Pinoy-Dutch Breakfast

I noticed that the Dutch are not so heavy on breakfast. The usual is comprise of bread, cheese, sliced cold meat, fruit juice, coffee or tea. Kids (and maybe some adults as well) also put jam, appelstroop or hagelslag(bread sprinkles that we usually put on ice cream or cake). Not entirely light because they usually eat brown bread but for an Asian like me, it's not enough food to start a long day. The Dutch are also not big with lunch, a kaasbrodje is enough for the midday fix and I could not understand how they remain focus with such little food in stomach.

Well, being a typical Asian and a Filipino for that matter, who are known to be fans of heavy breakfast, I had to add combine other food to my morning meal. Since I dont like cold meats so much, I always fry the bacon or the ham. I have this initial prejudice that cold meats are raw meats (although the Dutch do spread a sort of raw meat in their bread) and I havent gotten over that. I like the assortment of jams that can be bought easily at supermarkt like Albert Heijn and it was made in a way that is not too sweet like the jams in the Philippines.

I also learned to include fruits in my breakfast, either mandarin, banana, appel, peach or kiwi. It's a good side of the Dutch diet, they put great importance on healthy eating and fruits are very essential to their everyday meal. I have also gotten used to drinking milk or orange juice and tea as opposed to my previous diet of drinking coffee with milk and sugar. Here I drink my coffee black in respect to some very good beans you can find in the grocery stores.

Egg is a consistent part of the meal, done scrambled or sunny-side up and always with ketchup. Either I make an egg sandwhich or eat it with fried rice. But since the family doesnt eat so much rice, I always end up eating bread in the morning. If there is enough left-over from last night's dinner (which is rare because the Dutch are used to cooking exact proportions for dinner) and I am really craving for heavier stuff, I'd put them in microwave and have it as breakfast. Otherwise, I'd eat them for lunch.

What I have grown to love about the Dutch breakfast, and the Dutch diet in general is that it is full of fiber because of the presence of vegetables and whole grain in it. Since I came here and my stomach has been accustomed to Dutch food, I developed a regular bowel movements, usually in the morning and sometimes two times a day. That is a very good way of cleansing my insides and it also makes me feel light the whole day. The regular intake of Vitamin C from fruits also lessen the episodes of my mouth sores eventhough Im a smoker.

There are several things I do not follow in the Dutch breakfast, particularly the cold meats and appelstroop (which I have almost the same disdain with droop candies) but that doesnt equateto the fact that there is much more to love about it.

Pralines, Truffels or Bonbons, Choose Your Chocolates

Perhaps this is the most common term for this confectionery treat made of cocoa. It is actually in South America where chocolates originated because of the abundance of cacao trees in this area, but the Spanish were the ones who made it famous. Chocolates had a history of slavery because when the Spanish conquistadors brought chocolates back to Europe, the demand went so high that they started forced labor with cacao productions.

Chocolates is considered as an aphrodisiac and even recommended for its health benefits. At least some type of chocolates. They are children's favourite and adults are rooting for them as much.

Coming to the Netherlands is a real treat for my sweet tooth. Being a neighbor of Belgium which we know is where all the best chocolates comes from, chocolates here are cheap and abundant. Since its just an hour away from Antwerpen or maybe couple of hours from other Belgian cities and since part of the country is still under the Dutch influence, the taxes for chocolates are not that high compared to other countries.

I like my chocolate very dark to the point of still being a bit bitter. I'm not too hot for sweet chocolates, much more milk chocolates. Every now and then, I also go for chocolates with nuts. I do not like pralines as much as other people does because sometimes I get to pick the ones which doesn't have a nice taste. My favourite would be dark truffels and liquer filled cherry bonbons.

I guess we all have our sweet tooth or if not, at least most of us likes chocolates. But how well do you know your chocolates? Let me give your trivia on the varieties I mentioned above.

• Pure Chocolate Liquor - Unsweetened chocolate which is in liquid form and used for baking.You wouldn't event want to try this.
  
