August 8, 2008

Marlies Dekkers’ nursing bra wins CILA

Filed under: Fashion,Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 9:54 am

Lingerie designer Marlies Dekkers won a Contours International Lingerie Award (CILA) in the category Maternity last Monday with her “Maternity Collection,” three lingerie sets for mothers with babies. The nursing bras have broad shoulder straps and cups that can be opened, and a “milk marker” made from black satin ribbon to indicate which breast was last used to feed. The jury of this third installment of the CILAs particularly liked the Starlet Nursing Bra (see photo) for its combination of comfort and style.

The Oosterhout-born designer got the idea of a maternity line when several of her pregnant friends asked for a sexy yet comfortable nursing bra. Last year Dekkers also won a CILA, in the category Best Fashion Lingerie.

Photo: marliesdekkers.com. Via Knack.be (Dutch).

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August 5, 2008

Longest running ice lolly: the Rocket

Filed under: Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 8:34 am

12 April 1961: the Soviet Union launched the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.

1962: Ola launched a new ice lolly, the Raket (Rocket), and it has never (crash) landed since, making it the longest running model. It’s a simple ice lolly, shaped like a rocket, each of the three stages a different(ish) flavour.

The UK factory will produce 35 million Rockets this year, according to an article in daily the Volkskrant (Dutch), presumably hoping each Dutchman will buy two on average. The writer repeats some of the folklore about its popularity that’s been woven around this frozen hit: that the quality is high, that it’s got three good flavours, and so on. I don’t believe in that. I think the main reasons the Rocket has always sold so well is because it barely has any competition, it’s cheap, and it’s sold almost everywhere.

I remember that when we were kids, during the summers my mother, my brothers and I would walk to my uncle’s home in the forest, almost 6 miles from our house. Half-way along our route two old guys had put a refrigerator in their front room from which they sold ice cream to passers-by, and of course we always went for the Rocket because it was right in our price range.

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August 2, 2008

Cheese most popular “caravan food”

Filed under: Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 11:37 am

We’re in the middle of the six week school holiday period, so Dutch travel trailers have once again spread out across Europe. Not only do we have a reputation of traveling with trailers but also of bringing along our own food—what do you mean, we have to integrate too?

According to a study by insurance company Fortis though, bringing along your own food is in decline. “Only” a quarter of the Dutch still bring along foods (quote-unquote both by Z24 and me). Legend has it that we like to bring along our own spuds, but the study shows that the most popular caravan comestible is cheese, followed by chocolate sprinklings (hagelslag) and black liquorice (drop). Somewhat embarrassed I must admit the latter two make sense to me: hagelslag just goes well with French bread, and liquorice and iPods can help while away the long hours on the road.

Photo by Jon Sullivan, released into the public domain by its author.

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July 23, 2008

Old mills being put back to work

Filed under: Architecture,Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 11:26 am

The New York Times is taking a look at old Dutch windmills that are being used again for their original purposes:

Some of the renewed interest in mills is driven by the search for traditional food and drink. Patrick Langkruis, whose bakeshop, Het Bammetje, features 28 different kinds of bread and 35 different rolls, uses only flour ground by a traditional mill. “The taste is fuller, there’s more flavor,” he said. “It’s also because the grains are ground slowly.”

His supplier is Karel Streumer, who has been grinding out ordinary and exotic grains for the last eight years at his mill, De Distilleerketel, or distillery pot, in Delfshaven, on the edge of Rotterdam. He uses technology — huge mill stones and enormous wooden gears that make visitors feel they’re inside an immense and ancient clock — that has not changed since the mill was built in 1727.

De Distilleerketel caught fire in 1940 during fights between the Dutch army and the Nazis. It wasn’t rebuilt until the 1980s after much hemming and hawing. Because of the delay, city planners had already planned houses almost right next to the mill, which was subsequently moved 11 metres, according to the Nederlandse Molendatabase (Dutch).

Photo of De Disitilleerketel by M.Minderhoud, distributed under the GNU FDL 1.2.

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July 8, 2008

Computer key shaped candy

Filed under: Art,Design,Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 7:04 am

Unfortunately, this cool keyboard candy is already sold out, although both the geek and salty black liquorice lover in me are screaming “me want”! My dentist would undoubtedly agree with Amsterdam based artist Peter Luining and his decision to limit his run though — I remember pulling my own milk tooth once with black liquorice, it’s that good, by which I mean bad. Trading under the name Ctrl Alt Del, Luining seems to have limited his packages to exactly those three keys. Which seems a pity. I am sure I am not the only one who could have eaten a whole keyboard.

