Let's face it, the Dutch are hardly world famous for their cuisine. But over the past year and some, I've come to hold many foods near and dear. This is hardly a list of all Dutch foods, but my most favorite (and most eaten)...

Dutch or Belgian Fries

Also called: Frites, Vlaamse Frites or Patat

Best eaten after or during a night of drinking. Served in a paper cone, or in a plastic tray (the former most certainly being messier than the latter), with a variety of sauces in a variety of combinations:

• ketchup
• mayo
• curry sauce
• pindasaus (peanut sauce)
• pinda-mayo (with or without onions) (fave!)
• mayo-ketchup (fave!)

Stroopwafels (pronounced strope-waffles)

Basically, two round, flat waffles glued together with Dutch syrup, called stroop. They're not that unheard of in Canada, sold in packs of 8 or so. But nothing beats the fresh, warm stroopwafels sold on the weekends in the centre of The Hague. If you're anywhere within a 1km radius of a stroopwafel truck, you're sure to smell their deliciousness wafting through the streets.

Oliebollen (pronounced oh-lee-boh-lin)

Literal translation: oil balls.

At donut shops in Canada, you can most likely find Dutchie donuts, which I think are actually North American knock-offs of oliebollen. They're basically deep fried balls of dough (hence "oil balls"), most traditionally with raisins. Some are plain, but they also come with many other delicious fillings: apples, pineapple, cherries, custard, pears, and even speculaas (we'll get to that soon enough). Served with or without powdered sugar.

The best olibollen (in my opinion) are those made by the professionals, at bakeries or oliebollen trucks. I thought for sure homemade is always better than store bought, but I guess not in all cases! Unfortunately, oliebollen only come around for a few months of the year, starting somewhere in October/November, and disappear after New Years (since they're traditionally eaten at midnight on New Years). You can also find them at carnivals any time of the year, if there so happens to be a carnival passing through.

Speculaas (pronounced spek-you-lass)

In short: those spiced windmill cookies that kinda, sorta taste like gingerbread. They're quite common in Canadian grocery stores (and I highly recommend you go out and buy a package if you've never had 'em!).

Pepernoten (pay-per-note-in)

Round, bite sized cookies made out of the same ingredients as speculaas cookies. They only come around Sinterklaas season, and are highly addictive. They come plain, or covered in chocolate (white, milk, and pure), or as an assortment with schuimpjes, a Dutch candy that comes in the shape of Sinterklaas figures.

Poffertjes (pof-er-chyus)

Basically bite-sized pancakes, served with powdered sugar, stroop, and a disgustingly huge dallop of butter.

There's a pancake house in Rotterdam with an open kitchen, and is it ever entertaining to watch the cooks make poffertjes! They can pour and flip at lightening speed! Well, ok, not quite that fast, but hell, it's pretty damn quick.

Appelflap (apple-flop)

Apple turnover sprinkled with large granules of sugar.

Ontbijtkoek (ont-bite-cook)

Literally translated to "breakfast cake."

A dense, spiced, yet sort of sweet type of bread. Eaten for breakfast (as the name implies) or a snack. Most delicious with a disgustingly thick layer of butter.

Hagelslag (I won't even try to spell this out phonetically)

Literal translation: hail stones (because they apparently look like hail).

Basically, sprinkles. But they come in so many flavours:

• milk chocolate
• pure chocolate
• white chocolate
• mocha chocolate
• white and milk chocolate mixed
• berry flavored (my favorite!)
• citrus
• anise (you know, that licorice sort of flavor)

There's also chocolate flakes, called vlokken, which come in all the chocolate flavors listed above. And also muisjes ("little mice"), which are small round sprinkles, flavored with aniseed, and are most commonly used to celebrate a new baby (pink and white for a girl, blue and white for a boy).

The most common way to eat hagelslag is on bread. Yep, that's right, on bread: as toast, or a sandwich, with a slathering of butter (to make the hagelslag stick, of course!). They're also commonly sprinkled on beschuit, which are basically large, think rounds of melba toast.

For more on hagelslag, here is a handy site on how to eat hagelslag.

