A Busy Week for Brits and Dutch Alike

Wow - this week has it all going on: my son's first birthday on Thursday, THE royal wedding on Friday, Queen's Day on Saturday and a visit from my dad and step-mum to top it all off. It's all go!

Westminster Abbey in London
Photo: Thomas Stepanow

No Brit could possibly be oblivious to the wedding that will take place on Friday between the crown prince William and his fiancee Kate. You can buy street party packs online (in varying sizes depending on your street size), hats, flags (specifically called waving flags which are not to be mistaken for the non-waving flags), bunting, balloons, royal china, commemorative crystal, jewellery and even... I-Phone cases. All the things you never knew you needed to remember this royal wedding are on sale. But, a huge pro in my humble opinion, living abroad means us Brits miss all this - the shops here are obviously not full of royal wedding memorabilia...... I, like many, like a good wedding but I don't need earrings and a mug for the occasion.

And if you thought living in the Netherlands would mean escaping the wedding itself.. think again - the NOS will be broadcasting live from Westminster Abbey. Whilst it won't capture Dutch hearts like the Willem-Alexander and Maxima union, it's sure to bring in huge audiences. The bad news for Brits abroad is that they won't be enjoying the additional bank holiday that those back home get for the occasion......

And talking of Willem-Alexander and his wife... as I was... they will be in attendance at the big event before they fly back to take part in the celebrations in Thorn and Weert in Limburg for Queen's Day on Saturday. Of course, Queen's Day celebrations are going on across the country and The Hague and Amsterdam have large celebrations planned.

The Modern Day Dutch & British High Street

At the end of last year I watched a series on the BBC called "Turn Back Time; The High Street". It was a weekly series which placed modern day shopkeepers and tradespeople on business on a high street and then turned back the clock. The viewer was taken back in time to 1870 when the High Street came into being, through the Edwardian and Victorian eras, to the 1930s, to rationing during World War 2 through to the 1960s and 1970s. It was fascinating.

Photo: Jelmer Rozendal

Each shop owner was only allowed to stock what was actually available in the time period, and sell their wares in the manner of the era. From small, family, specialist businesses the high street turned into a dead, empty shells as large self-service supermarkets took over. The High Street changed in response to customer demands and trends; cheap, disposable goods. And nobody seemed too thrilled with the way it developed - yet that is the reality of our high streets in Britain - chain stores and large supermarkets.

It's not hugely different in the Netherlands. I read that up to 90% of high street stores belong to a chain and that certainly fits with how I see each new town I visit - the standard shops strewn across every town centre. International branded shops are emerging on a regular basis (like Starbucks and the Apple Store). One difference in the Netherlands though is the absence of superstores and huge out of town retail parks.

Photo: Petra Giner

I also think local shopping still plays a big role here. Within walking distance of where I live there are two bakers, three supermarkets, two newsagents/bookstores, a post office, two delicatessens, two takeaway shops and two chemists. None of the shops are very big, including the supermarkets. In fact they are barely the size of a Tesco Extra store but for many locals these supermarkets are where they do their main shopping and visit them daily.

The specialist shops nearby do tend to be independent, family businesses so whilst the average high street is dominated by chains, the local arena does seem to be open to smaller fish.

Is your local shopping area dominated by chains or is there still room for independent shopkeepers where you live? What do you think about the way High Streets have developed?

Mind Your Ps and Qs Please - I'm British

Photo: Ramzi Hashisho

As mentioned in my blog post last week, I have been watching the Dutch version of Top Chef every day on RTL. However, I was shocked last night as I watched Tuesday's episode (we tape it and watch it when we get the chance so run a little behind....) and heard profanities from Omar's mouth that I hadn't expected to hear on a cooking show broadcast at 7pm. Along with uttering the 'f word' many times, he then combined it with the 'c word' which was a step too far for me.

I grew up with the BBC watershed, which means that any program shown on the BBC before 9pm is suitable for everyone. This means you will not hear 'strong language' (i.e. swearing and vulgar language) before 9pm. Even after 9pm I have a problem with the vocabulary used in Tuesday's program.  I am not generally a prude and I don't have too much of a problem with many swear words but there is a limit.

Much of it is because I am English so when the Dutch use such strong language in English it means more to me than the average Dutchman. The same is true the other way round - if you swear in Dutch it's just a funny word if you are not a native. However, I really struggle to see why such bad language was not edited out of such a show - does swearing on that scale really enhance a cooking show?


What are you used to hearing on TV in your home country? What do you think about Dutch TV and the language used?

Top Chef - A Melting Pot in the Kitchen

Kranenborg and Jaspers present RTL's nationwide search
for Top Chef 2010

Another set of contestants started this week on RTL's Top Chef, the Dutch version of the culinary contest to find an amateur marvel in the kitchen. If you haven't seen it tune in to RTL5 at 7pm every work day (or record it as we do because it's still bedlam in our house at 7pm.......) and catch up with Michelin star chef Robert Kranenborg and culinary expert Julius Jaspers - they are a funny duo to watch! And even more reason to watch - at the end of each week the pair take the contestants to a Michelin star restaurant in the Netherlands to cook under the beady eyes of top professionals like Nico Boreas and Mario Ridder.

