Thursday, August 15, 2013

Worst Dutch Products

1. raw mushed red meat - strangely called "American Fillet", though you would be hard pressed to find anything like this in the us

2. tooth cracking crunchy breakfast cereals. They're all the same. It's either that or corn flakes in the morning.

3. Raisin bran - wait, they still don't have that here.

4. The chocolate sprinkles that go with everything (butter, cheese, peanut butter, plain bread, crackers). It's called hagelslagh

Dutch words that are much better sounding than their English equivalents.

The collection of my ten months in Holland.

1. kip = Chicken, also kippen

2. vogel = bird

3. pinderkaas = peanut cheese = peanut butter

4. sluitel = key

5. maar = but

6. dui = ok (dooey). Often I hear maaaar, dooey and then gggg - as in a good throat clear.

7. gracht = canal

8. gogh, as in Van Gogh, now clear your throat

9. kuiker = look here

10. youngen = youths

Ok, it's not Italian or French, but there are some cool words.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Best Dutch Inventions

1. cutesy bridges that lift up and let huge ships pass

2. Famous impressionist painters who cut off their ears

3. Smelly cheese - oh wait that's the French, though the Dutch can compete pretty well.

4. Kaas Schaaaff - the efficient cheese slicer that avoid finger cuts

5. throaty words like Kaas Schaaf - see above.

6. recycled glass drop - oh I love the different sounds of wine bottles, beer bottles and peanut butter jars