2-way, with parking, and room for bicycles and pedestrians.
This “road” somehow is 2-way, with parking, and room for bicycles and pedestrians.

I don’t think I’m ever going to drive in this country…

Daily Dutch Discoveries is an ongoing series of little factoids and tidbits I’ve picked up as an American Expat living in the Netherlands.
Culture Dutch Discoveries Dutch Life Integrating | Mike |

My First Trip to the Grocery

It’s hard to imagine something as mundane as a trip to the grocery being a stressful, anxiety-filled experience, but that’s exactly what my first trip was like.

Why was it so stressful?  Imagine walking into your favorite grocery store, but you couldn’t read any of the labels so you’re not 100% sure what it is you’re buying.  Now also imagine that none of the people around you speak your language.  On top of that, you don’t recognize 95% of the brands so you’re just having to guess at what’s what.  Oh, and you’re alone (my wife is still in the US) so you have no one to confer with when you need a second opinion on what something is.

Here’s one specific example that was particularly difficult for me the other day…

I need a half gallon of milk for my morning cereal.  This looks like it might be the dairy section… I think.  Is that milk?  It looks like milk.  But it could also be yogurt (sold in a very similar container)… and is it even cows milk?  OK, this one has a picture of a cow on it.  But is it whole milk?  2%? Skim?  I can’t find any clear sign of what it is.  Hell, this could be half-and-half.  OK, this one looks like it’s a regular carton of cows milk, and I believe it’s 1%.  Or it could be whole milk… %#(*&.  You know what?  Screw it, I’ll just buy it and hope for the best.  If it turns out to be half and half, I’ll eat dry cereal and heavily creamed coffee!!!!!!!

There are a lot of items you can guess at based on context and similar-ish packaging designs.  For example, I was able to figure out what soap was for hand-washing dishes because the bottle looked almost exactly like the dish soap bottles do in the US and used similar logos and colors.  I was also able to figure out goat cheese and granola.  But for every item you can identify, there’s a few dozen you can’t.  I tried to pick out some sandwich meat, but wasn’t sure if I was getting chicken, turkey, or sliced pork as all the white meats looked the same.  And the names didn’t help me out one bit.

And if you go to an Albert Heijn, be very careful to make sure you pick the right lane.  Since I don’t have my bank card yet, I’m using cash for everything.  Well, turns out at the AH nearest my temp house, only two of the lanes even accept cash!  Look for signs above each lane to see if there’s an image of a Euro bill and coins with a red slash through it.

Finally, here in the Netherlands, they don’t give you bags for your groceries.  You either bring your own, or you buy them at the checkout.  So I also had to buy a sack to cart my groceries home.  Oh, there’s also no baggers, you have to do that yourself, while the cashier tries to talk to you (in Dutch), and you’re trying to pay… and there’s a line of annoyed people forming behind you as you struggle to cram your groceries into your new & unfamiliar bag….. *deep breath*

So here are my tips for an Expat’s first trip to the grocery store in the Netherlands:

  1. Don’t go on your first day in town.
    Chances are you don’t know where ANYTHING is and the trip to the store will be along a very unfamiliar route.  The first day or two in town just eat out or get delivery.  Use the time to figure out where things are.  And then try a trip to the store.  No sense adding the stress of feeling lost to the experience.
  2. Make your first trip a light one.
    Don’t make your first trip to the store one where you’re stocking your entire kitchen at once.  Just bring a small list so you have food for the next 2-3 days.  You won’t feel as overwhelmed trying to find 6 things as you will trying to find 20.
  3. Go with someone.  
    Having a second set of eyes and a second brain to try and figure out exactly what the heck geitenkaas is (goat cheese) will save you a LOT of stress.  Plus you have someone to commiserate with over the experience.  Also, they can bag the groceries while you tend to the cashier and paying.
  4. Bring your own bags.
    Any canvas sack will do.  You might even have a few from your grocery store back in the US you can use.
  5. Get a Bonus Card.
    A lot of the items in the store are often at STEEP discount if you use a bonus card to buy them.  I was so panicked by my experience I forgot to get one, and paid probably 15 EUR more than I should have.

Now… I have a box of cereal, some milk, two cartons of yogurt, a sleeve of cookies, coffee and one frozen dinner to keep me going for the next few days before I’m brave enough to try for the grocery store again…

Wish me luck!

Culture Shock Dutch Life Ginger Guide Integrating | Mike |