But back to the point of this post...... Every week my husband and I play two guessing games whilst we are watching the first show of the week.  The first is "Who will make it through to the next round?" which is a logical game for an elimination style competition. The second game is a less predictable game that you can play with a Dutch cooking program, namely "Guess the nationality of the contestant".

Now, obviously, the majority of the participants are Dutch. Very clearly Dutch. However, usually at least one contestant a week allows us to play guess the nationality.

This week Elvira, from Suriname, was an easy start (particularly as it was mentioned....) but Megy was a whole different ball game. Our first guess was "East Europe". Then it changed to "maybe a Southern Europe country..." Then we couldn't really decide. Turns out she is from Poland but she has lived in the Netherlands for eight years.

In previous weeks we have seen a Frenchman, an Italian, an Iranian and a Turk and another contestant who speaks at least six languages and has lived in various countries. Expats all. But all speaking Dutch, taking part in a television program and striving to become Top Chef Nederland 2010. The show's participants are as diverse as their cooking abilities and the origins of the food they are cooking up.

This show showcases one of the things I love about living in the Netherlands; the diverse, multicultural blend of people all doing it the Dutch way.

Dutch Music (5): Acda en de Munnik

Thomas Acda and Paul de Munnik met at the "Toneel en Kleinkunstacademie" in Amsterdam and soon became a popular cabaret act. Aside from cabaret and music, Thomas Acda also dabbles in theatre shows (e.g the rock opera with Paul de Munnik, Ren Lenny Ren), TV (including an appearance in 1997 in Baantjer) and films (e.g. Alles is Liefde).

I have seen Acda en de Munnik live a few times now and they are funny, entertaining and above all make (in my humble opinion of course) great music. In fact, these are without a doubt my favourite Dutch artists.

Dutch Eurovision: What you get when you cross Father Abraham and an Organ

The Dutch Eurovision song contest entry was off to a bad start before a note was even sung. It was composed by Pierre Kartner, better known as he of Father Abraham and the Smurf song fame. Not a good start if you want to be taken seriously, in my humble opinion. The title of the song also left a little to be desired: "Ik ben verliefd Sha-La-Lie". The fact that it was sung in Dutch also threatened to get the rest of Europe drifting off once the singing began.

Unfortunately for Sieneke, the eighteen year old singer (or trainee hairdresser) from Nijmegen, the song not only lived up to expectations by failing to take the Netherlands through to the final, it also managed to provide the rest of Europe with ammunition to ridicule the Dutch.

Here are some of the comments on Twitter following the Dutch performance on Thursday night:

@MrsStephenFry: Oh dear. The television's slow again. It seems to be showing the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest. (apologies to Dutch followers x).

@musjes: "Iets te weinig internationale uitstraling" Ja. DUH! Zelfs in Nederland zou alleen Volendam gestemd hebben op Sieneke.

For the non-Dutch speakers - following a comment by the Dutch TV Eurovision song contest presenter that the entry didn't have enough international appeal, @musjes declared that even in the Netherlands only Volendam would have voted for Sieneke.

And the most retweeted comment came from @_irissa_:Dear other people in Europe. We’re sorry for sending Sieneke. We didn’t want to send her, but Papa Smurf made us.

For those of you that did not have the pleasure of seeing Thursday's show you can watch the song being performed below:

The barrel organ which took centre stage behind Sieneke also became a topic of amusement amongst TV viewers. Supposedly a symbol of Dutch culture, it was something that failed to appeal to the rest of Europe (and I suspect most of the Netherlands too).

Cornald Maas, the Dutch equivalent of Terry Wogan, who presents the Eurovision show in the Netherlands, put the failure of the song to reach the final down to the presence of the barrel organ (amongst other things). Twitter lit up with comments about putting the organ on Marktplaats and what a shame it was there was no one walking around with a tin to collect money. Not a bad idea in hindsight - it could have helped Sieneke get by as she considers her next career move.....

The Dutch Taste Police

We went to a local Greek restaurant (Delphi) last weekend and I noticed a Smaakpolitie sticker on the door. It is the only restaurant in Zoetermeer to have been awarded this sign of a good, clean kitchen. In fact, to be fair there are not too many restaurants that have been awarded this keurmerk in Zuid-Holland at all.

The Smaakpolitie is a Dutch television programme hosted by Rotterdammer Rob Geus, which inspects restaurant, cafe and snack bar kitchens (and student houses for entertainment value) around the country. Rob (always clad in his trusty white jacket) checks the hygiene and cleanliness of each kitchen he visits - giving it a very thorough going over. Some of what he finds is shocking, and if you saw the state of some of the fat in some snack bar deep fat fryers, you would never eat a kipcorn again....... Of course, some kitchens sparkle and shine, and the kitchen staff do no wrong... and of course these are the places you need to find to dine out in!

Here is a sample of Rob in action: Horror in Wageningen

To see which restaurants in your area have Rob Geus' approval see the total list on SBS6's website (clickable regions on the left).