• Dark Chocolate - Solid chocolate with higher concentration of chocolate liquor and is said to be beneficial to ones health because of the presence of antioxidant called flavonoids.
  Milk Chocolates - Confectioneries doesn't even considered this chocolates at all. Milk chocolates is a mixture of milk, cocoa butter and sugar and doesnt really use cocoa powder. Too sweet for me.

• Pralines - Pralines originated from France and was named after sugar magnate Marshall du Plessis-Praslin. The term pralin literally means grinded sugar-coated nuts while praline is what it was known when mixed with sugar. Pralines are chocolates filled with either cream of different fruit flavours or nuts of different kinds like almond and hazelnuts. Pralines these days usually comes in different amusing shapes and sizes but everything will always have filling, otherwise it wont be pralines anymore.
  
• Truffles - Ever heard of the term ganache? In culinary term, it is a heavy cream that is used for fillings. Truffles are originally made from ganache that was rolled in cocoa powder or chocolate powder. Chocolate truffles resembled the black fungi called truffles thus the term, but it is considered as one of the most luxurious kind of chocolate. Sometimes it is filled with nuts of liquers or nothing at all, just solid chocolates. My truffles would always have dark chocolate fillings on it and real cocoa bits.
  
• Bonbons - I dont know if this is a legitimate type of chocolates or can be considered as chocolate liquer (now dont mistake that for chocolate liquor, that different because this one has a high content of alcohol) but in the Netherlands, Kersenbonbons or Cherry Bonbons are very popular. These are dark chocolates filled with rum and whole cherry and very delicious especially at mid-day to wake up your nerves that got bored in the office.

So next time you had chocolate cravings, don't stick with milk chocolates alone. Try something different. They maybe expensive, but they are worth it.

Just to give you an idea of how much these chocolates on the picture, here is a price list from ALbert Heijn and Lidl. These however are not the expensive ones you can buy at De Bijenkorf or the real pricey varieties. Just normal chocolates you can get at the supermarkt.

KersenBonbons - 2.99 (AH)
Pralines Superiuers - 2.29 (Ldl)
Truffels - 1.0 (C1000)
Bellarom Fruits and Nuts - 1.35 (Ldl)

La Place: Cheap Dining Now In Goes

My first dining experience when I came to the Netherlands 9 months ago was in La Place restaurant in Dik Tromplein 2, Hoofddorp, around 5 to 10 minutes ride from Schipol International Airport. My boyfriend's parents picked us up from the airport and wanted to have a bite before the one and hour drive home to Zeeland.

When I arrived for the second time this January, we also dined there since the flights from Manila always arrives around 6PM. Last time when Mom, Dad and I picked up Robin from his apartment we went out to have dinner together again at La Place and it was only during that dinner that I had truly look around and appreciate the place.

La Place is a self-service restaurant and is an affiliate of the Vroom & Dreesman (V&D), one of the most popular chains of department stores in Netherlands. Inspired by the concept of a marketplace, with its fusion of smell, colors, sounds and interaction, La Place is where you can find fresh and healthy food at a very low price.

Food are fresh everyday, displayed on counters and segregated by according to food groups, adding a little more persuasion to a diner's appetite with the colors and sights of delicious choices from salads and vegetables, baked products, pizza and pasta and their mouth watering desserts of pies and tarts.

There's also a wide selection of drinks, freshly blended smoothies, bottled fruit juices, ice tea, beers and their own brand of wines. For diners who wanted hot, fresh off the grill/pan dishes, they also have a grill section where you can choose the kind of fish you want, comes with baked potatoes.

Or you can mix your vegetables with either beef, pork or chicken for an Indonesian/Asian cooked in level of spiciness you prefer. You can have it with noodles or rice, with or without coconut milk. I must say that with the small amount that you pay for a certain selection of dishes, the food are really good, not to mention healthy as it always comes with your choices of greens.

On our latest La Place diner, I had beef curry and banana/orange smoothie for only 10euros. It was so delicious, not too spicy since I opted for the mild curry and the serving is so generous I wasn't able to finish my plate.

La Place restaurants are generally spacious to accommodate a big number of customers since they are quite known with both the locals and foreigners. The inside is modestly decorated with paintings or photographs on walls, cushioned chairs and big tables, well-lit and cozier compared to some fancy restaurants back home.

