I decided to patronise Manneken Pis, the Vlaamse Frites place that has the logo of the little boy pissing. Although they probably have the most expensive frites of all the frites places, they also have the widest variety of sauces, and their frites are thick, yet both crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Manneken Pis serves Vlaamse Frites (Flemish Fries), which are slightly different from the Patat Frites (Potato Fries) you get at most other places (and you get frites at most places - even Turkish shoarma shops have em), since they include some of the potato skin, lending the fry a slightly more complex taste.

I asked the woman at the counter what Piccadilly Piccalilly was, and was told that it was a quintessentially Dutch pickle sauce with carrots, onions and other stuff. I was given some to try (with a few frites), but as it tasted something like sour vegetables, the expression on my face was such that she could tell it wasn't my thing, so she recommended Joppisaus, a mixture of curry, mayonnaise, onions and some other stuff to me. It agreed much more with my palette, so I bought some.


Some of the bus lanes here are hardcore - instead of being lanes on normal roads, they are separated totally from the normal roads, so buses move on one side and cars on another. In some places, they also have dedicated bicycle lanes, so this makes for really segregated traffic.

One bus I was on had a funky wheelchair space, where there was a cushion to support the back of the wheelchair, a seatbelt to secure it and a button to press to open the door.


One of my project partners suggested I was better off without a bike, because his got stolen the day before. Meanwhile, my local student mentor is buying her 21st bike in 4 years (most had gotten stolen). She'd go bankrupt if she bought all of them from a store.

Given how much it drizzles I wonder why many people are still so fond of cycling.

On a previous occasion, Poor Suffering had recommended the Gin and Tonic to me as the most tolerable alcoholic drink. When I was obliged by social expectations and norms to order a drink (actually it was on someone), that's what I chose and I wasn't disappointed. After that, I declined to get more rounds even though the others were downing beer after beer.

Apparently at one point in time it was cheaper to buy a return ticket to Stockholm (€110) than a 1-way ticket (€200). This world has gone mad.



Black bean pork
I marinated the pork strips in tao tjo (black bean) sauce, tapioca starch, rice wine and sesame oil and fried it with garlic and yellow bell pepper in sesame oil. It was a cut for schnitzel, but I'd very recently had that weird chicken-cheese-pineapple schnitzel thing, and I didn't feel like pouring enough oil into the sauce pan to shallow fry the thing. The only bad thing was that it came out a bit gooey since I added too much aqueous tapioca starch (couldn't find corn) to thicken the sauce. I ate it (and most other stuff I cook[ed]) with bread, since it's more flexible than rice and I might as well enjoy European bread.

The good thing about stir frying is that you can throw in any crap you want, and as long as it's not too weird it can turn out okay. Furthermore, it's easier to judge cooking times when you cube the meat instead of working with slabs.

I realise another reason why Halal Chinese food sucks (besides no XO sauce and no pork) - no rice wine.

So far I've been using agaration instead of definite recipes. It seems to be working.


Modified Cordon Bleu
This was not modified so much as simplified, since I didn't want to make a sauce and more importantly did not have everything called for to hand. I rubbed the slab with salt and pepper and put chicken ham on top. I had a problem with the cheese, since I had it in a wedge and didn't think to use a cheese slicer (a housemate suggested that later), so I cut off random bits with a knife, which explains the leperous appearance of the top. I then dipped the thing in egg, and then coated it with breadcrumbs and baked it; I didn't have any store-bought breadcrumbs, so I tried making my own. I microwaved a slice of bread for 2 minutes and then crumbled it. This seemed to work until I tasted my Cordon Bleu - it was a bit burnt. I should try putting the bread into the oven on low heat next time.


Zuurkool stamppot
I didn't actually make this, but got it at half price from Hema since it was expiring. It's Dutch potato-sauerkraut mush with bits of bacon in it, and tastes better (and less sour) than it looks.