Food Fun

Let's face it, desserts are the best part of the meal and it's even better if they become a meal in themselves, so in case some of you are short on time while reading this post, you'll know you didn't miss out on the best parts. 

Strawberries and Nutella. The perfect partners, the strawberries were Holland grown and slightly tart, so the Nutella was the perfect contrast for their flavor. 

Just admire the beauty. 

This is evidence of our creativity. We bought some vanilla vla (custard) and it was rather bland so we designed a new dessert by swirling Nutella and strawberries in with it to make yumminess happen. 

I kept seeing people buy this in the grocery store and I kept thinking that it looked like such delicious and amazing pudding . . .

. . .  but I wasn't expecting this. Apparently the word "pudding" means something slightly, er, more stiff here. It was kind of like a mousse, airy jello, pudding. The flavors were great . . . the texture was just a bit too confusing, I'm glad I tried it, but I don't think it will be a repeat buy. 

Frambozen = raspberry. Vla = custard. I figured that combination was a safe one. Boy was I wrong. I should have known that something that shade of pink could only taste like one thing: Pepto - Bismol. 

And I mean EXACTLY like pepto-dismal---oops I mean pepto-bismal. 

Drooling yet? There are even more flavors but they are not regularly in the grocery store, so when I find a place that sells them I'll add to my collection. See any varieties that appeal to you? No promises, but let me know and I'll maybe, just maybe find a way to get one to you sooner or later. 

My recommendation? The caramel. It is exquisite.

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On to the main course. 

Mozzarella and pesto is a delicious frozen pizza combination. 

It's called wit loaf and this is what it looks like before you cook it. 

This is what it looks like after you have cooked it, dressed it with melted butter and paprika and added boiled eggs. Good old fashioned Dutch dish. This will be a regular on our menu. 

What is this? That's what we wondered when we saw it in the market and so we decided to try it. 

It turns out that it is called "piel de sapo", which my handy Spanish knowledge tells me means 'toad/frog's skin'. Isn't that appetizing?

This is what it looks like on the inside and when it is inside your mouth it just basically tastes like Honeydew Melon. 

If you want ethnic food in The Netherlands you've got to explore Indonesian. We did and we found some wonderful flavors. We are also keeping Conimex in business. 

A closer view of the noodles, veggies, atjar (pickled peppers), sambal (spicy pepper paste), and ketjap manis (a sweet sort of soy sauce), plus some rice chip like things for the side (kroepoek). If it doesn't sound good that's just because you don't have the wonderful smell under your nose to change your mind. 

MEXICAN FOOD! Actually, far from it, but it made some decent Tex-mex. We probably would never have bought these items in the U.S. but here they are a precious commodity gifted to us by our American co-worker. Her grocery store carries them and ours does not. 

We did our best to compile Mexican ingredients, including cilantro, and in the end we did pretty well, the only thing that was sorely lacking was the Mexican/cheddar cheese. We had to settle for Gouda cheese instead. 

Can you guess what this cooking experiment is?

Pannekoeken! We topped them with all sorts of things: we tried out every appetizing combination of peanut butter, nutella, banana, apple, jam, and butter that we could think of and we ended up so full of pannekoeken we could hardly move.

The restaurants add fruits and such to the batter while it is baking so we wanted to try as well. We still have a lot to learn about pannekoek making, but it was certainly edible. 

Soup in a bag might sound like a strange idea, but here there is a company that does it way better than the soup in a can alternative that we're used to. This particular tomato soup was not only bursting with flavor, it was also bursting with veggies and had a few tiny sausage surprises to spice it up. And what is tomato soup without some Gouda grilled cheese sandwiches?

Stampot. 

This is come in from the cold and fill your self with a bowl of comfort -- food. 

Where's the ketchup you might ask? Forget ketchup, the best way to eat fresh cut fries is with plenty of special mayo-like sauce and some curry goodness to top it off.