Relationships are like herring

My relationship is suddenly falling apart and I'm beginning to wonder if it's as simple as something like herring. The Dutch love herring so much they celebrate the opening of herring season, pay exorbitant prices for the first barrel at auction(this year's barrel sold for a record NLG 120,000 and was donated to a volunteer group assisting people with psychiatric problems--guess crazies need more protein?)and rush onto the streets to sample it, while hopefully televised by the local media, which is also absorbed with this salty delicacy. Unlike the Dutch, I do not love herring. I can appreciate it, I know it's readily available and currently, great quality and yet I just don't dig herring. Dangle it in front of my face and I will not open my jaw like a Dutchman. I'll probably run away. Maybe this is the issue with my relationship--we simply like different things and are frustrated that the other can't understand quality (from our particular perspective) when they see it. He gives me everything, the question is: do I want it? Would I accept herring everyday harboring no desire for herring? If I like sushi, shouldn't I live with someone who likes sushi instead? We're still talking raw fish, but there are so many degrees of difference.

Mountains of Mayo

Remember John Travolta’s Pulp Fiction line about how the Dutch eat French Fries with mayonnaise? “I seen ‘em do it, man. They fuckin’ drown ‘em in that shit.” It’s totally true. But mayo's not just for fries. My boyfriend, a bona fide Dutch chloresterol addict, likes to top almost everything with it, including my homemade moussaka--difficult for the chef (that's me) to take, but he swears by it. Tonight I'm making him salmon cakes smothered with wasabi mayonaise, only I'm not sure how much mayo to use. Last time I used 3/4 cup thinking it would be overkill. Sadly, I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Summertime Blues

After a 5-day heat wave last week, the Netherlands has returned to its somber, chilly self, dropping about 10 degrees C overnight. Still wavering over putting my winter's jacket in the back closet and exchanging it for something lighter, I ventured outside with it. It was luckily too heavy, but you never know around here... The best thing I've learned from living in such a cold, inhospitable country (Ok, I'm making it sound like Siberia, but to hell with it, I'm a thin-skinned Californian at heart) is to take advantage of every last moment of sunshine. Like the Dutch, I now drop all my work, take an immediate break from the routine, and rush out to soak it up off the pavement like a warmth-deprived iguana. I totally get it now: live in the moment.

The world outside my window

 

This is a sight you don't see everyday: bicycle trudging in Amsterdam. 750,000 people live in the city with an estimated 600,000 bikes, making it clear what the city’s most popular form of transportation is. Each year, about 80,000 bikes are stolen and 25,000 end up in the canals (as this picture proves,) though this does little to deter locals. This is probably the third time this year these men have sailed past, dragging up cycles from the canal. As I'm currently in need of a bike, I was tempted to shout out for a rusty freebie. 

A picture says it all

From Den Haag--a sign of the times? Don't you love the camera below. 24/7 surveillance in this 24/7 world...

Coffee anyone?

So we're at home entertaining and I offer a friend of my boyfriend's a cup of coffee. She declines. A few months back, I made her a cup American style (while an Italian might complain it wasn't strong enough, used, as they are, to thick rocket fuel) that was evidently too strong. The typical Dutch cup of coffee, koffie verkeerd or "wrong coffee," swims in a lake of milk with much less bang for your buck. But what's ironic is that she (*all identities will be protected) is renowned for, er, let's just say taking advantage of liberal Dutch laws regarding certain decriminalized substances. Oh, and let's throw LSD and Coke in there, too. So this hard-living gal can't stomach my coffee because--in her words-- it made her trip out. Wow, and to think I drink it everyday....