Jazz In the Canal

My Hubs and I had a great time yesterday in The Hague for an evening of jazz in the canal :) Young and old jazz music lovers were out there enjoying a relaxing evening of jazz by the canals. Participating restaurants/pubs were packed with diners and drinkers who were there for a great evening. It was definitely one of a nice evening!

As both of us do not know how good these local jazz musicians were so we went there with an open mind and we were not disappointed :) Some bands were very good....one of my favourite for the evening was 'Blood Sweat & Kiers' consists of a drummer, 2 guitarist and a saxophonist. They played lively swing, rock jazzy music. Their enthusiasm and fun approach rocked the audience and they loved them!














Another favourite jazz band of the evening was 'Changes'. The songstress was very good, clear voice and they composed their own jazzy songs :) They played mostly loungy and easy to listen jazz music. The crowd also loves them ;)
These bands will be moving from one outlet to another, up and down the canals via the boats. Each bands has approximately 20-30mins in an outlet before moving to another. Another crowd favourites was the 'Basily Boys'. These young very talented guitarist consist of 3 young musicians whom are still in their teens were amazing. They played mainly gypsy-latin music.

For those who are staying right beside the canals, they brought their own tables and chairs and set it up near the banks of the canals for a get-together with friends and family. It's almost like an evening picnic by the canals. Some people bringing their own snacks and drinks and just sit by the canals to watch the bands playing. It was truly a very relaxing, informal jazzy evening for all of us!

The Cubic House in Rotterdam becomes Newest hotel?

When I first saw the 'kubuswoning' (cubic house), I thought it was such an unusual piece of work. The cubic house is one of the must-see atraction in Rotterdam. It is designed by a local architect Piet Blom, best known for his cubic house designs. I've only been inside the cubic house once when one of my girlfriend came for a visit last year. It was quite an experience though the first thing that hit me when I stepped inside the house was I felt a bit disoriented and dizzy. The whole interior is small and space has to be maximised to accommodate the unique angled structure.

The cubes are tilted and sit on hexagon-shaped pole structures. The cubes contain 3 living areas. The triangle-shaped lower level contains the living room, the windows on this level open onto the view below due to the slope of the tilted cube. The middle level contains the bedrooms and a bathroom while the top level, also in a triangular shape is used as either an extra bedroom or a living space. I must say the top level provides a great view since the apex of the room is a 3-sided pyramid with windows all around.

Recently some of these houses have been converted into hotel accommodation including a restaurant and a meeting room.....hmmmm. It's definitely a novelty to be able to experience in staying in the cubic house.

Typical Dutch 'cuisine'

I have friends asking me this question many times, what is a typical Dutch food? In Malaysia, I can say, you have to try some of these Malaysian famous food such as 'Char Kuey Teow' (fried flat noodles), 'assam laksa' (sour fish-soup noodles) or even 'roti canai' (flatbread normally eaten with curries). But when it comes to Dutch food? Even my Hubs can't really answer that. Holland doesn't really per say has a special main national dish, I think, except that the Dutchies do love their snacks and such ;).

One of the favourite snacks of the Dutchies is 'kibbeling' (deep fried bite-sized cod fish coated in a batter) and a whole piece of deep fried cod or other type of fishes. My Hubs has a habit of treating himself with a piece of fried cod fish whenever we are on our weekend visit to Maastricht. We have of course the 'patat' (fries), an all-time popular snacks regardless, it's summer or winter, the patat kiosk will be full with people lining up :) The Dutchies love their fries with 'pindakaas saus' (peanut butter sauce) or mayo. And don't forget the 'kroket' (deep fried snacks made of mashed potatoes and minced meat), 'frikandel' (deep fried mixed meat sausage), 'bitterballen' (deep fried meat balls) normally served as finger food in bars/cafes with a glass of beer :)

A typical Dutch dinner will be the 'stampot' (mashed potatoes with mashed vegetables served with a piece of smoked sausage) and the 'erwtensoep' (pea soup). These are normally served during winter and my mother-in-law sure knows how to make a great pea soup ;) The soup normally has pieces of pork or sausage in it and it is almost like stew texture rather than soup.

Last but not least, the love of their breads and cheese....hence, the 'belegde broodjes' (breads with cold cuts). Lunch normally consists of breads eaten together with cold cuts, cheese and some veges. I remembered my first trip to the Netherlands for a training, lunch was like a 'fiesta'. A self-service style whereby all sort of cold cuts, cheese and breads were spread on the table and you just pick and choose how you want to make your own bread meal :)

Foie Gras to be taken out of Dutch hotel menu?

I've came across this news article this afternoon - A few of the Dutch hotel chains are taking off foie gras (duck liver) off their menus because this is cruel to the animals. Ducks and geese are been force fed to fatten up their liver.

