Chicken, Peas, and Rice

That's a meal Caribbean style. On Monday night Cornelius came over to fix a meal like he would eat in St. Vincent. It was simple, delicious, and it made the whole apartment smell yummy! He had cooked this for Jay before, and Jay was dying for me to try it.

So easy to make, all you need are the following ingredients.

• Long grain rice
• Lentils
• Chicken
• Onion
• Garlic
• Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to season

I also had the pleasure of sitting on the couch and watching television while the guys did it all!

Ingredients out and ready. The Americans got the rice...think we have enough?!

Jay getting pointers so he can make it again...we probably only have enough rice to make it 50 more times!

Step one complete. Ready to boil the onions, garlic, lentils, and chicken until the peas "pop".

Waiting...

Time to add the rice. Once the rice is cooked and the water absorbed, you have...

Mmmmm. A little taste of the Caribbean. Thanks, Cornelius!


Tot ziens!

Little Difference #5

One of the biggest adjustments we've had to make being over here is how we grocery shop. When we lived in the States I would make a meal plan for the week, usually 4 or 5 meals, and then put what I would need to create those delicacies (ha!) onto a list.

Using the list we would typically make one trip a week to the grocery store. We would load up on items for the planned meals and other necessary things (like Diet Dr. Pepper and Peanut M&Ms...you know, the essentials!). Every so often I might stop by the store after work if one of us (Jay) had a craving to cook something that wasn't on the list (chicken fried steak...I'm sure that wasn't the only meal I would drop in the store for, but that's the only unplanned meal I can think of right now! And to be fair to Jay, my cravings were usually for eating out). With a trunk full of groceries I could mark "grocery store" off my to-do list until next weekend {Yes, I realize the lists are a little out of control!}.

Well, things don't quite work the same for us here. For starters, we are on foot. No car trunk to load all your bags into and then carry in from the garage. This is the bag we have and whatever we choose to put into the bag has to be carried back to the apartment...it's not really that far, but you'd be amazed at how heavy it gets by the second block!

The second reason that it is impossible for us to grocery shopping using our old method is this...

That little white thing that looks like a dorm refrigerator? It's ours! So, I guess even if we didn't have to carry the groceries ourselves, we woudn't have anywhere to stash them.



I'm pretty sure most Dutch people don't have mini fridges in their homes, but the mentality of shopping for a day or two at a time is very prevalent here. When you are at the grocery store, you'll see people buying two apples, two rolls, and a container of yogurt. For real! It is still an adjustment we're working on....just so not how my brain is wired!

Want to know a secret? Yesterday when I went to the store I took my list and strategically thought of heavy and light things to place in my bag. I bought the groceries, came home (took the picture), unloaded the groceries, and then....went back to the store for the rest of my list! Terrible, I know. I made sure to go through a different line, so the cashier wouldn't think I was crazy.

Tot ziens!

More Pics from Chinese Party

Everyone had a great time at the Chinese party on Saturday night. Great food and great friends and lots of pictures!

From watching Jay and his classmates I've discovered there is something very unique about being in a foreign country going to college. No family near, no friend support group, everyone going through the same experiences with only each other...it tends to form some pretty fierce bonds, I've witnessed. This group is no exception, and I'm grateful to get to know them!

Tot ziens!

Our Weekend

On Friday Jay, Cornelius, and I headed to Hengelo for a very special American treat...KFC. Hengelo is the next town over and by bus took us about 15 minutes to get there. Cornelius loves KFC and decided he needed a fix. I told him about the infamous Double Down sandwich. He had never heard of it, but was sorely disappointed he couldn't "Double Down" on Friday. Here's what you missed, Cornelius.

We wandered around downtown before we caught our connecting bus. My small world connection to Hengelo is that my assistant superintendent in Riverton did his church mission in Hengelo. Crazy small world.

The bus/train station



We soon caught our bus, though, and headed to the outskirts of town where we enjoyed some KFC.

Saturday morning we went to the City Center for a Multicultural Fair and the market. Always a big crowd on the weekends, it was overflowing with the extra booths tucked into every corner. There were many, many countries represented, each selling food and wares from their area of the world. The booth that grossed me out fascinated me the most was the fish pedicure booth. Have you heard of these?