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July 3, 2008

Sixties slaughterhouse film saved from oblivion

Filed under: Animals,Film,Food & Drink,History by Orangemaster @ 8:01 am
Meat

Dutch television station VPRO has found an old film from the 1960s in their archives depicting the live slaughtering of cows in an Amsterdam abbatoir. The film ‘Vleesch’ (old Dutch spelling of ‘vlees’, which means ‘meat’) is a five-minute film made by vegetarian filmmmaker Wim T. Schippers, who is known for many things including the voices of Ernie, Kermit and more on the Dutch version of Sesame Street.

Long story short, the film was originally banned because it was not suitable for children. It was postponed a few times and again deemed unsuitable for children. Eventually, some child psychiatrists viewed the movie and said it was fine to let kids watch it. However, the film was never shown. Until now.

‘Vleesch’, made on 9 October 1967, is now being shown for the very first time. The VPRO has also brought out a DVD with this and other lost bits of archives from the same era, albeit surely less straightforward.

Before anyone starts a discussion about how horrible this is you’ve been warned: a cow is being killed in this film so that people will eat it. I glanced at the film myself.

See the film for yourself: Vleesch

(Link: vleesmagazine.nl)

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June 26, 2008

Run on vegetable oil now diesel prices are rising

Filed under: Automobiles,Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 1:56 pm

Daily AD reports (Dutch) that supermarkets are experiencing a run on vegetable oil, which car owners use instead of diesel as fuel. Super de Boer for instance noted an increase in sales between 50 and 100% in the past months. A spokes person explains that people are also hoarding vegetable oil simply because the prices are rising. Customers try and buy as much as 15 bottles in one go.

Z24 points out (Dutch) that the price of vegetable oil is rising too, so that the difference with that of diesel has decreased: vegetable oil is currently around 1.30 euro per liter, diesel around 1.46. Oil sold as fuel is taxed differently, which explains part of the price difference.

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May 25, 2008

Knitted sausage at MAMA

Filed under: Art,Design,Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 3:15 pm

Here, have some knitted sausage:

Proef founder Marije Vogelzang is exhibiting these knitted sausages amongst others at her first (and perishable) solo exhibition at the MAMA showroom in Rotterdam. Proef is two food design studios / restaurants in Rotterdam and Amsterdam.

(“Proef”, pronounced proof, is the imperative of to taste, or as a noun means test. Two languages separated by the North Sea.)

Photo by Proef. Via Trendbeheer (Dutch).

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May 17, 2008

White asparagus cocktail

Filed under: Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 9:00 am

It’s asparagus season. North Limburgers like me respond to asparagus the same way hobbits respond to mushrooms. Actually we respond the same way to mushrooms too: asparagus and mushrooms are our regional specialty.

We grow and eat asparagus stems white though. To keep the stems white, they need to be kept away from sunlight, and therefore they are grown in raised beds. Then, starting around April 15, temp workers walk between the beds from the break of dawn till noon, spying for cracks in the flattened tops of the beds that signify the tip of an asparagus plant trying to break through.

Once they spot the rebel plant, the workers dig through the side of the bed until they reach the stem and then use a long, spatula-shaped knife to cut the stem at the bottom. The stem is taken out and the hole filled up again.

The stems dry out quickly so the sooner you cook them the better. White asparagus has a delicate taste that is typically brought out with ham, egg, melted butter, but it can be combined with many other ingredients. Serve with cold, white wine.

Today I ate:

Asparagus Cocktail Willem Alexander

This apetizer was invented by chef Herman van Ham of restaurant De Hamert in Arcen, just North of Venlo. He named it in honour of the Dutch crown prince.

(more…)

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May 7, 2008

Selling Dutch sweets in Morocco

Filed under: Dutch first,Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 10:19 am
stroopwafel11.jpg

After one Moroccan entrepreneur decided to make Gouda cheese in the Sahara, another Moroccan in Rotterdam is going to attempt making stroopwafels – also originally from the town of Gouda – and sell them in Morocco.

You’d think someone would have thought of this already, but according to businessman Mimoun el Arkoub, no one has. He explains that Moroccans love sweets and many of them know about Dutch food, so why not sell stroopwafels there? He bought himself two huge machines to produce the delights and is getting ready to crank them out and sell lots of them.

One major flop of pushing Dutch fare I have heard about in the past and seen on TV was convincing the Chinese to eat cheese. From what the Chinese, the Dutch people I know who have lived in China and others have said, the Chinese are not big on dairy products in general and have a problem with the smell of cheese. I mean, have you ever had cheese at a Chinese restaurant? The appeal of a huge market like China does not mean that if you just market real hard, they’ll start eating cheese. How many decades did it take the Dutch to drink wine? Think about it.

(Link: bizz.nl)

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