The Dutch are big on putting things on bread... hagelslag, pindakaas (the Dutch version of peanut butter), chocolate spread (Nutella), jam, cream cheese, sandwich spread, appelstroop (apple jam) and last but certainly not least...

Speculoos (spek-you-lows)

I think this is actually a Belgian spread, because when I first came here I could only find it in Belgium, but it's finally made it's way to Dutch grocery stores. It's basically speculaas flavored spread, but much sweeter, and has the same sort of consistency as peanut butter. It is by far my favorite bread spread.

Goudse Kaas (ghowd-suh kass)

Everyone knows Gouda cheese, called Gouda after the city it's derived from. Gouda cheese in the Netherlands is basically what cheddar cheese is in Canada. It has a pretty mild taste, and is used in most dishes that require cheese: grilled cheese sandwiches (called tosties), tacos, lasagne, cheese sauce, pizza, etc. Unless a recipe requires a distinct cheese flavour, or a specific type of cheese for the texture, it's Gouda. It comes in several varieties, the most common being jong (young), jong belegen (slightly more matured), belegen (which is what I can determine to be the equivalent of "medium"), oud (old), and komijn (with cumin seeds... my fave!).

Stamppot (pronounced like it looks)

Basically means "mashed dish," and is exactly that. The main ingredient is always potatoes. You can really add any other sort of vegetable you like, but most common is kale, or carrots and onions (which is called hutspot), and then you mash 'em all together. It's not a very flavorful dish, but I still think it's really delicious. It's a really good winter dish, since it's hearty, and warm, and well, the main ingredients are winter veggies.

10 MORE THINGS.
Continuing on with the differences between Canada and the Netherlands...

1. The recycling system is a bit more inconvenient than in Canada. There's no recycling for aluminum, so that just goes in the trash. Cardboard gets picked up separately on certain days (once every two weeks, I believe). Glass goes to the glass bank, which you have to transport yourself (so you better be sure not to let it build up too much, otherwise you'll be carrying quite a load on your bike, with bottles clanking the whole way), and then dropped into huge containers in the ground, separated into colored and clear glass.

2. Used clothing stores are next to non-existent. The closest thing would be either the Kringloop, which has a horrible selection of clothes, or trendy vintage stores such as Cheap Fashion in Rotterdam or Zippers in Amsterdam, where you can buy things such as used Adidas track suits or t-shirts from family vacations to Miami. But instead of costing 50 cents for that Miami shirt, they charge anywhere from 7,50 to 12 euros. Needless to say, I miss Value Village.

3. You actually have to pay to use the bathroom at bars here (and some other public places as well, such as department stores). So on top of spending money on drinks, and sometimes cover, you also have to factor in the 30-50 euro cents it costs per bathroom trip. Some places will bargain with you. Example: at the beginning of the night you might be able to cut a deal where you pay 2,50 euros for the whole night. If you go to the bathroom a lot, it ends up being a better deal, especially if you know you'll be there all night. The bonus to paying to use the bathroom is, these bathrooms usually stock up on toiletries that come in handy: hairspray, hand lotion, and even deodorant.

4. They don't use stick deodorant over here. As far as I know, they just started introducing it, but I rarely see it in shops. Luckily I was forewarned about the deodorant issue, and came stocked with several sticks. However, I just recently had to make the switch from stick to spray when my stock ran out. I've discovered that most of these sprays are actually just deodorant, meaning if I do any sort of physical activity (including cycling), you start sweating, and have to reapply within a couple hours of the first application. Some of the sprays are anti-perspirant, but leave your armpits sticky. And as far as their stick selection, well, I have to admit that one of the biggest things I look for in a stick is a nice scent, and I've yet to find a stick that comes in a pleasant smell. So for the time being, I'm using a combination of anti-perspirant stick, with a spray of deodorant.

5. Another great thing about the train system: students ride free! They can either choose to ride free on weekends and receive a 40% discount during the week, or vice versa.

6. A lot of restaurants/bars get fussy when you ask for tap water. If you don't specifically ask for tap water, they will give you bottled water (and of course charge you for it). Some places won't even allow you to order tap water, even if you've been giving them your business by buying drinks all night, or eating a meal. Personally, I think water is a right to life, and I shouldn't have to pay for it!

