Hagelslag

It seems that every time I go to Europe there is a new thing that I pick up on that becomes a part of our life here at home!  Several years ago, after a trip to Paris, I startied drinking espresso rather than coffee with milk, and it stuck.

This time we discovered Hagelslag. Hagelslag is the Dutch version of sprinkles. They look the same, but there are two important differences. 1. They are eaten for breakfast 2. They are not made out of wax and hydrogenated oils as they are here. The two most well known brands of Hagelslag are owned by Heinz(!) of all companies, yet they are not filled with the garbage (HFCS and the likes) that the Heinz US products are tainted by. 

And yes, Hagelslag is eaten for breakfast!! Check out this site to see how they do it! They definitely don't skimp on the Hagelslag! Our fine dining hotel breakfast in Amsterdam included two large bowls of sprinkles. On a side note - the previous hotel in Bruges had a huge block of white chocolate at a carving station when you walked into the restaurant for breakfast. For those of you who don't know me...my two weaknesses when it comes to sweets are white chocolate and sprinkles. Needless to say, I want to move to these glorious places that serve these foods for breakfast!

the happiest Dutch kid I know

My sister in law told me that she read this article recently about how happy the Dutch children were, and that having Hagelslag for breakfast is a part of the daily routine and its not something the kids overdo in the Netherlands. Its amazing. It seems to make sense. Those things that are not so forbidden are less exciting, aren't they? I think I found the article my sister was referring to and its pretty interesting (read it here) - actually they call the Dutch kids the happiest in the world! One thing they talk about is that despite the rather liberal appearance of the Netherlands (Amsterdam's famous red light district and coffee shops), that Dutch families are actually pretty conservative, and put a great emphasis on their home life and children. They respect their children as individuals and don't see them just as extensions of their own selves. Having meals at home with the family is the norm, including breakfast. We noticed that Victor's school started so much later than when Jill and Rachel's school started, allowing time for breakfast and a casual walk to school together. 

The good news is - you can buy Hagelslag on amazon! We've already placed our first order. Here's to living Dutch!!

Victor

sisters

sisters playing at keukenhof

Exploring with the Expats

The first morning of my vacation started with a text from Delta: your flight has been cancelled. After an exhausting week at work, I was honestly too tired to process the text...but then it hit me! I woke up David with the news and he did what he always does - he fixed it. We were put on a whole new flight itinerary that landed us in Amsterdam rather than Brussels. Getting out of DC was  a real feat - from the Uber driver who preferred to ride in circles into road blocks to the connecting flight which was delayed many hours- we cancelled our plans for Brussels and made plans for our first stop to be Wassenaar, and then we finally made it a day and a half later!

My brothers family moved to Wassenaar a few years ago and fell in love with the quaint Dutch suburban lifestyle. We lugged our suitcases up the narrow spiral staircases in their home and then ventured out to explore the neighborhood. It was an unseasonably warm day there - and we took full advantage of that wandering outside, admiring the flowers and windmills, taking a small hike to find the hobbit house, and tasting some nice rose wine. We ended the night at their favorite ice cream spot, Luciano's. 

The next day some of us visited the beach while others (the alliance) went to spin class. We then headed to Delft before taking off for our next destination: Bruges, Belgium. In Delft we ate a fantastic lunch, climbed all the way to the top of the old church (349 steps in a narrow staircase to the top!), tried some really good cheeses, then hit the road to Bruges. 

At Bruges we stayed at the Dukes hotel - a beautiful spot nestled right in the heart of the city. There we met our cousins, Dave, Ali, Tess and Mitch... also expats, now living in Germany. When they arrived we dined at a Bruges favorite, the Ribs 'n Beer restaurant. It was actually really good, and we definitely recommend it! We were sure to try the fries, waffles, beer, and of course, the chocolate.

We ventured back to Wassenaar en route to Amsterdam with a pit stop in Keukenhof along the way. Keukenhof is the famous garden to see the tulips and other blossoms in bloom this time of year. We hit it at a pretty ideal time. Most flowers were blooming, but It's hard to capture the beauty of that place in just a few photos. An added perk to this leg of the trip was a visit from cousin Emma, who was able to catch a train down from her new home in northern Netherlands to hang with us for a quick visit before heading to Poland. 

While in Amsterdam, we visited the Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh museum, the Rijks museum and even managed to see a Banksy and Dali exhibit at the Moco museum. At the end of the day we returned to our hotel, Hotel de l'europe, which had a display of live baby chicks in the lobby for Easter - for the kids, this was probably the highlight of the trip.

Finally we made our way back to the states, already planning our return...