Easter Eggs

Easter in the UK and the Netherlands are fairly similar. We all eat too much chocolate and paint eggs, but I did notice that they prefer branded chocolate here. You can buy chocolate eggs in a KitKat, Smarties or Maltesers box, but it's also possible to buy an egg which represents your favourite artist or cartoon character (Hello Kitty or One Direction, for example). Now you might think that these eggs are filled with mini KitKats or chocolate Harry Styles', but that's obviously too much work for Nestlé and Cadbury. Instead, you get a hollow - I repeat, hollow! - egg with a chocolate bar next to it. What a deception (I still buy it though.... chocolate = chocolate)!

Another English/American specialty is the Cadbury Creme Egg. Apparently Easter isn't complete without eating a Creme Egg, so my housemate convinced me to buy a box.

When removing the foil wrapping, you are again presented with a plain chocolate shell. This one is however filled with sweet white and yellow goo (well, it's fondant actually). It's tasty, but a little too sweet to my liking.

For my Dutch friends who asked about Easter and Summer Time - yes, we celebrate Tweede Paasdag (Second Easter Day) here but it's called Easter Monday. This weekend we also put the clocks forward one hour, so we're still one hour behind the rest of Europe! 

Conversation with a Brit #3

Lady: Where are you from?

Me: The Netherlands.
Lady: Really? Me and my husband want to move to Holland, because there are more jobs for him there. We need to start learning Danish.
Me: Dutch.

Lady: Ah yes, Dutch. We’ve been watching TV shows in Dutch so we can practice.

Me: That’s great, which shows?
Lady: Borgen – we understood quite a few words!

.......

Borgen is a Danish TV show...

The reduction game

I don’t know to what extent other countries do this, but British supermarkets reduce products that are close to their Best Before date. In my local supermarket, the best shopping time is 5.30pm – 2.5 hours before closing time. When you’re lucky you can find fruit, salads and meat for a fraction of the price. My favourite bargains come from the bread section where you can get fresh bread for as little as 40 pence! 

This moment of reduction is slightly less relaxed in Marks & Spencer, an upmarket supermarket. Around reduction time, the shop is flooded with people who usually don't shop there because of its prices. Their aim is to get as many reduced items in their baskets as possible. Now, I'm not averse to cheap food, so I happily participate in this game. It's great to do on a Sunday afternoon with friends or family! Here’s how to play the Marks & Spencer Game:

     1. Get in around 4.15pm (Sunday only);
     2. Spot members of staff with a sticker machine;
     3. Wait till they have stickered the products;
     4. Grab your discounted product before someone else does;
     5. Whoever has the most bargains in their basket wins the game.

My most recent Sunday session resulted in the lunch that you can see on the photo. Not bad, but could be better!