7. More [nearly] non-existent foods: Reeses, Kraft Dinner, maraschino cherries, Aunt Jemimah, food coloring, Butterfinger, most cereals (no Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Cap'n Crunch, Honey Combs, Rice Krispies, Fruit Loops... you get the jist), Skittles (I only just seen them yesterday for the first time at the movie theater), salt and vinegar (yes, the entire flavor), English muffins.

8. This one may not be news to some or most of you, but it was one of the main things I had to get used to at first: they don't use AM and PM when referring to time. They use military time, and it was bit confusing at first to see all the digital clocks using a 24 hour clock. It used to take me a few seconds to figure out the time if it was between noon and midnight.

9. Obviously Dutch is the main language spoken in the Netherlands, but because the Netherlands is much closer to the UK than it is Canada, British English is more widely spoken. There are also a lot of British expats living in the Netherlands, so I've learned a few words along the way:

British English/Canadian English

Pants/Knickers = Underwear

Fit = Hot guy or girl

Wanker = Loser

Boot = Car Trunk

Courgette = Zucchini

Aubergine = Eggplant

Crisps = Chips

Iced Lolli = Popsicle

Fringe = Bangs

Cycling = Biking

Jumper = Sweater

Queue = Line (as in "waiting in line")

Cuddle = Hug

Nappy = Diaper

Candy Floss = Cotton Candy

Take Away = Take Out

Brilliant = Awesome

Chuffed = Proud

Cling Film = Saran Wrap

Plasters = Band-Aids

Fancy Dress = Costume

Pudding = Dessert

Pram = Stroller

Tea = Dinner

Bloke = Boy

Suss = To figure out

Lie in = Sleep in

10. Unlike Canada, it's not considered un-hygienic to bring a dog into a restaurant or bar. Of course, not all places allow animals, but it's definitely more acceptable here.

I decided to start taking more videos. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, because it allows me to give you guys a better impression of things I see or experience, rather than trying to piece together a whole scene in photos.

So, on that note, here are a few videos I took recently:

This one is from last week, during The Hague Festivals, which is a 15 day music festival going on right now. Each night there is a concert at the Grote Markt with a different style of music. This was taken on African night:

This one is from Saturday. My friend Kristin and I were biking back from the train station (after spending the day in Leiden), when we discovered Prinsestraat (a normally driveable street) covered in grass, with hammocks, Fat Boys, and kids games. There were also small booths set up with clothes and jewelry, and this Latin band. I don't even know why they decided to set this up, but it was pretty neat to stumble upon!

And this last one is from last night at The Hague Festivals, which was titled "Skanking Around the Tramtunnel." This is a view of the Grote Markt from upstairs at Vavoom! Tiki Room, my favorite bar in Den Haag:

I've been really horrible with taking photos lately. I dunno, it seems I've lost all motivation somewhere along the way. But I thought I would at least tell you about my latest adventure: hitchhiking to Groningen!

I know you might think I'm a little crazy for even thinking about hitchhiking, but I was itching for travel, and we were all a little short on funds. Plus, I think we all wanted a crazy adventure.

So, we went with a plan to hitchhike the 250km to Groningen, stay overnight, then head back the next day. I consulted a handy online hitchhiking manual for the Netherlands (here) to map our best route, and gather any tips to make the trek easier.

The three of us (Chelsea, Kate, and I) met up Saturday afternoon, prepared with cardboard and markers, and set out to find the liftersplaats, the official hitchhiking stand point. The website wasn't very clear on the location of the point, so we wandered around in the general area for some time before we gave up and stood by an on ramp to the highway.

I think we coaxed drivers for about 15 minutes before we got picked up by our first car, who took us to Utrecht. Then from Utrecht to Amersfoort, Amersfoort to Zwolle, and Zwolle to Groningen. Oddly enough, our only trouble was getting picked up in Zwolle, where we stood for about half an hour to 45 minutes, despite the fact that we were let off at a point that was busier than Utrecht and Amersfoort combined.

We made it to Groningen by about 7:30pm, so all in all, it took us about 4 hours from start to finish. Not bad!