The only downturn is that because of its popularity, the place is teeming with people especially during dinner or lunchtime. Waiting for your wok/grilled dishes can take a bit longer, especially that there's only once cooked assigned in each station. But considering the cooking time and the number of orders taken every 15 minutes, their services are generally fast.

So next time you are in Amsterdam or any city in Netherlands, try dropping by at La Place and save your pocket from expensive dining. Their coffee is also very very good.

The good news is La Place is now in Goes. It occupies the former furniture showroom at Schuttershof 8. It is the street beside the lake. Finally, a welcome break from the kitchen as we can just bike there for 10 minutes and have a really nice, affordable dinner.

Saturday Shopping in Rotterdam

Saturdays are my favourite. I get to go out to the bigger cities discovering shops and restaurants while just leisurely walking around. And of course I get to spend some euros again for little treats after a week's work.

This Saturday, we went to Rotterdam for some shopping again. I had been planning to buy another bag, a mail bag to be exact, because the only tote I brought from the Philippines is kapot and not convenient to carry around anymore. It's so beautiful and matches my boots but it's giving me pains on the shoulder. I want another that I can just slip on my shoulders and forget about it. It's not always the case with shoulder bags because they tend to fall when your shoulders are too relaxed and sometimes can be annoying in the armpits.

My classmate Princess and I always go around Rotterdam centrum after school for window shopping. We will go to the posh shops where all the expensive clothes and shoes are. In Rotterdam there's a lot of those. We both don't have so much money but unlike me, she saves up for these brands. She will always tell me that if I wish really hard for these things, I will eventually have them. Told her that I'm actually not so particular with expensive labels. I rather spend my money on travel and books.

I firmly believe that labeled clothes and shoes are not good investments. Imagine buying say a €1,000 Dior bag and then the next season there will be a new design which you also like. It's not wise to spend another thousand for the new moda and you'll end up looking at your bag and say what a jammer since you cant always use it or it doesnt match the current look. I rather buy cheap but good quality stuff which I can change every now and then.

But I am not saying not to buy expensive items. Invest on the basics, then choose cheap items for the rest. This way, you have the best of both worlds, labeled brands to boast about and cheap ones for everyday use.

Clothes and shoes doesnt appreciate unlike jewelries. My mother would always remind me to invest on things that appreciates so one day, if the going gets tough, I can use them to get by. That's why I am always particular with the prices of things that I buy.

Anyway, going back to the topic, I was rooting for this white mail bag at H&M. It was big enough to carry my notepad, my cellphone, my cigarettes, make-up tubes and my keys. It will still be roomy if I put a book which I always carry wherever I go but if I add my textbook, then the bag will burst. It took me one whole week to decide whether I should make a go or not.

Last Friday I finally convinced myself and I dont always carry my textbook anyway. With the upcoming trip to Paris, the mail bag would be the perfect accessory, a light bag to go around the city. So I finally gave in.

Who doesnt know H&M? It's like the revered affordable shopping center all over the world. Although I dont entirely agree on that because there are stores that are way cheaper than H&M.

There is no H&M in the Philippines so I wasn't very particular about shopping there but the bag is perfectly what I am looking for. It has a very simple design and the colour will match most of my clothes. White is not really my favourite and I do not have so many white clothes but it will give a nice contrast with black or brown and would look great with red. It costs €16.90 and I think it's worth the buy. I didnt find anything that is more affordable and with the design that fits my preferences.

Another great store I discovered last Saturday was Douglas because of their 50% korting on alles. Douglas sells beauty products of all kinds, perfumes, make-up, shower and bath, hair gels, scented candles etc. They are probably on an end-of-season-sale as well. Last week while looking for the bag, I chanced upon a €3.45 Douglas facial set outside the stores. I bought it last Sat. It includes 10 ml tubes of toner, foam and cream in Frangipani scent. I use the cream last night and it was very gentle and light on my face.

The reason for this buy is that my Nivea Oil Control Cream, aside from being expensive and heavy on my face is giving me huge pimples and irritation. Every time I use it, I had to scratch my itchy face after two minutes. I only use it after my very expensive but effective Artistry L/X Cream was finished.