I am not a big fan of any pate but I would assumed for most people out there who love this cuisine will be not too happy. The funny thing is though the government in the Netherlands has outlawed the process of force feeding these ducks and geese, consumption of foei gras is not illegal in the Netherlands ....hmmm...so isn't this is a bit contradicting??

I know of one person who totally do not agree of banning any consumption of foie gras, Anthony Bourdain , the host for the Travel's Channel: No Reservations. You want to know why he doesn't agree that this process is not cruel? Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABeWlY0KFv8

Dental Visit

I'd 2 of my wisdom teeth removed 2 months ago here in the Netherlands and I can tell you the experience was painful and traumatising! The first experience was back in KL and it was equally traumatising or even more!

Back then, I'd to remove my bottom left wisdom tooth and it took me a full month before I fully recovered. I couldn't talk and laugh for weeks and the pain was unbearable on the first day. The dentist only gave me Ponstant pain reliever which did not work at all on my pain. Thank god my godmum had her pain killer with her which she used it for her cancer. I took half a tablet and was knocked out immediately :) To sleep it off at that time was a total bliss - my saviour.

So when I found out from my dentist during the half yearly check-up that I'd to remove all my remaining wisdom tooth as they are slowly rotting, I broke out into cold sweat. I finally did it after 7 months of dragging my feet :P. The first removal was my upper left tooth. I was so nervous! The pain was more on the stretching of my cheek and the force used to loosen that tooth! Thank god it was over within 30 mins. I was quite shaken about it actually and I was appalled that the dentist did not give me any pain killers. I was only given 2 extra gauzes and was advised to take paracetamol when the pain comes. DUH!!! Thank god the paracetamol did work on the pain. Surprisingly I'd recovered very quickly from that removal.

The second one was my other bottom wisdom tooth, the dentist did a good job I must say though I'd to take 3 anesthetic jabs :P Everything was done very professionally. It was not as bad as I'd anticipated as my first experience was awful as I'd mentioned. I was very happy when the dentist gave me soluable pain killers for my pain. When the anesthetic wore off, the pain was real and thank god the pain killer worked :). The swelling came within an hour after the removal and it took 1.5 week to subside.

Now, I still have one more wisdom tooth left to remove (the upper right). The thought that I've to make another dental appointment for the last removal gives me the shivers :( *sob*sob* Shucks, really NOT looking forward to it.....My advice, if you don't have to remove any wisdom tooth, DON'T do it.

Jazz fever!!!

With the North Sea Jazz Festival around the corner, we've also North Sea Round Town from 27 June-12 July in Rotterdam whereby participating cafes, restaurants and outlets in the city will have live jazz bands playing.

In other cities like The Hague and Utrecht will also have their own jazz festivals programmes lined up. This coming Friday and Saturday in the city of The Hague, jazz live bands will be seen playing in the canals (in Dutch, 'Jazz in de gracht'). Interesting huh. Imagine, sitting by the cafes overlooking the canals with live jazz bands playing throughout the evening....'gezellig' (nice and cosy).

There are quite a number of other jazz festivals and programs lining up for this season, from classic jazz to latin jazz...:) Definitely something to look forward to this coming jazz season ;)

Jazz Season is in Town!

It's definitely a jazz season now. The biggest jazz festival in the world, North Sea Jazz festival, a 3-days festival which will be held in Ahoy, Rotterdam offer different range of jazz music ranging from traditional New Orleans jazz, swing, bop, free jazz, fusion, avant-garde jazz and electronic jazz; to blues, gospel, funk, soul, R&B, hip hop, world beat and Latin.

Last year, we'd Alicia Keys, Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin, Chaka Khan, George Benson, Diana Krall, Paul Simon. This year's line up we'll have Jamie Cullum, BB King, Erykah Badu, Seal to grace the stage. Though I told myself from last year that I will want to go for this festival since I've missed it last year but with this year's line up....don't think so. Personally, I find it not so interesting except for Jamie Cullum's performance. Oh well, perhaps next year's line up will have more artists that I wanted to see :) :)

Sale! Sale!

The 'Sale' signs hanging outside shopping stores are definitely not a good thing for shoppers like me especially at times like this with the crisis. The smartest and wisest thing to do is to save now and not spend unnecessary. But then again, the other side of me, the devilish side says to buy when its on sale, good bargains! The temptation is so great!

Just last few days, Esprit had a members' private sale that lasted for a couple of days and then followed by Mexx. Their members' private sale started yesterday and today is the last day. I thought of checking it out, just to see.....Of course since I came here, I'd subscribed also to e-newsletters of shopping stores, etc to keep myself updated with any sale and promotions :) This morning, I've received a newsletter from Designer Outlet Roermond (a shopping haven where some designers outlets are selling off-season items at a lower price) that all the designer outlets are going to have a grand sale up to 70% off the retail price this coming Thursday! Boy, oh boy....the temptation....the lure.....aaarggghhh I need a gold mine!! Or should I say I need a tree that grows money on it! :P