I contacted a couple of people on Couch Surfing, both of whom replied saying they had a place for us to stay. Our last ride into Groningen was so kind as to drop us off at Albert's place, one of our hosts, who lives in a houseboat on a canal with his friend Else.

Once we met our first host, we quickly went to meet our other host, Thomas, and brought him back to the houseboat so we could all get acquainted with each other. I think we all felt really comfortable in each other's company right away, making jokes about Chewbacca and Canadians, and the rat that lives in the houseboat.

When I contacted Thomas, he mentioned that he had plans to go out on Saturday night, but that we were more than welcome to join. Turns out, his plans were to go to a club, Vera, that Albert happened to be working at that night. It was kinda neat how well things fell together.

Albert left for work, and Thomas took us to his friend's place for some pre-drinking, then we all headed to Vera. Kate, Chelsea, and I were all pretty pooped from our trek, so we went home earlier than the rest, and ended up all staying at Albert's since his roommate was gone for the evening.

Sunday was yet another holiday in the Netherlands, and for some reason no one seemed to know what the holiday was for. Nevertheless, it meant everything was closed, except for a few restaurants. We still took the opportunity to get acquainted with the city, and enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather.

We grabbed a bite to eat, wandered around the city, then relaxed in the park while we waited for Albert (who was still sleeping when we left) and Ranko to meet up with us. We then continued our mini tour of the city, wandering around the center, and along the canals.

Albert then took us for a mini canal tour in his rowboat. On the way back, a man in a motorboat allowed us to hitch a ride back by throwing us some rope!

After our tour, we all had some more laughs on Albert's houseboat, then said our goodbyes, and made our way back to the highway. This time without as much luck.

We wandered around for quite a while, trying to find a good spot with a lot of traffic. We thought we got off lucky when a car pulled over within a few minutes, only to find out it was the police! I thought for sure they were going to tell us hitchhiking was illegal, but they only told us to head back to the intersection where it was safer.

We stood at that intersection for what seemed like forever, but we finally found a car going to Hoogeveen. We got dropped off a a gas station there, and from then on had much better luck, getting picked up within minutes at each stop. From Hoogeveen, we went back to Amersfoort, then Utrecht, finally getting dropped off in Voorburg where we were able to catch city transit back to Den Haag. All in all, from the time we left Albert's, to the time we reached Den Haag, it took us about 7 hours. Luckily we made it before nightfall!

I can't wait to go back to Groningen to see more of the city. I really loved it there! And we met some really great people, too. I think next time I'll take the train, though. That is, unless I'm low on funds again. ;)

And while I've been pretty lazy on the photo taking, I do have some to add (some stolen from Chelsea as well!):

This update is long overdue. I hope I can summarize everything that's happened over the past month without writing a novel. Forgive me if it turns into one!

Well, first and foremost, Easter weekend was spent road tripping. A few friends and I (Adam, Kasey, Emily, and David) rented a car, and drove to Vienna, Austria, with a few stops along the way.

We started out on Friday morning, the 5 of us squished into a Jetta, and drove about 7 hours to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a really cute German village in the region of Bavaria. We made several stops along the way, at Dutch and German service stations, and marveled at how lucky we were to have such gorgeous weather: warm, sunny, and not a cloud in sight (this is a real treat for Dutch weather!)

We made pretty horrible time to Rothenburg, as we left later than we had planned, and stopped more often than planned. So, by the time we arrived, we only had a few hours to spare before we had to head on to our hostel in Regensburg (about an hour and a half from Rothenburg).

I'm not sure if it was because it was Good Friday, or because we arrived so late, but the only businesses that were open were restaurants. But that hardly put a damper on our time there. Rothenburg is apparently a very popular tourist destination because of its well preserved medieval old town, which is separated by a city wall that was built in the 13th century. I think we were all just as content in walking around because the city really is like something out of a fairy tale:

One of my favorite things to do in another country is experience the cuisine. We stopped for a sit down dinner before heading on to our hostel, and this being my second time in Germany, I have to say that I'm not a fan of German cuisine. I think it's mainly to do with the fact that there are very few vegetarian choices (which isn't very surprising, but can make things difficult). We probably looked at about 7 different restaurants before we found one with a vegetarian option. But one of my favorite things about Germany has to be the beer (they sure do know beer!), served in 0,5 and 1L units:

After dinner, we continued on to our hostel in Regensburg, Germany... my first hostel experience! I'd always been a bit leery about hostels, but we lucked out by getting private rooms for only about 20 euros per person, with breakfast included! The showers were a bit interesting, but if that was the only downfall, I'd say David good a pretty good job at picking the hostel.