I also bought a Douglas Wash Spa set in Lemon and Bergamot as a birthday gift to Mijn Knap. Originally €9.95, it was reduced to only €4.95. It has douche salt, cream, gel and scrub and a cute yellow rubber duckie. We have always wanted one for our bath tub but really didnt have the time to look for one. Although the rubber duckie only floats on its side, it adds fun to our regular soaking. I tried the scrub on him last night but wasnt satisfied with its grainy feel so I whipped up some home scrub of honey and sugar plus a drop of lavander and mixed it with the scrub. It was perfect and it gave him a smooth, supple skin after the bath and shower with the douche gel. He didnt even have to apply lotion. And finally, our last buy was this beige shopper bag that costs €6.95. I dont have any travelling bag for Paris and this one is quite cheap for its size so I just grabbed it and didnt let go.

If you want to score some labeled perfumes like Roxy, Marc Jacobs, Elizabeth Arden, etc. for like €10- €15 for a 100ml bottle, hurry to Douglas because I dont know till when the sale will be on-going.

Lastly, I discovered a really posh building that didn't even have a sale tag anywhere. To give you an idea of how it is, think of Greenbelt 5 for my Filipino readers. The prices are dizzying so are their chocolate displays. They are simple mouth watering especially the designs of the cake, the smell of pure Belgian truffles and pralines which will greet you once you enter the building. I told Mijn Knap that if only for the chocolates, I will frequent that place. They also have a bookstore on the lower ground, an extensive collection of beautiful notebooks and bestsellers. The store is called de Bijenkorf(Beehive). I did gave in to my chocolate desire and took out a €2.95 Carre chocolade pure. It comes in this lovely oversize black box and big plastic bag. I told Mijn Knap that maybe I only paid for €1 for the chocolate itself and the rest went to the packaging.

We capped off the date with a snack at our favourite fast food, Burger King. This time, I just ordered the Double Cheeseburger Meal because it has been four straight week of Grilled Beef Burger and Im already sick of it.

All in all, it was a great shopping date that lasted for 3 hours with the rain, cold wind and a really bad weather that day.

Sportswear Online Shop

Spring is almost here! Finally the weather will be friendlier for our athletic side. Of course it's always more enjoyable to run or jog if we are wearing proper sports wear, not to mention that it is very important to fully work out our muscles.

I would like to share a new online shop where you can buy your running clothes without lining up in sports stores. It's called Creative Sports Design and specializes on athletic's wear. Do check it out. Click the link to learn more.

Beauty Haul in Delft

We planned this trip to Delft after purchasing his new digital camera. We just discovered how beautiful the centrum was after Mom and Dad made an improntu visit to Delft before having dinner one Sunday.

Anyway to kill time until the sun comes out of the thick clouds graying the whole Zuid Holland that day, we decided to check out the city. It was very early in the morning, around 8am so we decided to warm up at Zeeman since there is no cafe open yet. I didnt really plan on buying anything but the prices are just irresistible.

Zeeman is one of the cheapest stores in Holland selling clothes, purses, make-up, trinkets, accessories and other small stuff.

After scanning the shop we bought two bundle of socks for € 1.99/bundle and an sleep mask for €.99. While checking out the things, I saw this cart near the counter displaying make-ups and perfumes. It immediately grabbed my shopaholic side and I rummage through the choices like a little kid especially that the tag says €.99.
I grabbed two Black Onyi tubes. One was a glittery orange Lip Shine(#8150A) and another was black mascara. I cant complain with the results. The lip shine glides to the lips like butter but the color doesnt last that long, maybe for only about 2 hours. The mascara is great. It sticks to the lashes very well, dries fast, a little thick though especially if not applied well but doesnt make a mess.
Another good buy was the Moara Shira Pure One perfume. It smell very much like Calvin Klein CK2, pleasant but not sweet or floral-y which I prefer. It last until 6 hours in the skin and the whole day when sprayed to the clothes. The price €1.99 for a 40ml bottle. The packaging is also very trendy.

