Houten Market

Today is market day in Houten.   And the square at the Rond is full of market stalls, and shoppers.

   

The market is similar to the one held in Swanley, Kent, U.K. in that there are the usual clothes, telephone gadgets, bag stalls but there the similarity ends.

The first difference is that you do not have to fight for a park which is the situation in Asda's carpark, Swanley    Here you just ride your bicycle to the market and park it where there is a space.   Easy.    Of course not so easy on the return journey when you try and balance a small tree on the front or back of your bicycle.   Or in our case, 15 bags of coffee pods which were placed in one very large bag.  

The second difference is the range of food stalls for cheese, fish and bread.   All great favourites of Dutch people.   As well as flowers of course.  

The first stop was to admire the range of plants and flowers in the plant stall.   No purchases here though.  

 The next stop was to try out some of the vast ranges of cheeses.    We purchased a young cheese, a blue vein cheese and one with caraway seeds in it.   And they are delicious.

 We stopped at the fish stall so that Walter could have his raw salted herring, with chopped onions.   Straight down the throat.   Not for me though.    Too fresh and fishy.  

 The usual range of clothing on sale.

 These pineapples looked good, but after eating fresh pineapples in Australia we were not tempted to purchase one that had obviously travelled a great distance.

 More of the twisted sculptured look.    The trunks of a few ficus trees have been plaited to give a most unusual effect.   I did not look at the price.   I can imagine they were expensive.    No purchases here either.

And on the subject of the cows/steers being kept in the open barn.   The ones that were crowded into small pens.  And looked very dirty.   Well I learnt that they are waiting to be slaughtered and will end up as meat in the butcher's shop in old Houten.    No wonder they were all resting!

Farms, perfect or otherwise

Once you leave the kidney shaped town of Houten, you are in the countryside.   Consequently our bike rides each day are amongst the farms and orchards around Houten, and it is glorious cycling in the warm sunshine amongst green fields and trees.   Slightly smelly at times, of course, due to the liquid manure being sprayed on the fields.  

Farms here are immaculate, buildings painted, fences straight and ditches cleaned, trees pruned, grass cut.  Everything spick and span.  No old rusty objects lying around, cars, trucks, pieces of machinery, old windmills or derelict glasshouses and other buildings.   Not like in Australia, New Zealand and parts of the UK.   Oh no, this is the Netherlands, where it would be disgraceful to be anything but super tidy and organised.

The farm houses are also very substantial, as are the buildings either attached to them, or separate from them.   The buildings mostly contain animals, cows, sheep, pigs, who need to be housed during the winter months, or maybe all the time.   Once the grass is strong enough, the cows and sheep should be able to go into the fields.  Some of the buildings are used for storage of the fruit from the orchards.    And machinery of course.  Also we did see one that held poultry.   Even so, it would appear from the very large farmhouses and huge out buildings that farming is financially very viable here.    

The first stop was to buy appel moes from the vending machine at this farm.    We also booked a camp site in May.   Diversification includes a camping ground on this farm.      

 There was a lovely free range chicken run here.   Good idea to buy eggs from this farm too.

 An immaculate thatched farm house with the farm building attached.  

 A cluster of farm buildings.

 A tree lined road, in amongst the farms.

 An old water tower, we think.   It is now a very tall and thin house.   I wonder if they have a lift to get to the top of the building.   Running up and down the stairs would keep one very fit.   A marvellous view from the top bedroom.   Or maybe that is where they keep the princess.

 The cows lined up in their shed.   I think they get milked where they stand for the day.   Very efficient.    I wonder if the cows get sore legs from standing so long in one place.   Every time we cycle pass the cows are in the same place.

 An old, or still running, monastery, surrounded by fields.

 These cows have escaped.   They look very contented too.   And no wonder, after a winter spent in a shed.

These cows, or maybe they are steers, (I forget to have a look at their under parts) certainly live in cramped quarters (from the view point of someone from Australia or NZ), in an open fronted shed.   There were about 6 or 7 cows? per pen.

 Sleeping contently or not.   What else have they got to do.   Slightly grubby.   Not so clean and tidy either.    And open to the public view too.   The other buildings were not brilliant either.   Not good.   Letting the country down here.

