So I distinctly remember the feeling of empowerment when I was shipped off to university in Indiana Pennsylvania. This was a college town and we could order pizza for delivery until 2.00 AM (including the paper towels to mop the grease off the top) and the world famous Sheetz devil dogs (2 for $.99) were available 24-hours-a-day. This was the big time! There was something magical about being able to hop on my bike at 5:30 AM after an all-night bender of drinking-games and dancing on the kitchen stove to pick up bacon and eggs so that I could cook breakfast for some hot chick who only hung around us for the endless pitchers of free beer. She was so impressed by this act of breakfast chivalry that she wrote her phone number on my wall with a thick, black permanent marker and decided to marry me and hang around for the next 20 years. I’m still doing all the cooking and she’s never paid me back for the security deposit that my landlord kept for the marker damage she caused. Go figure.
But those days seem like the dark-ages now. Here in Holland they’ve taken the art of late night snacking to new, technologically advanced heights. Here, they eat from the wall. That’s right…from the wall. They have restaurants (and I use that term very, very loosely) that are set up like giant vending machines that you can get a hot, greasy snack virtually any time of day or night. There is a ‘chef’ who gets each portion fresh from the freezer and carefully prepares them (a.k.a. places into the deep fryer) before reloading the wall for your all-day dining pleasure. And the choices are extraordinary! Just click on this “Assortment” link to see such delicacies as Bami stuffed krokant, chicken corn dog, or this month’s special – Deep Fried Goulash for only 1 Euro! Mmmm….goulash.
The wall ...
...with technologically advanced distribution system.
I ate from the wall once in Amsterdam, just to try it. I plunked in my Euro and selected a wrinkly looking Frikadel. It was, um, how should I say this? Interesting. I'll leave it at that except to say that I wish I still had a stomach of steel like back in college. On a good night, if I had had enough to drink, I could eat 4 devil dogs. Maybe that was my problem with the wall in Amsterdam. I was sober when I tried it.
We had to delay our annual Christmas day hike this year due to miserable weather. But when we finally made it out to the Utrechtse heuvelring (Hills around Utrecht), we were not disappointed. This is a vast forest where you could easily find some privacy. I'm definitely going back with the mountain bike in the spring...there is actually a bit of elevation in Holland! (instead of really, really flat, it was just kind of flat).
The leaning pyramid of Austerlitz, tucked into the forest and marking the high water point of the French occupation of the Netherlands during Napoleon's time.
After the Christmas storm, the weather has been cold, but sunny. Plenty of time for lounging with a good book in between outings.
You want to be sure to park your car in the right place for New Year's eve. Generally speaking you should stay away from the corners because people use the intersections for setting off fireworks. But this year our (whacky) neighbor had a new baby and wanted to set off the fireworks right in front of the house so his wife could hold the baby and see them. Ignited incendiary/explosive devices skittering under your car doesn't give me a 'warm fuzzy' feeling, let alone the probable damage to the paint job. But, the red car was his, so I didn't complain...