All beauty products are exclusively distributed by Kecofa, Kerkrade Netherlands for Zeeman.

Black Onyi Orange Lip Shine €.99

Black Onyi Black Mascara €.99

Moara Shira Pure One €1.99

Winter Must-Haves

Pardon that this post maybe antedated but I made these purchases one month before I made this blog and there was just not enough time to sit down and collate your thoughts.

I am a big fan of end-of- season sales! You know just the sight of those cards screaming 50/70/80 percents off plastered on the windows of shops thrills me. Finding out that that those jeans I was eyeing for a long time was reduced to a price I can already afford is such an elating feeling like my pocket already achieved a greater purchasing power. After all, that's the main objective of sales after all, to deceive consumers on buying more things because they think its more value for their money. Aside of course from disposing of old stocks and making way for the next fashion season.

But to be honest, I don't buy so much from end-of-season sales. Sure they make me happy, especially the atmosphere of everything cheap but I have certain preferences in clothes, shoes and bags. Even if these item are of the best design, the best quality and selling on very low prices, if I don't like it, I wont buy it. It has to meet certain personal standards and the first one of course is function. Next is that it should match with the other items I have before.

I am not the type who buys matching items in a go because it will force me to spend on things I wouldn't really be able to use fully. So end-of-season sales no matter how low doesn't really persuade me to jump on a shopping spree. Although I do indulge in impulse buying once in a while, especially if its those back breaking pumps at People Are People.
Anyway, during the recent (and still on-going) end-of-season sale in Rotterdam, I made two purchases that my euros are really of. It's actually must-haves for me because the Dutch winter prevents me from enjoying the rest of the country. It's just too damn cold when I arrived and having good boots and coat is essential.

Going around Rotterdam centrum, I went to several shops that offers black coats of my size and budget. There were a lot of course but the prices keep me from buying. When I was about to give up, we walked into this mess of a store called Zara and found fairly good coats that are selling on 70% discount. Once again I am elated but seeing how those clothes are lying around, buttons and price tags missing gave me a headache. Picking up this coat which I said would be the last I would look out, I finally found one that is worth buying. It fits me really well, has design that I approve of and a lil bit bigger but I like that way to give room for other clothes and it has a price tag of €29.95.

What I especially like about the coat is its big buttons and two big pockets. This comes in handy for me because I don't really bring bags if my basic items (mini wallet, cellphone and cigarettes) can fit in my pocket.

Another good buy was this long leather boots from Axi Schoen. It has unbelievably low prices for boots starting from €10. Again I love the brown, rugged colour of the shoes, as brown is one of my favourite when it comes to shoes along with black and red. It has a nice leather strapping on the ankle part for a sort of cowboy look. It's a perfect match for jeans and probably pair it with shorts on summer.
So here is the final look of my day's steal at those fashion stores in Rotterdam. Oh how I wish its end-of-season sale everyday.

Coat: €30 Zara

Boots: €10 Axi Schoen

Bag: €7 Kimbel (PH)

Jeans: Old Jeans

Being Paid for Reviews

I am a very opinionated person. I have a say on everything, from mundane things like the shampoo that I'm using to more serious issues like religion and politics. Maybe that is why I became a lifestyle writer.

But since I dont get so many writing assignments anymore, I have to divert my passion to the most available market which is the world wide web. Our house has 24/7 wireless internet access and most of the day, after doing the house chores, I have free time to noodle around. I don't want to spend it only on social networking sites so I searched for some websites that pays me to voice out my opinion, good or bad.

I found several sites that does this and been a member of a few of it for quite sometimes now. Two of it are Triond and Hubpages where I posted all my unpublished lifestyle articles for the papers, some poetry, some travel stories, movie and book reviews and even some fiction. With Triond I was posting articles in a 2-3/month frequency while with Hubpages I just recently starting posting after becoming a member for 8 months. The inspiration got lost amidst the pile of writing jobs for my company before.