We love cycling through the farmland.   Safely too, I might add.    On cycle paths or marked lines on the side of the road.   An activity that costs nothing either.   Bliss.

Trees with a shape

I am fascinated by all the shaped trees here.   And as there are no leaves on the trees at the moment, the shape of each tree is very clear.   But the work involved to keep these trees so beautifully shaped is quite substantial, but then we are in the Netherlands where there is pride in keeping trees looking very trim and tidy.  

The tree below is trimmed so that is has very straight sides.    Perfect.   No extra branches getting in everyone's way here.  

 But my favourite is the espaliered approach.    And I have taken many photos of different approaches to espaliered trees.  

The high fence of espaliered trees.   A very tall ladder is needed for this one.  And very high poles.

 The corner espaliered fence.   Note the low box hedge under the fence above and below.    Double effectiveness and double work.

 The single look.   No need for poles on these trees.    Self supporting.   Telegraph poles without the wires.

 The slightly hairy look.    Obviously pruning was forgotten last autumn or the owners are going for a slightly dishevelled look.    These trees are not fitting the tidy and trim pattern in Holland.  

 Also very popular in Holland are parterre gardens, using box hedging.   The local garden centre is selling small buxus shrubs for 1 euro each.    Very reasonable.    However, not for my garden.

Fruit trees trained so that they fan out from the bottom to create a trough effect.   Lots of air down the middle.    

 The stand alone stunted look.    Fruit trees of some sort.    A way of fitting lots of fruit trees into one small area.    Obviously fruit well too.    There are small apple trees in the garden at the end of this road which are pruned the same way, and they were covered in apples last year.

A visit to the local garden centre.    Here we found small trees already espaliered, using bamboo poles. Very impressed.  

And finally the ancient espaliered self standing trees, which may have once been attached to poles but now have such thick branches that nothing will move them.     Beautiful, as is the house behind the trees.  

I have two small apples trees which I planted in my garden last October.   Cheap apple trees, £5 each from the supermarket.   And I intend to stunt their growth, as well as gain the maximum  amount of fruit.   I think I will go for the combined (they are very close together) stunted stand alone look.   I may even attach a bit of bamboo, from the bamboo I chopped down in the front garden.    I am inspired and aim to be successful.   Reports and photos to follow soon.

Exercise, exercise and more exercise

Today dawned bright and sunny.    Perfect weather, although a little nippy when riding the bike.   As I found out when wearing my elf dress to the swimming pool.   No coat and no scarf.    Unlike the other Dutch cyclists, who were still rugged up in coats.    Silly me.    

However the swimming pool was warm, so eventually my fingers thawed out.   Mia and Abi have made great progress in their swimming lessons and are managing breast stroke, front and back, very well.   This seems to be the main stroke used here for beginners.   Mainly due to the need to have all children able to swim competently.    So much water around.    Mia and Abi are aiming for the much needed diploma.   Without it swimmers have to wear arm bands.    Luckily Mia received two years of swimming instruction at her school in Norwich so can swim fairly well, and the life guards do not ask her if she has a diploma, but poor Abi can never escape, so has to wear arm bands.   She hates it.

Patat (chips) with mayonnaise for the girls.  Nothing for me.   Potatoes are a definitely out, especially deep fried ones.    They did look delicious.   I feel so envious.

And then this afternoon a two hour bike ride for us all, except Raphy who sat in comfort in a seat at the back of Aaron's bike.   He enjoyed this very much.

A consultation is required about which path to take.    I took photos.   I was not needed.  I have no sense of direction anyway.  They know this.

The countryside.   Everything neat and tidy.    We are in the Netherlands.

The very long barge, with the streamlined and comfortable living quarters at the end, travelling along the Amsterdam Rijn kanall which runs between the Rhine River and Amsterdam.   A very busy waterway.

The reflections in the water are superb at the moment.    Must be the light and the blue sky.

A silver birch, shining in the sunshine.

A stop to look at an old building, now an antique shop.    This area is very old, medieval I think.   Also a stop to rest the bottoms which were getting a little saddle sore.  I am posing in my elf dress.  

