Winkel
Inspite of our early difficulties finding food (rereading the blog entires and assorted emails from people offering to mail us food! remind me just how difficult it was) we have now established a nice routine of shopping. We have blended our American ways into the European life. Unlike most Dutch who shop every day for what they will have for dinner that night, we still make our weekly menu. We do most of our shopping at the market on Saturday. However, the reality of our small fridge and the small sizes of milk as well as the contraints of our saddle bags mean that we do shop about every other day for 'filler' items.
A lot of our shopping is done at the market.
As described in our previous posts, the market is filled with all sorts of vendors of goods of all kinds. We have learned the 'typical spot' and have become regulars at a few stalls. We try to arrive early (as in these photos from February) so that it isn't too crazy. Later in the day it becomes extremely crowded. Our baker is a nice fellow who has always been very kind and lets us practice our Dutch. Unfortunately he turned right as I snapped the photo. 
Every week we get licht bruin brood (a good hearty bread that we have been unable to find anywhere else except the market on Saturday), breakfast break (kaneel whoopies - cinnamon scones - or muffins), and some sort of 'treat.' The treat range from butter cookies, to appleflaps, pasteries. We enjoy trying something new and sometimes have to return our favorites. Elena is always given a butter cookie to nibble on. Then we move down the line to 'the crazy cheese man.' It is a large stall, filled will all sort of cheese, local dutch cheeses, imported Italian cheese, French brie (we got a goat cheese one to try this week, recommend by the gentleman next to me at the stall). We call him the crazy cheese man because he stands out front yelling, 'Gouda jong! 3 E kilo! Gouda!' Then we move to spice shop, snack shops (nuts and dried fruits) if we need it. We always finish at the green grocer stall. Here we buy a huge amount of fruits and veggies (compared to what most Dutch by for a day or two at a time). The quality is quite good. We have become quite used to the assortment of inexpensive yellow, orange, and red bell pepper (paprika). Elena is usually given an sinasapple, madarin, or bananen (as along with the other children lingering about). Then we load up the bikes and head home to empty our full saddle bags.
The next stop (with saddle bags ready!) is the local AH (Albert Heins). It is the equivalent of your Albertons, HEB, or Hanifords, except an order of magnitude smaller. You can find most everything you need here - though the veggies are not great quality, and the exact selection annoyingly varies slightly from store to store. The small store size combined with how little shelf space is designated to each item and the number of people shopping means that the store is being constantly restocked and often out of certain items.
But luckily, you know you are coming back in just a few days! Here we buy milk, kwark (yogurt), staples, and our meat (we have had bad, bad luck with meat from the market and after a 'chicken' experience last week, we have decided to only buy meat at AH from now on). You bag you own groceries into the bag you brought. Or once you learn the real trick, just roll the cart directly out to your bike to load up the saddle bags. Then, of course, return the cart, because each cart requires a 50E cent coin deposit, so you want you money back!
The other place we shop is the small bakery a block down the canal. It is a nice shop, with kind people. The bread, inspite of usually being warm and right out of the oven, it 'dutch' break - a soft, wonder break texture. So we often just shop there toward the end of the week, we we need to last until we can get to the market. They open at 8am, so one of us pops down right after breakfast to pick up a fresh loaf. They also have assorted other goodies and it is where we buy our stupwaffle for friends in the States.
A lot of our shopping is done at the market.
As described in our previous posts, the market is filled with all sorts of vendors of goods of all kinds. We have learned the 'typical spot' and have become regulars at a few stalls. We try to arrive early (as in these photos from February) so that it isn't too crazy. Later in the day it becomes extremely crowded. Our baker is a nice fellow who has always been very kind and lets us practice our Dutch. Unfortunately he turned right as I snapped the photo. 
Every week we get licht bruin brood (a good hearty bread that we have been unable to find anywhere else except the market on Saturday), breakfast break (kaneel whoopies - cinnamon scones - or muffins), and some sort of 'treat.' The treat range from butter cookies, to appleflaps, pasteries. We enjoy trying something new and sometimes have to return our favorites. Elena is always given a butter cookie to nibble on. Then we move down the line to 'the crazy cheese man.' It is a large stall, filled will all sort of cheese, local dutch cheeses, imported Italian cheese, French brie (we got a goat cheese one to try this week, recommend by the gentleman next to me at the stall). We call him the crazy cheese man because he stands out front yelling, 'Gouda jong! 3 E kilo! Gouda!' Then we move to spice shop, snack shops (nuts and dried fruits) if we need it. We always finish at the green grocer stall. Here we buy a huge amount of fruits and veggies (compared to what most Dutch by for a day or two at a time). The quality is quite good. We have become quite used to the assortment of inexpensive yellow, orange, and red bell pepper (paprika). Elena is usually given an sinasapple, madarin, or bananen (as along with the other children lingering about). Then we load up the bikes and head home to empty our full saddle bags.
The next stop (with saddle bags ready!) is the local AH (Albert Heins). It is the equivalent of your Albertons, HEB, or Hanifords, except an order of magnitude smaller. You can find most everything you need here - though the veggies are not great quality, and the exact selection annoyingly varies slightly from store to store. The small store size combined with how little shelf space is designated to each item and the number of people shopping means that the store is being constantly restocked and often out of certain items.
But luckily, you know you are coming back in just a few days! Here we buy milk, kwark (yogurt), staples, and our meat (we have had bad, bad luck with meat from the market and after a 'chicken' experience last week, we have decided to only buy meat at AH from now on). You bag you own groceries into the bag you brought. Or once you learn the real trick, just roll the cart directly out to your bike to load up the saddle bags. Then, of course, return the cart, because each cart requires a 50E cent coin deposit, so you want you money back!
The other place we shop is the small bakery a block down the canal. It is a nice shop, with kind people. The bread, inspite of usually being warm and right out of the oven, it 'dutch' break - a soft, wonder break texture. So we often just shop there toward the end of the week, we we need to last until we can get to the market. They open at 8am, so one of us pops down right after breakfast to pick up a fresh loaf. They also have assorted other goodies and it is where we buy our stupwaffle for friends in the States.
posted by Erin K. | 10:59 AM
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