The pay with these two is not really that much and up to this point I havent earned a decent income. Well that is because, I am not really a very sociable member. I dont always leave comments especially to mediocre articles in Triond and I dont explore much the member's area in Hubpages so I dont have so many "friends or fans". This is a very important factor for these sites because that's is how you generate traffic to your posts and traffic, comments, ratings are always translated to earnings. A fraction of the fraction of a cent, probably. If you are thinking of earning bigtime with these sites but lacks the patience to go around and write furiously, then keep your expections at the minimum.

My latest discovery was Ciao, a website that pays you for reviewing products on their list. Like Triond, there are mediocre write-ups copy-pasting the specs of a certain product and saying things like "its so nice", "its not good". But of course, like how the old adage goes "everybody is entitled to their opinions" so I wont delve on that.

I started with Ciao just two days ago and I already have $.30 earnings. Not a bad eh? I dont know if they pay like Triond who gives me my dollar cents religiously every 15th of the month but according to members, they actually do. Like the two websites mentioned above, the trick is to get as many friends as you can, leave them some comments and rate their reviews so they will do the same to you and you can earn big.

I am keeping my optimism with these sites. Ive yet to earn something with my ads on Hubpages or anything surprising in Triond but who knows? They give me an avenue to be as opinionated as I am and practice on my writing skills as much and as long as I want to.

If you want to try these sites click the links in this article or on the sidebar.

Denim Steal at €5/Stuk

Denim jeans are one of my favourite articles of clothing. They're never out of style, fashionable and easy to mix and match with tops of various colors. It also goes well with boots, slippers, flip flops or sandals. With the right combination, jeans can go from casual to business and semi-formal. I think its one piece that somebody shouldn't be without.

Denim jeans in the Netherlands doesn't come cheap especially on regular seasons. Prices range from €50-€100 euros or more depending on the brand of course. Affordable denim jeans are hard to find and when you chance upon one, you shouldn't let it escape.


Fortunately, one Saturday of going around the centrum of Goes, I turned right to Papegaaistraat and saw stacks of clothing outside, from jeans to tops. The sign is screaming "Alles Voor €5". I was ecstatic because I have been wanting to buy jeans since I didn't bring so many pants when I came here. I rummage through the displays and found one stone washed jeans that's just right my size. I didn't think twice and bought two, the other one was darker colored. They're a bit too long for me but its perfectly highlighting my nether parts which is the first factor that I consider when buying jeans. And for €5 apiece (from €45), it's a total steal!!!


Steal: BlackBurn Jeans

Prijs: €5/piece

Store: Zinn (voor Vrouwen)

Location: Papegaaistraat 6, Goes

About The Blog

Literally translated, kopen and koken means buying and cooking., two of the basic topics that this blog will be discussing among many other different things that falls in between. But since the author is still on her first step of becoming a millionare (which is the planning stage), all her spending is on moderation, primarily because she doesnt earn so much, the economic is pretty bad right now and lastly, she currently living in the home of the "prudent" Dutch.

Ever heard of the term "Going Dutch", "Dutch Treat" or "Dutch Date"?

All of these refer to a Dutch custom of sharing everything with the other person, up to the last cents. This might be viewed as unethical especially for the conservative and the feminist but this is actually one part of the Dutch culture that separates them from the rest of the world.

The Dutch are very frugal, prudent to the point of being cheap. Before making a purchase, they will have to make a list of its pro's and con's, price comparison, warranty extent, the best place to buy etc. And trust them that they will get it from the lowest seller but not sacrificing quality, because when it comes to consumer rights (like returning a broken item, missing parts etc.) the Dutch definitely know what they can do about it.

I couldn't say that I am frugal person niether a wise spender. I believe that money should be spent for happiness, most especially when you work very hard for it. Frugality is a forced word to me when money is scarce. Although I don't go for excessively pricey items. As much as possible I try to buy good quality product at the lowest price available.

Coming to Netherlands, my perspective on spending changed completely. At first I was hesitant with it, finding fault in their seeming stingyness. But I come to realize that saving up for the rainy days is not really a bad idea especially if you keep it for better things for the future.

So this blog is dedicated to everything that is cheap in the Netherlands and the countries I will be visiting soon, from clothes to groceries and everything that I would be wisely spending my euros on.