Mia and her Dutch bike.    Looking the part.

And tonight we ate meatball stroganoff, broccoli and cauliflower 'rice', which is actually grated cauliflower cooked in olive oil and chicken stock.   Yes it is possible to grate cauliflower.   A little messy until you get the hang of it.   And it tastes good.    Only a small container of cream in the stroganoff.   This recipe is from Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook.   Very good too.  

Finally a lovely night view of the sky from the top of house.

And soon it will be off to bed.  A little stiff and sore but very happy.

Diets or changing the way we eat!

We are on a diet.   I think I have mentioned this before, but it preoccupies our minds somewhat.   We mainly want to lose the spare tyres around our middles.    Which could lead to health problems, I know.   This is important. And I am vain also, as all my new clothes do not look so good with a bulging stomach.   

When we arrived in Houten we found that Kylie was also on a diet, so of course, this meant by default that we were on a diet too.    Good news.  We need support.

But Kylie's diet is quite an eye opener, as it goes against our natural instincts about the food we should eat when dieting. In fact this diet is more about changing the way we eat, and it is very exciting.    

So out of the window goes Weight Watchers Diet and Count your Calories Diet.    All so punitive and self flagellating in their approach to dieting. I might as well get the whip out.

Kylie is following an eating plan which includes cream and butter, and lots of it too.    Plus bacon and plenty of eggs.   And lots of vegetables.    However there is no sugar at all, and no carbohydrates.   Or milk.   And no tea or coffee (caffeine) or alcohol (it has sugar in it).   But Kylie is never hungry on this eating plan.  And amazingly it is working and she is losing weight and feeling so much better without all the sugar in her system.    And she looks tremendous.   Of course she is also working out at the gym three times a week.   Spin classes.   Very demanding.   This makes a difference too.  

So we are eating the most marvellous meals, with lots of butter and cream.    Smaller helpings of course.   However, we are not going to be purists.    The morning coffee is a must, the highlight of our day.   We cannot give that up.  Just one cup a day though.  And the wine.   Definitely no.   But we have modified our intake somewhat.    This should help.   Sugar.   Well we have mostly given that up.   Tea.    No problems there for me.    I have changed over to a lemon drink in the morning and herbal teas (organic of course).   And we  are only eating a small amount of very good bread, multigrain of course. 

Do we feel better?   Too early to tell, as we have only been on this new diet for six days, but we are eating extremely well.   And riding out bikes solidly for an hour a day.    This must definitely help.   

On a more serious note, I have also just read a book called, appropriately for us, 'Fat around the middle' written by a nutritional therapist called Marilyn Glenville.   She is also a doctor with a PhD as well.   While the book is a little too technical at times, it does support a much more reasonable approach to dieting.   And a must to read before even approaching a change in eating patterns, or when contemplating a diet. For all those people who think that eating food which is labelled low fat, low calorie or 'diet' will help them lose weight.   Well this is a fallacy as they contain artificial sweeteners and other food enhancers, which can make you want or crave even more food. These foods could also end up damaging your health in the long term.  Diet drinks are especially bad.   I always wondered about this when I went on a Weight Watchers diet, some years ago.  

While on the subject of food.    There is a farm close by, where they sell their produce through a vending machine.   You can buy eggs, potatoes, onions, fruit juices, jams and our favourite, appel moes.   The money goes into a slot, then the number of the product is pressed, the door opens and out pops the item requested.  Very efficient.   Typically Dutch.   

And our favourite, appel moes (apple puree with a hint of cinnamon).    We love it, and so do Mia, Abi and Raphy.   Three jars have been purchased so far.    Delicious.    Especially with plain yoghurt.   Good for the diet, I am sure.

Tonight Walter, Mia, Abi, Raphy and I ate pasta with a  tomato, leek and red pepper sauce for dinner.   As Kylie was out we added loads of tomato ketchup plus parmesan cheese.    Does organic ketchup qualify as being acceptable for people on a diet?   It certainly improved the taste of the sauce.  At least the pasta was whole meal.    We felt very satisfied afterwards.