This is a picture from the internet. I was so grossed out fascinated that I didn't even think to get a picture. You put your feet in these tanks (at the fair here, there were smaller tanks, so each person had their own set of fishies), and the fish will eat the dead skin off your feet(I'm going to be honest, I'm gagging a little as I type this...). Isn't that crazy? I can, without any hesitation, say I would NEVER put my feet into a box with fish so they could eat the dead skin off them. NEVER. NEVER.

Saturday evening the students from China hosted a party. They are leaving the progam after this week, so they wanted to treat everyone to some authentic Chinese cuisine. It was delicious, and definitely nothing like the "Chinese" food we eat in America. Here are some pictures of our meal, I'll post people party pictures in a separate post.

 

What a full weekend!

Tot ziens!

Little Difference #3 and #4

I remember the first time Jay and I ate together at Wendy's. Couldn't tell you when it was, but I'm pretty sure he was in high school...maybe we both were? It was in Canyon, and after we ordered and were waiting for our food, I fillled up a few of those little ketchup cups to dip the fries in. He laughed at the absurdity of how small they were and how little ketchup they actually hold and proceeded to squirt a giant pile onto the tray....Silly little memory which I'm reminded of every time I enter a Wendy's or other fast food establishment that has ketchup dispensers.

Fast forward to the Netherlands 2011 (12-13 years beyond the original memory). Guess what Little Difference #3 is? They don't dip their fries (frites) in ketchup, they use mayonnaise. Gag! Little Difference #4? They will give you ketchup, but you have to pay for it. 50 Euro Cents for one little packet! I wonder how much they would charge for a giant pile on your tray??

Tot ziens!

4th of July

One of the jokes my fifth graders liked to tell went something like this:

5th Grader #1: Do they have the 4th of July in England?
5th Grader #2: No, dummy, that's an American holiday.
5th Grader #1: Haha! Yes, they do. Every calendar has a 4th of July, they just don't celebrate it there! Hahaha!

Yep, that's a fifth grade joke for you! So, I guess that brings us to....Do they have the 4th of July in the Netherlands? Yes. Do they celebrate it? Well, we will! {Not as funny as the original, I agree.}

Happy Birthday America!

I have always been grateful to live in the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave." I am grateful to my family and friends who have served in the military to help protect and preserve our freedoms, especially my brother Matt. I am grateful for all the opportunities that just happening to have been born in the U.S.A. has afforded me.

NOT living in the States has really opened both Jay's and my eyes about just how good we have it. Sure, no country is perfect, and the U.S.A. is far from it, but we consider ourselves lucky to call it home and will return from living over here with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

In honor of my country's birthday, I have been freshening up my history knowledge by listening to this class on the American Revolution. It is through Yale University's Open Course program. Over the last couple years they have taped (Is that an antiquated term?) full classes...like the whole semester...and you can view them for free online. They have a wide variety of classes to choose from. Isn't that cool? Anyway, this professor is passionate with a capital P about this time period, so her lectures are fun and full of really interesting new details.

Also to honor our country's declared independence, we will cook something very American for dinner. I think we'll have hot dogs.

**Update: The grocery store didn't have any hot dog buns, so we did the next "Most American" eating experience we could think of....fast food. We celebrated our land and our freedom at Burger King. Happy 4th of July!


Tot ziens!

Little Difference #2

When I came to visit Jay over spring break I ordered some Euros to get me through the trip. I was delighted when I picked the money up at the bank to see it was all different colors and sizes....smaller bills for smaller amounts. A 5 Euro {They have a symbol like our dollar symbol ($), but I'm not sure how to type it...hmmm.} note is significantly smaller than a 100 Euro bill. What a great idea! Not only can you quickly tell which bill is which by color, but how much easier must that be for someone with visual difficulties?

Once I got here and started using the money and getting change, things got a little confusing, though. Let me show you...

These are all their coins. I haven't seen too many 1 Euro cent or 2 Euro cents...often they will just round to the nearest 5 cents (sometimes up, sometimes down). I guess they figure it all evens out??  Notice the 1 Euro and 2 Euro coins. That has definitely been a little difference that my brain has had a hard time adjusting to.

A display of their paper money...all the way up to 500 Euros. Many stores have signs on the door saying they don't accept larger than 100 Euro bills. See how the size increases?

I just added this picture because it really shows how big the bills get! Look at that 500 Euro compared to the hand!

Lots more money to keep track of than what we have in the U.S. I still fumble around in my wallet when looking for coins...They just have so many more coins than we do. Eight compared to four!

Just another little difference!

Tot ziens!