After a much needed sleep, we woke up early to continue on to Vienna, which was about another 400km from Regensburg.

By this point, I started realizing how boring Dutch landscape is in comparison to Germany and Austria. I mean, it's a nice landscape with the farms and windmills and canals. But German and Austrian landscape is just breathtaking. It's so hilly, and green, with little clusters of villages set in the valleys of the hills, with the houses seemingly randomly placed with the red slanted roofs. And once in Austria, at our first rest stop, we realized we could see the Alps in the distance.

Once we settled ourselves in Vienna, our first stop was a Spanish tapas bar for some much needed food, and of course beer (another of my favorite things to do in a new country). Personally, I would have preferred a Viennese cafe, but this was the first place we saw that looked decent. And with the great weather holding out in our favor, it was really beautiful to sit on that patio.

We then decided to rent some bikes and bike down to the Nascht Markt, a market that boasted of food, clothing, antiques and the like.

The bike rentals sounded like a really great deal. The guide book said the first hour of the rental is free, then 1 euro for the 2nd hour, 2 euros for the 3rd, and so on. One of the bike rental kiosks happened to be right next to the tapas restaurant. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more time consuming that we thought, since none of us were registered, and you could only rent one bike per card. Then after 3 of us managed to obtain a bike, the kiosk conveniently decided to go out of service, leaving 2 of us without bikes.

We still had to drop by the hostel (which was within short walking distance), so Emily and Kasey walked, while Adam, David and I rode our bikes, hoping to find another bike kiosk along the way. Well, within about 3 minutes of riding, we realized how crappy the bikes were! Unfortunately, we didn't find another kiosk til we got to the Nascht Markt, where we were finally able to get rid of them.

While Adam, Emily, and Kasey dropped off the bikes, David and I got a head start on the market. Let me tell you: what a disappointment! We still can't figure out why this market got such great reviews. Or maybe we just chose a bad day to go.

The first portion of the market was all food (which is great for locals, but doesn't make much sense for tourists): produce, cheese, etc. Then we finally got to the "antique" part. It was essentially a parking lot filled with junk. Most of the vendors didn't even have tables, so the junk was just in heaps in the ground: dirty baby dolls without eyes, cell phones from 1992, computer chair wheels (yes, just the wheels), portraits of people no one knows, used DVDs, blank CDs without cases, etc. One woman tried to sell me a camera for 70 euros. I might have paid 5.

I felt pretty bad for selling everyone on the market, only to discover that's what it was. Especially because it was already around 5pm at this point, and we'd done practically nothing with the day.

But all was not lost! Kasey had a contact in Vienna, whom we met up with after the market. His name is Harvey, and he was so kind as to give us a little walking tour of Vienna.

He also took us to [in his opinion] the best gelato shop in town (which, I have to admit, I gobbled up in under 5 minutes), then recommended us a couple other nice places to go, one of which was a delicious Vietnamese restaurant we went to that night.

For our stay in Vienna, I contacted a girl on Couch Surfing who was able to host 3 of us. Unfortunately because I couldn't find another couch available for the weekend, we booked a hostel for the two others.

After dinner, we all went to meet our hostess, Tea. She met us near her flat, and took us back, where we all chatted and enjoyed some wine. We all loved her right away. She was so nice and welcoming and hospitable, sharing her own wine, and making us feel right at home in her cute little flat. Unfortunately we were all really wiped from the past couple days, so we went to bed pretty early.

The next day I made a solo venture to Bratislava, Slovakia while the others explored Vienna some more. Bratislava is only about an hour train ride from Vienna, and I knew I probably wouldn't be back in that area before going back to Canada, so I scooped up the opportunity. My first taste of Eastern Europe!

