I feel like our cooking has started to exhibit some notably Dutch influences. We’ve been using some ingredients which we either didn’t have in Scotland, or just didn’t use very much. As previously mentioned, Indonesian food features heavily over here, and we’ve started using some of those flavours, like Sambal, Shawarma, Bami and others (not really sure what all of these things are). One of the more Dutch things we’ve made a few times though is Erwten Soep. It contains split peas, leeks, carrot, onion and … Knolserlderij
We don’t know what this thing is – but it tastes a lot like celery. Weird looking brain thing.
The kids and us are absolutely loving the bread here too! I wasn’t really that much of a bread person back in Scotland, but this stuff is next level. It’s really dark, Volkoren [en:wholegrain] bread. It’s just amazing. The kids have it generally for breakfast and lunch, so we get through it pretty quickly. As do most other Dutch families apparently based on the 3 for 2 offers all the supermarkets do.
The cycle paths are smooth here, really smooth. For some reason unrelated to this story Eliane left her bike locked up over in Veldhoven (~3km from home) a few days ago. After the kids were in bed I decided to skateboard across to get it and cycle it home. I have never experienced cross-country skateboarding like this before – I would push and then just glide for 20 meters before needing to push again. I have really good wheels and bearings but even so it felt effortless. The other notable thing is that the cycle paths don’t end .. no more than roads just end. They all just connect on to one another, so there are zero curbs which you need to tackle. I actually don’t mind a curb when on a skateboard – it’s a nice challange – but yeah sometimes (more often than not for me) you time the jump wrong, or your feet weren’t right, or you didn’t commit to the jump and you don’t make it up the curb smoothly. You stop, go back and get the board, get back on and go again. Well here there is no obstacles, because the fietspad [en: cycle path] is as important a piece of infrastructure as the roads are. They’re so well planned out and so well maintained. I’m wondering if they even do roadworks which involve excavating some of the paths from time to time, because I have never noticed any marks from previous works.
As well as me on a skateboard, there are various other non-bicycle users on the fietspad, riding scooters, mopeds, lying down tricycles, hand powered bikes, and even this chap –
Here’s a nice morning where I rode my bakerfiets to work (mine isn’t the same as the link, but the idea is that its the type of bike a baker would have used to cycle baked stuff around in)
This one is from early one FREEZING cold, misty morning a few weeks back. Beautiful but my fingers almost fell off taking the video
We received a second IKEA order this week which was very much needed. There was an enormous amount purchased in the first order, and that did really go a long way to help us organise the utter chaos which the movers left, but there was still some additional items which were very much needed to sort things more effectively.
I was keen just to get it all setup right away, but as ever this needs to be balanced with making sure the kids are getting the needed attention and El and I are spending good quality time together aswell. Goodness knows the two of us could spend a month of Sundays organising and doing life admin just now, but there needs to be a decent fun:obligation* ratio. Late one evening this past week I was cramming in some DIY – hammering and drilling shelves. El, wanting to go to bed, asks if I might choose please to stop. I respond “I’ll only be another 15 minutes.” Her reply was the truest thing anyone has ever said of me, and perhaps of any husband doing odd-jobs around the house. “Nothing has ever just taken you 15 minutes.” It did, in fact, take me longer than 15 minutes.
*this is the calculation El and I typically use to work out whether something is worth doing or not. If the antecedent is less than the consequent then we shouldn’t do the thing except when the thing is just one part of broader thing, in which case you need to use the fun:obligation ratio again to measure that thing.
We had a call from the letting agent in Scotland, responsible for the logistics around the Glasgow House. Apparently the tenants had tried to light a fire in the stove, and had been alarmed that smoke was produced. I was being requested to authorise the contracting of a fireplace / chimney specialist to come out and survey the situation. This was on the basis that they thought it might be a fire hazard. It being a fire place and all, I explained, it perhaps was indeed a fire hazard, and they should perhaps just not use it if smoke was a concern to them. No contractor was solicited.
With regard to lost possessions during the move I have to admit that we have gotten off very lightly. There was a chest of drawers we would have liked to have been taken but as it was inside the doors of a fitted wardrobe we missed noticing it on the departing inspection with the movers so it ended up staying. There was also a small shed of tools (my axe 😪) and el’s vast collection of gardening seeds which wasn’t emptied and taken despite having been asked to do so. I’ve no idea when we will get this but it is currently all still locked in that shed in Glasgow. One of the more regularly used and loved items which I’d not seen since a few days before leaving were my EarPod Pros – bluetooth headphones. I made do without them but I really, really did use them so often in Scotland that it felt like quite a cost not to have them, especially with the increase in commuting time and phone-calls for work. It has been our first bout of proper rain here in NL since arriving this week and so I decided to give my rain jacket a first wear in the new territory. I was so happy to discover that my EarPods were tucked neatly in one of the pockets! So good having them back.
We found the coolest outdoor play area. It’s called the Urban Sport Park. It is beyond dangerous in almost every way, and i’m certain would be very unlikely to have been made similarly in the UK, but we avoided injury. It’s relatively close to our house too – only 15 minute cycle. There is a outdoor gym area, with bars and big tyres for weights, and ropes etc. There is a ~3 meter-high, wooden climbing area with a footprint taking up probably the size of two tennis courts. There is a Parkour section made of concrete for people to take daring jumps and balances on. There is a very generously sized pump track and there is a nice playpark for smaller kids. It’s all very well maintained and it draws a great number of people.
I think the weird brain looking thing is known as celeriac here. I’ve never knowingly eaten it but it featured in a recent Master Chef programme. To me it resembles a planet (Jupiter perhaps) with a mandrake root on top. It’ll never take over from fish and chips!
The guy on skiis with wheels was presumably in training for x-county skiing. Very popular during the summer in Finland I believe.
Good to see you all being so active. You’ll be the fittest group in the Hamilton tribe at this rate.
Love Dad.
Who are we behind currently?
The Park looks tremendous. Lots of fun things to play on. Im surprised you are not playing on them. Perhaps you are. How is El getting on with work plans. I am so looking forward to seeing you all in June. It’s very cold here but Dundee has missed the snow which I am pleased about but others are sad. On one of your instagram videos it looked like you had a bit of snow. Love seeing your videos and hearing your news xxxxx
Oh yes we’ve had a lot of snow! It’s been very very cold for weeks
I can’t believe you folks haven’t come across celeriac. I’ve grown it for years , and S. and B. grow it and we all eat it regularly, some is in my veg. drawer now. V. yummy!!!!
It is tasty but I’ve honestly never seen it before. How do *you* cook it?
Just having a mammoth catch up of some of your blogs, I can’t believe how much you’ve crammed in! But equally can’t believe you’ve never eaten celeriac so in answer to your question: roast, mashed, in soup in stew, covered in salt and coriander seed and baked whole… plus pretty much anything you might so with a potatoe/parsnip/cauliflower! X
Bake WHOLE! Like, do nothing to it whatsoever other than put some stuff on it and, and then just put it in the oven! That would take hours, no?
Give it a wash and bake it whole. Maybe an hour and a half, can’t remember off the top of my head, can cover with foil if it’s burning on the outside. It slices up really nicely when it’s cooked!
That park looks amazing. We’re going there!
You know it! So much fun