Food you would not wanna miss in Rotterdam

The number one food I had in Rotterdam as well as Netherlands so far was Kroket. I am addicted to them!!! After long day visiting all the sightseeings including the windmills, Erasmus bridge, De Rotterdam and other spectacular architecture of a very modern Rotterdam, nothing could have been better for us than having lunch in RODIN. Compared to what we had to pay, the food was amazing, especially those huge fries which we had to order more. 

Sandwich with smoked salmon is also a good choice

 If you are a crazy foodie crawling for street food and casual street markets like me, you can't miss Binnenrotte markt - one of the longest street market of Rotterdam next to the Cubes house. The best things I tried here were cheese (apparently), Loempia or Spring Rolls as we usually call, rolled veges and dried fruits which are awesome because they reminded me so much of my childhood new year eves when we have a lot of them to fill in our stomach besides spring rolls and other so-called 'spring-foods'. 

I want to add bubble tea as well because I love them. 

You can only find bubble tea in YoYo Fresh Tea Bar or some Asian shops in Netherlands. 

The whole trip was ideally and spontaneously amazing in a unexpected way party because of our host, who gave us such a nice treat with Broodies and more Croquette (shrimp) as if they knew these were my favourite dishes. I could not know how to thank them more than writing on this blog, since the host even drove us on his boat to another city so that we could see the windmills. What an experience!

More about our trip can be found here:

#1 Thing I love about living in Groningen - Vismarkt

Young people would normally seek Groningen as a student town for crazy nightlife, parties and coffee-shops or as a touristic destination for martini tower, museums and beautiful gardens. However, the best experience I had so far about living in Groningen is shopping in Vismarkt.

I would love to go to Vismarkt every Friday to buy all the fresh cheap vegetables and fruits as if I am still in the middle of the summer in a tropical country. And since I have started to love cooking more and more, I would rather go to the middle of the town with my bike for 5 minutes to grab the ingredients from Vismarkt instead of eating high-calories food in a fancy restaurant.

And if you are looking for a bit more meat then toasted chicken and deep fried fish are definitely  great choices. I have been trying so much food and cooking for international evenings so many times this month that I should reorganise my eating habit next week and doing sport more often instead of making excuse that I cycle every day.

Or if you wish to be a more healthy traveller!

 One of the brightest things about Netherlands is that it is rich in culture and is colourful literally. You can easily look for nice flowers with good deals easily in front of Vismarkt.

Groningen coffee bike

Short trip to Zwolle - my first time with Blabla Car

Whenever it comes to travelling in Holland mostly everyone is always so excited about Amsterdam, coffeeshops or  red light districts but I was quite not of them. I wanted to see the whole picture of Netherlands; to learn the Dutch culture, language and cuisine from local people, and even to visit smaller towns which no-one cares perhaps.

After our crazy Beach party on Wednesday at which I was completely out of my mind, we (me and a lovely new friend from Morocco but live in France) woke up quite early and went to Zwolle, a city nearby Groningen to pick up some important documents and do a little bit of travelling. I did not expect it was such a lovely city where we would genuinely relax after our mad nightlife.

Statue of Archangel Michaël in front of the Church of St. Michaël.

By Herman Lamers

We came across lots of interesting architecture and statues which I believe was one of the most remarkable feature of the city. 

Museum De Fundatie Zwolle

After wandering around the small town with no map and already feeling like we have seen almost everything, we decided to eat in Tosti World . The price was amazing compared to the fact that I could have chosen the fillings. We both take salmon burgers which were pretty tasty!

And do not forget to fill your stomach with dessert bought from a local ice-cream store.

La Dolce Ice-Cream

Our trip did not end in a boring way here. The best thing about Zwolle was to go back to Groningen with a Dutch guy we found on Blabla Car - a site which connects travellers with drivers who have empty seats. Herman was a very funny, talkative and caring driver who seem very smart and strong-minded. We shared a lot, laughed a lot during the short drive and I learnt lots of new things about him, who has been living in many places around different continents like us. 

It's the people that matter, not the place!

The Finnish girl who lives in Korea

It was random and fun to meet Laura last year during one international event held by exchange students of our school in Helsinki. Laura is a 23-year-old lovely Finnish girl and a business administration student who loves Korean music and culture. I was partly surprised and happy to hear that she has just moved to Seoul to continue her bachelor at Hanyang University.

So we did some chatty and skyping about our lives in Netherlands, Finland and Korea to compare and share our stories. I enjoyed our conversation a lot perhaps because we both are open-minded females who are interested in travelling not only to Asian countries but also in general. Laura has been to Japan, Hongkong, Vietnam, Singapore, but only in Korea did she feel like at home!

What Laura loves about Korea

Korean music

Popular culture

Cute people

Nightlife (everything is open late)

Student life

Cheap prices

Beautiful mountains to hike

Busy city life

What the challenges were

Money, little saving

Expensive and hard-to-find places to live

Language barrier

Straightforwardness

(Korean are indirect)

Of course I must not forget to ask about my favourite topic: Korean food. 

*They have rich food culture here. Most of the restaurants serve dishes with lots of meat such as pork, chicken and beef, which is not vegetarian-friendly. They usually bring the raw ingredients and you make it yourself or they make the food for you. Korean cuisine is sweet and spicy compared to Finnish cuisine*, said Laura

I got couples of photos of Korean dishes Laura tried and favored

ddeokbokki

dakgalbi

Icy noodles Naengmyeon

kimchijjigae

Fried chicken

What do you advise to people who would want to do the same kind of travelling as you?

*In case of Korea, there are many people who want to go. If you are coming from a Western country, you should research, learn the language, and be familiar with customs before moving to Korea. Coming here for a short trip to see how the place is like would be good. It is possible to move alone.*

I-EAT-STERDAM part 2

One picture worths a thousand words. That is true!

Every photo has an interesting story behind it. Here's mine :)

My most memorable food-ish expererience in Amsterdam was at Albert Cyup Markt - the biggest street food market in Amsterdam. I enjoyed the energetic, chaotic and noisy atmosphere of the market made of dozens of stores and flows of buyers.

The first 'dish' ever I tried in Albert Cyup was poffertjes. You can have a sweet taste of these little tiny pancakes just with a few coins.

Fried fish was definitely better than haring. 

Another must-try food in Nederland is waffels. This reminds me of the sweetest gift ever I received from my tour guide in Amsterdam back then in Helsinki when we first met. A package of sweets like Stroopwaffle always make wonderful gift for friends when travelling around Europe. 

We end the food day by a huge dinner with lofs of meat, potatoes and cabbages before lots of drinking and partying. It was a nice and warm experience to enjoy for the first time traditional home-made dishes (Andijviestamppot met spekjes and slavink) with the Dutch people.

Dutch beer are amazingly cheap and well tasting with plenty of flavours that females would love to try! I was running around the story like a little kid crawling for candies when I saw 50-cents beer and ciders, which should normally cost 1-2 euros in Finland where I lived.

Now it's your turn to share your stories behind the dishes ;) !