It's really amazing how different two countries can be even when they're right next to each other. Especially the difference between an Eastern European country bordering a Western European country. As soon as I entered the country, I knew it was Slovakia, without even checking my phone. Mainly because of the amount of garbage littered everywhere, and the run down houses along the tracks.

I basically went to Bratislava solely with the intentions of walking around, trying the food, and listening to the language (another of my favorite things to do). The extent of the research I did on Bratislava before I left was looking up the address of the tourist office, and looking into some guided tours.

Once in Bratislava, I made my way to the old town, which is what I was mostly interested in seeing. I lucked out in finding out that there was a deal on this Bratislava City Card, which gave you discounts at several places throughout the city, but also included a guided tour: all for 6 euros! In the end, I totally forgot to use the card for the discounts, but it still beat paying 30 euros for another tour.

Our tour guide was this funny Slovakian girl, who must have memorized the tour word for word because it really sounded recited, taking many pauses to catch her breath. I think I was a little distracted by her awkwardness and accent, but in my opinion, these were the most interesting parts of the tour (mainly because of the story behind them):

That is a normal drinking water fountain, but she explained that every year on Coronation Day (in September, to commemorate the coronation of the kings and queens of former Austro-Hungary), the fountain dispenses wine!

That is Bratislava's most famous statue. Apparently the statue has many different interpretations, but I liked hers the best. She said it depicts a typical Slovakian man: sitting around all day, peering up women's skirts.

Some more of Bratislava:

After the tour, I asked her where to go for the most typical and traditional Slovakian food. She directed me to a place called 1. Slovak Pub, which ended up being a bit of a walk to a not so nice looking part of town (and since it was Easter Sunday, a pretty dead part of town). But according to the website, it's probably the only pub in the world where you get a free bowl of soup for getting an A on an exam!

After deliberating over an almost entirely meat based menu, I finally decided to get bryndzové halušky, which is one of Slovakia's national meals. It's basically potato dumplings that look kind of like gnocchi, with melted bryndza, which is a traditional Slovakian sheep cheese. I gotta say, it was quite good! Really, really filling, though. I couldn't even finish the plate. Oh, and of course I had to try the beer, Zlatý Bažant.

Then it was time to head back to Vienna to meet up with the rest of the group.

The sun was starting to set by the time I got back, so we took advantage of the rest of the daylight by walking around the center, looking at the art and street performances, and browsing the souvenir shops.

Then, at another suggestion by Harvey, we went to this really chic cocktail lounge called Du&Co. It was situated several stories above the ground with panoramic windows, so we had a great aerial view of Stephansplatz (a main square in Vienna), and a gorgeous view of St. Stephan's cathedral right across the way, it's spires all lit up.

After our fancy cocktails, we started to make our way back to Tea's flat, then decided to stop at a small pub we found on a quiet side street. We grabbed a table in a very back corner of the candle lit bar, and drank wine while playing "never have I ever."

After a couple rounds, we finally met up with Tea and her friends, and they took us to an Irish pub. It was this sort of hole in the wall, underground pub. It seemed really dead from the outside, but once down in the basement, there were actually quite a lot of people. I like that no matter what city I go to, you can always count on having an Irish pub to go to.

By this point, it was getting quite late, and we had to be up early the next day to make our way back to the Netherlands, so we only stayed for a couple hours. We all said our goodbyes, as we knew we wouldn't see Tea again before leaving the next morning.

On our last day, we had one last stop to make before home: Mauthausen concentration camp.

One of the biggest things I've been wanting to see while in Europe is a concentration camp. I never even knew this one existed until David pointed it out in his travel guide, and it happened to be right on the way home.

The camp is up on a hill, with a gorgeous view of Austria. And with the weather still gorgeous, it was really bizarre to think that something so horrible happened in such a beautiful place.

We spent a couple hours there, listening to the audio guide, reflecting, and remembering.

Then it was finally time to head "home." Several, several hours later (with many stops, some games, and sing alongs), we were finally back in the Netherlands. It was really hard to believe that our trip was only 4 days, because we crammed so much into those days. We definitely didn't waste a single minute!

Well, it looks like I've already written a novel, and I still have quite a bit more to update you all on. So, for now, I'll leave the rest to another entry, and let you sit on this until then.