Sunshine and Spring

Today the temperature reached 17 degrees.   A perfect Spring day in the Netherlands, and people are out enjoying the lovely warm weather.    It is so warm that you can almost see the leaves unfolding on the trees.       The ducks and other water birds are all pairing up.    The birds are making plenty of noise, especially early in the morning.   

There is so much more colour about, except on the the bare white arms and legs, which have not seen much sun for six months or more.   At least no adult is wearing a tank top or singlet.   Altogether too gruesome a sight in Spring.

Of course the temperature dips down to about 4 degrees at night, but once it warms up by late morning, it is time to take off the coat, scarf and jumper.    Even me!

A walk in the woods with Raphy, who is pushing his little buggy.    He chats continually and is a delight to take out for a walk.

 The bed of daffodils which spell out ' NO'.    Not sure what this means!    The initials for something important maybe?   Yes it means 'Noord Oost'.  (North East).  This is the local interpretation.   Which cannot be wrong.  Can it?

 The canal looking very serene, even the ducks make barely a ripple on the water.

 Such stillness.    The reflections of the houses are almost perfect.

 A grove of trees, lining the bicycle path.

 Out for our bike ride.   It is early in the morning so too chilly to be without a coat and scarf.

 The highest espalier I have ever seen.    How do they get it to be so perfect.    But we are in the Netherlands, after all.

 A long queue for an ice cream.

People soaking up the sunshine and drinking Coffee Verkeerd, or maybe something stronger, such as a Heinekin Beer or even a Jenever Gin.    Jenever Gin is very powerful stuff.   A small glass is filled to the brim, you drink it down in one gulp and then wash it down with a beer.    After two gins you find the world around you reeling.   Oh my!

I hope we get a few days of sunshine.  And I think we will.    I hope we do.   It makes us all feel so good.

Holland, here we come again

After three weeks in the UK, we felt the need to travel again.    Actually the need was not due to restlessness but the desire to see our family in Holland.

So on Monday morning, we set off early to catch the ferry to Dunkerque.    A beautiful morning, which was made more so when the sun rose.    A fllaming ball of fire, the morning version of the flaming red sunset at Aldinga Beach, South Australia.    An amazing sight. 

 The journey across the channel on the DFDS ferry from Dover to Dunkerque was smooth and uneventful, so we spent the time relaxing at the front of the boot.   The relaxing turned to snoozing of course.   Due to the early start and the lovely sunshine streaming in through the very large windows.

 A stop on the way north for the much needed cup of coffee, which was pretty awful.   The coffee in Belgium and Holland is not brilliant, but then one is usually desperate for some caffeine by 10 a.m.  It is actually called Coffee Verkeerd, literally called 'wrong or strange coffee' due to putting milk in the coffee.  None of this Cafe Latte stuff in these countries.   Here it is black coffee with evaporated milk.    What happened to the steam?  

Coffee Verkeerd again, with appel gebak, at the old Railway Station.    The cafe is run by a disabled community and they do a wonderful job of cooking food.    The appel gebak is one of the best I have eaten.   Walter is looking very happy with his slice of appel gebak.    Not good for the diet though.

We are now back on our bicycles, and trying to go for a solid ride for at least an hour per day.   In a desperate bid to get fit.  Currently I am feeling very stiff, as I am not used to all this exercise after four months of idleness.  

 Back to familiar territory.   All the hedges and shrubs looking trim, ready for the spring burst of leaves.

 The woods have had a major clean out.  

There is no school on Wednesdays in Holland, so the afternoons are spent socialising with friends, playing sport, attending swimming lessons, learning music, or being given extra tuition at school.   A very busy afternoon for children and for parents. Today, there was a football tournament for the children in Groups 5,6,7 and 8.    The parents supervised each team, and there were no problems with aggressive parents yelling from the sidelines.   It was all very amiable.    However, I was told that over ambitious parents who yell at their children, can be a problem in clubs, just the same as it is in the UK.

 Play in action, against a beautiful blue sky.    Lovely warm weather.

And we can expect lovely warm sunny weather for the next week.   Spring is here.